Blog for October 2009

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SCU Launches its new online presence

Steinbach Credit Union has relaunched its website with a new look. In preparation for a change in its online banking software and after four years with its previous layout, SCU was looking for a fresh look. The latest version of the SCU site has provided SCU with our new and improved Catalyst 4.0 Content Management System.

The new CMS provides them with substantial flexibility in placing their content throughout the site. The content administration is very straight forward and keeps the content separate from the design and layout which allows the site to have a cohesive look during the maintenance and updating of their content.

The design presented us with some specific coding and stylistic challenges.

The home page displaying the three section options had to display horizontally centred dependent on how tall the browser window was set, and if the user changed the size of the window, the positioning would adjust to compensate. Using some specific javascript and css rules we were able to accomplish this. Once we had it working in highly standards compliant browsers we moved on to making it work on those browsers that have not yet worked out all of their standards issues.

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On the three landing pages we were asked to provide some customization functionality in order to personalize the user’s experience on the site. We built and provided a few widgets for this personalization. For those people who registered to customize their landing pages, they can choose from up to three little widgets at this point.

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There is a Stock Watch, Weather and Currency Conversion widget to choose from.

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Additional touches to the site included some javascript functionality to slide content left and right so as not to have the page scroll. With some creative css and javascript coding we were able to achieve a site that while some pages require scrolling, the navigation and footer do not move or disappear allowing the user to have constant access to their navigation.

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In a number of cases the design which we had to apply to the site was somewhat counter-intuitive to what is standard practice in web development, however with a lot of work we were able to provide SCU with the design they wanted working the way they wanted. It must be remembered at all times in the service industry that the client’s perception is always correct.

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The New Guy at Visual Lizard

Today was my first day at Visual Lizard and I have come to the conclusion that I have a lot to learn about this new highly-technical, constantly-changing world of modern web media.

Julian and Doug have hired me as a part-time writer to work on a few of Visual Lizard’s current projects, including the Canadian Tumour Repository Network website and it’s related applications. A significant portion of my responsibilities here will involve writing for Visual Lizard’s web page and web projects which require quick, accessible built-in documentation for users. I will assist in writing business proposals and will occasionally write blogs and post updates for sites such as Winnipegfirst.ca.

Presently, I have to say that my technological prowess is pretty ordinary.  I have been using computers since I was 10 years old (I’m 27) and although I use my laptop on an everyday basis, it is usually to check my e-mail, surf social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and use basic programs like Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.  

I recently graduated from the two-year Creative Communications program at Red River College with a major in Journalism where we used programs like Final Cut Pro, Pro Tools and to a lesser degree, InDesign and Photo Shop so I can at least say that I have a working knowledge of various video, audio and image editing programs.

However, Visual Lizard is involved in complex website development and the software and language is all new to this guy.  Content management systems, encoding, core framework and Google Analytics are all terms that are alien to me at this point, but I’m sure that in two weeks time I will be telling you all about how I wrote some mad documentation for the metadata repository (I really don’t know what that means).

So I’m excited to learn more about the world of web design and development even if it is not what I went to school for. I am lucky enough to be working in a modern new office environment on a 20-inch iMac with a group of six awesome people that were willing to take me on as a new employee, even if it’s only on a short term basis.

I look forward to learning how to explain how to use web applications and databases to users as it is a new and challenging experience for someone with my limited experience. I am also eager to work with a great group of people who will have to be patient with someone who doesn’t know a lot of computer programming terminology or how to navigate Visual Lizard’s Catalyst Content Management System just yet.  I am not worried at all though as everyone seems to be willing to give me enough time to grow, listen, absorb and learn, even if that means that I might trip over myself a few times along the way.

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