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The Welsh Language Board is at the centre of the accelerating development in the promotion of the use of the Welsh Language in Wales.
To deliver its services the Welsh Language Board (WLB) has placed a massive emphasis on the use of web technology to increase productivity whilst remaining as efficient as possible.
During 2004, the WLB decided to develop 4 new websites in addition to a re-design of their existing corporate website to target various audiences, such as parents, ex-pats and businesses, amongst others.
• Corporate website
www.bwrdd-yr-iaith.org
• Password protected WLB Intranet
• Celebrating Wales ecards website
www.celebratingwales.com
• TWF, educational website
www.twfcymru.com
• Work, Play, Live promotional website
www.workplaylive.org
The main aim of the WLB is to make it easier for everyone in Wales to use Welsh in all walks of life, to increase people’s confidence in their ability to use the language, to encourage more people to speak, read or write it in new situations, and to pass on the language to their children.
Each website detailed above helps to achieve this objective, offers a variety of interactive features, simple navigation and attractive designs that will appeal to the appropriate audiences.
The total solution is highly efficient and innovative with a single content management system driving all 5 websites, augmented by additional functionality on particular sites when required. Particular features of the solution include:
• Accessible design
Each website in the solution is accessible to Priority Level A using the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative guidelines, which are internationally recognised to be the most appropriate guidelines to follow. The corporate site is also in the process of being assessed for the RNIB's See It Right award.
Accessibility ensures that each website can be viewed not only by anyone with a visual disability, but the sites can also be viewed on other platforms such as a WAP enabled mobile phone.
The solution uses the most cutting edge Cascading Style Sheet and XML web technologies to future proof the site structure, and it is wrapped up in a simple design which belies the level of technology used to drive the site
• Simple content management reduces information dissemination costs
An easy to use bi-lingual content management system drives all 5 websites, with a tiered structure of users so that only certain users can put content live, with others only being able to add content. This ensures that only approved content goes live.
Similarly, a login and password system ensure that visitors of the intranet only see content that they have permission to see, with the level of access being controlled in the administration system.
The system is augmented with a number of databases such as news and publications, creating sites that are rich in content and easy to navigate with powerful search systems.
All content is inter-related, so visitors are always presented with the most relevant information at any point in the sites.
• Interactive features develop relationships
All external sites encourage customers to register on-line for additional services and regular updates of one form or another. For instance, Celebrating Wales and WorkPlayLive offer e-cards for visitors to send to their friends and family and TWF have interactive games and an area to share pictures and stories. These functions offer a very effective method of building relationships with customers and help to meet the organisation’s main objectives.
The entire solution makes highly effective use of the latest web technologies both in terms of design and functionality and uses these innovations to improve internal efficiency of content dissemination and reduce promotional costs. Paula Dauncey
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