Checkpoint Four

Checkpoint Four

This checkpoint covers 3 goals:

1. Image and media implementation

2. Content implementation

3. Colour implementation

I will cover each of these goals in this blog.

Content Implementation

First of all, I worked on adding content in place of my Lorem Ipsum placeholder text, due to my inexperience with this type of content I had to do some research in order to find out what lawyer websites generally use as their content filler whilst also incorporating keywords. I may have to revisit the structure of this content in the following checkpoint where we implement SOE aspects to our website.

Every page besides the contact page has some form of text content, this has all been replaced with the content I intend to actually be there for the finished product. In reality, this content would be done in tandem with the client in order to get across their intention whilst also retaining effective SEO practices.

Colour Implementation

Pretty much all of my colour has already been completed by this point, I have applied my colour scheme as I intended except for the Our Team page where I have implemented a purple background

in replacement for a light blue, the purple carries more of a warm effect whilst retaining the professional effect. It also fits well with the navy blue used in the footer and nav bar.

My colour theme, in the end, was rather simplistic which I feel is important for this type of website which is trying to get across a couple of points and not holding a wealth of complex interaction on the page. Due to the nature of the type of the website we are producing which is essentially a business advertisement with minimal dynamic features, it is important to keep a simple aesthetic that accomplishes the goal we are focusing on.

Image and Media Implementation

I do not have a huge health of image and media implementation but I have a small variety showing my ability to implement different types of plugins.

Image Carousel

The first implementation is a carousel on my About Us page, this houses three images of 'staff members'. It cycles through automatically every couple of seconds. I did not make it possible to click on the images and select them in lightbox fashion because the images are already very large so it is not necessary.

Lightbox Plugin

On my Our Team page I implemented lightbox functionality for the staff pictures, on the page I have thumbnails, once clicked on they are blown up and the full version of the picture is shown. This is demonstrated below. Once an image is open in lightbox the user can browse through the other lightbox images on this page. Lightbox allows users to view higher resolution images without placing them all on your page which slows down the initial loading speed.

Google Maps/Contact form Plugins

I am not completely sure if this counts for this section although I will speak on the implementation of a google map & a contact form. Instead of using the long form way of implementing a google map plugin which involved entering credit card details I have opted to instead simply embed an <iframe> link to a google map in my site. This can accomplish the same goal with less time involved.

I have also included a standard contact form which acts as a way to quickly send a message to the business in the case that there may be some form of general inquiry that users would not feel suitable using email for, this is also fewer steps than emailing which will result in more overall contact with potential clients.

Problems Encountered

My problem(s) with this stage essentially boiled down to the production of content, which I needed to do research on in order to get something that felt right, following this I still feel that it is lacking in that there could be a lot more. Although not too much more because people do not and likely will not want to read many words when deciding if they will use the service or not. Unless they are looking for a particular service.

The other aspects of this checkpoint did not provide many problems.

Design Choices

For design choices this stage I opted to put a purple background on the Our Team page, I explained this above. I also added icons to our services page, I retained a simple format with simple icons that relate the service in an intuitive way. I believe they help the page's attractiveness considerably without making it significantly busier.

Conclusion

Overall this checkpoint had minimal work involved thanks to how much work I did in the previous checkpoints, the next milestone will likely carry more work as SEO is a more involved process in which I have to be consistent across also my pages. I would like to have had more time in order to refine my site's design more as I get a feeling of its imperfection whilst browsing it.