Relaunch of the information platform around the important and multifaceted composer Ernst Krenek.
For the Ernst Krenek Institute Private Foundation
Background
Ernst Krenek was one of the most important and multifaceted composers of the 20th century. He was not only an outstanding musician and thinker but also an equally great man of letters and pedagogue.
The Ernst Krenek Institute in Krems (Austria) preserves and administers the composer’s estate. The website is primarily aimed at a specialist audience in the academic and cultural fields, but also at the interested public.
The institute’s website was no longer up to date, a relaunch was necessary and desired. The right partner for this project was found in acolono GmbH.
Objectives
The website should provide information about the Institute, the life and works of Ernst Krenek, the archive holdings, exhibitions, and the music education program. In addition, there should be a calendar of events with own as well as other Krenek-relevant events.
Integration of the works database (Mysql database), ideally via a separate interface.
Results
The new website is intuitive to use, has a modern design and, thanks to Responsive Web Design, is optimally displayed on any device.
The existing print design was taken as a starting point and transformed into a design suitable for the web. This is reflected above all in the cut headlines and the playful white lines with which one can interact a little. This is to reflect Krenek’s passion for detail.
The content is easily accessible and presented in a structured way. Content workshops conducted with the client helped to optimise the navigation structure and reprocess content.
The website is very slim (339.5 KB, see pingdom), loads quickly (313 ms, see pingdom) and almost does without access to external tools. Among other things, the core modules BigPipe and Dynamic Page Cache are responsible for the good performance. The access statistics are measured by means of a Matomo instance hosted by acolono GmbH, and the target achievement for the content can also be monitored in this way.
Of course, great importance was also attached to accessibility, on-page SEO, and best practices; a lighthouse audit shows 100 out of 100 points everywhere.
The events for the events database are updated automatically and are integrated with the works database: https://www.krenek.at/veranstaltungen.
Together with the new website, the electronic catalog of works has also gone online. In addition to a complete list of works, the new database also offers an overview of genres and extensive, intuitive search functions (external tool).
“Our experience with acolono – competent, innovative, flexible, creative, reliable!” – Mag.a Petra Hinterholzer-Leinhofer, Secretary General/Managing Director, Ernst Krenek Institute Private Foundation
“acolono responded very sensitively and flexibly to our ideas and needs and even without technical know-how on our part, the communication worked wonderfully. Not only the design and technical implementation are absolutely convincing, but also the input on the content strategy was indispensable. It is a pleasure to work with acolono and we look forward to implementing further web projects with this creative and innovative team!” – Hannah Kvarda, Project Manager, Ernst Krenek Institute Private Foundation
Technical challenges
Together with the client, an interface for the exchange of events and the works database was defined and integrated into the website. The challenge was to find the right exchange format (JSON) and to automate the synchronization. However, an extension/addition of the data in Drupal is also possible.
In the end, we designed and developed a very tidy and clean webpage, which gives Krenek’s work sufficient scope and elegance.
