Our Latest Developments in Web Development
[7 March 2009] — Bangs Laboratories Inc.
Our longtime client Bangs Laboratories, Inc. wanted a new website design, and they wanted it to be created with a Content Management System (CMS) so they could do routine updates themselves. But most CMS's seem to be geared primarily for simple sites such as blogs, and they offer design templates that all look an awfully lot alike. Bangs' site is hardly a blog, though: it's a fully-functioned corporate site that displays current product information and pricing driven by their legacy database, and offers a shopping cart and online ordering.
After surveying the available CMS's, we chose Drupal based on its reputation for power and flexibility. Naturally that power and flexibility comes at a price, namely a steep learning curve for the us, the developers. But part of its flexibility is the ability to customize what the site editor sees, so from Bangs' standpoint, the learning curve is actually less steep than with some of the other CMS's.
The finished site is a mix of static pages that can be easily edited by Bangs, and several small integrated web apps that handle the submittal forms, product information lookup, and online ordering functions. You can see the finished result (and order some microbeads if you like) at bangslabs.com.
[10 December 2008] — ClarkWestern Building Systems
The new ClarkWestern SubmittalPro web application (see the story a couple of items down) has been such a hit that ClarkWestern wondered if they could use it to streamline their legacy AS400-based quoting system. They wondered if it would be possible to transmit those quotes directly to SubmittalPro so customers could view them and the associated spec sheets online. We said "Sure, no problem."
Working with CW's AS400 developer, we provided a solution which has enabled their salespeople to send each individual quote to SubmittalPro at the click of a button. As soon as the customer receives the quote (via email or fax) from the AS400, he can go to submittalpro.clarkwestern.com and 'pick up' the submittal and view it, add or delete products, print the submittal package, and save it for future use.
Mission accomplished!
[28 October 2008] — Ars Nova Offering Web Application and Web Site Hosting
Ars Nova now offers secure hosting for web applications and web sites. We pride ourselves in offering a level of service you just don't find anywhere else in hosting these days. Services include:
- A rock-solid control panel which allows you to control the entire hosting environment, including email boxes, DNS, subdomains, web logs, site statistics, etc.
- Truly responsive telephone, email, and IM support. (We mean it.)
- Guaranteed uptime and up/download speeds.
For more information, please see our web hosting services page.
[10 June 2008] — ClarkWestern Building Systems
The new ClarkWestern SubmittalPro web application is now live. The site allows ClarkWestern's customers (primarily architects and building contractors) to define a construction project, select parts based either on possible parameters or on known part numbers, view individual pdf spec sheets for the parts, add parts to their project, and generate a submittal document for the entire project. The submittal package is a single pdf document that contains the general project information, a master parts list, and spec sheets for each of the parts.
The site makes extensive use of AJAX, object-oriented PHP, and dynamically-generated .pdf files, all of course backed up by a MySQL database.
You can try it out for yourself at submittalpro.clarkwestern.com. According to one of ClarkWestern's clients, it's "pretty slick"!
[15 Jan 2008] — Neltner Billing and Consulting
The folks at Neltner liked their new Nelter Advocacy website so well that they asked us to create a visually similar yet identifiably different site for their home company, Neltner Billing and Consulting. The new site is complete, it passes XHTML 1.0 validation, and we think it looks pretty good.
[2 Jan 2008] — ABS Auto Supply
We've created an online parts-ordering system for ABS, an automotive parts recycler. Customers may search for parts by make and model of car, add them to a shopping cart, and submit an order to ABS. The system automatically calculates the customer's costs, taxes, and shipping price. We then took a designer's layout for the site and implemented it in simple HTML pages, and inserted our parts catalog function into one of those pages. The customer had also been having reliability problems with their old website host, so we moved the new site to a reliable server and are administering it.
The results so far? The revenue generated in the first month is nearly as much as they paid us to develop the ordering system. That's a nice return on their investment.
[8 Aug 2007] — Zend Certifications
Ars Nova developers are all Zend Certified Engineers. Who is Zend, and what does the certification mean?
Zend are the folks who maintain PHP, our platform of choice for web application development. PHP is used by more than 20 million domains on the web.
We became Zend Certified Engineers as part of an ongoing commitment to developing high-end, secure web applications. While a bunch of certification letters affixed to our business cards shouldn't impress you all that much, it shows that we take ongoing education seriously. In additional to Zend courses and exams, we are actively involved in various industry meetups and conferences.
[3 Aug 2007] — Girl Scouts Prairie Winds and Girl Scout Camp Co-op
We're in the process of moving these sites from a Windows Server located in the Girl Scout PW office to a properly-hosted Linux server that we will be maintaining. We are also converting their database from MS SQL Server to the open-source MySQL database. Preliminary tests show that their slowest-loading, most database-intensive pages (large reports generated by the program registrars) now load nearly 10 times faster.
[1 July 2007] — Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE)
We created a new custom forums application for IHIE's portal, a site used by medical professionals to exchange information. Unfortunately you can't view the result, as the forum is visible only to medical professionals who subscribe to the site, but you can read about the services offered by IHIE.
[20 Mar 2007] — IUPUI School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
We've given the web site for IUPUI's School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS) a new look by "re-skinning" the site's existing content.
[15 Feb 2007] — Girl Scouts Day Camp Registration
The website of longtime Chicago-area client Girl Scouts - Prairie Winds has been expanded to allow online search, registration, and payment for their popular Day Camp programs. The council's registrars may use an online administrative site to view and edit the registrations, transfer registrants to other programs, make transportation assignments, and many other helpful functions.
[30 Jan 2007] — Neltner Advocacy
The design and implementation of the new website for Neltner Healthcare Advocacy Alliance, an offshoot of existing client Neltner Billing and Consulting, is complete.
[12 Dec 2006] — Quality Health 1st of Indiana
The website for Quality Health 1st of Indiana, a new initiative launched by existing client IHIE, is now live. In addition to offering basic information about QH1, the site also allows health care providers to register online for informational sessions to be held in area hospitals in February. QH1 administrators may view and edit those registrations online.
[20 Oct 2006] — Bill Price and The Brains Behind Pa
Fans of local musician Bill Price and his band The Brains Behind Pa may now order CD's, t-shirts, and MP3 song downloads using the secure online order form we've added to his website.
[5 Sep 2006] — Girl Scout Program Registration Site
The web site for Girl Scouts - Prairie Winds, Inc. now allows girls to register and pay for the council's 2000+ yearly programs and adult training events.
[01 Jun 2006] — Girl Scout Camp Co-op Site
The new five-council summer camp registration system is now complete. The new site enables girls from the Chicago area to register to attend camps sponsored by any of the five councils participating in the camp co-op. The site includes secure online payment by credit card and bank draft.
[25 Oct 2005] — Job Opportunities
Ars Nova is seeking a developer and an administrative assistant. Find out more ->
[30 Sep 2005] — V-Net
Ars Nova recently completed phase three of the new web site for Girl Scouts - Prairie Winds, Inc.. The site, serving more than 20,000 girls in the greater Chicago area, now includes an online volunteer network (V-Net), empowering volunteers to communicate more effectively, subscribe to email lists, and view member-only content. Phases one and two included a complete site re-design and an online product ordering system for troop leaders.
The next project for the council will be an online registration system for five Chicago-area councils' shared summer camps.
[27 Jul 2005] — IHIE DOCS4DOCS® Portal
The new Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE) portal site is now complete. The portal serves as a registration, authentication, and administration tool, giving Indiana physicians access to the DOCS4DOCS clinical messaging application.