Date created: September 2011

Web Address: www.barnardos.ie

About the Project: I recently joined Barnardos as their Online Executive and one of the first projects I was asked to undertake was a refresh and update of their official website.

A review of the site showed that it was well designed and worked well from a usability point of view.  It did not require a major overhaul, but rather a minor cosmetic update and a reworking of the way certain information was presented.

The changes that I applied included:

• An updated colour scheme that adheres more closely to brand values
• Redesign of site homepage with new social network widgets
• New imagery on key section homepages
• A grid-based layout, using the 16 column, 960 pixel web grid.
• Promotional boxes for the right-hand menu
• A new structure for links on the section homepages
• Installation of social sharing for content with ShareThis
• Update of headers and menus for a clearer hierarchy

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This is the Web Content Guide that I give to my clients. Presentation of your written content online is just as important as your site’s visual design. I’ve seen many beautiful websites that have grown to look unprofessional because of sloppy writing and formatting.

Writing for the Web

Keep in mind that the Internet is a different medium to print, and that different rules and conventions apply.

Research shows us that most people scan web pages rather than reading them carefully. By following some simple steps, you can ensure that your pages are comprehensible.

• Use bullet points to deliver information
• Use clear headings and subheadings
• Headings should be descriptive and meaningful
• Write short sentences, in short paragraphs
• Be concise, clear, and use language that is simple and to the point (avoid jargon!)
• Highlight key words in your sentences. The reader who is scanning the information will get the gist of it from highlighted phrases.

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I recently attended the Fairsay Ecampaigning Forum in Oxford, which is a two day gathering of web and campaigning people from NGOs for discussions and idea-sharing. It’s an excellent event – I came away with loads of ideas and a strong feeling that Irish charity web people should be getting together too!

So I’m putting the word out to web people in Irish NGOs to see if there’d be any interest in getting together once a month (or thereabouts) for some friendly discussion sessions. I’m just thinking about informal, sociable evenings where we could discuss things like tools, best practices, social networks, interesting charity initiatives that we’ve seen, and so on.

Let me know what you think – if there’s a reasonable amount of interest, I will get a group or web page of some kind set up so that we can communicate and arrange a time and place. You can contact me on hello@jeanobrien.com, or leave a comment below if you have any suggestions or queries.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the Ecampaigning Forum, presentations and notes from the workshop are available here: ecflive.fairsay.com, and you can see a list of participants here: apply.ecampaigningforum.com/ecf2011/participants

Update:

I got a very quick and positive response after putting the word out about this on Twitter, thanks so much to all who RT’ed!  I’ve set up a Google Group so we can discuss the best way to proceed with this, so if you’re interested, please join the Google Group (make sure that you provide your full name and the name of the charity that you work for).

Click the image above to see a selection of spreads from Oxfam Action, or download a pdf of the entire issue here

Date created: Spring 2011

Web Address: www.oxfamireland.org/about/oxfam-action/

About the Project: Issue 2 of Oxfam Ireland’s magazine for supporters.  I did the complete layout and design for this issue, and also wrote a number of the articles.

ASK YOUR WEB DESIGNER FIRST.

Sorry for shouting, but I can’t count the amount of project hours that I’ve lost dealing with hosters who have bad customer service, poor systems and the inadequate services for the job at hand.  It’s particularly frustrating because I know well which Irish hosting services are good, and a simple question before making the purchase can save so much time.

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