Seeking to consolidate multiple PBS and Thirteen show websites under one roof, Thirteen turned to Tierra to think through the issues, information architecture, and content management solutions. The result: global site templates and functionality powered by a highly customized and centralized implementation of WordPress Multi-User (WPMU).

Starting with detailed information architecture, Tierra's team provided the foundation for Thirteen's in-house design team to map individual programming brands to standardized site templates that can support many different types of shows. With site architecture defined and Thirteen's decision to use an open-source CMS solution, Tierra's team utilized existing WordPress themes and plugins, developed new plugins, and coded all core site and WPMU components.

Custom development included a user-friendly plugin to support a multi-use Flash promotional component as well an innovative content organization plugin that enables grouping of site content and navigation outside of the traditional posts & categories logic of blog software. Both of these innovative components among others enable Thirteen to publish rich-media sites that do not look like standard blogs. A further critical component developed by Tierra during this project was a Django/Python content migration web app to auto-process, standardize, and easily export legacy Thirteen website into the new WPMU framework.

Beyond the boundary-pushing technical implementation of WordPress Multi-User, Tierra's work on this project has made Thirteen's sites much more user and search-engine friendly. The WPMU-powered platform lays the foundation for multiple website roll outs by Thirteen's in-house staff. Recent launches include new sites for the critically acclaimed PBS shows Nature and Wide Angle, as well as Worldfocus, a new Thirteen program on international news.

• Strategy
• Content Management
• Information Architecture
• Software Development
• Web Development