Description
Phoenix Design Aid was engaged to design and develop a new website for the Pacific Regional Climate Centre Network (Pacific RCC-Network), providing a central digital platform and reference point for Pacific National Meteorological and Hydrological Services.
The project covered the full website development lifecycle, from site architecture and interface design through Drupal development, content integration, testing, launch and administrative handover.
The website was developed in Drupal 10 using a clean, standards-based Drupal framework and responsive design approach, aligned with the Pacific RCC-Network Visibility Plan, Branding Guidelines and SPREP (Secretariat for Pacific Regional Environment Programme) visibility requirements. It provides the Pacific RCC-Network with a central, responsive and maintainable digital platform for communicating its activities, services, resources, news and updates to its target audience, while enabling designated SPREP and project staff to manage website content through the Drupal CMS.
Please visit the website here: https://www.pacificrcc.net
Key services and deliverables included:
- Site architecture and UX:Development of the website information architecture, sitemap, page structures and wireframes, with a focus on clear navigation and accessibility of key RCC-Network information and resources.
- UI and responsive web design:Development of a user-friendly and visually engaging interface for desktop, tablet and mobile devices, with responsive layouts compatible with Android and Apple devices.
- Drupal CMS development:Development of the website using the latest Drupal CMS, following Drupal coding standards and a clean base/sub-theme approach with minimal custom theme code.
- Content and resource management:Structuring and integrating information covering the Pacific RCC-Network’s operational activities, including long-range forecasting, climate monitoring, operational data services, climate change projections and training on RCC products and services.
- Media library:Implementation of a central gallery/media library for images, videos and associated metadata.
- News and content integration:Integration of relevant news and press-release content from SPREP.org, enabling the Pacific RCC-Network website to surface relevant updates and information.
- Visual style functionality:Implementation of flexible colour and style-switching functionality to support different visual treatments across individual pages or groups of pages, including content strips, banners, titles, tabs and other page elements.
- Search and navigation:Implementation of site-wide search, automated breadcrumbs, sitemap functionality and clear navigation pathways to key Pacific RCC-Network resources.
- SEO:Configuration of search-engine-friendly URLs, editable page metadata, automated breadcrumbs and XML sitemap generation, together with Google Analytics integration.
- Accessibility and compatibility:Development in accordance with WCAG 2 accessibility requirements and testing for compatibility with current versions of Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari.
- Documentation and handover:Preparation of technical and configuration documentation, user guidance and administrative information covering website management, hosting and configuration.
- Training and knowledge transfer: Training for SPREP IT and the Intra-ACP ClimSA Project Management Unit on content management, administration and basic website maintenance.
