Netspace
20th May 2000 - 20th March 2004
Task Summary
- Site Producer
- Visual Design
- Information Design
- Copy Editing
- Writing of HTML and CSS code
- Basic Programming (PHP/MySQL)
Project Details
Netspace Online Systems are one of the oldest, and now largest privately owned Internet Service Providers in Australia. I began working for the company in June 2000, and arrived to find a site that consisted of bloated code, inaccessible content, and bland design. Initially, my role included that of webmaster for the Netspace website, as well as designing and building websites for Netspace Multimedia (now defunct), which had been established to fulfil the web design requirements of the Netspace Business customer base.
In December 2000, I resigned from my role in Netspace Multimedia, which was subsequently closed down. I continued in my role as the Netspace webmaster, and began to develop a new version of the Netspace website, which would be standards compliant, easier to use, accessible to the visually impaired, and have a stronger visual appeal.
In late 2001 the first iteration of the reworked site was launched, including a more centralised member’s area; monthly reviews of interesting places on the net, as well as interviews with the creators of those sites. It also included a centralised, structured section on the site for the promotion of new products and services.
The conversion to compliant code initially only occurred on the front end of the site, with any backend applications including the usage meter, newsdesk and customer account management features retaining their templating from the older site. As time progressed however, the backend developers of Netspace began to take an interest in the code I was writing, and were soon converted to the benefits of W3C standards based code.
The next iteration of the site saw a refinement of the developments undertaken previously, including switching many of the backend applications to standards compliant code (or at the very least, a cleaner version), as well as the establishment of a co-branding agreement with LookSmart Australia, worth approximately $20,000 pa. The visual style of the site was also enhanced to reflect the company’s involvement in the Australian Grand Prix.
The development of the site was typified by a persistent drive towards standards compliance, which saw the site transform from a typical clunky ISP site, to a fully standards driven online presence.
My role also expanded at this point to include the design and production of most of the printed promotions. As the scope of my role increased, I commenced development of a publishing and distribution system for all the account management paperwork via PDF. As the company sought to re-invigorate its reseller program, the demand on time for the customisation and distribution of this paperwork had increased dramatically, requiring an automated process to be investigated.
I developed a system that could be used by both internal sales staff and resellers, which would enable them to distribute paperwork with their required customisations, via fax or email. Using a web based interface, the PDF Generator took input from the sales staff or resellers, and inserted their details dynamically into the forms and dispatched it automatically to the customer via fax or email. The system was also developed to maintain logs of all activity, including the return of the forms, for reporting purposes, and to enable follow up enquiries with the customers ie: if the customer did not receive or return the form, a sales person or reseller could follow up with the customer to find out why.
In early 2003, I managed the company’s pre-event promotions for the 2003 Australian Grand Prix, including running the touring exhibition from January–March, a Grand Prix specific promotional website, as well as actively participating in the promotions run by the company at the event. During this time I also began developing a complete overhaul of the Netspace site, including navigation, structure, and content, with a view to streamlining management of the site (by transferring to a CMS), increasing accessibility and readability of content, and enhancing the visual appeal of the site.
In mid-2003, my role was restructured into the newly formed marketing department within the company. Responsibility for the visual design was outsourced, and although the content was re-written (again, outsourced), these elements were not undertaken with a view to the company’s audience. My involvement in the new site was limited to the coding of front-end pages, and templates for backend applications. The new site made the final transition to a purely CSS/XHTML code base, with the page weight, on average, reduced to less than half what it had been when I began work at Netspace four years earlier.