The evolution of a web presence—part 2

After Jim Ylisela, from Ragan Communications, did our day-long training back in November 2008, I began the rigorous process of redesigning the MEA web site. I created some designs utilizing our current look, ran them by our team and began the process of writing code and creating web page layouts based on their feedback. I won’t bore you with the details and the tedious troubleshooting and hacking that went into this, suffice it to say it was a process!

The final look incorporated a larger two-column area at the top for our main stories where we can post a video if we have one, a center area for sub-features, a Question of the Week poll and buttons down the right for quickly navigating important pages or MEAOnline’s social media networks and alphabetized navigation on the left.

Once the design and code was in place, came the arduous task of updating almost 500 pages. This was a process alone with many late nights and long hours. On February 19, 2009 the new look of MEA.org went live…two days BEFORE the deadline of February 22nd and in less than 3 months, start to finish, I’m thrilled to add!