How to become a good developer?

by admin 8/7/2008 3:04:00 PM

I was asked through this blog how to become a good developer. I think this is the question that many beginners want to ask. For every question there are throusands of answers. Okay, there are many answers like these but these ones are mine. :)

Attitude. Most important thing is attitude. To get strong you have to get used with an idea that for every damn day you should learn many new things. You have to understand that you are part of world that changes very fast and the only way to survive it is to study, study and study again.
Read the books. There are many great books written by guys who have a lot of experience in the field. Also there are many great books written by industry leaders. And, of course, there are too many books to read them all. Select books carefully so you don't waste your money. Read the books you have and think hard about what you have read. Is it all like this or do you have another opinion? How can you use new knowledge in your current or future task? What have you made wrong in past tasks?

For people who find books to expensive for them - there are public libraries where you can find books. Also you can check out the Google books system and search for free e-Books. There are many great e-books available in internet and they are free.
Code! Code! Code! To get a good practice write as much code as you can. Try to be more efficient each time. Study from experiences you have. Analyze the mistakes you made last time and try to find better ways how to solve these problems. Try out different features of the language and platform you are using. Using different features of language you should usually write code using different patterns. This way you are improving your coding skills and also study many new things you didn't know before.
Try out tools and utilities that make your work easier. One part of your work is knowledge about how to make things work. The other part of your work is your development environment. Find out what features your IDE provides and look for utilities that extend it by great fetures you don't get out-of-box with your IDE.
Try out new technologies. To stay on the track you should know about things that happened today or that will happen tomorrow. Take time to discover new technologies and study new theories. Think about how you can use these technologies and in what context. Also try out new stuff and try to create something using it.
Look how other guys develop systems. Take a look at an open-source project to see how other guys build their systems. Go through the code and try to understand why they decided to do things this way and not the other. Of course, you can always communicate with authors of system if you think you have good advice how they can make their systems better.
Everything that shines is not gold. Although there are industry leaders and veterans and their opinions matter they are just human beings like you and me. And they make mistakes - just like you and me. Of course, they are a general source of information but always use your own brain to rate the information you obtain.

There are also online information sources like discussion groups, chat rooms, forums etc. Before you believe what is said there - try out. If somebody thinks that this or that thing goes this way then don't follow these opinions blind. Try out if it is this way or not. But always use your brain to analyze information.
Participate in communities. There are many communities for Microsoft technologies. You can belong to any open community you like. Communicate with people, help them to solve their problems and ask help if you are in trouble. Also be a member of local technology communities.
Visit technology events. If it is possible visit technical events. There are many regions where are local .Net groups (by example INETA etc) who organize events. Also try to visit events like TechEd and MIX. These events are valuable sources of information about new and coming technologies.

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General

Software Development & Ecommerce Web Designing

by admin 5/10/2008 4:58:00 PM


We can help you successfully sell your products on the web - no heavy lifting required. With each passing year, more and more people prefer to shop on the Internet. Give your customers the convenience and the confidence to purchase products through your web site with our easy-to-use, affordable, custom-built e-commerce web design services. SourceLogic Solutions has years of experience creating customized e-commerce web sites that are user-friendly, eye-catching, reliable, and secure. Our success can be seen through both the success of our clients (many of whom rely solely upon the Internet for their sales) and the success of our own established e-commerce business.
We are in the unique position to have first-hand knowledge about the challenges associated with running an e-commerce business. Our hands-on e-commerce experience gives us true insight into both the technical and business side of e-commerce. We routinely deal with the various suppliers of our products, manage our growing inventory, transfer our sales information to our other internal systems, and understand the importance of choosing the right shipping carrier. We take our real-world experience and apply it directly to the development of solutions for our clients.
Our shopping cart system is intuitive and easy to navigate. The standard system is ready to go or can be easily customized to address your specific business needs. As the owner of your shopping cart system, you are in control and not bound by the constraints of conventional out-of-the-box solutions. Just a highlight of the features includes:
Manage Products - Site visitors can browse products and add items to the shopping cart, change quantities, and delete items. Robust enough to handle an unlimited number of products. Attach unique features to any of your products, such as size, color, or text options
Manage Customers - After your customers purchase merchandise, Magnetic automatically stores all the contact and credit card information in a customer database for future reference or mailings. Customers are also able to log into your web site to easily update their account information.
Manage Content - You have the ability to fully manage your shopping cart system through an administration tool -- add new products, change existing products, add new categories, change categories, view customer information, and more. You can also assign different access control levels for various roles in your organization (financial staff, technical staff, etc.)
Order Confirmation - After a customer places an order, our system instantly sends an email order receipt back to the customer. Simultaneously, a designated person at your company receives an email confirmation that the order has been placed. Your customers also have the ability to log into your web site to view past orders.
Reports - Access both executive and detailed sales reports for selected time periods. E-Commerce + Search Engine Optimization = Business Growth!

We also provide technical expertise to ensure that your website look and feel fits together well with your content and the functionality that you offer customers. We can take care of all aspects of deploying your website or provide any pieces that you need help with. Once your site has been deployed, we can teach you how to make ongoing updates or we are also happy to provide maintenance services to keep your site up to date and functioning smoothly

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.NET 2008 | Definations | E-Commerce

What is ASP.net Develoment?

by admin 5/10/2008 4:47:00 PM


ASP.NET is a commercial web development language by Microsoft. ASP.NET is widely accepted as a powerful web development language and is known for its better performance as compared to its counterparts. Our team of skilled ASP.Net Developers .NET Development with C#.NET, VB.NET and others. In the last years of web development almost all software vendors were attempting to establish the standards of their own. As a result, there appeared tons of incompatible software solutions used by customers all over the world. A lot of efforts were applied in order to define common standards, but all of them eventually failed.
Many of our custom designed web site solutions and applications are developed by using .net technology. The .NET platform has been designed particularly for the Internet age. ASP.NET and web services enable programmers to build scalable applications for the future with less coding and better performance. Our technical team of highly skilled professionals have many years of programming experience. We have invested in training resources and developing best practices for application development using Microsoft's .NET architecture. We have developed enterprise solutions like E-Commerce, Online Accounting Software, Community tools like Web Portal which has the features like Chat, Bulletin Board, Web mail, Web Calendar and Discussion forum based on asp.net, VB.net, and other Micorsoft technology. The result is prompt and reliable performance. We also offer an offshore development facility as well as Offshore Staffing solutions for international client for asp.net, VB.net and MS SQL related development as our Microsoft certified .net programmers and other web developer team has more than 5 years vertical experience in Microsoft technology programming.
Microsoft Corporation appeared a pioneer in Web Services technology when it released its Dot Net architecture. This solution is a brilliant combination of traditional MS technologies and modern Web Services paradigm. Although it is relatively new, Dot Net architecture is reliable, scalable and trustworthy. It represents a big step towards software interoperability, which makes true software integration finally possible.
Dot Net is a new technological philosophy, the essence of which includes simplicity of project web development services, its guaranteed safe functionality and easy integration of any software into the Internet. Dot Net serves a basis for brand new programming languages that have already been worked out - ASPDot Net (VBDot Net), C# (C Sharp), J# (Java Sharp), etc.
SourceLogic Solutions proudly presents the following .Net development services:
- Information and B2B portals; - Content Management and Decision Support systems; - eCommerce and eBusiness solutions; - Mobile connectivity; - Custom solutions development.

Our .Net programmers have numerous years of experince in developing .Net applications. They can develop simple and effective .Net solutions to complex real life business problems.

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.NET 2008

DATA WAREHOUSING

by admin 4/12/2008 6:36:00 PM

What is a data warehouse?
A data warehouse is a database that is structured in a particular way so that it is very efficient in generating reports. The term data warehouse can mean anything from just the database to the entire application, which includes a tool for viewing reports.

Why do I need a data warehouse?
If you need to be able to look at reports in a flexible and user friendly manner, then you may be interested in a data warehouse. The reports allow you to look at your data by multiple dimensions. So lets say you sell 10 different products and you have 3 brands. You can generate a report very quickly that will show you gross sales and net sales by product by time AND by brand, all in the same report.

Sounds complicated, how difficult is this to use?
The report generator we usually use is Microsoft Excel. There are no special add-ins or additional software to install, just plain Excel. If you are familiar with Excel, then you will be able to start generating reports from a data warehouse very quickly.

How big is a data warehouse?
The size of the database can be as big or as small as your data requirements call for. The great thing about a data warehouse is that it is very scalable. You can start small and grow from there.

What platform is used for the database?
We have chosen Microsoft as the platform for most of the services we offer. Therefore, in the case of data warehousing, we utilize Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Analysis Services as the platform of choice.

I already have a database, can that be converted into a data warehouse?
In most cases, the data warehouse is a separate database that is not intended to be used for other purposes, such as supporting your line of business applications or your website. The structure of the data warehouse database is very different than the structure you probably have in your current database.

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Software Tools

Everyone talks about Web 2.0. We give you a plan to implement it.

by admin 4/5/2008 9:58:00 PM

Determining where your application UI will benefit from AJAX

AJAX-powered user interfaces can dramatically improve the user experience of Web-based applications in many different ways. SourceLogic Solutions can review your application and identify where AJAX can offer the most dramatic impact and and best return on investment.

On the lightweight end of the spectrum, you can re-implement basic features of your Web application to be more responsive and offer visual pizzazz (e.g. Google-style "suggest" search box, background content loading, balloon help, tabbed displays, sortable tables, etc). On the other end of the spectrum, rich AJAX clients can replace Web-based portals as a way to interact with Web services and SOA assets (e.g. Enterprise Mashups).

What it takes to succeed with AJAX

It is common to think that the same Web developers who code Java or .NET server-side Web applications or design CSS-based HTML pages, will be able to quickly become expert AJAX developers. The reality is usually very different. The technical skills are are not the same, the UI demands are more complex, the ramp up time can be high and it can be time-consuming to evaluate the various frameworks as they relate to your customer and back-end needs.

SourceLogic Solutions provides you with a UI design and development team that is experienced with a broad range of AJAX component libraries and frameworks, and understands the CSS, HTML and DOM programming necessary for implementation. This gives your team more time to come up to speed, decisions on what AJAX tools to use, a strategy on how to incrementally add AJAX, and a visual blueprint of how the final web application will operate.

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Consulting Basics | Software Tools

Software as a Service (SasS)

by admin 4/1/2008 9:56:00 PM

For SaaS, user experience is the key factor affecting customer adoption

The focus in Software as a Service (SaaS) is on making what customers want, and delivering it when they want it. If you build a SaaS product that provides a significantly better user experience than the incumbent software, it will sell. Critical components include the ease with which important features can be found and used, the learning curve for a new user to get up to speed, the long-term flexibility of the application interface, and the aesthetics & responsive of the interface.

The right user interface let you add new customers at low incremental cost

The user interface demands for Software as a Service (SaaS) are very distinct from enterprise applications and other software models. A key to profitability is to develop a user interface that adapts to the customer's environment without much customized development. The benefits to your bottom line are shortened sales cycles, faster deployment and efficient solutions for easy-to-adapt language systems.

Catalyst Resources has extensive experience with application design for SaaS

Catalyst Resources has the specialized application UI experience that is required for a successful SaaS. We can design an adaptable and user-validated application UI quickly and effectively. Your customers will be able to take advantage of your application's value sooner, with fewer support demands.

Using AJAX and Web 2.0 interface components, performance and SaaS can go hand in hand

SaaS applications that rely on traditional HTTP/HTML don't offer the dynamic user interfaces of native enterprise applications. However, using AJAX and Rich Internet Applications technologies, SaaS applications can provide a dynamic and rich user experience. Catalyst is an expert in the design of AJAX, Flex and Java-based Rich Internet Applications. Based on an assessment of your SaaS project requirements, we select the toolkit that provides the best UI components, tools and scalability for development.

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Consulting Basics | E-Commerce

Guidelines for Graphic Designers

by admin 4/1/2008 6:15:00 PM

Typically a graphic designer creates designs for a web application separate from the development of the web application software. During the project the design must be married to the software. Integration can be a very arduous and time-consuming process if the designer does not follow a few simple guidelines.

To simplify and ease the integration process I suggest these guidelines for the graphics designer:

Collaborate with the Developer at Project Start

Lack of discussion with the developer about the graphic designs leads to significant problems during integration.

To make the integration process smooth discuss your design ideas with the developer at the beginning of the project.

Keep Table Nesting Levels Shallow

As nesting levels increase so does the difficulty of understanding where you are in the table structure.

Conversely, shallow nesting means it's easier to know where one is at in the table structure.

Name Tables

Select names that clearly identify the purpose of tables. The name 'A' does not convey any meaning. Whereas, the name 'CollaborationGoals' provides a better indication of the purpose of the table.

Use Naming Conventions

Locating objects can be difficult in medium to large projects. Where is the CSS style? Where is the graphic image? Searching for project objects can waste significant amounts of time over the course of a project.

Using naming conventions to identify project objects eases the task of locating these items.

Naming guidelines:

Use a prefix.
Use a hierarchical naming order.

Examples:

NAMIC_ButtonBack.gif
NAMIC_ButtonGo.gif
NAMIC_MenuHome.gif
NAMIC_MenuLeft.gif

Use CSS

Suppose FONT tags are used across 30 application pages. Now imagine you, as the designer, desires to change the font face. How much time is required to modify the FONT tag in all 30 pages?

Suppose a CSS style is defined and then used across the 30 application pages instead of the FONT tag. To change the font face requires changing one CSS style in the applications CSS style sheet.

Using CSS is a time saver.

Organize in Alphabetical Order

Suppose you have 26 cards each stamped with the letters of the alphabet on the front the cards. Shuffle the cards. Now attempt to locate 'G'.

Place all the cards in alphabetical order. Now attempt to locate 'G'. Could you find 'G' quicker in the randomly shuffled deck or the sorted deck?

Yes, the idea makes common sense and you might ask "Why bother mentioning this guideline?". Because I've worked on projects where the objects were not organized in alphabetical order.

Design Master Pages

ASP.NET developers can create master pages which contain common graphical elements for a set of pages. All pages using the same master page have a common look and feel. Make a change in the master page and the look and feel is changed on all pages using the master page.

At project start determine which pages in the application must have a common look and feel. Then design a master page for each common set of pages and hand the master page designs to the developer. The developer will create the ASP.NET master pages and apply them to all associated pages.

Design Reusable SubForms

I've worked on projects where the designer created several slightly different subforms to collect the same information from the user. Had I used these subforms I would have spent additional time developing, debugging and testing the software for these subforms. These unnecessary subforms would have created more maintenance in the long-term. This results in higher project costs.

A better approach is to design a single reusable subform for each function in the application. Using this approach reduces design time, software development time, debugging and testing time and ultimately reduces project costs.

For example, the NAMIC Mentor Program application collects company information from the user during the account and application creation processes. I designed a single Company subform and used that subform on the account and application pages.

Minimize Precise Graphics Positioning

Debugging and fixing precise graphics positioning requires enormous amounts of time by you and\or the developer. The development time increases as one needs to debug increasing numbers of positioning problems. The problem is compounded by the differences in browser and browser versions.

A better approach is to rely less on precise graphics positioning.

Minimize Graphical Elements

For one project I worked on the designer created about 80 tiny graphical elements that had to be precisely positioned in order to create his desired design for a set of pages. I spent many hours debugging browser problems related to the 80 elements.

Was 80 elements needed for this project? Probably not. Unless the client has a large budget for the project the best option is to keep the number of graphical elements to a minimum.

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Consulting Basics

ECOMMERCE DEVELOPMENT

by admin 3/31/2008 6:33:00 PM

ECOMMERCE DEVELOPMENT

Selling products over the internet is no longer a novelty. It's now a basic part of retail business today, and it has allowed for the creation of thousands of "online only" companies, many of whom do not have a physical store anywhere.

When customers visit an ecommerce website, there are certain expectations they have from their experiences with shopping on other sites. Here are some of the features all ecommerce websites should contain:

Product Catalog - Including an easy to use heirarchical navigation
Search - An ecommerce site must have a robust search engine
Shopping Cart - One that saves the contents if the user leaves the site.
Secure Checkout - Customers expect to see that little lock at the bottom of the browser window
Order Status - Your customers should be able to log onto your site and check the status of their order

And this is just the basics. Here are some of the optional ecommerce features that our clients have asked us for:

Complements - This item complements the item you are currently viewing
Alternates - When you're out of stock, this is a similar item that is in stock
Customers also bought - Other people that bought this item also bought these other items
Recently viewed - Keeps track of the items that were recently viewed, but not added to the shopping cart
Top sellers - These are items that have recorded the most sales
Featured products - Show select products on your home page
Sale items - Allow for products to go on sale and change the price for some period of time
Coupons - Customers enter a coupon code and get a discount off their order

And the list goes on and on.

Ecommerce development is a large part of our business. Our developers have created ecommerce functionality for some of the largest internet e-tailers and we're ready to help you with your next project.

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E-Commerce | Software Tools

Evolutionary Approach to Projects

by admin 3/31/2008 6:13:00 PM

Overview

Occasionally we discuss projects with clients who want us to create a web application with an enormous quantity of features. The disadvantages of this approach are:

very difficult to accurately estimate costs. developers tend to over estimate;
huge number of decisions to be made regarding software features (increases development time);
unknown whether users receive benefit from all features (unused features lead to waste);
development costs are high;
project management required which increases overhead costs;
testing is harder and thus more difficult to ensure quality;
development cycle is long; and
revenue delayed due to long development cycle.

We suggest an evolutionary approach to software development. A development evolution unfolds as follows:

Select short list of features. (See Creating a Features Short List below).
Write project specification detailing features.
Design and develop software.
Test software.
Place software into production.
Collect revenues.
Gather feedback from users and use to guide future development direction.
Repeat from step 1.

The advantages of an evolutionary approach are:

small set of decisions regarding software features. less decisions means less time;
user feedback can be used to guide future development direction;
development costs are lower;
little project management required thus reducing overhead costs;
testing is easier, thus increasing software quality;
development cycle is shorter; and
revenue realized sooner due to short development cycle.

Creating a Features Short List

A project with a huge feature list is extremely difficult to estimate. Developers over estimate due to concerns about working beyond the budgeted hours for the project resulting in reduced income for the developer. Over estimating leads to higher development costs for you. By reducing project size developers can more accurately estimate project costs. This results in better or lower development costs for you.

Review sample web sites in detail. Understand how each feature works and its relationship to other features.
Write a list of the features with a name and short phrase describing the features resulting in 1-2 pages.
Prioritize the features into three groups:
1. Critical Features
  Features required in order for the application to be useful.
2. Important Features
  Features which add significant value to the application but are not critical for basic operations.
3. Nice To Have Features
  
  Features that add "polish" to the application but are not critical for basic operations
Write a short 3-4 sentence description of the Critical features. Your Critical features list will be turned into the initial project specifications.

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Consulting Basics

How to Find a Good Web Developer

by admin 3/31/2008 5:57:00 PM

I develop web applications in C#, VB, ASP.NET, and SQL Server as a contractor. I have noticed that clients run into problems hiring web developers to create web applications. Also, clients have mentioned problems they've had with developers in Craigslist job posts.

Clients had problems with web developers who:

create poorly designed databases;
create web applications with many bugs;
create botched software designs;
develop what they want not what the client wants;
don't respond to client inquires; and
leave in the middle of the project.

The impact on clients is:

thousands of dollars are wasted; and
revenue is lost.

One Craigslist job poster noted that he wasted $3,500 in design and development costs.

In this article I offer suggestions for finding a good software developer who will design and develop a high quality web application that meets your objectives and functions well.

Does the Developer Follow a Process?

No process = project failure.

A development process must be well-defined and followed in all endeavors in order to reach an objective. Ask the prospective developer to explain their development process. Avoid developers who don’t have a well-defined process.

Read Keys to Successful Projects for more about our software development process.

Does the Developer Write Project Specifications?

Robert Glass states in Software Runaways, Lessons Learned from Massive Software Project Failures, that 51% of projects fail due to poor or insufficient projects specifications. Thus project specifications are crucial to the success of your projects.

Ask the prospective developer whether they write project specifications and to send you copies of specifications they have written for past projects.

If requrested, I can send examples of past project specifications that I have worked on.

Seek Senior Contractors for Large Complex Projects

Robert Glass states in Software Runaways, Lessons Learned from Massive Software Project Failures, that 42% of projects fail due to lack of senior staff.

Interns and college graduates do not have sufficient project experience to design and develop software for large complex projects.

Match the seniority of the contractor to the size and complexity of the project.

I have over 10 years experience designing and developing complex software.

Hire Developers Based on Track Record

Many Craigslist posters request the developer be local to their office. Proximity of the developer to your office does not guarantee project success. Increase the probability of project success by selecting a developer based on these criteria:

Developer has a track record of successful projects.
Developer has a well-defined software development process which they follow.
Developer’s references confirm project successes.

Pay Market Rates

Several job posters offer to pay contractors $8.50 to $12.50/hour. This low rate attracts inexperienced and poor developers. The most likely outcome is a poor or non-functioning web site and you'll waste your time and money.

Pay market rates and you’ll attract experienced developers to work on your project and you’ll increase the likelihood of project success.

Current market rates (17-Jan-2006) are $50/hour to $75/hour for experienced developers. Students generally charge $20+. Developers who specialize may charge fees above the range stated. Rates vary based upon geographic location.

Check References

While I can’t be certain it seems apparent to me that many job posters do not check the developer’s references.

A few questions to ask the developers previous clients:

Did the developer understand your objectives before starting the project?
Did the developer write project specifications?
Did the developer stay on the project until completion?
Did the web application function as outlined in the specifications?
How many bugs are in the web application?
Did the developer respond promptly to inquires, phone calls, emails?

Know the Role of Designers vs. Developers

I’ve noticed some posters are confused about the role of a web designer versus a web developer. For example, the job title is “Web Designer” and the body of the post requests the contractor to perform software development.

A web designer designs the graphical appearance of the web site. This includes: colors, fonts, logos & images, placement of text and images on the page. Tools typically include HTML, JavaScript, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and ImageReady.

A web developer designs the database and the actions of the web site. This includes: designing database tables, designing software to validate form inputs, storing data in the database, getting data from the database and displaying the data on pages. Tools typically include: C#, ASP.NET, and SQL Server. You may need both a web designer and a web developer for your project. Therefore, you may want to state that in your job post.

Summary

Doing your homework upfront can greatly increase the success of your project.

SourceLogic Solutions develops web applications in C#, ASP.NET, and SQL Server. We:

Understand your objectives at the beginning of the project.
Follow a well-defined software development process.
Have 10 years experience developing software.
Have a track record of successful projects.
Have good references.

You can read more about software development process and project specifications by reading Keys to Successful projects.

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Consulting Basics

Keys to Successful Projects

by admin 3/29/2008 6:06:00 PM

Senior Staff

Robert Glass states in Software Runaways, Lessons Learned from Massive Software Project Failures, that 42% of projects failed due to lack of senior staff.

We have over 10 years software development experience in an extensive range of areas:

Web Applications.
Database Design.
Complex Work Flow Analysis
Web Server configuration.
Real-Time Systems.

Given this extensive experience SourceLogic Solutions can bring this expertise to your project:

In-depth understanding of the software development process.
How to write project specifications which leads to project success.
Superb software design skills.
Professional approach.

Process

Process is an ordered sequence of steps to help you walk from a starting point to a goal. Expert software developers use process to lead a project from conception, through development, and to completion of a quality product.

Without process bad things happen. High costs, long development time, etc.

Our process for creating quality software is:

We learn your objectives.
We write project specifications.
You review the project specifications.
We design the software.
We create and test the software.
You test the software.
We fix problems and you test.
You use the software.

We Learn Your Needs and Goals

Many software developers rush to coding and create applications which do not meet the clients needs. The result is high development costs, lost time and frustrated clients.

During our initial conversations we ask insightful questions and listen carefully to learn and understand your needs and goals.

Project Specifications

According to Software Runaways, the major reason for failed projects is a lack of or poor project specifications.

We write project specifications that accurately reflect your needs and goals.

Good Communication

During the development process we need to ask you questions to refine our understanding of your objectives. Poor communication during this period results in web software which does not match your objectives. Causes of communication problems:

you are busy and are unable to devote sufficient time to discussions;
impatience; and
using poor communication tools such as email exclusively.

Hallmarks of good communication are when both parties:

devote sufficient time to discuss the project details;
are patient; and
use good communication tools;

Effective communication ensures that the product we produce will match your objectives.

Good Design

Poor design leads to software which does not function properly, has poor performance, and does not meet your needs and goals. The resulting software is commonly called "spaghetti" code. Bad? Yes, because it wastes your time and money.

We carefully design all components resulting in well organized and working software.

Develop Small Projects

Large projects are cumbersome, complex, costly, and have long development cycles which delay realizing income.

A better approach is to chunk the project into a series of small projects.

Use Evolutionary Approach

Your Involvement is Essential

Your involvement is essential to success of the project, without it failure results.

You need to set aside time to discuss your business needs and goals, review project specifications, prepare and provide us with material, such as, content, images for the application and test the software during development.

Set Reasonable Schedules

Tight schedules increases errors and poor design of your software.

Reasonable schedules allow the developer, graphics designer, and you to carefully develop, design, and test the application resulting in high quality software.

We Respond Promptly to Inquires

Developers who respond slowly delay your project.

Prompt responses keep your project moving at a good pace towards completion.

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Consulting Basics

Changing Default home page for IE on Windows Mobile 6.0

by admin 3/21/2008 10:45:00 AM

Verizon wants you to always open up IE to their home page. I want IE to open up to goolge, so here is a little trick to make IE do this:

Edit the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\AboutURLs

HomePage is the string key that should be changed.

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Smart Phone

Windows Mobile 6.0 - Move IE Temp folders to Storage Card

by admin 3/1/2008 11:33:00 PM

Moving IE Temporary Folders to the Storage Card frees memory

To free up a bunch of memory on your phone perform the following to move the Cache, Cookies, and History to your storage card. After doing so, you must use that storage card when using Pocket Inernet Explorer. You can however create the same folders on each memory card that you use.

Tested and works on Windows Mobile 6!

01

Using File Explorer in ActiveSync or the File Manager on your smartphone, create the following folders on the root of your Storage Card.

\ietemp\cache
\ietemp\cookies
\ietemp\history

02

Fire up the registry editor on your phone and navigate to the following key.

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders

You will need to edit the following values.

Cache Change Value Data to \Storage Card\ietemp\cache
Cookies Change Value Data to \Storage Card\ietemp\cookies
History Change Value Data to \Storage Card\ietemp\history

Reboot your phone.

03

Next, fire up your File Manager and navigate to \Windows\Profiles\Guest and delete the \cache, \cookies, and \history, folders. If they do not delete then double check your regedits. To verify that it is working, visit a website with PIE and then check your new folders on the storage card for contents.

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Tags: phone hack

Smart Phone

Unlock Verizon Smart Phones

by admin 3/1/2008 11:32:00 PM

Steps to unlock Windows Mobile 6.0

This tutorial will guide you in “app unlocking” your HTC S621. I was hoping to create something like ‘how to app unlock a windows mobile smartphone’, but after spending hours and hours trying to unlock my phone, I’ve discovered there are possibly hundreds of different ways - no two are the same, and not all will work for all phones. I can only confirm that the following method works for Rogers (a Canadian mobile provider) customers using the HTC S621. It may work for other Smartphones as well.

App unlocking will allow you to install “unsigned” 3rd party software. If you’ve ever received the error “Installation was unsuccessful. The program or setting cannot be installed because it is not digitally signed with a trusted certificate”, this tutorial is for you.

installation was unsuccessful the program or setting cannot be installed because it is not digitally signed with a trusted certificate

You’ll need to download these 2 files - SP_AllowCertificateInstall.cab and regeditSTG2.exe.

Upload SP_AllowCertificateInstall.cab to your device (or download it directly to your device). Save the file on your devices main memory, not on a mini-SD card. Use the file manager to navigate to SP_AllowCertificateInstall.cab and run it. Click Done when it’s done.
Now upload regeditSTG2.exe to your HTC. Use the file manager to navigate to regeditSTG2.exe and run it.
Now from inside the registry editor, navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESecurityPoliciesPolicies
When you get to the second Policies folder, click the Values button.
Highlight the 00001001 entry and then select it.
Change the Value data: from 2 to 1, and then click Done.
Now highlight the 00001005 entry and then select it.
Change the Value data: from 16 to 40, and then click Done.
Now scroll down to the 00001017 entry, highlight it and then select it.
The Value data: may already be set to 144. If it is, leave it alone (just click Done). If it’s not, set it to 144 - then click Done.
Now you can close down the registry editor and reboot your phone (turn the power off, then back on again). Your HTC S621 is now app unlocked and ready to install unsigned software.

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Smart Phone

Windows Mobile 6.0 - Move Email Attachments to Storage Card

by admin 3/1/2008 11:29:00 PM

Steps to move email to Storage Card to free up Memory

You can free up even more memory on your phone by moving all of your downloaded mail and attachments to your Storage Card.

Updated for Windows Mobile 6!

01	Using the file manager in activesync, create the following folders on your Storage Card. \MAPI \MAPI\ATTACHMENTS You can actually name them whatever you want, "Inbox" for example.
02	Now browse to \Windows\Messaging (SmartPhone) or \Windows\MAPI (PocketPC) If you want to save all of your existing mail, move everything in this directory to the new ones on your Storage Card.
03	Now fire up your registry editor and navigate to the following. For WM5 Phones: [ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\MAPI ] For WM6 Phones: [ HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\Inbox\Settings ] Then create the following STRING VALUES. Name: AttachPath String: \Storage Card\MAPI\Attachments Name: PropertyPath String: \Storage Card\MAPI
04	Reboot your phone and then goto your inbox. If you can see all of your mail then mission accomplished. Double check your attachments as well

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Smart Phone

Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5 Training Kit

by admin 2/27/2008 1:20:00 AM

Looking for more information about VS2008 and .NET 3.5?

I suspect you might just be as there is a ton of new functionality and with the pace of everything coming out it isn't likely that you know it all

To help learn the new stuff Microsoft has put a Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5 training kit together with lots of labs and presentations. Just go through the list and check what you would like to know more about.

You can download the trainings kit from here.

Enjoy!

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.NET 2008

What is ALT.NET?

by admin 2/14/2008 8:58:00 PM

What's It All About?

In April of 2007, David Laribee coined the phrase ALT.NET after reading a post by Scott Bellware about the NHibernate Mafia. The core message David was keying off of was the maintainability of a software solution and not the tools involved in creating it.

ALT.NET means many things to many people and the debate will continue about what it means to you.

David proposed ALT.NET signifies:

You’re the type of developer who uses what works while keeping an eye out for a better way.
You reach outside the mainstream to adopt the best of any community: Open Source, Agile, Java, Ruby, etc.
You’re not content with the status quo. Things can always be better expressed, more elegant and simple, more mutable, higher quality, etc.
You know tools are great, but they only take you so far. It’s the principles and knowledge that really matter. The best tools are those that embed the knowledge and encourage the principles (e.g. Resharper.)

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote “there are always two parties; the establishment and the movement.” If you’re ALT.NET, you’re in the movement. You’re shaking out the innovation. When the movement fails, stalls, or needs improving you’re there starting/finding/supporting that next leap forward.

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Determining where your application UI will benefit from AJAX

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For SaaS, user experience is the key factor affecting customer adoption

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We Learn Your Needs and Goals

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Use Evolutionary Approach

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Moving IE Temporary Folders to the Storage Card frees memory

Steps to unlock Windows Mobile 6.0

Steps to move email to Storage Card to free up Memory

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