Baptist Milestone.com

I haven’t been in the habit of updating this blog… ever. But I wanted to mark the launch of the new Baptist East Milestone Wellness Center site.

I recently helped Jay Lane Media finish up this project, which had seen several iterations and developers. Due to a heap of varying circumstances, the previous developers were unable to complete the site to the needs of the client. So I stepped in to help wrap everything up and finally launch this site which had been in progress for over a year.

While a considerable amount of code was in place, including versions of the now-live class scheduler, there was still a lot of work to be done. Among which was:

• Speed optimizations
• Transition of many elements such as the homepage from static images to readable, accessible, editable text
• Outline of a upgrade path as well as definition of which CMS utilites would be left accessible to the end client and which would only be accessible to the admin
• Security upgrades
• Rebuild several forms to match updated functionality requirements
• Cross-browser testing
• Provide a client-updatable system for controlling their personal trainer listings and other staff
• Rewrite parts of the class scheduler to allow interface options such as a weekly listing of classes

Some features of the site:

• Event Scheduler – filterable via AJAX, added Weekly tab, updated design to match client’s needs
• Membership Form – input data, receive customized printable trial membership card
• Section-specific collapsed navigation – you don’t need to see all 500 subpages of other child or grandchild pages in the same category. Doesn’t sound like much, but WordPress can make this a little bit of a pain at times.
• Customized backend – thanks to manipulation of theme’s functions.php file
• Security and speed optimizations via minification and .htaccess manipulation

Tech used: Photoshop CS5, Espresso, CSS3, HTML5, Javascript/JQuery/AJAX, MySQL, WordPress, PHP

TL;DR: Redid a bunch of existing work and added increased functionality, working both from designer’s PDFs and my own design elements, for both content pages and dynamic forms and content areas.

A Thorough Fare Screen Shot

A Thorough Fare is a local event and wedding planning company. Founded by Marcie Hancock over a decade ago, they have booked weddings and events for everyone from Jack Conway to your sister’s ex-boyfriend’s cousin.

The site is static XHTML/CSS with some ajax effects thrown in for the photo galleries and PHP on the contact form.