The Beacon Technologies development team launched a beautiful redesign to the Texas A&M Foundation website today. Beacon did the previous Cascade integration using a design provided by another company. This time the Beacon team had the opportunity to create the design and you can see the wonderful result below! The client is very pleased, has been getting positive feedback and said they can’t wait to work with us again.

This site was another great team effort that involved a lovely educational design, complicated template development, CMS integration and home page Flash development. This redesign also included a cool Publications Archive and a RSS news feed page incorporating Google mini development, an upgrade to a legacy .NET calendar app, thorough testing and training and end-to-end project management.

A job well done!

Before

After

Have you ever wondered how your current website looks on a mobile phone browser? Well, the chances are it won’t look pretty unless, you designed the site to work on mobile phones. In order to see what it would look like, you can pull it up on any cellphone  or you can go to Opera Mini Simulator. There are also other emulators on the web similar to Opera Mini that can show you how a site will look on a mobile browser.

Here is a screenshot of a page that’s optimized for mobile phone browsers (notice how the text is readable without zooming in):

Here is the same page but without any optimization:

Which one would you prefer?

If you still aren’t convinced that you need a mobile site, here are a few reasons that might help:

• There are around 4.6 billion cell phone users worldwide
• 1 out of 5 Americans access the web from their mobile phones each day
• “$1.6 billion purchased from mobile devices in 2009″
• “Mobile advertising spending will surpass $6.5 billion in 2012”

Don’t wait any longer and start creating a mobile-friendly site today.

Huge news this week from our ecommerce shopping cart partner AspDotNetStorefront… On August 11, it was announced that Vortx, a five year Platinum DevNet Partner, purchased the company.  There are lots of changes afoot and we at Beacon are watching them closely.  We are excited to be a part of this transition, as we have formed relationships with the management at Vortx in previous projects and conferences.  Know that we’ll keep a close eye on this development and be ready to share with our clients any short or long term impact!

Here are some resources for more info about this transition:

• Vortx press release– http://www.vortx.com/t-20100805_pressrelease.aspx
• Developer’s forum thread– http://forums.aspdotnetstorefront.com/showthread.php?t=23846
• Q&A from first webinar– http://www.aspdotnetstorefront.com/t-responses-to-webinar.aspx
• ASPDotNetStorefront Blog– http://blogs.aspdotnetstorefront.com/

Some recent Beacon AspDotNetStorefront sites:

1. http://www.giftbandit.com
2. http://www.acfurniture.com/becommerce
3. http://www.printaballoon.com/
4. http://www.macthriftnc.om
5. http://www.nmeda.org/becommerce/
6. http://www.robertham.com
7. http://www.sunbrellaonthego.com
8. http://www.smithmillwork.com

There are many system and system pseudo tags within Cascade Server that I often can’t remember exactly. Its like my brain doesn’t want to remember the correct spelling of asset (always wants to put assett) or I get frustrated trying to output CDATA tags and forget there’s a tag for that. I often go back to 5 main pages of Hannon Hill’s knowledge base that are worth bookmarking.

• Linking: Provides the correct ways to reference system assets both locally and across sites.
• Available System Tags: Provides tags used in template creation.
• System View Tags: Provides internal and external tags and how to use them.
• System CDATA Tags: Provides information on how to output a CDATA section.
• Code Sections: Provides Passthrough and Root Code Section tags and how to use them.

If your like me then you know what they do and how to use them; you just forget the exact syntax sometimes. Below is a quick reference I created for myself to get straight to the ones that I either use or forget about on a regular basis.

• Cascade Server Quick Reference
  

Also I wanted to include the following link for Commmonly used XSLT:

• Cascade Server XSLT: Just found out about this one but it looks to be extremely useful for common XSLT formats within cascade.

OK – it was not those YMCAers, but the kids from the Spears YMCA Counselors in Leadership Training camp who came by for a field trip to visit Beacon a few weeks ago. We gave them a brief overview of our business units and their respective functions – the lead counselor was busy keeping the kids awake!

Actually, we did a great job relating the business world to a sports team, which certainly was something they could relate to and kept it entertaining.  We then headed off to TW Telecom to show them our hosting facility.

I actually called ahead of time to let my rep know we were coming by for a brief tour.   Unfortunately, my rep did not read my email closely and the Operations Manager was extremely nervous when I showed up with a busload of kids.   It was a very funny moment when we arrived (had to be there to enjoy it) but everything worked out fine as we toured the facility in groups of 10 and everyone was well behaved.

In the end, it was a great visit and made all of us feel good to give back to community as well as getting some kids interested in career opportunities in Information Technology.

If you have read any previous Beacon blogs than I am sure you know what a CMS is and what it’s used for. In case you haven’t read any other blogs, a CMS or Content Management System is an application that allows any user to update content on a given website easily. It doesn’t require any technical knowledge of programming languages such as HTML or CSS. Here at Beacon, we use Cascade Server CMS for the majority of our clients’ websites along with our own website.

I have used a few Content Management Systems (CMS) in the past before I started working with Beacon. These range from free open-source systems to custom-built systems created for a specific client. I can honestly say I prefer Cascade Server out of the bunch. Cascade Server has a lot of features that most of the other CMS’s lack. Below are some of the features that I really like about Cascade:

• Personalized Dashboard – you can customize the home screen for each user based on their preference.
• Work Flow Management – with multiple users updating content on the website, you can make sure that the only content you (admin) approve of will be able to show up on the live web.
• Version Control – have you ever accidentally made a change to a document and saved it only to find out you can’t undo it anymore? With Version Control, you no longer have to worry about that, it will let you revert back to an older version of the document/file in the CMS.
• Recycle Bin – if any user accidentally deletes a file or an entire folder from the site. With the addition of the Recycle Bin, they can undo the delete file/folder.
• Site Preview – you can preview each page or the site inside Cascade before publishing it out to the web.
• Spell Checker/Link Checker – before you save a page, the spell checker can automatically check for spelling errors. Also the link checker will check for any broken links before the page is saved.
• WYSIWYG Editor – (What You See Is What You Get) Editor is included in most CMSs but Cascade differs from a few. In Cascade, you can copy content from Microsoft Word and bring it in Cascade with original formatted (bold, italics, underline, etc.) content.
• Multi-site Management – if you have multiple sites, you can manage them all through one instance of Cascade. It even allows sharing files/templates between sites.
• Technical Support – most open-source CMSs don’t have tech support instead you have to post on a forum and wait for another user like you to post a possible solution. With Cascade, you get tech support from their knowledgeable staff that will resolve your issue.

There are a lot more features that are in Cascade that I haven’t listed here. Check out their website for a whole list of all their features at www.hannonhill.com. On their main site, you will also find a small list of their clients that currently use Cascade Server, including NC State University (Go Woflpack!). If NC State uses Cascade Server for their site, than you know it must be good.

To learn more about Cascade Server, please contact Beacon.

Recently we were in the process of upgrading a site to AspDotNetStorefront 9 and with the upgrade comes multiple changes to how things are coded. One important change is that the entire page is now a form. This form controls all things within it including add to cart or add to wish list. This caused two main problems that I dealt with while trying to integrate the old code into the new.

• The first one was trying to integrate the old search with the new search. I took what I could from the old code and copied it into the new (shown below). We figured out that the type of image didn’t work so we made it a button and styled as needed to match.

  OLD:   <input name="submit" src="/skins/Skin_1/images/go.jpg" type="image" />
  NEW:   <input id="searchBox_button" name="submit" type="button" value="Go" />
  

  A few hours later I realized that the add to cart and add to wish list buttons didn’t work anymore and I was getting an error ‘theForm.submit is not a function’. After some quick googling I ran across a page where I immediately realized what was causing this. The page basically states that there was a button somewhere improperly named submit. So I went back to the search form and sure enough I had copied this over from the original code. All I had to do was change the name to something else and voila! It works :)

  FINAL:   <input id="searchBox_button" name="go" type="button" value="Go" />
  

• The second issue was integrating a newsletter sign-up form within the main form. The form was in the left column and fell within the flow of the page. When I say this I mean it was positioned relative to other items so it could not be absolute positioned into the left column. This meant that the code had to reside inside the new form. The problem is you can’t have a form within another form.I feel like this was one of those problems that called for thinking outside of the box. Normally you wouldn’t develop something that had this problem but since we are actually customizing something that’s already built (AspDotNetStorefront) and integrating our code into it we needed to find a work around. On my way home my mind seems to subconsciously still be working and trying to solve problems from that day. So as I was driving home that day all of a sudden iFrame! I knew we had used this for different reasons on another site so the next day I tried and it worked like a charm :) This is a solution that could come in handy for multiple things down the road.

I’m getting ready to make a big move across the country and as I read tons of moving “how to” articles, I’m amazed at how similar the “to do” lists are to what you should consider when building a new website:

1. Plan, plan, plan! Before you make the very first step toward a redesign, start making lists… What is the budget of the project?  Who are the stakeholders of the project?  What is the purpose of the redesign?
2. Inventory–  Take good stock of everything on the current website.  What works?  What doesn’t?  What needs to be enhanced?  Are there any dynamic or interactive applications that need to be ported to the new site?  Are there any existing back-end integration points that need to be evaluated?  Beacon can help you with a current site “content matrix”, which will track all current pages and where they will reside on the new site.
3. Find a good partner– Most people can’t make a major move (or build a great website) without help.  In addition to a company that does excellent web development, consider whether you’ll need assistance with graphical design, web marketing and hosting.  A great thing about Beacon is that we are a one stop shop for all this and more!  Also be sure to check references– we’ll be happy to provide you with a list of our happy customers…
4. Decide on a single point of contact– Even if you hire a web development partner, you’ll need a dedicated internal resource to serve as the primary point of contact to handle all questions and decisions as they arise during the development process.
5. Decide if your current vehicle can make the move– Is your current website platform robust enough to support today’s technologies (video, social media, interactive features)?  If not, you may want to consider starting with a new, more sophisticated platform and moving the existing content to it, rather than just changing the face of the existing site.
6. Consider what you’ll need in the transition– Most redesign projects require at least a little time where the current site has to be “frozen” (no new updates), so that content can be moved from the live site to the new design.  Consider how long it is feasible for the site to be unchanged, whether there is an ideal time of year/month for this to happen, and if there are any areas that absolutely must be updated daily.  Inform your web development company of these items as soon as possible (ideally at the outset of the project).
7. Make sure you haven’t forgotten anything! I cannot emphasis enough how important it is to test your website before it goes to Production.  Our project plans usually leave at least two weeks for the client to test the website and sadly this step is often overlooked or rushed due to the client’s busy schedule.  Although we pride ourselves on our careful system testing process, there’s just no substitute for the client carefully evaluating every single page of the new site.  Take the time, it is worth it!
8. Announce it to everyone! Just like you shouldn’t forget to tell friends and family about your move, be sure to have a communications plan to announce the new web site release to your customers, distributors, associates, partners, etc.  If there will be any change in functionality, be sure to prepare them for this change and give precise directions on its impact to them.

Best of luck with your “move”!

Many of us today work with PCs on a daily basis and are constantly being made aware of security and performance issues with them.  Sometimes we are made aware by being a victim and wonder what could I have done to prevent that or how can I keep the issue from occurring again or even mitigate the collateral damage next time.

I found an interesting article for some of the security/performance issues that we all face and it discusses some actions to take to help with the problems.  There were some things that I already knew but the explanations were  insightful just the same.  Some of the maintenance actions I rarely do because I guess I never stopped to think about the consequences of not doing them.  After reading the article I have a better appreciation of those rarely performed maintenance items.  Maybe they won’t be so ‘rarely performed’ anymore.

Check it out for yourself: Security and Performance Issues from Iolo Threat Center

If your business uses WordPress for blogging or as a content management system, there are some great plugins out there to make life easier. Here are the top 10 WordPress plugins that I love.

1. Headspace 2 – HeadSpace manages meta data and other SEO functions. It allows you to tag your posts, create custom titles and descriptions that help your page ranking.

2. Simple Facebook Connect – This plugin comes with many different options. You can give your visitors the ability to comment using Facebook Identity (with FB avatar support), login with Facebook credentials and register using Facebook. It also allows you to automatically publish new posts to a Facebook Profile or manually publish posts to a Facebook Profile or Application/Fan Page. And if that weren’t enough, check out the other available buttons and widgets available through this plugin!

• Share button and Shortcode
• Connect Button Widget and Shortcode
• User Status Widget and Shortcode
• Live Stream Widget and Shortcode
• Bookmark Widget and Shortcode
• Find us on Facebook button Widget and Shortcode
• Fan Box Widget
• Fan Count Chicklet and Widget

3. TweetMeme – The TweetMeme button plugin simply adds the TweetMeme button to your posts and feed. It keeps a running total of how many times your content is tweeted. (See example on this post!)

4. Akismet – This does a great job of keeping your WordPress site free of spam. When a new comment, trackback, or pingback comes to your site it is Akismet runs hundreds of tests on the comment to determine whether or not it is spam.

5. WP Click-Track – This plugin automatically posts and rewrites links in your content (pages, sidebar, posts, etc.) in order to include a tracking element. It also allows users to create stand alone trackable links that can be included in posts. It also provides extensive reports right within the WordPress dashboard.

6. Category Order – This seems like a simple plugin but there have been countless times where I’ve needed categories to be in a specific order that wasn’t alphabetical or by ID. This little plugin allows you to easily reorder your categories the way you want via drag and drop.

7. Google Analytics for WordPress – Even though you can use Google Analytics on a WordPress site without this plugin, it’s missing a whole lot of features that this plugin offers. This plugin includes:

• Google Analytics Custom Variables
• Google Analytics API integration
• E-Commerce integration
• Event tracking

8. cformsII – CformsII is the best form plugin I’ve used. Its creators are actually the authors of one of my favorite cooking blogs. This amazing plugin has an incredible amount of features and flexibility. You can create detailed custom forms, style them individually and place them in sidebars, posts or pages.

9. AddThis – AddThis is my favorite share plugin because  it automatically optimizes itself for each person who visits your site. AddThis custom fits each menu with the services they’ll normally use. This plugin also has an automatic interface for iPhone users. The plugin allows a customized share button to be placed in a sidebar or on each post. AddThis.com also provides detailed analytics so you can see how your content is shared across the Web.

10. YD Recent Posts Widget – This WordPress plugin installs a new sidebar widget displays your most recent blog posts along with images. It is very customizable allowing different settings on the home page and other blog pages.