The problem

• This non-profit had been growing fast and their website couldn’t keep up.
• NYDP needed a new website built from the ground up, not just for a new look, but to solve back-office problems.
  • The previous website was built on WordPress, but had only static pages, making news and calendar updates difficult to maintain.
  • The site accepted audition and program registrations—critical to the organization’s mission—via a WordPress form plugin that didn’t meet the organization’s needs.

The solution

• I designed and built a new WordPress-based website on NYDP’s existing hosting platform with:
  • Static informational pages;
  • A news section;
  • A calendar of events; and
  • A members area where candidates can create an account, apply to audition, and register and pay for programs.
• After go-live, I provided documentation and training on site features, and continue to offer support.

How it works

• I built a custom WordPress theme based on _s (Underscores) using the Bootstrap framework.
• The news section takes advantage of WordPress’s built-in taxonomy and pagination features.
• For the calendar (which had been a manually updated static page on the previous website), I created a custom post type for event info that includes location mapping and automatic time zone management (using Google’s Time Zone API) based on the location of the event – important since NYDP hosts events around the country as well as in Europe.
• I replaced the default WordPress login interface with a custom system and created additional user roles for candidates, registrants, and staff members.
  • Anyone can create an account on the site (subject to email verification via a custom notification system) with the default candidate role.
  • Once logged into the members area, candidates can apply to NYDP by completing a scratch-built multi-page ajax form system with certain screens and inputs conditional on previous responses. Candidates can submit a video audition through the system or choose from in-person or online audition events, which are maintained by staff in WordPress admin.
  • Staff members logged into the staff area can review candidate submissions, leave comments for one another, and update candidate status and scholarship information. Staff can also export spreadsheets of candidate information and optionally filter by audition event.
  • If a candidate is accepted, their user role changes to registrant, and their account can then access ajax registration forms for NYDP member classes and events, which are managed in WordPress admin by NYDP staff. Staff can export spreadsheets of registration info filtered by event as well.
  • Registrants complete their program registrations by submitting payment to NYDP through their account via PayPal.