Making Information Make Sense
Writing • Research • Presentations • Graphics & Websites
A new version of our website will be here shortly.
The new site will contain a complete description and examples of all of our services, plus Stu Johnson's new "InfoMatters" blog on which he will talk about topics related to understanding, managing and presenting information.
The new site will be a fifth-generation design for us - from early dabbling in web design with FrontPage in the mid-1990's to three generations of development using ColdFusion application server. (We started using ColdFusion under its original ownership by Allaire. then Macromedia, and now as a solid part of the Adobe family).
Our third and fourth generation sites (some listed below) made giant strides in moving toward best-practices by:
- separating the website code into discrete components (commonly called a Model-View-Controller, or MVC, approach),
- making use of Cascading Style Sheets (css) for page layout,
- upgrading all site databases from Microsoft Access to MS-SQL,
- introducing the use of a number of standard modules, with a significant upgrade of the Media Gallery in 2009,
- enhancing page printing and adding a Share option on most pages,
- developing a significantly upgraded Content Management System (CMS) to enable clients to maintain most of the content on their sites
Our fifth generation sites (of which this will be the first) will take advantage of new capabilities in the newest release of ColdFusion 9 and other technologies:
- database operations will be developed using ORM (Object Relational Mapping), a vast improvement in development efficiency and website performance,
- most development will move from Dreamweaver to the new ColdFusion Builder design platform,
- new built-in features will improve handling of PDF and Office files, file uploads, media playback, maps, and more,
- a tightly-integrated blogging application will be added to the available modules,
- and we'll be developing and constantly monitoring best-practices for the often confusing question of how to make the best use of a website and the latest in social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc)
A description of the Content Management System, which also serves as an introduction to the modules available for most sites is available as a pdf file in either slide-show or printable formats.
Until the new site is ready to demonstrate our fourth-generation capability, take a look at some of our current websites and their features:
| A First Look Resource site for the college text, A First Look at Communication Theory by Em Griffin |
This site is completely customized and was thoroughly revised in 2008 for the 7th edition of the text. (We began this site when the book was in its 4th edition). The site makes significant use of "Ajax" technology to present complex data options without having to refresh the entire page. |
| Canterbury Home of Kenosha Regent Manor of Kenosha both in Kenosha WI |
The first sites to use the framework and modular components of the third-generation sites. Regent Manor includes a Flash animation interactive tour of the floorplan and a "virtual tour" using the Photo Gallery. |
| Evangel Baptist Church Wheaton IL |
Good example of Calendar and News. Home page includes a digest view of the site, including a calendar for the current week. Audio files of sermons were made available beginning in December 2006. They appear on the Calendar in a list of links associated with each Worship Service. Also includes the newest version of the Media Gallery. |
| Randy Ramey, Illinois State Representative, 55th District | Page layout shows use of layers and pixel-precise positioning of elements and a few custom-designed modules. |
| SeniorEvangelism SeniorLifstyle |
These two sites are "article" based, with a number of contributors constantly feeding new material. |
| Wayne Township DuPage County IL |
Good example of Calendar, Resource Center, Media Gallery. Beginning in 2006 all townships in Illinois with websites were required to post agendas and minutes of meetings. We already had this set up before the new requirement took effect. |
| Village Church of Wheaton Wheaton IL |
This site uses several standard module, along with a customized Sermon module, which uses Ajax technology to provide different listings of the available sermon documents without having to reload the entire page. Searches can be made within the text of the sermon documents. |