Jon Volkman is a student from Seattle working towards a certificate in software testing and quality assurance. He holds two associate degrees, one in web design and another in database management. Jon has a solid set of skills in CSS, HTML, and PHP and is familar with Linux, Mac OSX and Windows and PC hardware. Jon is a trained barista who has spent the last two years doing quality assurance on a wide variety of Xbox, PS3 and PC games. Jon enjoys reading a wide range of books, exploring Seattle and the surrounding area, finding new vegetarian delicacies and hanging out with friends.

Mentor: Wes Morgan is an online organizer and software developer for Environment America. He works to get people involved in environmental advocacy in their backyard and across the US. He is also a user and contributor to open source software like WebGUI and CiviCRM. This summer, he is working with the Joomla! GSoC team to mentor projects relating to CiviCRM (CiviCRM integrates with Joomla!). When not working or coding, Wes enjoys spending time in the Colorado Rocky Mountains hiking or skiing, and/or sampling the many delicious microbrews of the Front Range. You'll also often find him running through the park (and only sometimes being chased).

"CiviCRM works great, but its visual design and layout could be better. Joomla! has great aesthetics and usability which would greatly benefit CiviCRM."

Integration will be a key to improving CiviCRM. Not only does it need to have its own distinct design, but it needs to integrate into Joomla! and feel as if it belongs. Integration of Joomla!'s aesthetics and usability into CiviCRM would improve the product, but having its own unique identity would be just as beneficial.

Consequently, this project will focus on building a strong design for CiviCRM and applying it not only to the UI but to the template system. Improving the underlying design would also improve the quality of the entire product. As a result, the project would begin with building a strong design and then shift to improving the UI and the template system using the new design standards.

Preliminary work would involve standards and design requirements. Documentation would be created to formalize the design process and ease future improvements to the theme. The documentation would also establish standards specific to CiviCRM and their unique needs. These documents would undergo thorough reviews before any further advancement on the project.

The design itself would rely heavily on HTML and CSS to provide a solid and flexible framework. Any changes would gracefully handle all major browsers with additional support for deprecated versions. It would also handle any possible accessibility issues, addressing concerns that arise from screen readers, scanning software and other methodology.

The template would also address the need for end user customization. In addition to being broken into modules that could be easily swapped by user created components, it would be easily adaptable and clearly commented for those desiring further customization. Additionally, the basic template would strive to provide even the most basic end user the ability to customize the theme. This could be achieved through something as simple as a color picker for the modules or a more complex user assembled puzzle piece approach to the template.