Think Say Do - Web Applications, User Experience

What A Year Brings

Amazing how quickly time goes by isn’t it. I’ve heard so many people say that, but it’s SO true! In May we celebrated our son’s first birthday with about 50 guests. Lots of fun!

And, in July, Think Say Do is preparing to celebrate the first year in business. Thank you to all of our great customers! What a year!

Lately, we’ve been hard at work on a few new projects. Here’s what we’ve been doing:

• Auto Data Connection (ADC) software for Microsoft Dynamics: Great Plains Accounting and Raiser’s Edge donor management system. Yes, both. Think Say Do was retained this spring to write a small piece of server software (in PHP5) that connects nightly, automatically to pull down essential data into a MySQL database for use by web sites during the day. The software we wrote pulls well over a million records from two massive legacy software applications’ Microsoft SQL Server 2000 databases. It completes the process in about 15 minutes due to some heavy SQL code optimization and our use of PHP command line scripts. The data then becomes accessible to partner web sites, without the risk of connecting directly to these legacy applications via the web server, and without the performance drop sometimes associated with the API connection methods offered as product add-ons. The ADC project has been a success so far. Constituents are now able to participate in organizational transparency like never before.
• Donated Project: Stand Against Trafficking site design and development: http://www.standagainsttrafficking.com/
• Email template for CampaignMonitor - small local publisher, Priester Publishing.
• Data Search Engine to filter through records visually, using jQuery UI.

And, as with any good business, there are always irons in the fire. Think Say Do and e-Media Resources are building a streaming video site for small businesses, which will launch this summer. We’re also working on a new site and content management system for a non-profit to help children in need in Macon, Georgia. I am working with my good friend Jared at The Art Press on a new customer-service application that we think will revolutionize the way people work with screen printers. And, we’ve got a few internal projects coming this year. More on all of these projects later.

So, time goes by quickly, but it’s always more fun when you enjoy what you do. Enjoy life and your loved ones. Drop me a line and let me know how quickly your time has been going! Perhaps Think Say Do can help write something that will make your time more enjoyable this year.

~Collin Schneider
Founder / Systems Designer
Think Say Do, LLC 
Business Systems Designed for People.

Tuitive: User Experience Designers

After Thirteen Years: Blog, Twitter, Gmail… Still No iPhone.

Believe it or not, after thirteen years of resisting, I have started to blog, twitter, and gmail. That’s amazing, because I’ve worked as a web consultant for thirteen years! And, I’m young — a prime target for all things social and online. Yet, my life is too real to interface conveniently with the online social scene. I’ve never had the desire, need, or time to continually post what I’m thinking or doing. And who in the world would want to read what I have to say anyway? There are too many interesting voices these days. So, why would I start now?

Good question. Here’s why I think I am starting now:

1. Because I have the desire to connect with other people to see how we can collaborate — two minds might be better than one. And I have the desire to share what I am working on and thinking about.
2. I have the need to promote my new consulting firm, Think Say Do.
3. I have the time to write now — I am now my own boss after all. And, I have thirteen years of pent up words!

Here’s what I’ve learned in my first few weeks of being web-connected:

1. Observe others: read your favorite blogs and think about why you like reading them
2. Practice makes better: write often and you’ll get better with each post
3. Find a voice: initially posts/tweets sound formal and dry, but with time you’ll find your own voice, the way you actually write and think
4. Create hooks: be provocative in your writing and headlines, then go on to say something useful
5. Make contacts: keep up with your writing, keep up with your contacts, keep learning and growing your connections

For even better tips, check out Pam’s site.

So, while I have finally started to join the modern web scene, I still don’t have an iPhone. I’m not a consumer of tech gadgets, so maybe once Apple starts making them completely recyclable, I’ll join the crowd.

~ Collin Schneider, Founder / Systems Designer / Blogger / Tweeter / Gmailer / Environmentalist

Thirteen Years In The Internet Industry

This year I am celebrating 13 years in the Internet Industry. I can hardly believe that I’ve been building online experiences for 13 years! So much has changed since 1996… the “information superhighway” was young and untested. In fact, most businesses that I dealt with back then saw no real value in the Internet. It was a toy. Kind of like blogs were a few years ago, or twitter was a few months ago. Now everyone’s onboard, and there seems to be this frenzy to find the next big thing — to spot business value in the “toys” before anyone else does.

After 13 years of writing code, I often find myself burned out. I find it especially difficult to write one more line of code when I realize that 99% of what I wrote 13 years ago doesn’t exist anymore. The Internet is such a fleeting, instantaneous place. One millisecond you’re hot, and the next you’re not. So, to encourage myself and to celebrate, here are a few of my favorite, worthwhile projects from the past thirteen years and the lessons I learned from each:

• United Way’s ENCompass Project (1998-2001)
  Designed to house information on all Northwestern Illinois non-profits to provide a unified service experience for constituents. The system was originally a joint project with Orlando, Florida-based Human Resource Technologies and Northwestern, Illinois-based InterClay Software (my employer at the time). Lesson learned: non-profit projects are rewarding when people work together to build something great
   
• Milio’s Sandwiches (2000-Current)
  Designed to provide online sandwich orders. Yes, we took online sandwich orders in 2000. In 2008, Milio’s did nearly $1 million in online orders despite the fact that there are no Internet connections in-store. This was a joint project between Rippe-Keane Marketing and e-Media Resources. Lesson learned: there are always solutions, even to the most challenging problems
   
• OshKosh B’Gosh E-Commerce Site & Corporate Intranet (2000-2005)
  Designed to offer all of the famous OshKosh kids clothing online. The project was a huge success from a design standpoint, but the web application platform based on IBM WebSphere failed. I worked for e-Media Resources & The Gunter Agency at the time. We were in charge of the online experience — the design side of things. Lesson learned: design is always worth the investment. design is not just graphic designers. it’s for every project stakeholder - managers, developers, CEOs, customer service reps, etc..
   
• Firestone Tires E-Learning (2007)
  Designed to offer all of the Firestone Tire Center employees comprehensive customer service training. This was an e-Media Resources / Gunter Agency project. Lesson learned: take on projects that are new territory, learn constantly
• Sun Prairie Today Online Newspaper (2004-2008)
  Designed to allow journalists and the community at large in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin to post photos and stories easily. The site run by Paul & Teresa Bauman, was a huge success. Lesson learned: write amazing software designed for people instead of developers. even non-technical people can easily update a web site with only 20 minutes of training.
• BankingMyWay.com (2007)
  Designed to allow people to search for bank rates simply. The site was an e-Media Resources project. Lesson learned: teamwork is the more than the sum of it’s parts

Love what you do. Learn constantly. Give back. Here’s to another enjoyable and unforgettable Thirteen Years!

~ Collin Schneider, Founder / Systems Designer

jQuery & jQuery UI: JavaScript RIA Made Simple

I’ve been using the jQuery javascript library almost since its inception. It’s amazing to see how it’s progressed into a mature, robust rich internet application (RIA) tool. In addition to a powerful and elegant toolkit, the jQuery UI project adds beautiful widgets to the collection - each customizable and skinnable. The community behind jQuery is active and verbal — they communicate what they’re doing weekly.

For designers, jQuery is great because the learning curve is shallow. You can easily include jQuery in your header, then throw down some simple snippets of code to do amazingly complex things.

Bottom Line: If you’re looking for a great javascript library to unobtrusively enhance your company’s web site, jQuery should be a top look. Microsoft even recently made jQuery a part of their enterprise AJAX offerings.

jQuery & jQuery UI

A Quick List Of What We’ve Been Doing

For those of you not familiar with Think Say Do, LLC, here’s a quick list of what we’ve been working on in 2008 and early 2009:

• Training Application System for Associated Training Services
  Allows applicants to apply for classes online and apply for financial aid. Ties in tightly with legacy applications in MS SQL Server. Applicants can save their progress and return later for status updates. This project was in partnership with e-Media Resources, LLC.
   
• Customer Information Management System & Visual Query Builder
  for Chamberlain Research
  Allows potential research participants to sign up online and fill in extensive background data. They can opt into and out of research panels. The system also includes a sophisticated Visual Query Builder for Chamberlain Research staff members to build participant lists in real-time. I’ll post more on this project in the future. This project was in partnership with e-Media Resources, LLC.
   
• Online Donation System for The Wesleyan Church World Headquarters
  (See earlier post for details about this project.)
  
  
  
• Inventory Management System for Peterson Machinery
  Prior to our involvement, customers were waiting several minutes to view a massive list of inventory on their browser screens. We reviewed the process and rewrote the entire system to allow searching and browsing. In addition we developed a back office management piece to allow staff to manage their complete inventory, including location information, as inventory is spread across several states. The site was a big success and has streamlined inventory management. As a final piece, we added a dynamic email quote builder to automatically create machinery quotes based off inventory data.
   
• A Bride’s Choice Florist, An award-winning wedding florist in Indianapolis
  Although we don’t often do web site designs, we took on this project for enjoyment. The site is built on a custom Content Management System (CMS) that allows staff to make content updates themselves. We also did some SEO work to assist with search engine ranking.
  
  
• Real-Time Sales Quotes iPhone Web Application for The Art Press
  The web application allows staff to generate real-time t-shirt order quotes for clients. Sales staff just visit the web application, add the job requirements, and they can get a real-time cost complete with material costs, labor costs, and delivery fees. The application can also take completed quotes and send them directly to customers via the iPhone’s email software.
   
• Custom Artist Stores for Vardagen Brands
  Vardagen prints private-label shirts for bands, artists, and small independent lifestyle brands. As part of the deal, artist get their own private-label store through Vardagen where they can sell their shirts to fans. Totally sweet gig. Vardagen fulfills the order and the artists get a generous cut of the proceeds. Think Say Do wrote the custom code for Shopify to allow per-artist private-label stores. Check Vardagen out!

We’ve been doing even more than that, but I wanted to list the major projects. If we can assist you in any way, let us know! Call us at 317-489-9184

~ Collin Schneider, Founder / Systems Designer

You can now follow me on Twitter! Just follow: thinksaydo

~ Collin Schneider, Founder / Systems Designer

User Experience Week 2008 Videos