Taming the Cat…Tomcat and Coldfusion 8

Why Arizona is the next “Orlando”

Ok, the first question you are all asking is, “what does Arizona being the next ‘Orlando’” have to do with websites and web development.”  The answer is, plenty!

Websites are marketing tools.  Whether you have a great product or service you want to sell, or have a great relationship with a distributor that you have the upper hand in giving your customers the lowest price available…the web is the best place to get it out there to so many people in such a short period of time.

Even if you don’t have your own super-duper SEO working your site, while expensive and not as powerful as SEO natural listings, pay per clicks are out there and if you have the money, can get your site out in front of thousands, maybe millions, within just a day or so.  But let’s say you don’t have a product yet….and want to get some feedback and generate interest to develop a product or service.  The web is another fantastic way of generating “buzz” about something not even built or designed in hopes of generating enough interest that it eventually develops into a lucrative business venture.

Right now, I have my eye on a website that is of particular interest to me and I would like to get it in front of many other Arizonians, as well as other folks who visit Arizona on  a semi-regular basis.  The website is www.decadesusa.com and is a site working at bringing a “Disney-like” theme park to the Southeast Arizona valley.  Their concept is a great one….music through the decades, which will translate into theme park rides, restaurants, a water park, nightlife, and a four-star hotel.

As said above, this is a “concept”.  It is not built, it has just recently passed a major hurdle in the Arizona State Government, but still has a little ways to go before becoming a reality.  The website itself is pretty well designed, and of course being the overly critical nit-picking perfectionist I am…could use some improvements in design, SEO, and functionality, but overall a great way to start getting the buzz out there for something that could mean a very state-changing event for Arizona.

Ok, my two cents on Arizona and why it is better than Orlando.  First of all, I’m from Orlando, Florida and lived there for over 15 years.  The area is chock full of entertainment, great hotels, and fantastic dining.  And no matter what anyone says, it is all due to “the Mouse”.  Yes, Universal Orlando is awesome as well, but it is mostly due to the genius of Walt Disney and his vision to take a new approach to entertainment and family vacationing.

Now, let’s think, the busiest times of the year for Disney/Orlando is June, July, August, and a little of September.  That is also the times of the year in central Florida where the temps hit in the high 80’s to low 90’s, with the humidity way up there as well so much that just breathing makes you into a human shower.  The reason Arizona has never been considered a prime area for tourism and travel is because of the misconception that the desert heat is just unbearable in the summer.  Not true.  If you consider the heat-index, which is a fancy way of determining just how comfortable the temperature is with all factors (temperature, humidity, etc.) considered…you’ll find that during the busiest times of the year for central Florida, the heat index is actually LOWER than Arizona when we’re in the 100’s.

Let’s also consider the wonderful afternoon showers and thunderstorms that occur in Orlando during these busy times.  They hit every day just at about 3pm…causing everyone to run for cover in the parks, and have to get out of the pools at all the resorts.  In Arizona….it’s a desert….enough said.

Also…have you ever tried sitting out back at night in a non-screened in area in Orlando?  You might as well be ringing the dinner bell for the mosquitoes and their cousins.  Again…not a problem in Arizona.

Lastly, every now and then a little weather event called a hurricane pops up.  It is the biggest waiting game in the history of the human race.  Everyone wakes up in the morning, logs into NOAA and sees where the latest track is projecting the hurricane to hit.  It messes up vacations, businesses, cruises, you name it.  Arizona is pretty well situated that it shouldn’t get any hurricanes and and doesn’t have the tornadoes that usually accompany big tropical storms. 

So in my humble opinion, Arizona…Phoenix…specifically….is really where theme park developers and hoteliers should be looking.  With modern “cooling” features such as good design of ride queues, and plenty of shade, it is very easy to see how Decades USA could take Arizona into a brand new area.

So check out their website if you live in Arizona.  Or, if you know someone who lives in Arizona or visits the state…send this link along to them as well:

http://www.decadesusa.com/show-your-support/index.php

Be sure to tell them to mention in their comments that you learned of the site from Justice Solutions LLC.  Maybe they’ll let me be in one of the parades….ha!!!  Until next time, happy webbing and coding!

Doug.

Make Testing a Part of Your Contract

I’ve recently changed my contracts to include some specific information about testing and testing scenarios.  You’ll recall my blog about how important testing is to the success of a website retaining its visitors, but I’d also like to point out how testing can really get in the way of your contractual obligations as well.  Take this example (and no Mike M. this isnt’ you….LOL)

You have a contract which outlines what a site will need to do….allow a company to login, create a job for a customer, do the job, bill the job.  Sounds simple right?

However throw in the variables such as, they don’t have any standard billing methods (not ones that could be followed by an application at least), multiple scenarios of “exceptions”, and a staff that doesn’t seem to talk to one another.

Now from a legal perspective, if the contract is simply written outlining the issues above, we’re sunk.  The client can take as much time as they want to test, to work out their own billing practices, etc.  However if you add a paragraph which specifically outlines how the system will be tested and what to do if “exceptions” to those rules come up, you’ll be in much better shape.

So here’s my paragraph (feel free to use in yours, and send me an email letting me know you found it helpful):

Give Them a Chance to Breathe

Have you ever visited a website that had so much information on the home page you just didn’t know where to begin?  I’ve been to them too.  It almost gives you a headache. 

Marketing 101
Some of the best marketing minds have written (and I remember this from my own marketing classes in college) it is best to give your visitors a chance to decompress when they enter your store.  Now of course they were referring to retail stores, but the same theory applies to websites.  Take these two sites (click for a larger view):
  

Both are nicely designed, but the 2nd clearly gives you a moment to take in everything, figure out where you’re needing to go…and then go there.

Be Nice to Your Users Through Simple Elegance.
As CNN clearly demonstrated…they have more links and loops because they are in fact a news company.  However, as a user coming to their site….I get overwhelmed.  If they would just set up a few custom paths for their users, I think their site would be much better received in the web.  So remember this term….”Simple Elegance”.  It is the term we here at Justice Solutions coin for our design concepts.

Custom Pathways
I’ll probably dedicate a blog to this next week and come back and link to it from here, but to give you a preview…I’ve been telling some of my larger clients that if you have more than 20 different places any user could go to from your home page….consider the use of custom pathways.  Because even the most busy and huge sites could probably take the 100+ links they have (to major sections that is…not individual articles, etc.) and categorize their users to fit into maybe a handful of choices.  So instead of a vacation destination having tons of links to hotels, flights, restaurants, attractions, etc.  Change it to “Plan My Trip”, “What to Do When I Arrive”, “Where Can I Eat”.  Then once in that subpage…give them the options to plan their trip with links to your flights, hotels, etc.

Well that’s it for this week.  Remember….Simple Elegance….let the user take in your site….admire the design….hell you paid for it….so might as well let your users enjoy it too.  Until next week….happy coding.  Chief Superhero Doug, out.

Doug.

Go Speed Racer Go!

On the Fence with Rails

Ok, unless you’re a person who just doesn’t care what types of frameworks or technologies that are out there, you’ve probably heard of Ruby…and most likely “Ruby on Rails”.  Lots of books and opinions have been written about this particular framework and I thought I’d put in my quick 2 cents worth about the subject since I’ve recently finished up another Ruby/Rails project.

The Real Deal
Ok what’s the big deal about it?  Good question.  In a nutshell…speed.  I have to admit, the ability to create a model view framework that takes care of your inserts/deletes/reads/updates in literally 2 seconds or less has to be a draw for any developer who has been through this mundane procedure before even with the advent of some helpful modelers (see my blog on PHP and asp.NET ones: http://www.justicesolutionsllc.com/blogcfm/1/2008/02/57.Getting-the-CRUD-out-in-your-code.cfm).

Ok so what else?  Well there are some very helpful ‘helpers’ that Ruby provides that does actually make things quite easy when needing a membership module built, or a quick and easy shopping cart, etc. 

Custom Pathways are another neat little feature of RoR.  If you want you can defined a custom path based upon a users input, a page they enter on, a word they type after the page.  It’s really a super version of taking 404 error rewrites and doing something useful with them in a very easy to use fashion.

The Down
So there’s gotta be a downside right?  Otherwise everyone would be RoR-ing about it.  (btw…RoR is short for “Ruby on Rails”).  Anyway, what I’ve found personally is an issue with the server speed and sometimes the paths you create take a while for good ol’ Roob’ to figure out and deliver the page.  If you use a “mongrel” server base vs. Apache or IIS (yes it can run on it) things do improve. 

However, there are some tweaks and tunes you’ll need to do in order to get it to run just right. 

It’s a typical Linux type scenario that most of us have been through.  Yes…the Linux based server config of Lamp (Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP) does run very well and hardly ever crashes….however setting up that ideal system with your own custom needs sometimes does become its own beast.

Like all frameworks there are some cool features that unfortunately create other problems.  Some are not obvious until Mongrel crashes unexpectedly on you like it did me when I was using Ruby’s neat little refresh Ajax control that basically can be used to update data in a <DIV> every second if you’d like.  The problem….it also submits the variables of a POST form as a blank at the same time if you’re not careful.

“Let Me Explain…no….there is too much….Let me Sum Up.” (I’ll award a gift certificate to a national chain restaurant to the person who emails me at doug@justicesolutionsllc.com with the answer to where that quote is from.  No Matt Krause…you are not eligible….lol)

So should you go Rails?  The answer like I say to so many new clients who ask me the same question about asp.NET, PHP, ColdFusion, Flash, and yes…Rails…is simply this.  It depends.  It depends on your budget, your site’s future development needs, the availability of a developer who knows RoR…etc. 

If you have a site that is pretty simple that maybe requires a blog, some simple data entry and data display…I’d say go Rails in an instant.  You could literally build that entire concept in probably an hour or two at the most.  But, if you’re going large scale and have a lot of unknowns in your development and business plan path…perhaps another language may work a bit better for you.  Again, it depends on your developer.

So there’s my two cents on rails.  For a look at this latest Rails project we’ve launched recently and continue to develop on (btw….great company with a great concept), check out http://www.gqex.net when you get a chance.

Happy Coding!

Doug.

A new kind of Napster…

If you’re a programmer like me….I find it’s almost a necessity to have a steady stream of tunes going to keep the creative juices and energy flowing during those coding marathons we always seem to be faced with.  However, sometimes putting together a playlist takes a lot of time that we don’t have.  So your alternatives are taking a chance and listening to one of Napster’s preloaded lists, or finding a few radio stations that you like and flip back and forth between them when the music starts to go off the beaten path a bit.  Oh and let’s not even get into how annoying commercials are.

Enter Pandora’s Box
Those of you familiar with Greek Mythology’s accounting of Pandora will recall she was created by Hephaestus and molded out of the earth and given a jar (box) which she unfortunately opened and released all of the evil and stuff into the world.  Yep….woman gets blamed again….but did I mention I have the WE network on right now? 

Why I’m not quite sure of how they came up with the name, Pandora.com (Pandora Radio) is anything but a collection of evil.  It actually is quite the opposite which is maybe why they chose the name?  Picture a collection of tens of thousands of songs all at your beckon call?  Yeah…I know iTunes and Napster does that too.  However what if I told you these folks have been analyzing these songs to break down rhythms, lyrics, artists, albums, decades, etc. and then put them into a clever music finding algorithm which would make the guy on CBS Television’s “Numbers” a proud man.

Pick a Song any Song
When you first get to the website…you’ll find it quite plain…you almost think you’re on the wrong site.  But trust me….just enter in any song, artist, etc. and let the magic begin.  I went ahead and typed in “Men at Work” since I’m such a slave to the 80’s music. 

Within seconds I had a custom radio station on my list called “Men at Work Radio” and literally over a 100 songs from not only men at work, but also many other artists and songs having similar beats, styles, etc.  I

Thumbs up….Thumbs Down
Now, while it’s not an exact science, I have to admit with the few requests I’ve put into the system, I’ve been pretty happy with the lineup of songs Pandora.com came back with.  If there’s one that kind of makes your head go “Huh?!?”…just give it a quick thumbs down…Pandora moves on to the next song automatically.

Oh…and when you log back in the next day and click on that station…the songs are both different and/or shuffled automatically…pretty damn cool if you ask me.

Give it a Try!
So if you’re stuck in front of a computer, or your computer is also a media center for your home and want a nice steady stream of songs instantly….give Pandora a try.  Let me know what you think.

Until next time…

Doug.

5 Things Web Developers Should Do to Avoid Getting Screwed by their Clients.

This has been bothering me over the past couple of months and I just thought I’d share some random thoughts about things you should make sure your clients understand about web development, their expectations, and what to expect from you as their developer through, during, and after the initial development process.

1. Let the clients know that you do actually have other clients and even though their project isn’t less important than the other clients, but please be respectful of the time that needs to be shared across all client lines.
2. You do get what you pay for and sometimes a little bit more.  Meaning my old philosophy was to always err on the side of the client…if there’s a contractual problem that results in a few extra hours, then go ahead and do it.  However I now realize that even though you go the extra mile, the old addage my mother used to say about giving people an inch and they’ll take a yard still holds true to this day.  So give the client what they paid for…and then if there’s a problem and they want something extra, explain to them why they need to pay for that as well.
3. Write your contracts with no guarantees.  One of my favorite films is Tommy Boy and if you remember this film, his father “Big Tom” would tell potential customers who wanted a guarantee from him about his auto parts that you can take a piece of s**t, put it in a box and slap a guarantee on it…however all you’re guaranteeing is that it is just a guaranteed piece of s**t in a box.  The same holds true in web development.  If you do quality work, let that work speak for itself.  If they want a guarantee, let them know that you provide a service contract that they can purchase that will cover certain issues if there is a problem.
4. Don’t let yourself be taken advantage of…have your clients pay for the programming hours before they are used.  I know this is a very bold statement, however in this wacky economy right now it’s necessary.  I have 4 clients who are 90+ days out on their payments.  I’ve even shut down a website because this person hasn’t contacted me about the final payment or anything.  It’s not fair to the developer who takes a lot of time to produce quality web development work and then gets left holding the bag.  If you go into a grocery store and say…bill me…they’ll tackle you and maybe even prosecute you for shoplifting.  In the web world you should space out your payments enough so that a client doesn’t waste a ton of money if the developer doesn’t pull through, but still can satisfy the web developer’s need to get paid for their time.
5. Always keep detailed records of the time you’re spending on a project…even if it’s a flat fee project.  The reason…you can always show your client the amount of hours a certain task has taken and if they believe they’re not getting enough work from you, you have a good backup for those discussions.  It probably would help sending those hours summaries each week as well.

I’ll probably have a few followups to this subject, but if you have any horror stories you’d like to share and what you’ve done to avoid them in the future, I think we’d all like to see them.  I’m not ragging on all clients…I have several really really good ones who are great overall…but there are a few which really get your goat…and it really isn’t fair.  So take these suggestions for what it’s worth and I hope it makes for a better client experience for you and your web development company.