I developed the Raising a Scholar sandbox website as part of a custom WordPress project designed to support an educational coaching brand. The site was built using a premium theme framework with extensive custom design work to reflect the client’s vision of empowering students and parents.
What I Did:
- WordPress Setup:
- Installed WordPress in a sandbox environment (subdomain) for safe development.
- Configured all basic settings like security, backups, and permalinks.
- Design & Layout:
- Created pages with a clean, non-profit feel — professional, hopeful, and trustworthy.
- Built templates for key pages: Home, About, Programs, Get Involved, Blog / News, Contact.
- Features:
- Integrated information about their tutoring / mentorship program.
- Added sections to highlight how they help through scholarships and resource donations.
- Created a “Get Involved” page / form: for volunteers (tutors), donors, and supporters.
- Responsive & Accessible:
- Made sure the design works well on mobile, tablet, and desktop.
- Designed for accessibility — easy to read, simple navigation.
- Testing / QA:
- Used the sandbox to run thorough testing: check page layouts, form submissions, responsiveness, and load times.
- Verified compatibility with different browsers.
Why It Matters:
- The sandbox site gave the client (Raising a Scholar) a safe place to review and approve the design before launch.
- Helps build trust: the staging site is a prototype that stakeholders can interact with, and ask for changes.
- Ensures that only a polished, tested version goes to production — minimizing errors, improving user experience, and avoiding downtime on the live site.
Skills Demonstrated:
- WordPress setup & configuration
- Designing for non-profit / educational organizations
- UX / UI thinking for service-based websites
- Testing & quality assurance in a staging environment
