Site Design

The short story…

We found out our old site was not very accessible. We had to do something about this.

We thought images of young people on the site would make it very clear that Connexions was there for young people.

And while we were doing the new site, we got the chance to add some new features thrown in for the price…

Unique design feature

Did you notice that the image shows the weather outside? (Well that’s the weather according to Yahoo!)  When the weather is sunny you’ll see a sunny image, when it’s rainy that’s what you’ll see. And at night time, you will get a night time screen. 

Did you see the ‘I hang out in …….’ box at the top of the screen? Scroll down until you find your nearest area. Click and you’ll get the weather for where you are. And if you’re lucky you might just see a place that you recognise.

Want to help?

We are building up our collection of photos, to use as backdrops on the site.  You can help with this. If you have got a photo you could email it to us. We can add it to the photo gallery or use it as a backdrop if it shows the weather, sunset or night time. If it was taken somewhere round here, then even better.

Hold on…you will need to do a permission form – we have to make sure whoever is in the photo agrees to the picture going on the site.  Go to the photo gallery in the active zone for more details. 

Why not email us a quiz to add? Or start a new thread on the forum page? Know any good games site with free links? Got any ideas for polls? Use the contact us page with your contribution.

The long story

Why a new website?

We needed to make sure our website was accessible to everyone. We realised that this was not possible with our other site.

How did we decide on a web company?

We talked to other Connexions Partnerships who had done some good sites and then got in touch with their web companies. 

They came to see us and told us about their company, what they could do, what experience they had working with young people and developing sites that young people might like. Two young people who are really interested in website were there to hear what these companies had to say.

We chose Solid State Group who had worked with Connexions in Essex.

What did we ask them to do?

Originally we asked them to combine the Jurassic theme with modern images of young people. They came up with four ideas of how we could do this.

Why the Jurassic thing?

When the last website was created, young people thought it would be good to have a website with a Jurassic feel - this is something that is specific to this part of the country, and brings lots of visitors to the area.

We like to use images of young people when we do leaflets, magazines, posters and so on. We do this because it helps everyone to see that we are an organisation for young people to use.

What did young people think of the designs?

Nobody really got the Jurassic thing. What people wanted to see was images of young people. They liked the idea of a changing environment – the images on screen linked to the weather, day and night, location.  We really want to thank all those of you who took the time out to tell us what you thought. We hope you like the result…..

Then what?

Well, we’re assuming if you read the long story, you read the short one first…. OK just in case here’s a repeat to draw your attention to the unique feature of the site.

Did you see the ‘I hang out in … … .’ box at the top of the screen? Scroll down until you find your nearest area. Click and you’ll get the weather for where you are. And if you’re lucky you might just see a place that you recognise.

Want to help?

We are building up our collection of photos, to use as backdrops on the site.  You can help with this. If you have got a photo you could email it to us. We can add it to the photo gallery or use it as a backdrop if it shows the weather, sunset or night time. If it was taken somewhere round here, then even better.

Hold on…you will need to do a permission form – we have to make sure whoever is in the photo agrees to the picture going on the site.  Go to the photo gallery in the active zone for more details

Why not email us a quiz to add? Or start a new thread on the forum page? Know any good games site with free links? Got any ideas for polls? Use the contact us page with your contribution.