Wufoo? What is That?

Any website designer will tell you, forms are tricky to build and tricky to code. I almost always groan internally when I hear someone ask for one. But not any longer. The folks over at Wufoo have changed all of that. They’ve created a system that, “helps you create contact forms, online surveys, and invitations so you can collect the data, registrations and online payments you need without writing a single line of code.” Isn’t that nice of them?

Plus, they’ve included some cool features, like PayPal payment integration, basic order forms, reporting, and quite a bit more. When you have a moment, you should check them out.

Let us know if we can help you integrate their solutions into your website. Feel free to use our Get Started Form (built using Wufoo actually), or send us an email.

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should!

Cooking is one of my life’s passions, and I fancy myself quite the accomplished home chef. Like a lot of hobbies and passions, you never stop learning, do you? A couple of years ago, I discovered a recipe for Veal Paprika. The recipe encouraged me not to use your garden-variety paprika, but instead to find and shell out some decent cash for “smoked paprika (sweet)”. Besides salt and pepper, that was the only spice used in the dish. Okay, I thought. I’ll go find some. When I brought home my little tin and opened it to see what all the fuss was about, I literally swooned when that smoky oak scent wafted through my kitchen.

Needless to say the Veal Paprika I made was amazing, and there was no doubt in my mind that it was all down to the smoked paprika. In my home chef like mind, I thought I had discovered a spice that would revolutionize some of my standard dishes, like meatloaf, my pork roast tenderloins, perhaps a little in my homemade marinara sauce, or better yet…how would it taste if I added some to my homemade egg pasta?! I couldn’t wait to try it in every single thing I made…and I did, much to my family’s disappointment. During what was I think the sixth or seventh meal that I had added my new spice best friend to, I yammered on and on about it. I wanted to “add it to this and that dish, it would be great if I did this with it,” etc. etc. My daughter, ever patient with me, looked right at me, a tad bit of trepidation in her eyes, and said, “Uhm Dad, just cause you can, doesn’t mean you should.”

She was so right. I went a bit loopy cause I was excited by something new, something that I thought would add extra flavor and enhancements to my dishes that were already darn good to begin with (if I do say so myself).

Website creation is another of my life’s passions, and I know I’m quite accomplished at it because it’s how I’ve made my living for the past 13 years. And, the one thing I’ve learned when I’m building a site is to always tell myself “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” Sure, I have the ability to use “exotic spices” like animations, flash, videos, music, etc., when I’m creating a website. But I won’t if it doesn’t enhance the overall “dish” or main focus of the website, because sometimes that extra flavor can just ruin the whole thing.

So if you’re looking at your existing website, or thinking about having one created, remember…just cause you can, doesn’t mean you should.

Oh, and in case you’re curious here’s my recipe for Veal Paprika (modified a bit from the original I found in a Williams Sonoma cookbook)

Veal Paprika

Ingredients:

1lb of Roma Tomatoes

2lb of *boneless veal shoulder, cut into 1 inch cubes

2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

1 yellow onion, diced

2 green peppers, diced

4 tablespoons smoked paprika (sweet)

salt & pepper to taste

chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (for garnish)

What to do with it all:

Core and peel the skins of the tomatoes. Sounds easy, right? Well it is actually, here’s how to do it:
Get out a saucepan and fill it ¾ of the way up with water and set it on the stove to boil. Meanwhile, use a paring knife and cut out the cores, and then cut an X on the opposite end. Get out a big bowl, fill it with water and some ice cubes…it needs to be cold! Then, when the water is boiling, stick the tomatoes and wait about 30 seconds, take `em out with a slotted spoon or strainer, and put `em in the big bowl filled with water and ice cubes. Let `em set in the water for a few seconds, take `em out…and peel off the skins with your fingers…they should just slide right off. Once all the skins are removed, cut each tomato in half, and carefully squeeze out the seeds, and then give all the tomatoes a coarse chop.

Now, in a dutch oven (which I prefer) or a heavy sauté or saucepan, warm up the olive oil to medium heat. When its “hot”, add the veal cubes in batches (don’t crowd the cubes!) and sauté gently until lightly seared on all sides (about 3-4 minutes per batch) and stick it on a plate and repeat with the next batch until you’re all done. Do NOT allow the cubes to brown! I can’t stress that enough.

Now that you’re all done searing the veal cubes, add the diced onion to the same pan (add more oil if you need to) and sauté until their translucent…about 3 minutes or so. Now…add the tomatoes, peppers, paprika, salt and pepper, and stir occasionally for a few minutes. Then, turn your heat down to medium-low and add all of the veal back into the pan and let cooked, uncovered, for a couple of hours. Stir gently every now and again…if the sauce gets too thick add a little bit of water.

That’s it. Get out a big server platter, cook up about 16 ounces worth of homemade extra wide egg noodles (you’ll have to email me for that recipe) and place it on the platter…and then top with the Veal Paprika and a little garnish of the chopped parsley.

*Note. If you can’t find boneless veal shoulder, try using flank steak, that works pretty good as well.

I’m an Attorney now, right?

“I’ve read all of John Grisham’s novels, I’ve watched every episode of Boston Legal and now I’m certainly qualified to be an attorney, right? Right?”

Yep. You’re an attorney. Just like anyone who’s ever watched NASCAR is qualified to be a race car driver, or someone who’s watched House or Grey’s Anatomy can claim to be a surgeon.

Totally absurd, yes? Of course it is.

But, during my 13 years of being in the web design profession, at least once a week a non-web professional tells me how to go about doing my job. I’m told how to do things because someone “…read this article” or someone “…went to this 1 hour seminar” or “I’ve got a copy of Adobe Photoshop so that means I know how to create a web site.” Well that’s like saying, “I’ve got a box of crayons so I’m an artist now!” Good, knock yourself out, Picasso.

Here’s the thing. If I need legal advice I trust that my attorney will steer me in the right direction. It’s in her best interest to help me…I’ve paid her and she wants me to come back and use her services again. She’ll take the time to listen to me and my legal needs, and then she’ll do everything in her power to advise me on the best course of action, how to go about doing it, how long it should take and how much money it’s ultimately going to cost me.

That’s exactly what we do for our customers at Sundog Media.

But some of our customers have a tendency to have really, really forceful and demanding opinions (you know who ya are, we still love ya though) and so we spend a great deal of time having “discussions” about the proper way to do something. Sometimes we will bang our heads against our desks in private and then acquiesce. Other times we will flat out refuse. But we do take the time to listen and we do our utmost to respect our customers opinions, we wouldn’t be professionals if we didn’t.

Take a moment and read this article for me, “If an Architect had to work like a Web Programmer“. This article has been around for quite some time, not really sure who wrote it, but as web professionals we think it’s not only hilarious…but it’s also very, very true.

So the next time you have a chat with us or anyone else in the wonderful world of web professionals, do us a small courtesy, respect the fact that we know what we’re doing, why would you be paying for our services otherwise? And if at all possible, we’d like a hug.

It’s the Latest Trend!

…Don’t be afraid, it’s not the return of Chia Pets.

Ugh. I don’t know about you, but every time I hear the phrase, “it’s the latest trend!” I tend to cringe, avert my eyes and move on to something else. I’ve never been a trend-setter, I’ve never followed the latest trends, and if someone ever called me “trendy” I’d probably get arrested for verbal assault.

However. I have to admit, sometimes trends can turn into the ordinary and commonplace, and prove to be a benefit over time.

Back in the mid-80s when I was in high school/college (yeah, I know I’m old, shud up and get back to reading) a lot of my more affluent, i.e., spoiled, friends had Apple IIe’s or Atari 800 computers. It was pretty trendy to have your own computer (I still had my faithful Royal manual typewriter.) and we all wanted one of our very own. Who knew that one day those trendy and expensive things would become so ordinary and commonplace that they’d reshape the world as we know it.

Well, there is a trend I wanna write about and it’s called, Social Networking. Undoubtedly you’ve heard of it. Perhaps you haven’t heard that exact phrase, but I’m sure you’ve heard of, “Blogging,” “MySpace,” “Twitter,” “Facebook,” “Delicious” and tons of others. These sites and their social networking abilities are now a daily way of life for millions of people to share and connect with each other on-line. And, this “trend” is growing rapidly! Which is great news for you and your website, because you too can be a part of it with very little effort! All you need to do is allow your website and its content to be “shared”.

Let’s look at an example…which coincidentally appears right at the bottom left of this blog article. It’s that little graphic with the word “Share” on it. Just click on it and see what pops up. Notice that you can add it into a ton of the most popular social networking sites - just with the click of a button.

Now, think about your website’s content, and its potential for connecting not only with your visitors, but with their friends, families and colleagues. For example, say you’ve written an important news article or an event for your website. Well, all you need on your site is this same “Sharing” system I’m using here. A visitor comes along to your site, reads the article, clicks on the sharing graphic and places it into their own personal social network. Voilà! You’re article or event has just been shared! It’s instant word-of-mouth.

Yep, I hear ya…”I wanna start sharing NOW! How do I get this system into my website?” Well, it’s really easy, just contact your Sundog Media Account Manager or Sales Rep, and they’ll tell ya all about it, and you’ll be sharing in no time.

Who knew it would be so trendy to share? Makes me feel warm all over…

Everybody wants some Validation…

…including your website. During your Internet travels you may have come across articles or comments about validating your website. I’m sure most of them said there was a need for it, and I’m sure a lot of them said “You’d better have that done, or it’s the end of the World as we know it!” kinda thing.

But what is website Validation and how does it work?

Well, a few years back a consortium of Über-geeks got together and formed the W3C, or “The World Wide Web Consortium” (cue Darth Vader theme) and their mission has been, and I quote, “To lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web.” Which in and of itself is a really cool thing. You see, there are no real laws or standards governing the creation and implementation of a website, people can just create sites willy-nilly and hope they work…there’s no one to stop them. Hence the need for an organization like the W3C, because over the years they have been instrumental in creating a set of guidelines that almost all web developers follow. And these same W3C folks created Validation Tools that web developers use to test and “validate” the sites they build. So now, everyone can sleep easy at night knowing that there is some “control” and that the majority of websites are all adhering to a set of guidelines and protocols.

As I mentioned before, the W3C are Über-geeks, but they are also very very STRICT Über-geeks. Remember back in the day, that teacher you had in school who wouldn’t let you get away with anything? At the first sign of trouble, they would either discipline you themselves with a short, sharp shock, or send you crying down to the principal’s office (it couldn’t have just happened to me, I’m sure.)? Well, the W3C are even stricter than that! For instance, they absolutely hate it when a web developer uses an ampersand symbol like this ‘&’ when they are simply writing out text. “Oh no,” says the W3C (cue Darth Vader music again) “…you have to write that out as ASCII code, we’ll have none of that easy-to-use ampersand business in here, thank you very much!” Does it ultimately matter whether or not a web developer uses an ampersand instead of code when writing out simple text? Nope. Not one little bit. But that’s okay. Because companies like ours use a little known but more powerful tool called, “common sense”.

Every website we create goes through two validation processes: Using the W3C’s protocols and standards, we validate all of our HTML code, as well as all of our CSS code. This helps us ensure that the website is being built properly, and will not have any errors in it when we launch it.

If we come up against the STRICT guidelines of the W3C during our validation process, we simply evaluate the “error” and turn our common sense on. If it’s a valid error, we fix it, if it’s not, we don’t. Simple as that. It’s good to know that we’re safe in the knowledge that the website is working perfectly, thanks to the W3C and the fact that we can’t get sent to the principal’s office any longer when we “misbehave.”