Custom Theme Design
Having supported the old WordPress site for Kavod Senior Life, we were invited to bid on their new WordPress custom theme design and development project. Subsequently, Kavod graciously rewarded us with their business. So, our design team got to work on designing their new custom theme.
Objective: Easy to Navigate
The primary objective was to create a design that would organize their content efficiently while being easy to navigate. Starting with their colorful logo, our designer incorporated the angles from the star and matched colors for each section. The angles were carried into the main menu signifying a drop down. They were also used as pointers for each section of the extended menu.
In essence, the designer made use of the front page to effectively create a site map. Each menu section is divided into its three main pages, each with a description of what to expect when clicking through. When clicking on the main menu drop down on the homepage, the user is taken to the submenu section with additional information. The user can quickly identify the parts of the site they are most interested and consequently can verify it has what they seek.
Finally, the color coding for each section is carried throughout the site. All pages for each section maintain the color scheme verifying the user is in the right place. The theme’s colors are kept consistent for headlines, forms, accents and backgrounds.
Custom Theme Development
The Kavod Senior Life theme required most of the common WordPress templates including the front page, page, home page, single, and archives. It also needed a custom template for a secured member’s only page and a custom post type to handle their various newsletters. But, the biggest challenge was in carrying the color schemes throughout the sections of the site.
Color-Coded Custom Theme
As can be seen in the mobile menu to the left, each section of the Kavod website is color-coded. We added a special field for each main menu item where the admin can set the desired color for a section. We also limited the color options to those from the client style guide, most of which correspond to logo colors. Using logic saying, if this is the main section page or a child thereof, give it the selected color scheme.
Newsletter Custom Content Type
Kavod offers its audience several newsletters in PDF format. In their old site they were a bit disorganized and hard to find for users. So in order to organize them and make them easy to find, we put together a newsletter system. We used the native ability of WordPress to create a blog-like structure, a custom post type. We added a custom taxonomy as well so the Kavod admins can categorize each newsletter by its title.
Then we created a quick template using native and custom metadata fields to collect the title, an image and a PDF download link. The color scheme had to be modified also given that the newsletter setup was not part of the page structure. Utilizing the category structure built into WordPress, we added links for each to auto sort the newsletter by type making them easy to find.
Secured Member Area
On the old website, Kavod had a member’s only page to offer downloads to their board members. However, using the native password protected page feature in WordPress, it was not so secure. The private PDF files were still being indexed by Google. With a simple search, it was possible to find the private documents and even view them without discretion.
So, to solve this security loophole in the native WordPress system, we made some server side adjustments. We used what are known as rewrite rules to single out all media library files and pass them through a filter. In addition, we added a toggle switch for each media library file so any admin can set it as a protected file.
So, when a url of any media library file is requested by the server it is sent to the filter. The filter then checks to see if it is protected, and if it is, it checks to see if it is a password protected page. If the media fie request doesn’t originate from a protected page, the browser redirects to the home page. Now the images set to protected status can only be seen on the password protected pages.
WordPress Fully Managed Hosted
Having numerous options for hosting their WordPress website, Kavod chose Crack-Ajax for their hosting needs. Because we include everything a WordPress website needs in our hosting package, there are never any surprise charges. We even include the SSL certificate and installation at no additional cost. All of our hosting customers have our direct line in the case there is a server issue or emergency. It is our goal that our customer never have to worry about their WordPress hosting so they can focus on their business activities.
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