WoltLab Plugin Store (2010)

woltlab plugin store Website Webdesign UI/UX HTML css Webseite plug-in

WoltLab Plug-in Store
Online-Store (2010)

In the fall of 2010, Berlin-based WoltLab GmbH began development of the new store website for plugins for the new, modern version of their forum software, called Burning Board 3 (first released in July 2007). It was an addition to the recently updated company website and was intended to be part of the community section of the website and thus also be available in German and English.

In future, customers would be able to download plug-ins for the forum software directly from the store page in the ACP (Admin Control Panel) of the forum. Anyone would be able to develop plug-ins and upload them to the store, there would be free and commercial plug-ins, and they would be checked by admins for compatibility and errors. Since the store website and the forum should be closely linked, updates and bug fixes would be easy to accomplish, the website and the ACP would display them for each installed plugin.

My task was almost the same as before with the new WoltLab website: Conception of the user experience, design, creation of all required web pages with XHTML, CSS and Smarty Template Script, use of our new community icon set, illustrations, PDF manuals as well as translation of all German texts into English.

The design was derived from the WoltLab website, just with a darker touch. The same custom XHTML and CSS framework was used with its relatively simple grid and the cards/boxes. As with the WoltLab website, the many possible combinations of pre-built elements allowed us to create new pages quickly and easily. Only a few new elements had to be developed. Again, responsive or flexible design was not desired by the management.

The development progressed quite quickly and so the WoltLab Plugin Store went online in late spring 2011. The store website was continuously expanded and updated over the following years until it was replaced by a new, responsive version based on Twitter Bootstrap around 2014.

Please note: All following screenshots are taken from click prototypes I designed for the project, filled with dummy data. Some pages were not necessarily implemented exactly as they are shown here.

See also Artwork for WoltLab Website (2007–2010).

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