http://blog.zunch.com/ 2008-09-19T13:16:26-06:00 Sympozeum_blog.zunch.com Award-winning SEO-in-mind web development serivce by certified website designers, programmers and engineers from Zunch. http://blog.zunch.com/post/How_Im_Learning_to_Love_Flash_and_Its_Many_Cousins.html 2007-05-01T06:18:00-06:00 As a Web copywriter, my attitude toward Flash is generally that it is of the devil. It interferes with the ability of the search engine spiders to read and index Web pages. It takes an interminable time to load, steering most visitors away who have no time for such foolishness.   And, recently, it’s actually becoming a sales tool.   Copywriters, particularly those with a search engine optimization background, generally hate Flash. Flash designers, generally dislike copywriters. Kind of a “good vs. evil” thing, although I leave it to you to decide who is the good guy and bad guy here.   Flash was once the exclusive province of the artistic and those who sought to appear cool. You may recall my blog about my experience with Ted, who was so dedicated to the idea of appearing “cool” that he was sacrificing sales leads every day.   Well, I’m coming around. Not to the idea that a site needs to be cool, although if a site can be both effective, i.e., turn prospects into clients, and cool, that’s great.   No, I now see that marketers are figuring out how to make Flash work to their benefit.   Marketers and designers are figuring out how to structure Flash within a site so that it does not dominate the site and drive spiders away or take a long time to load. And when I say a long time, I’m taking into account the fact that three seconds is forever on the Web. Three seconds is long enough to drive most visitors away if they have to wait for your site to load.   Those who have worked out the structural aspects are also figuring out something else, if you make Flash and its many cousins interactive, people will stay and “interact” with it.   There are sites that now offer “talking heads”-- animated individuals who speak only when rolled over or clicked on, thereby giving the visitor the power to decide if they wish to interact or not.   Some offer games or quizzes, adding entertainment value to the site. And entertainment is becoming increasingly important in attracting younger prospects who at the age of twenty are already jaded individuals made cynical by years of advertising bombardment.   And I’m seeing many other applications which are designed to engage the prospect, rather than merely put on the Internet equivalent of a laser light show (which inevitably prove boring and dull after a few seconds of initial viewing).   As marketing learns to work with Flash, perhaps we will finally see the day when copywriters and Flash designers can stand together and say, “We actually like each other.” James Sadler http://blog.zunch.com/post/Design_Strategies_for_Health_Related_Projects.html 2007-01-29T09:14:00-06:00 There is a wealth of health related information available to people online today. Research, facilities, tools and methods have all evolved, and the medical industry is as progressive and high tech as any field out there. Somewhere in the focus of information, it seems much of the industry has a lack of focus on the presentation of the information. The presentation of the information is essentially the “bedside manner” of the document/ page. There are ways to deliver that information so that is it easier to understand, helpful to the user and sensitive to what may be personally traumatic or even devastating circumstances. The big challenge is putting the user first. If you can first understand their state of mind, you can better deliver a message that communicates what they need. It is important to consider not just the situation, but how it would be as the patient or their mother, husband or son. Visually, you may want to convey a blend of emotive aspects, such as calmness, caring, authority, trustworthy, clean, focused, and helpful. It is also important to remember that anything that can help them is most important. At a confusing and shaken time in their lives, it is important to make it easy to find directions, phone numbers, documents they’ll need to download, and even tips for caregivers and support. This thought process translates into every detail. The use of clean, calming colors is the foundation for the environment. Blended with the right photos with sensitive, understanding, yet strong faces can create a warmth and connection. Clear, simple type and consistent navigation structures and a solid hierarchy of highlights on the main page and throughout help users find things with ease. All of these aspects come together for a healthcare site for users who may be in the most need of all. Gina Hamm http://blog.zunch.com/post/Youtube_for_1000000.html 2007-01-17T15:21:00-06:00   You Tube for $10,000?  The calls usually go something like this--  “Hello Sir, This is Peter from Direct Stench Media. I want to create a site similar to YouTube.com. I plan to make money by allowing people to sign up for free accounts and selling advertisements.”  Lately it seems I get a phone call like this every day. Youtube or Craiglist for $10,000.00 (or less)? If it was possible we wouldn’t have a development team in our office today.  Every time there is a website sold for an insane amount of money there are millions of speculators trying to “reverse engineer” this technology. After someone else spends years and countless hours painfully developing, testing, and marketing a site, Peter thinks he can easily “reverse engineer” his ownYoutube.com (did I mention he wants it done by the time the NCAA basketball tournament begins in March?).  After several conversations with Peter he decided that he wasn’t ready to develop his version of Youtube. Instead he’s working on a site for the Beijing Olympics.  Good Luck, Peter. Kelland Drumgoole http://blog.zunch.com/post/Being_Creative_in_a_Technical_World.html 2006-12-18T17:10:00-06:00 Good design is easy to spot. In a nutshell, it is memorable, visually pleasing, the message conveys its purpose and it represents the brand well. And it is no wonder. That is what graphic designers are trained to do. Web design follows the same principals of design and elements of design. The same tricks and solutions work aesthetically. But, there are 2 other factors that make the problem solving end a bit tricky: Functionality and usablility. And those are big. The added dimensions for web design make it a challenging medium. Knowing what will happen to your design as it is being coded, understanding why users may not “get it”, and designing with scalability in mind are things that only seasoned web designers can foresee. Companies who hire designers who are not familiar with the inner workings of the internet are often left with a beautiful but short-lived website. Do yourself a favor. Hire specialists, experts in web design, people who know their craft and are passionate about it. There are web firms geared towards all sizes of businesses and projects. And there are firms like Zunch, who offer several service levels from start-up to enterprise. Do a bit of research and don’t sell your company short. Instead, invest in the best web presence your budget can handle. Build a site that you can grow on. Let us know how we can help! Gina Hamm http://blog.zunch.com/post/Zuncherific.html 2006-12-14T16:17:00-06:00 This year has certainly been an "interesting" one for Zünch. Through it all, the development team at Zünch has worked tirelessly to maintain our high standards for delivering quality sites to our customers. We anticipate launching several sites before the holidays. Next year looks to be big for the dev team. I can't say much right now but we are currently planning and developing new cutting edge systems designed to simplify the creation of small, medium and large websites. We're all very excited about this new project and can't wait to unveil it. Stayed tuned for more details. Chris Gomez http://blog.zunch.com/post/New_FCK_Editor_Faster_and_Less_Buggy.html 2006-07-10T14:51:00-06:00 I've come to love Frederico Caldeira Knabben's HTML text editor.  And to my relief, the common problems I've ever encountered with the WYSIWYG have been fixed allowing for a more smooth operation. Examples would include a memory fix in IE where over time it was using up more ram.  A small security problem was fixed and the security warning on IE over HTTPS has been removed.  But that's not the best part. The new Toolbar Sharing system, a system in which all of the buttons on the interface have merged into one, allows the editor to move up to 3x faster. Faster is always better. This also allows a much easier way to skin the tool. Cool new features include mouseovers on some of the buttons like text color and background color. Also the "src" of images can now be set using CSS. They've also added a new toolbar button allowing the new "Fit to Window" feature. Snazzy. The new features will be very helpful for both Zunch clients and HTML developers like myself who use our zMS. Be on the lookout for the newest version of FCKeditor technology in all current and future Zunch products. Josh Cantu http://blog.zunch.com/post/Writing_Content_for_the_Web.html 2006-06-29T10:43:00-06:00 At Zunch, we find over and over again that one of the biggest challenges of building a website is writing content. Often, our clients decide to take on that daunting task themselves, planning to use content from print. It's a good place to start, as long as it is appropriately and strategically re-purposed. Here are some quick tips to writing Web content: 1. Avoid marketing fluff.     Online users find it self-inflating and time-wasting. 2. Make the text scannable.     Use short phrases and common words to help them digest it quickly, including your keywords. 3. Be concise.     Pretend they have OADD (online A.D.D.)     Don't make the user wade through bloated text to find the meat. 4. Break up long pages.     If it must be long, try anchor tags at the top to help users get what they need quickly. 5. Cross-reference related pages with hyperlinks to help the user get there.     it's great for SEO too! 6. Keep forms short.     By asking questions that aren't necessary, you'll be less likely to get any info from the user at all. 7. Answer questions.     As you write, think about what questions users will have and answer them. There are more content tips and in-depth explanation in an article by Jakob Nielsen. Of course, the best idea is to have Zunch take on that task so they can make sure all the pieces are in place and user-friendly. Gina Hamm http://blog.zunch.com/post/Bill_Gates_Does_the_Robot.html 2006-06-22T15:32:00-06:00  Us Zunchers in the Dev Pit (soon to be the Dev Office Array, hah) love to geek-out on anything cool going on in the wild world of tech-knowledgy, so the idea of dabbling in robotics raises more than one eyebrow in this pleasant little cube farm we call home 2.0.This week, Microsoft announced Microsoft Robotics Studio, a new software suite designed to help simplify the process of interfacing with robotics hardware.  The current system will integrate with the upcoming Lego Mindstorms NXT robotics hardware kit, and is geared towards early adopters in Industry as well as collegiate and hobbyist users.  It’s also going to expand to support many other robots from other manufacturers.The application integrates everything you need – a visual programming tool, debug support, modular interface support (for windows/web based controls), *and* a 3D physics engine for doing real-world simulations so you don’t destroy your hardware when you try something. We are unsure yet on whether the robot will require product activation in order to function.  :-) Scott Wilson http://blog.zunch.com/post/Souped_Up_Branding.html 2006-06-15T16:52:00-06:00 You may have seen our "Zunch Wagons" rolling around Dallas for a couple of years now.  We've decided to overhaul the design for more brand recognition and spead more rush hour cheer along DFW highways.  Over the next couple of months, you'll see a brand new face on our little fleet. Honk if you see a Zuncher! Gina Hamm http://blog.zunch.com/post/Remote_Web_Services_are_Extremely_Useful.html 2006-06-12T11:09:00-06:00 Remote Web services are a fascinating new way of allowing Website visitors to view content tailored to their needs. Using a few lines of code, a Web developer can query data from a remote server and publish the data in whatever format he needs. XMethods.net, one of the larger free Web services directories, has free code examples for a plethora of services including currency conversion, email validation, World Cup soccer tracking, anagrams and lotto number generators.If you're looking for more commercial application of Web services, take a look at Amazon.com. Amazon.com is one of the main sites that allows its customers to create an Interactive shopping cart for their own personal website(!) that links directly to Amazon's enormous product database. Using their API, a designer can build a storefront which pulls all the data (pricing, images in different sizes, all manner of product details) in a short amount of time.  The developer runs a query, using keywords, product title, author, etc, and the web service pulls the data back as a xml-formatted packet that can easily be displayed using XSL or regular HTML code.Web services are the backbone for one of Zunch clients.  This Website is the first Zunch-developed site to use Web services to provide up to date ticket information to their customers. Looking for tickets to the next Texas Rangers home stand? No problem. Just go to the Texas Rangers page, select the game you're interested in and voila! A current list of all tickets for that day's game shows up, displaying pricing, the number of available tickets and seating information. There's also a link showing a stadium seating chart.As you can see, the uses for remote Web services are wide and incredibly useful. The dev team at Zunch has the know-how and experience to implement any Web service to suit your website's needs. Chris Gomez