Cavalier Bremworth

Cavalier Bremworth - homepage template

Website: cavbrem.co.nz (site has since been redesigned) - view screenshots

Size: 46 template pages

My professional status: contractor at DNA

Website client: Cavalier Bremworth

Dates: January - February 2009

Categories: Showcase sites, Scoping/pitching/quoting, Front-end developer, CSS-based layout, jQuery/JavaScript, ASP or ASP.NET, E-commerce, Large sites

Brief: to build a set of template pages for the re-designed Cavalier Bremworth website. This website represented the first roll-out of the new Cavalier Bremworth branding, which was also done by DNA.

I was responsible for building the templates and preparing them for integration into a custom-built .net CMS by AIM Proximity in Auckland. The new site incorporated a very high level of interactivity for visitors considering purchasing a new carpet from the company, and therefore included a large amount of jQuery and Shadowbox programming, for which I was also responsible.

Hi Ali - it was our pleasure having you here!

Thanks for the timesheet & invoice... I appreciate you taking the time to document your hours in such detail, it really does help when it comes to costing future projects, so thanks heaps for that.

Yes, Squiz's comments about the code have been fantastic, haven't they?! Similarly, XX came and had a quiet word with me this morning and said that he was really impressed with your HTML/CSS skills and he would welcome having you back any time. I know YY is already considering talking to you about some work she has coming up, so hopefully Cav Brem won't be the last we see of you. :)

Felicity Weller, Senior Project Manager, DNA

My responsibilities included:

  • Initial assessment of the site IA and design to produce a fixed-price quote for the site build - within a very tight timeframe and equally tight budget constraints
  • Development of the site in CSS and XHTML 1.0 Transitional, which would then be integrated into the .net CMS by AIM Proximity
  • Liaison with AIM Proximity's development team in order to ensure that they could easily integrate my templates into the CMS
  • Hand-coding in XHTML 1.0 Transitional to a reasonable level of accessibility
  • Creation of dynamic graphical effects including accordions containing tabular data, four different types of tooltips, removeable information panels, two image maps, automatic child > parent relationships generated in the subnav, and an image- and content-switcher on the homepage - all of which I wrote using the jQuery JavaScript library
  • Incorporation and programming of sIFR (Scalable Inman Flash Replacement) which uses Flash to dynamically replace HTML text where a specific font is required
  • Selection and integration of an appropriate jQuery-friendly Lightbox-type plug-in for image galleries, forms and popup web pages sitewide - and subsequent restyling of the Shadowbox plug-in to match the original site design as closely as possible
  • Research and development of a JavaScript method which would enable Shadowbox to resize its iFrame height according to the amount of content displayed. Neither Shadowbox's developer nor the many users of this plug-in have been able to achieve this before, and my method could certainly benefit from some refinement, but I feel pleased that I was able to at least start the ball rolling on this oft-requested Shadowbox feature
  • Extensive testing of the site at all stages of the development process, ensuring consistency across the following browsers and platforms:
    • PC: Internet Explorer IE6, IE7; Firefox
    • Mac: Firefox, Netscape, Opera, Safari
  • Ensuring that every template and stylesheet had been validated using the W3C Markup Validation Service and that it conformed to XHTML 1.0 Transitional requirements
  • Development of print stylesheets sitewide - printing the site, as far as possible, with the same layout and styling as on-screen.

This was the most technical build I had done up to this point, in terms of the jQuery programming required. The learning curve was extremely steep, within a very tight timeframe, but I delivered the site on-time and on budget, as I always aim to do.

The integration team at AIM Proximity were very pleased with the files I supplied, and completed integrating the site into a purpose-built .net CMS in double-quick time. I was expecting to provide a technical handover document for their integrators, but they said my templates were so clear and well-structured, they didn't need one.