About the website

A note from developers 'idz' on how this site is made

This website has been created using WordPress. At idz we have been designing and making websites since 1994 (when web design really was rocket science!) We believe that WordPress is one of the best things around for making and managing small to medium sized sites. It combines ease of use with a versatile system that can start simple and be added to as required… and being Open Source software it is also free. WordPress began life as a simple blogging tool but has now achieved top three status as a mature and highly versatile web development platform, used by major corporations and organisations including MTV, NESTA and many government departments.

The core of it is WordPress 3.0.5  the latest stable release of this free and very excellent piece of software. In addition to what’s available in the core setup we have added a number of extras (called ‘plugins’) which add features that help improve the way the site looks, how it is managed or how people use it.

Plugins provide an enormously wide range of extras if you want them to add to the basic WordPress core system like a kit of parts. Most WordPress plugins are free.

For the more technically minded, the main plugins we use in this site are:

  • CMS Page Tree View (organise site structure)
  • Easy Facebook Like Button (does what it says)
  • Links Shortcode (display web links by category)
  • Menubar (creates custom menus)
  • Newsletters (mailing list and e-newsletter tool)
  • NextGEN Gallery (image gallery)
  • NGG Sidebar Widget (display image gallery thumbnails in RH column)
  • Social Slider (discreet button on LH side for our social media)
  • SubHeading (adds subheadings to page titles)
  • Truelike (use free ‘Truelike’ service to create Twitter ‘like’ button)
  • Tweet Blender (add Twitter @ and # feeds into pages or widgets)
  • WP-Cufón (web fonts support)
  • WordPress SEO (comprehensive search engine optimising tools)
  • Google Analytics for WordPress (gathers stats on site and page visits)
  • WP Maintenance Mode (user display message when site is offline)
  • …and others as time goes by.

The template for the website design (WordPress calls these ‘themes’) has been custom designed for Woodprojects but there is a range of free templates available to get started with. Images shown in the galleries were mainly taken by Chas and Kim Crocker, apart from a few of the staircases and doors which were taken by professional photographers.

 

about idz

idz provides graphic and web design services to a range of artists and makers, education and arts projects, charities and third sector organisations. We also organise consultancies, workshops and training for design and web/it developments. We are founder members of the Common Knowledge collective based at 18 Victoria Park Square in Bethnal Green London, where we have offices. We also have an office in Wivenhoe Colchester and have been developing links with local arts and education organisations including 15 Queen Street, First Site, artfractures and Moving Image.


  • Woodprojects

    Creating high quality furniture from the finest European hardwoods.