Creating a website in a day!
Back in October we were honoured to be part of the Cheltenham WordPress do_action day. These events are charity hackathons that use WordPress to help provide local charities with an online presence. The first ever do_action day in Europe was held in Bristol in 2017, which we were also a part of, and this was the second in the UK.
Laura was the project manager of a “dream team” made up of two developers, a designer and Claire who was responsible for the website content. We volunteered to take on the redesign of the website for Swindon Village Community Hall in Cheltenham. Alongside us were another three teams who built websites for other local charities, namely Heart Heroes, The Sedbury Trust, and CADCAF. As you can imagine, there was quite a buzz in the room!
What we learnt
Preparation is key
Despite being called a do_action day, we needed to spend a couple of days preparing up front. We met with the charity representatives to gather requirements for the project and write the website content. Emma, the designer, prepared a couple of branding options.
Teamwork makes all the difference
We had never all worked together as a team so it was key that we all pulled together. The great thing about our team was that we all supported each other and the less technical members of the team felt happy to ask questions.
Be realistic – it’s only a day!
The final website is functional and attractive, but we all had to make compromises and prioritise the ‘must haves’.
The WordPress community is fantastic
There were over 20 people from the WordPress community involved in the day, all of whom gave up their time for free.
This will make a difference to the charities involved
By taking away some of the overhead of creating a website, this allows the charities to concentrate on what they do best.
The new website
The new website is now live and has received great feedback from the charity committee and the local community. The key features of the website are.
Viewing upcoming events
This allows user to see upcoming events in an easy tabular format.
Room bookings
The features of each room and a ‘call the action’ to book them.
View The New Site
Get involved!
If you are someone who is involved in WordPress as a designer, developer or copywriter we can highly recommend taking part in one of these charity days. You learn so much, meet great people and make a difference!
