Preservation Alliance of Minnesota Website

Preservation Alliance of Minnesota WebsiteThe PAM website homepage

Client: The Preservation Alliance of Minnesota, the only statewide, private, non-profit organization advocating for the preservation of Minnesota’s historic resources

Link: www.mnpreservation.org

Role: Interactive designer and developer

Primary goal: Redesign the Alliance’s website in a well organized manner while matching the new design style of their bi-monthly magazine

Tertiary goals: Implement a back-end interface empowering the members of the Alliance to update content on their own without learning (X)HTML.  Also, switch hosting providers

Technology used: XHTML, CSS, MySQL, PHP, Wordpress

The Process

After redesigning the Alliance’s magazine The Minnesota Preservationist, I was asked to redesign their website. They were not happy with their current web host and the existing back-end was 8 years out of date, resulting in difficulty updating the site on a regular basis.

First I drafted new site architecture. After the page flow was approved, I mocked up a few different template designs in Photoshop. After a hybrid final design was chosen, I began working on the template. For back-end software I considered Wordpress, Drupal, and Joomla. I chose Wordpress because there was relatively less information throughout the website than say a site like the Minnesota Historical Society. Both Drupal and Joomla seemed like a sledgehammer in this situation.

So, I began a Wordpress template based on the previously approved mockup. I included the following in the development:

  • A header image that changed based on the primary directory chosen by the user
  • A universal navigation bar just under the header with CSS drop-down menus for sub-content
  • A sidebar on every page showing the Alliance’s three new blog categories and the three newest entries in those categories
  • RSS feed links at the bottom of every page
  • Google Analytics to track the use of the website

After designing the website and adding base content to all pages (and a good edit from Alliance members) we transitioned the hosting and made the site live. Now, Alliance members with administration rights have the power to change the content on a much more regular basis.