Royal Ontario Museum
Tools: PHP, Perl, mySQL, Microsoft Access, XML, HTML, CSS
Introduction
The Royal Ontario Museum is undergoing major construction to restore its heritage buildings and galleries, and to add a remarkable landmark building to our vibrant cityscape in Toronto. A web re-design project is initiated to update the look and feel of the website.
Challenge
The old Royal Ontario Museum had a dated design where most of the applications have their own unique design but they failed to communicate to the users that they actually belong to the Royal Ontario Museum identity. There are a mixture of pages that are written in PHP and Perl CGI which created an inconsistent framework that makes maintenance of the website difficult. Some of the old applications were dated and they no longer meet the needs of the web users nor the needs of the Museum's staff.
Solution
Jacqueline is the web developer of this project. She is involved in creating the requirements document for the project and she is also responsible for creating the dynamic components of the website. These components include the following:
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Update the framework of the website. All the pages are now written in PHP. The menu system is generated dynamically from an xml file.
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Collection Highlight - The museum has a huge collection of artifacts. A script is created such that it randomly selects an object from an xml file and displays a random image on the website. The image also acts as a link to the image's record in the ROM Images application. This component creates an eye catching icon on the homepage and it also provides the visitors a sample of objects that they can expect to see when they visit the Museum.
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Calendar - The user interface of the calendar application has been updated so that it is easier to navigate.
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Programs - There are many kinds of programs that are offered by the Museum, for example, "Lectures, Courses, & Events", "Trips & Travels", "Saturday Morning Club", etc. An application is created so that it can generate a catalogue page for each kind of programs that are offered. A shopping cart is integrated to this application to allow users to purchase these programs online.
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Contact Us - A form is created to re-direct visitor's inquiries to the appropriate staff at the Museum.
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Survey - A survey application is built to collect visitors' impression toward the Museum's old website. The feedback is used as a reference to build the new website.
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First People's Image Tour - An xml driven microsite for showcasing the artifacts in the First People's Gallery.
Homepage of the Royal Ontario Museum website.
What's On Calendar - an application for looking up current events at the Museum.
ROMLife Programs - an application for browsing and purchasing programs online.