Web Design Firm

25April 2011

When we are talking about content management systems we can’t forget DRUPAL .it is one of the best CMS ever. Well known drupal 7 were released at January 5th, 2011.So I decided to write an Article for Compare Drupal 6 and Drupal 7 .normally all are saying drupal is not user friendly than other CMS like Joomla etc…but Drupal Developers have passed to fix that issue in Drupal 7.its user friendly than other CMS’s .it’s very easier to use An entirely revamped administrative interface makes your daily tasks easier to find and carry out. Many improvements were added specifically for site builders and content editors. More flexible Define your own content structure and add custom fields to content, users, comments, and more. Extend your site with one of the over 800 modules already available for Drupal 7. Drupal 7 site will be fast, responsive and handle huge amounts of traffic thanks to improved JavaScript and CSS optimization, better caching and more. All we are know well Drupal is open source so come for the software, stay for the community. Thousands of smart and productive people work together to continuously improve Drupal, modules, themes and distributions. And the most attractive thing is they developed a menu in top of the site (bookmark menu) ,we can book mark nodes, pages whatever we need on there so easy to go back .AJAX working nicely so user can’t feel the slow  . But still we have few disadvantages in Drupal 7 some modules still in developing mode. but drupal 6 have all the latest modules and themes  for  complete a nice site.

Above table tell the node adding time in drupal 6 and drupal 7

You can feel it’s save the time and resources I would like to write more article about Drupal in future

This article was posted by Arshad

25March 2010

Marketing is a conversation you have with your customers. Key to a good conversation is your ability to listen and respond efficiently, appropriately, and in a manner that enriches the consumer’s experience of the conversation. So let’s take these trends and apply them to some specific online marketing activities and look at how a CMS can help us solve some of the problems.

One of the key points of effective communication is content consistency. As an organization’s online presence grows and spreads, the primary challenge it faces is not only providing appealing and accessible content, but also ensuring that every bit of content delivered to a customer contributes a comprehensive, cohesive, and well-coordinated picture of the organization.

This is another obvious online marketing activity that centers around content and the ability to easily manage it. Atom and RSS (‘Really Simple Syndication’) are two of the primary syndication standards. They allow your customers to subscribe to your content – and have it delivered to them. The CMS will enable you to set up a plan that makes constant, automatic updates of syndication files from your site data. Syndication also means that your content will now be available not just on your site, but on others as well – automatically increasing placements in search engine results. For example, if you have your content on other sites as articles, press releases or news items, the first page on a Google search may display only two links to your site; but it may have several links to your content on other sites. RSS feeds have proven effectiveness in boosting traffic, and search engines are paying increasing attention to RSS feeds. What’s more, it’s easier to find better placement in feed directories than from regular search engines.

Search Engine Optimization

Being search-friendly is one of the primary criteria for a successful Web site, and good content is useless unless it found. This may be one of the most under-utilized ways a CMS can help your organization get better visibility on the Web. Whether an organization relies on Pay-Per-Click or organic search (or most likely both), it pays to improve content hygiene and make a site more search engine-friendly. With organic search, a CMS permits the institution of a number of SEO best practices.

Email Marketing

While Web content management systems typically do not have email campaign management systems built into them, they are still instrumental in their success. With single-sourced, centrally managed content, it becomes easy to publish directly into an integrated email system. The CMS will also allow content creators and marketers to create, manage and test the landing pages and micro sites that may be part of the call to action in the email. With style sheets and templates, the CMS can also ensure that your marketing teams need not wait for designers or technical staff to help with this process – they can publish when the need arises and not worry about branding inconsistencies or design gaffes.

As user behavior and marketing techniques continuously evolve, companies could easily get left behind. However, with the growth of crucial technologies such as the CMS, adapting to new scenarios and challenges does not carry with it a large technological burden. It only remains to organizations to have a finger on the online pulse and move fluidly with the audience.

This article was posted by wakensys28

17March 2010

First of All Ask Why?

Don’t just redesign because you want it to look different – but define some specific things that a new redesign is going to achieve. It might be to generate more leads or revenue. Or, it might be to save money on customer support issues. Or, it might be a new business altogether. The key is to define a set of strategic goals that determine the compelling reasons for why the site will be redesigned.

Once you’ve thought this through, consider developing an “official” document which will explain the project and its desired outcome in detail. This Project Definition will be your requirements document as you gather all of the desired outcomes and new capabilities, and start to map them against a set of features, functions and services that you’ll require from your chosen solution. Many larger organizations choose to outsource the Project Definition phase to consultants with either vertical expertise and/or previous site design experience.

* The Scope of the Project: What this project will entail (wholesale change or design tweak).
* The Business Goals of the Project: What we will achieve from a business point of view and how we will measure the success of the project.
* The Key Deliverables: Is there a new Web site and a new CMS, or just a new site, are there other functional items?
* Key Assumptions Being Made: What key assumptions need to be made and dependencies outlined in order to satisfy the above deliverables.
* Key People Involved: The key people and their role on the project.
* Functional Business Requirements of the Project: These are the key benefits, not specific features. (e.g. “drive more leads and Search Engine friendly pages” NOT “XHTML compliant output”)
* Functional Technical Requirements of the Project: Keep these high level for now – but capture any critical items (e.g. must be Microsoft based, or must be able to scale separate of Web traffic).
* Cost and Duration of the Project: Your budget and time line.

Once you have developed the Project Definition, there will typically be a natural prioritization in terms of the features, functions and services that your organization will require. Separate these, both in the document and in your selection process, into “product features,” and “services/vendor” requirements. For example, you may have a strong need for implementation services, because your IT team has limited bandwidth or, in the case of some smaller organization is non-existent. Or, you may have strong product feature requirements such as workflow and auditing needs because you are in a regulated industry.

When You Hire Your Vendor – Get Ready to Do It All Again

Most web design vendors will want to walk through some version of what they call “discovery.” This will be a very similar process to the one you’ve already been through internally. But it’s good to do it again for a couple of reasons. The first is that you’ve missed something – guaranteed – and the design agency will help you find it. The second, is that you’re about to embark on a long journey with your new partner – and making sure that you are 100% on the same page is a sure way to make sure your project is successful.

The deliverable from this process will be a final statement of work, timeline and budget estimate from your vendor. This shouldn’t be a 500 page document – but it should be an agreed upon framework of solutions and tactics for how to get there. It should detail the breadth of scope and priorities for phase one.

Don’t Skip the Information Architecture Phase

There is a very large tendency to skip the Information Architecture phase in any redesign project. The thinking typically goes “well, our current content works now, so we can just apply that to the new design.” Don’t. It’s key to developing a site that scales well, can be implemented into a CMS well and that performs well over a long time.

You certainly wouldn’t redesign your house without researching construction permits, or hiring an architect to draw out the blueprints for the renovations. The information architecture is a key piece of a web redesign project. Find out what’s going on with your web site traffic. Examine the traffic patterns and look at your content. Match up the IA with your business goals and don’t skip this very important step.

Develop a Close Relationship with Your Content. It’s Quality not Quantity

A website redesign is the best time for a content audit. Once you know more about your users’ expectations and needs start to review and reorganize your website content. After you start auditing your web content, you’ll be able to assess the gaps between the current state of your website and the information architecture that will best serve your users.

Don’t Try to Launch Everything the First Time

Learn from Google, and launch small, iterative functions for your site frequently. New features and ideas will come up during the design process, and resist the urge to add to the scope at this stage. Get something up and live – and then go back and start to work on the next iteration.

Plan for Life After Launch

A well-implemented, but poorly maintained web site redesign will lead to a bad Web site over time. For sites that change frequently, this can happen quickly. It’s sadly ironic that the reasons for the web site redesign – to be more ef¬fective and easier to manage can also be that site’s eventual degradation.

Imagine an IT department who has a dedicated group of web experts; always ready to respond to any request by a Web site manager to adjust the CMS, fix the lead management, adjust the SEO, fix the design, and so on. Unfortunate¬ly, in most cases, this simply isn’t possible. Having an expert integration firm hanging around and writing a new scope of work for every system change can be untenable as well – even if you can find one willing and available to work on a site over many years.

An internal service is often used, but as we’ve said, it can be difficult for an internal group to develop expertise in the application and find free developer time, especially when rapid changes are required over and over again. But wait, didn’t we just say it’s a requirement to have good support and maintenance, of course, these problems are solved to a great extent by the software as a service (SaaS) model. But most organiza¬tions haven’t moved in that direction yet, and need to find a balance between internal service levels and cost/resource availability.

All too often web site redesign projects are taken way too seriously. This should be a fun and interactive process for everyone – and can be extraordinarily successful for the organization. If you set expectations early, manage the project closely – and make sure everyone communicates – the process can be a really enjoyable one.

Choosing the software and services solution will truly strengthen your business. It will not only create efficiency for the Web site management process, but (depending on your business) provide you with a number of opportunities to create competitive advantages, revenue opportunities and new avenues for customers and partners to communicate with you through your Web site.

This article was posted by wakensys28

3February 2010

Q: What is Drupal?

A: Drupal is a Content Management System (CMS) that uses modules to allow the site administrator to organize and display content, customize appearance and manage routine tasks. It is also known as a content management framework (CMF) as it is geared more towards configurability and customization.

Q: Why should my company use it?

A: In comparison to most CMS’s Drupal has an upper hand when you take a look at its features and functionalities. Below are some of the features you would find in Drupal.

User Management: – Drupal has strong user role and access control functionality. Custom user roles and custom access levels can be created as and when needed.

Advanced URL Control: – Drupal gives the user complete control over URL structure. Each item of content in Drupal can be given a custom URL also known as aliases. Users can automate custom URL structures for each different content type with the ‘Pathauto’ Module.

Custom Content Types and Views: – The Content Construction Kit (CCK) and view modules can be used to create new content types and create advanced custom views. Content types could contain news stories, tutorials, blog posts and so on.

PHP Template: – By default Drupal uses the PHP template theme engine. Theming in Drupal is easy as the user does not require any PHP knowledge.

Get your website done in Drupal. Contact Wakensys at 773.552.1355 for more information.

This article was posted by Aboo Zackeriya

1February 2010

Very important fact that adds to your business is to have attractive and fully functional web site to feature your product or services to outer world. Web site is the first reception for your consumer. So it is very important design a web site with defined functionality of your organization, enriched & cost effective website.

PHP is a general purpose scripting language, widely used among web industry. Easiness of embedding PHP in to HTML has given the web pages more dynamicity. Since its open source it compliance with integrating soft wares with existing systems and for the constant changing requirement. PHP could deliver low cost yet high performance websites. PHP very much popular scripting language to build heavy functionalizes web applications, dynamicity of a web application always suites people driven businesses.

Customer Specification

We can deliver product according to the customer specification. Development is from the scratch to its final delivery.

Product Re-engineering

If your web site need fine tuning for more efficiency to fits the needs of the business.

PHP Migration

We can transfer existing PHP 4 applications to take use to heavily enhanced and completely object-oriented PHP 5 or we can also convert applications written in Java, ASP or NET to PHP.

For more information consult Experts in PHP & MYSQL, Contact Wakensys at 1.773.552.1355

This article was posted by wakensys28

21January 2010

Drupal is a Content Management System (CMS) that uses modules to allow the site administrator to organize and display content, customize appearance and manage routine tasks. It is also known as a content management framework (CMF) as it is geared more towards configurability and customization. If the website being developed has to be search engine friendly and scalable, a content management system has to be used. In general what a CMS does is stores the content in a database, keeps design and content separately and making changes on all pages just requires to be updated in one place.

Below are few reasons why you should consider it.

User Management: – Drupal has strong user role and access control functionality. Custom user roles and custom access levels can be created as and when needed.

Advanced URL Control: – Drupal gives the user complete control over URL structure. Each item of content in Drupal can be given a custom URL also known as aliases. Users can automate custom URL structures for each different content type with the ‘Pathauto’ Module.

Custom Content Types and Views: – The Content Construction Kit (CCK) and view modules can be used to create new content types and create advanced custom views. Content types could contain news stories, tutorials, blog posts and so on.

PHP Template: – By default Drupal uses the PHP template theme engine. Theming in Drupal is easy as the user does not require any PHP knowledge.

Revision Control: – Drupal can be configured to save a new version every time they are edited. There is also the option of viewing old files and even revert old files.

Page Titles and Meta Tags: – Drupals page title module gives the user custom control of their elements while the meta tags Module gives the user control over the users pages’ individual meta description tags.

Get your website done in Drupal. Contact Wakensys at 773.552.1355 for more information.

This article was posted by Aboo Zackeriya

18January 2010

In today’s context the easiest, fastest and most effective way to reach new customers is through online marketing. It has opened many doors for small to medium sized businesses to compete with corporate entities. Keeping that in mind, it is very important to ensure a customer is satisfied in what he sees as it is the first point of contact between the customer and the business. By making the right first impression, customers are likely to have a positive reaction to those products and services.

For this reason, the designer should have control and understanding over seven major areas. They are:-

Balance: Usage of visual weight to control design balance through the use of factors such as color, size, space and density.

Color: Usage of proper color in the design will help the visitor get a clear picture of your message.

Dominance: This is the process of getting the attention of the viewer by using factors such as size, position, color, style and shape to make one area more dominant than the other.

Gestalt: This is the idea the mind perceives just by having a glance at the website design. In other words, all elements used in the web page such as text, images, spacing, etc. put together in a balanced manner, would mean gestalt is at play.

Hierarchy: It is important to maintain a proper hierarchy in the design so that the viewers could easily be guided through the website.

Space: Without proper spacing between elements and designs, the site would look crowded and possibly give a negative message to the viewer. Having white space is just as much important as containing information on any website.

Unity: This refers to the use of elements in such a way so that it would strike a balance between unity and variety. Over use of elements could result in chaos.

Contact Wakensys at 773.552.1355 for more information.

This article was posted by Aboo Zackeriya

17January 2010

E-Commerce stands for Electronic Commerce .This service is using to shopping in through the internet, buying and selling goods and services. E-commerce includes those things.

* E-tailing or “virtual storefronts” on websites with online catalogs.

* The gathering and use of demographic data through Web contacts.

* Electronic Data Interchange .the business-to-business exchange of data.

* Business-to-business buying and selling.

* The security of business transactions.

In the software industry when they developing an E-commerce project there are some E-commerce solutions like (Os-Commerce, Zen cart) it’s very easy to the developers because they are not familiar to commerce.

Contact Wakensys at 773.552.1355 for more information.

This article was posted by Arshad

15January 2010

Moodle is an Open Source Course Management System (CMS) even known as Learning Management System (LMS) software that allows users to post course content, communicate with students, set up quizzes or surveys, and manage grades online. Traditional websites are well suited for recruiting students to courses and programs, as they are public and can be accessed by prospective students. However, this system lacks many features necessary for proper online instruction. Some important features that you would find are:

Communication:- With each Moodle course, comes a variety of communication tools. The process of mailing students has not been easier. Instructors can easily send mail to students in batches or individually. Not to mention chat room discussion between course members.

Easy to Build:- The user does not need to know how to build a web site to build a Moodle course as all the content is added through the use of online forms and can easily add items created in programs such as WordPerfect, Excel, Outlook, and many more.

Security:- All students are provided with unique login IDs and only those students will be able to access specific module contents, results and so on.

Apart from the above mentioned features, other features you would find are:

Customizable content areas
Course Calendar
Online Quizzes and Surveys
Online Grade book
Course Statistics
Advanced eLearning content development with the Lesson module

Contact Wakensys at 773.552.1355 for more information.

This article was posted by Aboo Zackeriya

13January 2010

KnowledgeTree^® is an open source document management software that is PHP based, easy to install and used across a broad range of organizations. It is also the leading commercial open source electronic document management software designed for small to medium-sized organizations.

Some of the main features included in the community edition are workflow, version control and audit trails. It also helps manage the document lifecycle, promote collaboration, reduce paper and ensure compliance. The PHP design, as well as integration of open standards, such as CMIS, ensures that KnowledgeTree can be easily integrated with other systems.

Like other SaaS products it requires no installation, upgrades or server infrastructure and offers users a production-ready, web-based, document management system.
As a commercial open source company, KnowledgeTree is committed to affordability, accessibility and integration across operating systems and applications.

KnowledgeTree Community Edition is licensed under the GNU GPL version 3 and uses the Apache Web Server and MySQL database management system.

Contact Wakensys at 773.552.1355 for more information.

This article was posted by Aboo Zackeriya