The following are some (not all) of the projects Web Strands have been involved in. I would like to acknowledge the clients who have allowed the project costs to be publicised.
These projects provide a cross-section of complexities and clients.
- AMBRI (Public site) - research - medium sized business
- AMBRI (IntraNet site) - very different duties
- Eyesite Laser Centre - medical - small business
- AorTech Biomaterials - research - medium business
- Particle and Surface Sciences - agency/sales business
- Macsound - Theatrical lighting, sound and accessories - small business
- The Brief Group - legal consultancy - small business
- NEITA - a club of IT people
- Clean Up Australia - needs no introduction
Australian Membrane and Biotechnology Research Institute (AMBRI)
This is the public site, a large site contain both scientific and more traditional corporate information. The site was developed totally by Web Strands with imagery provided by AMBRI from their other publishing sources (as per Annual Reports, etc).
This is the second generation of this site. The first generation coincided with the launch of the biosensor technology (TV, journals and newspapers world-wide) and had three layers;
- Plain English for general public and journalist's quotes
- Technical layer explaining the science behind the technology
- Proof layer containing the scientific papers
A large exercise which paid a Return on Investment in many ways. One was that the receptionist would point casual enquiries, school/university enquiries and journalists towards the web site rather than tie up personnel with repeated explanations - while important calls and potential collaborators (research or investment) were passed to appropriate personnel.
The AMBRI internal site
(behind a firewall) is a different project focused on providing three separate roles;
- Information management (project reports, budgets, financials,
- A document storage providing access to Health & Safety, Human Resources, IT and other mostly static documentation
- A more "community" focused realm providing more social oriented material
The white headings are above a set of links which allow rapid access to strategically useful documents (saves burrowing through the site). The Red text (just visible top left) is actually an area where a paragraph or two from the CEO appears - and there is a Java applet which allows the CEO to make changes on the fly (no HTML knowledge required).
There is a similar page for each of the three realms (Information/Reporting, Document Store, Community) with each designated manager having their own announcement region in red.
The site uses colour schemes which are equally effective for people with colour perception difficulties (essential as one of the managers was red/green colour blind).
Eyesite Laser Centre
This company required a high quality site with a dual role. It acts as a promotional sales brochure. But its second task is to provide clearly understood information regarding the various eye defects and, the unfounded worrying of a laser being used to treat the eye.
It is worth noting that one of the major design issues was that, obviously, most of the people who visit this site have eye sight problems and the site was designed with this in mind.
AorTech Biomaterials
A medium size company involved in research, development and manufacturing of biomedical materials.
The site was designed to publicise the materials, their scientific characteristics and their uses.
The audience was seen to be General Public, product purchasers, manufacturing collaborators, research collaborators. Each requiring different material to address their needs.
Particle & Surface Sciences Pty Ltd
This is one of the largest sites we have built containing hundreds of products spread across 450 web pages and using about 5.5 megabytes of disk space.
It is a very fast site as every page has been built with industry standard HTML - nothing fancy to slow downloading or screen rendering.
It is also extremely easy to locate what the Visitor desires. We have developed a number of ways of accessing the products. For example, find by analytical technique, find by manufacturer, find by characteristic being tested and more.
It is worth noting that PsS is a reseller of a major US brand in their field. Many US clients actually find the PsS site easier to use than the US one - unfortunately PsS has to fax those leads back to US, their agency doesn't cover that region, nor the Europe which also uses the site.
The site was listed with search engines at its inception some 6 years ago - and I haven't talked to the engines since - yet the strong text construction, clear HTML and good document structure mean it is still returned as a highly relevant site for searches on relevant keywords.
Project estimates: about $2,000 for initial construction and $1,000 per year keeping it current and accurate.
Hosting:
WebBusiness web server
Macsound
A small theatrical supplies company which has many streams of clients;
- Those that need to purchase equipment
- Those that need to hire Macsound to manage the lighting or sound at their function
- Function/theatrical accessories (fireworks, makeup, etc)
- Many of their clients are rural schools
The design objective was to prepare a site which was quick to load (older school equipment), attractive yet allowed the client (Macsound) to make changes as their product availability and pricing changed.
This was accomplished by preparing a web framework into which Adobe® PDF™ files are uploaded. This also has the advantage of providing printable files to Macsound's clients.
Project estimates: about $500 initial construction and no cost maintaining (self updating)
Hosting: WebVenture web server
The Brief Group
Two lawyers involved in the workplace safety arena banded together to for The Brief Group.
The objective was to prepare a site quickly which matched the printed materials they had already commissioned.
New England Information Technology Association (NEITA)
An association of people from a rural region.
The audience was defined as; members, the public, potential employers (of members) and as such need to be fast and clear.
The top page provides permanent links of use grouped to suit each 'audience', on the right is a region where latest announcements would appear.
Project costs: volunteered
Clean Up Australia
When Iris Communications was commissioned to prepare Clean Up Australia's first web site, they entrusted the web development to Web Strands, all the web site specific imagery for the web site was provided by Photopia which complimented the existing material that Clean Up Australia provided. This was the first edition of the site and has been replaced, in order to respect Clean Up Australia's rights, the pages Web Strands developed are not provided here live - but are available for private viewing.
