by Warren Tan

The web today is the number one source of information for much of the connected world. Apart from the millions of profit-driven, commercial and governmental websites, there are some of those that are managed entirely by volunteers and non-governmental organisations. These sites frequently run on shoestring budgets, but are critical and of great help to the underprivileged and other often-forgotten segments of society.

The FPMPAM (Federation of Private Medical Practitioners Associations Malaysia) approached Integricity with their existing No2Drugs website which was dated, unattractive and had a notoriously-difficult maintenance system, which resulted in it not being updated at all.

No2Drugs was to be relaunched a fresh new look, updated content and linked to a database of doctors in Malaysia who were part of the FPMPAM's programme to reach out to people with drug addition problems. In addition to that, the site would also be a source of information on drug addiction and treatment options - not only for addicts, but for their concerned families and friends as well.

1. Completely revamp the layout and look-and-feel of the site, give it an attractive and contemporary image, and a simple, user-friendly navigation system.

2. Collate information and reorganise content and its structure so that it is relevant and immediately useful for the target audience.

3. Develop a back-end database and a search function to locate doctors by state and district.

4. Do all the above within a very tight deadline of 2 weeks, in time for an official press and media launch with a VIP.

5. Do all the above with a very limited budget and with cost being a major concern.

As time and budget were major constraints in this project, Integricity decided quickly to partly sponsor the cost of developing the new website. In addition to that, Integricity employees dedicated much of their own personal time, working on this on a pro bono basis.

We quickly decided on a look - a mainly black and white colour scheme with accents of pink, with large dramatic black and white photos as backdrops for the main content pages. The internal pages would retain the same, with smaller photos and simple text formatting. The look-and-feel was in line with the serious tone of the website, and yet the pink accents offered hope to those in need of help. Again, because time was a concern - we did not have the opportunity to refresh and better present the copious volumes of information which was mainly in text format. However, as an immediate measure, we increased the spacing between lines and added points and bulleting where possible to increase readability.

Integricity also built the site on its WebToolz Content Management System, which enabled us to very quickly empower our client with the ability to work on the actual content of the website. With this, our team was able to dedicate and focus resources to the actual graphical, technical and aesthetical elements of the website; whilst our client utilised their own team to work on the content.

1. The freshly revamped website was completed in time for the launch, within a 2-week timeline.

2. With Integricity's cost-saving measures and quick development cycles, we were able to meet the client's limited budgetary requirements.

3. Our search system allowed a visitor to search for a doctor within a particular area.

4. Our WebToolz Content Management System empowered the client to easily update the content of the website.

5. The new look-and-feel was very well received by the client and visitors alike.

Disclaimer: This case study is for informational purposes only. Integricity makes no warranties, expressed or implied, in this summary.