Project Experience: Volunteering as a site builder for TGIUK

Overview: TogetherintheUK (herein referred to as TGIUK) is a social enterprise (not an official charity) that supports migrants integrating into UK society, by providing a platform for them to talk about their experiences and share their stories. The website purpose is to process donations or allow users to buy small gift items. The website also promotes the organisation and shares migrant's stories.

TGIUK were in the process of refreshing the UI of their homepage and supporting pages, so it was easier for users to navigate and get the information they were searching for. I was brought on to facilitate the frontend development and site admin tasks for deployment.

Key Responsibilities:

• Coordinated with volunteers to understand the content editing and publishing pain points they were experiencing and offered alternatives

• Took the pdf design of the homepage and implemented it on their test Wordpress site.

• Highlighted discrepancies in the design and interpreted the shortcomings with agreement from the organisation key members.

• Worked within the constraints of the DIVI theme to implement responsive web design principles to ensure optimal performance across various devices and screen sizes.

• Applied my custom CSS code to achieve the design where the theme styling settings were insufficient or locked behind a paywall.

• Collaborated with volunteers and key members on multiple meetings, email correspondence to update other webpages as the scope changed.

• I am still provided ongoing maintenance and support to address any issues and incorporate additional features as needed.

Technologies Used:

• Apply CSS styling through WordPress DIVI theme's UI.

Achievements:

• Successfully revamped the homepage and received positive feedback from both the charity's Co-Founder and stakeholders on the improved user experience.

• Contributed to enhancing the charity's online presence, ultimately aiding in their fundraising and community outreach efforts.

Challenges Faced:

• Balancing the need for modern UI commensurate with the design and the UI options available to me in the DIVI theme settings. Often I would seek assistance from DIVI tech support or researching online as members of the organisation typically could not help me. The designer also had left the organisation before I had joined.

• Applying a DIVI carousel of posts of a specific category, which required trial and error with the UI settings and style overrides. This was to replace an older, less interactive feature for posts.

• Dealing professionally with scope creep, moving deadlines, changing requirements.

Lessons Learned:

• The importance of effective communication and collaboration with stakeholders to align scope and requirements from the beginning.

• Found the DIVI theme to be at times buggy / janky - would prefer to use a different theme. Would not recommend for future clients.

• With a lot of different users on the site, there were occurrences of modified or deleted content for unknown reasons. On the test site, I installed a plugin that tracks admin user's actions - useful for retracing your steps.

Future Considerations:

• Exploring opportunities for expanding the website's functionality, such as an events page and an interactive way of presenting this information. The site may benefit from integrating social media features.

• Conducting regular usability testing and soliciting feedback from the charity's stakeholders and target audience to inform future iterations and updates.

• Continuously monitoring website analytics and user feedback to identify areas for further improvement and optimization.

Conclusion: TGIUK served as a rewarding opportunity to apply technical skills in website admin and frontend development towards a meaningful cause. By collaborating with a local charity organization, I was able to contribute to their mission of making a positive impact in the community while further honing my expertise in website design and development.