A couple more Perch Runway Sites

I think this is a showcase of how Perch can be used to build complex sites. The product detail pages on grommets.co.uk are very neat. I worked with a similar client (industrial production, in that case) and getting these pages right, especially with the measurement tables and all, was a true challenge. So kudos!

What part of these sites did you work on? Were you responsible for site structure and communication with the client? I’m curious how that went, regarding the above complexity. Were there any particular problems you encountered, or did you have to extend what Runway can do out-of-the-box?

Great work!

Best regards, Jannis

Hi Jannis,

Thank you for the kind words. It was a challenge to get it right, but I am happy with the outcome of the Grommets website.

I worked on the whole project single handed, so I dealt with the design, the development, the build in Runway and all the architecture etc together with all the client facing. I am essentially a one-mand-band trading as an agency (Amasci Creative).

The client was an existing client, so we do have a good relationship and I this gave me a slight advantage as I had an existing understanding of their products and requirements, and also how I could improve the site from the one I built back in 2012 with standard Perch. The web and Perch had moved on significantly from then and I also have acquired much more knowledge and experience and overall ability to design and build sites.

Most of the functionality was standard and just extending what Runway can already do, but ensuing the content was structured and input in the right ways was critical. I built it so it would be super easy to change the product ranges (sizes) and adjust the tables to break these down further or in different brackets, but also ensuring all products (sizes) are consistent on each product, would also allow for future functionality and enhancements like a 'Help me pick a product' mechanism, where you could choose a product type, select a measurement (A, B, C etc) and then get a list of suitable products. Something I suggested we might implement in the future.

If you have any specific questions about the structure or build etc, then feel free to ask.

Thanks once again for the 'Kudos!' Has made my day :-)

Terry.

Thank you for explaining how this was put together.

I’m really impressed that you did all this alone. We’re a small studio as well (2 people), but give a lot of back end work away to freelancers in our network. Your example really matches my experience. With the project I mentioned above (also an existing client, mostly from print work), listing measurements for each item was a key requirement and was meant as an alternative to their decade old print catalogue. In that case an external programmer suggested the client might want to build up the database from an spreadsheet (initially and for updates), which meant most of the project management and coordination had to do with Excel, not the CMS (Drupal).

Bulk suppliers with a dedicated sales department often do not need or want an online shop, but we often get asked for some kind of cart functionality as an addition, so that looking up items, measurements and quantities is on the customer-side of things and simplifies the quotation process. I’m still not sure how to do something as complex with Perch, I have only used the Forms app for some simple event sign-ups. If you do make that addition, it’d be great if you shared your knowledge :)

Thanks again! Jannis