AGILE WEB DEVELOPMENT VS WATERFALL

What is agile? Agile development is based on short ‘sprints’ where development teams quickly get working prototypes together within a matter of weeks. The focus is on getting something working in the shortest time possible. Once that’s done, the iterative process begins: working out the bugs, honing in on the design, and then test, test, and test some more. Eventually through this process the bugs will work themselves out. At least that is the goal.

So what is the waterfall method, you ask? Well it is almost the opposite. Waterfall projects have a defined set of objectives, desired functionality, budget, and time constraints–and the goal is to plan really well upfront, and hope that all of the pieces fall together in the end. This can lead to some late nights, stressful status meetings, and a lot of heads hitting walls. There has to be a better way.

With agile development, all parties have to agree with expectations. Since most people are used to the waterfall approach, it is difficult to show the client the beta updates without them getting very nervous about what the final outcome is like. We instead try to postpone beta reviews to the very last minute so that the working prototype looks its very best…only to find out that there are now other desired goals and objectives that could have been implemented along the way.

We don’t know if we’ll ever be a truly ‘agile’ development shop, but hopefully we can apply some of the basic principles behind this methodology to produce faster, better, less expensive web products for our clients.

Read more here on the Agile vs. Waterfall discussion

For more information about the agile process, click here

To see what Voltage can offer for web design and development in Denver, send us an email at: info@voltagead.com or give us a call at 303.664.1687 to discuss your web project with you.

VOLTAGE IS GOING TO DRUPALCON DENVER

With DrupalCon Denver fast approaching, we are getting our Drupal hats on over here at Voltage. But what is Drupal, you ask? It is a robust content management system (CMS) that we are turning to more and more for our development needs. We have worked on a number of Drupal 7 sites as of late using custom Drupal themes and Drupal modules for a wide variety of applications.

Now that VOLTAGE offers Drupal development, we are gearing up to learn from industry experts at DrupalCon Denver. From a DrupalCon Trivia Night, to our personal favorite topic: ‘No RFPs! Why Requests for Proposals are Bad for Business (and How We Can Stop Them),’ DrupalCon is going to have a wide variety of informative topics. This session is the Drupal-geeks version of the SXSW panel: OMG your RFPs are killing me!

Read more here on the anti RFP discussion

We are excited to join the Drupal community here in Denver and learn more about how we can leverage Drupal on more and more of our projects.

For more information about the convention, click here

To see what Voltage can offer for Drupal Development in Denver, send us an email at: info@voltagead.com or give us a call at 303.664.1687 to discuss your Drupal project with you.

VOLTAGE DOES DRUPAL DEVELOPMENT IN DENVER

Here at VTG, we find ourselves turning to Drupal more and more as our CMS of choice. But sometimes you gotta ask yourself, “Why Drupal?”

We’ve been asking ourselves that same question, and here is what we’ve learned:

Drupal is a powerful, robust platform–right out of the box. With the release of Drupal 7, users now have the most flexible, easiest to use version of Drupal to date. Some of the new features we have been leveraging on our latest Drupal sites are Features, (which allows developers to use a collection of different Drupal entities into a module that they can update), Views, the new administrative UI, new support for WYSIWYG editors, improved drag-and-drop admin tasks, an enhanced log-in system, a more secure password system, a new ‘shortcuts’ admin tool to access favorite sections of the admin, and a few more.

VTG recently developed a multisite installation using Drupal 7 which allows for one admin area that powers two unique sites. Partnered with Vladimir Jones and Xcel Energy, VOLTAGE designed and developed this multisite installation of Drupal 7. Voltage has a lot to offer for Drupal Development in Denver.

Residential site

Business site

VTG also recently worked with Bold Earth Adventures in the design and development of a Drupal 7 teen travel site geared toward sending youth on exciting adventures across the world.

Bold Earth Teen Adventures site

More and more clients are requesting content management systems (CMS) to maintain their websites in-house, and Drupal has been requested by name on multiple occasions.

Many companies have already turned to Drupal as their CMS platform of choice. Some of them include Fast Company, McDonalds, The White House, New York State Senate and Public Library, Harvard Magazine, Grammy.com, Mattel, Cartoon Network, Martha Stewart, Brown University, Xcel Energy, and many others.

Most people looking to build a new website with a CMS choose from the main 3 CMS platforms: WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. So is Drupal the right tool for your project? If you need a site that is flexible and robust for a wide-variety of applications, Drupal might be your best option. If your only requirement for your site is for a blog or a wiki, maybe WordPress, Blogger or MediaWiki would be a better solution. If you are looking for a site that can be configured to play nice with other sites or technologies, Drupal is probably the best solution. If you are looking for site that can handle a variety of functions such as web forms, Drupal is a great choice. As with any technology, there will always be a learning curve. If you are not willing and able to pay your dues in learning how it works or not interested in hiring a Drupal expert, it probably isn’t your best option.

Luckily, Voltage has a team of experts ready to design and develop your site in Drupal. If you are interested in what Voltage can offer for Drupal Development in Denver, send us an email at: info@voltagead.com or give us a call at 303.664.1687 to discuss your Drupal project with you.

The VOLTAGE x HIKAKIN christmas card was ranked 2nd in Adweek’s to 10 agency Christmas cards of the year!  We’re thrilled and if you haven’t seen it yet – check it out here!  Christmas mix and video. We owe a great big THANKS to HIKAKIN for his Beatboxing Badness and to all of our clients who made this year a great year! Thanks Reebok, Worthy, Centura, Xcel, Trice, Smashburger, SmartClick, Fresh Produce, Umpqua, Bold Earth, Cloud 9 Living, WW Reynolds, Covidien, The Wild Animal Sanctuary, our friends and partners at VJ, and many many others!! 2011 was sublime, wishing you all the best! We’ve also added a new Christmas mashup from DJ Riko here!! Enjoy and have a great holiday! Thanks to the Egotist for posting as well.

In September 2011, VOLTAGE and VJ launched Centura Health’s Distracted Driving Challenge as part of the health care provider’s BetterMe Blueprint Program.  This comprehensive online program uses a foundation of email and social media to tap into drivers’ personal relationships and help them stay committed to the challenge. The driving challenge is the first in a quarterly effort to raise awarness of Colorado’s largest healthcare provider and kicks off the first of a set of unique campaign challenges that you’ll be hearing about in the future.

People who’ve register for this Challenge on the Web landing page or Facebook tab, receive weekly emails over four weeks that enable them and others in their network to track their progress. The campaign creates a personal connection to try and change behavior.  Names are chosen randomly for a $50 gift card, and one person who completes all four weeks of the programs will be selected for unique prizes.

Check it out at http://drivingchallenge.centuraconnected.org/

VOLTAGE has also worked with Centura to digitally integrate VJ’s connected campaign which links Colorado’s largest health care provider to its family of brands, including 13 hospitals across the state. To do this we’ve designed Centura.org, which was developed on the MedSeek platform, and added a host of hospital landing pages, campaign pages and other digital media including online banner display ads, rich ad units, and facebook apps.

Now, go on. Get connected to a thing called life!

Interactive Copywriter

Need we say more. We need a wordsmith who can run circles around our programmers and write for the web. Open to all sorts of interest – freelance, full-time, part-time, time sensitive, please just reach out to us – we’d love to hear from you. Check out our post on Krop

Our studio’s located in downtown Louisville, Colorado – Money magazines #1 place to live. Just a short jaunt from Boulder and about 20 minutes from Downtown Denver.

Email us here : info@voltagead.com

VOLTAGE has helped Umpqua Feather Merchants put their best fly forward this year for the Flyfishing retailer show in Denver. In 2012 Umpqua celebrates is 40th anniversary as one of the best know brands in the industry. To honor this milestone VOLTAGE created a tagline and custom graphics to  headline the show along with designing their new 2012 Catalog. Umpqua’s brand is rich with history and flyfishing stories. Thanks for the great products over the years – Keep tight lines and  tyin’ flies for another 40 years Umpqua!

Some pages VOLTAGE designed for the 2012 Catalog:

VOLTAGE is on the prowl for junior or senior level WEB PROGRAMMERS and FRONT END DEVELOPERS to permanently join the team. If you have mastered the matrix of web programming and cross browser compatability and want a chill work environment with some great colleagues – then please drop us a resume of your mad skills at this address : info@voltagead.com

You could be one of the lucky ones to join a rapidly growing team of creative and dedicated individuals.  We work in an office that’s based in downtown Louisville, Colorado – Money magazines #1 place to live in 09, and it’s only gotten better. Just a short jaunt from Boulder and about 20 minutes from Downtown Denver. Can’t live here – that’s o.k. – if you’re really good you can work remotely in your underwear or pajamas, or whatever you prefer – just show us your code, and quick, because we’re moving at ludacris speed. Yes, we’ve passed plaid.

The perfect candidates will possess the following qualifications :

- 2-3 years experience developing websites with a good dose of HTML(5), XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, and PHP
- Lots of positive energy and attitude.
- A quick learner, is flexible and eager to attack digital challenges
- Experience collaborating with a design team to produce online campaigns,
- Has worked with wordpress and other CMS systems, or custom backends
- experience building custom Facebook pages/apps and integrating popular API’s
- attention to detail and design – loves webfonts and wants to push good type on the web
- prays daily that ie. 6 is wiped completely off the face of the earth

Advanced Programmers . . .

- You really understand PHP, MySQL, Javascript, HTML, CSS, XML and Performance on the web.
- You consider yourself a website “engineer” you speak every dialect of technology
- Relish in server side management and care taking
- You really like the song Kip sang at his wedding in Napoleon Dynamite
- Even Ivan Drago couldn’t break your code!!

Also looking for a Secretary/Phone answerer.

The perfect candidate will want more than ever to answer the VOLTAGE office line and manicure nails at the same time. We won’t be surprised and will welcome any aspiring novelists, poets, or time travelers. A desire to learn basic SEO / web analytics a plus. Did we mention FREE frozen yogurt?

Email us here : info@voltagead.com

We’re excited to announce a new iPhone app developed by VOLTAGE for Xcel Energy is now available in the App Store. The FREE game – Bulb Blasters recalls the good ol’ fashioned awesomeness of 80′s arcade play as you try and blast less efficient incandescent bulbs off the screen with your energy saving CFL Cannon.  Bulb Blasters is a fun and thumb numbing way to remind people to use energy efficient CFL bulbs and get energy tips between each level.  Download it today!! it’s FREE

About Bulb Blasters

With your energy-efficient CFL (Compact Fluorescent) light bulb cannon, blast away those old-school energy-sucking bulbs. See how many you can outlast. And between games get “Energy Tips” on how to better reserve this important resource.

Find it under “Bulb Blasters” at the iPhone app store.

We are proud to share the honor of being one of Northern Colorado’s fastest-growing private companies!