Our Website - The Design Details
We commissioned local creative fieldMEDIA to design the new Maidstone Town Centre Management website.
Managing director of fieldMEDIA Kevin Field outlines below the thought process and design layout of the new website.
The brief:
fieldMEDIA was commissioned to design a modern accessible and easy
to use website. A website that informs visitors of the what, when,
where and how of Maidstone Town Centre and MTCMI.
Additionally the site should fit and adhere to the 'MTCMI' style
guide created by Advertising agency Pillory Barn.
The Website:
This is a fresh, modern and effortlessly viewable website for Maidstone Town Centre
Management. It encompasses a web2 feel in it's design, the technology
used to create and in its ethos.
Navigation:
The layout allows for top bar navigation, left column menu and a
quick links navigation panel. This offers a visitor the ability to navigate around
the site within three clicks to any destination.
Quick links navigation:
We designed a quick links menu button and panel at the base of each page using
Icons and text to relate to the viewer.
This menu area can be monitored and adapted to reflect traffic to
the website. The idea of a quick link menu is that visitors can get
to 'Most Wanted' areas of the site easily and quickly.
Main Body Text:
Each page has a familiar main body centred text area which contains
the main information for that page.
Right menu feeder text:
We have created text in the right menu to feed viewers to other
pages. In each section the person browsing will be able to click
through to other pages on the site. The text in this area is 50%
black in an easy to read font.
Accessibility:
We created an easy to navigate and accessible website and pages,
avoiding complicated graphics, giving the website a clean cut modern look.
The site was also created with
internet users who have disabilities in mind. We believe the pages of this
website are in line with the World Wide Web Consortium's Content
Accessibility Guidelines.
We have:
Provided alt attributes to images on this site to describe the
function of each visual.
If and when we have used image maps, we have created text hotspots.
Created text that makes sense when read out linked to Hypertext
links.
Page Construction, we have used headings, lists and consistent
structure throughout the site and utilised CSS for layout.
Provided alternative content to scripts, applets, & plug-ins. We
have created active features that replace inaccessible or
unsupported features.
We have avoided using any frames.
Any tables used are based on a line by simple to read layout.
All work is checked and validated using online validation tools.
We have used the tools, checklist, and guidelines available at
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG
Additionally we created a text only version of the site, so that it
is accessible to users with disabilities. You can access this from
the accessibility area or via text only versions on the left hand menu.
Links:
Instead of creating and individual link page, we decided to follow
more of an organic route to links to other sites.
Although a links
page can be created at a further date.
Throughout the site you will find useful links related to the topics
of each page. In addition you will find links within the
members section of the website.
Contact details:
For any business based website it is important for the viewer to
find out how to contact the company on any page and at any time. We
have created a contact form, but also a graphic with the main
contact details available on each page.
The main contacts page will list all available contacts for the MTCM
team.
Blog:
We have utilised a Wordpress blog system to provide a section of the
website that MTCM staff can update on a regular basis, without the
need for web design knowledge.
This area can be used to promote events and include the very latest
news from Maidstone TCM.
We have also provided training on how to use this area of the website.
Design:
We created the design elements of the site using the existing
Maidstone Town Centre Style guide. This includes the TCM logo,
anchor icon of the 'lady with shopping bags' and the familiar
Maidstone blue curve.
We also used a mixture of pictures to create the header image on
each page.
The site itself was designed using a CSS style sheet and XHTML. We have
checked the sites compatibility with different browsers.
Advertising space:
We have created several different advertising options on the
website. Clients can either pay for a right hand text space of one
paragraph to link to their site or they can pay for banner
advertisements.
Banner sizes are 180 x 150, 300 x 250, 354x 198 and 150 by 400.
About fieldMEDIA:
Were a creative ideas media company. We design, produce and build websites,
we create Podcast audio, online video and provide media training, manage events and
offer marketing support services.
Our managing director Kevin Field
is also an accomplished radio presenter and producer.
If you would like to find out more contact Kevin at
fieldMEDIA.
www.fieldmedia.co.uk
Tel: 07970 789 715
info@fieldmedia.co.uk
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