Web Design & Development, Kilkenny, Ireland
Kilkenny PPN
The Kilkenny Public Participation Network ( PPN ) is a new government network allowing the local community to engage with Kilkenny County Council
The brief for this project was to create a website facilitating communication between the PPN and the relevant organisations in a friendly way; along with having easy to navigate and easy to understand information about the network. Alongside this a key piece of functionality was a system to register organisations; and there were also several other important functional aspects.
The design is clean and simple with attractive typography making it both easy to read and pleasant to use. The "About PPN" section provides the user with quick access to any info they need.
Functionality includes a Bulletin Board / Forum, News & Events Blog, Resource Database, Organisation Registration Form, a Stylish Geo-Positioning map on the front page and finally a Newsletter Signup.
Full Training was given in the use of the system and the owners have virtually 100% control of the site content.
Butterfly Valley Glamping
Butterfly Valley Glamping is a newly opened luxury camping experience located in Thomastown.
The site design was based on the existing branding, with functionality including an 'accommodation' custom post type and individual booking calendars for the accommodations. Visitors to the site can make booking enquiries for specific dates - then the site owners can accept these enquiries which "books" the accommodation, pending a payment via the Stripe enabled payment system.
The site design was based on the existing branding, with functionality including an 'accommodation' custom post type and individual booking calendars for the accommodations. Visitors to the site can make booking enquiries for specific dates - then the site owners can accept these enquiries which "books" the accommodation, pending a payment via the Stripe enabled payment system.
http://butterflyvalleyglamping.ie
Kilkenny PPN
The Kilkenny Public Participation Network ( PPN ) is a new government network allowing the local community to engage with Kilkenny County Council
The brief for this project was to create a website which would facilitate communication between the PPN and the relevant organisations in a friendly way and to have easily navigable and understandable information describing the network. This alongside a system to register organisations along with several other pieces of key functionality.
The site design is based on a clean simple palette with attention to readable and attractive typography aimed at making the site easy to read and navigate, as well as being pleasant to interact with. The well laid out and composed "About PPN" section comprises multiple sub sections (accessible from the main menu along with jump down sections on the page itself ) provides the user with quick access to any question they may have about the PPN in a single click.
The site's functionality includes a 'Bulletin Board' style Forum, a News & Events Blog, a Resource Database, an Organisation Registration Form with modern styling, a stylish Geo-Positioning map on the front page showing the registrerd organisations and a newsletter signup.
Full Training was also given in the use of the system and the site webmaster has virtually 100% control of the site content.
The brief for this project was to create a website which would facilitate communication between the PPN and the relevant organisations in a friendly way and to have easily navigable and understandable information describing the network. This alongside a system to register organisations along with several other pieces of key functionality.
The site design is based on a clean simple palette with attention to readable and attractive typography aimed at making the site easy to read and navigate, as well as being pleasant to interact with. The well laid out and composed "About PPN" section comprises multiple sub sections (accessible from the main menu along with jump down sections on the page itself ) provides the user with quick access to any question they may have about the PPN in a single click.
The site's functionality includes a 'Bulletin Board' style Forum, a News & Events Blog, a Resource Database, an Organisation Registration Form with modern styling, a stylish Geo-Positioning map on the front page showing the registrerd organisations and a newsletter signup.
Full Training was also given in the use of the system and the site webmaster has virtually 100% control of the site content.
http://kilkennyppn.ie/
Goods, Kilkenny
W.H. Goods is the top ladies shopping destination in Kilkenny City. It caters for ladies fashions of all ages, and includes a wide selection of stores from brands like Coast, Oasis and Warehouse.
This bespoke redesign project was developed using modern flat styling and has a fully responsive layout.
The main content structure is based on 'departments', each of which can have it's own brands and content such as a department image, a small gallery, formulised content areas and the department logo.
Goods also maintain a strong social media presence, and users of the site can share content across the full compliment of social outlets including favourites like Facebook, Twitter and Pintrest.
This bespoke redesign project was developed using modern flat styling and has a fully responsive layout.
The main content structure is based on 'departments', each of which can have it's own brands and content such as a department image, a small gallery, formulised content areas and the department logo.
Goods also maintain a strong social media presence, and users of the site can share content across the full compliment of social outlets including favourites like Facebook, Twitter and Pintrest.
http://goods.ie
The Little Irish Tour Company
The Little Irish Tour Company offers executive tours of Ireland. The website is based on a Woocommerce enabled ecommerce platform and includes sofware to allow tour products to be booked on a particular day.
'View Site' opens a video tour — For best results press "F" to make the video fullscreen
'View Site' opens a video tour — For best results press "F" to make the video fullscreen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvTlA3L12cU
Grogan and Browne
( work in progress )
Grogan & Browne are artisan butchers located in the Smithlands Centre in Loughboy Kilkenny.
http://rainrain.dev/rainrain-bootstrap/#portfolio
Clonmel Baptist Church
Clonmel Baptist Church were running with an old website which was no longer meeting their needs.
The brief was to create a website with a bright and modern design which would be pleasant and easy to use, work well across all devices and be accessible to all ages.
Several functionality specifications were also requested including: An Events System for church events, a Sermon System to present audio and video sermons, a 'Bible Verse of the Day' widget and a regular blog.
We focused primarily on the site's content and accessibility with the ultimate goal of making sure everything was easy to find, use and to read. We paid close attention to the website's typography and kept to a simple colour palette. This 'usability first' approach yielded the spacious 'bright modern design' of the original brief.
The brief was to create a website with a bright and modern design which would be pleasant and easy to use, work well across all devices and be accessible to all ages.
Several functionality specifications were also requested including: An Events System for church events, a Sermon System to present audio and video sermons, a 'Bible Verse of the Day' widget and a regular blog.
We focused primarily on the site's content and accessibility with the ultimate goal of making sure everything was easy to find, use and to read. We paid close attention to the website's typography and kept to a simple colour palette. This 'usability first' approach yielded the spacious 'bright modern design' of the original brief.
http://clonmelbaptist.ie/
Abraham Lincoln Driving School
Abraham Lincoln Driving School is a long established driving school in Kilkenny.
The site is developed around a one page strategy and this example shows clearly that budget sites can still be of a very high quality.
Local search optimisation was a key goal and the site is targeted at the search term 'Driving School Kilkenny'
The site is developed around a one page strategy and this example shows clearly that budget sites can still be of a very high quality.
Local search optimisation was a key goal and the site is targeted at the search term 'Driving School Kilkenny'
http://abrahamlincolndrivingschool.com/
Abundant Life Wordpress Theme
The Abundant Life Theme is a WordPress church theme created for sale on theme marketplaces.
It is a reponsive wide format theme based on the Twitter Bootstrap platform and features advanced typography, multi format slider, an events section and a media enhanced blog which uses the WordPress post formats.
It is a reponsive wide format theme based on the Twitter Bootstrap platform and features advanced typography, multi format slider, an events section and a media enhanced blog which uses the WordPress post formats.
http://byronyasgur.com/abundantlife/
Goods Online Shop
W.H. Good Kilenny opened their new online shop in early 2015. The shop primarily stocks lingeie and lingerie related products.
The fully bespoke design was built to match and completely integrate into their exising shop website and is based on the Woocommerce platform.
The shop is equiped with sharing buttons enabling shoppers to share content on popular sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pintrest.
The fully bespoke design was built to match and completely integrate into their exising shop website and is based on the Woocommerce platform.
The shop is equiped with sharing buttons enabling shoppers to share content on popular sites like Facebook, Twitter and Pintrest.
http://goods.ie/shop/
Primo Restaurant
( work in progress )
Primo is an Italian Restaurant in the Loughboy area of Kilkenny city.
http://rainrain.dev/rainrain-bootstrap/#portfolio
Bliss
Bliss is a online skincare shop specialising in high end products such as Elemis, Neostrata, Elizabeth Arden and Guerlain. The site owners were primarily focused on attention to detail given the high end nature of the products on the site. Standard ecommerce technology was given a tweaking often omitted in many shopping systems and a major drive was that the customer would always understand where they were and exactly what was happening and/or required of them to proceed to the next step.
One page checkout. A one page checkout system made for a very friendly user interface and customers have the option to either checkout as a guest or to store their details ( address etc ) for easy future orders. The account page allows users to check up on their previous/current orders.
One page checkout. A one page checkout system made for a very friendly user interface and customers have the option to either checkout as a guest or to store their details ( address etc ) for easy future orders. The account page allows users to check up on their previous/current orders.
http://bliss.ie
The Welcome Lodge @ Harleypark House
"The Welcome Lodge" @ Harleypark House is a 4 Star Self-Catering accommodation located on the Tipperary Kilkenny border.
The website features full screen backgrounds throughout which show off the house, gardens and interior to the best extent.
Also used are a number of design patterns typical within the hospitality industry. These include a thoughfully designed testimonial page, an easy to browse gallery on the accommodation page and a high functioning availability checker which is easy to use for both owners and customers.
The website features full screen backgrounds throughout which show off the house, gardens and interior to the best extent.
Also used are a number of design patterns typical within the hospitality industry. These include a thoughfully designed testimonial page, an easy to browse gallery on the accommodation page and a high functioning availability checker which is easy to use for both owners and customers.
http://harleypark.ie
Bliss Beauty
Bliss Beauty is a beauty therapy salon situated in Rose Inn Street in the centre of Kilkenny City, offering the latest treatments using top products from brands like Elemis, Lash Perfect, California Tan, Vita Liberata, Guerlain Cosmetics, O.P.I and Perron Rigot.
This was a redesign project which involved moving to a responsive setup, with a crisp modern semi-flat design and including a full width slider.
The site is also ecommerce enabled allowing the sale of vouchers online.
This was a redesign project which involved moving to a responsive setup, with a crisp modern semi-flat design and including a full width slider.
The site is also ecommerce enabled allowing the sale of vouchers online.
http://blissbeauty.ie
The Vision Clinic
The Vision Clinic is an eye clinic with locations in Kilkenny, Limerick and Wexford.
The site features a clean design and aims also to have a friendly non medical style. This prompted the use of an engaging full width rural image in the header to imply the importance of sight.
User experience was a primary design driver as there are 3 locations each with their own contact details, cinic times, maps and driving directions. The layout and content structure make this information easy to find; and special attention was given to text readability, as some clients may have visual impairments.
The site features a clean design and aims also to have a friendly non medical style. This prompted the use of an engaging full width rural image in the header to imply the importance of sight.
User experience was a primary design driver as there are 3 locations each with their own contact details, cinic times, maps and driving directions. The layout and content structure make this information easy to find; and special attention was given to text readability, as some clients may have visual impairments.
http://thevisionclinic.ie/
RainRain Web Design Kilkenny is a web design and development business set up in 2007 by freelance designer Bob Murphy.
Based in Kilkenny, Ireland, Bob has been active in this field since 1999 and has experience across a broad range of web technologies and languages as well as graphic design, marketing, branding and copy-writing.
Other services include Logo Design, WordPress Training, Video Editing, Product Photography and Audio mixing/engineering/editing.
Contact Form
General contact and proposal requests form. Please feel free to request a callback.
No email from advertisers or outsource providers please
Please take a few minutes to read the section below Kicking Off Your Web Project - Do's and Dont's before you request a proposal or price enquiry.
- Do – Remember your website is an important part of your business, club, etc.
- It will be the first port of call for the majority of your clientele. It's well established fact that a badly implemented website can negatively impact your regular ( offline ) business ... and actually a high percentage of websites are badly implemented.
- Do – Spend some time researching the things you will encounter building a website.
- The best thing is to search online ( pay attention to the date of any resources you use and try to ascertain their reliability ). You could probably spend anything from an hour or two up to a few days depending on your project, and if you plan a large ecommerce business then you should probably spend even more time than this. You could rely on your designer for all this, but knowing what you want and why you want it will usually get you closer to what you want.
- Do – Write down your goals for your project.
- Don't assume any goal is obvious. This is by far the most important thing to do. To build an effective website it's important for the designer to know both why the company wants a new website and if possible what it was that prompted the action.
- Do – Work out how much the website will be worth to your business, and from there determine your budget range.
- You should guestimate the potential revenue and profit from your website — this will form the basis of your maximum budget. For calculations an average website will last 3-6 years. You will also have some yearly costs to factor in ( hosting, domain and probably maintenance and for ecommerce usually an SSL cert and gateway costs )
- Do – Research web budgeting.
- Price lists don't work so well in the web design world and the "average project" doesn't really exist. It's not much good asking how much a website costs you will probably get a lot of different answers. You tend to get what you pay for to a certain extent. This is an interesting article to get started; though your project may cost either less or more than the examples given.
- Do – Consider your support and maintenance needs
- The majority of modern websites need regular updates to their software to keep them from breaking or getting hacked. Separately you may also need some content maintenance which can cover things like broken links, missing images, as well as general upkeep and even generation of new content
- Do – Learn a little about SEO
- In short building a website and being found on Google are different things. There is a connection though; and a lot of important SEO can be done during development. But really SEO is an ongoing process and is more related to advertising than it is to web design.
- Do – Consider your content
- Content is the most important aspect of any website by far. This is usually text, photographs, videos etc. Many business owners will want to develop their own content to save money and while this is fine in theory it's not always the best idea and regularly delays projects by months, or even indefinitely. Web developers can usually either do or organise your content for you and often it's a better route but it will add to the overall cost of the project so consider your budget. Usually in the case of an online shop however it's best to add your own products.
- Dont – Feel stupid because you don't know things.
- The web is always changing and virtually impossible to keep up with; and not everybody is technical. If you're a bit confused you're part of the vast majority.
- Dont – Think that you can get away without learning the basics and doing some research during the project
- Your website is specific to your company so it's vial that someone in your organisation is capable of making informed decisions – many decisions it's not possible to make from outside the company.
- Dont – Consider a large ecommerce setup without seriously considering the full picture.
- Aside from building the website which can be complex and challenging depending on your requirements; continued running of the shop ( logistics, customer service, returns, stock management, marketing, advertising etc ) are some of the things that you will need to have planned for which are not part of the web development project.
- Dont – Leave your web project to the last minute
- Proper proposals don't happen overnight. This is especially true for ecommerce projects. That said if you need an ad hoc website for something that's come up, or if circumstances dictate — then it's still possible. In fact it's possible to build a temporary website very quickly as long as the brief is both short and flexible; consultation is limited and trust is high.
- Dont – Decide on an overall layout or get someone to design a website on Photoshop
- Yes this is a major DONT. Your layout will be influenced by things you have probably never heard of unless you are a frontend developer; so it is usually a waste of time, and even many graphic designers will not understand web layouts - so think instead in terms of your business objectives ( and try to describe that in English ) rather than working out the implementations. In short it's more important to work out what you want the website to do and say rather than how it looks and is organised. If you've already gone to this trouble don't worry but be prepared we might be starting from scratch.
- Dont – Gather a list of websites that you want your site to look like
- Yes. This is also usually a waste of time. Again unless you're a professional you won't recognise out of date coding techniques which can either cause problems or just look dated; both of which will affect the lifespan of your site. What you CAN ( and should ) do is to examine your competitors websites and write down the things you like about them and any functionality you wish to implement.
- Dont – Be too set on the details.
- Except for key business issues like for instance your budget, business objectives, timeframe, and company image etc then it's better to be as open minded and flexible as possible. This way you can achieve a more futureproof and robust system with increased value for money. That said it's ultimately your site but remember it's not for you or your company its for the users, typically this will be your customers