Blog

  • Designing websites for the TV

    Posted 6/14/2013 by Nate Palmer - Comments (1)
    Samsung Smart TV 2013 At the moment, most agencies are considering three types of devices when they design websites: PCs, smartphones, and tablets. These devices are now pretty well-understood and even the most skeptical shops know that, with mobile projected to overcome desktop use in the next couple of years, you have to support both desktop and mobile experiences. But there’s another device on the horizon, one that challenges even more of the assumptions we’ve been able to make about internet devices up until now: the smart TV.
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  • The Next Screen

    Posted 5/30/2013 by Nate Palmer - Comments (0)
    Xbox One with Kinect and controller

    When Microsoft unveiled the Xbox One last week, they officially opened the gates on the real race to the average consumer's living room. As consumers begin to think of their TV as a full-featured computing device like their smartphones and tablets, those in the marketing world will need to turn their attention from mobile back to the living room screen.

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  • Launch - LIM College News System

    Posted 5/16/2013 by Nate Palmer - Comments (0)

    Viridian Spark worked with LIM College to streamline their news production, publishing, and syndication systems. Our work has greatly increased the efficiency of content editors responsible for news, events, and announcements while creating a better user experience for visitors.

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  • Thoughts from the MITX Mobile Marketing Summit

    Posted 5/7/2013 by Nate Palmer - Comments (0)
    The Great Mobile Migration: Demystifying Mobile Marketing

    Last week I attended the MITX Mobile Marketing Summit looking to get a feel for the issues people are dealing with around mobile, and where Viridian Spark might be able to help out. After navigating the airtight security of the Federal Reserve building (only took two tries to get through the metal detector) I found a plethora of marketers, advertisers, and developers all focused on mobile. I can’t possibly capture every topic of interest, but I did want to share a quick roundup of some themes I saw running through the day.

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  • The mobile web needs Windows Phone

    Posted 3/4/2013 by Nate Palmer - Comments (0)
    As webkit-based browsers take over, how can we ensure that the web remains focused on standards?
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  • Web Site Redesign: Suffolk University

    Posted 1/30/2013 by Nate Palmer - Comments (0)
    Screenshot of the Suffolk.edu homepage Congratulations to Suffolk University on the launch of phase 1 of their fully rebranded and redesigned website. Viridian Spark worked with Suffolk and design agency Sametz Blackstone to scope, design, and build the new web presence and integrate it with their CMS. The site features support for mobile and tablet devices using responsive design.
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  • Best Practices for Upgrading a Sitecore Website

    Posted 11/6/2012 by Chris Lees - Comments (1)

    At Viridian Spark we are always looking for ways to eliminate wearisome or error-prone manual tasks and replace them with automated processes. The upgrade process was an ideal candidate for automation. Our biggest gain has come from eliminating the need for manual config changes. A task that used to take hours now takes just minutes.

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  • Sitecore MVC: Ready for Prime Time?

    Posted 8/31/2012 by Richard (Rick) Cabral - Comments (0)

    In July 2012 Sitecore announced direct support for MVC starting with release 6.6. Here at Viridian Spark, we’ve taken the time to grab a preview of Sitecore 6.6 and apply it to a real-life (although small) web site. Ours.

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  • Prototyping with Axure

    Posted 8/6/2012 by Costa Boudouvas - Comments (0)
    Skilled craftsmen across disciplines often say the most difficult up-front choice is choosing the right tool(s) for the job. Using the right tool won’t do your work for you, but if you know what you are doing it will simply get out of your way and become an extension of yourself. Consulting as a Solutions Architect I have been tasked with creating mockups for everything from simple website changes to interactive product prototypes with intense levels of detail. Over the years I’ve tr...
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  • Using Glass Sitecore Mapper with Sitecore MVC

    Posted 7/17/2012 by Richard (Rick) Cabral - Comments (1)
    Here at Viridian Spark we’ve been anxious to add Microsoft MVC technology to our Sitecore installations. This post discusses implementing the popular Glass library for Sitecore within Sitecore’s new MVC rendering framework using a simple and commonly occurring scenario. Background Sitecore 6.6 features native support for ASP.NET MVC 3.0, which is available as a plugin for Visual Studio 2010. MVC support opens up the use of the Razor view syntax and .NET-based unit testing to Sitecore...
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