The Leap Case Study
When we started working with The Leap we realized very quickly that we needed something a little meatier than your average content managed site. We needed to make a site that blended spur-of-the-moment functionality, easy navigation and superior search engine presence. We needed something that could be updated quickly by non-technical administrators – something that provided them with the flexibility to change EVERY facet of the site. Something that would allow them to do practically anything with the site, whilst maintaining automated control over key areas such as functionality and design.
In short, we needed to give The Leap the ability to change everything, without breaking anything.
Nearly every one of our websites is content managed in some way, and every single one of them is coded bespoke to requirements. We don’t believe in off-the-shelf solutions. They’re usually expensive, clunky and inadaptable. But due to the scale of The Leap’s intended functionality even our CMS wasn’t up to the task. So our developers got together and looked at how we could make a totally modular, completely flexible system that could evolve and grow over time and still remain totally search engine friendly and usable.
What we’ve come up with is pretty clever.
We worked closely with staff at The Leap bringing a whole heap of ideas together to create a powerful website that could be updated, altered and added to in an instant whilst keeping the overall design and navigation intact. We produced an interactive gallery uploader that allows administrators to resize, crop and move images, and even adds photo masks with alpha channels. It employs a powerful WYSIWYG editor which means creating content pages is a cinch. It also allows administrators to add and amend core functionality, navigation and site structure, again without impinging on the design, accessibility and usability of the site. Powerful error traps have been put in place which can spot when an administrator makes a mistake and fix it, often without any human intervention, meaning the site can self heal and that all content is consistent and beautifully presented. A powerful blogging engine allows both administrators and end users to give up-to-the-minute news and reviews on their trips making the site jam packed with relevant, good quality content.
And it’s always growing. With new packages being placed on the site and blogs updated all the time the site’s growing in popularity and rank and we can’t wait to launch phase 3!
