New Projects and an Evolving Clientele
The times have changed for Feather River Productions in recent years, as we are now asked to do more consulting, specialized web development, SEO and online community based websites. This is a trend that expresses how complex the web has become and the incredible collaboration that goes on in ways not seen 10 years ago.
Since the beginning of 2011 Feather River Productions has done a variety of specialized projects. Following are a few featured projects we have done for a diverse array of companies.
Spring 2011: Bloguin Sports Blog Network
Bloguin contacted FRP because their huge network of blogs and main website was loading very slow and needed a perfomance upgrade to manage their websites and the many ads that load from their ad network.
Ben Koo and Derek Hanson of Bloguin worked closely with James Foreman of FRP to debug their performance issues. James recommended using a different template framework created by YooTheme, called Warp 6. This framework is a Joomla CMS based system that has incredible features and easy to learn customizations.
The end result, after weeks of web development, was a fresh, clean website system that loaded ads, blog pages and all else at least 8 times faster than the previous template framework.
2011 Ongoing Contract with SF Dept of the Environment
Our clientele has expanded to include more local Cities, Government and Non-profit organizations the past few years. In 2011 we continued our work with the San Francisco Department of the Environment. We were hired to manage, and continue to develop, the SFapproved website because of our expertise in developing web portals and directories, as well as our keen sense of how to find solutions for very complex issues when users interact with the content of a website.
We have gone on to customize a rating and commenting system for their large directory of products, as well as develop a way to import and export new products directly into the website database with a click of a button.
Feather River Productions has a passion for helping organizations of all kinds, but especially those that make a difference in our world and society. This website project fits into the values we have as individuals and our company as a whole.
Featured Online Community Web Design
In 2009 a small energetic group in Hinesburg, Vermont were awarded a grant to develop a carpool matching website for the local area. After viewing proposals from dozens of web professionals, James Foreman was chosen to design and develop the Hinesburg Rides website.
The site was created using the Joomla! content management system and went live in January 2010. As an Open Source CMS, Joomla was a perfect fit for the project and had many components for developing the social media (Facebook like) aspect of the website.
The project objectives included the following:
- The most important aspect was to create a site where people in the local area could sign-up, setup their profile with pertinent information and find others on the website looking for a carpool partner.
- Messages could be sent on the site in real time, the website information would be fully secure and members could create their own groups on the site.
- Community volunteers could login, update the website and manage all aspects of the Hinesburg Rides network.
The objectives above and many others were all achieved for the website using Joomla! components called JomSocial and Kunena Forum. The site is unique among carpool matching website designs because it has a social networking focus where people can get to know each other online before they meet in person.
In addition to the carpool matching system, James was asked to write most of the content, design the look and feel, choose tag lines and be the project manager for the team assigned to assist with the website decision making.
Each project needs to be well managed for success and James sets up an account for each using Basecamp from 37 Signals. This system has been incredible for efficiency, ease of use and organizing every aspect of a project from start to finish. If it is a long or complex project each correspondence is on the site for reference at any time by each person given access.
View Hinesburg Rides Website »
