New Responsive Cork Athletics Website in Development
For the past two years or so, the Cork Athletics website has been
undergoing various changes. Some of these have been in public view,
while a lot has been happening 'Behind the Scenes'. During this time several version Responsive
Sites have been developed, but time
pressure, due to several factors, impeded the building of a site suitable
to Cork Athletics needs and requirements. Consequently Cork
Athletics recently engaged a professional web design company to
build the new website.
Screenshot of Version IV of Cork Athletics in-house website development
Why is a New Website Needed?
There are several reasons behind the change:
Mobile devices have become, more and more, the norm. Currently over 60% of
Cork Athletics visitors use mobile or tablet devices. The
current Cork Athletics website isn't responsive - a major drawback, so it doesn't provide
a quality user experience.
Since April 2015, Google has introduced several changes to it's Search
Engine Algorithm, resulting in websites that are not mobile friendly
being penalised, and downgraded in search query returns. In spite of this, the Cork Athletics website
traffic continues to grow at a very significant rate, nevertheless the
Google search engine changes have had an effect.
What's Going to Happen?
A fully responsive website is being developed. This will be
a
menu-driven CMS (Content Management System) site, with significant
information resources/references. The 'evergreen' content
(content that is of long term value) will be added gradually, to build
a quality athletics reference.
It is expected that the new website will be launched in the next few weeks.
A key element of the new website will be a simple user-friendly menu system, which aims to significantly
improve the ease at which users find the information/links they are
looking for. To accentaute this, a Search facility will also
be available, from the Homepage.
What's Going to Happen with the Existing Site?
The existing site will move to a sub-domain, and will continue to
be
accessible from the Main Menu of the new website, however it will be a
separate element, so won't be searchable under the new system.
The existing site represents fifteen years of Cork Athletics
history. It is a long term goal that all of the content on the
existing/old site would be copied over to the new site, however this
will take both significant time and significant resources.
In the shorter term all resources will be diverted towards both
stabilising and expanding the new site.
When Will the Changeover Take Place?
It is hoped that the development will be finalised over the next
few
weeks. Following testing, the moves will take place. This
will mean that the site(s) will be taken offline, hopefully for a very
short period, while the backroom stuff is implemented.
Who is going to Contribute to the Site?
That's a very significant question! A small group of people
already contributes to the website, however it is hoped that more
people will volunteer to
help out. If you are interested in helping, please email Cork
Athletics Webmaster
Site Mockup
The example below was created to assess a colour scheme, however
it
gives a feel for the layout envisaged. The Menu items
displayed are for illustration purposes only - they don't do
anything/lead anywhere.
Event
Calendar / Race Showcase
A key element of the new website will be an improved calendar,
including showcasing of events, and detailed searches for events, under
a number of categories. The site below gives an overview
example.
Social Media Integration
There will be full social media integration, allowing instant,
easy and direct sharing of almost everything on the website, to the
likes of Facebook, Twitter and the likes.
News, including RSS feeds
It is planned to include a dedicated news section, including RSS
feeds from several athletics sites.
Video and Photos
It is hoped to integrate the Cork Athletics Vimeo video and
Flickr! photo accounts into the new site
Race Results and Reports
Provision of the results, and reports, from Athletics
ireland registered events in Cork has been a key element of the
website to date. This will continue, with the longer term goal of
reintroducing the CARD results database, formerly hosted on the Eagle
AC website. This was a fully searchable database, which went
offline in 2010, At the time it held over 156,000 individual race
results.