TIC Recruitment
The brief...
"I want a fresh innovative website that stands out from the crowd. I need to create & edit my own vacancy pages.
It must be fast & easy to use."
The Design
We had the client's logo, photography wouldn't have helped here so I suggested a couple of the online image libraries that I know of, the images are reasonably priced and some are simply stunning. These are some of the images he came back with...
How it was made.
The first image formed the framework for the site, it was edited and cut up, then incorporated into the design of the site. The centre part of the frame was made "strechy" with an image file less than 4k in size, this allows the site design to expand vertically to accomodate the page content as required. The navigation buttons were based on this frame together with the client's "tick" logo.
Three contact forms were created the 1st for potential employer's the 2nd allows job-seekers to submit a cv and the third is provided for applications relating to a specific vacancy. The 2nd two were constructed so as to be fully compliant with regulations that currently apply to this business.
Powerful motivational images are grouped together in slideshows around the site. Slideshows of static images driven by slick Javascript code provide movement and interest without the massive download time overhead of a full video or flash based animation.
The site was built in two stages, the 1st stage involved creating the website with the vacancies page to be shown as "to follow..."
Below is an image of the site's homepage, it's a bit fuzzy as it has been reduced in size to fit here, plus you can't see the animations which help to draw the reader in. It shows the frame that was based on the first image above plus the 2nd image which has been flipped horizontally to resemble the companies "tick" logo.
Stage two of the project... Vacancy management
A hidden part of the website which is password protected allows the client to create, edit or delete the vacancy pages. No special software is needed. With the correct username and password this facility may be accessed from any computer. Should the need arise, the username and password can be changed at any time via another "Master" password.
This is the vacancy mangement page, all actions can be completed quickly and easily with one or two clicks.
Clicking on Create New Vacancy or Edit reveals the edit page, again this image is a little fuzzy because it has been squeezed to fit the layout needed here. The sock puppets add a little humour and brighten up this otherwise, "mechanical" side of the site.
All of the areas with a white background above are editable they are blank for a new vacancy. The central job description area includes the facility to import a document from Microsoft Word. Here fonts and complex formatting are stripped out to suit the format of a web page. Formatting such as white space and bullet points are however retained as is the foreground colour. Again all this has been acheived without the need for any additional software. Clicking Submit puts the new page live on the website, instantly.
Here is the resultant page, I've cut out some of the job description to make it a bit smaller for use here. There is some duplication in the text of the description and the additional info field, this was taken from a test version of the site and at the time I needed some text in that field to test it whereas in reality it would be different information.
Unlike the more common "cms" solutions which produce .php pages "on the fly" my system produces raw .html files suitably formatted in a google friendly way together with a .xml sitemap (an invisible file read by search engines). To the non-technical, without the jargon, "it's fast".
The Programming
The vacancy management part of the website was written entirely from scratch in a programming language called PHP. The PHP code is executed by the computer that holds the web-site in this case a secure server based in Central London. The code is invisible and cannot be compromised or "borrowed" without top level access to the server itself. Here is a little glimpse of the code...
What the Client said...
We commissioned Terry Cassell to design, build and host our website after several recommendations. The whole process from the first phone call to the final live site was seamless and relatively quick. Terry listened, understood the brief and also came back with some cracking ideas; by working in partnership with us we feel that Terry has built a website that is different to the normal run of the mill websites. Terry is also providing invaluable ongoing support in the background allowing us to concentrate on our business knowing if there is ever an issue he’s either already addressed it or one phone call and he is on the case.
Bill Tupper, Managing Director, TIC Recruitment, Portsmouth.
Conclusion
If you need a solution, something that's hard to do, where perhaps others have tried, done it poorly and you'd like it done well, I may be able to help.
