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Establish Information Architecture and Standards Compliant Design

Clean Water Action homepage circa October 2006.

Clean Water Action homepage circa October 2006

When I came to Clean Water Action in October 2006 it was clear from the organization’s hodge-podge site design and lack of any coherent information architecture that the site had grown entirely organically. My first step was to create an information architecture and standards compliant site design.

It was also clear that a significant amount of work would need to be done with staff to create buy-in for the idea that if Clean Water wished to use its web site as a tool to educate and recruit supporters its primary focus should be on the needs of an external audience rather than on the needs of staff. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Clean Water Action
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Site Redesign and Migration to Content Management System

Clean Water Action homepage circa November 2009.

As I worked to develop the organization’s online communications strategy and promote the tools we now had available to Clean Water’s organizers, our use of these tools and our sophistication with them rapidly out paced what could be offered by a tapestry of third party applications and a flat HTML site. In March 2008 I embarked on a total site and logo redesign and a migration to a content management system.

After an assessment of then current and planned future needs, and after establishing the organization’s commitment to open source technology, Drupal was chosen as the platform for Clean Water’s new site. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Clean Water Action
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Democracy In Action Tools and Templates

Clean Water Action petition on Democracy In Action Salsa platform

A conversion to a new site design in 2008 required new web and email templates to support the organization’s use of Democracy In Action’s Salsa platform as well as some adjustment of styles specific to content generated by the Salsa system. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Clean Water Action
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WordPress: Create theme to match site look and feel

The blog of Clean Water's President is powered by WordPress but mimics the organization's site design.

Because the blog written by Clean Water’s President was meant to represent his views and not necessarily the views of the organization, I made the decision not to incorporate his blog into the Drupal system powering the organization’s main site but to instead maintain a previously installed WordPress blog as a separate entity.

Once the design for the site was finalized, I took the HTML and custom built a  widgetized WordPress theme that matches the main site’s look and feel.  I also researched, installed, and incorporated plugins to feature related posts and make posts that were shared from the site trackable.  I also enabled Feedburner and trained Clean Water’s President on its use so that he had direct control over when new posts were sent via email.

I was also responsible for the continuing maintenance of the blog’s primary software and plugins until my departure from Clean Water Action in March 2010.

Filed Under: Clean Water Action Tagged With:
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Site Redesign and Migration

The site's design gave the impression that no work was being done and suppressed return visits by supporters.

One of the problems the Center’s projects faced stemmed directly from the web site’s design: each project was locked into a basically static homepage that required site visitors to dig for the most current news.

An additional problem stemmed from the prominent use of photos of people in the developing world to illustrate the Center’s work on developing world policy.

As a result of this, the organization received numerous requests to provide funding which was a clear indicator that the site’s look and feel was sending the wrong message to site visitors. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Center of Concern

Donation form

Center's homepage, designed in 2003, circa October 2006.

The Center of Concern had been without a Communications Manager for the several months prior to when I took the position. Because of the size of the organization and the extent of travel undertaken by program staff, my first task was to work with stakeholders to establish a regular editorial schedule for both web site updates and member communications. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Center of Concern
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Online Content Production Guides & Staff Training

The online style guides I created played a key role in training content editors across the organization.

My first task as Online Content Manager for ATLA was to create processes and procedures for the day to day management of the Association’s main web site in a situation where the responsibilities for creation of content and the coding of pages was spread across the organization’s thirteen departments.

In addition to establishing procedures and defining roles for individuals in the departments and within the Online Team, I also created an Online Style Guide which described the general rules to which any content on the site was required to conform. To make the style guide and additional resources available to the Content Production Coordinators who were actually coding the pages for each department, I created a small intranet-type site on one of ATLA’s internal development servers. [Read more...]

Filed Under: ATLA

Front End Redesign and Migration to Database Driven Content Management System

Greenpeace USA's hompage look & feel from 1997 through 2002.

In October 2001 I embarked on a site architecture and look and feel redesign for Greenpeace USA’s main web site which was three years stale. As Project Manager, I first solicited input from the Web Editors directly under my supervision, then I drew up a series of survey questions which were administered to individuals in each department to help determine internal needs for the site. The resulting list of internal needs included:

  • using more photos,
  • using photos at a larger size,
  • using more color, and
  • making the site reflect the organization’s self-perception of “young and dynamic.”

Another important change from the 1997 era design was the move from a fixed width design of 800×600 pixels, centered in the middle of the screen to a liquid, spreading design that would maximize the use of the site visitor’s visual space. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Greenpeace USA
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Content Management System Design: Web Sites’ Administrative Tools

Web Sites’ Administrative Tools: Mailing List Manager

Admin tools for the mailing lists allowed us to segment and customize messages to various lists.

Prior to 2001, in-house web editors at Greenpeace had no access to or control over e-newsletter subscribers’ data. All communication with e-newletter subscribers was mediated through an account manager at a contract web hosting provider.

Effective January 2001, I established for Greenpeace a web hosting and software development relationship with Two Radical Technologies, a move which reduced the organization’s web hosting costs by 98% per month. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Greenpeace USA
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Parody Site: Kellogg’s Facts

Parody of the Kellogg's web site circa 2001 created to support Greenpeace USA's work to stop the use of genetically modified organisms in food.

As part of the organization’s work to stop the use of genetically modified organisms in food, Greenpeace USA targeted Kellogg’s in 2001. Taking a humorous approach to a mini site to support this narrowly focused portion of the campaign’s work, I decided to create a parody of Kellogg’s existing web site.

This approach required that I first deconstruct the site so I could replicate the look and feel. Then I had to figure out a way to make it clear that this was a parody and not theft. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Greenpeace USA
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