University of Rhode Island

Nov. 2010: Beginning in November 2010, I was asked to bring a more modern look into the University of Rhode Island’s large campus network. Originally the project began as just a homepage redesign, but soon expanded to be a site-wide refresh. Mockups progressed and by December, coding had officially begun.

After months of discussion and various mockups completed, the University officially gave me the green-light to use WordPress full time as the campuses new CMS. Throughout the development process the site was being built on the latest bleeding edge nightlies, to ensure full compatibility upon launch.

This project would be a tremendous undertaking for an entire design firm, but it was handled entirely by me. To date this project has included the following elements:

• WordPress Network Install – Allowing the entire campus to run on one WordPress installation while granting each department its own level of control.
• Four (4) Themes – A base theme with custom homepage, a department theme, a base mobile theme, and a department mobile theme.
• Advanced Control Panel – A global options panel to manage and enable features throughout the campus on the fly.
• Global Alerts – Ability to enable an alert banner on all 4 themes with the switch of a button.
• Deep WordPress Menu Integration – Allowing menus to be used in nearly all areas of the site without requiring any edits of theme files.
• Localist Caledendar Integration – Brining events to the fore-front with the use of Localist and amr-iCal for WordPress.