Portfolio•
on August 27th, 2010•
Company:
G. Cooper & Associates, P.C.
Website Link:
http://www.glennecooper.com/
Date Launched:
August 2010
Design / Development Notes:
WordPress, HTML, CSS, PHP
Website Notes:
This website was fun to work on. This was the first site I added a Google Translator function to. Now, users can view the website in Spanish or English. For each area of law main page, I used the Toggle function in order to show all areas in a small area. If the user clicks on the law, the screen moves down to accommodate the text.
Blog•
on August 26th, 2010•
I’ve been hearing strange tidbits of information as of late in how people are accessing content from the Internet. One was that people are now spending more time using social media than they are using email. Another was that the web was dead, but that the Internet was still alive. And it’s not just Prince that made this comment. Chris Anderson, the famous creator of the “Long Tail” and “Freemium” ideas wrote an article where he exclaimed that the web was dead.
When I hear comments like this, I generally distrust them at first. The web dead? Come on. But as I began to look at my own online behavior, some of these thoughts began to make sense and I began pondering these trends a bit more.
Why is social media more popular than email? How many spam messages a day do you receive in your personal email account? How many do you receive in Facebook? Facebook is a controlled environment. Everyone in the world has access to your email account. Only people you specify have access to send you a message on Facebook.
And what about the web being dead? Chris Anderson is referring to the World Wide Web (www). His view is that the use of the Internet is as popular as ever, but the use of the Web is losing traction.
Again, I thought Mr. Anderson was in error until I considered how I access a lot of my content now. I have an iPhone. In the morning, I read the headlines from the Wall St. Journal, the NY Times, and NPR on my iPhone. Only, I don’t go to the Safari browser on my iPhone, I go to the apps (applications) that these companies have available for free for the iPhone.
After that, I may check what my friends are doing on Facebook and Twitter. Later on, when I take a run, I use a GPS-based app that tracks my run, how fast (or slow) and how far I’ve gone. Again, an app. Up until this point, I have not accessed the World Wide Web. I could go on through the rest of my day, but you see the point. As Chris Anderson wrote, it’s “less about the searching, more about the getting.”
So, what does this mean for your company? Will people stop looking at your website? No, of course not. But, the role your website plays might be shifting.
The way I view it is that your website should be the place where all public information related to your company resides. If people really want to know all about your company, then there should be a place for them to view that information on your website.
But you should also have an app related to your company, or some sort of a mobile presence. I see this as your interactive piece. This is how you communicate with your clients. This is where you have your most important information that people regularly seek (as simple as the address, phone number, open times, etc.). The app should provide ways for clients to get your information easily, not a place where they have to search long and hard.
So, in this shifting landscape, are you preparing for this change? Have you begun thinking about an App to release on the iPhone and other major smartphones? Have you begun brainstroming what sort of content, games, podcasts, etc. you could have on your app? Have you figured out a way to make money from these apps?
Portfolio•
on August 26th, 2010•
Company:
Polite Paws GA
Website Link:
http://www.politepawsga.com/
Date Launched:
August 2010
Design / Development Notes:
WordPress, HTML, CSS, PHP
Website Notes:
I wanted to create a simple, easy website where the information was easy to find. I like how this site has the rotating testimonials right on the home page. I like the prominence of the contact information and the fact that most of the main information is right on the home page.
Blog•
on August 24th, 2010•
I just ran into a problem where I couldn’t copy text from a PDF file. Normally, I can highlight text, copy it, and paste it elsewhere. But for this one particular PDF file, I was unable to do so.
The way I got around this was by uploading the file to Google Docs. Google Docs converted the text to a format that I could copy and paste. Here are the instructions:
- Sign in or create your Google Docs account: http://www.google.com/docs
- Click the “Upload” link.
- Select your file to upload.
- In the check box, make sure you check the selection: “Convert text from PDF or image files to Google Docs documents.”
- Click “Start Upload.”
- Once you have done this, click on the link and the text from the PDF file should now be in text format that you can copy and paste.
Portfolio•
on August 19th, 2010•
Company:
Georgia Regional Girl’s Choir
Website Link:
http://www.grgc.org/
Date Launched:
August 2010
Design / Development Notes:
WordPress, HTML, CSS, PHP
Website Notes:
This website offers a complete solution for the Georgia Regional Girl’s Choir based out of Atlanta, GA. Choir members are able to submit their forms online, make online payments, and view all photos and videos from past concerts and trips. There is also a secure Members-only section that contains information for all current members of the choir. I collaborated with Threemagination for the custom calendar application that allows the client to add & edit calendar events.
Blog•
on August 11th, 2010•
As a website designer and developer, I enjoy keeping an eye on trends in the marketplace and watching patters with my clients. The process of creating and maintaining a website has undergone dramatic changes in just the last few years, not to mention the last decade.
In the not so distant past, website design for a company was about creating static pages of information. What I mean by static is that the design and content lived on the same HTML page that was usually too complicated to be updated by the client. So, website designers would create a website and then be called upon for each small copy or image update.
What has happened recently is that a separation has occurred between the design and the content. The design is on one side of the development process, but the content doesn’t live on the same file (or website page) as the design. Within the design, code is used that calls the content (ex. biography, photo, links) to be loaded onto the page from a Database. Thus, the information doesn’t reside with the website designer, but is now placed in the hands of the client who can update and maintain their own content.
A website page that calls the content from a database is called a dynamic page. We have moved from static website pages to pages that are dynamically driven and able to be updated by the client via computer or mobile device. The page will look the same to the end user.
The main shift here is that the client has become the owner and editor of their own content.
This may seem like an added task to the client. Something they want to outsource anyway. But, here’s the key feature. If you set up a dynamically driven site for your client, you are empowering them. They now have a database of their own information that they will keep forever. Think of it this way. If you purchase an iPhone, you can load, update, and maintain all of the information on that iPhone. Maybe you want to update the case around the iPhone every few years to the latest design trends, but that iPhone will be yours and you will be in charge of what it contains.
Here is an image that shows this process in a very basic way. The client now has their own user interface where they can add, remove, and archive information in their database without knowing the first thing about database management. Those changes take place in a website Admin area and are reflected in the database. The front end of the website (what the user sees on his/her computer) then pulls this updated information from the database.
Similarly, as a website designer and developer, you can maintain working relationships with your clients by updating the look and feel of their website every few years. You can incorporate the new standards and abilities available. But that database will remain the same for that client.
This is a very exciting shift. As your clients continue to see the importance of their website in gaining new clients, making new sales, or promoting their idea, they will want to maintain a closer relationship to that content and will have the ability by maintaining their own content.
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