.. title: Project completion - Spastics Society of Karnataka website
.. slug: project-completion-spastics-society-of-karnataka
.. date: 2018-06-23 09:37:59 UTC-07:00
.. tags:
.. category:
.. link:
.. description:
.. type: text

I have been involved with Spastics Society Of Karnataka for more than 10 years. Today, we launched a new website
for the organization. Please check this out http://spasticssocietyofkarnataka.org/

A bit of history
----------------

Let's use `wayback machine`_ to look at how this evolved.

* When I inherited this project, the `website looked like this in 2004`_. I don't remember the technology, but it was
  done by a volunteer by name Mr. Nagaraj. He transfered the hosting and domain from  Net 4 India to us.

* Then sometime `in 2007 the website started looking like this`_ - I don't remember the technology that I used. It seems
  I was using `open source web design`_  and looks like I hand-coded it.

* In 2008, we moved entirely to `Google Apps for Education`_ - this was a great move. It facilitated online
  processing, official email ids, all our data in a single place. This was like migrating Spastics Society of Karnataka
  to the "Cloud". The website changed its `look to this in 2008`_ using google sites.

* The google sites website was not very pleasant looking. `This time in 2013, I updated website to wordpress`_, and
  hosted on bluehost.com and our domains were migrated to Google Domains. The wordpress website also had
  accessibility features on changing font, style etc.

There was problem, wordpress is not the most secure of the software that is present today. We got `hacked by chinese hackers`_ who put up malware in our site.
This wasn't good. I removed the phishing, and they could still get to us. This happened for 2 months and I felt a
lack of control with wordpress.

* We decided to shutdown and **delete** the wordpress site, and decided to rebuild it. For stop-gap, we directed
  people to `Google Sites website`_

* This stop gap solution lasted for more than a year because I did not want to rebuild it entirely with wordpress again.

* In 2016, I decided to hand-code it using Bootstrap_ and Nikola_ and `built this`_ - This was hugely unappealing. It
  was **extremely secure and trustworthy**, but felt very unappealing to everyone.

* In 2018, we decided to make a appealing website, and this time I went with a hosted service, wix.com. The result is
  what you see at http://spasticssocietyofkarnataka.org/

Features
--------

This was a team effort. My friends Avinash and Nivedita got involved. We use Trello.com to track our tasks. From
school Preethi, and Priya  Madam and Sobha Madam got involved too. The website does not have `bus-factor`_ of 1 and
this is an incredible feature.

The website was mostly done by Avinash. He cannot use his hands, and `uses voice to operate his computer`_ So this
website was created using voice.

Simple theme, accessible on mobile and our google apps (cloud) still remain for forms, email and everything as it
is convenient to manage.

I believe this change is going to help school further. Given what I have shared above, this project is a living
entity, and will evolve with times.

.. _wayback machine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayback_Machine
.. _website looked like this in 2004: https://web.archive.org/web/20040521200831/http://www.spasticssocietyofkarnataka.org
.. _in 2007 the website started looking like this: https://web.archive.org/web/20070523104054/http://www.spasticssocietyofkarnataka.org
.. _open source web design: https://web.archive.org/web/20070523172324/http://www.oswd.org:80/
.. _Google Apps for Education: https://edu.google.com/k-12-solutions/g-suite/?modal_active=none
.. _look to this in 2008: https://sites.google.com/a/spasticssocietyofkarnataka.org/spastics-society-of-karnataka/Home
.. _This time in 2013, I updated website to wordpress: https://web.archive.org/web/20160721031435/http://www.spasticssocietyofkarnataka.org:80/
.. _hacked by chinese hackers: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/webmasters/YayR1-iZ3x0/73Ig3qiWEQAJ
.. _Google Sites website: https://sites.google.com/a/spasticssocietyofkarnataka.org/spastics-society-of-karnataka/Home
.. _Bootstrap: https://getbootstrap.com/
.. _Nikola: https://getnikola.com/
.. _built this: http://orsenthil.github.io/sskweb/
.. _bus-factor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_factor
.. _uses voice to operate his computer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEwO17xd4eU