We work primarily with small business owners, and most often, with the owner him or herself.

A key part of how we understand the needs of small businesses is that we are one. We understand the time crunch business owners face every day and how sometimes your own marketing efforts can fall by the wayside when you are busy working to meet YOUR clients’ needs.  A good example of how we were able to help one of our clients this week is a phased approach to launching a new website.  They had a basic “contact information” website when we began, and little that represented their high-tech unique manufacturing skills and processes.

Our client didn’t have the time available to write a lot of content and take photos for us to showcase his company’s capabilities but understood that having a nice design, an easy-to-use contact form, and some imagery, was better than leaving the website as it was.   I understand that some bigger web design companies will not do much to help with “content” of a website, or will request separate fees to help on that side.  We take that on to get our clients moving in the right direction.  We took the approved design and fleshed out 4 pages (where just one is a placeholder page) and launched their website, while they continue to spend their time where it is needed.

The phased approach to web design

The FJ Feddersen Gun barrels website (in its phase 1 stage) is pictured above.  Documentopia designed the logo and website design, as well as photography touch up and content editing.  The website mainly links to their “e-commerce” site, which we designed and launched earlier this year, 10/22 Rifle Barrels.

We look forward to fleshing out the rest of the website and extending the reach of the gun barrels manufacturing company.  It’s always worth considering the phased approach if you are pushed for time and need to start by replacing something that is no longer useful to you or your customers.

Look Out Yorkshire – remote Marketing and PR is coming to help you improve your image and Business Performance.

Meet Jane of remote Marketing and PR – after years of running marketing departments and transforming company identities and re-branding companies across the UK, she’s now made herself available to help any company as she launches her new company, remote Marketing and PR.

We are proud to be able to help Jane create her OWN identity as she launches this exciting new company, remote Marketing and PR,  located in the heart of Yorkshire.  We designed her logo and website, working with her marketing insight to create an eye-catching, clean attractive design.

Sometimes you need to work outside the box

I have put up a completely new version of the Stand Alone Active record library (based on CodeIgniter 2.1.0).  What this library allows you to do is use your normal CI-based active record – selects, wheres, etc, without having to use the complete CodeIgniter framework.

I usually use it when I am either writing importers or other utilities that will be thrown away, or when I am retrofitting an existing website with new functionality.   In this case I had to do some importing of records so instead I spent a few hours getting this all ready.   – It is also on Documentopia’s Github Account.

Previous versions of this had several hundred downloads so hopefully it is useful to somebody.

Download Now

Rarely do we get to play as much with fun stuff and with as fun clients as Paul, Cathi and Tommy, the family behind these beautiful and whimsical ceramic bird bowls.  Tommy, the website’s namesake and creator of the original bird bowl, first hatched the idea at a ceramics class he took with his sister, a ceramics-whizz, Cathi.  Tommy and Cathi’s bird bowl art have appeared in local shows, have been featured in County Line Magazine, and celebrated and supported special charity events.

Documentopia were thrilled to get the opportunity to design and develop a custom e-commerce website solution for Tommy and were pleased to be able to indulge our whimsical side while creating the Tommy’s Bird Bowls website.

First, we got to add these quirky birds all over the site in this fully css-written website design.  Then, when Cathi and family reported how excited they were with our idea, we developed a custom “adopt your bird bowl” page where guests can design a custom bowl from a series of options.

And the best thing about designing a website for other designers and creators… They pay you in their amazing art work! Please check out TommysBirdBowls.com and recommend them to your friends as a unique and fun gift idea!

Electronics Engineering Specialists, Phoenix Designs, contacted us after a word-of-mouth recommendation from one of our many happy clients.  They had a website design that had hardly been touched in 8+ years and was showing some serious signs of age. You can still see their old website design at www.archive.org.

We didn’t want to change up their logo entirely as they have used it throughout their company, so instead we took its basic elements and recomposed them into a new configuration, different color scheme to suit the new website, and added a tagline that quickly clarified their company’s purpose.

We then developed a new look for the website: a cleaner, fresher look with easy, consistent navigation across the top.  We worked with the very busy small business owner to re-write content to maximize searchability on Google and other search engines and ensuring the new copy was up to date and provided easy to follow information on Phoenix Designs.

With small businesses, we often find the owners just don’t have the time to work on the website design.  We took on the task of selecting images throughout the website, editing and proof-reading content and developed a case study guideline document.  We understand not everything can be done up front, so we launched the website knowing that we can continue to develop the content in a future phase, as and when our client finds time to pursue the website content.

After last year where we launched a new look for our airsoft client, SS Airsoft, and new design and updated web coding for Storm-Lake, we are now on our third gun-based website!  This time we were approached by barrel mamanufacturing company, RFour, Inc, to design and  develop a website for their target rifle barrels.

The design process began with the development of a logo that represented the new line of 10/22 magnum and rifle barrels. Our client was thrilled with the initial concept and with a few tweaks we were soon on to the web design.

We presented a website design that was both modern and sleek, tying in with the product itself and target shooting audience.  Rfour were pleased with the design and ready to move forward immediately.  We took photos of the 3 main barrels they sell, showcasing their features so potential buyers could see the craftsmanship as well as various barrel features.

Working with Rfour to develop fresh and SEO-designed content, we fleshed out the information pages and laid out the buy page displaying the various barrels and associated options.  The customer then follows a step by step check out process with a clear guide advising them through the process and what steps are left.

The site launched today after a final run-through to verify the site worked across all browsers, including IE (7-9), Firefox, Safari and Chrome.

Check out the site and let us know what you think! 10/22 Rifle Barrels.

SS Airsoft, with their 8000+ followers on Facebook and huge airsoft fan base in the Atlanta area, launched their indoor airsoft arena just 2 years ago and have had such an amazing response from airsoft followers they needed to update their website to better show off their arena and to enable them to update and revise their own content on a regular update to reflect upcoming events and specials.

We worked with the owners to develop a custom background web image that uses elements from their own uniquely designed arena, including skull designs, bullet holes and spray paint effects.  The website header design also incorporates some of the amazing detail work they have developed in their facility that receive accolades from reviewers and players alike, such as their abandoned army jeep, skull with USA flag graffiti, zombie-filled crashing car and decrepit walls.

With the new look website launched, within a week of design completion, we created editable templates for the arena staff to upload information about upcoming events, add new photos, and edit opening hours and regular features.

When our client, Xtreme, said they wanted to revamp their website, I don’t think any of us really had in mind the complete revamp we would end up doing.

The new website, launched this weekend, has a bold new modern look that impresses on the site’s visitors just how much care and attention Xtreme puts into everything they do. we have re-taken the product photography, re-written every page of content, and designed a site to appeal to all different types of visitors.

As well as adding new features to help potential buyers get to the level of information they need to make an informed decision, we have created a smooth, seamless cart and check out system, completely customized to suit all our client’s wishes. Xtreme website visitors can add accessories to their cart when they add his main product, as well as get details of special offers available to them, in case they missed them at an earlier stage. We have hooked up the final purchase invoice into Xtreme’s own accounting system so they don’t have to waste time plugging in information from the website and they can tie that information directly into their shipping software. And of course its all database-driven, so can be easily updated when prices and discounts change, as well as new products being launched!

From a website visitor perspective, they can view the Xtreme Heater in a 3D photo rotation, as well as take a useful interactive overview tour of the many features of the star product. On the left side of every page, we have a 5-step program to help people learn everything they need to know about the heater and how it will help them, from choosing the right model for their boat to a thorough installation guides, detailed on a boat -by-boat basis. For happy customers, they can submit their testimonial to Xtreme for the chance to win free gear and show their heater installation in the testimonial showcase section.

Our support area goes way beyond a regular FAQ page, allowing customers to search the questions and answers by their choice of keyword as well as see the most popular searches other visitors have asked. The page is sourced by a regular database so Xtreme can update the information whenever they like.

Xtreme launched their site with an email flyer to all their past customers offering a 20% discount as well as new information and products available, all developed and designed by the Documentopia team.

Let us know what you think of our slick new website for Xtreme Heaters – a site that’s cross-browser compatible (tested in Chrome, Safari, Firefox and IE 7-9), as well as tested on all manner of devices from ipad2 to android phones and macs/pcs. Did we mention we did a bunch of new product photography as well? Can you tell we’re very proud of this latest achievement? Not too shabby!

Since we are about to retire one of our last DT Framework sites I thought I would try to share a few of the extensions we are using for CodeIgniter

This Controller extension solves the problem of not being able to call the index with parameters, it looks for a controller method with the same name as the parameter and if there isn’t one it just passes the parameters to index.

Lets assume we have a method named load.  And we call /controller/load – then the load method gets called, but if we go to /controller/1 – then index gets called with index(1).   – Only thing you have to worry about is namespace collisions but otherwise it can simplify your url structure.

class Remap_Controller extends CI_Controller {
 
    function _remap($method, $params) {
 
        // Remap all the functions but allow for params to index
        if (method_exists($this, $method)) {
            return call_user_func_array(array($this, $method), $params);
        } else {
            array_unshift($params, $method);
            return call_user_func_array(array($this, "index"), $params);
        }
    }
 
}

So just drop that in your applications/core directory and then when you define your controller

class Remap_Controller extends CI_Controller

And you have a fancy new controller, I am sure things could be done to improve this but it works for my purposes.

This is just a quick post to other designers who upon completion of a website are asked to provide other materials for their clients, and in this case – a letterhead template in Word.

In the past I have noticed taking logo and other line-art elements from Illustrator into Word creates ugly images when the final Word doc is sent to PDF (e.g., bit-mappy and rough).  So, I decided to go with the Windows Metafile.  I exported my artwork from Illustrator, set up the Template and even tested it in 2007 and 2003 Word.  It was looking fab.

Then I sent it to the client.

I got this weird email back about the address text not fitting in the line art.  I was surprised as this text was created IN Illustrator and formed part of the Windows Metafile image. 

See screen cap left from a scan.

<— Not right at all!

So the lesson: Apparently in some versions of Word, the Windows Metafile actually retains the type and line art elements so if the end user doesn't have the font you used, they get some weird results.

The answer: convert your line art text to outlines before you export to Metafile.  The Word document file size stays nice and low using the metafile and the artwork in PDF format stays crisp but you need to make sure there are no text elements in the illustration before you export!

<— How it should look