Here are my notes from the night.
Planning Your Site
By Andre Fettermann from Avocado Communications –
www.avocom.com.au
* Think about what you’re actually doing before you even start clicking.
* A website is just a channel of communication
* Often used with other media , events, point of sale, TV, press radio, promotions etc
Why? If you develop a site that doesn’t suite the communication of the business then it won’t work. Its best to combine the media together.
* These is a message that we’re always trying to pass through. Try and put it together in three words.
* Websites is a very complex channel of communication. You can demand an action from the audience.
Think before you click
* Think of your clients strategy and why they need the website.
Why does it need to be there and what does it need to do.
* Figure out their real needs. Lot of the time the client doesn’t know what they want:
increase sales, develop the business build an image, a politician would want people to vote for them.
* When you’re designing your website you need to know who you’re audience is.
Target the audience and promote to it as well.
* At the end of the day you’re not just selling a website but selling a communication tool
Reality and Perception
* What your customers think of your business might be completely different to what you think about your business. The client may have a great perception of the business but in reality, it might be different.
* Benefits vs function: what is the actual benefit of the product or service that is being sold
Websites Purpose
* Can a website help and solve the clients problem? Will it reach the target audience and meet the clients goals.
* Change unwanted perception
* promote concept or product
* sell an idea or product
* set realistic expectations and objectives
Target Profile
* Who is the website for:
define the target audience, age, gender, level of instruction, income, values, tastes, styles, likes and dislikes, motivations, needs and habits
* Define the websites functions, styles etc
* Design options, layouts
* Code
* Check site with aims and purpose
* Follow up and make sure they are doing their home work and working on the websites.
www.avocom.com.au
Save My Site
Robert talks about his site and the Waverly Public School
The school Parents and Citizen (P and C) Committee have been looking at designing and developing a website for a school.
A member of the committee create a site using Google Apps websites and the site and idea was tested but failed accessibility across all browsers.
Robert then investigates other P and C school websites and found there are hundreds of School websites that are all running Joomla. It was also mentioned by group members that there are Joomla developers that specialise in education websites and have made hundreds for schools around the country.
A few extensions Robert has uses:
* Attachment plugins
* Latest Articles by Fenri
* jEvents
“It was really nice to stumble across so many websites that are done in Joomla.” – Robert
Meeting Announcements
Joomla World Conference to be held early November in Melbourne.
You can read more about the announcement from Open Source Matters via a news article on the Joomla.org site:
community.joomla.org/events/34-event-new...rst-major-event.html
Next Meeting
* Under the hood of a websites, David Farmer talks about Project Fork and JoomFish and
* Content construction kits, some how I volunteered to speak on K2 and I believe Sasha will be talking a little too.
Thanks again to Dex – (Spike Systems) for putting together the night. It won’t happen with your commitment and organisation.
