http://www.sitecrafting.com/blog/horn-tooting/ en-us Wed, 16 May 2012 23:39:47 PDT Wed, 16 May 2012 23:39:47 PDT SiteCrafting.com GearBox 1.1 (beta) http://www.sitecrafting.com/blog/to-blog-1/ Welcome, and thanks for coming to the long-anticipated Blah Blah Blog! What you're going to find here is a rare peek behind the curtain at the inner workings of a leading Website and Web Application Development company. Our aim is to make this Blog different than the billions of other Blogs you could be reading. So start by expecting the unexpected. For starters, we won't be afraid to reveal secrets or point out how we've learned from our mistakes. The main focus will be technology ? but we'll also include proprietary Web tips & tricks, relevant business news, stories from the workbench, and more. Use the navigation on the right to get around, and check back regularly. Your category choices will grow as we add posts. And you never know what you'll find from day to day. Wed, 11 Oct 2006 12:24:00 PDT http://www.sitecrafting.com/blog/we-build-stuff-scratch/ I had an interesting conversation with a potential client last Friday and it prompted me to think or at least explain our development rational.  He was looking to hire SiteCrafting to assemble a robust application for his client consisting of a design he came up with as well as some "open-source" technologies, and a few custom scripts generated by us. Long and the short of it...it seemed a disaster in the making. I mentioned to him that SiteCrafting builds our Web applications from the ground up, for each customer as an individual. We do not offer one-size fits all solutions, because just like anything one-size fits all it never fits anyone quite right.Using pre-built software in these instances can on the surface seem to be a cost-savings, but in fact it will most likely cost more money trying to piece technology together. A system built on workarounds from a variety of technologies will consistently need to be tweaked and modified. At SiteCrafting, we design our solutions to fit the organization perfectly, not just most of the time, all of the time. Our process is simple, we learn about a project, we design a solution, we build, test and deploy. The result is custom application built for you...not for the masses. Very few people utilize all of the features in an off the shelf solution like Microsoft Word or PowerPoint, but everyone pays for all of the features. Our model is different, establish a secure, scalable foundation, build what you need and will use, and pay for only that. When needs change in the future our flexible systems will be able to grow with you to adapt to your organizations needs. Mon, 30 Oct 2006 13:04:00 PST http://www.sitecrafting.com/blog/service-in-storm/ With all the storm-induced power problems in the Puget Sound area a few of us were able to make it into the office today. The area is a patch work of service availability -- I know of houses with power and phone but no internet access, some with no power but the phones work, and yet others with power but no phones. A stroke of service my co-worker Ken displayed today was brilliant in its simplicity but it probably meant the world to one of our clients. The scenario was simple. A client with a small business was also open and working today but was unable to access their website where orders were still coming in. Being a food services company, timely filling of those orders is key. They made a phone connection with Ken who was able to access their site, grab a copy of the day's orders, and fax it off.For predictable reasons on a day like today, however, the fax didn't get through. Ken then opted to go the more manual route and read the order to our client aloud over the phone.I merely overheard this taking place but hope this made our client's day a little easier. After all, how do you feel when someone goes the extra mile for you? Fri, 15 Dec 2006 15:15:00 PST http://www.sitecrafting.com/blog/clients-on-road/ With all the different companies and organizations we work with, I'm bound to run into them in the "real world". Seeing people around is one thing. Seeing ads is another pretty common one. Lately, however, the signs of our clients I've been seeing are mobile ones. For the last few months there's been a bit of a blitz on local buses being skinned in one ad or another. Here in Tacoma a few of them don the black and orange of SoundBuilt Homes I've become so familiar with since working on their internal web apps. Just yesterday a few blocks from our office I saw a red pickup pulling a product manufactured by another of our clients. It was an Airstream Basecamp that had customized trim to match the truck pulling it. Then this morning while sitting at a light downtown a Toyota Prius drove by skinned similarly to those buses but instead advertising long time SiteCrafting client Northwest Trek.It's great to have reminders here and there of the broad array of folks we work with and it blew me away I've seen so many of them on the road lately. I wonder... If we had a fleet of vehicles, what would they be? Wed, 20 Jun 2007 09:56:00 PDT http://www.sitecrafting.com/blog/sitecrafting-outed-awesome/ Dan Voelpel begs the following question in yesterday's Tacoma News Tribune: "If I asked you to name the most underrated business in Tacoma, what would you say?"First on Voelpel's list was SiteCrafting. The article defined "underrated" by those local firms that are either well-known but who's contributions are deeper than at first glance or others, like us, who fly somewhat under the radar but do great business. From the article:What does a guy with a double major in theology and philosophy do? Start a small company that creates sophisticated Web applications. That's what Brian Forth did in 1998. Now, Sitecrafting has become the predominant ? and growing ? go-to Web development firm for more than 160 South Sound governments and companies. The long list of clients includes the City of Puyallup, Starbucks, Bellarmine Preparatory School and MultiCare Health System.I guess the secret is now officially out. ;) Don't worry, we won't go and get swelled heads over this. Instead, we'll just keep serving our clients well and serving them up the most useful web apps anywhere.Link to the Tacoma News Tribune Mon, 24 Sep 2007 13:43:00 PDT http://www.sitecrafting.com/blog/sitecrafting-culture-similar-to-flickr/ Two weeks ago I had a chance to fly down to San Francisco and check out the Flickr HQ. What I found was a team and office culture that was extremely similar to what we have at SiteCrafting. If you have ever had a chance to visit our office I'm sure the first thing you noticed was how quiet it is. Just as in our office the flickr team rocks out with their headphones on too. Here is a quick little Venn diagram comparing the two companies:It was really cool seeing that all of the perks which make our company what it is comparable to the Yahoo funded Flickr group. Fri, 12 Oct 2007 11:38:00 PDT http://www.sitecrafting.com/blog/sitecrafting-to-expand-new-markets/ Seeing the time as ripe for expansion, SiteCrafting has launched a new venture in an effort to expand into prescription eyewear. SightCrafters, LLC will bring to the eyewear world what SiteCrafting has brought to the web development business. According to Brian Forth, founder and President of SiteCrafting, "it was the next natural step with our business model." Brian sees eyewear as a niche market in which SightCrafters could thrive. He believes eyewear has received little attention from the business community in recent years, suggesting that perhaps it is time for a new player to come in and revolutionize the business.Ken Foubert, a long-time employee of SiteCrafting, sees the connection between the two businesses. He explains why the web has not attracted a large portion of the population both in the region and nationally. "One of the primary reasons can be directly traced to those who require corrective lenses, says Foubert. "Nobody wants to use something they can't see, so we ultimately miss out on an entire section of the population that cannot see our websites."He points out one project for a local organization that was ultimately scrapped when it was discovered that the client's existing website had received 2 visits over tha past 5 years. Subsequent investigation revealed that 94% of the people in the local area suffered from hyperopia (farsightedness) and did not own corrective lenses.With SightCrafters, the goal is to enable this market segment to see again, resulting in even greater demand for web-based content. "We even have plans to embed browsers right into the lenses," says Nick Williams, a relative newcomer to the company.Williams says the technology has arrived, but that there just hasn't been any demand for it. He also suggests that "such advanced eyewear will make it all but impossible to avoid the web," adding that SiteCrafting's products could be available "at the flick of an eyelash."Time will tell if this new venture will be a success. With so much hype already being built up on the day of its announcement, there is no doubt it will leave its mark. The question is, will the visually-challenged see the mark? Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:48:00 PDT http://www.sitecrafting.com/blog/buckle-up/ Our logo (the gear) lends itself to many-a-unique uses. It's been used to depict Rudolph on last year's Christmas card, a throwing star held by a ninja on some company t-shirts, and even used as a knock-off of the good 'ol Jolly Roger. We're always trying to come up with new ways to use and new things to put it on. As a treat this year, Mandi decided to surprise the staff with a brand new use for our logo ... a belt buckle!So, with a little help from a client, Mandi secretively crafted these wonderful pants holder-uppers for the staff. She sent our logo to Tacoma Steel, who went through a couple rounds until they were satisfied with the outcome. Mandi then attached the cutouts to some blanks and delivered the polished buckles to us.It's always fun to be able to work with our clients and utilize some of their services. So here's a big "thank you" to Tacoma Steel for their help in creating these buckles! Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:20:00 PST http://www.sitecrafting.com/blog/2011-sitecrafting-halloween-contest/ Something strange happened at work today. Some of our team members were replaced with, shall I say, more colorful characters. Not sure where the the missing employees went but, oh well! Help us welcome our new team members by choosing your favorite in the comments below... and Happy Halloween! Kick Ass (aka Glen) Code Monkey (Nick) Batman (Paul) 90s Rapper (AJ) Tribal Belly Dancer (Mandi) Doc Emmett Brown (Kevin) Angry Bird (Brett) Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:46:00 PDT http://www.sitecrafting.com/blog/going-local-or-how-we/ For this year's company retreat out near Ellensburg I made it my mission to source as much of our food locally as possible without breaking the bank. My thought was, as a company of 28, the idea of going local and enjoying it stretches farther than before within our ranks. And if was easy and tasty? Well, that's just a win-win! Here's a list of what we got where: Cheryl the Pig LadyTacoma, WA- sausage- ground beef- kabob beef Smith Brothers FarmsKent, WA- eggs Vinman's BakeryEllensburg, WA- sandwich bread- various pastries Carlson's Quality ProduceEllensburg, WA- fruits and vegetables Wilcox FarmsWashington (via Costco, also technically a WA company)- more eggs Some things were delivered and some picked up on our way to the retreat so convenience was, I'd say, high overall. Everything above accounted for about 85% of what we ate on the retreat and we averaged about $4.30 cost per person per meal. We cooked up burgers and kielbasa one night, pancakes the next morning, sandwiches for lunch, skewers the next night, then indulged in pastries the morning we left for our our homes in Spokane, Seattle and Tacoma. Not being much of a cook myself I was more than pleased because the reviews that came back as the team cleaned their plates were great! Going local isn't just a mantra but a method that, given just a little thought, can easily weave into life and even business. How do you or your company try to go local? Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:05:00 PST