Award winning redesign of one of the longest running websites in the world

About the client

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was founded by the inventor of the web, Tim Berners-Lee, and is responsible for key standards that make the World Wide Web work (such as HTML, CSS, accessibility, web payments and more).

W3C and Studio 24: a shared vision

Studio 24 has always believed in building a better web, using standards to make sure the sites we build are accessible to all regardless of who you are, what internet access you have, what device you’re using, or any disability you may have. In this regard our beliefs are perfectly aligned with W3C’s mission in making a ‘Web for All’.

Project goals

W3C is redesigning its website and revising the information architecture to:

• Show the world who they are and what they offer.
• Improve the organisation and usability of the website for key audiences.
• Communicate the W3C brand more effectively.
• Motivate people to participate in the organisation.

Project challenges

In March 2020 we started the website redesign for W3C. This is a prestigious, exciting, and challenging project. The redesign needs to communicate what W3C does with a modern, inclusive, usable website. Because of the age and size of the site we have some unique challenges to address.

• Content strategy: the W3C website is one of the longest running websites in the world. As it has grown organically over time, does the site meet its purpose and is it easily understood by users?
• URL strategy: with a massive 2 million documents, the web page addresses are the backbone of the website.
• Technical strategy: the W3C was founded in the early days of the web in 1994, which means they will have a variety of different systems and ways of managing web pages.
• Working with stakeholders: some stages of the project require a lot of time to gather appropriate feedback.

And, of course, 2020 had all the disruption caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. Not ideal when you are trying to work on your dream project!

Working in the open

One of the key elements of this project is that we work in the open so all the decisions we’ve made can be understood by the W3C community. At the start of the project, we set up a website to share our progress, key documents, and learnings.

The working in the open site website was updated throughout the project and now acts as an archive of the work done and decisions taken during the project.

Key posts from the project include:

• Choosing a front end framework – our discussion with W3C on what CSS framework / approach to take
• A series of posts on the CMS section process:
  • CMS platform selection update
  • On not choosing WordPress
  • CMS selection report
• A series of posts on the design process:
  • Our proposal for a new W3C site Information Architecture
  • Global design direction
  • Designs for the default, landing and business templates
  • Header design finalisation
  • How we are using illustrations to represent the W3C
• Headless CMS approach
• Internationalization approach
• URL strategy
• Building the main navigation – how we iterated the navigation design for accessibility and usability
• The W3C Design System is live
• W3C beta website launch
• W3C live website launch

Please browse the timeline to see the full scope of the work.

The new W3C website launched on 20 June 2023! We continue to work with W3C to improve their website.

To keep up to date with future W3C work follow us on Twitter, follow us on Linked In, or sign up to the Studio 24 newsletter.

Project recognition

As a team we are proud to have been recognised in the 2023 Gaady Awards. The Gaadys celebrate outstanding digital products that support the GAAD (Global Accessibility Awareness Day) Foundation’s mission to disrupt the culture of technology and digital product development to include accessibility as a core requirement.