The British Chinese Project website launch

Tuesday, 26 August, 2008

The BC Project is a voluntarily run organisation that seeks to elevate the presence of the UK Chinese community in the British political arena. Its a group that I've been a part of since early 2007, and the website, which I was responsible for, has finally launched!

Its at www.bcproject.org.uk

Its quite a straight forward design relying on clean cut areas of information - there's no need for anything too fancy here, as the idea of conveying politics shouldn't be confused with trendy styling!

However, it was a bit of a challenge since the open source content management system Joomla was selected as the backend of choice, and I had to really get into the php to massage the code into looking like my designs. The templates on offer, though good for some purposes, just weren't suitable, or indeed unique enough for the purpose.

Using Joomla, despite the unconventional (I think) customisation, meant being able to expand the functionality of the site as time goes by, adding forums, voting systems etc. Its a *popular* system too so its more likely that other people in the BC Project will be familiar with its admin screens, and programmers can tap into its code if they've worked with Joomla before.

For me, it's useful to get into another cms, and understanding how its built, in order to modify it. More options for later use if required.

Anyway, for The BC Project, the website is fundamental to its activities in engaging with the Chinese community and keeping it updated on what's relevant. We'll see from now onwards, how well it does, but key is keeping it regularly updated (as with most websites) and continuing to build in *interactive* features.

Please check it out, and if you're British Chinese, perhaps consider getting involved.

www.bcproject.org.uk

This entry posted in : News & Views. Made By Mark. East Asian Culture.

1 Comments :

The layout is really nice.

I am a graphic/web designer originally from Hong Kong and currently work in central London. I just want to check are there volunteer work I can help in design? ?

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 21/11/08 at 01:56 PM

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