Blog entries

Cookeville, TN is a beautiful place to work and play

Jennifer Driller — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 03:15:29 +0100

Cookeville, Tennessee is almost centrally located between Knoxville, Nashville, Chattanooga and Lexington, Kentucky. Therefore it is nicknamed "The Hub". It is also the economic center for it's surrounding towns making it more than just another college town.

Cookeville doesn't just support it's own population of 28,000 people in the city proper. It reportedly handl...

What Your Customers Want from Your Web Site

Jennifer Driller — Tue, 04 May 2010 13:01:39 +0100

They are looking for:

Contact information
Directions to your place of business
Warranty or support information
About you - how long you've been in business, why you're in business, what you hope to accomplish with your business, what kind of business (person) you are, what you offer that sets you apart
How you can help solve their problem
What kind of quality do you provide (through ratings, reviews, or testimonials)

Every day, potential clients are searching the majo...

SEO Stands for Search Engine Optimization

Jennifer Driller — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 05:00:00 +0100

It's paramount to understand that you just can't throw up a website (although there are still sites out there that look like they have been vomited up), and expect people to just show up and give you money for your product, service or information. That's like hanging a sign on your closet door and pronouncing yourself in business. It doesn't work. You have to be findable.

Now there are all kinds of magic bullet, secret, guru-type things

What's the written equivalent ...

Why Choose Drillerweb?

Jennifer Driller — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 07:17:52 +0100

Although many firms can build web sites, Drillerweb builds sites that get results. Getting our clients results doesn’t just make for a nice tagline; it’s why we stand-alone. How do we do this you ask? Great question. First, we listen very carefully to you. You tell us what you hope to accomplish with your site and we help you develop a strategy, design a site and implement content on an ongoing basis that will help you reach your goals.

Next, you should know who will design and...

Web Design is Not for Dummies

Jennifer Driller — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 07:08:20 +0100

A website today is more than just yesterday's business card. It's like opening another storefront or hiring another sales team. It's your catalog, brochure, library, and PR department all rolled into one.

The competition is already reaching the clients who are looking for you. Do you really want to leave that kind of potential on the table? Should something this important be left in the hands of someone who is just out to make a buck?

You've been looking for us, and now you've...

Roboform for Easy Password Management

Jennifer Driller — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 06:54:04 +0100

A few years ago I began working as a freelancers for a corporation with a team of several people. We were managing and working on several projects at a time. This means you have development servers, production servers, ftp accounts for each, Joomla accounts, vendor accounts, and then if you've purchased extensions or templates you have accounts with other sites you need access to in order to do your work.

Try Roboform Now!

I spent countless skype messages and phone cal...

Web Marketing Solutions for Every Need

Jennifer Driller — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 06:37:45 +0100

We Could Be Your Next AH-HA Moment

We design for both the end-user and as a sub-contractor for other web design and marketing firms. Our tag line "integrity is our niche" is more than just a catchy phrase. It is the reason we can do business for this unique mix of clientele. We never try to compete with those we are trying to help. It's this very brand of excellence that attracts us to so many ordinary businesses.

Our prices are flexible enough to meet most budgets because...

I Love Building WebSites

Jennifer Driller — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:55:26 +0100

I'm really having a good time here. I don't know if it's appropriate to let your client's know you're having a good time and you would do this stuff for free, but I gotta tell ya. It feels really good to spend your days doing something you love. I love being a "geek". I love figuring out how to make it work, putt...

We Use Joomla

Jennifer Driller — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 03:35:25 +0100

Have you heard of Open Source? Well, if not, that's okay. We have! We've been designing websites for over a decade now, and there simply is no easier, faster, or more cost effective way to build a quality site. Joomla is a content management system, or CMS. It's absolutely free. Don't you just love free stuff?

Looking for a catch? Well, the only catch is that you have to learn how to use Joomla. The learning curve is steep or shallow depending on your experience. The good news is that ...

Joomla Helps Save Money

Jennifer Driller — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

It's true Joomla is an open-source free CMS (content management system), but that doesn't mean there is no cost involved. The cost is usually in time spent on the learning curve.

Now there are some decent tutorials out there and even a manual you can download and read. If you're cash-poor and time-rich, then that's the way to go. Or if you're one of those people who just love to learn new programs or systems, Joomla can be a satisfying topic.

However, it's important to weigh t...

Creating a Groups Category "Home" Page in JomSocial

Jennifer Driller — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:00:00 +0100

I'm working on a site that needs areas devoted to two different types of users. we opted to use groups to divide the sections of the web user experience. Let's call the first category of groups "Projects" and the second category "Vendors".

First create the categories in the backend administrator area. Make note of the category IDs. Then create some sample groups for testing purposes. Call them project 1, project 2 (assign them to the Projects categor) and vendors 1, and vendors 2 assig...

Still Working ...

Jennifer Driller — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:00:00 +0100

I'm still working almost full time for Wyndstorm Corporation as a freelance contractor. Through Wyndstorm I've been able to hone my skills in project management, CSS, and Joomla customization.

I've worked on projects including:

Oddpodz.com
Riplounge.com
Solderbynumbers.com
BailoutNavigator.com
FHALoanTrust.com
VALoanTrust.com
and various internal projects creating marketable products in the form of extensions, etc.

I'm enjoying the team atmosphere here at Wyndsto...

The Process Takes Care of the Details

Jennifer Driller — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

I've learned two things that are extremely important when it comes to web design projects.

1. You HAVE to have a process that moves a project along or you will hit problems down the road.

2. You must follow the process do or die .. however, if your process isn't working for a project, on't be married to it.

That sounds like an oxymoron, but in reality it's very useful. What you have to understand is that while a process is ultimately important (think blueprints for a ...

Copy a database in Linux

Jennifer Driller — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I've been working with a linux server and came across a situation where I needed to essentially copy a database from a development environment to a production environment. Trying to use Plesk to do this boils down to several complications with export/import functions in MySQL, but there is a supremely easy way if your hosting service allows Secure Shell access.

Here are the steps:

Download Putty - A free telnet and SSH Client for Windows and Unix platforms.

Enter your ...

Change Add Entry Form in SOBI2 (Sigsiu)

Jennifer Driller — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0100

Ran into an issue recently where the client wanted to add some custom text on the Add Entry form in Sigsiu's SOBI2. SOBI2 is a directory component for Joomla. I thought I'd post how we did it.

I edited the file form.class.php located in the components/com_sobi2 folder.

Go to line 544 and here's what the original code looks like:

/*
* required fields info
*/
global $mosConfig_live_site;
$formTarget = "https:".substr($mosConfig_live_site,5)."...

Joomla & Feedburner

Jennifer Driller — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:00:00 +0100

There are a few steps to take when utilizing feedburner for joomla sites. Here's how I handle it.

Go to Feedburner.com and open up an account.

You will have no feeds entered yet, and Feedburner will let you know this. So we have to find our feed url.

Go back to your site. If you have a blog component installed it's easy to find your RSS link. Mine is http://www.drillerw...

Standards Based Development

Jennifer Driller — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:00:00 +0100

For those of you who haven't been looking at the news in web design lately, you're probably not going to get excited about standards based design. For web designers, it's the new black. Companies are demanding designers provide smoother running, cleaner looking web sites that work on all browsers. We achieve these aims through the new Web 2.0. That's just a fancy phrase for clean, smooth, browser-friendly, and interactive.

But it doesn't stop at that. There are actually long-overdue...

Do I Need a Website?

Jennifer Driller — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:00:00 +0100

Is a web site necessary?

Well, no. Breathing is necessary. In the grand scheme of things, you can do without a website and probably do fine. People who tell you you HAVE to have one are trying to sell you one!

There are a few things to consider when deciding whether a website will benefit your business. Ask yourself at least these questions: What do you want your website to do for you (make money is a little vague)? What is a realistic budget for creating and maintainin...

What is a CMS?

Jennifer Driller — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:00:00 +0100

CMS stands for Content Management System. I used to think that a CMS was a company that fed you articles for your web sites, but no, you have to write those yourself (or find an article writer through a freelance site). A content management system is a program usually written in a language called PHP which will sit on your web server and feed stuff from a database into a web browser in just about any way you tell it to. How you tell it to is to use a template.

A template is the way ...

Benefits of Outsourcing

Jennifer Driller — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:00:00 +0100

You're looking for some help because you're way behind, clients are breathing down your neck, their holding those last payments until you complete some more of their website, and you just can't seem to juggle it all.

Sound familiar?

Or how about this scenario? You've got the opportunity to close on a huge contract, but you're just not strong in one major area of the project. You can't do it all!

That's why I'm a sub-contractor.

In short, I help w...