Best Practice and Strategy

Datalink implements Continuous Integration Server

As part of our commitment in 2010 to improved service delivery and software development, Datalink have implemented a new Continuous Integration Server which will deliver an improvement in quality and efficiency to the maintenance of our products and customer projects.

The move fits well with Datalink's shift toward the Agile software develompent methodology for web applications and more recently our adoption of the Scrum framework.

Key Datalink technician Luke Zawadski this week completed the significant project of implementing the new server which uses Selenium RC in Datalink's production environment.

The new system is aimed at reducing delivery time and improve quality in Datalink's line of products which include the upcoming release of Bravo CMS and also improve the coordination of large web projects for our professional services customers.

Datalink is in the process of establishing a series of build self-tests for new projects.

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Grammar School Website Design - 5 sites reviewed

I've done a bit of work lately with high schools but grammar schools have specific requirements, and along the way I've done some quick random comparisons of some grammar school websites from around Australia, so I thought I'd share some of my views on them.

I know that many such websites are designed by students, so please don't take my criticisms too harshly.  My personal belief is that it is great to give students projects, but not necessarily something as important as the public face of your organisation where a more professional approach is a must for getting good enrolments.
Continue reading Grammar School Website Design - 5 sites reviewed

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Merging content - a redesign dilemma

Having a content management system (CMS) is a great thing for enterprise scale websites with large numbers of editors working on them.  It effectively separates content from presentation, allowing you to keep your content and apply changes to your design or structure.  

But it does get a bit complex if you want to do both at the same time (which is what usually happens in large website redesign projects, particularly those using the Agile development model). Often this will involve setting up a second site (or "staging site") to develop and test while your current site is live and serving your customers.  If you're changing the content and structure during this time, however, unless you've got editors updating both at the same time (which isn't always feasible) you'll inevitably end up with two websites that are out of synch.

It is a fairly new problem and consequently customers rarely consider the issues.  Having had a bit of experience in it and currently working on such a project, I thought I'd share some of the trials and tribulations of the process.

While it is tricky to get both back in synch, it is possible. 
There are a number of strategies to employ to get your fully redesigned website up and running.  However it requires a lot of experience and very careful project co-ordination. Continue reading Merging content - a redesign dilemma

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