Where It Came From
This one was my idea. Research found an average of 50 links on every intranet screen, and a lot of them pointed at documents. Pulling those documents and links into one searchable tool meant each portal screen could focus on the actions that mattered most. As project lead, I took it from idea to launch and designed its UX and UI. It runs on WordPress, with one version for parents and one for staff, and Harker still uses both.
What’s In It
- Documents and links share categories, so one category page lists both.
- Category pages filter as you type.
- Documents are grouped for the collection periods that come up during the year.
- Each division, from TK through Upper School, gets a back-to-school hub.
- A Recently Posted tile in the parent and staff portals pulls in the newest resources.
Design
Searching the database of documents and links works as a live filter, so users can quickly find the resource they need. Parents and staff each get their own version, built on the same categories.
Still in Use
Its own download records counted more than 140,000 downloads from 2023 to fall 2026, and the Lower School lunch menu was about 31,000 of those (parents really want to know what’s for lunch). When pages slowed past 20 seconds in fall 2026, I had AI coding agents clear out close to 300,000 expired download records and cache the search data, which brought load times back down to one to three seconds.