Archive for the ‘Member Orgs’ Category
Jun
25
Not far from the offices of Twelve Horses is the West Shore of Lake Tahoe. A beautiful place where dramatic snow-covered mountains cascade downward in to the sparkling blue waters of one of the clearest, most breathtaking bodies of water in the world. Juxtaposed to this raw beauty are businesses that depend on the Web to communicate their brand to the wayward traveler looking for information to help them make informed decisions.
Last year, Homewood Mountain Resort came to Twelve Horses for a website redesign, which you may have read about here. Like many of our website design projects, we were tasked with organizing large amounts of information into a user-friendly format that satisfies both the client and their end user. A common practice we employ to accomplish this delicate balancing act are module tabs or user interface (UI) design patterns. Whenever possible, we strive to accompany these tabs with both text and graphics to improve the experience.
Smashing Magazine just recently published an article titled, Module Tabs in Web Design: Best Practices and Solutions. The article features Homewood Mountain Resort along with some other exceptional examples of module tabs being used to optimize web pages. Here is an excerpt from the article:
A module tab is a User Interface (UI) design pattern where content is separated into different panes, and each pane is viewable one at a time. The user requests content to be displayed by clicking (or in some instances hovering over) the content’s corresponding tab control.
Module tabs are seeing an increase of use as websites and web applications push for optimizing web page screen areas without sacrificing the amount of information presented at once. For example, in weblogs, they are used in secondary content sections (such as the sidebar) to present relevant and interesting information such as a listing of blog posts which users can interact with to get to web pages quicker. This inevitably allows for an unobtrusive and compact manner of presenting content.
This article discusses the use of the module tabs design pattern for use in websites and web-based applications. We share with you some best practices to consider when using module tabs, a listing of real-world examples of websites the take advantage of module tabs, as well as tutorials and free downloadable scripts for building and deploying module tabs in your sites.
Give it a read.
Posted in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Member Orgs, Reno-Tahoe, Salt Lake City, Service Industry, Travel & Tourism, Utah, Web & SEO
May
11
We recently learned that Twelve Horses received 2 more ADDYs in the western district competition for both the website design of Alpine Meadows, as well as their comprehensive online campaigns that makes use of social media, video production, and email marketing. While it is wonderful to see our Creative Services team receive recognition from the advertising industry, there is nothing like getting it from your peers. Yes, our brothers and sisters, the ones who dream in code and are obsessed with illustration and layout. Two fist pumps to the chest. You guys and gals are better than any cold, hard lucite.
Here are some examples:
Posted in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Member Orgs, Nevada, Reno-Tahoe, Salt Lake City, Service Industry, Travel & Tourism, Web & SEO
Apr
28
There is no shortage of community run, open source CMS options out there that serve a host of different companies willing and able to work in their prospective environments. There is also an abundance of companies who prefer to work with a proprietary system, developed and controlled by a single company.
Which is better?
That can be a daunting question. Do I go with an open source company like Drupal, Mambo, or Joomla!, or a proprietary system like Twelve Horses? Unfortunately, the answer isn’t cut and dry. It requires a significant amount of research, evaluation and judgment that shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Content Management System
Step 1 – Be realistic
Don’t kid yourself, there is no silver bullet. Every option has pros and cons, but the goal is to find the solution that will provide you the most value and the least headache. Here is a comparison of the two:
Open Source:
Pros: Upfront costs are minimal. Many vendors are able to work in the major platforms, and if they aren’t, the learning curve is low. Updates and modules are typically free, abundant, and help is available all over the web.
Cons: Customization is more limited. Modifications and custom integrations are susceptible to upgrade issues that typically are not supported. Because open source is community driven, it is a one-size-fits-all approach that can create bloated features. Free add-ons can be buggy and present possible security threats. Potential downtimes can also present high risks for businesses.
Proprietary:
Pros: Business driven not community driven. Streamlined skill sets allowing for faster development times, and customization options are more flexible. Typically niche driven keeping features lean and inline with your industry. One company means greater support and accountability. In many cases, especially for medium to enterprise-level businesses, total cost of ownership is less in the long run.
Cons: There is a higher initial investment, licensing fees, and you are tied to one company for customizations and updates. Switching vendors can be difficult and expensive.
Step 2 – Define your needs
As with any integration of new technology, defining your end goals will help drive the tactics and products to support it. Ask your team the following:
- How large will the site be?
- Is it one site or multiple sites?
- How many users will be accessing the system?
- Will you be integrating your website with any other online marketing applications or vendors?
- Who will maintain the site?
- Do you have internal resources, or will you need outside support?
- Do you require database and code level control?
- What other supporting products and services does the CMS vendor provide?
These types of questions are critical in determining the best solution.
Step 3 – Research
Look at what is core to your company’s online success and find vendors that support the mission. If an open source option fits, look at the community and ensure that the development path is inline with your company. If a proprietary system is deemed the best path, make sure the company has a solid history of continual CMS development. Also, remember to look at total cost of ownership. Your time equals money, so the less time spent managing vendors is more time you can spend growing the business.
Step 4 – Act
Choose a solution and stick with it, but at the same time be aware of what your exit strategy would be and how much it might cost.
At the end of the day, you’ll find that a proprietary CMS is a targeted solution that offers less risk, more accountability, and greater scalability where an open source system offers greater internal flexibility and an abundance of add-ons that are generally free at face value. The real question is whether you want to concentrate on the execution of the medium or on your business? The choice is up to you.
Posted in Atlanta, Finance & Banking, Las Vegas, Member Orgs, Reno-Tahoe, Salt Lake City, Service Industry, Travel & Tourism, Web & SEO
Apr
28
The development of the Web today includes powerful applications that mimic desktop software. Google Docs has tried to provide the functionality of Microsoft Office. Picnik is attempting to target Photoshop users. And even our own Content Management System, WebGen, uses some of the basics that made Dreamweaver so popular a few years ago. Perhaps the majority of us may soon only need an Internet connection rather than a computer when Web sites mature into full online applications.
In the meantime, we will experience the migration of software evolving into websites, and Twelve Horses is expanding its boundaries with these new technologies. Recently, we created a new event planner that integrates the functionality of software but utilizes the power of the Web.
Dynamic Meeting Planner
Our client, Dynamic Competence, needed a way to transform a paper-based meeting system into a dynamic communication tool that facilitates conversations for meeting topics. To be successful, the client needed to manage and monitor meeting plan revisions, improve group communication, and use a medium that would help save time and effort for meeting planners.
In this project we developed features that we have not yet seen: the website works more like a software application than a traditional HTML site. Below I’ve highlighted some of the functionality we developed.
Features for Success
1. Drag-And-Drop Interface
 A planner has the ability to categorize their contacts into different groups before sending out the meeting invite. To help increase speed and usability, the interface allows the planner to drag-and-drop their contacts into the available groups before sending. This saves the planner time and effort when creating the invitee list to be a part of the meeting process. |
2. Double-Click Editing
 Instead of making edits via a regular textbox and hitting save, a meeting planner simply goes to the topic they need to edit, double-clicks on it, and this opens up the section to be edited. This dynamic interface also allows editors to add and disable topics with one-click, saving time and effort. |
3. User Feedback System
 The success of the system relies on the interaction of the client’s users. If, for any reason, a user has an issue with a website or wants to comment, a Feedback button is provided on every page. To provide more insight into the feedback, the user’s comments, current page, and date submitted are all tracked by the System Admin Inbox (see below). This valuable feedback data also provides insight on how to improve the application for future use. |
4. System Admin Inbox
 The system administrators wanted to be sure all the feedback was being read and responded to appropriately. With multiple feedback messages, this could be a daunting task to make sure everyone is receiving a response. To complicate matters, there could be multiple System Admins in the system. To resolve this, the feedback items are displayed in an email inbox format (read or unread), and the message tracks which System Admin first read the response. |
5. Versioning
 Each iteration of the meeting process is saved as a separate webpage to the website. With this, a meeting planner can see how the meeting agenda transformed from the first draft to the final version of the agenda. This tracks all comments and changes, keeping the meeting processes organized and easily retrieved for historical purposes. |
Using web-based applications provides many advantages: updates and new features are rolled out across to users in real time; data is stored on the server and is accessible from anywhere that has Internet access; and custom solutions are tailored to a client’s needs, which isn’t as easily done with software.
Soon we may solely rely on the Web for our daily workflow. Until that happens, we will continue to push the boundaries of Web technology to help meet clients’ needs and increase the usability of applications.
Posted in Atlanta, Blog, Company News, Current Affairs, Finance & Banking, Las Vegas, Marketing, Marketing Tools, Member Orgs, SEO, Salt Lake City, Service Industry, Social, Travel & Tourism, Utah, Video, Web & SEO, Web Design
