A total website overhaul doesn’t have to change how a website looks!

After years with a custom, hard-to-edit website, Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks needed a site that was easier to update and could offer more information to visitors.

Same Design. Custom Theme.

The website design they had was bold and distinctive. The organization didn’t feel the need to update it, so we didn’t! I built a custom WordPress theme with the same layout and look-and-feel. But under the hood, the site was totally different.

Now, editors could log into WordPress and edit or add new pages that used the site’s design. This unlocked the ability to post information about their popular summer tours, advocacy around park projects, and new online guided tours.

Bringing a map to life

The old website features detailed information about parks but was mostly behind a static map of Seattle.

Using the advanced content management features in WordPress, the new website supports a custom “Parks” content type that can be used to place parks on the map.

Working with board members with GIS experience, we worked together to create a new dynamic Google Map with park locations and shapes overlaid on Seattle. In the spirit of not changing the design, this new map still used the custom colors and styles of the previous site’s map image.

This new interface was newly interactive, but also more accessible and responsive, for better use by everyone regardless of how they accessed the map.