Henley Royal Regatta is a prestigious annual international rowing regatta.
Crews come from all over the world to compete in hundreds of races, for the chance to win one of the trophies and be part of a world-class event. Crews that have come to Henley Royal Regatta in the past have gone on to compete in various Olympics and games around the globe.
The main focus of the website is to make it simple, easy to navigate and to provide a live results system during the Regatta.
Some of our other projects in detail.
The main HRR website uses our Content Management System. Notable features include:- An archive section, with an image gallery from 2004 to the current year
- A Media Information section which has an RSS feed for journalists to get the latest updates over the Regatta.
- A shop for ticket & souvenir sales.
- A mobile-friendly version (see below)
Every year, the Hidden Colour team are on-site at Henley Royal Regatta providing instant results on their website.
The system we've designed has lots of features to improve the experience for visitors, such as:
- Twitter & Facebook integration - when a result is posted on the website, it automatically sends a shortened version to these social networks.
- SMS integration - updates are automatically sent as coded text messages to a group of official mobile phones, enabling staff to publish race results around the site.
- Automatic refresh - the website results pages use an automated system to display the latest race result without the need to refresh your browser.
- RSS Feeds - each event has a separate feed, allowing you to subscribe and receive results for the specific events that interest you, using an RSS reader on your computer or mobile phone.
The Regatta Live Results System operates in June & July, during the Regatta. Check the HRR website for exact dates of future events.
During the Regatta, multiple car parks exist on and around the site. Both VIPs and members of the public can reserve a space to allow them easy access to the site during the Regatta week.
Previously, a paper system had been used to co-ordinate the booking of these spaces, but with multiple staff members dealing with requests via the phone, internet and in person there was an increasing risk of double-booking or making errors.
To reduce this risk, we designed a system which enables Regatta staff to allocate car parking spaces on a grid that matches the layout of each car park. The grid auto-refreshes, so other members of staff can instantly see when spaces are taken.
As with many of our projects, this system was built as an add-on to the Hidden CMS, so it integrates smoothly and uses the same layout and interface design.
Over time, we analyse the viewing statistics of visitors to each website we build, to spot patterns in how visitors use the site.This allows us to make changes where we notice inconsistencies or potential problems.
The HRR website has a higher than average proportion of visitors (15-20%) who view content using a mobile, smartphone or tablet, so it was a natural choice to create a mobile-specific site for these users.
The mobile version has fewer graphics, a simpler layout and fewer visual effects, yet can still be customised using the CMS. It's easier to read on a small screen, quicker to load over a mobile data connection and the smaller size keeps the cost to a minimum for those on a pay-as-you-go data plan.
