+44 (0) 845 094 3331 email

Home > Blog > Functionality

Displaying posts with the tag "Functionality"

Creating Functional Wireframes

by Clinton April 6th, 2011 | Design, Visual communications, usability | No Comments »

Functional wireframes are an intrinsic part of any web development process. They illustrates how each page is structured as well as information about each  button, field, piece of content and functionality. It provides an overview of all of the different templates within a site inclusding their function and features.

Wireframe Content

Each wireframe contains the following information and a description:

  • Title: This is at the top of every wireframe. The wireframe title describes the purpose of the wireframe.
  • How to get here: this section describes how the user got to this content block
  • Concept/Purpose/Objective: this section describes what the objective or purpose is for this panel.
  • Content/Data: this section describes all the content on the panel including any buttons or icons.
  • Buttons/Links:
  • If: Then: This section describes a user behavior and the result of that behavior (e.g., what panel is rendered after the ‘If’ condition is met).
  • Navigation Links/Buttons: this section describes any navigation links on the page.
  • Error conditions: this section describes any errors that may result from a user behavior and what message wireframe they will receive.

More information on Functional Wireframes

Continue reading »

vebra estate agency software integration

by admin July 20th, 2010 | Design, bespoke development | No Comments »

If you are an estate agency looking for  a highly experienced web development and design company to help make your website fly, then look no further. We are specialists in working with the leading estate agency software vebra and integrating it effectively into websites.

Rather than stick with the frame based “out of the box” vebra solution, you can keep all of the functionality that vebra provides but provide a much more engaging experience for your web visitors by making your properties look much better and providing a much more seamless search experience.

vebra and web marketing

One of the key failings of the “out of the box” approach of using the vebra content is that all of the content is presented in a single frame in your website. This is disastrous for search engine optimisation and pretty appalling for usability. Google does not like frames and cannot index all of the results, what’s more it restricts the user from bookmarking properties and other sites cannot link effectively.

There is an alternative though, and that is to free vebra from the constraints that come with it. Instead of using the data as vebra provide it to your website it is much better to use the feed instead. This frees the web developer to use this data as just that and not compromise the look of how it is presented. It also means you have an individual page per property which can be well indexed under all of those niche phrases that your prospective customers love…

We’d love to chat to you if you are using the vebra estate agency software and want to get more out of it and get more leads from your website.

Continue reading »

Certified Ektron development Services

by admin July 13th, 2010 | Ektron CMS400.NEt, bespoke development | No Comments »

Nvisage is an Ektron certified partner at the highest level with more successful implementations of Ektron web projects than any other web development agency in Europe.

To guarantee the success of your Ektron project get in touch now.

What is the difference betwen NVisage and other Ektron developers?

Other web developers will blithely tell you how well they know Ektron and can implement any of the controls, features and functionality within Ektron. Well that’s the easy bit.

Like any complex piece of software the developer obviously has to know their way around it and how to use it. That is a given. But when working with Nvisage you get a lot more. We have probably been working with Ektron for longer than any other web agency in the UK and have certainly implemented more websites with Ektron than anyone in else in the UK. This means we know what works in the CMS400.net and more importantly what doesn’t.

The CMS400.NET comes with a list of features as long as your arm, and as long as you want that feature to work in that way, well you don’t really need us. But if you want something to work the way you need it because, well that’s the way you do business then we are the web development agency for you.

And in our experience, what comes out of the box just isn’t good enough. We have the experience to know what shines and what is tarnished. We understand how to get the best from the CMS400.NET.  We understand that its strengths lie in:

  • A robust and good quality WYSIWYG editor
  • A flexible approach to structured date
  • an intelligent way of working with taxonomy

As far as everything else goes, well some of it is good, some bad and some OK, and in that respect pretty much the same as most of content management systems. What makes the difference is having a web partner that knows how to leverage the most out of the software and how to integrate other systems into your web platform such as CRM systems, back office databases, SharePoint, ecommerce, etc.

Ektron CMS400.NET and SharePoint integration

As an example, Ektron claim to “integrate SharePoint” into Ektron. They can even show you a demo. Then I suggest you get your chosen Ektron “expert developer” to make it so.. Then come back to us, because we have made it so and what a lot of sweat and tears that took to make it from a possibility into something that actually works, saves the client time and adds value to their business. But that’s another story. If you’d like to hear it and also find out how we can make your website sing, please do get in touch with Clinton Porter on 07786 063781, call the office or drop us an enquiry.

I personally look forward to hearing from you .

We are Elite Ektron CMS partners.  For a free  friendly Ektron consultation contact us now

Continue reading »

Ektron CMS400.net vs Episerver - comparison of content management systems

by admin July 12th, 2010 | News | No Comments »

This is a summary of our recent experience of comparing content management systems at the £10,000 price point. In this case we have compared the Ektron CMS400.net content management system with the Episerver 5 content management system.

Overview of features

Episerver 5

Ektron 8

Custom pages/page templates

Yes

Yes

Search page

Yes

No - but maybe added as a page template

Sitemap

Yes

No - but maybe added as a page template

RSS source

Yes

No

Subscription

Yes

No - but maybe added as a page template

Registration

Yes

No - but maybe added as a page template

Login

Yes

No - but maybe added as a page template

Configurable forms

Yes – by the addition of xform templates

Yes – configurable via cms workarea

File library

Yes – file manager without version history

Yes –with version history

Calendar

Yes

Yes

Calendar event

Yes

Yes

Slide show

No- but maybe added as a module or by adding Demo page templates to cms.

Video Player

No- but maybe added as a module or by adding Demo page templates to cms.

No

Blog

No- but maybe added as a module or by adding Demo page templates to cms.

Yes – complete with ability to disable/enable comments, moderation, and/or authentication. Also comes with blog roll/calendar.

Portal page / Web parts

Yes as a module

Yes as a template

Workroom

No- but maybe added as a module or by adding Demo page templates to cms.

No

RSS

Yes

Only on blog content

Document list

Multiple site navigations/menus

No – all pages need to make up part of the site’s taxonomy which then form part of the site’s navigation unless

Yes – multiple menus that maybe configured that links to content and/or pages built using pagebuilder

News item

Yes

Yes – via configurable smart form

Web alerts ( subscribing members are alerting when cms content is added or updated )

No

Yes

Workflow

Yes

Yes

Scheduled publishing of content

Yes

Yes

We are Elite Ektron CMS partners.  For a free  friendly Ektron consultation contact us now

Continue reading »

Javascript menus and best practice

by admin June 29th, 2010 | Design, accessibility | No Comments »

This is a post based upon my findings on how to use javascript menus and in particular drop down menus in an accessible way. It is not meant to be a “how to” for developers nor is it definitive, it is more a comment on the accessibility argument and how to move the conversation forward.

The principle argument about drop downs fall into two camps, the designers  who are often for them because they are a good way of using space and making the layout “tidy”; and the usability types who are against them because they can be confusing, dysfunctional when there are tiered levels and hard to use for mobility impared users.

However the great usability guru himself (or luddite as others may prefer to call him…) Jakob Nielsen actually approves of drop down menus albeit in a specific format. In his article Mega Drop-Down Navigation Menus Work Well he supports large drop down boxes whilst still cautioning against regular javascript dropdowns.

Example 1 of a mega drop down navigation box

Screenshot of navigation menu from the Food Network

Mega drop downs have the following characteristics which make them better:

  1. all secondary and subsequent navigation items are visible, there is no hovering and then trying to “catch” the tertiary level in the next pop up navigation box
  2. it allows greater structure for the layout, better use of typography, space and even graphics
  3. all navigation items are visible at once
  4. they can be used as drop downs or activated from side bars as “mega fly-outs”


Example 2 of a mega drop down navigation box

Screenshot of navigation menu from a site to order custom-made envelopes

Why mega drop downs are better than regular drop downs:

  1. for bigger sites you need to scroll which hides the initial options
  2. mega drop downs support easy and obvious grouping
  3. you have a richer typography to help the user
  4. you can use imagery such as icons or pictures to support your navigation

Points to bear in mind with mega drop downs:

  1. speed is important, so ensure the interface elements display quickly
  2. allow some latency (e.g. 0.5 seconds)  after moving from a nav item to allow the user to move to the sub nav without activating a neighbouring top level nav item if it passes over it on the way to a sub nav item.
  3. keep it simple, just because you can put anything in a mega drop down doesn’t mean you should

Accessibility

Remember to code with screen readers and assistive technology in mind. There can be issues for people using mobile devices or people using screen magnifiers as the enlarged part of the menu may appear to be the only part of the menu. One way to help is to have strong visual signals for menu borders so people can follow them when they are enlarged.

And remember the standard rules of accessibility, don’t make clickable items too small, or too gimmicky.

Options for improving accessibility

See more from Jakob Nielsen to understand the finer details of mega drop down accessibility

Continue reading »

WordPress vs. Joomla - Review

by Lucy April 22nd, 2010 | Tutorial | 3 Comments »

The basic difference between WordPress and Joomla is that Joomla is a portal- or community type site whilst WordPress is a blog.  Both overlap each other in several areas and can be extended beyond their original purpose thanks to the use of plugins. You can find those plugins almost everywhere on the internet.  Both have a large user base with a lively community where tips and tricks are shared.  Both are free to use and many hosting providers have them as an option in their web tools section.  WP has a large community of volunteer developers, Joomla can count on many commercial add-ons by specialized professionals.

To Joomla or not to Joomla

If you want to create a community or a network with a membership area, newsroom, forums, articles, input from external authors etc… then Joomla is a good choice because it is made to be that way.  Creating a navigation structure is easy, once you understand how it works and it doesn’t require knowledge of html. You can set articles to expire after a time, activate dates, authorname, breadcrumbs etc.. Thus, Joomla gives you a lot of power in your hands and that is noticeable in the admin section where there are so many options that you get dizzy the first time you go in.

Adapting the look is simple if you are happy with changing some colors and the logo. Beyond that, you will find that Joomla has a complicated structure and even seasoned web developers have to go through a learning curve before they master the layout system, and that approach is different depending on the layout template you chose.

In short:
Joomla’s strenght is in complexity.  Deep level navigation, sections in sections, categories etc… It has fixed pages and posts, posts Great for community sites, you can create a regular site with it but I would regard that as overkill.

To WordPress or not to WordPress

WordPress is basically a very user friendly blog system but it can be used as a regular site which you can update without any knowledge of html (the same goes for Joomla). You can create pages and posts, and with plugins, you can add a lot of functionality included standard in Joomla, except that all code is web standard.  And because WordPress is web standard, Google really loves it.  So, from a marketing standpoint, WordPress is hard to resist.

The interface is easy to understand. Adapting the look requires some knowledge of CSS, the style sheet language. Like with Joomla, if you select a template close to what you want, adapting the colors, logo etc.. is not that complicated but if you do not want to get involved with CSS, and you would like to re-arrange navigation elements as well, you might consider hiring a web developer. Since WordPress has a logical structure, it is easy for a developer to change things around, place ad banners etc…Again, give preference to a specialized developer used to work with WordPress.

It is setup very quickly and you can be listed in Google within 2 days.  I haven’t seen any other system doing that so far. A normal site takes up to 2 months to get listed in Google, so this is something to take into account.  Anybody can learn enough in 2 hours to create content with WordPress right away, including using categories and sub pages.
WordPress can handle tons of visitors.  It will not break down easily.

Disadvantages of WordPress:

For instance, adding or removing post dates, need to be changed in design mode and it requires knowledge of WP scripting. The navigational structure is determined by the layout template you chose. Changing that structure again requires knowledge of the WP scripting language and CSS.  With Joomla, you do not run into this problem because menus are controlled via the control panel and attributes like dates, author name etc, can be turned on and off per article or for the whole site in one go. In that sense, Joomla is much more a content management system.

Also, changing the order of categories or pages is rather cumbersome in Wordpress.  It involves having to go into all of the categories and change the order by hand. The WP developers are working on it to fix it, but when is unpredictable.

In short:
WordPress is simple, you can see it as a blog or as a regular website.  It has fixed pages, posts and categories.
Through the use of plugins you can extend its functionality and let it grow as big and complicated as you want.  However, not every plugin is easy to understand.

What do I need for my video channel?

You can add membership functionality in WordPress but Joomla will handle membership much better as it is really made for things like that.  So, let’s say, while presuming you do not want to tinker with scripting:

  • If you want members to access your videos on a subscription basis and have members in various levels of permission (depending on their subscription level), Joomla is your best bet.
  • If you simply want to show your videos on your site, or you only have 1 type of members and you want things to be simple and clean, WordPress will do nicely.
  • If you want to show off different types on videos on your home pages from different sections, more or less like a magazine, again Joomla is better equipped for it.
  • If you want to create a video journal, WordPress makes life really easy for you

Original Source:  http://www.miracletutorials.com/wordpress-vs-joomla-review/

Continue reading »

Website launch for the Brighton Festival Fringe 2010!

by Lucy March 19th, 2010 | Design, Events, News, Staff | No Comments »

A big congratulations to the Brighton Festival Fringe who have just launched their new  and improved Website and Brochure for this years festival. Dru and his team have been working hard on this years launch and we’re really proud of the outcome!
Aside from a beautiful modern design from our wonderful design team, new functionality to the website include:

  • A greatly improved listings search called Fringle - We’d always had a powerful search engine in the site but it wasn’t something users felt comfortable with. So this year we’ve put it front and centre and focussed on usability using a 3 stage search component, simple text box (keyword search), advanced options (calendar, genre and predictive event and venue searching) and even more options for those who like to tinker - all presented in such a way as to let the user determine their needs and level of comfort.
  • Pushing data out to even more external sources. We’ve always enabled Brighton Festival Fringe to get the right data out to third parties to help promote the festival - but this year we’ve added iPhone services, bus companies, box office systems and even more sites to the mix.
  • We’ve been building on past experience and as the core registration system matures (the back-end) we’ve been able to take on-board a lot of user feedback into making enhancements, improvements and generally streamlining processes where possible. Everything from financial reporting, proofing and brochure preparation, enabling external applications and box office integration, through to the web site front-end and ticket buying processes are now all powered by the same data systems behind the scenes.

Year on year we are helping Brighton Festival Fringe  to make real world cost savings and to reach out further to disparate audiences by getting the technology platforms right in the first place.

The Brighton Festival Fringe runs from 1st -23rd May with events happening all over Brighton, so don’t miss out!!

Continue reading »

Nvisage

The company

Help & Contact

prince_practitioner_large google-analytics-qualified-individual


Copyright Nvisage 2009. All rights reserved.

Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional

Valid CSS!