Another website using WordPress as a Content Management System (CMS). The website brief was to set up a nice simple looking website that could be edited by the client. WordPress was the perfect match with the many features that WordPress provides. We also added a little sprinkling of jQuery to enhance the site with some animation, it grabs the attention of the user showing off what they do on the homepage with the animated slideshow.

SFS are very proud of their testimonials so it was obvious we had to make sure they were prominent on the website, again using some jQuery to show a snippet of a selection of testimonials and sliding along every few seconds.

Ross Negus: We are delighted with the new look and hope that our current and prospective clients will feel the same.
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The animated slideshow on the homepage as previously state uses jQuery for the animation but it also uses some bespoke WordPress plugins to allow the client to edit the images and text themselves, something they have wanted the ability to do for some time.

Look out for some updates in the not too distant future as the website develops.

Visit the Southampton Freight Services website

The Asante Coffee Shop is a charity project to help raise money for the citizens 4 change (c4c) charity in Chandlers Ford in Southampton.

The website is built using WordPress as a CMS (Content Management System) like many other websites built by The Funk House.

The client can edit the content themselves including adding video from YouTube, adding photos and creating or managing the form for the contact section.

The website has been built in such a way that it only uses one page to show all of the content. All of the content goes down the page allowing the user to see all the content in one go by simply scrolling down the page. This was done because the website does not have much content and it also allows the design to have a bit fun with the moving giraffe. Through the use of jQuery clicking on the menu slides the page down and also makes the neck of the Asante giraffe shorter as the page moves down. This was done to add a little bit of fun to the website along with the Twitter bird in the scene at the bottom of the page. Next to the Twitter bird is the latest tweet from the Asante Twitter account (make sure you follow @asantecafe).

The main aim of the website was to be able to show potential customers what the coffee shop is like. The photo gallery can be easily updated by the client as they introduce new food or drinks. The initial photos in the gallery were taken by The Funk House to help out with the website. The gallery makes use of the Fancy box jQuery plugin to pop up the image in the same window without navigating to a new page. This is very common on the web and looks great.

View the Asante website

The Funk House has looked after the Hallin Marine website for some time, along with the website we also do the emails for the press releases and create interactive ebooks for the newsletter.

This latest update was done in conjunction with the Hallin Marine designer. The Funk House was supplied with the design in PSD format and then it was cut up into individual images and laid out in HTML to be applied as templates in the SiteKit CMS.

The feeds on the homepage that show the latest news, projects and the latest city announcements use XML and XSLT to publish the content to the website. Within in some of the templates in the vessels pages are some photo galleries that are also built using XML and XSLT with some Javascript to show the lightbox gallery.

There are also some short promotional videos on the website that are encoded into Flash to allow a simple bespoke video player rather than using YouTube.

The website is managed by many different users from different sections of the company. The website is set up using the SiteKit CMS to allow modifications to the website only if the user has permission to do so, allowing the main admin to manage the website and if necessary set pages to be reviewed before they are published.

Lee has worked closely with Hallin for a number of years and we have always been delighted with his work. During this time Lee has produced our much-praised website, converted newsletters into online ebooks and helped with our email distribution of press releases, including a sophisticated feedback tool.
He has recently completed a project for Hallin that involved demanding deadlines and absolute secrecy and complied absolutely with our requirements.
So, in short, we are a fan and intend to keep using his services!
John Quinn
Director, Hallin Marine Subsea International PLC – John Quinn Hallin Marine

View the Hallin Marine website

Simply Bathrooms are based in Romsey near Southampton, they supply, fit and design bathrooms.

Their current website was slightly dated and was in need of a revamp. Simply Bathrooms approached The Funk House to provide them with a new website that was easy to edit and looked professional.

Using WordPress as a CMS (Content Management System) it allows the client to update their site with ease.

The client wanted to show off the nice photos they have of their products and give users a flavour of what they provide.

I finally have the right tool to help in our future sales and now I can give out the web address in full confidence that people will purchase from our company.

The design was kept simple to allow the focus of the photos and to make it easy for a user to navigate.

The Simply Bathrooms Twitter feed was also integrated into the design, allowing users to easily follow their tweets about special offers.

Visit the Simply Bathrooms website

The Funk House has been busy building websites and here is one of the recent sites to go live. The website uses WordPress as a CMS to allow the charity SCIL (Southampton Centre of Independent Living) to edit the website and manage the content from different departments.

SCIL is a democratic membership organisation run and controlled by Disabled People.  We are committed to campaign for the full civil and human rights of Disabled People whilst supporting Disabled People to make use of current provisions available to enable them to live independently.

This project was unique as unlike other projects under taken by The Funk House the charity themselves built the website and The Funk House was their to teach basic HTML and CSS while using WordPress. It was a very rewarding project and it was great to be able to help such a worthy charity.

Future developments will include adding the functionality to allow users to view the website in different contrasting colours for those with visual impairments. This will involve creating a new WordPress Plugin for the website.

EDIT: The site has now been upgraded to include the new WordPress plugin to allow the user to change the colours of the website to help them read the website. This will be published for the everyone to use very soon. With the addition of this plugin not only can the user change teh colour contrast of teh website they can also use the enlarge text plugin to make the text larger if they wish.

It is good to note that these are a nice feature but we need to make sure the user knows how to change these settings in their own browser. It is always good practice that if you have these widgets to also have a page to let the user know how to change them in the browser without the use of these widgets.

View the website

Atlas Marine required a refresh to their previous website to make it easier for them to manage and to also make the site look more modern.

They also wanted to use the site to advertise the fact that Atlas Marine are based in Southampton and Mallorca.
The website was set up to allow the owners to list boats from each country with some subtle design differences to reflect where the boat is from.

Now the owners are selling boats from two different countries are able to sue the same website to promote their boats.

View the website: Atlas Marine

The Speciality Chemicals Magazine website is one of the websites managed by The Funk House for DMG World Media. The Funk House was asked to refresh the design for their new online magazine campaign. The website was designed to match their new media pack and to also help create space for their menu as the website evolves.

Visit the Speciality Chemicals Magazine website

Chemspec Middle East is a conference website run by DMG World Media.
The Funk House was tasked with refreshing the header design for the new conference in 2010. The header was matched to the media pack in keeping with their brand.

View the Chemspec Middle East website

Another WordPress website built for VectorCommand Emergency Command System. They provide products such as the Command Support System (CSS), The CSS is a powerful new technology platform that solves a common operational problems for emergency commanders and managers around the world.

The website makes use of many new features created by The Funk House including some bespoke WordPress plugins. Included in the site is a JQUERY slideshow for the home page and a full slideshow for the owner to use separately on another page.

For this website WordPress was a great choice as it allows the client to edit the website from anywhere and to provide different permissions for people in their offices. The ease of use that is provides allows anyone with access to edit the website without any knowledge of code.

One of the plugins used on the website is a form builder plugin that allows the client to create and edit their own forms. This is a very powerful tool as it allows the client to create forms for specific events and offers they have again without knowing any code.

Along with the website we also created a flipping book which allows the user to view a interactive Flash book of their bulletin. This is a nice way to show off some of the photos in the bulletin and also have fun while flipping between the pages.

View the website

A site built using the benefits of the easy to use content management system that is WordPress (with a few plugins).

By using WordPress templates and the use of a bespoke WordPress plugin the home page was easy to create and also easy for the user to update without any knowledge of HTML.

“The service from Lee was excellent.  The result of the web design exceeded my expectation.  Lee listened and correctly interpreted my requirements and my market.  The web site is easy to handle and update and that process was simply explained.  I cannot recommend highly enough ‘the funk house’ for your web design needs”

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