Website Goals & Credits
The New Housing Alternatives website promotes equitable housing solutions through its research and innovative projects. It fosters engagement and offers accessible resources in an academic yet approachable tone. Visitors can subscribe for updates and explore sections such as Vision & Research Objectives, Research Clusters & Projects, and Team & Partners, which spotlight the people, goals, and initiatives behind these efforts. The website expands its reach through mobile-friendly blogs, newsletters, and social media integration.
In spring 2025, Jeremy Withers joined as Communications Coordinator, a U of T PhD candidate researching housing policy, finance, and equity.
Web Consultant Matthew Burpee helped create this website with the New Housing Alternatives (NHA) team, including Project Manager Bharat Punjabi and Co-Directors Susannah Bunce and Alan Walks. He focused on user experience, accessibility, and content strategy and presented it alongside a feedback survey at the New Housing Alternatives Launch in November 2024.
Presentation
The homepage engages visitors with a clear headline and compelling calls to action that highlight the site’s purpose and content. Simple and clear navigation, introductions, and calls to action are essential for usability because they help all users, including those with disabilities, easily understand and interact with a website. These elements reduce cognitive load, improve compatibility with assistive technologies, and provide clear pathways for finding information or taking action. By prioritizing simplicity, the website ensures a more inclusive and engaging experience for diverse audiences.
The colour palette features green, pale blue, and navy, with green symbolizing renewal and calm and pale blue complementing the University of Toronto blue in the footer. A strong coloured bar below the header navigation gives the design a more defined structure, drawing the user’s attention to the subject title and anchoring the page visually.
The site uses Google Fonts for typography: Poppins, a clean and modern sans-serif for body copy, and Belleza, an elegant header serif. Dave Gandy’s icons, licensed under CC BY 3.0, are used throughout the site to improve visual clarity and comprehension. While attribution is not required, we acknowledge and appreciate his contributions to open-source design.
NHA members and the Web Consultant contributed content, including research summaries, descriptions, and photography.
The website’s contents are licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
Website Technology & Standards
The website is built with WordPress, a widely used and easy-to-manage content management system that powers over 43% of websites worldwide. The site provides flexible tools for creating and updating pages, blogs, events, documents, and profile directories, along with interactive features such as newsletters, event RSVP tools, forms, surveys, social media feeds, multilingual support, and email. The site is fast-loading and optimized for accessibility and user experience, supported by plugins that strengthen search visibility (SEO), provide user behaviour analytics, and enhance visitor engagement.
It is developed in accordance with current web technology standards to ensure compatibility across modern browsers and devices. The design and functionality adhere to WCAG 2.0 Level AAA accessibility guidelines, enabling all users, including those using assistive technologies, to access content easily. Regular testing and maintenance help keep the site secure, reliable, and user-friendly on all devices and platforms.
Feedback Welcome
These details are part of our Guidelines.