Worldwide Fund for Nature New Zealand

WWF-NZ - homepage

Website: wwf.org.nz (site has since been redesigned) - view screenshots

Size: 17 template pages

My professional status: employee at Shift

Website client: WWF-New Zealand

Dates: October - November 2006 and July - August 2007

Categories: Website designer, Front-end developer, CSS-based layout, Flash, ExpressionEngine, Large sites

Brief: Shift donated some time to the Worldwide Fund for Nature New Zealand (WWF-NZ) in order that we could build them a better website than they could afford.

The site aimed to educate New Zealanders in the work that the organisation does, to encourage people to support WWF-NZ, and to take part in some of their conservation initiatives.

My responsibilities included:

  • Development of the site in CSS and HTML 4.01 Transitional, which would then be integrated into the ExpressionEngine CMS
  • Working alongside our designer in order to incorporate photographic imagery into the site design
  • Liaising closely with our trainee ExpressionEngine developer to ensure that all templates could be easily integrated into the CMS
  • Hand-coding in HTML 4.01 Transitional to a reasonable level of accessibility
  • Extensive testing of the site at all stages of the development process, ensuring complete consistency across the following browsers and platforms:
    • PC: Internet Explorer IE5.01, IE5.5, IE6, IE7; Firefox
    • Mac: Firefox, Safari
  • Ensuring that every page and stylesheet had been validated using the W3C Markup Validation Service and that it conformed to HTML 4.01 Transitional requirements.

My first job when I first arrived in New Zealand in 1992 was with WWF-NZ, and I stayed with them for two and a half years. It's an organisation whose work I strongly support, so it was great to be able to help produce a website for them, especially as Shift was donating some of our time to the project. There was a break halfway through the project, and I took that time to improve on the original design and introduce some photographic elements, including the Flash header. Our trainee ExpressionEngine developer was an intern working with us for 6 months, so I worked closely with him, ensuring that my templates would be easy to integrate into the CMS.