New Addition: Bipolar Fellowship Scotland
http://www.bipolarscotland.org.uk
Just added to the portfolio is the new web site for Bipolar Fellowship Scotland. The project replaces a homemade Front Page site which was well past its time. We sat down to map out the project on 4 November (for some odd reason that date sticks in my head) and, considering the time lost to the holidays, three months for a project of this scope is quite satisfying.
The site was built on WordPress with a very heavily modified Arthemia magazine theme, WPEcommerce, CFormsII, Event Calendar, WP-Highslide, and the usual favourites in my WordPress bag of tricks.
The project did, of course, aim to achieve good practice in accessibility for cognitive disabilities, and early indications are that we hit all the right targets (no matter what Cynthia Says.) The specific CSS edits were fascinating to learn about. With my work for MND Scotland, I was designing for people whose bodies are not working as they should but whose minds are intact. With bipolar disorder, the body is working just fine but the mind is not working as it should. And unlike MND, the condition comes and goes from day to day. So the challenge was to accommodate the cognitive issues without “dumbing down” or oversimplifying the site in ways that would alienate both service users and casual site visitors. It was a good reminder that accessibility is not achieved by ticking boxes and some realistic concessions must always be made.
As a magazine themed project, BFS will be able to use this site to showcase their latest news and events all over Scotland. It has been set up so that updates appear in the proper places automatically.
I’m rather proud of this project, both for pushing WordPress the way The Stig pushes a car and making it purr, and for the good feeling of helping a small charity to punch above their weight.
