CRASH Web site requirements

See also: Windsor Half Marathon CRASH

This page contains the final web site requirements for CRASH, the construction and property industry charity for the homeless. The requirements, including the site structure, are the result of planning workshops run by Paola Kathuria.

These are the fifth version of requirements and yet do not fully describe the site at launch; due to work load, CRASH later decided to reduce the launch site by about half.

The new CRASH web site was relaunched in 2002 at www.crash.org.uk. We've prepared an illustrated case study to describe the site's design and development.

Reproduced with permission.

Introduction

Paola Kathuria, 2001

CRASH - the construction and property industry charity for the single homeless - is a corporate-sector charity associated with the construction and property industry. It receives requests from voluntary agencies concerned with homelessness for projects, then mobilises resources from the construction industry to provide accommodation, facilities and shelters for the single homeless. CRASH projects exist in England, Scotland and Wales.

Main relationships

In its day-to-day activities, CRASH deals with several kinds of organisations and companies. The main types are described below. A web site should support the needs and expectations of each of these.

Voluntary agencies

A CRASH project comes about due to a request made by a voluntary agency, such as CRISIS, churches or other charitable groups. An application form is used to make the request; the agency is then visited by CRASH. Voluntary agencies hear about CRASH through publicity but also from people moving between jobs.

The projects vary greatly in size, from minor works to major refurbishment - CRASH does not carry out new builds.

Patrons

CRASH currently has 22 patrons and this number is decreasing. The patrons cover CRASH's administration costs. About half of the patrons send representatives to meetings and CRASH would like more to get actively involved.

Most of the contacts are through good relationships with single individuals and there is a concern that if these individuals were to move to another job, that the patronage would also be lost. There is therefore a need for CRASH to foster relationships with at least one other person at such patron companies and to keep patrons informed of CRASH's activities to encourage more participation.

Fund-raising

Fund-raising has been very much a secondary role and CRASH has relied on external fund-raisers. There are over 20 companies and organisations which run fund-raising events to raise money for CRASH.

In a significant change of CRASH culture, the new web site will be used to generate funds for CRASH. It is expected that funds raised through the web site will go entirely towards projects.

The methods of generating funds for CRASH on the web site will be:

• sponsored content - companies will be approached to pay for their logo and a link to their site from key pages on the CRASH web site, such as the Events Diary page or About Homelessness. This will be in the order of £500 for 6 months or a year, with agreements of 6 months, to encourage a regular change of sponsors. The site will not contain sales information regarding the sponsorship of content but will provide a contact number on sponsored pages.
• affiliate programmes - with publishers such as Amazon for listed books.
• donations - the site will include the ability for visitors to make donations to CRASH, by credit card, by printable form or by CharityCard.
• deed of covenant - if this method of giving still exists, a printable form will be provided.
• G.A.Y.E. - brief information will be available about G.A.Y.E.

Construction industry supporters

Construction industry companies which supply materials, services or labour are currently termed supporters. CRASH has hundreds of supporters. They are contacted by the project co-ordinator on a per-project basis with requests for their support, sometimes at very short notice, and sometimes for successive projects.

Requests for support apply to a specific project, which is at a specific location, for specific materials, services and labour. Some supporters are also patrons.

Other supporters

Other kinds of supporter include retailers with large quantities of unwanted stock (such as paint or tiles). When such surplus becomes available cannot be anticipated and does not necessarily occur when the items are needed by current CRASH projects. CRASH's available storage space is limited, so equally it can only accept a limited amount of goods from retailers. If offers of goods are made when CRASH's existing storage space is fully occupied, then the offers have to be declined.

Offers often come through in this way due to individual contacts moving to new companies. It would be useful to CRASH to let their presence become known amongst other such companies if they ever need to get rid of unwanted stock. CRASH would always wish to hear of such offers and would do its best to accommodate the stock. Ideally, the offer would include transportation to CRASH's storage sites.

Business Action on Homelessness

CRASH jointly founded the Business Action on Homelessness campaign, with Business in the Community, in 1998. Initially centred on bringing together the corporate sector and single homeless voluntary organisations in London, it has now established strong links with the West Midlands and is examining the West Country and the East Midlands as the next regions for initiating the campaign.

Press, writers, researchers, Government

CRASH and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation have published a literature review of single homelessness research (1991-1999), which aims to be an invaluable source for research on homelessness. This is an ongoing project which CRASH will has undertaken to update regularly, for at least the next three years. Interest in CRASH therefore also includes those who are primarily interested in homelessness.

The homeless

CRASH has no direct relationship with the homeless, but it is expected that some may be interested in CRASH. A CRASH web site would direct the homeless to on- and off-line resources that are directly relevant to them.

The current web site

The current web side was built by a PR company. It is incomplete, sombre in appearance and, most importantly, CRASH do not have access to all the pages to be able to update them. It has been decided that the current web site doesn't appropriately reflect CRASH nor help in its activities.

In terms of visibility, there are very few links to the web site according to searches on the main search engines. If visitors find a web site useful, they will add a link to it from their own web site if it includes web site listings. Less than five links to the site were found.

The web pages are not set up with indexing keywords which would be used by visiting search engine spiders, meaning that the site would be harder to find.

The new web site

It is intended that the new site will work for CRASH by supporting its activities whilst being neither time-consuming nor difficult to maintain. The site will also work for the different types of people and organisation who would visit it.

Site structure

A hierarchical structure is described here. The home page is referred to as level 1, pages linked from the home pages are referred to as level 2, pages linked from those as level 3 and so on. Content would appear in summary form on the first two levels and then become more detailed as one goes deeper into the web site.

All level 2 pages will be accessible as links on every web page in the site. The links will be grouped into two levels or prominence: major (what CRASH is doing now) and minor (general information CRASH, homelessness and the web site). Size, colour, shape and position will be used to convey the distinction between prominence.

The two groups of links are shown below with their associated content:

In addition to these groups of navigation links, there will be a featured short-cut link, possibly animated, to the Needed Now page. All pages will include a search facility.

The web site is divided into the sections described on the following pages, in the order they would appear as links. Please also refer to accompanying site structure diagram and the page list at the end of this document.

Priorities are included:

• required - the page or section is required at launch of the new web site;
• nice to have - if there's time, this content will be added for launch, but isn't a priority;
• next phase - the content will not be included at launch, but in the next phase of the site.

Pages are marked with sponsor if it is deemed a page suitable to buy sponsorship for.

1. (Home page) - required - The home page is used to quickly introduce CRASH, the site style and sections through the main graphical links. The home page will also include the latest news, by way of duplicating top items from the What's New page. The page will list all the Patrons, linking to the Patrons page.
2. News - required - sponsor - This page is made up of a dated list of short news items covering CRASH and the web site. Each item links to a page covering the item in more detail. The linked page is either a press release or a page anywhere else on the web site. Regular visitors to the site can use this page to find out what's new on the site and what's new with CRASH quickly. The page features links to permanent news pages listed below.
   1. Briefings - required - this gives an overview of CRASH's activities. It is the same briefing written for patrons or is adapted for the public. There is access to archived briefings from here. The latest briefing is always at the same address (e.g., www.crash.org.uk/briefing.html).
   2. Facts & figures - nice to have - performance indicators - quick facts, figures and graphs showing CRASH's success in the past month. It is not expected to archive this information but to update it periodically.
   3. Press release - required - the latest press release. Like the briefing, this is always at the same address (e.g., www.crash.org.uk/release.html).
   4. Subscribe to the newsletter - required - a page giving information about the quarterly printed newsletter - it will include an online form for people to provide their address if they would like to receive it or if they would like to stop receiving it.
   5. Archive - required - previous briefings and press releases will be archived here by date, in the same format as the News page. As briefings are archived, a date part is added to the filename (e.g., www.crash.org.uk/archive/briefing-20000301.html).

3. Help CRASH - required - this section describes what CRASH needs in order to be able to perform its function. It also lists those who have and who are now helping CRASH. Links to pages in this section are graphical in the main page body.
   1. Needed now - required - A listing of what is needed, by industry sector, for projects in progress. It will include details of materials, services and labour. Since many such things are needed at short notice, this page will only list what can be updated weekly. Link to an appropriate form. There will be a featured link to this page from the rest of the site.
   2. Become a patron - required - Includes a) what a Patron is, b) benefits, c) costs, d) link to current Patrons and e) request form.
      1. Patrons - required - A list of patrons, in alphabetical order, giving company name, company logo and links to their web sites, if appropriate.
   3. Become a supporter - required - Includes a) what a supporter is, b) benefits, c) link to current Supporters and d) request form.
      1. Construction industry supporters - required - this page lists construction industry supporters listed by industry sector and then in alphabetical order. Informed listed includes company name, logo and a link to their web site, if they have one. If possible, for each supporter list the number of projects they have supported.
   4. Make a donation - required - A page which gives examples of how various amounts can be used in CRASH projects to help the single homeless. Links to donation forms. Includes a brief explanation of G.A.Y.E.
      1. Make a credit card donation - nice to have - A secure online credit card form to allow people to make donations immediately. People will be able to choose from one of a list of up to 10 uses of donated money (for example, to a project region) or just make a general donation.
      2. Donation form - required - A printable donation form so that people can pay at their convenience by credit card (by fax/post) or by cheque.
      3. By CharityCard - nice to have - An online form to allow people to make a donation using their CharityCard - or link to the CAF site.
      4. Deed of Covenant form - nice to have - A printable Deed of Covenant form (if still applicable).
      5. GiftAid declaration - required - Printable declaration for people to complete.
   5. Lend us your property - required - Includes a) overview of how CRASH uses loaned properties, b) kinds of properties currently needed, c) info we need about available properties and d) notification form.
   6. Donate your spare storage space - required - Overview on the problem of a shortage of storage space. Explanation of what's needed. Link to contact form.
   7. Become a volunteer - required - A page inviting people to register as a CRASH volunteer for events as the need arises. Link to Volunteers wanted page. Includes a form to express interest and to provide contact details.
   8. Organise an event - nice to have/next phase - Explain that organisations and individuals raise most of the funds for CRASH projects. Give examples and information on the logistics/legalities if someone new to the fund-raising wants to become involved. Link to Diary of events.
   9. Donate your surplus stock - nice to have/next phase - Explains that CRASH welcomes offers of other unwanted stock and materials as they become available on an ad hoc basis but warns that, due to limited storage facilities, CRASH may not be able to accept every offer. Link to page on storage space.

4. Projects - required - sponsor - introduces the idea of projects in more detail - it includes a clickable map of the UK showing the regions and a textual list of featured projects. The map links to the matching region heading on the page listing Projects by location.
   1. Projects by location - required - sponsor - List of current projects under sub-headings of region. The page includes a list of regions so that people can jump to that location on the page. Projects listed in a consistent way, with links to available detail and progress.
   2. Projects by type - required - sponsor - List of current projects under sub-headings of type. The page includes a list of types so that people can jump to that type on the page. Projects listed in a consistent way, with links to available detail and progress.
      1. (Project detail) - page titled by project name - 10 required - For each project where detail is available, information is presented in a consistent style. The page includes background information, at least one photo, more information on the initiating voluntary agency, a list of the supporting companies, and the latest news.
      2. (Project progress - page title based on project name) - nice to have - Project progress is included on separate pages for convenience (and also to not make it dependent on the existence of project background pages).
   3. What happens in a project - nice to have - sponsor - From the first application to the opening ceremony, this page gives a step-by-step overview of how a project comes about. This helps those who may become involved with CRASH but also those who are involved for just one part of a project's duration.
      1. Case study - nice to have - sponsor - Presenting an actual project as a case study - more detail, in a chronological journal style and with accompanying photos and quotes.
   4. Request help from CRASH - required - A form for voluntary agencies to use to make an application to CRASH for a new project. It includes an explanation of what will happen next. If the form is also available online, applicants will receive a copy of their request by e-mail.
      1. How to apply for a project - nice to have - Update existing one-page of information on how to apply for a CRASH project. Include information of what CRASH do and don't get involved in.
   5. Voluntary agencies we're helping - required - A listing of the voluntary agencies that CRASH are currently helping (top of page) and have helped (bottom of the page). List agencies alphabetically within type groupings, linking to the project pages, where available.
   6. Completed projects - required - In a similar format to the Projects page, this will list completed projects by region. Projects previously listed on the main projects page will move to here once completed, including links to detail and progress pages.

5. Events & campaigns - required - sponsor - Describes the other CRASH activities that aren't related to projects. The page includes a diary of fund-raising events, with links to detail pages or other sites. The section is used to contain information on the on-going activities and appeals of CRASH.
   1. (Event detail - titled by the event name) - nice to have - sponsor.
   2. Volunteers wanted - required - Information on upcoming events for which volunteers are needed. Details and contact information for applicants.
6. Contact CRASH - required - this is an online form to allow people to contact CRASH. It either includes links to the other forms on the site or duplicates their functionality. People specify the purpose of their message; other input fields cover contact information, checkboxes to sign up to the CRASH newsletter or electronic mailing lists.

7. About CRASH - required - An introduction to CRASH, what it is, what it's for and how it does it. Quotes from voluntary agencies, patrons, fund-raisers and suppliers can be included here.
   1. History - required - History of the charity, including a timeline with key events.
   2. (Information pack) - nice to have - This section is based on the information available in CRASH's information pack.
   3. Business Action on Homelessness - required - A page detailing CRASH's involvement with this initiative.
   4. CRASH publications - required - A section describing CRASH's own publications - linking to available publication detail pages in the About homelessness section.
      1. Order form - nice to have - An online or printable order form for specific publications by CRASH.
   5. Who's who in CRASH - required - A page listing the people who work for CRASH, as well as trustees, in a consistent format (name, title, optional photo, paragraph describing their role). The page features a link to the Patrons page in the Help CRASH section.

8. About homelessness - required - sponsor - the purpose of this section is to provide a homelessness resource. It will demonstrate CRASH's expert knowledge in the area whilst increasing awareness of CRASH itself.
   1. News - nice to have - sponsor - a single page summarising news relating to homelessness which doesn't appear on the CRASH news page. Content to be provided by the sponsor (this depends on who the sponsor is).
   2. Government action - required - a page or group of pages describing CRASH's interface to the government.
   3. Reading list - required - sponsor - A page split into sections by theme, listing relevant and recommended reading, giving full details of articles, papers and books. Listed books which are available at the Amazon site, are linked to Amazon via Associates Programme link, which would generate a small commission for CRASH based on purchases resulting from the link.
   4. Homelessness literature review - required - sponsor - Provides information on the homelessness literature review. An extract will be provided, as well as links to download it as a PDF.
      1. Submit your research - nice to have - an online or printable form to allow people to notify CRASH of new research for consideration in the next review of homelessness literature.
   5. Related links - required - sponsor - a page of links to related Internet resources, grouped under sub-headings by type (e.g., for the homeless, places for individuals to donate household items or cash, government agencies). The list includes links to web sites, pages describing mailing lists or newsgroups known and recommended by CRASH. Each link includes a name and a short description.

9. Site contents - required - links to all the pages on the web site grouped by section. All pages become two clicks away from any other page to a visitor and to indexing spiders, which sometimes only index sites to two links deep.
10. Site credits - required - A page listing the people and companies involved in developing the web site. List contact name, role in the CRASH web site, company name, logo and link to web site, if available.
11. Patrons Page - required - Accessible only by patrons. This section enables CRASH to make available timely relevant information, such as a diary and minutes. It also serves to demonstrate recognition of the patrons' contribution to CRASH. Each patron is assigned their own username and password to access the same area (there are separate access details so that fewer people need be notified if the access details need ever be changed). Although it is anticipated in the first phase that all the patrons will have access to the same content, the separate passwords will allow sub-areas for specific areas to be easily created later. There is no link to this area from the public web site (so that outsiders don't try to hack the restricted area). Patrons are notified in writing of the area, its purpose, the web address and their access details. Such a letter could be part of the launch campaign to notify specific contacts of the new site.
    1. Briefing - required - a briefing report prepared for patrons.
    2. Diary - required - upcoming and past meetings for patrons, in descending date order.
    3. Minutes - required - minutes of past meetings.
    4. Projects - nice to have - a list of projects grouped by patrons. Projects link to the progress area of projects on the main site.

Graphic design

The style of the CRASH web site should be professional and at least as good as sites from construction industry. It should not be gimmicky, frivolous or ostentatious. A magazine-style approach has been suggested.

With regard to structure and navigation, the patrons area will be treated as a separate site, since patrons will be accessing this directly. There will be links on all pages to the main site; it will adopt the same style as the main site, but the navigation buttons will include a set for the patrons area.

Design attributes

A list of attributes of CRASH and the web site which should be conveyed through the visual design are listed below:

Imagery

Specific imagery which came out of early discussions include building blocks and building tools. Imagery that conveys the building of homes should not be used, since CRASH projects exclusively deal with refurbishment, renovation and improvement of existing building, such as night shelters, day centres and temporary accommodation.

Design cues

Depending on the level in the site structure a page exists, different navigational and informational elements will be on the page. These elements are:

• Link home - (for all pages but the home page) each page includes a graphical link back to the home page in a consistent position. Also included on all pages is the site name (CRASH, The Construction and Property Industry Charity for the Single Homeless). Both can be achieved by making the site name a button to the home page;
• Section buttons by way of coloured-coded and iconic graphical buttons. These link to level 2 pages. Each button should include a unique meaningful icon or abstract shape. The text labels for all graphical buttons will be in HTML text. The graphical part can be to the left, right or above the text link. On the inner pages, they should be in a consistent position;
• the style of the section buttons - showing:
  1. unselected + clickable (on a different section)
  2. selected + unclickable (on the section page)
  3. selected + clickable (below a section page)
  4. mouseover + clickable (animated - one each for a and b or just one)
• Site search: input field and search button ("Search the CRASH site:");
• a short but unambiguous colour-coded page heading (not a graphic);
• a colour-coded section graphic indicating the current section;
• the section heading (the page heading of the section's level 2 page) - or the page context, by way of a horizontal list of text links showing the parent path back to the home page;
• a page footer, contains at least the page URL. It can also contain a copyright notice or other notices.

In addition to section buttons, illustrative buttons will be required for the Help CRASH page, to help manage the large number of links. A small device (around 20 x 10 pixels) is also needed to use within text to mark off-site links.

Button positions

The level 2 links can be placed along the top of the page or in a right-hand column. The main text of the page should be on the left-hand side of pages.

The design should allow for the repetition of all links in the last screenful of long pages without the need for a second set of graphics.

Button colours

Button or text colours which are similar to the default new and visited link colours must be avoided.

Sub-section links

The design should allow for all sub-section (level 3) links (of main and medium sections) to be listed as HTML links below the associated button and label or in a consistent position on pages. Sub-section links will be shown on all pages of the site.

Display

The site will not use frames and so the design should not rely on them.

The design should not be such to require the entire page to be held in a single table. Instead, a design which allows progressive display (e.g., by using a series of tables, if using tables for layout) is required.

The level 2 links can be placed along the top of the page and/or in a right-hand column. The main text of the page should be on the left-hand side of pages.

The design should allow for the duplication of all links in the last screenful of long pages without the need for a second set of graphics or changing the orientation of links.

To design a site which is fast and easy to use, compatible with older browsers, any browser config and for printing, please refer to these design guidelines.