CASE STUDIES - PARENT NETWORK SCOTLAND
THE CLIENT
Parent Network Scotland is an Edinburgh-based organisation that designs and delivers parenting courses across Scotland. It supports parents through the provision of courses and information; providing training to course facilitators and other professionals; and works with other agencies in the field of family support. As such it provides information to a wide range of interested parties.
THEIR REQUIREMENTS
The client's instructions for the new web site were very clear:
- Develop the current Parent Network Scotland website, updating its "look and feel" in-line with their new brand
- Simplify the look and layout of the pages
- Improve the site's accessibility
- Increase the range and delivery of services available to members and facilitators
- Create secure areas for members and facilitators, giving them access to documents to download and information not available on the public areas of the site, links and a discussion forum
- Create a site that the PNS staff will be able to maintain themselves with appropriate training.
WHAT WE DELIVERED
- The web site was given a complete overhaul. First up was a fresh new design based on their "cartoon" logo
- Next up we created a more structured design and layout than the original site, with panels on the right hand side of the page to hold various sub-navigation items. The updated design was easily navigable, functional and intuitive to use
- The page is fluid, so that although best viewed in a window 1024px wide, it resizes to 800px wide
- We created a "back-end" for the three key user groups. Accessed by password, user's areas included a forum and access to files to download. The admin area allowed the site administrator to upload, edit and remove content, edit users details and change the content on the news page - all dynamically
- The site offered users three options for viewing the content - a default style, text-only and larger text size. The controls for these functions are situated prominently at the top of every page. There is also a print-friendly option
- Lastly, we build the site so that each of the right hand panels could be easily changed from a central point for easy maintenance and updates
THEIR FEEDBACK
"It was clear from the start of the project who would get the contract - Arkose Design presented a professional, thorough brief and it was clear they had done their research! The cost was also reasonable and in the end was not one penny more than originally quoted. The re-design of the site has been very well managed throughout and the process was always clear."
"Emma's designs were exciting and things progressed quickly from that point on. I was very impressed at the thought that was put into the "usability" of the site - Jason would think of things I wouldn't have even dreamed of, then put them in place - making the site a lot more user friendly."
"Arkose have also designed for us a fantastic backend service allowing us to manage information updates, downloads and news items for our members and facilitators. We now have a site where parents can get the support they need by joining as members, and sharing ideas on the forum - oh, and they can also make donations to us!"
