Calder Valley Aquatics
We approached a local web design company to create something special, and that is
exactly what has happened in the time and at the price agreed without any hassle.
From the outset Richard understood our requirements and produced a site that exceeded
our expectation.
The Client
Calder Valley Aquatics are located in Sowerby Bridge and provide tropical & coldwater
fish, aquariums and accessories.
The Job
Calder Valley Aquatics is located off the main road running through Sowerby Bridge
and is hidden to new customers. The primary goal of this project was to increase
awareness of the shop’s location via the Internet. This would be achieved through
the use of Google Maps and Search Engine Optimisation.
Awareness
We always create our sites with accessibility and search engine optimisation in
mind. This site is no different, while making use of QuickTime and JavaScript, the
site does not depend on them. You can browse Calder Valley Aquatics with both features
turned off and still have a complete experience. Some of the advanced features are
important enough that we’ve added little pointers to the site to enable less informed
users of the sites potential.
Search engine optimisation goes hand in hand with accessibility. After all it is
the search engines ability to read your page that will make you more successful.
The creation of this site employs several optimisation techniques, but importantly,
the site describes the shop’s physical location to Google using
KML
The Design
The site’s design is based on an aquarium. The Koi sitting beneath the navigation
panel creates an optical illusion by appearing to swim outside the confines of the
tank (or site).
Visit the site.
With so many different types of fish in stock it was difficult to ignore the potential
for a beautifully coloured multi media element to the site. This comprised of a
JavaScript enhanced image gallery and video footage of some of the stock you can
see in the shop. The video footage, along with the slide show on the front page,
use advanced QuickTime technology that provides fast internet streaming and cross
platform availability.
The Tools
The site was built in Visual Studio 2005. The graphical elements were created in
Photoshop CS3. Multimedia elements were created using QuickTime Pro, iMovie and
KeyNote.
Visit the site.