Action For Blind People

Digital agency Copious wanted a creative development team to work with them on the redevelopment of sight loss charity, Action for Blind People's website. As Copious are spearheading thinking on Inclusive Web Design, it was a very different type of build to those we are used to. It was not about compliance or conformance, but considering how diverse people using different devices experienced the website. The result is simply a great site for all to use..

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In detail...

Copious enjoy a unique relationship with Action - one of mutual respect and collaboration - and it was imperative that developers could work dynamically. Of course, the scope was water tight before we began the build, but we also worked closely together so that we could consistently tweak and improve within the given parameters.

The Foundation

Copious and Action had already used SilverStripe on another project and were keen to use it again.

As this was only the first iteration of the new Action website, we had to lay down a firm foundation for the present and the future. The key criteria for the back end development were as follows:

To utilise a CMS that would be as future proof as possible, by providing a robust, flexible and scalable development framework,
To have an intuitive and easy to use administrative interface, and;
To have all of the features and functionality that one would expect from a modern CMS while retaining full front-end Accessibility.

The Features

Copious provided a full functional scope with the understanding that it was only fixed if there wasn't a better solution. Of course, ideas needed to be considered within time and budget constraints, but it certainly provided a lot of flexibility. We worked with the scope and all of the web's best practices in mind and within this framework, we innovated, tweaked, improved upon, rejected stuff and so on.

The website's key features include:

Ambient Content Referral: signposting users to related content within the core areas of the website
News
Bespoke Blog
Events
Content Filtering
Downloads Area
Quick Email Newsletter Sign Up
Integration and extension of Accessible Media Player
Registered User Accounts
Integration and extension of Accessible Forms
Bespoke Site wide Keyword Search
Integration of Stylme: providing a PHP based versatile style switcher

What the client thought

" Working with Aab Web is an absolute joy. They have delivered above and beyond expectations and have done so without a hitch. We worked directly with Aab Web's lead developer, Aram Balakjian, who is a lovely guy, incredibly intelligent and honest. He is confident in what he knows but equally is able to be clear when he does not have the answer. His skill as a developer and his knowledge of SilverStripe are superb. He is creative, inventive and innovative, as well as a ridiculously fast problem solver. We couldn't imagine working without him and are now embarking on the next stage of development with Aab Web. "

Sandi Wassmer, Managing Director Copiouslogo