Current Project
Osebeni Heritage Reserve Web Site
| Project Type | Client | Technologies Used | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial Web Site | Osebeni Heritage Reserve, an Mpumalanga - based Game and Trout fishing farm | XHTML, CSS, PHP Wordpress, Google Calendar and Maps, Quicktime | Online at osebeni.co.za |
Project Introduction
This site, for a game farm in Mpumalanga province, South Africa was constructed in XHTML, CSS and PHP, and uses Wordpress to manage the page content. Osebeni needed a site that could be easily and quickly updated. The site contains a lot of interactivity, including RSS weather feeds, Quicktime panoramas and CSS image maps, among others. This has been my biggest project so far.
My Role
Photography, Design, Coding and Maintenance
Development Method
My first task was to visit the Reserve to meet with the managers and photograph the area. I photographed a number of key spots on the property and elicited enough information from the managers to begin working on the project. After a few iterations, a design was settled on, and I began to turn the design into an XHTML and CSS based web site. Once this web site was displaying correctly in standards-compliant browsers, I made changes to accommodate users of older browsers as well. I encountered problems with the CSS-based image maps and roll-overs used in the ‘lodge’ section of the site. All browsers displayed this page correctly except Internet Explorer 7. Fortunately, the friendly CSS-discuss mailing list came to my rescue and a fellow developer managed to ’squash’ this little bug. Back on track once again, I converted the cross browser compliant static pages into a Wordpress theme template, which I applied to the installed Wordpress system. Prior to doing this, however, I needed to make the necessary arrangements to change the ‘osebeni.co.za’ domain to point to a new server under my control. Once installed, I filled the template with all the prior agreed material. I also wrote instructions for the managers on how to use the Wordpress CMS system and publicly viewable booking schedule.
Project Special Features
- Attractive, wide header bar, enabling the site to accommodate screen resolutions from 800 to 1600 pixels across.
- RSS weather feed, assisting visitors plan their trip.
- Cross browser compatible CSS - based image roll-overs and image maps which degrade gracefully.
- Google calendar integration, providing guests with a real-time booking schedule
- Various PHP-based forms to simplify booking and communication.
- Interactive Quicktime panoramas of views from the reserve
- CSS based tabbed navigation
- Flexible layout, accommodating users’ choice of text size
