Nathan Gunn Site

CMS Management Dashboard

Client

Nathan Gunn

Designer

John Bonadies (Precision Graphics)

Synopsis

Nathan wanted a site that was feature rich, always up-to-date, and represented his image and talents. Working closely with John Bonadies a site design emerged which was then given to GlennWeb.net for implementation. We templated the design using PHP/CSS/Savant and integrated it with a custom CMS that supports site features specially geared toward musicians. These features include a Performance/Appearance Calendar which can be kept up to date by Nathan or his booking agent, Journal (blog) entries, a Photo Gallery, News items, Albums/Tracks/Media which are integrated throughout the site, editable Page Content, and external Site links. All of these features are easily managed from anywhere through the custom browser-based CMS.

UI School of Music Site

Site Management Interface

Client

University of Illinois – School of Music

Designer

John Bonadies (Precision Graphics)

Synopsis

Before the redesign the School of Music site was a simple HTML site managed internally through Dreamweaver. As a part of a complete media and communication redesign the School of Music web site was to be completely redone to reflect the new image. The site itself would be of medium size and include a fairly large set of custom content to be managed by internal staff. The managed content included viewable and printable Room calendars with individual hourly schedules, Event calendars, Daily News items, Faculty information including bios and media files, Employment postings, Career postings, FAQ management, Link management, Online Information Requests, and Online Enrollment Applications.

Working closely with the client and designer, GlennWeb.net laid out a new site infrastructure which would support the creation of a custom Content Management System (CMS) to handle the various managed content requirements. Development of the browser-based CMS proceeded as the actual site design was being refined. As the completed site design was incorporated into the CMS it was continually refined and revised to reach the final layout and feature set. The site was then launched by GlennWeb.net and handed over to the School of Music staff for ongoing management.

The new School of Music site actually has two components, one is the public-facing site itself and the other is the browser-based CMS 'Site Dashboard'. Changes and updates are made to the site using the secured Site Dashboard, which provides easy content revisions while guaranteeing overall site integrity (a great benefit as multiple staff members can continually update the site).

The new site was very well received by public and staff, with many positive comments and a very steady usage pattern. The site continues to be updated daily and the individual room schedules receive a heavy workout. The online applications have also been well received with the numbers of new enrollment applications to-date being well above previous years. The site is quite a success and the client, designer, and GlennWeb.net continue to work on enhancements and additional site features.

High School of Saint Thomas More

Client

High School of Saint Thomas More

Designer

John Bonadies (Precision Graphics)

Synopsis

The original Saint Thomas More site was a very simple HTML site managed internally with FrontPage. The site was becoming increasingly more time-consuming and difficult to update with an information structure that needed reorganization.

The school had contracted with John Bonadies to revise its media and promotional materials and as part of that contract a new web site design was donated to the school. GlennWeb.net was later contracted by the school to implement the new design. We proposed that we model the schools longer term site needs and create a system architecture and custom browser-based Content Management System (CMS) that would support both the short-term redesign and longer-term desired features. This plan was accepted and we proceeded to develop the first phase, the CMS and new site design implementation.

Working closely with the client the new CMS and site design was quickly implemented within 30 days. Through the CMS 'Site Dashboard' Saint Thomas More staff can easily manage the site's News, Page Content, Faculty/Staff listings, Resource Documents, Site Media, Links, and FAQs.

The site has been very well received and is updated daily with school News and Information. Since launch the addition of school Newsletters, various Applications, and Fund Raising event pages have made the site an important school information portal. Additional features are planned for the site, including individual coach-managed Sports pages (schedules, scores, information, etc.), individual faculty-managed Class/Subject pages (homework, resources, etc.), and Club/Activity pages.

City of Champaign

Client

City of Champaign

Designer

John Bonadies (Precision Graphics)

Synopsis

The existing City site had a dated feel and the home page was one large image with image-mapped links to some of the various site sections, not an ideal situation. In anticipation of a complete site redesign the home page was contracted to be redesigned to allow direct access to the site's many sections and display highlighted news and information. The designer worked closely with the client committee to arrive at the final home page design and GlennWeb.net was contracted to implement it.

In anticipation of the complete site redesign, GlennWeb.net architected a small browser-based CMS and associated database. The new home page design was then incorporated into the CMS along with a few new ancillary pages (Spanish information, News display, etc.). The direct-access links to the site's many sections was handled by a custom Javascript/CSS popup menu.

It was also desired that the new home page meet 508 accessibility guidelines, however with the Javascript popup menus this necessitated creating a special text-only version of the page. Using the benefits of the CMS system (same data, multiple views) this was easily accomplished. The site was quickly launched after a couple rounds of revisions which served to condense as much information as possible on the home page.

The site has been well received and is actively updated. The client has made plans with the designer and GlennWeb.net to proceed with the whole site redesign later in 2004.

Veterinary Online Education

Client

University of Illinois - Veterinary Medicine

Designer

John Bonadies (Precision Graphics)

Synopsis

As part of an expansion of the University of Illinois Veterinary Education Online (VEO) program the existing web site is being given a more cohesive look. The current site is small but will expand quickly as more courses are brought online. The new site would also need to be easily updated by current VEO staff.

The completed site design and associated content was delivered to GlennWeb.net for implementation. Due to the simplicity of the overall site we recommended that it be created with Dreamweaver templates. The base templates were created and all site pages were created based on those. The site is complete and currently awaiting final approval by the client.

JSM Apartments

Client

JSM Apartments

Designer

John Bonadies (Precision Graphics)

Synopsis

The JSM site was becoming dated and hard to navigate and John Bonadies was contracted to update the look, structure, and navigation. The site had an existing database to house the companies apartment information and availability, so the new site would need to incorporate the same data.

After the final site design was established, GlennWeb.net was contracted to implement the site and incorporate the existing database information. Due to hosting requirements the site would need to use the existing Ace-In-The-Box scripting language and MySql database instance. GlennWeb.net quickly came up to speed with Ace and implemented the new design using the existing data and data structures.

The site was launched shortly after completion and was well received by the client and designer.