Articles

We recently spoke with one of our clients about improving their site performance; specifically, we chatted about the relationship between page load time and user satisfaction. I found a number of articles relating page load speed to bounce rate, but there’s no study as convincing as an analysis of a client’s own statistics. With the help of Annie, our very own analytics expert, I was able to fumble my way through the creation of a helpful chart plotting load time versus exit and bounce rates using Google Analytics and Google Spreadsheets.

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Last week several argonauts made our way to Couchbase Dev Day PDX, where members of the Couchbase development team Jasdeep, Tugduall and John provided us with a walkthrough of the new features of Couchbase Server 2.0, along with tips and use cases for squeezing performance from data-centric apps. They gave us a rundown of their quickly evolving NoSql technologies and, since then, we've been mulling over how best to leverage Couchbase here at Planet Argon.

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Planet Argon is excited to announce our partnership with Oceanscape Network, a new educational program developed by the Oregon Coast Aquarium, a leader in ocean conservation, education, and literacy.

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We've launched a super site for our local soccer team, (wearerctid.com/](http://wearerctid.com/)

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Every year, Planet Argon releases a retrospective compiling the past year’s events; this includes business accomplishments like app launches, and personal milestones like marriage and travels. A couple months ago, I, Jack Bouba, was tasked with getting the ball rolling for the 2012 Year in Review. I felt this was right up my alley because (1) I love being in charge and (2) I’ve been rolling balls since childhood.

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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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