Posted by Danny on Feb 09 2010
To get 2010 off to a flying start I'm pleased to announce the launch of the new website for The Ship Inn, Newburgh. For this project DCC Digital integrated a site wide content management system which enables staff to update content for the website of this superb restaurant and bar in Fife. Design and creative for this project was supplied by Creative Orange in Perth with DCC Digital providing build, development and hosting setup.
You can visit the new website for The Ship Inn by going to www.shipinnnewburgh.co.uk
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Posted by Danny on Jun 10 2009
This month I'm proud to be involved in the launch of a new website for Wellwood Leslie Chartered Architects in Broughty Ferry, Dundee. Their new website is a blend of clean design and great photography and provides a fitting public profile for this long established company whose history goes back over 170 years. The website was designed by Creative Orange and dannycassidy.net provided website build and development services for this project. The website is driven by MODx content management system allowing the client to easily update all areas of the website.
Click here to view the new Wellwood Leslie website
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Posted by Danny on May 02 2009
Content management systems - occasionally they're the kind of things that give website developers and designers a bad name. At a recent networking event someone told me a story about the wholly inadequate and vastly overpriced bespoke CMS he had been sold. When he asked me if I could do better I should have been poised to launch into my well rehearsed sales pitch to clinch the deal. Instead I probably said something like 'yes' or 'I'm sure I could'. Ok I may never have a glittering career in sales but that reply really doesn't do justice to the kind of websites I build using my content management system of choice - MODx.
For the uninitiated MODx is an open source content management system (CMS) for websites. In layman's terms this means you can have a website that you can add text to, update images, add links, add pages, add sub-pages, add menus, add submenus, create members pages, contact forms etc. Granted, there is a multitude of similar software packages around these days so why is this one better than any other? Well I haven't tried them all but I have tried quite a few and for me MODx ticks some important boxes.
MODx is a designer's dream; sites look as great as the original visual I've created because the templating system in MODx is as flexible or as complicated as I want it to be. Clients can have as many different layouts within their website as they need; 3 column layout on the home page - sure; switch to 2 column on inside page - no problem; 3 x 3 grid on services page - absolutely!
Importantly, this versatility in the templating system in underpined by the clean, structured HTML that MODx generates. I have an unhealthy obsession with coding HTML and stylesheets and the last thing I want is for all my efforts to be undone because the CMS says 'good stuff in = garbage out'. This doesn't happen with MODx. For those amongst you reading this who aren't designers or coders and have no interest in the nuances of XHTML there are a few reasons why this is important. Well written code is generally treated more favourably by search engines. Also if the correct HTML tags are used and are in the right place it generally makes your website more accessible, thus broadening its audience reach. Well structured code also makes a website easier to maintain so is more cost effective in the long run should you ever wish to restructure or alter the site.
Another great thing about MODx is its administrative system. It provides a clear, intuitive manager that allows users (with different levels of access if necessary) to login and edit content. The site structure is represented as a menu tree so you can quickly navigate to any page within the site. It also has a QuickEdit function that allows you to edit the content of the site right from the
page. Training clients is usually a quick and painless process for me as they invariably get to grips with the website manager very easily.
MODx is also incredibly strong on search engine optimisation features. My clients are constantly surprised at the degree of control they have over meta tags, page titles and descriptions and headers. It also has the added bonus of generating SEO friendly urls - by this I mean the pages that are created have plain english names of your choosing.
MODx is perhaps less well known than other content management systems but its popularity and reputation is growing all the time and with a new release scheduled later in 2009 it’s certainly going to be my choice for some time to come.
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