Articles

As 2012 was winding down and the holiday season was winding up, I took time to work on some of our internal projects.

While updating some applications to Rails 3, I noticed that our gem, Flash Message Conductor, was not still Rails 3 ready.

Instead of replacing all of the syntactic sugar that Flash Message Conductor gives us to the Rails defaults in our applications, I decided to update the gem to use Rails 3.

I'm pleased to announce that Flash Message Conductor 2.0 is now available for download and it's compatible with all versions of Rails 3 (3.0, 3.1, and 3.2).

Still using Rails 2? Don't worry, you can still using version 1.x of the gem in your projects.

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When Robby asked me to migrate our app, heybrainstormr.com, over to AppFog, I was surprised. I am a Frontend Developer here at Planet Argon and am not used to doing things that include the words migrating, database or runtimes. He assured me that if I needed help, a developer would be within shouting distance to assist. Confident in the fact that backup was available, I headed into the fog.

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We worked with McMenamins, and local design shop R/West, to help build out the McMenamins mobile site.

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We started working with McMenamins earlier this year. McMenamins is a unique client in that most of its locations are of historic significance. They buy old, historic buildings and keep all of their unique history intact while converting parts of them to a theater or restaurant or bar or all three. They have more than 50 locations all over the Pacific Northwest. They needed a mobile site that would showcase what all their locations had to offer in terms of food, drink, movies, events, etc. For example, if you were looking for a location with a movie theater, a soaking pool and bike racks that is within 5 miles of your current location, you are in luck. Their new location search page will let you define your criteria to find that information. Whether or not you can actually sit in a soaking pool while watching a movie after locking up your bike isn’t guaranteed.

Fast forward to the present where we have launched McMenamins new mobile site that was designed by R/West, a local design shop, and implemented by your good friends at Planet Argon. It has been a fun and challenging journey for sure.

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“What are the most annoying things you encounter when filling out a web form?” was a recent tweet posted by our Chief Evangelist and it got me thinking. Web forms are the one interaction you are most likely forced to deal with more regularly than you’d like; to sign up for that online service, join that social community, or just because completing the goal online is easier than offline. Usually it’s easier to buy that airline ticket online, instead of picking up the phone and calling that surely booking agent. Buying a ticket to that show should be more convenient than standing in a line at the box office. And yet, sometimes the online process can actually make it more complicated, frustrating, or maybe even impossible. Why is that? In many cases, it all comes down to frustrations with the web forms. Prompted by the tweet, we set out to uncover not only the most annoying things you encounter in web forms, but how they can be remedied.

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I’ve used Google Analytics, like most of you, I’m sure. But to be honest, I’ve always been slightly overwhelmed with it, too. I know there are a lot of analytics options out there, like Chartbeat for real-time, user-friendly information, and Crazyegg for interesting visuals like heatmaps for click-through rates and scrolling patterns. But, despite some hardships, Google Analytics has always felt like that trusty old friend…that one that talks too much. You know the type. The friend that gives just a little too much detail to a story to successfully get the point across (and you’re lucky if you don’t get sidetracked into some sort of tangent).

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I started my career way back in the year 1996, fresh out of college with a Bachelor’s Degree in graphic design. I had spent the past four or so years learning the tools of the trade. Some of these tools were a bit older than others. Computers were starting to come on the scene in desktop publishing in a big way. So, interspersed in my curriculum were classes that represented the old and the new. In one class I might have been hand-lettering the alphabet with brushes and paint while in the other I might have been laying out a magazine-style article with copy and images on a Mac. It was quite the transitional period. However, no matter the technique I was using, be it old or new, the basis for everything was design. I was going to school for graphic design so I fancied myself a designer. It just so happened that design work was now accomplished with a keyboard and a mouse.

Photo by John Altdorfer

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Your website, just like your car, is often due for a bit of maintenance. Fortunately, tuning up your website is less intimidating than that familiar experience of standing next to your vehicle, nodding your head dumbly while handing your mechanic (who, by the way, is much more ruggedly handsome than you) a wad of cash. And that is even less daunting than attempting to work on the car yourself- you’ve tried that before, and you still have nightmares and stained pants.

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It’s Day 3 of Design Week Portland, and I’ve managed to successfully interrupt one of the organizers of the event, Tsilli Pines, at an extremely busy time. Tsilli was gracious enough to answer all 9 of my questions – I told her it’d only be 2 or 3 – about design, Portland, and zombies, via email.

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Just a few weeks ago, we celebrated our 2012 summer picnic at lovely Irving Park. Now, as the mercury drops and the giraffe-fur coats come out of their cardboard boxes with puffs of toxic mothball dust, we ease into our creaking rocking chairs, reflections of the waning summer dancing in our minds like so many whistling embers leaping from the nearby hearth. “Why didn’t I go to the river more often, goddammit?” we contemplate; or, “I squandered this whole summer sitting at my desk, eating cookies, listening to the sound of my muscles atrophying, and now it’s dark when I wake up and where did I put my raincoat?” Oh, tut-tut, you silly goose! It’s only October- the weather’s still gorgeous and the leaves in your backyard make such a delightful crunching sound.

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