MINDSCAPE

First impressions…always available, never able to recreate. At least for the same audience. What’s the impression you make to your different audiences? Whether online or off; within your peer groups; your customer meetings or your personal interactions. Do you really put the time/energy into making it memorable (in a good way). Or do you rely on the same ‘ole same ‘ole, because it works pretty well. Well, whichever option you use, it has a result. My challenge to you is to reflect on those results. Are you getting what you want, or are you settling for what you receive?more

webTRAIN just underwent a big update. Although it’s a massive upgrade, nothing has visibly changed for you. Let me tell you what the big deal is.more

Over the past few months, I have been deep down the rabbit hole with .NET MVC web application projects. A pattern of development emerged out of these months of work, which I want to share with you today. I am not sure what to call it, but MVC Squared seems to fit. In reality, it is more of a .NET model-view-controller server side design with a view-controller, view-model client side design. One night I sat down to create a pseudo flow chart of my idea, so others working with me could critique it.more

This word is used often, maybe too often. Because it is so open to translation. Accountants value the word value – see it’s a verb and noun, differently than a sales person. And a sales person interprets value differently than a customer. You can be sure a hiring manager looks at the value of a candidate differently than the candidate considers the value of employing him/her. But, if a candidate even goes through this process, they’re ahead of most.more

First off, let me be clear. There are many situations when it makes sense to own the source code to any web asset a business may own. Integrated web services with back office operations, complex enterprise security or just a really unique web experience where the code becomes intellectual property. These are all examples where ownership, title rights and interest to every line of code, is recommended. But, in terms of most web site needs, do business owners really want to own the actual technology that their website site is on? There are many in “the industry” that would find that question profound. I think it’s a question worth asking and one that isn’t asked enough.more

This post has been republished here from its original source. I recently had to add a search filter to a Drupal site where the user can filter down criteria to find a reduced listing of products. This is called Faceted Search and is a common navigation technique on ecommerce sites. Think of the left side of Amazon’s site where you can pick Toys then filter down to a specific department and age group. Exposed Filtersmore

The mobile application landscape is rapidly changing and evolving. New tablets and phones of all shapes and sizes are being conceived, created and released at an ever accelerated pace. Google’s Glass and Apple’s iWatch are confirmed and rumored new form factors just around the corner. There are mobile websites. There are mobile applications. There are mobile application stores. There are even multiple ways of distributing mobile applications. Clearly the options and possibilities are vast and potentially confusing. At MINDSCAPE, we typically take the approach of assessing a partner’s need and then compare that to the current and future mobile landscape to find the best fit. Today’s mobile development options generally fit into one of three basic types:more

What is a QR Code? “Quick Response Code” is that weird looking square bar code you've probably seen in print ads or on a postcard, and for half of you, maybe even have scanned (per eConsultancy). A user can scan this bar code with a smart phone and be taken to a landing page to take a specific action. A few months ago, Forbes Magazine proclaimed QR Codes dead, but are they really? Like many new tech trends, the world may have moved too quickly and customers may have dismissed their usage too quickly to really allow marketers to embrace them properly.more

If you want to sound like a web pro, there are definitely a few buzz words you can throw around to sound like a smarty pants. However, fancy words don’t mean much if you don’t know what they mean. With that in mind, let’s shine a little light on two of the most common web terms: cache and cookie.more

It’s easy for digital novices to be intimidated when people throw around terms like “SEO” and “PPC” and “URL,” if they speak another language in their daily work lives, like accounting or manufacturing. I recently broke one of my own rules by bandying phrases like these during an initial meeting with a new partner. After I was politely interrupted by a brave engineer, “Excuse me, but what is SEO?” I realized with regret that I had started at level three when I should have started at level one.more

Remember the last time you multi-tasked? Are you listening to music, talking to another person or engaging in your mobile device while reading this post? Then you are multi-tasking as you read. Good for you! Or not. We’ve become a society of multi-doer’s. In fact, it seems almost impossible to escape this lifestyle, except for those rare occasions where we’re remote and unable to access technology. But even then, we’re likely to be performing something other than just having a conversation or engaging in a specific task. But, at what cost?more

We all make mistakes. They may be big mistakes with far reaching repercussions, or small mistakes that no one else sees, but we all make them. There are two ways to react to your own mistake; accept responsibility or make excuses. When you make excuses, you aren't learning how to get better. You are learning how to blame others. There is no growth in an excuse. When you accept responsibility for what happened, even if it was not your fault or there are legitimate extenuating circumstances, you can then evaluate and learn from what happened.more

webTRAIN’s latest upgrade brings a few new features and some bug fixes. The biggest new feature is the ability to integrate Google’s Site Search directly into your site. Learn what’s involved by reading this article.more

About a year ago, I came to a very enlightening epiphany as a developer: building a desktop app sucks. I was writing the application in C#, thinking I was ahead of the times using a modern and advanced language. While C# is great, my execution of it was well behind the times. I was creating a Windows Form application, all well and good when developing on my local machine. However, when it came time to deploy my application, my brain practically exploded from all the hurdles I had to overcome. It wasn't until after this process that I realized how much I hated (most) desktop applications. Here are just a few of the problems I ran into.more

Language is one of the most important aspects of our culture. Early communication among humans was limited to characters and drawings. Gradually, we learned how to form more sophisticated versions of these symbols into words. And words were formed into sentences which lead to the ability to write stories. Today, we’re still storytelling. Stories usually impact our communication most effectively. They’re more memorable than facts alone and they evoke some type of emotional response for the reader. Our agency is filled with storytellers. You read many of them here, in our Mindscape blog. Our stories span many topics, but the intention is consistent. We’re trying to help our partners better understand their businesses, their clients or working with us. And in a way that informs, has meaning and provides inspiration.more

When I was in school, it was rare for me to finish a report before the deadline. It really did not matter if the professor gave me a day, a week, or a month to complete it; I didn’t complete it until just before class. Part of the issue for me was prioritizing. It always seemed like a night playing basketball or video games was a higher priority to me than finishing a paper I had another week to finish. But it was not just priority. It’s the constraint that a deadline gives. With no constraint, I have a hard time conceptualizing what to do with the excess time. If I thought the paper would take three hours, what would I do with the other hundred hours I could use?more

When you think of improving your visibility on local searches, do directory listings immediately come to mind? Perhaps it’s time that they do! Local directory listings play an integral role in boosting your organic search rankings and building your credibility. Turning to Google or Yahoo for information has become second nature for most, and directory listings have come to dominate the local search results pages. Search engines and individuals both heavily rely on directory listings to have as much accurate and consistent information about a business as possible. Business listings that show up on local searches are free to add and claim, meaning they’ll take up little of your time and none of your money, thereby producing results with little effort on your part.more

99%. It is a number that induces feelings of security, reassurance, and steadfast. In most cases, this is a proclamation of surety that makes the boss happy. However, when it comes to computers, 99% simply isn’t perfect. So you’re ready to go forward with your new idea for a website. You start to do some research and find some hosts boasting of 99% uptime. Sounds good right? But what does that really mean? Let’s take a look: 365 day in a year, times 24 hours a day equals 8760 hours in a year. If your site is up 99% of the time, that means its down 1% of the time. 8760 x .01 = 87.6 hoursmore

Ahhhhh, the future is good. It has descended upon us, oh so subtlety and most of us never even realized it. The technologies available now make our lives incredibly more convenient than they were even 5 years ago. Don’t believe me? Here’s a list of my favorite tools that should change your mind.more

I have been meaning to finish the novel I started in college since, well, since I started it in 1998. That’s a whole lot of time spent thinking about it, fretting over it, and ultimately not doing anything about it. It seems there is always something more important to do or something easier and more enjoyable. Last year I made it a goal to finish writing a novel. Sure, it still was not the story I started back in college, but I was bound and determined to finish writing something. But there was still a hurdle in the way, and I am willing to bet that it is the same hurdle that many of you face when looking up at a goal from the ground floor.more