Thatha (Nguni for 'take')

The site is located at http://www.grocotts.co.za

Aim To position Grocotts Digital as the prime online and mobile provider of news, information and social media to its users and user groups

Pillars The three pillars of the site are Community, commerce and communication

Goals 1. Improve website functionality, content, navigation and stickiness 2. Develop virtual spaces for the networking of the site’s users 3. Develop platform for advertising and sale of user goods and services 4. Integrate the user’s experience of goals 1,2 and 3 through the site interface

The narratives below describe the nature of functionality and integration that various users of Grocott's Online can expect

Editor (web CMS) The editor is able to moderate, edit or deletes any stories, comments, classifieds, UGC or ‘red flagged content’ (material which users deem to be offensive) and identify the user who submitted the content, the time of submission and any revisions.

The editor can edit menus, manage user profiles, change user permissions, manage content and configure and build the site within the Drupal CMS.

The editor is able to allocate content to prime blocks on the website homepage and section pages (top stories).

The editor is able to add and edit content in blocks on the home and section pages. Blocks should be able to embed HTML iframes or javascript from third party developers.

The editor is able to insert ads into dedicated blocks on the homepage and in dedicate blocks in each of the sections. Ads served in a section will replicate in blocks on the stories in that section (so an ad in a block in the Motoring section will appear on Motoring stories but not on Science and Technology stories)

The editor will receive website use stats to facilitate ongoing editorial and site development

Content provider (web CMS) Content providers are able to add headline, blurb, tags, category and associate content (articles, photos, galleries, video, podcast, slideshow) with related items in the database into the online publishing queue. Revisions are stored and dated.

User (web interface) Users are able to access content easily via the homepage, section pages, internal and external search, RSS feeds, email newsletter, email a friend, most popular stories, most commented stories, most recent stories, most popular stories per section etc.

Users who register are issued a unique password which they use to manage their user profile. Users who register are able to select services not limited to: • Subscribe to weekly email newsletter • Send an online letter to the editor • Upload text for online classified adverts • Comment (without having to use Captcha) • Chat • Register for custom SMS content headlines and breaking stories • Contribute UGC • Rate and rank content

A user who loses his/her password can apply for another password automatically by applying to the website

Users are able to comment on any story or item after filling in a Captcha. All comments or user contributions are placed in a queue for moderation by the editor.

Users will be able to share content from the website in several ways – email to friend, print, widgets

Users are able to submit text, pictures, audio or video up to 5MB for publication using an online form

Users are able to submit text for a classified plus a picture (up to 500KB) in the classifieds section via form. Classified entries auto-delete themselves after 30 days.

The user is able to surf the HTML website using a mobile phone which auto-detects and optimizes the web-output for mobile platform.

The developer should investigate the possibility of linking site registration through FaceBook Connect and linking social media functionality of the site through Google Friend Connect.