Page meltdown? Follow these 4 steps!

The dreaded email subject: “Page Not Working.”  This is a perfect time to call up your web developer, but to get the most help as fast as possible, be prepared to give them as much information about the problem as you can!

Source

Here is what you should give to your developer:

Step 1 – The exact error message.  Try not to leave anything out!

Step 2 – The day and time the error message occurred

Step 3 – Information on what the user was doing right before the issue and when

Step 4 – Any system information from the user (browser, operating system, etc.)

With these 4 steps, your developer will be able to help identify and solve the issue much more quickly!

For the last step, it can be hard to know exactly what information is necessary and where to find it.  Recently, I discovered an online tool that can help a lot in this regard called supportdetails.com.  It gives all the system information a developer would need to know quickly and in one place!  The best way to give this information to your developer is to create an email detailing steps 1-3, then download the supportdetails.com information by clicking on “Export PDF,” and include it as an attachment in your email.

Hope this helps!

Entering the Mobile Sector with Sokol Blosser and Aeries Development

Since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, the mobile web market has exploded in annual triple digit growth to become a multi-billion dollar industry with increasing smartphone and tablet options for consumers. Some sources even say that now 1 in 5 Internet users do NOT access the web with a "traditional" computer.

cascade has officially jumped into mobile web development and has slick new mobile site for Aeries Development and optimized form for Sokol Blosser!

Sokol Blosser was in need of a "cool" way for users to sign-up for their e-newsletter when handling Sokol Blosser's new iPads in the tasting room or at an event. When building the mobile form, we made several aesthetic changes (i.e. larger fonts and fields, field title overlays) and accounted for the variety of formatting differences between mobile devices, and the orientation of the devices (i.e. whether you're holding the device horizontally or vertically).

Aeries Development required an entirely new website fully optimized for mobile devices. If you view their site on your computer and then on your mobile device, the visual differences are slight. This is because the largest pain point of viewing their previous, non-optimized site on a mobile device was the time it took for the pages to load. Since the majority of their work is visually displayed, this was a large issue. By altering the way images and content were rendered, we vastly decreased loading time and provided a more efficient user experience. Other adjustments were also made to improve navigation both on the home and internal pages.

Here are a few items to consider when optimizing your site for mobile devices:

1. How should navigation be altered? - The vast majority of mobile devices' navigation is driven by touch. Therefore, your main navigation and buttons used throughout the site must be adjusted for fingers (accounting for skinny and fat figures should definitely be a consideration...no joke). Here few examples of issues you might want to look for: buttons/links that are too close to one another, buttons/links that are too small to pinpoint with your finger, and if buttons/links can be easily identified as such.
   
2. Screen size - Websites are normally designed to account for anywhere between 640 and 1280+ pixels. Mobile devices are obviously much, much smaller. Therefore, more often then not you'll need to reconsider the way your website navigation and page content is displayed (i.e. most websites switch from horizontal to vertical navigation during optimization). This can also include "cutting the fat" or removing some non-essential main navigation items and content since your "real estate" on a mobile screen is limited.
   
3. Loading time - Although mobile loading speeds have improved over the past few years, the load speed for bringing up a non-optimized site is leagues behind that of a traditional computer. There are however many ways to get around this snag. Some easier than others. This is usually determined on a case-by-case scenario.
   
4. Flash - Steve Jobs, why are you so stubborn?
   

Please contact us if you're interested in learning more about mobile optimization and/or want to explore this opportunity with your current site.

cascade Adds a New Team Member

Last week we added a new member to the cascade team. Nick Woolsey is joining us this summer as an intern before heading to Japan to work abroad. Nick just received his MBA from Willamette University and has extensive experience working/studying overseas, specifically in Japan. I ran Nick through the gauntlet of rookie questions, and here is what he had to say:


First job - Swamper at Polehn Farms. Not for the faint of heart. I worked in a cherry orchard riding around in a tractor, picking up 25lb buckets of cherries, and pouring those cherries into bins. 104 degree heat, 10-12 hours a day, those buckets get heavy pretty fast!

Last movie you saw in the theater - Sadly...Hangover 2. It was one of the worst movies I have ever seen.

Dream aspirations as a kid - I wanted to be a geologist!

If you could be any superhero, who and why - Man, I am going to have to geek out...Goku from Dragonball Z. He can teleport to anywhere in the universe, fly, harness the power of the universe in a huge bomb, and his power level is OVER 9000!!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBtpyeLxVkI)

Free trip to anywhere in the world, where and why - Absolutely Mongolia! My college roommate was from Mongolia, and it sounds awesome! Not a very hospitable place in terms of climate, but it has a very rich culture. I taught myself to throat sing too!

Ever been in a fight, if so, who started it - Well, through middle school I'd be in schoolyard fights all the time. It was all mostly for fun though, we were all into WWF at the time. Oh man, we would imitate all the moves from Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Rock, the Undertaker, D-Generation X. Probably a bad idea hahahaha.

Favorite restaurant in Portland - Al-Amir, the oldest Lebanese restaurant in Portland. Went there for the first time last week for my Moroccan friend's birthday. Big family style meal with all sorts of delectable dishes. It was LEGIT.

Biggest fear - Mosquitoes. Hate those bugs. My uncle took me to Yosemite National Park when I was like 6, forgot the bug spray, and there were so many mosquitoes that I couldn't breathe with out filling my nose and mouth with them. Yea. Hate mosquitoes.

Nickname you had growing up - Nickelodeon. The theme song was "Nick Nick Nick Nick Nick Nick Nick, Nickelodeon," so I heard that quite a few times hahaha.

What attracted you to working at cascade - I'm interested in starting my own new venture using streaming video technology, so learning from Fritz and Ben about how they have developed brandlive was a big plus.

Career goals - I'd like to get into social entrepreneurship. Either starting my own venture, or working with a company that is able to take a social idea and scale it from community based to a model that is effective globally.

Capital Bikeshare: a Zipcar on Two Wheels

Cascade recently collaborated with Alta Bicycle Share on an exciting new project that incorporates sustainability, economic efficiency and physical activity all in one. Capital Bikeshare allows commuters or those out for a leisurely ride to rent bike from stations throughout the city and return them at an entirely different location across town. As daily commuters ourselves, cascade was right at home helping build a website for Capital Bikeshare.

CapitalBikeshare.com, operated on Wordpress, combines a clean front end design (done by a local DC designer) with a robust secure members area. Through the website and 3rd party software, Bikeshare members have access to the account information, payment options and their activity level on the bikes (i.e. mileage, usage, etc).

Visit the Our Work page of our website for more about our work with Capital Bikeshare.

TWEAK: A Social Media Phenomenon

TWEAK left footprints all over the web on their first day of business creating a social media frenzy. TWEAK is one of the many companies finding success today by leveraging social media to generate brand awareness and increase profits. Cascade was thrilled to be along for the ride and to facilitate this brand launch by building the TWEAK site on the evergreen CMS.

TWEAK's motto: "It's Your Brand", couldn't be more true. The evergreen based site follows those same principles by incorporating a ton of social media goodness and custom user features. One of the coolest features on the site is how users are able to alter the site's colors and upload background images to really make the TWEAK site their own.

Aside from customizing the site, TWEAK's customers help shape product development thanks to TWEAK's genius business model. Basically, they leverage internet celebrities' audiences to generate brand awareness and supplement product research and development. For their first shoe, TWEAK called upon Rhett&Link, aka "Internetainers", to solicit design ideas from their thousands of followers. The response was incredible as ideas poured in from twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The designs ranged from functional to ridiculous with everything from velcro high-tops to bacon flip-flops. Rhett&Link then produced a series of videos commenting on the entries which served as a critical piece of the product development process and increased the audience's anticipation for TWEAK's first shoe release.

Upon product launch TWEAK barely went 4 minutes without a sale and had comments pouring in from every corner of the social media space. We are extremely excited to be such an integral part of TWEAK's success and can't wait for the launch of their next product.

Cascade Brand Announcement

We recently announced the launch of our new brand, logo and website. Here is an excerpt from our new story regarding our make-over. For the full story with more about how our company has evolved, check out our news page.



Cascade Web Development is quickly breaking free of our web development tag and transforming into engineers of industry leading online solutions. With the introduction of brandlive by Ben and Fritz Brumder, a Cascade Web Development veteran, more and more national and local companies are beginning to adopt these technologies. The Portland Developmental Commission (PDC) saw this potential and recently awarded the Portland based company with a working capital loan.

To culminate our rapid growth and better explain our brand structure, we realized we needed a new identity; One that provides stronger brand recognition and does not limit our abilities in consumer's eyes. In a similar situation to companies like Apple and Google, we decided to establish an umbrella brand which houses our current solutions. With that said, we would like to introduce a new look and ideology behind our family of brands.

Cascade was chosen as the name for the parent brand using web//development as a secondary title. Cascade appropriately represents the company in a strong and memorable manner yet personifies a more modern feel than Cascade Web Development was able to accomplish. The logo specifically expresses our strengths as a web services provider and our ability to develop custom solutions to meet our client's needs.

You'll also notice a different visual expression of our three solutions: evergreen, whitepass and brandlive. Each brand features a similar style and color pattern yet individually elicit a unique and distinguishable brand image. We hope these logos will become commonplace in our industry and personify each solution's features and functions at first glance.

As always, we thank you for your commitment to cascade and will continue to support your business with innovative solutions and tools to help you evolve.

Taking Home Some Hardware

Finally, we have a trophy to put on the shelf. The Cascade crew had a great time last night at the Portland Business Journal's 100 Fastest-Growing Private Companies banquet at the Portland Art Museum. Congratulations again to our clients who also made the list:

• AKT Services, LLP #88
• Papa Murphy's International #89
• Info Group Northwest #32
• Lewis and Clark Bank #16
  

Honored by the Portland Business Journal

The Portland Business Journal released their annual list of the Top 100 Fastest-Growing Private Companies, and we were thrilled to see Cascade Web Development included in this prestigious group. We are extremely humbled by our inclusion in this list and proud that we are able to keep are heads above water in this difficult economy.

We sincerely thank you for supporting us and for your commitment to Cascade.

We thoroughly enjoy our relationships with our great clients and partners (well, at least 90% of the time). It is amazing to be able to say that we genuinely love what we do.

We also want to congratulate several of our clients who were included on the list as well:

• AKT Services, LLP,
• Papa Murphy's International,
• InfoGroup Northwest,
• and Lewis and Clark Bank

The ranking of the companies is currently "Top Secret" but will be announced at the reception on June 24 from 5:30-8:30 at the Portland Art Museum. Please visit the Portland Business Journal to register for the event.

Cascade is Proud to Introduce: The Hello Foundation

At first visit, the new Hello Foundation website evokes feelings of childhood, construction paper and big crayons (or maybe thats just me?). This wasn't done by accident.

The design is driven by storytelling, imagination, and artistic expression and genuinely portrays the ideology behind The Hello Foundation:

Everyone has a story to tell, but it's how you tell it that sets you apart. It's more than combining words and sentences. It's being connected to a language and articulating ideas. It's feeling empowered enough to say hello.

The Hello Foundation (formerly SLP Services) is a industry leader in SLP, OT and School Psychologist Services across the country. They embrace innovation with open arms and are looked to as a thought leader with their progressive approach.

Don't believe me?!? Check it out for yourself:

• Art of Hello - encourages verbally challenged students to express their story through art
• Ask a Specialist - integrates Cascade's brandlive into their site providing students, parents, etc. with a personal resource to call upon for help and answers to sensitive questions

If you can't tell, all of us at Cascade are very proud of how this site turned out. Kudos must go out to Frank Creative for working closely with the Hello Foundation team and for creating such an amazing website design and brand strategy.

We thoroughly enjoyed working on this project and hope you enjoy the site as well.

www.thehellofoundation.com

Serotta Switches Management Gears

Serotta has taken huge strides in the beginning of 2010 with no signs of slowing down.

Aside from launching a brand spanking new, custom website with Cascade, (see my previous post: Cascade Invades the Serotta HQ) Serotta Competition Bicycles has undergone changes in its organizational hierarchy and company name.

The cycling giant recently introduced Stan Mavis as President of the newly formed Serotta Sport. Stan and his wife Bonnie, current VP of sales at Serotta Sport, join Ben Serotta and his wife Marcie as owners of the company.

I couldn't pass up this incredible opportunity to help lead a brand with a storied history and tremendous potential for the future, Mavis commented.

Stan is not a stranger to the industry as he co-founded Pearl Izumi and is an avid cyclist himself. Ben Serotta and Stan first forged a relationship 20 years ago as major sponsors of the Coors Light Cycling Team.

There are a range of things I can do, but I cannot do everything well. I've needed someone to work with me at the level of an owner, with an intensity for the business, and Stan brings that," Ben said about bringing in Stan.

For the full article, please read the May edition of the Bicycle Retailer or check out bicycleretailer.com

SoMe Awards: One Tweet Too Many

Clear off a space on the trophy shelf...the SoMe's are back. The SoMe Awards are back for a second go-around honoring the Pacific Northwest's best social media projects and campaigns.

Cascade was recently announced as one of 19 finalists for our social media work. There are around 10 categories ranging from Best Brand Awareness, to Best ROI, to Best in Show. Although we don't know which one we're up for yet, we hope to bring home some hardware.

The award show is this Thursday, May 6, from 7-10 at the classy Multnomah Athletic Club. Everyone is welcome, and we'd love to have you join us on the red carpet. Tickets are very reasonable and it should be a great night out. Plus, we'll need you in the crowd cheering us on and heckling other nominees. (jk...be nice)

If you can't make it, I'll be sure to post a follow-up article on the night's events.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Live From Portland Vol 1: The Cascade Live Sessions

If you missed out on our brandlive sessions over the past few weeks, too bad.

Okay, just kidding. Hopefully, you'll be able to join our next live broadcast. Or, if you'd like us to set up a demo for you, just let me know.

brandlive is easy to set up and even easier to use. The brandlive videos below are obviously missing from their normal exterior skin. Here is a sample of the new Cascade Live environment (which we refer to in the videos).


Each of these presentations were directed towards different audiences as you will see from our session location and message. So check them both out and let us know what you think. We love feedback.

4/23 Product Demo
(Video begins after a moment of set-up w/ a cameo from yours truly)

4/27 Professional Services Demo
(2nd of 2 sessions)

Please feel free to send any brandlive questions or inquiries to us at the Cascade site.

Cascade Invades the Serotta HQ

In a recent trip out east, Ben McKinley, at the envy of cyclists, stepped foot in Serotta's headquarters in New York to tour their operation and discuss the launch of the bike manufacturer's new website on Cascade's Evergreen Platform. Serotta's new site, www.serotta.com launched earlier today with a ton of awesome features, including a video giving you a look into what Ben witnessed first hand on his tour. On the site, Cascade helps bring to life the intricate science and production capabilities that go into building a custom bike. Whether you examine the technological aspects or thought placed into the size and fit system, Serotta's attention to detail is astounding.

Although the majority of Serotta's magic is done on the production floor, a substantial amount of business operations lives online and is done behind the scenes. By placing their site on Evergreen, Serotta can easily update their new online environment with reactions to the world of cycling, news on Serotta products and technology, and new opportunities. One awesome feature soon will allow both employee and customer access to production status of bikes. With this service, you'll be able to track what stage of production your bike is in similar to how you track your package with Fedex, UPS, etc. Pretty cool!

Serotta.com is as focused (if not more) on portraying their brand story (i.e. company heritage and production strategies) while promoting the community aspect of the company rather than their bikes. We [Cascade] see this strategy becoming more and more prevalent with sites built on the Evergreen platform but that is a topic for another day.

Filming the Cascade Web Development Story

Ben McKinley, Cascade's fearless leader, is making his big screen debut on April 27th. It might not be in the venue you're imagining, but I'm sure it'll still be on a large screen.

Spirit Media stopped by the office earlier this week to film a short movie they'll be showing at the Portland Business Alliance's Annual Meeting. The film highlights the importance of innovative companies in Portland. Kerry Tymchuck of the PBA sat down with Ben (along with the cameraman, Spirit Media crew, and the individual holding the light reflection thingy) for an interview about Cascade and the business environment in Portland.

We were more than happy to have Spirit Media and PBA at the train and sincerely thank them for including us in this event. It is a great honor to be noticed as one of the many innovative companies in Portland, and we genuinely appreciate the exposure.

If you're interested in attending the Annual Meeting and claiming front row seats for the movie, please visit the PBA site. We'll try and obtain a copy of the video for those of you who can't make it. Stay tuned...

Brand Live Comes Alive

Without further ado, I give you...Brand Live.

(If I could insert bright flashing lights around this I would. For now, just use your imagination.)

Ahem...Brand Live is Cascade Web Development's latest brain-child. Initially launched with "Nordica Live" in October last year, Brand Live has been generating a lot of buzz in the industry. At its core, Brand Live allows product demos, employee training sessions, sales rep clinics, live event showcases, and e-commerce presentations to be streamed via a secure URL and live video feed. Invited viewers can interact with the presenter by posting messages via text providing an unscripted, live presentation mimicking the experience you would receive with a face-to-face interaction.

Here are just a few benefits Brand Live offers:

• Cost Effective - eliminating the need to travel for events or sales rep presentations
  
• Operated through a secure URL and can require login
  
• Does not require any program installation or additional hardware
  
• Live video and chat feature mimics a live shopping experience. Presenter reacts to user questions and comments in real time (sessions can be archived and recorded as well)
  
• Marketing and branding tool as the "Brand Live" identity is masked with your Brand
  
• Allows product intricacies to be showcased with live video
  
• Fully customizable allowing you to manipulate site features, appearance and added applications
  
• Sessions can be 1-to-1 (currently in development but soon to come) or 1-to-many

We first envisioned Brand Live would be great for the high-end, outdoor sporting industry, and it'd make a lot of noise in that market. However, as we've casually spread the word about Brand Live we've seen it evolve into a multi purpose tool reaching across vastly different industries. For example, Brand Live is either currently being utilized or developed for clients in Skiing, Footwear, Bikes, Financial Services, Specialty Retail, and Wine industries.

So what do you think? We're pretty into it, and our clients seem to be as well. We'd love to hear your comments on our Facebook page.

Planting the Seed for "Plant an Evergreen"

Cascade Web Development just launched our Plant an Evergreen campaign earlier today. Through our partnership with Friends of Trees and their Gift Tree program, they are helping us plant evergreen trees in Portland for new clients on our Evergreen platform. Thanks to our clients and Friends of Trees for making the world a better place, one tree at a time. (so corny but so true)

Friends of Trees also helped us out on the PR effort by blogging about the Plant an Evergreen campaign on their Friends of Tree blog.

Thanks, Friends of Trees for your partnership and support.

CWD on the pages of USA Today

Cascade Web Development's recent launch of the sweepstakes site for "How to Train Your Dragon" was recently promoted in USA Today. I snapped a picture of the ad. Pretty cool!


Check out our previous blog post on the site launch and visit train-your-dragon.com for more sweepstakes info.

40 the new 30? Recapping the "40 Under Forty" Awards

The Cascade Web Development crew had a great time last Thursday celebrating Ben McKinley's nomination to the Portland Business Journal's 2010 "40 Under Forty" list.

The event was a huge success as Portland's future leaders came together at the Gerding Theater of the Armory for an excellent evening. Kudos to the Portland Business Journal for putting together a memorable night for all of us at CWD.

Here are a few photos of the celebration (sorry about the poor quality, blame the iPhone):

Lobby of Gerding Theater at the Armory

Ben accepting his award from Senator Ron Wyden

CWD group (Left to Right: Kyle, Paul, Fritz, Stephen, Ben, Christi)

Dreamwork's "How to Train Your Dragon" sweepstakes

If you've been watching the Winter Olympics you've surely seen the previews for Dreamwork's new animated 3D movie, "How to Train Your Dragon".

"How to Train Your Dragon" is an action/comedy (think Shrek) about Hiccup, a young Viking, who befriends the dragon he is training to fight. The film has been receiving a ton of press and great reviews, and Cascade Web Development recently got in on the action.

CWD designed the contest and sweepstakes site for the film to help promote the movie before its March release. The contest entails sending a video of your best dragon taming skills (a few YouTube sensations in the making). Three grand prize winners will receive a trip for 4 to LA for the World Premiere. You can also register to win a private premiere party through the site which would be an awesome kids birthday party for a theater here in Portland or around the US.

Visit the site, submit your skills, and enter. Happy taming.

CWD Plans a Valentines Party with Vh1

First of all, Happy (belated) Valentine's Day. Aside from planning our own love day (I wouldn't call it last minute but it was pretty close), Cascade Web Development was able to help 150 Vh1 Insiders have their own Valentine's Day parties.

The Vh1 Loves Me Party site was created in collaboration with Boston-based AMP Agency for Vh1 Insiders chosen to throw bashes to watch the channel's block of guilty pleasure reality shows. These 150 insiders were given Vh1 Loves Me decorations, party favors, games, and, everyone's favorite white elephant gift, Snuggies to help spread their Vh1 love with their friends. Party goers were encouraged to take pictures and post their Valentine's Day moments on the Vh1 Loves Me Party website with the rest of the Insiders.

(Sorry, Cascade Web Development wasn't chosen otherwise we'd post some awesome pictures of us in Snuggies)

AMP came up with a great marketing idea and promotional tool to help their loyal fans celebrate Valentine's Day. The project was a ton of fun to work on and it turned out great.