Archive for July, 2010

Meet the WebSight Design Team: Vanessa Thomas

Monday, July 26th, 2010

As a part of the WebSight Design team for about a year and a half, Vanessa is our project manager for high-end engineering work. Almost every project we get goes through her hands. It is her job to keep track of hours and budgeting and make sure we reach, and exceed, functionality expectations.

What work at WSD are you most proud of?

All our launches! Every time we launch a new site it feels like sending my kids out into the world – anxious and proud :) . We do awesome development work here and it is always a great feeling to see a completely custom project go live.

What is the best part about working at WSD?

The team for sure. The people that work here are an excellent team. They all have strengths that contribute to a well-rounded, butt-kicking group

What cool project are you working on right now?

We just launched Smartmeetings.com, which was a huge project because it was the roll out of our WSD framework 1.5. We made big strides in the flexibility of our admin for that site. I am very proud to launch that one.

Film Connection is the next big project out the door. This one also uses the new 1.5 framework, but is a 100% expandable page manager, complete with mouse-over image control and drag and drop page sorting. It’s really cool!

If you weren’t working at WSD, what other kind of work would you be doing?

Wishing I worked at WSD, haha. No honestly, I love this job. I couldn’t imagine working anywhere else.

What is your hometown?

Born in San Francisco, raised in Marin. I will always be a California girl.

What is your educational background?

I started off college as a marketing major, but I ended up graduating with a degree in programming. I think it helps my niche of client services vs programmer logic :)

What do you like doing outside of work?

I am a huge video game buff so I spend most of my time playing games. I love RPGs, adventure games and platformers the most, but I will play the occasional shooter.

If I am not playing video games, I am usually watching different anime series or going out to a movie.

Where is your favorite place that you have traveled to?

I loved going to Thailand the most. The country is so beautiful and the sales are amazing!

Mac or PC?

Haha, do you even need to ask? PC all the way! Pfft on Steam for Mac, I still got the lock down on 90% of the games market.

Do you have a favorite quotation? If so, what is it?

“Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.” -Albert Einstein

WebSight Design Swims a Mile to Fight Cancer

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

WebSight Design has launched the website for the Women’s Cancer Resource Center (WCRC) of Oakland’s annual Swim A Mile fundraiser.

Our client came to us with a database that required restoring every year. Along with a PHP rebuild of the original ColdFusion site, we have set up a continuous database, making it simple for the Center to keep track of participants year after year.

In the past, the site only accepted family and individual signups. We have added team registry capabilities. With this addition, team captains can sign up and then invite members to join them. Captains are able to manage their team profile, comments, donations, and photos.

The new features will allow WCRC to focus more on raising money and having a successful event rather than spending time dealing with website inefficiencies.

Held on October 2 and 3, Swim a Mile is a non-competitive fundraising event for all ages and abilities. Participants are asked to raise $350 in donations and can swim or water walk the distance. Proceeds will directly benefit WCRC clients.

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Founded in 1995, WebSight Design offers business clients a range of web site design and development services, including web site programming, web site hosting, web site marketing, and colocation management.

A WSD Framework Upgrade and A New Site for Smart Meetings

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

WebSight Design is excited to announce the rollout of our new 1.5 framework with the launch of SmartMeetings.com.

Smart Meetings is a magazine dedicated to providing event planners with up-to-date trends, information, and destinations of the Western region of the US. With over 2,000 hotels listed on the site and an enormous database, we took the old underlying database structure and efficiently modified it to fit the new site rather than re-inputing the data into another format.

Among other various benefits for our client, the new site will:

  • Decrease website management time
  • Improve site conversion
  • Increase advertising revenue

Decreasing Website Management

A few of the framework upgrades showcased in this project include a more modularized website, in-line editing, and skinning of the site administrator. Additionally, deeply integrated with Word Press, the News/Videos section of the website pulls media from the blog when they have been tagged in given categories.

Improving Site Conversion

The RFP process, the primary conversion goal, has been setup based on APEX industry standards and allows planners to request information directly from hotels. The new site design, conversion funnel, and content additions create clear calls to action that will increase the number of RFPs completed.

User registration and modules for event planners and hotels are specifically tailored to fit the needs of each user base. Users can manage contact information and RFPs as well as register for events.

Increasing Advertising Revenue

Because Smart Meetings’ revenue comes from the banner ads displayed on the site, we provided the client with Double Click integration that targets ads by the content of each page. With print media and advertising on the decline, we have provided the client with a strong source of online ad based revenue.

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Founded in 1995, WebSight Design offers business clients a range of web site design and development services, including web site programming, web site hosting, web site marketing, and colocation management.