Tourism Exchange

Tourism Exchange - homepage (2009 version)

Website: no longer online - view screenshots

Size: 6 template pages

My professional status: contractor at Origin Design

Website client: Tourism Exchange

Dates: January 2009

Categories: Website designer, Front-end developer, CSS-based layout, SilverStripe, Small sites

Brief: to build a set of template pages for the redesigned Tourism Exchange website. Tourism Exchange was a real-time marketplace for selling and distributing tourism products and services, and the site provided information for buyers and sellers.

I was responsible for building the templates and preparing them for integration into the SilverStripe CMS by my business partner Tom St George, who was also contracting at Origin Design.

My responsibilities included:

  • Development of the site in CSS and HTML 4.01 Transitional, which would then be integrated into the SilverStripe CMS
  • Close liaison with Tom St George in order to ensure that he could easily integrate my templates into SilverStripe
  • Hand-coding in HTML 4.01 Transitional to a standard level of accessibility
  • 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, Opera, Safari
  • Ensuring that every template and stylesheet had been validated using the W3C Markup Validation Service and that it conformed to HTML 4.01 Transitional requirements
  • Reviewing the templates and ensuring that all design elements had been included, and working with Tom to style the sitemap template and some aspects of the online forms, which had not been included in the original design
  • Development of print stylesheets sitewide.

Origin were looking for an HTML/CSS/PHP expert for this build, and as I have worked for the company and know them very well, Tom and I were able to sell ourselves as a "two-for-one" deal, with me doing the HTML/CSS build and Tom doing the PHP SilverStripe integration. This works well, as the client gets two specialists who are each at the top of their game in their area of expertise, as opposed to one person who would perhaps not be quite as skilled in both areas as we are. Tom and I have worked together on a range of websites over the past few years, both at Shift and as freelancers designing and building websites for a number of different clients.