Things tagged on designguru.org with "online community development"

Just 1 year old, this site was in dire need of a redesign - both aesthetically and in terms of user interface. When we took the project on, it had been built using Drupal but with a number of unnecessary hacks and overrides and was extremely difficult for users to navigate.

Our job in this first stage of redevelopment was to create and implement a brand new look for Mobile Jam Fest - drawing on its logo's simple grey, white and green colors. In addition, we undertook the task of cleaning up the Drupal installation; optimizing it for quicker load times, reorganizing the navigation and content flow (with new Views, Panels and even content types).

As the site's main purpose is to let people sign up, fill in profiles and upload media (photos, video and music clips) to be judged for competitions, we had to make the UI intuitive and engaging - one way we achieved this is by focusing on making the site's community more accessible to users than in the previous implementation.

This new version of mobilejamfest.com has seen a more rapid growth in membership on the site as well as submissions to its online competitions through successful way-finding means; using conventional menus as well as lead-in copy on new landing pages per color-coded site topic, site-wide competition entrance buttons and more.

When we were handed this project after a freelancer was unable to continue development, we immediately recognised the value for Joomla's community-building tools and implemented an array of savvy social networking tools.

bebold.org is a great example of how people can come together online, express their motivation in life and forge friendships and other alliances. Functionally, registered members can fill out profiles relating to the topic matter of the book and monitor who on the site has visited them. We built in a private messaging system and simple message board that automatically links each post to the profile of its poster.

With a huge alumni and large number of camp attendees per year, this camp wanted to use their website to maintain and develop their community online. The solution entailed a site that integrates content publishing with a private members-only discussion forum and media gallery. As well, bespoke forms were peppered throughout the site with error reporting to ensure that they were filled correctly - to allow future staff to apply for jobs, alumni to subscribe to the Alumni Newsletter and so on.