Tag: Responsive Web Design

Over the last few months, Bear Web Design has been working on a new responsive designed website to launch for the 2013 Wilson County Fair. A responsive website is a website that is mobile, tablet, laptop and desktop friendly and provides an optimum user experience based on the device with which the website is being used.

With fair goers using many different devices to access event information — ranging from family planning on a laptop or desktop, to mobile and tablet users checking out their favorite events as they head down I-40 to Lebanon, TN to the Wilson County Fair — the new responsive website site provides a great experience for all website visitors.

The website was custom designed by our awesome design Team Vicki Beare and Dana Bryson under the direction of Helen McPeak, Nell Stephens & George Wallace. As always with Vicki and Dana, their designs are visually amazing while maintaining excellent functionality. Incorporating an exciting array of image and data display widgets, the Wilson County Fair site comes to life with eye catching graphics and logos, and with great photos from the Fair’s photography team.

Matched with great design is the tremendous content work by Nell Stephens, who manages all content on the website. There are close to 500 event listings for this year’s Fair, and to ensure each event is accurate as well as informative is something Nell has mastered.

To appreciate the full experience I invite you to visit the website on at least 3 devices (mobile, tablet, laptop or desktop) to get a full appreciation for responsive design which is where all of Bear Web Design’s new development efforts have been focused in 2013 – http://www.wilsoncountyfair.net

Laptop and Desktop views will really give visitors the visual experience of being at the Wilson County Fair. As you enter the site you will see a great background photo (which changes daily and really sets the experience for the website visit). Our photo slideshow can quickly take you through several great photos that link to a specific event (or event category) or to any general article in the site.

Of course, the star of the website is the list of events, which are being presented through our new event system which can be accessed via the main menu. For the first time on the Fair website, we are capable of tying event listings to the actual events photograph. We are currently loading event photos for specific events providing you with the capability of reading event details and seeing some great event photos. Another great feature this year is Facebook comments that allow the visitor to post a comment about any event (that is not only shared on the site but also shared in Facebook).

Other key elements include:

• Sliding icon based navigation system (key fair items such as contacts, vendors, directions, tickets etc.
• Tab based info (In the right module) that can be clicked on to expand information (click on videos to see the Wilson County Fair video channel)
• Blogs and News (that automatically update Social Media — Facebook, Twitter, Google+)
• Digital advertising, with ads designed to effectively promote the Fair’s sponsors and advertisers while fitting aesthetically into the look and feel of the new website.
• A twitter feed gives the fair a direct broadcast banner which will be used to provide key information updates throughout the Fair.
• Sponsorship Scroller on the home page, providing great visibility and recognition of Fair sponsors.

Mobile & Tablet views will really show you the advantages of responsive design. While launching a great image based website is becoming the vogue (with large image backgrounds and slideshows becoming more common), the fact is, if that site isn’t easily accessible in a mobile or tablet experience, then a larger and larger user segment base is being overlooked and ignored.

The Wilson County Fair’s mobile site provides key drop down menus as well as immediate search options. The key to a good mobile site is navigation, so these items are directly below the new fair logo.

The logo and new slideshow are sized to 100% of the mobile device (and tablet when in vertical view) – and you can easily review the great slideshow you see on the desktop with touch-screen navigation to scroll to the next photo.

Touch navigation is relevant in both Mobile and Tablet,  and the behavior of finger touch screens are tested thoroughly by Vicki and Dana (using a variety of iOS, Windows, and Android devices and browsers) to ensure they are easily navigable.

Additionally, the mobile and tablet views are complemented by fully readable events, blogs & articles with access to photos, videos and key information. We even have our sponsors ads running on the mobile sites in 2013 as we are expecting a surge in mobile use this year with up to 25,000 unique visitors.

One important thing to keep in mind is that all of the responsive views use the same data and info as the full desktop site  — so there is only one site to maintain and update. (This is a huge and relatively recent improvement over the days when a mobile site had to be updated separately.)

Introducing the Wilson County Fair’s First Mobile App!

To cap off the new Wilson County Responsive Website we are introducing our first Mobile App (Event App) that is browser based.

This means you don’t have download the app to use it, and it does not require a different download for different operating systems (e.g. i-Phone, Android, Blackberry).

The mobile app comes with a sharp and crisp interface giving you a different look than the actual website event listing and these events are tied to Google Map and  GPS coordinates identifying precisely where the event is taking place in the Fair Grounds.

Ultimately we are working with this app to have the ability to navigate around the fair with your mobile device while being constantly aware of what events are up and coming. We will be sharing more information on our new mobile app as we progress through its setup.

So like never before you can stay tuned, connected and engaged with the Wilson County Fair.

We look forward to seeing you online and at the Wilson County Fair – August 16-24, 2013!