Bike Pittsburgh Website Redesign 2013
The 2013 Redesign of BikePGH.orgI first discovered Bike Pittsburgh in 2005. I had just returned to Pittsburgh after an epic 700 mile bicycle tour from the touristy little fishing town of Newport, Oregon to San Francisco. I was in the best shape of my life and wanted to keep myself on two wheels, and thus began looking for likeminded fellow ‘Burghers.
When I came across the Bike Pittsburgh website as it was at the time, I knew I’d stumbled upon something that was really going to matter some day. I got in touch with Executive Director Scott Bricker about putting up a site that could help the organization do more. I wanted to create a tool they could use to benefit their organization and cyclists in the city alike.
BikePGH.org in 2006Over the years we’ve updated the site several times. Forums were added early on, which took off wonderfully successfully: the forums now boast some 16,000 users and over 100,000 posts. WordPress has been driving the site ever since the first redesigned launch in December of 2006.
In 2008 the site was given its first “mobile view”, and then another redesign in 2009.
BikePGH.org in 2009, aka “Speakerspokes”The Latest Redesign: BikePGH Foldabike 2013
The latest iteration of the BikePGH website began in 2011, actually. We spent several months working on designs, scrapping a few before landing on what you now see live at the new site.
The folks at BikePGH wanted to update their forum software as it was dangerously out of date at this point, a result of some decisions made by the authors of the software, and also just update the look of the site to bring it more in line with the times and reflect more of a “news outlet”. Keeping the fun elements that had kept cyclists and the community at large coming back all of the year was a requirement as well. I personally wanted to make the site responsive so that it’d be easier to use (and maintain) for those folks who are actually checking the site while out on their bikes.
A massive BBPress 1 Standalone to BBPress 2 the WordPress plugin and several months of development later, the website was unveiled. Since the redesign launch, the site has seen 20% more visits than the same period last year, and a 60% increase in new visitors. What’s more, the site has staying power: more than 60% of the sites traffic is return visitors.
Bike Pittsburgh celebrated its 10th Anniversary last year. They’ve accomplished a phenomenal amount in the past few years, and in my opinion are one of the brightest indicators of the city’s new progressive mindset. Here’s to another 10!