Knectar Design and Development Services
We offer a broad array of web production services, from design, to programming, to application development.
At the heart of Knectar Design's approach to site design and development, is a consistent dedication to research and discovery
within emerging web technologies, as well as direct active involvement development communities.
We spend a significant time internally to researching new technologies, new approaches to old technologies,
and to developing our own internal enhancements to existing technology.
As software is ever evolving, platforms are ever-changing, to participate in the software development field means
to always keep abreast of the latest models of development, whether they be
new code libraries such as CodeIgniter or jQuery, new platform enhancements such as the upcoming Drupal version 7,
new web services or software as service (SAS) models for Web 2.0, new approaches to project coordination and project management,
or new strategies for developing information architecture and prototypes using
Axure or Omnigraffle.
We make it our business to know what the best in breed approaches to web production, from design and user interface and usability,
to information architecture and wire-framing, to web standards and ADA compliance in front end coding, to best-practices
in code management and version control using SVN and Springloops,
to a modular and architectural programming approach.
The technologies, software, and methodologies are diverse, and have matured over the years to span a fairly broad range,
discussed in summary and detail here.
Read more about our
design and develpment process.
Knectar's Design and Development Services
Knectar takes a multi-faceted approach to design, beginning with conversations!, then proceeding to research and discovery,
keeping the client close to our side as a collaborator always. Revisions are at the heart of evolving toward the perfect design.
We consider ourselves very fortunate to be able to offer such a powerful and well-supported e-commerce
platform in Magento. Out of the box, Magento meets many (hundreds) of the features that mid- to large-scale online
retailers and wholesalers require to market and sell their goods.
We specialize in Drupal development for content management systems, offering custom
module development, Drupal e-commerce solutions using Ubercart, and routinely
contribute to and participate in the Drupal open source development community.
We can give your Drupal-based site an entirely customized look and feel,
leaving no trace of the default "Drupal-ey" theme. In addition,
we can customize and refine even the administrative back-end to
make the content management user-friendly for non-technical administrators
We offer a broad array of e-commerce solutions, using the Magento e-commerce solution,
or the Drupal-based Ubercart e-commerce add-on. By leveraging these powerful platforms,
we can bring your product collection or service to market via a streamlined,
search optimized, online channel.
Most sites that we design and develop are built such that editing and updating the
content is easy, and does not require any special software or technical skills.
We offer a variety of solutions to this end, including the Drupal content management
system for content-rich sites with multiple users, to a basic, cost-effective
solution utilizing CushyCMS for simpler sites.
In the early stages of site development, we often develop what is called the
"information architecture" for a website.
Once we have gathering all of the site requirements, the site map,
the general types of content that are going to be displayed on the site,
and the site functionality, we will build a site "wire-frame".
A wire-frame functions as a working prototype for the site, giving you the client
a preview into how the site will be laid out and function.
The main platforms that we develop on inluding Drupal for content management
systems and applications, and Magento for e-commerce are open source frameworks
that are written in PHP. Thus our core programming language work is done in PHP.
For custom applications not built on Drupal or Magento,
we'll generally use the CodeIgnitor
PHP library.
We continue to build applications and provide programming services
on the ASP.NET and .NET framework, as it a robust development platform.
Most of our work is done in C# or VB.NET .NET languages.
For complex animations, or highly customized graphic-rich components
on web-sites, there is no match for the flexibility that Flash provides.
While we generally steer away full Flash sites, as this is lost opportunity
in terms of search engine optimization, we continue to develop basic and advanced
Flash and ActionScript components for site elements or banner ads.
JavaScript, jQuery and AJAX are powerful browser-based
web technologies that allow us to build advanced, complex site dynamics,
animations, and user interface elements without the use of Flash.
The jQuery JavaScript library in particular has provided us as web developers
with a broad array of options for exciting methods to enhance the usabality
and impact of our site designs.
Many of our clients come to us with a site design already prepared, in hand.
Much of our agency-support in particular involves the process of taking
an existing Photoshop or Illustrator file and converting this into standards
compliant XHTML/CSS and often jQuery (for effects). We will convert these designs
and test them on all of the major browsers, for either static sites,
or as part of producing themes for larger systems.
We offer Google Maps integration, and Google Map data integration services.
From the basic Google Map site embed, to complex data-driven Google Map
mash-ups using a database data source, and custom programming using the Google MAP API,
we can bring your custom vision to reality.
If you have an online service that you would like to provide to your customers,
and need a way to offer this service on a subscription basis, we can do this for you.
We have built a Drupal-based e-commerce subscription system that can be
customized to integrate with a larger site service model. While the system is driven
by the PayPal Pro API, your users do not need a PayPal account to subscribe, nor do they
see the PayPal brand.
