Network of Public Sector Communicators
Size: 30 page website
My professional status: independent web designer/developer
Website client: Public Sector Network of Communicators Committee
Dates: July - September 2015
Categories: Client liaison, Project manager, Website designer, Front-end developer, Writing for the web, Content-loader, CSS-based layout, SilverStripe, Small sites
Brief: the Network of Public Sector Communicators is a professional network, leading knowledge sharing and professional development to drive excellence in public sector communications. They run affordable events, conferences and social events. Their professional development programme, practical resources and programme of activities covers the full range of communications disciplines.
They needed someone who understood SilverStripe websites to update their website in a big hurry, as their Annual Conference was fast approaching. They got in touch with me following a personal recommendation from one of my bandmates who was working as their Coordinator.
I was responsible for updating the website, adding a new Conference section containing information about the event, including the timetable, speaker bios, sponsor details, workshops and masterclasses. I also updated the News and Events sections and figured out how to link the conference pages to their online membership portal where members could register for the conference and associated workshops and masterclasses.
Wonderful, the pages look great Ali. It’s starting to look like a real conference!!
Alison Welch, Committee Member, Public Sector Network of Communicators
...wow, that all looks fabulous, thank you so much.
Achievements:
- Getting my head around the functionality of the site in double-quick time, and updating it to include the details of the conference within a fairly tight timeframe.
My responsibilities included:
- Adding content to the website, updating as requested - including adding or removing pages, editing content, updating or creating graphics, and proof-reading
- Tweaking various other elements in the header, footer and sidebar
- Adding events and news items as requested (first figuring out how these worked within the CMS, which wasn't entirely obvious initially)
- Ensuring that the conference section was linked to the members-only portal, so that members could register for the conference and associated workshops and masterclasses.
The website has been built in SilverStripe, which I know very well, so it was relatively easy to figure out what's what and how to update it. There was no technical or handover documentation so I figured out the details of the CMS functionality through trial and error and trying various things out to see what happened.
The site's pretty old, and would benefit from a redesign at some point soon - perhaps that's a project for the future.