Web Development in Indiana

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Comment by Tim Piazza on September 29, 2009 at 8:48am

I can see your point, Collin, though from a client perspective, having a custom solution developed by a small shop has its issues, too. As a customer, there is no one else I can turn to for help and I cannot guarantee that the vendor of a custom solution will still be in business 2 years from now when I want to make site changes. Things happen. New opportunities arise.

As a case in point, I had a custom software solution developed several years ago for an automated publishing workflow by a sizable company on Whacker Drive in Chicago, funded by Adobe. They wrote the commercial product that my custom software was based on. But after a few years, they shifted focus and discontinued the product. We've been able to continue using the original solution, but now are forced to create an entirely new workflow on a different platform.

With an Open Source CMS, the client always has alternatives. I tell clients that if we develop on open source and they decide they don't like working with us, they won't be stuck with us. It's up to us to provide great service and support to respond to all of their needs.

Comment by Collin Schneider on September 29, 2009 at 8:19am

I'll bite too. We've worked for clients in Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress, EZ Publish, and quite a few others. We also wrote several of our own, including a massive one for an ABC affiliate television property. All in all, most open source CMS systems are poorly written and have a hodge-podge of code underneath, due to their length of time in development and their group leadership. It's tough to build a great product when you aim at a very general goal: manage content. Drupal and Joomla struggle from trying to be all things to all people. Are they for pages, blogs, e-commerce? Wordpress has seen much larger success due to its focus on making a great blogging experience.

Most often, we've found, it's easier to standardize on a PHP framework or in-house code library and write our own purpose-specific CMS using best practices for security and UI usability. It makes the developer's life easier in the long-run (easier to support), your customer is happier with a focused product interface made for them, and your company has a tool they know inside and out ready for anything. It's a little more effort initially, but pays off in efficiency and effectiveness.

On a side note, if you need a nice open-source, general-purpose CMS that has had a singular developer and you cannot afford to write a CMS in-house, you might try Interspire Web Publisher. We've just started dabbling with that for a client and it's proved useful and flexible so far.

Comment by Tim Piazza on September 29, 2009 at 7:51am

Okay, I'll bite. I went on a hunt for an open source platform that our agency could standardize on, that would fit most web projects. Looking at the landscape of solutions, it came down to Drupal and Joomla. Drupal had the advantage of maturity and broad support, and Joomla had the advantage of being evolutionary, new code from the ground up based on the things people were doing with Drupal.

I asked our PHP guy to implement a site that came out of our creative department with one or the other. He fought with Drupal for 2 weeks, and just couldn't quite wrap his brain around how to wrap this site around it. I suggested he try Joomla and he had the site functioning in 3 days.

So far, we're really pleased with Joomla. There is a base of commercial extension support, and it seems to sit well on most LAMP servers.

I bought some books on Ruby/Rails to mess around with myself because it seems to be a great development platform for MacOS. But I would be more limited on where I can go for help locally (I'm in Evansville) so it just seemed wiser to stick with a PHP solution.

Of course, Wordpress is probably the best blogging platform out there and it has its place. We have one site with Joomla and WPMU integrated so that we can host several blogs in an environment where the authors don't need to have accounts on the Joomla site.

Comment by Eric Bischoff on September 28, 2009 at 1:13pm

I need to pick up a flexible CMS for several projects and the choices are overwhelming: Drupal, Joomla, Plone, Wordpress w/Ruby On Rails.
Here's your chance, what's great about your favorite CMS?

Comment by Tim Piazza on September 28, 2009 at 11:46am

Hey, do we have any Joomla developers who are interested in contract work? I have several existing and new clients with sites built in Joomla that need fixes, additions, upgrades and such. I want to make sure we're getting the best services for our client and that we've got coverage in case our lead programmer gets overwhelmed with overlapping projects.

Comment by Justin Harter on September 27, 2009 at 6:18pm

Hi All -- Refresh Indy is coming up on October 7, 2009 at 7 PM at the RAM Downtown. Learn more about us and reserve your seat at http://refreshindy.com!

Comment by Aaron Dudenhofer on September 17, 2009 at 11:21am

Drupal Meetup - Case Study of Jillian's New Drupal Website
September 30 - At Jillians Downtown. Great for newbies and rockstars alike - Free to attend and everyone welcome!

http://smallerindiana.com/events/jillians-drupal-social

Comment by Blythe Banta on September 13, 2009 at 4:06pm

Join the ladies of Tri Kappa Irvington philanthropic sorority for our first annual Girls' night Our Benefiting Peyton manning Children's Hospital at St. Vincent!

Live music provided by bandwagon, pampering compliments of Urban Euphoria, and style show featuring fashions from Lilly's Boutique Gallery and Pillow Talk Boutique. Also enjoy hors d’oeuvres, free chocolate tasting, wine bar, signature cocktails, and more! A silent auction will be held to raise funds for the Child Life department at Peyton Manning Children's Hospital. A red carpet contest will be held for best hair, shoes, hand bag, and dress! The first 400 women to arrive will also receive a swag bag full of freebies and get their picture taken on the red carpet! So grab that LBD, that sassy heels, and your girlfriends, and have some fun!

Tickets are $40 from any Tri Kappa Member, or $45 on line. For more information about the event, tickets, or sponsorship/donation opportunities, please visit www.trikappairvington.org

Comment by Gerald Hardister on August 28, 2009 at 11:50am

Whitney,
Let me know what you need and where you are located I have exp in all of those areas. Email me so we can speak about details gerald@mozaic-media.com

Comment by Whitney Gibson on August 28, 2009 at 11:08am

Hey! I'm looking for a Sr Level Graphic/Web Designer for a week long porject! We are looking for someone with Dreamweaver and Flash experience. The position is in Downtown Indianapolis, IN. Flexible hourly rate. Let me know if your interested!!!

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