Weekly Update - WK. 5

PROGRESS UPDATE:

Mostly individual work, as all team members have lists of tasks to accomplish.

WHAT LEARNED / STEPS TO BE TAKEN:

1. Continue to pour over WP tutorials and Codex in preparation for assembling the site.

2. Continue to figure out exactly which plugins we are going to go with, and exactly how we are going to implement every aspect of the site.

MY TOTAL TIME TO THIS POINT: 27.25 hours.

Wed 7/27 -- no meeting

No team/class meeting today. Continuing to work on individual developer tasks:

• Finalize choices for all plugins.
• Pour over WP tutorials and Codex in preparation for assembling the site. Closely go over Bill's requirements for the dev & test folders, and the creation of the wp-system folder, to understand how the site is transferred over when the time comes (i.e. why dev & test need to be in the same folder).
  

Mon 7/25 -- no meeting

No team/class meeting today, but do have some additional individual tasks requested by the designers:

• Locate a hi-res version of the GCJ logo in the old site files. (DONE)
• Settle on a Facebook plugin, so the designers know what they're working with.
• Locate a carousel plugin for the homepage spotlight?

Weekly Update - WK. 4

PROGRESS UPDATE:

Time is quickly growing short, so the developers need to get our plan for Wordpress done (including having a complete understanding of the purpose behind the dev & test instances and securing all necessary plugins) for when the designers hand the project over to us. Lotta work to do next week.

WHAT LEARNED / STEPS TO BE TAKEN:

1. We need to pour over WP tutorials and Codex in preparation for assembling the site.

2. We need to figure out exactly which plugins we are going to go with, and exactly how we are going to implement every aspect of the site.

MY TOTAL TIME TO THIS POINT: 19.75 hours.

7/20 Class meeting

Notes from class and our developer meeting with Bill:

• From class, WP tutorials: "Template tags" in WP are simply PHP functions with a fancy name!
• Bill strongly suggested we not move the site over to a new server (e.g. Dreamhost) in the absence of a compelling reason, due to time concerns. Also, we may encounter problems later with switching the listserve for the newsletter over to Dreamhost.
• However, if the move is absolutely necessary, look into the possibility of getting a free hosting account w/ Dreamhost due to GCJ's 501c(3) nonprofit status?
• Look into possibility of developing under an alternate domain name, obtained from dogster.com
• I need to closely go over Bill's requirements for the dev & test folders, and the creation of the wp-system folder, to understand how the site is transferred over when the time comes (i.e. why dev & test need to be in the same folder).
• We need to keep in mind that because the site is so content-rich, our plugins may place demands on the server's database that could cause problems later on. We may need to create a new DB prefix like "wp_(client name)_".
• Regarding the need for addressing users in poor countries with slow connection speeds, Bill suggested looking into a plugin that would allow the user to switch themes, to something less taxing for a slow connection.

TIME SPENT: 2 hours.

7/18 Team Meeting

Notes from our team meeting on 7/18:

• Tasks for developers:


• We're going to keep working to locate the best slideshow plugin, which gives the most options while still being extremely user-friendly for the client.
• We still need to find plugins for most other areas of site development (see post). It does appear that the current plugin for newsletters is sufficient for the client's needs.
• Kevin suggested we look into the "Thumbnail for Excerpts" plugin. Also, look into all-in-one SEO plugin.
• Look into transferring site from HostMySite over to Dreamhost. We discussed the timing of this as a group, as at some point the client will have to create an account there and supply their credit card info. We agreed as a group to recommend that the client keep the domain registration with GoDaddy.
• Look into creating Amazon Affiliate links (like on Mike Sinkula's site), which will give the client a cut of book sales from the site.
• During the meeting, we located the official Twitter app on Facebook, which coordinates posts on the two sites. This will be handy for the client, who is comfortable with Facebook but not Twitter.

TIME SPENT: 2 hours.

Weekly Update - WK. 3

PROGRESS UPDATE:

After the client meeting on Wednesday 7/13, we are getting closer to moving beyond planning and getting into the "meat-and-potatoes" of the project.

WHAT LEARNED / STEPS TO BE TAKEN:

1. I have begun research into plugins, and focused initially on the most important one, an image slideshow plugin. Beyond the 3 reviews I posted, I also plan to do extra credit reviews on WP plugins for Flickr and Picasa, to see if those might be a better fit for the client.

2. Ty and I will also need to find plugins for the following: video uploading (preferably through Vimeo), an Events Calendar (integrating w/ Google Cal?), an interactive map (w/ Google Maps?), a newsletter subscription plugin, a contact form plugin (Contact 7?), and a plugin to integrate form input with Google spreadsheets (for easy collection of information).

3. Other possible plugins include: a Twitter feed, and a FAQ page.

4. Mike Sinkula recommended that instead of plugins in some cases, like a homepage spotlight, he'll opt to use custom fields instead. This is new to me, so this will take some research.

MY TOTAL TIME TO THIS POINT: 15.75 hours.

7/13 Client Meeting

Notes from our group meeting with Susan Portnow of Global Citizen Journey:

• We already had a pretty good idea of the client's needs and goals from our meeting with Jeannine. However, since Susan will be approving most aspects of the site, we felt that it would be a good idea to meet her and get her direct input on the project.
• The designers completed a great Information Architecture for the meeting.
• Susan wants a blog on the homepage, perhaps an aggregate newsfeed of the blogs on the various project pages, with image thumbnails.
• Susan approved of the idea of a jQuery plugin to display images in the form of a gallery or slideshow, and we agreed that she may want to stick with Vimeo for now for video hosting (since there is a time limit on YouTube, and their one video is about 30min).
• Susan sent us GCJ's existing applications for new interns and volunteers, for us to extrapolate fields to go into the Contact page form. Kevin suggested that Ty and I look into Contact 7 plugin for the form.
• Susan says that she would be willing to spend a little money on WP plugins if necessary (hopefully less than $30), but we assured her we would try to find free ones if possible.
• Susan confirmed that we can bypass the Store page.
• I reiterated the hit-or-miss nature of SEO, which Susan understood. I also re-emphasized to her that I am a big proponent of Twitter, for networking, for educating, and for SEO. She understood, but did not seem too thrilled at the necessity of "one more thing to learn."

TIME SPENT: 1.75 hours.

Weekly Update - WK. 2

PROGRESS UPDATE:

After the team meeting on Wednesday 7/6, we now have a list of specific tasks for the developers, designers, and project manager to proceed further on the project.

WHAT LEARNED / STEPS TO BE TAKEN:

1. My "Dev" and "Test" WP instances are installed.

2. See previous post for detailed list of developer tasks, for Ty and I to get started on.

3. Erin will be creating a team calendar, to be linked in the client staging area.

4. We will attempt to schedule a meeting with the client for next week, to clarify some unresolved questions.

MY TOTAL TIME TO THIS POINT: 11 hours.

7/6/11 Team Meeting

Notes from our team meeting on 7/6, brainstorming on tasks to proceed:

• Tasks for developers:


• Locate a possible Wordpress plugin for jQuery slideshows that will allow the client to easily update the photos themselves.
• Find a suitable Wordpress calendar plugin for events and project span dates.
• Find a possible Wordpress plugin for creating an interactive map, to pinpoint project locations (a simple Google Maps plugin may not be sufficient).
• Find a possible Wordpress plugin to allow client to easily upload videos to YouTube and have them appear on the site.
• Begin to prepare forms and database for new volunteer / delegate / donor forms, to record information and report to client. Will need to clarify with client what information exactly will need to be collected.
• Investigate possibility of e-newsletter being integrated with the blog, sending notice to subscribers when new post is made.
• Investigate details of the client's Amazon affiliate membership, and what steps would need to be taken for the client to receive a cut of sales from the books listed on their site.
• Find a possible Wordpress plugin for a simple FAQ page.
• Ask client whether we can bypass the Store page for now (sounds like they aren't ready to proceed with the store at this time).
• Find the organization's current logo from the files downloaded from the client's server.
• Test password for Google Analytics and WordPress admin supplied by Tyler Peckenpaugh.

TIME SPENT: .5 hours.

6-29-11 Client Meeting

Notes from our group meeting with Jeannine Florance of Global Citizen Journey:

• We already had a pretty good idea of the client's needs and goals from the client survey filled out by Susan Partnow on Mike's website. However, the meeting with Jeannine (Susan is still in Africa until next week) shed some more light on what exactly GCJ wants to accomplish:
• They feel their current site is much too busy, with too much copy. They want to feature their photo collections (perhaps with jQuery slideshows) and videos more extensively.
• They want to have a blog, an events section, an e-newsletter, and feature more prominent links to their sections on various projects and other resources.
• They definitely want to have more of a "Web 2.0" presence, including integrating the blog with Facebook. One of Jeannine's questions to us was whether "it makes sense for them to tweet," to which I responded "absolutely yes without a doubt!" (as Twitter helps immensely with networking, SEO, and disseminating information)
• They would like their site to be a source of education on the various countries involved in their projects.
• They may like to do a products section down the road, including t-shirts and greeting cards. They currently have a section with links to books from Amazon, but no one has enable the function where GCJ gets a percentage of those orders.
• They like the site for EarthJustice... this could give some direction to the designers.
• They would like to do some SEO and will have suggestions on industry-specific keywords, but Jeannine was receptive to our warnings that SEO tactics are often a "hit-or-miss" endeavor when it comes to final Google rankings.
• We agreed to have some benchmarks, to be signed off on by Susan, in order to avoid scope creep.
• User demographics: typical users for the site are either college students looking for global jobs or public affairs jobs, or retirees making $70K+ who have travelled and have an interest in the region. They would like to attract both new volunteers, who would be locally based, and delegates, who would travel to the countries where the project is occurring.
• The current (reluctant) webmaster of the site is Susan's son, Tyler Peckenpaugh. He is not very fond of Wordpress, and may require a bit of training after the redesign is complete. From the information provided by Jeannine, I was able to access the server (HostMySite) control panel and create a new FTP user for the team, and download all the contents of the site (500MB). I got in contact with Tyler to get additional passwords for Wordpress admin, Google Analytics, and the old site stats.
• More notes from Bill's Client Interview Checklist:
• There is currently a MySQL database included, and applications installed (e.g. a donation button, cart).
• The organization is a 501(c)3, but they seem happy with their current host.

TIME SPENT: 1.25 hours.