Kakapo Recovery Programme

Size: 40 pages

Government status: Government Department

My professional status: independent web designer/developer

Website client: Department of Conservation

Dates: December 2003 - March 2005

Categories: Client liaison, Project manager, Website designer, Front-end developer, Writing for the web, Content-loader, Webmaster, Old-school table layout, No CMS, Government websites, Small sites

Brief: to update the website, and maintain it as required, adding new images and sections and making text changes as requested by client.

Thanks very much Ali - for your kind words and for looking after the kakapo site so well! The pictures are great & will be even better in larger scale.
Kind wishes, Don

Don Merton, Kakapo Management Group, Department of Conservation

My responsibilities included:

  • Ongoing updates and alterations as required (HTML content and graphics)
  • Conversion of HTML font tags to CSS sitewide
  • Creation of larger versions of all news photos, linked as popup windows
  • Uploading a Japanese version of the website to the server, linking it to the existing site and helping the Japanese translator to test functionality before it went live.

The client had re-written much of the website, and had added some new sections and images. I carried out the text alts, created the new graphics and sections, and added these to the existing site. I also proof-read the whole site and made corrections as I thought necessary. I also added new updates and releases as they arose, and converted the HTML on the site to CSS (formatting). I also began to create and link larger versions of the news images to the news pages - as I decided it would be nice for visitors to be able to see good-sized images of kakapo and their chicks, and the original design had not accounted for this.

The site was later translated into Japanese by a kakapo fan in Japan, and we worked together to get this online and linked to the English version of the site.

Hi Alison, thanks for your email about all the improvements etc you are doing on the webste, I have had a look today and I think they are great! Especially the photos that you can enlarge! We should arrange a meeting next week maybe where we can meet up to talk about the future of the site and how it's run.

Vivienne Parker, Science & Research, Department of Conservation

Thanks for this Ali - it looks great.  It's such a neat project.

Jo McKenzie, External Affairs Adviser, Comalco NZ