IT student at Bath College designs new website for local charity

A new website has been created by a student at Bath College for the charity Keynsham & District Talking Newspaper.

Level 3 IT student  Peter Day has been working on the website, to raise awareness of the talking newspaper for blind and partially sighted people in Bath, Bristol and the surrounding areas.

Listeners of the Keynsham and District Talking Newspaper, known locally as KTN, receive a memory stick in the post once a week. This allows them to listen to interviews, community features and lifestyle articles.
 
Peter, who has just completed his course at Bath College, has made a sample of these articles online to give potential listeners and their families a preview of the service. He hopes that the website will enable more people to become aware of the service offered by KTN.
 

Peter Day said: “A website is a great tool, for people who want to set up a business or run an organisation – it helps get your name out there.
 
“The charity wanted the website to be clear and easy to use, allowing people to navigate it themselves. The main challenge was making sure it was readable for partially sighted people, which is why the website is yellow with a large font.”
 
Mike Crane, chair of KTN, said: “We are delighted with the work Peter has done for us and were very pleased that he was able to attend our recent AGM to meet volunteers and listeners and to present the new website.”
 
Students at Bath College have been have been offering to build websites for clients, helping them to test the skills they learn in the classroom and gain experience.

They have also been completing websites for the Chippenham Gateway Club, and Art in the Arch, a project to transform the St James Viaduct, a Grade II listed row of railway arches on Lower Bristol Road, into gallery space.
 
Peter, 18, from Bradford on Avon, will help with the upkeep of the KTN website and will use the experience to help him apply for a job or an apprenticeship.
 
He said: “It’s been a good experience. I’ve learned a lot about working with clients and producing a website for someone who has a real-life need. I put five programme languages into it, including PHP and JavaScript, and I had to think about site security, so that members could login with their own code.
 
“I’m glad I came to study IT at Bath College. I had the choice of sixth form, but I had been at school for five years, so I decided to go to college and make new friends.
 
“If you go to college, you’ll be trained for industry, whereas if you go to sixth form you’ll continue learning theory. I’ve met quite a few employers who have come into the college, it helps you to network and plan your future.”