Designing a website is very much like writing a good piece of music.

Music composition is often a process of reduction. The first draft usually contains lots of unnecessary notes and rhythmic inflections that only get in the way and muddy up the mix. Successive revisions strip away the fluff, ultimately leaving only the essentials.

A web design often starts out with a lengthy wish list. But how many of the possible features and adornments that are out there directly support your primary goal? Figure out what’s essential, and forget the rest, or risk confusing your customers and losing them to a more focused competitor.

Image: Music in the Sky, by tanakawho on Flickr

Challenges and Requirements

Building a website for a non-profit like the Charlotte Art League (CAL) presents a different set of challenges than the ones you typically find in the  for-profit world. Volunteer-based staff, low or no budget, and outdated technology require patience and diplomatic skills to successfully bring a web project from dream to reality. An additional factor that requires a different mindset is that the central goal of the organization may not necessarily be simply to sell more widgets.

In the Art League’s case, a number of different committees and initiatives exist that require attention. Obviously, member artists want to sell more art, but activities like community outreach, art education, and studio rentals are all fundamental to the mission as well. The website has to simultaneously address the needs each of these various stakeholders, while remaining true to the organization’s overall mission of enriching the community through the arts.

WordPress to the Rescue

The new site is built in WordPress, using a custom theme I developed for this project. We opted to use WordPress not only because of its power, search engine friendliness, and design flexibility, but also to take advantage of its capabilities as a multi-author content management system — it’s definitely not just for blogs anymore! WordPress’s CMS capabilities were especially attractive because updating the old CAL site was an inefficient, time consuming process. While content could be sourced by any number of sources within CAL, content destined for the website had to be first sent to the web administrator, who then made updates manually. This system created a workflow bottleneck that resulted in an irregular posting schedule, with the site frequently being months out of date.

With the WordPress CMS, authors are now able to log in under their own unique usernames and edit their own content. The level of access can be controlled, so that non-technical users don’t accidentally modify files that affect the site’s operation. Basic word processing functions are provided using a familiar interface, and WordPress saves the revision history of documents — no one has to fear losing or ruining their data.

Keeping It Fresh

Another advantage of WordPress is that the post management functionality that powers WordPress blogs could be adapted to manage CAL’s home page, keeping it constantly up to date with content featuring current events at the gallery. We decided to keep commenting turned on. Even though the site isn’t technically a blog, hosting some stimulating discussion about art is a great way to build community and ongoing engagement with the organization. And thanks to a little bit of PHP tweaking and some help from plugins, the current “post” that constitutes the home page features the “Happening Now at CAL” banner. Archived versions of the post won’t display the banner, adding a subtle cue to distinguish between current and past events.

The Way Forward

Now that the initial phase of the release is complete, work has already begun on the next round of enhancements, including an online gallery offering works for sale as well as individual pages for member artists to display and sell their work.

DISCLOSURE: Since completing the work on the Charlotte Art League (CAL) redesign, I have been offered and accepted a spot on CAL’s Board of Directors, completing the term of a board member who had resigned.