Website Design Aberystwyth, Wales

Eight years on and the website that I built for Ecology Matters is beginning to look a little dated. The business owners at Ecology Matters had lots of updates that they wanted made to the content and quite a lot of re-arranging of the structure of the site too, so it was decided that it was time for a complete revamp.

The original website was a static, brochure style site to which I later added a Latest News content management system. Their new website will be completely based around a content management system allowing them to update the content and the structure of the site whenever they wish. This could of course save them money in the long run and now fits better with the staffing structure at Ecology Matters.

There is nothing wrong with their existing website and the colours and branding still fit well with their business so although the website will be re-built from the ground up, the colour scheme and many of the aesthetic changes will be an evolution of their existing site. It will of course look very different with a more airy, modern design, but at the same time I’m hoping to retain the overall feel of the website so that it isn’t too much of a radical change and so that the website will still tie in with any other printed promotional material that they have.

I’ve only just started work on the website redesign, but will hopefully have a new, fully functioning, all-singing, all-dancing modern website for them before too long. It’s good to be working on sites for long-term clients such as these.

Pixelwave Web Design has recently started work on a brand new website for Threat Resolution Ltd.

Their new website will be a Content Management Based website allowing staff members at Threat Resolution to add news articles and update the content of the site whenever they wish through an easy to use online admin panel. The site itself will explain the services offered by Threat Resolution Ltd, outline the companies quality assurance, values and codes of practice, provide latest news and contact details.

Pixelwave Design have worked on projects both large and small for the management staff at Threat Resolution so I’m pleased that they have returned with a news project for me. Repeat business is always good business.

They are usually very efficient at getting the website copy and information to me so hopefully their new website should live in the not too distant future.

I’ve just finished a second revamp of the Machynlleth Advice Centre website. New staff at the centre meant that much of the content of the site required changing with a new emphasis on what they can do and how they can help people in the local community. This led to a re-think of the information architecture of the site and a complete overhaul of the pages and the content of those pages.

The design has remained almost identical to the site I built for them at the beginning of the year but I had to tweak it a little in order to accommodate the new content and had to add a new menu structure. All of the new information is now live on their site and they seem to be pleased with it which is always good to hear.

Advice Machynlleth Website Design

I’m pleased to announce the launch of a brand new website for Geoscience Wales Ltd. designed and produced by Pixelwave Web Design.

Geoscience Wales Website Design

Geoscience Wales Limited is a not-for-profit company based in North Wales that supplies a diverse range of services and products in the petroleum, mineral, geotechnical and sustainable energy sectors.

They approached me earlier in the year asking for a new website. After an initial consultation with one of their members, an evaluation of their previous website and some emails, I produced a proposal document outlining what I thought was the best approach for their new web presence. This was greeeted with great excitment so I soon started building a brand new website for them.

The new website is based around a Content Management System (CMS) which allows staff members at the Geoscience Wales Ltd. offices to add to and update the website whenever they wish. As well as information about the company, the website will contain lists of associate members and information pertaining to forthcoming lectures, meetings and conferences. It is also hoped that they will use it as a tool for sharing news from the world of geoscience. The CMS is easy to use so the site can be updated on a regular basis without the need for specialist knowledge or any additional cost.

The site has been ready to go live for a while but I’ve been waiting for the new content before it was launched. Last week I had a telephone conference with the staff member charged with maintaining the site using the new CMS and talked her through the admin panel. She was amazed at the ease of use and has since started updating the site with new content so it was launched earlier this week.

I’m pleased with the overall look of the site. It is very much a professional website aimed at professionals from an academic or geoscience background. With this in mind I kept the layout simple and to the point without too many flourishes, but still managed to produce what we all think is an attractive, easy to use and authoritative looking website.

I only hope they use the CMS as it was intended and update the site as often as possible so as to make the most of it now that it is live and running.

Pixelwave Web Design is pleased to announce that it has recently started work on the website re-design and modernisation of a site for Pennawd.

Pennawd is a Welsh to English and English to Welsh translation service based in Cardiff. They offer translation services to a wide range of businesses and other clients across Wales. They have developed a robust customer base which includes public bodies, private companies and charities, and covers a wide range of translation and Welsh-language provision.

Their website was basic and dated so they approached Pixelwave Web Design recently to help them bring it up to date and to more closely represent their growing, dynamic business. As part of the project I evaluated their current website and offered various suggestions and proposal that would improve it whilst maintaining aspects of the site that we felt were worth keeping.

I have now started work on the site re-build. The new website will be a bilingual brochure-style website with a bright, modern, appealing design. English and Welsh language versions will be given equal standing whilst ensuring that the website is still easy to navigate and easy to use. The nature of the content dictates little in the way of imagery so the design will be made bright and cheerful but with little in the way of photos or graphics. It is a business site however, aimed at business clients so it will have to have a professional edge to it as well.

Work is well underway on the initial layout, there’s a sneak preview as a teaser below. I’m now awaiting the final copy for each of the pages before finishing off the site and launching it soon.

Website Design Teaser

Pixelwave Web Design has recently started work on a brand new website design for a Welsh Holiday Cottage. The proposed website is intended as a promotional tool for the accommodation, a Self Catering Cottage, in Mid Wales.

The website will provide information on the accommodation, highlight the local attractions and the peaceful, tranquil surroundings, provide information on the history of the cottage and the associated farm and will also of course provide contact and booking details. It will showcase the property and its unique selling points.

The nature of the content dictates that the site needs to have a professional look and feel with a bright, clean interface that will appeal to a wide range of people. Due to the setting of the cottage a rural colour scheme will be used, drawing inspiration from the hills, woodlands and streams of the Mid Wales countryside. An organic, soft design with plenty of local recreational and farming imagery will be used. The site will be easy to navigate and welcoming.

Central the website will be a ‘highlights feature’ that will draw attention to the unique selling points of the property of which it has many.

Work on the design is coming along nicely and I hope to have it ready for the clients first look soon. No doubt there will some changes needed after that before it is fully approved and ready to go live. Here’s a sneak preview though can you tell what it is yet?

Website design sneak preview

I’m currently working on a website re-design for Blue Island Ceramics.

As part of the re-design I shall be converting the website from a static site into a Content Management System based website. The Content Management System will allow the website owners to to easily, quickly  and free of charge keep the sites content up to date.

The website itself will also have a makeover to make it appeal more to family’s with young children, rather than the more sophisticated, corporate feel that it had before.

The new site should be released soon. Here’s a sneak preview.

Website Re-Design

The new Content Management System (CMS) based website for motorbike adventurer Nick Sanders is now live.

Nick initially approached Pixelwave Web Design with work to update and maintain his old website, which I and successfully been doing for a number of months. However, as the business relationship developed and the website became a more integral part of Nick’s operations it was clear that the existing site was dated, difficult to update and that in the long run it would be more effective for him to have a brand new website based on a Content Management System. This would allow him and his staff to update and add to the website whenever he wished, saving money on ongoing website maintenance.

In addition to the CMS aspects of the new website, it gave us an opportunity to re-design the site to work better on modern web browsers and mobile devices, speed up the site and add some new features including a latest news section and some easy to use video embedding techniques. The website is now also better integrated with Nicks Social Media presence on Facebook and Twitter.

Pixelwave Website Design wish him all the best with his motorbike adventures and look forward to working on his next project which is currently in the pipeline.

Nick Sanders CMS Website Design

Forums may be a little old hat, but sometimes they are just the ticket and that was the case for the Brecon Beacons Tourism Partnership website.

Pixelwave Web Design built the Brecon Beacons Tourism Partnership website several years ago and has continued to update it from time to time. Over the years it has eveolved from a website aimed at tourists, promoting tourism events and providers in the area to a site centred around the tourism providers themselves and the tourism industry in the Brecon Beacons. Due to this evolution it was felt by the stakeholders that the website needed to provide a way for the individual providers and members of the Tourism Partnership to communicate with each other. In addition the administrators of the site also wanted a way to publish news stories and share documentation such as minutes of committee meetings between its members.

The best solution to this was a forum with some fairly complicated access privileges. Forums would allow members to post topics of interest to themselves and other members and reply to such topics. This would give members the ability to share information, discuss developments within the Brecon Beacons and the wider world of tourism and give each member a voice within the group. It is hoped that such collaboration will in turn benefit tourism in the Brecon Beacons as a whole and encourage new members to sign up to the group.

Pixelwave Web Design has recently finished building this addition to the website. As well as forums that allow the members to add threads, polls and reply to existing posts, there are certain forums that are only accessible to administrators, some that only admins can start a topic in but other members can post in and some that are accessible to members of the public as well as members of the Brecon Beacons Tourism. Members and administrators are also able to upload documents as attachements that can be shared between members and we have set up a DropBox folder that allows larger files such as PowerPoint presentations to be shared as well.

I have also added nice little touches such as the fact that signature files are automatically generated for the members based on their listings within the site directory. This means that,

1. Members don’t have to create a separate signature file for the forums
2. It shows off their directory listing on every post they make
3. It should encourage members to post in the forums because each post they make gives them and their directory listing more exposure
4. It should encourage members to keep their directory listing up to date
5. It adds an extra dimension of integration between the forums and the directory listings.

The forums are quite new at the moment so now it is up to the site administrators to encourage their members to get posting in them. I’m pleased with the level of integration of the forums with the existing site. The look, feel and most importantly functionality fits perfectly and the new forums should be as familiar to the members as the rest of the site has become. Certain aspects were quite a challenge, but its always nice to go back and work on sites that you’ve built and know your way around.

BBT Forums

The Bro Ddyfi Advice Centre Machynlleth has a brand new website thanks to Pixelwave Web Design.

Their new brochure style website explains the help and advice they can offer and how to contact them. Based in Machynlleth, Wales the advice centre provides an independent, free, impartial and confidential Advice Service to everyone.

Bro Ddyfi Advice Centre Machynlleth Website Design