303sw blog

The Swiss Cheese of Fonts - Sustainability on Paper

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0700

We are coming across more and more clients who are looking for ways to build sustainability into their business practices. No longer a "fad," sustainability is truly a mainstream mindset that seems to be in everyone's thinking these days. While we may see more of this here in Denver than some other cities, it's great to see that environmentally-conscious thinking is truly taking hold.

I was recently told about a very cool new font created by a design firm in The Netherlands. There are many sustainability initiatives that found creative ways to conserve energy, reuse materials, or re-purpose products, but this takes it to a new level. The font (called "Spranq eco sans") uses a series of strategically placed dots (whitespace) throughout each letter in the font library. The result is a font that requires 20% less ink to print. While this may not be a great font for large-scale printing, the dots are hardly noticeable at regular document print scales. What a great way to conserve expensive ink and toners for your daily documentation and printing. Download it here to try it out!

Vintage Computing

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Found this site, Vintage Computing and Gaming, while looking for pics of old computer hardware for the 303 web site. What a trip down memory lane. I wore my thumb down to the bone playing Choplifter with one of these.

Custom MVC framework with a CMS

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Recently we have been evaluating open-source CMS's that run on a open-source PHP MVC framework. From a custom development perspective we are addicted to having a solid MVC framework to program in, but we certainly want reusable code for those CMS type functions that nearly every client seems to require.

Astonishingly this combination has proved more elusive than we would have thought. The leading contenders we have identified so far are the Silverstripe CMS on the Sapphire framework and the Wildflower CMS on the CakePHP framework.

The two projects are mirror images of one another in terms of their progress--in Silverstripe/Sapphire the CMS is robust while the framework is still emerging, and while CakePHP is emerging as one of the most complete MVC frameworks in PHP, Wildflower is just getting started. As a simple first example, try to download Sapphire as a framework without Silverstripe. Meanwhile, Wildflower is promising a release as a plugin module that would be separate from the underlying cake installation, but isn't quite there yet.

The last contender that we are interested in at the moment is the Drake project, which is a hybrid of the Drupal CMS and CakePHP framework. Unfortunately it isn't particularly mature yet either.

Resources:

http://www.silverstripe.com/ http://groups.google.com/group/nzphpug/browse_thread/thread/a63161725c5f6407 http://groups.google.com/group/silverstripe-dev/browse_thread/thread/0af130e442d3e221/9f190a80ff21ed54?#9f190a80ff21ed54 http://cakephp.org/ http://wf.klevo.sk/ http://dev.sypad.com/projects/drake/documentation/

Webdev Add-ons

Sun, 07 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0700

We use most of the add-ons and extensions listed in this article, especially Firebug and Web Developer.

Happy Birthday, Mouse!

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0700

You're 40 today!

That Was Fast (for Google)

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Google's browser, Chrome, is out of beta as of today. Considering that Gmail, first released in 2004, is still in beta, Google's Chrome made it 1.0 status at light speed. We like Chrome, but jeez... do we really need another browser?

Denver Small Biz Fair

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Just returned from the Counseling, Tools and Resources for Small Business in Colorado fair and it was pretty good. There were reps from Governor Ritter's office, SBA, Colorado Small Business Development Centers, Mi Casa, and lots of banks and credit unions. The event closes at 1pm today. Check it out!

Holiday Schedule

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Our office will be open, but quiet, between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day. We'll be back full force building web sites on January 5, 2009.

See you all next year!

Revision Control for Government

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Here's a great idea. Government should use revision control software to track changes to documents, regulations, and legislation. Our development teams use revision control to collaborate on all our projects. O'Reilly makes a great point: "when public documents can be changed without notice, it's essential for the public to be able to see what changed, and why." I agree.

IE8: Here We Go Again

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Okay, so Internet Explorer 8 release candidate is just around the corner and, surprise, there are problems. Apparently, a lot of web sites are not displaying properly in IE8. ZDNet's Ed Bott writes, "If you’re responsible for a web site, big or small, you might want to take a careful look at it after the IE8 Release Candidate comes out."

Just As I Suspected

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Outdoor Retailer Show

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0700

We're at the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Salt Lake City through today. Drop us a note if you're going to be there too. Check out pics from the show here.

Murphy goes on a Mighty ride

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0700

When he's not in the office devising new business and development schemes, Murphy likes to get out and network with our design partners. Today, he caught a ride with Mighty Karma designer Andy Sherman.Check out their latest and greatest at www.mightykarma.com. Murphy says "Woof! They're good, and they let me come to their office!"

It's Love

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0700

You know that feeling you get when you find software that's so great that you start making up projects just so you can play with your new app? Ladies and gentlemen, meet my latest crush: Balsamiq Mockups. We're going to be spending a lot of time together. Don't tell Visio.

Making Tees

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0700

In preparation for the Outdoor Retailer show next week, I spent Friday afternoon at Mighty Karma. Andy helped me make 303 Software tee shirts on MK's silk screen press. The results are outstanding!

Now This is a Database Schema

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0700

I recently came across an older version of Wikipedia's database schema. It's a super example of a snowflake schema, which prioritizes fast data retrieval above overall efficiency. Combined with the great logical naming conventions used, and the nice graphical representation, I think I'm having a nerdgasm. Notice the "Page" table in the yellow box. That's the center of the star. Most of the other tables store a page_id, so pretty much anything you want to know is only one join away. For more, check out all revisions to their schema.

Designer/Developer Party This Thursday

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0700

We're hosting a little post-holiday soirée with our SEO partner, SeOverflow, on Thursday from 5pm to 8pm. Please join us.

Web Ready Design

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0700

We gave a presentation on how to prepare your beautiful designs for the web. My favorite tip: don't fix the height of your pages, the browser's scroll bar is your friend. Thanks to everyone who attended!

Meet Us @ Meetup

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Boulder Denver New Tech Meeting, that is. We'll be there on February 17 at 6pm. See ya!

Twitter vs. Facebook?

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Now that Facebook has released its status updates api to the development community, some are saying that Twitter's days are numbered. After all, what's a tweet but status update? Developers will begin producing all sorts of applications that stream Facebook statuses in every which way, so who needs Twitter anymore? Here's why I say Twitter and Facebook can and will coexist: Facebook is for friends, Twitter is for the whole world. When you update your Facebook status, only your friends get the message. When you tweet, anyone who's following you gets the message. That's a big difference and I think people want to do both things.

HTML Email Help

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Displaying your masterfully designed HTML email properly in your audience's email clients is tough because email clients have a mind of their own when it comes to HTML email. Each email application treats HTML email a little differently. How so? Check out Campaign Monitor's handy Guide to CSS support in email clients for more info.

Project Management Apps

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The Denver Egotist has a nice run down of project management apps for you creative types. Be sure to read the comments for more good suggestions. We use Basecamp all day long and love it because of its simplicity and scalability.

Programming Methodology

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Folks often ask what programming methodology we use. What works best for us and our clients is a blend of agile and iterative programming. We've never fallen completely in one camp or the other. Scott Yang says it best: "We are not structurally practicing any of these unstructural programming methodology anyway (just that they are buzzwords these days and nothing more)."

Meetup Again

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0700

This time, March 3rd at 6pm, we'll be in Boulder for The Boulder Denver New Technology Meetup. See you there!

Electronics Recycling

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

This Saturday in various areas, there is an electronics recycling event.

Here is the link: http://www.9news.com/advertorial/ecycle/default.asp If you were looking to properly dispose of various electrical stuff, or just have some old electronics or computers sitting around, this is your lucky day!

Donate, recycle, be good.

So This is Earth Day, and What Will You Do?

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Earth Day 2010 is coming to an end. For our part, we're excited to announce the launch of a new website "...connecting mom, baby, and the planet," Mindful Mama.

But before I get to that, the sun has set, so to speak, on another year of a celebration that has existed since 1970. While we, as citizens of this planet, seem to be much more involved in doing our part to help the earth through our daily activities, that Earth Day even exists points more to the fact that there is still so much to do rather than the realization of the ideal that it attempts to accomplish. Earth Day, these days, seems more like a stage for debuting and selling products than anything else. But then again, is that a bad thing? After all, we're all consumers here. And aren't we all, in one way or another, ultimately just choosing one product over another in our daily consumer-based decisions that not only dictate, but also define who we are? As mature adults, we buy music; we buy books; we buy video games, toys, coffee, jeans, sneakers, sunglasses, and so on...not because we're trying to fit in or stand out, but because we believe in the integrity, design, fit, purpose, or emotion of certain brands or because we believe in something that a product conveys or makes us feel.

As Valentine's Day seemingly exists in order to remind some of us that we should properly convey our love to our partners, so Earth Day gives us the opportunity to represent our love for Mother Earth on an annual basis. This gives us all the opportunity to feel good about the little things we do to minimize our impact on this planet. The problem lies in the execution beyond that important day. Love still exists beyond Valentine's Day, and every day should be celebrated in a happy, healthy relationship. Likewise, we should all be conscious EVERY DAY of our actions and how they affect our impact on the earth.

My point...Leave Earth Day to the marketeers and the lobbyists. Do your part every day in all of your actions, not just when it's convenient. Drive less, recycle more, extend the life of your goods, live sustainability. Nobody's perfect, but if everyone would work just a little harder to make a difference, we'd all notice just that much more.

With that in mind, there are some great new products out there that aim to make a difference, and I'm proud to say we were a big part of one of them.

Sustainable Parenting: And now, back to our exciting news for the day...we went live with an effort that we've been working on over the past two months. Mindful Mama is a cutting-edge social media platform for natural parenting. It integrates the depth and inspiration of a favorite magazine into a collaborative and nurturing online space, connecting parents with birth and health care practitioners who share the common goal of building healthy and happy families.

Finally a Contender: Honda announced the release of a new electro-gas hybrid that looks suspiciously JUST LIKE A PRIUS! But, it's good to have some competition in a market that has been dominated by Toyota. As electric cars become more practical, safe, powerful and reliable, it's great to see these new products arrive on the market. Check out the new Honda Insight here.

Makes you want to litter: Possibly the best and most innovative example of big companies innovating, Sun Chips has announced the production of a Compostable Sun Chips Bag that will be released in time for Earth Day 2010. A brilliant concept that shouldn't encourage littering, but will certainly aim to remedy the ill effects of trash on our environment.

New tech meetup

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0600

We'll be at The Boulder Denver New Technology Meetup on May 5. See you there!

Social network platforms

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0600

We've just wrapped up Mindful Mama, a social network built on a customized install of Telligent's .NET Community Server. Tomorrow we begin development on another custom social network site, this time based on the open source Elgg platform. Side by side comparison of Community Server and Elgg to come!

Can a Game Teach Programming?

Fri, 01 May 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Definitely sorta. A while back I stumbled upon a cool flash game called Light-Bot in which you must control a robot to advance it to a goal. You do so by assembling a set of simple commands (move forward, turn left/right, jump) which are then followed by the robot. You'll need to organize you commands into reusable functions, as you're limited to the number of commands you can give. Maybe a good way to get kids (or managers) an introduction to programming.

This week I discovered a new and more challenging spin on the robot programming game. RoboZZle improves on the concept by adding recursion, stacks, and memory to the toolset. So well done is this game, I actually installed Microsoft Silverstripe to run it, and that's saying a lot for a Mac-centric Flash developer. The puzzles get very challenging, and I'm still not 100% sure on how the stack and memory work in the game, but I'm sure I'll be playing more this weekend. I think RoboZZle has the opportunity to teach more advanced techniques to even experienced programmers.

So, if you're coming in for an interview here, you may want to brush-up on your gaming skills.

Light-Bot http://armorgames.com/play/2205/light-bot

RoboZZle http://robozzle.com/

The slow death of IE6

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Many of us web designers and developers have been waiting for this moment for years. Not only does Internet Explorer 6 cause issues for many, many web users across a multitude of web sites, it causes excruciating pain for web designers and developers who have to modify well-developed code to force images and text to render properly in IE6. We've officially discontinued automatic support of IE6 for our forthcoming development projects. We're constantly astounded by the number of corporate and ordinary users who are still using this antiquated browser. We'll be following this browser stats site closely to watch as IE6 use plummets over the coming months.

Kate and the community

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0600

First and foremost, hello. I'm Kate, the new project manager for 303 software. I've been working in the custom development field as a project manager (not sure what that is? Think Sam from Grandma's Boy, except minus the party scenes) and am very happy to now have joined the team at 303. I'm looking forward to working here to produce innovative and high quality custom websites and applications. I'll be maintaining the blog with updates on what we're working on at 303, new coding practices, and general commentary on the technology industry.

Back before the various internets (ok, I'll stop using that term...even if it makes me laugh) when your child had a cough you would call your mother, doctor, or friends. Now, it's straight to the crutch of our times, google. Search results on google can produce anything from a wikipedia entry to a hospital's website or even an individual's blog. In addition to the basic information contained on many of these sites, users may submit their own thoughts, opinions, and experiences through various community portals.

The internet has revolutionized the availability of information and the integration of a community aspect to this information can theoretically make what before would be unknown or untrusted information an interesting source. Personal input from real users now may a heavy influence on decisions a person makes without that person ever having met any of the other users. Community input on the internet can be represented in several ways.

Some sites are completely based on community feedback (such as the venting blog Would You Be Mad If...?) while other sites combine blog like articles with user feedback (like my favorite Gizmodo...who doesn't like gadgets?). To go to the extreme, sites such as Facebook are completely based on a community, and theoretically don't need to be a source of any information, but simply serve as an area for entertainment and keeping in touch with friends and family.

Overall, community involvement can enhances a site, entice users to return to the site, and allow users to gain valuable information to which they would otherwise not have access. There are obvious drawbacks to this, such as misinformation or abuse, but overall the community aspect of websites is a trend that is here to stay.

I think I've said enough to hopefully spark your interest. Go forth and google (and comment, and post, and geek out).

Breach in Security: The newest iPhone

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0600

A breach in security at Apple? Not a chance, impossible, could never happen...oh wait...it DID happen! It seems to be confirmed that the next generation iPhone was accidentally lost and subsequently acquired and disassembled to reveal it's secrets.

What upgrades can users expect? We already know about the planned software upgrades to be released this summer with the iPhone os 4 (multitasking!) but it looks like there will be several upgrades to the hardware as well including a front facing camera, a flash, and an upgraded higher resolution screen.

What implications does the release of the iPhone os 4 (and next generation iPhone) have on 303 Software? Well, a lot. We're into building (ok, and using) iPhone apps and we're proud of our most recent application for Duck Duck Deal. We can't wait to get our hands on the next generation iPhone and start cranking out the ideas!

Duck Duck Deal

Wed, 05 May 2010 00:00:00 -0600

Looking for a good deal in Boulder? Check out 303's newest IPhone application, Duck Duck Deal! The application was rolled out at the last Denver Boulder New Tech Meetup and is currently active the in Boulder area. The geniuses behind the application, Chris and Andrea, plan on rolling the application out to more metro areas in the near future.

How does it work? Local merchants create and send out offers using Duck Duck Deal's easy to use web interface (e.g. $3 draft beers from 4 to 7 pm). These offers are immediately broadcast out to the DuckDuck website and iPhone app. Each special offer has a countdown clock showing how much time is left to take advantage of the discount.

Discounted drinks from a free IPhone app? FTW!

iPhone 4: The arrival

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0600

We have a few new arrivals at 303 this week, including the ultra slick new iPhone 4. Initial impression? Elegant updated design paired with long requested upgrades (including the ability to multi task and video chat) make apple's latest product a much sought after upgrade. Does it leave all other options in the dust? Well, I'm currently staring at my Droid wondering if it's time to let go of my long standing obsession with Verizon's superior service and concede to the power that is Apple.

What are the implications of this new phone (and new OS) for 303? All existing iPhone applications need to be retested front to back to ensure proper functionality and new versions of the applications may need to be released. Darn, guess I have to spend more time playing, I mean, working on the new iPhone. Let's hope I don't get sucked in by any of the great deals on Duck Duck Deal's iPhone application or I may have to abandon Denver for Boulder tonight!

iPad as a laptop replacement: Fail

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 00:00:00 -0600

Another toy has arrived at 303 Software: the iPad. Purchased for the purpose of testing applications this little beauty has been used for another purpose: working remotely. As a technology company 303 employees often choose to work from home or whatever other location suits their current needs. Working from home is fine, but when working remotely dragging around a laptop can be somewhat cumbersome especially when long flights are part of the equation. As such, we decided to experiment with using the iPad as a primary work device. Managing Director Stefan Ramsbott took the iPad international on his trip to Germany and I took it a little closer to home on a trip to Salt Lake City.

The conclusion? Although the iPad is a beautiful piece of technology it does not replace a laptop and lacks in several key business needs. That being said, the iPad is an amazing piece of hardware for entertainment and basic use. Here are a few conclusions from my weekend away:

Pros:

1. Users enjoy the feeling of awesomeness associated with having a new apple product. Please see this informative article from The Oatmeal for more information.

2. Portability: It is compact and light yet still has a big enough screen to be useful.

3. Battery life: It can be used for a full day of work, play, and movie watching without dying or requiring a recharge. When battery life is low, the iPad recharges fairly quickly.

4. Netflix App: We all need to catch up on Dexter sometimes. In general, there are several useful apps on the iPad, but the majority of them appear to revolve around entertainment or basic information needs rather than core productivity (and those apps that seem to be directed towards productivity don't work that well).

5. Display: As per usual, this apple product has a beautiful sharp display and intuitive navigation. In addition, the speaker on the iPad was surprisingly loud and clear.

Cons:

1. Outdated software: The iPad isn't slated for OS 4 until this fall which means that the iPad can not run multiple applications at once. Like many workers I need to be able to run Skype to communicate with my team while accessing other programs to take notes, send emails, and make updates. I found not being able to run multiple apps at the same time to be crippling.

2. Sub-Par Apps: Some applications just don't work anywhere near as well as the real thing on the iPad. For example, skype would not allow me to conference in multiple parties, open links within conversations in the iPad browser, or have skype take up the entire screen. When skype did expand to spawn the entire screen it became pixelated and difficult to read.

3. This is obvious, but there is no way to plug in USB devices to access data on an external hard drive etc.

Overall, the iPad is great for what is it meant for and should not be pushed into a work device. Next time I fly I'll be forced to drag my MacBook through security. I won't be buying an iPad for myself anytime soon...but I may be asking for a Droid based tablet for Christmas.

303 Presenting at Expression Engine Camp in Denver

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0600

Today Stefan, Damon, Chase and Jon are attending the Expression Engine Camp in Downtown Denver. Expression Engine is a fantastic PHP-based Content Management system that we've been using regularly for our site development. Check out our projects page for some recents sites we've completed. We're actively working on updating our internal site using Expression Engine as well. Stay tuned!

Our very own Damon Delgado is giving a quick presentation today on integrating YouTube into Expression Engine using jQuery. If you are interested in seeing what he did or you were at today's conference, and would like to review the slides, you can download the full presentation in PDF, Keynote for Mac or PowerPoint formats.