Website and Forum Styling
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Hi all.
I just wanted to write a short ‘public’ update on the new website and forum.
Feedback for the site has been positive and constructive. Work with the contractors is still ongoing and the Internet Committee is still tracking that scope of work and collecting any reported issues. Please bear in mind that the main goal of the project was to bring the site back online, there wasn’t a lot of provision for design and styling, so it is ‘default’ kind of look. Once we’re back up and running we can take further efforts to alter the styling but this will take time.
That said, if there are any members with web design and styling experience, we would be grateful for any help in the area. That isn’t a skill the Internet Committee currently possesses so any meaningful work would have to be outsourced.
Regards,
Neil“We are a collaborative design studio crafting experiences through delightful design. We are designers, developers, animators, photographers, videographers and business leaders. We use technology and design thinking to help make life easier and more enjoyable for users of products and services. We work with you to create, to develop, to succeed.”
So boasts the company to whom the Party has paid almost £10k, to restore and upgrade our website!
Are you suggesting you’re also unhappy with the outcome Dave?
I would like to stress again, that the primary goal of this project was to sanitise the infected database and restore the website — technical work, not design. Without which, we would have no website. At least not one with all the historical data.
Do we get a guarantee and warranty that we will not suffer something similar in the future and that they have indeed offered full protection and, in your words, sanitised our website, Neil? Or does their contract have a “get-out” clause
“Are you suggesting you’re also unhappy with the outcome Dave?”
No reflection on you, Neil, but I suppose I had expected a tad more than just a “default kind of look” for what we paid DNF.
There is never a guarantee in the world of internet security. We have DNFs confirmation that all malicious code has been sanitised. But they are not responsible for the security of the software — that’s the responsibility of WordPress and ourselves (the Internet Committee).
And yes, it is a lot of money which may appear to have been spent on “not much”. But that all went to restoring content. We could have spent £10k on a brand new design, which would not have had the content and we would either have to live without or upload ourselves or pay extra for. But with the move to WordPress, we also get “for free” most of the updated UI that was originally promised from the “upgrade project” however many years ago.
I don’t take it personally but I would like for there to be an understanding that the scope of the project did not include redesigning. So yes, it is a bit templated, but it’s up and running. Not without its kinks, which we can and will resolve those, mostly ourselves because they are things that we don’t need to pay DNF £75 an hour for.
And should we want to explore improving styling, we either need to budget for further agency work or find the in-house talent to do it ourselves.
Thanks for that Neil. Maybe some of us didn’t understand that the scope of the project didn’t include any redesigning at all. But, as you say, it’s up and running and we now have to consider whether we want to explore improved styling. Notwithstanding that, your input and that of Matt’s is very much appreciated, I can assure you of that.
Funnily enough, we have a very big software launch at work and I spend a lot of my time being barraged with complaints of “it’s not good enough”. So I apologise if I’m a bit touchy.
But I believe this website will be a great base for us to build upon.
With respect to the price. I know a website that was also ‘hacked’. The owner said the cost of getting the site back up and running, was £50,000!
Two things missing on the new Forums, which were on the old one, a thread visitor count and who is online?
Facebook, Twitter and most Forums have a like feature. Could this be added?
YFSWas the Internet Committee shown different styles of websites with the various available functions? The quote function for example is pretty basic. Surely members could have looked at the different styles etc before choosing? Here is a random user friendly. Don’t need to ask how to log in 🙂
“Two things missing on the new Forums, which were on the old one, a thread visitor count and who is online?
Facebook, Twitter and most Forums have a like feature. Could this be added?”We can have a look at later additions to the functionality of it. At the moment we are concentrating on the actual website, doing archive heirarchies and so no.
Was the Internet Committee shown different styles of websites with the various available functions? The quote function for example is pretty basic. Surely members could have looked at the different styles etc before choosing? Here is a random user friendly. Don’t need to ask how to log in
A ‘Member Login’ facility has been added to the ‘Forum’ link.
We had been spending some time prior to the hacking of our website trying to find a developer who was secure and priced within affordable constraints to upgrade the existing system.
When the system became compromised we were then left with a different set of urgent circumstances.
So we were tasked with deciding two options after cleaning infected files and saving the content as well, as at the time hoping to retain previous forum members and protecting and renewing their posting privileges.
The choice was limited to remaining with the original but updated Content Management System (CMS) or moving over to the WordPress version. There were a number of factors which led us to go with the latter option, costs, future proofed usability and security etc.
The forum software comes bundled within the WordPress CMS. There were two options within that CMS using the themes the developer chose.
The degree to which it is further customisable has still to be explored in more detail later on.
Thanks Matt
Suggestion: Place a “log in and sign up” Box to the right of “FORUMS” and above the “SEARCH” box.
New comers will be as confused as we all were
I was talking to someone I know yesterday who is interested in the party case and suggested he join the forum. I looked at the site today and couldn’t find anyway that new members could sign up to join, any one able to offer advice?
I also think it would be really good to have the PM system back, it was very useful.
In terms of other sites, the one that Optrex uses is very good, I would go as far as to day it’s a site for sore eyes 😆 😆
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