Resources Used for Creating the Website
If you’ve already checked out the rest of our website, then you’ve certainly noticed how much information about online casinos we have gathered. We also hope that our effort to present this information in a neat and intuitive way is more than evident. This project wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of our team of authors, but also without the people that helped us with the design and coding. Furthermore, it wouldn’t have been possible without the many resources available online and the many other webmasters that create useful and informative websites on gambling-related topics. With this page, we want to give the due respect to our extended team of online casino, sports betting and bingo experts that generously share their knowledge with their community and also to the regulating bodies that keep us, online players, safe and informed.
Content, Information and Inspiration
When my mates and I first decided to create this website, we were more than confident that the realisation of the project will be a piece of cake. After all, we had a great idea, to create a sort of a Gambling Wikipedia (but with better design), and we knew we were more than knowledgeable on the subject. We even wondered how come no one has done it before and why most of the resources available online were poorly maintained, with really bad design and outdated information. Microsoft’s design principles Well, as soon as we started working on the website we realised how much we had underestimated this undertaking. You really have to try and do it yourself to see how much time and effort the creation of a well-structured and researched article takes. Just for reference, the home page alone took me 5 full days to research and write. And this is just a part of the picture. Then comes the design and coding part of the puzzle.
Thankfully, we discovered some very nice websites which provided us with a lot of hard-to-find details about different gambling operators and real-money games and gave us a lot of ideas for the structure and the style of the website. We’ve organised these resources in three main categories: casino, sports betting and bingo resources. Depending on the category you’re most interested in, you can check out which these sites are and find short reviews of them on the pages linked below:
- Casino Resources
- Sports Betting Resources
- Bingo Resources
Another great resource for our articles was the official website of the United Kingdom Gambling Commission. As it is the only organisation that can issue gambling licences in the UK, on their site you can find a lot of useful information and tips when it comes to gambling. You can also check whether a certain online casino, bingo room or sportsbook is legal and learn about how to gamble responsibly.
Other important resources for our articles were the payout reports issued by two of the major casino testing agencies in the world: eCOGRA and Gaming Laboratories International (GLI). These reports provided us with great insights about the different casino operators on the Internet and the games they provide, so that we can always recommend the best ones. Last but definitely not least, we have to say a special thanks to all our friends who shared their experiences of gambling online with us.
Design
Undoubtedly, design is one of the major characteristics that sets apart our site from the rest. Our goal with it was to create a modern-looking website which is not only pleasing to the eye but also intuitive and functional. We took great inspiration from Microsoft’s design principles and Metro design style and also from Google’s Material Design. We share their believes that design is there to facilitate the comprehension of new information and enhance the overall experience of the users by providing them with visual stimuli which are meaningful and connected to the content. In order to put these principles to practice, the content and the design team worked very closely.
Coding
Just as with the design, our goal with the coding was to create well-functional and user-friendly website, while following the best practices when it comes to programming. The site is developed using HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP and MySQL, which are the modern standards in the field of web development. It also uses the content management system WordPress. If you are interested in these technologies and want to learn more about web development, we advise you to check out these great developer resources:
The biggest challenge we encountered while developing the site when it comes to coding was making the site responsive, i.e. accessible on all types of devices. We were determined though to make a site which is just as functional and accessible on smartphones and tablets as it is on desktop. After all, mobile users are little by little surpassing the desktop ones and having a mobile version is a must for every modern website.