University of California – Santa Barbara
CLIMATE
Created the gold standard for UCSB websites with Bren. Custom integration of database with website saved staff buckets of time.
UCSB hired Wire Media to design and build websites for the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), and the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management (Bren). The NCEAS website project was quite complex and included a rethinking of how to best present their wealth of scientific research, working groups, and data science. Part of the work involved connecting the website with an internal database maintained on site by NCEAS staff. This database housed much of the working group and scientific research data. Wire Media’s job was to pull data from this database to appear on the website and allow site managers to edit the copy to make it work better on a website (it was mostly written in the way of scientific researchers, which does not usually make for good website copy).
The Bren project was simpler in scope so it was possible to focus on delivering a polished system that made it easier for them to maintain the site content on their own. The Bren site rapidly became known as “the gold standard” for websites at USCB because of how we built it and Wire Media’s team continues to provide monthly service and support for UCSB.
For both projects, our Drupal development partner, Capellic, provided backend web development services.
Services
- Accessibility
- Content Strategy
- UX/UI Design
- Drupal
Features
- Third-party integration with university-managed database
- Custom search searches website CMS content and the external database
- Easy-to-use way to create custom pages
- Built to WCAG 2.0 AA accessibility standards

Snapshots
About University of California – Santa Barbara
The National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) accelerates discoveries that enhance our understanding of the world and benefit people and nature.
The UCSB Bren School offers environmental graduate programs that empower people to develop comprehensive, data-driven solutions to today’s critical environmental problems.