Design Process
Initial Consultation
The first stage was to meet the client and find out exactly what was required for the website, particularly the requirements needed for the Motorhomes, as there were several different areas that needed to be on the site. The client already had a fair idea of what pages were needed and what text and images would be needed for each page.
Consequently the actual design process was greatly simplified because of this, much of the information needed for the website already existed on the current site, whilst new text and images were supplied by the client.
Online Shop Design
The online shop was split into four separate areas, Motorhome Manufacturers, New and Used Motorhomes that were in stock, and secondhand Motorhomes due to come in for sale. New in stock motorhomes were divided by Manufacturer, Range and Model (such as Autocruise, Swift, Pilote etc), whilst used motorhomes were divided by base vehicle manufacturer (such as Citroen, Fiat etc).
Whilst the online shop didn't require the actual shopping cart system, it did require additional information about each motorhome that would be displayed on each page. Each Motohome page has the following information: General Overview and Images, Features, Floorplans, Specifications and Reviews and Review Form.
This extra information required additional tables and fields in the database to store the data; it also needed custom product pages to display the Motorhome details to visitors.
Each of the motorhome areas required custom search pages and an additional search for Special Offer Models.
Content Area Design
The content side of the website was split into several areas, About Us Pages; split over several pages, with each page conatining several thumbnail images in a mini gallery system; information pages about After Sales, Finance, Motorhome Owners Clubs etc and a News Section. Several different contact forms were also required for various areas of the site.
Each of the content page areas required different templates and layouts to be designed, along with the required menu system for the whole site.
Customisation
The Todds website required a complete customisation of the entire Content Management System, including creating new CSS Stylesheets to control the presentation of text and images, coding new ASP templates to control the structure of the website and new admin areas to handle the different requirements for the website.
The online shop area also required customising, including creating stylesheets, coding new motorhome categories and page templates, a redesign of the search function to incorporate the nessicary features, as well as new and additional admin areas to handle the requirements of the products.
Case Study
