EPIC, a tendered project for a local authority housing association, which ultimately was build in two weeks for our client in order to achieve a Christmas launch.
With a team of three developers working on this project from start to finish, not only did the fast turn around enable the project to be finished well within timescale but also exceed all expectations and original specifications.
Client
EPIC Housing - "Empowering People Inspiring Communities"
Empowering People Inspiring Communities Ltd (EPIC) was formed in 1998, under the name Bentilee Community Housing Ltd, to take on the ownership and management of the flats in the Bentilee area of Stoke on Trent. EPIC are a not-for-profit organisation, and in 2007 changed their name and became a registered charity. After a lengthy tender process, Cyberzia Ltd won the contract to design and develop the new EPIC website.
Objective
What was required from this website
EPIC's new website was intended to appeal to two main audiences, the public and prospective tennants and also existing tennants. The site needed to be fully compliant with both current accessibility standards and also future speculative standards, but also reflect the fresh new image that went along with the new EPIC name. The site needed to be a space that tennants would keep coming back to, and where they could communicate and report issues with their housing to EPIC using a simple interface.
Solution
Cyberzia's creative approach and solution
Cyberzia, using its own "Phlexi" content management system, designed and developed a clear and simple website focusing on accessibility standards thus opening it up to a wide audience. Accessibility did not compromise design and asthetics, and a fresh and appealing website was designed within our accessible framework.
Result
The outcome of this build
The resulting EPIC website exceeded all expectations, and was received well by both EPIC and their existing tennants. 'AAA' accessibility compliance was achieved, but without any compromise when it came to the sites design. Other design elements such as print style sheets, and an intuitive text sizing interface were also utilised both for usability and accessibility, again in order to open the site up to as many people as possible.
The site itself was extensively cross browser checked, this resulted in a compatibility rating of over 96% with all known web browsers. The list of tested compatible browsers were as follows:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 (Windows)
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.55 (Windows)
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 (Windows)
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 (Windows)
- Firefox 1.5 (Windows)
- Firefox 2.0 (Windows)
- Firefox 3.0a1 - Gran Paradiso) (Windows)
- Mozilla 1.7 (Windows)
- Netscape Navigator 7.0 (Windows)
- Netscape Navigator 8.0 (Windows)
- Netscape Navigator 9.0 (Windows)
- Opera 9.x (Windows)
- Safari 2.0 (Mac)
- Safari 3.0 (Windows)
- Opera Mini 4.0 (Handheld)
