HorseYard Website

HorseYard is Australia's leading online marketplace for equine products and services. With a steadily growing user base of over 56,000 registered members and approximately 68,000 unique visitors per month, the site is home to an active equine community of horse owners, breeders, and equine professionals. Known for its modern appearance and feel and its advanced search capabilities, HorseYard provides a seamless experience across desktop, mobile, and tablet platforms.

Designed to serve both hobbyist users and professional vendors, the site boasts a comprehensive range of tools including classifieds, expert articles, newsletter subscriptions (in excess of 14,500), and tutorials. From horse care and breeding tips, to buying tips, or industry news, HorseYard has emerged as a one-stop shop for the Australian equestrian market.

Development Highlights

To meet the technical and user experience requirements, HorseYard was constructed using a mix of robust technologies like PHP, Drupal, JavaScript, jQuery UI, Bootstrap, Masonry, and Ember.js supported by a MySQL database. Faceted search and deep integration with Google Analytics enable users to locate listings easily while administrators can monitor the site's performance and interaction.

The home page features an AJAX-powered custom-built search bar with multiple tabs dedicated to various categories horses, transport, saddlery, and property. On the home and category pages, the "Featured Listings" modules also had to have intricate front-end engineering to enable dynamic content and responsive layout behavior. Integration of 'Search by Location' and 'Popular Searches' in the footer also contributes to navigability and search precision.

Collaboration & UX Strategy

The project was undertaken in tight collaboration with HorseYard's internal design and UX teams. A series of consultation and feedback sessions were undertaken during build, which allowed our development team to provide actionable recommendations that aligned with the client's vision for branding and usability. Due to the dynamic and rapid nature of the platform, we adopted an agile development methodology that allowed for rapid iteration and feature releases without impacting stability or user experience.

Impact & Outcome

HorseYard has transformed buying and selling horses online in Australia. With the combination of specialist content, easy search functionality, and scalable infrastructure, the website offers a hassle-free experience for both buyers and sellers. The intelligent design and content-rich website have not only improved user interaction but also put HorseYard on the map as a household name in the equine digital domain. Now, they can safely browse listings, stay current on horse trends, and exchange messages with the larger community all through one, solid platform.