CommuniTree is a community song circle in Greenville, South Carolina. People learn short songs by ear and sing them in harmony. No auditions, no sheet music. Our founder's family started it, and it meets in their living room.
Where we started
There was no old site, just a name, a first date, and a question most visitors would have: what is a song circle? The look started from the hour people gather. The site opens at sunset over the Blue Ridge foothills, with one warm light at the center of the circle.
What we built
A tree that follows the year. The tree is drawn in code, and the site dresses it for the season outside in Greenville. Spring arrives with the magnolias in mid-March. Fall runs long, since the leaves here peak in late October and November.
Sunset to night, as you scroll. The scene holds still while the words scroll over it. The sun drops behind the ridge, the stars come out, and the crescent moon from the logo rises. A campfire lights the circle of singers, and an owl flies in to a branch. Scroll back up and it flies off.
Motion that knows when to stop. If a visitor has asked for less motion, night still falls, by a slow fade. The animation pauses once the scene is off screen, to save phone batteries.
Short pages for first-timers. One page answers the common questions: reading music, which part to sing, whether it's religious. Another says who is welcome. The join form asks what would help someone feel at home, and the address goes out only in the reply.
Early numbers
The site went from first commit to live in four days. On the live site, Lighthouse on a simulated phone scores the home page 99 for performance and 100 for accessibility, best practices, and search, with no layout shift.
