In less than 2 years, PublicPolicy.ie has outgrown its website! That’s a good thing to happen, definitely a sign of much activity.  Combined with the fact that the previous site was built with an older version of php which I believe is going to be unsupported from this July, we decided it was time for a makeover!

Does That Make Me The Gok Wan Of Public Policy Websites?

We know the who we are communicating with – policy makers, and the interested public.  That hasn’t changed. But the what has.

• Publicpolicy.ie is producing a lot of research and news items.  These needed to be much higher up the page.  On the mobile version of the site, they are the first thing you see.
• The web is going much more image driven. A complete update of the images for the slider entry points to the themes, with image driven news items works well here.  We sourced all of the images from Creative Commons because we wanted real, not stocky.  I think they work.
• Apps and infographics, as well as the Chairman’s Blog and video content are also featured.

We selected a WordPress theme from a reputable source, ie. checked the forums to make sure they weren’t full of people bitching about using it.  And we asked the very reputable gents at Fusio to install and modify it, as well as minding us with the hosting. The site’s download speed was becoming a bit of a problem before – there is such a vast amount of really relevant data on Publicpolicy.ie – still, we didn’t want it to become a hindrance to access. Fusio looks after some of Ireland’s highest traffic sites, so we know we’re in good hands here.  The really great thing is that they don’t cost the earth.

Nice Job?

I think we did a nice job on the WordPress site update.  It still has the look of the previous site, but it feels so much lighter.  The mobile experience is vastly improved, and the download speed is superlative!  The great thing is that the cost was lean, proving one of the many benefits of WordPress – that it’s inexpensive to update the design.

Thanks to Niall at Fusio for being so helpful and patient throughout.