The social hub was part of the e-commerce website I created for Gordon Rigg. As I was continuing the design from the store I designed the hub purely in the web browser. This proved to be a really efficient way to design and build.
For me, a CMS really comes into its own when you provide the client with a really structured way to enter their data. A way that makes sense to them and their company. Something that is personal and custom to them. The hub needed to support not just regular blog posts but also, Top Tips, Events and Places to Visit. To achieve this level of customisation I turned to WordPress custom post types.
Rather than using just WordPress Posts and Pages, the Gordon Riggs team have the ability to create a new ‘Event’. They then get to enter more relevant data. Rather than just having a title and a space for text they get presented with space to enter the Event Title, a date picker so they can easily provide dates, a space to provide the Event Location etc (see slides above for more info). As the Gordon Riggs team had already used WordPress before they understood the level of customisation I had offered them and loved it.
The hub has been a great success and we intend to continue to evolve it. We are just about to add the Disqus commenting system, to make commenting much easier and we also have plans to add an image gallery that users can post to.
