Hey Everyone,
I'd like to suggest we add a private page to our current web property that lists our current clients and all of the sites in development. I think this would improve productivity by having all of our websites listed on one page.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Could XML/XSL replace HTML in the future
When I was in college eight years ago the college offered an elective night class in the use of xml and xsl, which allows you to define styles and layouts to present the xml data. I remember thinking to myself "That would be interesting. I mean XML is gonna be the wave of the future". So, I took the class.
Though the class covered the basics of the topic only and did nothing overly fancy or advanced I could see the potential of integrating/using these formats to broaden the users html experience. Unfortunately, to my knowledge it never really took off. This could be that at this time Flash was becoming the fad for doing amazing websites.
I had pushed xml/xsl to the back of my mind because it seemed that it was not going to go anywhere. However, now it seems that it may have the potential I thought it was capable of. Being an avid World of Warcraft player, I often visit their site at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com and noticed that there pages are almost exclusively XML pages and recently the launched a new online version of the WOW online newsletter, as can be seen at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/gadgetzan/mainindex.xml.
It might just be my taste, but I find the styling, layout, and presentation of the WOW site to be quite amazing. So, I finally took a look at some of the code behind the pages and notice how the XSL sheets made almost exclusive use of DIVs for content containers. DIVs have been a topic of dispute between programmers and designers as of late, but perhaps the use of XML/XSL could become the new web someday.
Another intersting example, again on WOW, is the armory at http://www.wowarmory.com/index.xml. Notice the custom styling of there drop-down boxes.
I think I'm going to spend some time looking into developing sites with XML/XSL styling and presentation. It could be the tool for taking our web development to the next level.
Though the class covered the basics of the topic only and did nothing overly fancy or advanced I could see the potential of integrating/using these formats to broaden the users html experience. Unfortunately, to my knowledge it never really took off. This could be that at this time Flash was becoming the fad for doing amazing websites.
I had pushed xml/xsl to the back of my mind because it seemed that it was not going to go anywhere. However, now it seems that it may have the potential I thought it was capable of. Being an avid World of Warcraft player, I often visit their site at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com and noticed that there pages are almost exclusively XML pages and recently the launched a new online version of the WOW online newsletter, as can be seen at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/gadgetzan/mainindex.xml.
It might just be my taste, but I find the styling, layout, and presentation of the WOW site to be quite amazing. So, I finally took a look at some of the code behind the pages and notice how the XSL sheets made almost exclusive use of DIVs for content containers. DIVs have been a topic of dispute between programmers and designers as of late, but perhaps the use of XML/XSL could become the new web someday.
Another intersting example, again on WOW, is the armory at http://www.wowarmory.com/index.xml. Notice the custom styling of there drop-down boxes.
I think I'm going to spend some time looking into developing sites with XML/XSL styling and presentation. It could be the tool for taking our web development to the next level.
Monday, June 16, 2008
webtech testing and debugging procedure
Hey folks,
I am currently in the mist of developing us procedures and steps that need to be accomplished once a developer has, what they believes is "pretty much" done.
This document can be found on our server in Maintenance Clients\W\Webtech\Testing Pro\
If everybody could have a review of what i have put in there and add to it at the bottom like Keith has already done that would be wonderful.
The idea that i have for the final draft is all the information that is in the document will be created into an online form that the tester will fill out and will generate a report that they print off.
Give me any type of information that you would find helpful.
thanks
I am currently in the mist of developing us procedures and steps that need to be accomplished once a developer has, what they believes is "pretty much" done.
This document can be found on our server in Maintenance Clients\W\Webtech\Testing Pro\
If everybody could have a review of what i have put in there and add to it at the bottom like Keith has already done that would be wonderful.
The idea that i have for the final draft is all the information that is in the document will be created into an online form that the tester will fill out and will generate a report that they print off.
Give me any type of information that you would find helpful.
thanks
Friday, May 23, 2008
Persona Power
If you've ever gone to a website and thought, "wow... it seems as though this site is speaking directly to me" it probably is. At least some fictional version of you. Does that seem a bit freaky? Not to worry. You (probably) haven't been stalked. More likely, this particular site has likely been crafted using a persona-based methodolgy.
Persona-based design is one-part fictional characterization and one-part smart business analysis. It involves constructing a fictional customer and then using that character as the touchstone for design decisions. At Webtech, we do it by finding out everything we can about the “typical” person that will be visiting a web property and then creating a three-dimensional portrayal of that person. We use this portrayal to get “inside their headspace", breathe life into them and consider them in every step, from strategy to copy, functionality to graphical design.
As an online marketing team, persona-based design helps us help our clients by creating a vivid, tangible picture of their typical (or ideal) customers and then sculpting a message that resonates with them (relate), makes them “smarter” than they were before they got there (educate) and then moves them to inquire and/or buy (translate).
Bill Bernbach, a legendary figure in the history of American advertising, summed it pretty eloquently when he wrote:
Persona-based design is one-part fictional characterization and one-part smart business analysis. It involves constructing a fictional customer and then using that character as the touchstone for design decisions. At Webtech, we do it by finding out everything we can about the “typical” person that will be visiting a web property and then creating a three-dimensional portrayal of that person. We use this portrayal to get “inside their headspace", breathe life into them and consider them in every step, from strategy to copy, functionality to graphical design.
As an online marketing team, persona-based design helps us help our clients by creating a vivid, tangible picture of their typical (or ideal) customers and then sculpting a message that resonates with them (relate), makes them “smarter” than they were before they got there (educate) and then moves them to inquire and/or buy (translate).
Bill Bernbach, a legendary figure in the history of American advertising, summed it pretty eloquently when he wrote:
“Nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature, what compulsions drive a man, what instincts dominate his action, even though his language so often camouflages what really motivates him. For if you know these things about a man you can touch him at the core of his being.”
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Updating fields of a table with values from another table in MSSQL
Being quite adept with queries in MS Access, I was aware that you could join tables and update one table's fields with the values from an other table. However, I didn't know how, or if it was possible to do this in MSSQL. So, I did some research and found a solution.
The general structure of this type of update query in MSSQL follows a specific pattern.
The general structure of this type of update query in MSSQL follows a specific pattern.
- Start with the traditional structure of an update table in MSSQL.
- Put in the SET statements.
- Use the table being updated as the FROM table.
- Join the other tables you wish to pull values from.
- Make you WHERE statements to control which records are update and selected.
Here is a simple sample that updates fields of one table with values from two other tables:
UPDATE tblOne SET tblOne.clientName=tblTwo.firstName+' '+tblTwo.lastName,
tblOne.clientAddress=tblThree.streetAddress+' '+tblThree.city+', '+tblThree.prov+' '+tblThree.postal
FROM tblOne
INNER JOIN tblTwo ON tblOne.clientID=tblTwo.id
INNER JOIN tblThree ON tblTwo.id=tblThree.userID
WHERE tblOne.clientID=1
Easy Peasy, and it saved me a lot of programming code in cfml to transfer information from one table to an existing record of an other table.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
1st Choice and beyond
Here is an email I sent out that I believe we all need to see in respect to stepping up our game! This is what we will be doing for 1st Choice from this day forward!
Hi Gang,
1. Creative meetings 1 month minimum in advance of go-live
a. Define campaigns with Chad
b. Develop creative position
i. Print, lcd, stuffers, emailers, web, atm
ii. Contest, other collateral
c. Develop campaign objectives which are tied into conversion rates
d. Develop KCI/KPI – Key Conversion Indicator/Kep Performance Indicators
i. Jeff has the list of conversion
ii. Weekly review of targets
Contact Ron to move over to new graphics on ATMs – go through the maintenance budget for these to get done.
Look at the newsletter component has can we evolve.
Review personification, and addition of the new target group 17-24 years.
Quarterly meetings to review and set objectives upcoming.
Thoughts. I will put this on the blog.
Regards,
Hi Gang,
1. Creative meetings 1 month minimum in advance of go-live
a. Define campaigns with Chad
b. Develop creative position
i. Print, lcd, stuffers, emailers, web, atm
ii. Contest, other collateral
c. Develop campaign objectives which are tied into conversion rates
d. Develop KCI/KPI – Key Conversion Indicator/Kep Performance Indicators
i. Jeff has the list of conversion
ii. Weekly review of targets
Contact Ron to move over to new graphics on ATMs – go through the maintenance budget for these to get done.
Look at the newsletter component has can we evolve.
Review personification, and addition of the new target group 17-24 years.
Quarterly meetings to review and set objectives upcoming.
Thoughts. I will put this on the blog.
Regards,
Let us step up our Game!
Hey Folks,
Our company's evolution is at the point where by the processes we go through for creative branding, strategizing and objective setting are GOLD for us and our clients. Let us make sure we apply the same focus that we put towards our clients projects as we do our own. This can be applied to the first direct marketing campaign toward CUs. Here is a list of elements that came out of an creating brainstorming session with Mr.Z, Kathy, Jeff and myself.
Our company's evolution is at the point where by the processes we go through for creative branding, strategizing and objective setting are GOLD for us and our clients. Let us make sure we apply the same focus that we put towards our clients projects as we do our own. This can be applied to the first direct marketing campaign toward CUs. Here is a list of elements that came out of an creating brainstorming session with Mr.Z, Kathy, Jeff and myself.
- Determine our AAA clients and set 90 day review dates, where we strategize with them and move them forward in the next 90 day period based upon KPI (key performance indicators) and KCI (key conversion indicators) with set dates of interim reviews within the 90 days
- Generate 10 AAA clients at a minimum of $5k-$10k per month
- Enhance the position of client care coordinator to that of one of a director of a set group of clients where our people intimately know the client
The more we improve our business, the more we can bring to our clients!
Let us all step up our game!
tx.
cc
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Woopra
Woopra is a comprehensive, rich, easy to use, real-time Web tracking and analysis application. Among features are live tracking and statistics, visitor and member tagging and real time notifications.
This thing blows google analytics and everything else out of the water. This app gives you real time results, shows you every single visitor that is viewing your site, and what they are doing. You can view where a certain visitor is from, their screen resolution, operating system, browser, what page they are on, etc. If you see a user is stuck on a page, you can even start up a chat with that specific user right on your site!
This thing is da bomb, check it out:
Monday, May 5, 2008
Google Code Search
The other day, Jeff had pointed out to me that Google has a code search. So, I had to take a look and blog about it.
If you go to http://www.google.ca/codesearch?hl=en and enter your search parameters and get results that are actually code examples.
I haven't had a lot of time to play with it yet, but from what I've seen most of these code examples are provided by users who store code in one of Google's repositories (I believe it's called Google source). When the results are returned the file name that the code was found in is also returned. This is helpful because it will narrow down the possible language of the code example. For instance, if it is a .c file then its C programming language, or .cpp would be C++.
Next time I get stuck on code syntax or usability I'm going to try out this new search tool and see how it helps.
If you go to http://www.google.ca/codesearch?hl=en and enter your search parameters and get results that are actually code examples.
I haven't had a lot of time to play with it yet, but from what I've seen most of these code examples are provided by users who store code in one of Google's repositories (I believe it's called Google source). When the results are returned the file name that the code was found in is also returned. This is helpful because it will narrow down the possible language of the code example. For instance, if it is a .c file then its C programming language, or .cpp would be C++.
Next time I get stuck on code syntax or usability I'm going to try out this new search tool and see how it helps.
Suggestive Search
Hey Everyone,
As many of you may of noticed many search functions throughout the web are now going to what's called 'Suggestive Search'. What this means is once you start typing in your search request you are given suggestions based on the most popular results. These suggestions are made as you type each letter. Google has been working on this and it is being used in FireFox's Google search bar. Google also has it available in there Google Labs. Apple has been using this technology on their website for a couple of years now and they've added a cool feature where there are graphics displayed for major items within their site.
I'm not sure what type of coding is involved with creating this for our own sites (it's probably easy!) but it would be a useful tool for our clients. Many times before you've even completed entering you're search request you've found the page you're looking for. Let me know your thoughts.
As many of you may of noticed many search functions throughout the web are now going to what's called 'Suggestive Search'. What this means is once you start typing in your search request you are given suggestions based on the most popular results. These suggestions are made as you type each letter. Google has been working on this and it is being used in FireFox's Google search bar. Google also has it available in there Google Labs. Apple has been using this technology on their website for a couple of years now and they've added a cool feature where there are graphics displayed for major items within their site.
I'm not sure what type of coding is involved with creating this for our own sites (it's probably easy!) but it would be a useful tool for our clients. Many times before you've even completed entering you're search request you've found the page you're looking for. Let me know your thoughts.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Browsers
Hey Everyone,
An important factor in the development of web products is understanding of the platforms being utilized to use our products. As the table below demonstrates almost 90% of internet users are using either Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 6 or FireFox. I believe it is extremely important that all of our web products, whether it be web applications or web properties, are compatible with these browsers. We've encountered issues with clients using IE6 as well as Firefox and it's important to avoid these issues in the future. Going through some of our sites with FireFox most of our sites have problems ranging from minor to serious. I think it should be a top priority to correct these issues. In the future we should probably setup a computer with the all three browsers so we can test our web products before going live.
Also, an interesting trend to take note of is the apparent migration away from IE towards FireFox. Since March 2005 to March 2008 FireFox has increased it's 'market share' from 18.9% to 37.0% (a 18.1% increase) while IE (all versions) has gone from 72.5% to 53.1 (a 19.4% decrease) during the same period. If the trend continues in 3 years FireFox (55.1%) and IE (33.7%) will have traded places and FireFox will be the most commonly used browser.
Table from W3Schools.
Thanks.
An important factor in the development of web products is understanding of the platforms being utilized to use our products. As the table below demonstrates almost 90% of internet users are using either Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 6 or FireFox. I believe it is extremely important that all of our web products, whether it be web applications or web properties, are compatible with these browsers. We've encountered issues with clients using IE6 as well as Firefox and it's important to avoid these issues in the future. Going through some of our sites with FireFox most of our sites have problems ranging from minor to serious. I think it should be a top priority to correct these issues. In the future we should probably setup a computer with the all three browsers so we can test our web products before going live.
Also, an interesting trend to take note of is the apparent migration away from IE towards FireFox. Since March 2005 to March 2008 FireFox has increased it's 'market share' from 18.9% to 37.0% (a 18.1% increase) while IE (all versions) has gone from 72.5% to 53.1 (a 19.4% decrease) during the same period. If the trend continues in 3 years FireFox (55.1%) and IE (33.7%) will have traded places and FireFox will be the most commonly used browser.
| 2008 | IE7 | IE6 | IE5 | Fx | Moz | S | O |
| March | 21.9% | 30.1% | 1.1% | 37.0% | 1.1% | 2.1% | 1.4% |
| February | 21.5% | 30.7% | 1.3% | 36.5% | 1.2% | 2.0% | 1.4% |
| January | 21.2% | 32.0% | 1.5% | 36.4% | 1.3% | 1.9% | 1.4% |
| 2007 | IE7 | IE6 | IE5 | Fx | Moz | S | O |
| December | 21.0% | 33.2% | 1.7% | 36.3% | 1.4% | 1.7% | 1.4% |
| November | 20.8% | 33.6% | 1.6% | 36.3% | 1.2% | 1.8% | 1.6% |
| October | 20.7% | 34.5% | 1.5% | 36.0% | 1.3% | 1.7% | 1.6% |
| September | 20.8% | 34.9% | 1.5% | 35.4% | 1.2% | 1.6% | 1.5% |
| August | 20.5% | 35.7% | 1.5% | 34.9% | 1.3% | 1.5% | 1.7% |
| July | 20.1% | 36.9% | 1.5% | 34.5% | 1.4% | 1.5% | 1.9% |
| June | 19.7% | 37.3% | 1.5% | 34.0% | 1.4% | 1.5% | 1.8% |
| May | 19.2% | 38.1% | 1.6% | 33.7% | 1.3% | 1.5% | 1.7% |
| April | 19.1% | 38.4% | 1.7% | 32.9% | 1.3% | 1.5% | 1.6% |
| March | 18.0% | 38.7% | 2.0% | 31.8% | 1.3% | 1.6% | 1.6% |
| February | 16.4% | 39.8% | 2.5% | 31.2% | 1.4% | 1.7% | 1.5% |
| January | 13.3% | 42.3% | 3.0% | 31.0% | 1.5% | 1.7% | 1.5% |
Table from W3Schools.
Thanks.
Friday, April 25, 2008
MACU - Tools for CUs
Hey Gang,
As a nich market for us is CU's I am looking for a strategic angle to approach this years MACU conference...I am thinking that our tools are so well recieved...brochure builder for example. I would like us to put together an attainable plan for this upcoming MACU conference...
We need to think about:
As a nich market for us is CU's I am looking for a strategic angle to approach this years MACU conference...I am thinking that our tools are so well recieved...brochure builder for example. I would like us to put together an attainable plan for this upcoming MACU conference...
We need to think about:
- collateral for our booth
- giveaways at our booth
- how to generate a list of potential clients
The primary focus at the conference is the development of relationships with the folks who can make decisions.
As other companies market brand, I want us to be able to support brand with tools that provide an immediate return...
- brochure builder
- mobile web
- lead capture
- calculators
What other ideas can you see us marketing?
Thanks!
Raving Clients - What Webtech Ultimately Builds
No sooner do we speak about the value of clients then do I get this email from Lyanne @ Shaunavon...
Hey there! How's things?
I've been talking up your company - specifically the brochure builder. I was at a Sask. Marketing meeting yesterday and shared with the group the brochure builder application. There was 2-3 that asked for more detailed info….
So, if they pan out, you paying for referalls ;)
I'm joking - I just wanted you to be aware of this, in the event you've Sk credit unions inquiring about it.
Keep this in mind as you put your cognitive genius to work on code, copy, graphics and strategy...we are in the business of building Raving Clients who are our marketing machines.
Great work everyone!
Chris
Hey there! How's things?
I've been talking up your company - specifically the brochure builder. I was at a Sask. Marketing meeting yesterday and shared with the group the brochure builder application. There was 2-3 that asked for more detailed info….
So, if they pan out, you paying for referalls ;)
I'm joking - I just wanted you to be aware of this, in the event you've Sk credit unions inquiring about it.
Keep this in mind as you put your cognitive genius to work on code, copy, graphics and strategy...we are in the business of building Raving Clients who are our marketing machines.
Great work everyone!
Chris
Top 25 websites visited by canadians
I was looking around today to try to figure out what to post on our blog and I cam accross the top 25 website visited by Canadians. This information cam from Alexa, the "Web Information Company," I thought it was kind of neat to see what people are looking at. Maybe we will have one of our sites up here one day!
1. Google.ca (www.google.ca)
2. Windows Live (www.live.com)
3. Facebook (www.facebook.com)
4. Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com)
5. YouTube (www.youtube.com)
6. Google (www.google.com)
7. Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org)
8. Microsoft Network (MSN) (www.msn.com)
9. Sympatico MSN (http://sympatico.msn.ca/)
10. Blogger.com (www.blogger.com)
11. Myspace (www.myspace.com)
12. EBay Canada (www.ebay.ca)
13. Government of Canada (www.gc.ca)
14. Ebay (www.ebay.com)
15. The Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com)
16. Microsoft Corporation (www.microsoft.com)
17. PartyPoker.com (www.partypoker.com)
18. Photobucket (www.photobucket.com)
19. Kijiji (www.kijiji.ca)
20. The Weather Network (www.theweathernetwork.com)
21. Craigslist.ca (www.craigslist.ca)
22. RapidShare (www.rapidshare.com)
23. TD Canada Trust (www.tdcanadatrust.com)
24. Flickr (www.flickr.com)
25. NHL.com (www.nhl.com)
1. Google.ca (www.google.ca)
2. Windows Live (www.live.com)
3. Facebook (www.facebook.com)
4. Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com)
5. YouTube (www.youtube.com)
6. Google (www.google.com)
7. Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org)
8. Microsoft Network (MSN) (www.msn.com)
9. Sympatico MSN (http://sympatico.msn.ca/)
10. Blogger.com (www.blogger.com)
11. Myspace (www.myspace.com)
12. EBay Canada (www.ebay.ca)
13. Government of Canada (www.gc.ca)
14. Ebay (www.ebay.com)
15. The Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com)
16. Microsoft Corporation (www.microsoft.com)
17. PartyPoker.com (www.partypoker.com)
18. Photobucket (www.photobucket.com)
19. Kijiji (www.kijiji.ca)
20. The Weather Network (www.theweathernetwork.com)
21. Craigslist.ca (www.craigslist.ca)
22. RapidShare (www.rapidshare.com)
23. TD Canada Trust (www.tdcanadatrust.com)
24. Flickr (www.flickr.com)
25. NHL.com (www.nhl.com)
Microsoft Windows 7
It appears that Microsoft is working on the successor to Vista, now named Windows 7. It is said to be on a 3 year development schedule and a milestone 1 build has been released to key Windows Partners.
Supposedly from all the rumors I've read this new version of Windows will be meant to supercede (replace) windows Vista and the following are some of the suspected key features that it will provide:
Supposedly from all the rumors I've read this new version of Windows will be meant to supercede (replace) windows Vista and the following are some of the suspected key features that it will provide:
- Service and client side architecture
- Improved Hardware and performance capabilities
- Improved collaborative solutions
- Easy Bitlocker technology implementation
- Hypervisor navigation
- Touchscreen based navigation
- Improved desktop search capability integrated in the Windows Server 2008.
- Thin client and improved virtualization
Unfortunately, Microsoft itself seems to be tight lipped about the project and has not released any official feature lists for the newest Windows. It appears they don't want to make promises and not follow through on. This is a new approach for Microsoft, as they are notorious for promises that are never delivered. Perhaps, they are becoming more aware of the end user and are trying to provide a product that meets or exceeds expectations.
As of now the rumored release date for this latest Windows in open beta will not be until 2010.
Icon Archive
The Icon Archive is a high quality categorized collection of desktop icon sets. In total they have over 17,800 quality icons for Windows (XP, Vista, etc.), Macintosh (OSX, OS) and Linux Systems (PNG Files) in 644 sets from 150 icon authors.
These icons are great for applications that we create like TrueTax, Headwater, etc. These are royalty free, and unlike iStock, they have no watermarks. They are all categorized in a simple left nav to make it easy to find the icon type and style you are looking for.
Thanks to Jeremy for pointing out this site to me.
Microsoft Sharepoint Server
It has come to my attention recently that the latest rage in the IT World, among larger organizations, is the topic of Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server. We have had 2 clients in the past little while ask us about our knowledge of the software, and it's implementation. Upon further research, I have come to the conclusion that it would be in our best interest to come up to speed on this technology, and subsequently portray ourselves as an authoritative resource on the subject.
A bit of background...In my understanding, Microsoft has chosen to remove several features that were previously handled at the Operating System level, and have instead developed software to manage these features. An example would be Public Directories. So imagine this, you are the network adminstrator for a large organization, and the method you used to share documents was to use Public Directories. Now, with the upgrade to Server 2007, this is no longer an option. You now need to figure a way to share all corporate documents with all employees, based on security groups, individual permissions, etc. It's a bit of a nightmare!! To the rescue comes MOSS, a software solution from MS, that allows you to create your company intranet, set permissions,etc and voila you have a solution!
The opportunity for us is this...IT Administrators are generally not the most creative individuals (no offense Ron), and once they have the software implemented, the out-of-the-box options are fairly limited in regards to design. In comes Webtech, with a full understanding of the way in which MOSS operates, how to update templates to match the look and feel of the corporate identity, and it's a fairly easy "sell". In the Credit Union arena, 1stchoice is the first CU to implement MOSS in southern Alberta, with many others now looking to them for assistance on how to get started themselves. If we can get up to speed quickly, do a great job for an already satisfied customer, this would bode well for us as we move forward in the CU world.
So, how do we become this "authority" if you will? Do we send someone up to Calgary for a crash course on MOSS? Do we attempt to learn it ourselves? Do we hire an experienced individual? Let me know your thoughts, as this could be a great opportunity for us.
A bit of background...In my understanding, Microsoft has chosen to remove several features that were previously handled at the Operating System level, and have instead developed software to manage these features. An example would be Public Directories. So imagine this, you are the network adminstrator for a large organization, and the method you used to share documents was to use Public Directories. Now, with the upgrade to Server 2007, this is no longer an option. You now need to figure a way to share all corporate documents with all employees, based on security groups, individual permissions, etc. It's a bit of a nightmare!! To the rescue comes MOSS, a software solution from MS, that allows you to create your company intranet, set permissions,etc and voila you have a solution!
The opportunity for us is this...IT Administrators are generally not the most creative individuals (no offense Ron), and once they have the software implemented, the out-of-the-box options are fairly limited in regards to design. In comes Webtech, with a full understanding of the way in which MOSS operates, how to update templates to match the look and feel of the corporate identity, and it's a fairly easy "sell". In the Credit Union arena, 1stchoice is the first CU to implement MOSS in southern Alberta, with many others now looking to them for assistance on how to get started themselves. If we can get up to speed quickly, do a great job for an already satisfied customer, this would bode well for us as we move forward in the CU world.
So, how do we become this "authority" if you will? Do we send someone up to Calgary for a crash course on MOSS? Do we attempt to learn it ourselves? Do we hire an experienced individual? Let me know your thoughts, as this could be a great opportunity for us.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Our Blog Process
Each week we are required to post a blog submission to help spark up ideas in the office and keep everybody in line with the latest trends in technology. I think we should also be required to post one comment along with the one blog submission. This way the blogs that are posted actually will take effect on what they where meant to be for. Each person will be required to read each blog, and post their comments and ideas upon the blog that was posted. This could possibly spark more ideas and be a good creative learning experience inside our work place.
Each week we should:
Post 1 blog submission
Post one comment to a blog already submitted.
What do you guys think?
Each week we should:
Post 1 blog submission
Post one comment to a blog already submitted.
What do you guys think?
Friday, April 11, 2008
Design Trends
When I was doing some research for our newsletter I came accross an article with some design trends that I thought were kind of interesting. This article is from 2003, however, I definetely think that some of the ideas would be useful for us for when we are designing logos. I've posted the link so you can check it out.
http://www.gdusa.com/feature/4_03/trends.php
http://www.gdusa.com/feature/4_03/trends.php
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Web Tech Text Editor
There has been talk in the office of getting a new text editor implemented into our admin suites. The one we currently have is not user friendly and leaves the user frustrated and confused. I have found a possible replacement called tinyMCE. I have tweaked it to a degree getting rid of un wanted and features we do not really need and implemented it into a property that we are in development with.
Please login to the admin suite for true tax that is on the dev to view and tests its functionality. If you need the full link please me ask for it.
If this editor does not meet the needs of our clients our next step would have to be either to build our own or try and find other possible pre built editors.
Please post some comments on what you think of this editor, Remember keep in mind I have removed some features, so if there are features you think should be in it post about them.
Please login to the admin suite for true tax that is on the dev to view and tests its functionality. If you need the full link please me ask for it.
If this editor does not meet the needs of our clients our next step would have to be either to build our own or try and find other possible pre built editors.
Please post some comments on what you think of this editor, Remember keep in mind I have removed some features, so if there are features you think should be in it post about them.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Photoshop Express
Adobe recently released a free, online version of photoshop for beta testing. Don't get too excited, it is a very stripped down version of photoshop used for basic photo retouching. The cool thing about this, is that it is built to be used online within a web browser.
You are given the basic photo editing functions to use, such as crop/rotate, exposure, red-eye removal, and saturation. Along with those tools, they also have various artistic filters like tinting, sketching and distorting. All of these are very simple to use, and offer thumbnail previews so you can see how it would look before you even edit your photo.
They have also added a community aspect to it, where you are given your own gallery to share with other users, similar to sites like Flickr. You are given 2 GB of space, and users can rate, comment, and even edit your pictures themselves. Not only can you upload your own pictures to use, but it also integrates with social network sites like Facebook, Photobucket and Picasa. You are able to login to your account on these sites and import those pictures to Photoshop Express and edit away. After uploading and editing a photo, you can save it to your personal gallery, download it to your computer, or email it to a friend.
Definately worth checking out if you are in need of quick retouch for one of your photos.
https://www.photoshop.com/express/index.html?bypass&wf=testdrive
You are given the basic photo editing functions to use, such as crop/rotate, exposure, red-eye removal, and saturation. Along with those tools, they also have various artistic filters like tinting, sketching and distorting. All of these are very simple to use, and offer thumbnail previews so you can see how it would look before you even edit your photo.
They have also added a community aspect to it, where you are given your own gallery to share with other users, similar to sites like Flickr. You are given 2 GB of space, and users can rate, comment, and even edit your pictures themselves. Not only can you upload your own pictures to use, but it also integrates with social network sites like Facebook, Photobucket and Picasa. You are able to login to your account on these sites and import those pictures to Photoshop Express and edit away. After uploading and editing a photo, you can save it to your personal gallery, download it to your computer, or email it to a friend.
Definately worth checking out if you are in need of quick retouch for one of your photos.
https://www.photoshop.com/express/index.html?bypass&wf=testdrive
Our New Calendar System
We have had many different issues that relate to clients wanting a good calendar system where they can set appointments and different events. We have been at a stand still for this calendar system for several weeks. I found a nice free open source system called kinky calendar. It’s pretty basic but holds a great building ground for us to start off and grab different ideas and expand on. It may not be the most attractive looking thing but that’s why we have a graphic artist with skillZ.
I would like everybody to visit the online demo, maybe play around with it and post some comments on what you think we should include in our system.
Put yourself in the client’s shoes. What types of features would you look for? How would you want the features to work, Look and feel.
http://www.bennadel.com/resources/projects/kinky_calendar/demo/
Keep in mind, this system will have to compare with outlook, iCal, and Google calendar system. I look forward to hear everybody’s post on this issue.
I would like everybody to visit the online demo, maybe play around with it and post some comments on what you think we should include in our system.
Put yourself in the client’s shoes. What types of features would you look for? How would you want the features to work, Look and feel.
http://www.bennadel.com/resources/projects/kinky_calendar/demo/
Keep in mind, this system will have to compare with outlook, iCal, and Google calendar system. I look forward to hear everybody’s post on this issue.
Do we have a moose on the table?
Recently I attended the Human Resources Management Association of Lethbridge Annual Spring Conference. The speaker was Jim Clemner, Author of Moose on the Table, A novel Approach to Communication @Work. During the conference he posed the following question:
Does your team or organization have a moose? There is a checklist to go through to find this out. I suggest you read it and decide for yourself.
1. Real issues are raised privately between colleagues after meetings.
2. Vocal people dominate most meetings and all conversations.
3. Commitments aren't kept and deadlines are missed.
4. Blaming and ducking is more common than accountability and taking initiative.
Surprises come "out of the blue" as simmering problems erupt into major issues.
6. Everyone feels overwhelmed by way too many priorities and conflicting messages.
I know that we do not have problems in all of these areas; however, we do have a couple of issues come up from time to time. You would have to have been at the conference or you would have to read the book to find out how to really solve these issues, but he had an idea for workplace to use when issues do come up. He suggested that organizations have a stuffed moose to put on the table when an issue comes up that needs to be discussed. He said that organizations using the moose have much better communication and a lot fewer issues than they did before they started using the moose.
Please note that I am just communicating what the conference was about. It was not my idea. I’m not too sure what to think of it, but I would like to get your comments if possible.
Does your team or organization have a moose? There is a checklist to go through to find this out. I suggest you read it and decide for yourself.
1. Real issues are raised privately between colleagues after meetings.
2. Vocal people dominate most meetings and all conversations.
3. Commitments aren't kept and deadlines are missed.
4. Blaming and ducking is more common than accountability and taking initiative.
Surprises come "out of the blue" as simmering problems erupt into major issues.
6. Everyone feels overwhelmed by way too many priorities and conflicting messages.
I know that we do not have problems in all of these areas; however, we do have a couple of issues come up from time to time. You would have to have been at the conference or you would have to read the book to find out how to really solve these issues, but he had an idea for workplace to use when issues do come up. He suggested that organizations have a stuffed moose to put on the table when an issue comes up that needs to be discussed. He said that organizations using the moose have much better communication and a lot fewer issues than they did before they started using the moose.
Please note that I am just communicating what the conference was about. It was not my idea. I’m not too sure what to think of it, but I would like to get your comments if possible.
Meta Laureate
I'd like to share a great resource that was passed along to me by Paul. The site/blog is: www.metalaureate.com. The site consists of the 'informal writings' of Simon J. Hill, who has masters degrees in Linguistics, Literature and English from Oxford. He's been a consultant in the fields of management, organizations and e-commerce for the last ten years.
The blog is comprised of a variety of different topics including Design Theory & Methodology, Information Architecture, and Business Theory & Practice. Although the most relevant to me is the Information Architecture blog, he discusses many interesting topics including his latest which dealt with the Future of Usability & RIA (specifically Flex).
The Information Architecture blog has provided valuable information and insight into many aspects of the IA process. The blog goes into detail describing what IA is and the factors that determine of it's done. One recent blog dealt with important the evaluation the usability and understandability of web content.
BRIO Beta
Adobe's latest beta release is BRIO, a computer conferencing program of the likes of go to meeting. You can view it here http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/brio/.
BRIO allows you to invite multiple users to a central locale to view your screen. You can:
BRIO allows you to invite multiple users to a central locale to view your screen. You can:
- share your screen
- share your mike (VOIP)
- share you webcam
- give control of your computer to another user
- request another user to share their monitor
- set up phone conference settings
However, the coolest feature I found was the collaborative draw and annotation tool. This tool allows all users to draw and write on a snapshot of the screen at the time you entered into the annotation mode. Therefore, you can highlight and comment on display without actually changed the original contents to show each other what your speaking of or point out areas of interest on the screen.
As a programmer I wouldn't have much need to use this utility very often but for the BDO and IA departments could find this to be a fun and valuable tool to use during phone or conference calls with clients.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Insight into BDO
Hey WWT (Webtech Team),
My father was a baker just like his father was. I remember back in Worchester (England), visiting the bakery when I was a wee imp. It was a large bakery, if fact it had its own flour mill atop of the floor where the bread and such was prepared. The smell of fresh bread takes me back to the old country...funny thing was that my father never baked at home. You would think that he could cook, when in fact he was a typical Brit and had limited culinary skills except for a Sunday roast. Yet, on one occasion I remember him baking a quiche for a friend at home. It was interesting to watch him tend to the dough as it rised, how he beat the eggs and added ingredients at random, a pinch here and there. With the final brush of the egg yolk on the uncooked pastry to make it a golden brown upon completion. And finally when it came out of the oven, it was a masterpiece, a single master piece that I was only allowed look at, yet the smell made me yearn to take a bite. No sooner was it out of the oven, was it out the door to my father's friend home.
Just like the cobbler's children, not unlike the baker's son, we go without shoes and without quiche. In those initial meetings the clients are getting wise to the fact that our clients have great tools and results, yet our website is not a web property! I challenge us all to think in terms of how our web can assist us. I like JR's post with recommendations on having a strong client portfolio, it extends to how can we use our website as a lead generation and as a sales tool?
As the BDO I can see our site as a tool where I can create a customized brochure, walk through a sales presentation in a video based format, demostrate our great CMS (believe me it has come a very very long way), and perhaps google a set of keywords that brings up our indexed page top, or perhaps have the top 5 rankings. My mindset is one of utility, again a gift of my father ("start at the right side and then sweep to the middle..."). I need each of you from the capacity of copy, graphics, IA, code, PM, HR, Client relations to own a piece of our WEB PROPERTY. I want to be able to show our clients creative work that combines each of your talents and skills into something that says to them "I need this company...I want this company to work with". What does this look like? What does this sound like?
What about....
My father was a baker just like his father was. I remember back in Worchester (England), visiting the bakery when I was a wee imp. It was a large bakery, if fact it had its own flour mill atop of the floor where the bread and such was prepared. The smell of fresh bread takes me back to the old country...funny thing was that my father never baked at home. You would think that he could cook, when in fact he was a typical Brit and had limited culinary skills except for a Sunday roast. Yet, on one occasion I remember him baking a quiche for a friend at home. It was interesting to watch him tend to the dough as it rised, how he beat the eggs and added ingredients at random, a pinch here and there. With the final brush of the egg yolk on the uncooked pastry to make it a golden brown upon completion. And finally when it came out of the oven, it was a masterpiece, a single master piece that I was only allowed look at, yet the smell made me yearn to take a bite. No sooner was it out of the oven, was it out the door to my father's friend home.
Just like the cobbler's children, not unlike the baker's son, we go without shoes and without quiche. In those initial meetings the clients are getting wise to the fact that our clients have great tools and results, yet our website is not a web property! I challenge us all to think in terms of how our web can assist us. I like JR's post with recommendations on having a strong client portfolio, it extends to how can we use our website as a lead generation and as a sales tool?
As the BDO I can see our site as a tool where I can create a customized brochure, walk through a sales presentation in a video based format, demostrate our great CMS (believe me it has come a very very long way), and perhaps google a set of keywords that brings up our indexed page top, or perhaps have the top 5 rankings. My mindset is one of utility, again a gift of my father ("start at the right side and then sweep to the middle..."). I need each of you from the capacity of copy, graphics, IA, code, PM, HR, Client relations to own a piece of our WEB PROPERTY. I want to be able to show our clients creative work that combines each of your talents and skills into something that says to them "I need this company...I want this company to work with". What does this look like? What does this sound like?
What about....
- a creative story written from a fable perspective (Three Pigs, Little Red Hen) http://www.rickwalton.com/folktale/folktale.htm
- a supportive multi-media movie using stick-men or figurines (Robot Chicken - stop motion) http://www.adultswim.com/shows/robotchicken/
- stellar information architecture to wrap it into a product that makes sense to the persona and to Webtech - "How does it drive profit?"
- Indexing the the presentation on SE's, YouTube, Facebook
- Creating a dashboard that allows the BDO to drag and drop elements of a presentation with the client present to customize a presentation to their needs all within 5 mins...
So what do we need to do...
- determine what our brand is
- determine our personas
- determine our target markets
WTT, our goal is to build a web property that fits our needs, and the needs of our target personas. Why? This is how I, our BDO, move when in conversation with our prospects...and the bigger picture is that we meet our goals, stay gamefully employed in a cool environment where we all get the opportunity to spread our wings and really live.
Regards,
cc
Grouping Query Output
OK, so this post won't relate to all, however for the coders in the group, it's a useful piece of information.
ColdFusion has an attribute that you can add on to a cfoutput tag called "group=". What this does is allow you to group the query results by a particular field. I will put down a couple of examples, the first one being how I generally would code the page, and the second will use the group attribute.
SELECT *
FROM tblCourse c
ORDER BY courseName
SELECT *
FROM tblStudent
WHERE cID=#cID#
#get.courseName#
So, this will generate output something like this:
Course 1
Keith Ginter
Paul Plato
Course 2
Chris Clapton
Jeff Coomber
Now, this is the correct way to do it, using the group attribute of the cfoutput tag
SELECT c.*, s.studentName
FROM tblCourse c
INNER JOIN tblStudent s on c.id=s.cID
ORDER BY c.courseName
#get.courseName#
This will generate the same output as before, however the code is alot slicker and you save trips to the database to pull the results of the student names as done in the first example.
I have a training video on the above, as well as a number of other CF tricks. I will make those available once they are all ready to go.
ColdFusion has an attribute that you can add on to a cfoutput tag called "group=". What this does is allow you to group the query results by a particular field. I will put down a couple of examples, the first one being how I generally would code the page, and the second will use the group attribute.
SELECT *
FROM tblCourse c
ORDER BY courseName
SELECT *
FROM tblStudent
WHERE cID=#cID#
#get.courseName#
- #get2.studentName#
So, this will generate output something like this:
Course 1
Keith Ginter
Paul Plato
Course 2
Chris Clapton
Jeff Coomber
Now, this is the correct way to do it, using the group attribute of the cfoutput tag
SELECT c.*, s.studentName
FROM tblCourse c
INNER JOIN tblStudent s on c.id=s.cID
ORDER BY c.courseName
#get.courseName#
- #get.studentName#
This will generate the same output as before, however the code is alot slicker and you save trips to the database to pull the results of the student names as done in the first example.
I have a training video on the above, as well as a number of other CF tricks. I will make those available once they are all ready to go.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Finding Fonts
We recently had a client request a logo to be done with a specific font. He didn't have the name of the font or any other information other relating to the font other than a picture of it. Mike searched his Adobe Photoshop fonts and couldn't find it. This left us with the propect of searching through online listings of fonts hoping to find a match.
Fortunately I came across www.identifont.com which has a really cool feature which let's you identify a font by answering a series of questions relating to how certain letters are displayed. Although I wasn't able to answer most of the questions due to the small sample of text I was working from; after about 5 minutes I was presented with a list of 30 possible fonts that matched my answers. Sure enough the tenth font on the list was the one we were looking for!
Identifont probably saved us a couple of hours of research and we were able to satisfy a clients request in a timely manner.
Fortunately I came across www.identifont.com which has a really cool feature which let's you identify a font by answering a series of questions relating to how certain letters are displayed. Although I wasn't able to answer most of the questions due to the small sample of text I was working from; after about 5 minutes I was presented with a list of 30 possible fonts that matched my answers. Sure enough the tenth font on the list was the one we were looking for!
Identifont probably saved us a couple of hours of research and we were able to satisfy a clients request in a timely manner.
Adobe Spry
Though Ajax is the driving mechanism behind Web 2.0, it is often cumbersome to create Ajax applications do the combination of technologies and languages. Along came Adobe (again) to rescue the over-stressed and over-tasked web programmers.
Adobe has created a framework for Ajax development, called Spry, to help centralize much of the libraries and technologies used in Ajax development. Spry helps in creating dynamic web apps that can include widgets, effects, and data transformation and management. Thus, making it easier for the web programmer to create a more robust and interesting experience for the end user.
Recently, Adobe released and new version of Spry that will help to incorporate these Ajax applications into Adobe Air, which creates standalone desktop apps for your computer.
I intend to start playing with this new toy. However, you can check out more about it at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/spry/home.html.
Adobe has created a framework for Ajax development, called Spry, to help centralize much of the libraries and technologies used in Ajax development. Spry helps in creating dynamic web apps that can include widgets, effects, and data transformation and management. Thus, making it easier for the web programmer to create a more robust and interesting experience for the end user.
Recently, Adobe released and new version of Spry that will help to incorporate these Ajax applications into Adobe Air, which creates standalone desktop apps for your computer.
I intend to start playing with this new toy. However, you can check out more about it at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/spry/home.html.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Flex360 Conference
Hello All,
I will try to use this blog to download the information taken in at Flex360 in Atlanta. There was a ton of information to absorb, a good bit of it way over my head in terms of the technical aspect, however, still extremely insightful. One of my favorite sessions was that of Doug McCune, in which he spoke to the open source aspect of the Flex community. Doug was kind enough to post his slides as well as examples on his blog at http://dougmccune.com/blog/2008/02/26/examples-from-my-360flex-session-using-open-source-community-projects/
There's a few cool examples in here...Clapton...how do we use them to create products of value??
The first one, is a physics form. Go ahead, try the example, type in a username and password and click Login. Not sure where this would come in useful, however it is using a physics engine in the background to develop the logic around what should fall where. Pretty funky...
The second piece is a Flex app that's been styled to fit the Vista look. Note the ability to cascade and tile the windows. In the conference Doug also used the alt+tab to show the funky vista look, don't think it works in the example posted though. I think this piece can be really useful when developing web apps for our clients familiar with Windows.
Third piece combines degrafa with a sweet little login box. Click the little red arrow at the top of the screen to pull down the login. Again, we'd want to make this more intuitive for the user, however it's a cool little app. The background utilized degrafa, which will be covered in another post
The Fourth is an air app that combines the ability to pull in the meta data of specific file formats with the ability to drag and drop a file (mp3 in this case) from the pc to the app and have it read in. The air app that I downloaded didn't have the coverflow piece (iTunes piece that Pauly built as well), however, it's still a great piece of work
As well, the slides for Doug's presentations can be viewed at http://dougmccune.com/360Flex_ATL/360Flex_DougMcCune_Using_Open_Source_Flex_Projects.pdf
I will definitely set aside some time to walk us all through this, perhaps after seeing a few examples, as well as resources to plenty of open source components, we can piece together some apps of value for our clients.
That's it for tonite.
I will try to use this blog to download the information taken in at Flex360 in Atlanta. There was a ton of information to absorb, a good bit of it way over my head in terms of the technical aspect, however, still extremely insightful. One of my favorite sessions was that of Doug McCune, in which he spoke to the open source aspect of the Flex community. Doug was kind enough to post his slides as well as examples on his blog at http://dougmccune.com/blog/2008/02/26/examples-from-my-360flex-session-using-open-source-community-projects/
There's a few cool examples in here...Clapton...how do we use them to create products of value??
The first one, is a physics form. Go ahead, try the example, type in a username and password and click Login. Not sure where this would come in useful, however it is using a physics engine in the background to develop the logic around what should fall where. Pretty funky...
The second piece is a Flex app that's been styled to fit the Vista look. Note the ability to cascade and tile the windows. In the conference Doug also used the alt+tab to show the funky vista look, don't think it works in the example posted though. I think this piece can be really useful when developing web apps for our clients familiar with Windows.
Third piece combines degrafa with a sweet little login box. Click the little red arrow at the top of the screen to pull down the login. Again, we'd want to make this more intuitive for the user, however it's a cool little app. The background utilized degrafa, which will be covered in another post
The Fourth is an air app that combines the ability to pull in the meta data of specific file formats with the ability to drag and drop a file (mp3 in this case) from the pc to the app and have it read in. The air app that I downloaded didn't have the coverflow piece (iTunes piece that Pauly built as well), however, it's still a great piece of work
As well, the slides for Doug's presentations can be viewed at http://dougmccune.com/360Flex_ATL/360Flex_DougMcCune_Using_Open_Source_Flex_Projects.pdf
I will definitely set aside some time to walk us all through this, perhaps after seeing a few examples, as well as resources to plenty of open source components, we can piece together some apps of value for our clients.
That's it for tonite.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Moving Forward
It has come time to redo our web property - www.webtech.ab.ca - this has been our presence since 2004/5. As we are a web based company I expect the results to be stellar, something that we can all use as a tool throughout our design process with clients. Questions such as "do we use our process to do this?", "What kind of content formats do we use?" - I understand that these will all stem from our Persona development process, and I look forward to working through this with our team. I look to this post to provide us all with a location where we can see and read others insights into our new web property - so please detail your concepts and ideas here for us all to read and grow from. TX. CC
Thursday, January 17, 2008
How to Improve your Golf Game
Today I will be briefly speaking on another site we've launched, and are in the process of tweaking. Savemygolfgame.com is a site that we've built in order to assist golfers of all skill levels to improve their golf game. I myself am a golfer, and I am continually looking for ways to lower my handicap, get rid of my slice, improve my putting and have a more consistent short game.
What we've done is partner with Dean Spriddle, one of Canada's top Golf Instructors to create a site devoted to offering Free Golf Tips, Free Review of your golf swing, and customized instruction.
We are currently in the process of revamping the site, however, in the meantime, I have set up www.savemygolfgame.ca to show all of the questions / answers that have been posted to the site.
Have a look around, and if there's anything you need, please let us know. If you are interested in having Webtech contact you regarding a web application for your company, we can be reached via www.webtech.ab.ca
What we've done is partner with Dean Spriddle, one of Canada's top Golf Instructors to create a site devoted to offering Free Golf Tips, Free Review of your golf swing, and customized instruction.
We are currently in the process of revamping the site, however, in the meantime, I have set up www.savemygolfgame.ca to show all of the questions / answers that have been posted to the site.
Have a look around, and if there's anything you need, please let us know. If you are interested in having Webtech contact you regarding a web application for your company, we can be reached via www.webtech.ab.ca
Friday, January 11, 2008
Safeworker
Good morning. This morning I'd like to chat about an application that we've built, one that I think represents our best work to date. It can be found at http://www.safeworker.ca/, by clicking the "Start Now" icon. This site is devoted to Health and Safety, specifically how an organization can improve the safety of its employees by implementing a Safety Program.
The application is built using Flash / Flex. It uses our SafeWorker Handbook as the backend data, and a really intuitive user interface to pull the relevant information from the database. We have just launched the site, and are receiving positive feedback from all who have tested it out. If anyone would be interested in a trial subscription, please contact us and we'd be happy to set you up.
The application is built using Flash / Flex. It uses our SafeWorker Handbook as the backend data, and a really intuitive user interface to pull the relevant information from the database. We have just launched the site, and are receiving positive feedback from all who have tested it out. If anyone would be interested in a trial subscription, please contact us and we'd be happy to set you up.
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