Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge

Website redesign and update

The Department of Pathology at the University of Cambridge wanted someone who had a very specific skill set; web design fundamentals, an awareness of current web design standards and technologies, experience and understanding of how the University works, and the ability to communicate with academic and administrative staff at all levels. They didn't need a web designer, they need a 'web engineer' to reconstruct rather than redesign their website. They also needed a number of changes made to the site very quickly.

Frances McLoughlin (Departmental Secretary: Academic Services);

"Richard was chosen to re-organise our website because we needed someone who had a combination of technical and communication skills, and an understanding of how the University works. His prior experience as a Computer Officer and technical background met our requirements exactly. Our website needed updating to a more modern layout, conforming to the University’s guidelines, and reviewing to ensure we were communicating the right information in the right way.
Richard quickly completed the most urgent updates, and went through an extensive consultation process before presenting his findings, a draft design and changes to how we update the site (which has saved the Department a lot of work). That design was approved and the entire site final draft was completed very quickly, and we are now in a position to launch the site later this term. I am happy to recommend Richard as a competent and hard working IT Consultant to any University department".

The site update was undertaken in four stages;

  1. Consultation with key staff to get feedback on the site content and design
  2. Initial design draft using version 2 of the University web templates
  3. Second draft incorporating feedback
  4. Final draft of the entire site (285 pages) including user driven content from a blog using Google FeedBurner's 'BuzzBoost' republishing function