We are passionate about using the latest in web and data technology to help people discover what is around them. Here we talk more about how we work and what tools we use
People are at the heart of what we do so we reflect that in our development. We use agile methodology to constantly iterate and improve our platforms based on user feedback.
Accessibility is also important; we aim to open access as widely as possible by designing our platforms for all form factors whether they be mobile, tablet or desktop. As we develop we are also improving the accessibility of our platforms for those with disabilities.
We’re supporting the W3C’s efforts to create a better web and apply their standards on our platforms wherever possible for html and css, ensuring systems are up to date and secure.
Our platforms are open and modular where possible, allowing us to work with others quickly and efficiently. When running any platform, particularly our larger deployments, efficiency is key so we aim to write code as efficiently as possible to reduce workloads and keep costs down.
Another area of focus for us is visibility. We apply search engine optimisation to all our platforms to ensure the highest profile on the web.
Our technology is split into three main areas - what you see, the code that powers that experience and the data on top of which everything sits.
HTML is what gives the website it’s structure and how it is presented to the people. With the current standard of HTML5, exciting new ways of creating that framework has opened up.
CSS is what gives the website it’s colorful and shiny appearance. As a social enterprise, we honour the effort which the admiringly talented people do out there and make it accessible for everyone. It is thanks to Twitter’s Bootstrap that we can offer responsive websites for everyone. With the new developments which recently came out, LessCSS enables a developer to do more CSS in less time. This gives us the advantage to make your web presence really shiny and good looking in shorter time.
Javascript is what enables developers to give that little soft touch up which is not yet possible in CSS. Thanks to the fast development of CSS, javascript get’s more and more deprecated and we exchange everything possible with standard CSS. Still, there are parts in javascript which provide the people with the joy and fancy elements on their website.
All our heavy lifting source code is written in python - a server side and powerful programing language which comes with batteries included. What this means is that python has powerful built-in libraries and tools which you would normally need to create yourself or acquire from 3rd party developers. It is thanks to the Django Project that we can proudly say that all our platforms are powered by django and written in python.
In a time where static websites are slowly fading, you need a strong and efficient way to store your data. This is where PostgreSQL comes in. All the website data which is generated from the people will be stored in the postgres database. The database content is fetched through our python code, adjusted into a human readable format and filled into the HTML and prettified by CSS.
Despite fantastic work on behalf of the Open Data Institute and others the vast majority of information relevant for our communities is spread throughout the web in different formats. Unsurprisingly then one of the biggest challenges with community data is bringing it all together in a format people can actually use.
A big part of our work involves collecting this data from across the internet, standardising it and then assigning it to a particular locality. This allows us to then surface that information and present it for people to use.
If you want to read more about our work and the development of Stickyboard, please feel free to head over to our blog and read the posts from our development department.