When Pohjanmaan tanssi ry came to me, they were struggling with an old WordPress website which they had hard time updating. The old website had templates and technical implementations that meant that they had to memorise and do certain tricks each time they wanted their latest content appear correctly on the website. Overall, working with the old website was a chore for them instead of something pleasant and intuitive.
As part of Pohjanmaan tanssi ry's values they want to make dance as widely accessible as possible in the Ostrobothnia region. The old website had several accessibility issues that were in violation of the WCAG 2.2 Guidelines. Alt texts were missing, contrast issues were present, keyboard navigation worked in illogical order, semantic HTML was a mess and focus style was completely missing, just a name a few.
The goals for the new website were clear:
- make the site accessible
- make it easy to update for the client
- make it work well on both mobile and desktop
- start collecting visitor statistics
- reduce the yearly website costs
Content first and design afterwards
When I started working with Pohjanmaan tanssi ry I first instructed them to gather and work on all the content they wanted to have on the new website. In all of my projects before I start working on the design it's a necessity to have all the real content ready because content is what makes the design, not the other way around. In Pohjanmaan tanssi ry's case, they had a big archive of past performances and photos from many different artists. For the design to serve the audience it was important to the client and me that the design would not be in the way of key information. Meaning, the site should foremost serve as a place where they could highlight the artists they work with and their works.
This process lead us to website design which is very clear and minimalistic. The new website uses a lot of photos provided by the different artists and because of this I chose a colour palette which doesn't compete for attention. It was also important to make sure the contrast issues of the old website would no longer be present in the new version.
No more struggling with WordPress
The new website uses a content management system called Kirby instead of WordPress. I chose Kirby CMS for its intuitive editing experience and performance, ensuring the client could manage content confidently without technical barriers. Adding new content to the website, which used to be burdensome task, can now be done in matter of minutes by the client. With Kirby as the content management system the client can also now manage all the content in three different languages (Finnish, English and Swedish) with ease.
Throughout the development phase the website was continuously tested with accessibility testing tools and achieved WCAG 2.2 AA compliance. The end result is a modern, clear, accessible and fast website that the client is now loving to use. Pohjanmaan tanssi ry thanked me for guiding them professionally and not being afraid to share my own opinions. They also highlighted how I throughout the whole process spoke and explained everything in a way that made the whole process accessible and understandable for them as well.
Their old website did not collect any visitor statistics. This was fixed on the new website by integrating the services of GDPR friendly analytics provider, Plausible. Visitor statistics are vital information for non-profits like Pohjanmaan tanssi ry. For example they can now report to their financiers how many people they reach annually via their website.
Lastly, I brought down the yearly costs by 6.4% despite the addition of a new paid service (Plausible Analytics). Since the original costs were not that high to begin with this cost reduction stayed rather small. The reduction was accomplished by helping the client to switch to Microsoft 365's non-profit plan and changing the web hosting company.
"Having experienced several different website projects, the entire process with Lauri was truly effortless and easy for us as the client. Right from the start, we received expert feedback and guidance on our plans. Lauri's approach is very flexible and attentive. Through close collaboration, our website turned out better than we could have hoped for! Special mention goes to the fact that while our website is as accessible as possible for visitors, the project itself was also accessible to us as clients. Lauri avoided the kind of professional jargon that non-professionals find difficult to understand. So throughout the entire process, we were well informed about what would be done next, and also what was expected from us. A warm recommendation for Lauri!"
–Reija Penttinen, producer & communications specialist, Pohjanmaan tanssi ry