Client: Rochester Downtown Development Corporation

The Story

rochesterdowntown.com used to be a mashup of WordPress 2.0 and a half-implemented custom CMS. Some of the searches didn't work, data was everywhere and hidden in obscure locations, sometimes even inside Microsoft Word files just posted directly to the internet, navigation was a nightmare, and the poor folks at RDDC's offices couldn't maintain or use the bloated mess the website had become.

My boss and I determined that the website was such a mess that a fresh, up-to-date installation of WordPress would be the most efficient solution. I created the template based off a .jpg, set up menus and widgets in logical places, and determined the most efficient route so that the people at RDDC could do their own updates and content changes.

Working with the ladies at RDDC, I copied over and formatted the salient information, organized and condensed duplicate information, and produced a technical document explaining how the site worked and how RDDC could add and change content by themselves.

What I Did

  • Installed and configured WordPress 3.3
  • Created base template to lay out elements for the graphic designer
  • Copied over and reformatted all the content from the original site
  • Organized and restructured the new content
  • Helped debug the non-functioning searches
  • Custom-coded templates to automatically pick relevant images for page sidebar and top bar fluff
  • Installed, configured, and debugged various Facebook plugins
  • Helped update and debug the interactive map
  • Linked the interactive map to individual districts and simplified the information for each district
  • Created technical document detailing how WordPress was set up, what plugins were used, where to find things, etc. for easy future updates
  • Created less-technical document for the RDDC office so they could do their own updates

Screenshots

Thumbnail of Home page
Home page
Thumbnail of Restaurant search
Restaurant search
Thumbnail of Restaurant search results
Restaurant search results
Thumbnail of Restaurant search company detail
Restaurant search company detail
Thumbnail of Interactive map
Interactive map
Thumbnail of Map detail
Map detail
Thumbnail of News and social media
News and social media