So what’s the difference?

Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform that was developed as a way to add animation, video, audio, and other interactive elements to web pages. Viewing Flash content requires the use of a free plug-in. Developers must embed the Flash content into the HTML document, which means that the Flash content is independent of the other content on the page.

JavaScript is a lightweight, and open-source scripting/programming language designed to add interactivity to HTML pages. Unlike Flash, support for JavaScript is built right into all major web browsers without the need for additional plug-ins. JavaScript works by manipulating HTML content, which means that all content on the page is seamlessly integrated.

Why do we use JavaScript?

Firstly, JavaScript has become immensely powerful and easy to use with the development of JavaScript libraries such as jQuery, MooTools, Prototype, etc. jQuery, our library of choice, is fast, concise, and versatile. It allows us to rapidly add complex interactivity to webpages without spending a lot of time. jQuery is also an open-source project with many developers working tirelessly to improve it each day.

The Web was meant to be an open system, and to use open-source tools is to follow in that virtue. I that same vein, JavaScript/jQuery is FREE. Flash (as a tool) can be an expensive initial investment and also expensive to maintain as upgrades are released over the years.

Another problem with Flash is that the required plug-ins to support Flash content aren’t available on all platforms, namely iPhone, which means that you could be limiting your content from a huge portion of web users by using Flash. Meanwhile, jQuery works on these devices with no problem. Furthermore, even if JavaScript is disabled in a user’s browser, because JavaScript is unobtrusive in nature (integrated content), those users still have access to all of your site’s content.

Finally, JavaScript is universal. As a web project changes hands from one developer to another, no special applications are required to view or edit JavaScript files. Additionally, JavaScript is a widely known language, therefore, future modifications should be able to be made by nearly any web developer handling the project.

These are just some of the reasons we’ve chosen to use JavaScript. Hopefully next time you’re looking to add some interactive elements into your site, you’ll take a look at using JavaScript & jQuery instead of Flash.

The conference is billed as the most prominent Republican event prior to the next national convention. Top Republican law makers from around the country are expected to be at the conference in June 2011.

The website allows users to post the names of businesses that are showing visible signs of celebrating the Christmas season, and these businesses would be added to the “Nice” list. Alternatively, users can submit entries of businesses that are not publicly celebrating Christmas. These businesses or organizations are put on the “Naughty” list.

The project has been covered by news outlets across the nation as well as these major television news shows:

We’ve enjoyed working with First Baptist, and it made us realize that people feel very passionately about either using “Merry Christmas” or instead using “Happy Holidays” to greet people during this season.

The website has received thousands and thousands of visits over the last 2 weeks, and we’d like to thank our friends at Host Gator for watching our servers closely for us. They’ve been great!

**********UPDATE: As of early February 2011, we were asked to take the website down because of a conflict with using the name “Grinch.” ***************

Another useful aspect of going with Rails for a web project is that you’re using a framework which tons of other people use as well, which enables you to use plugins created by the community. That also saves you a lot of time and programming effort. For instance, most web applications are going to need some sort of login system. With Rails, you can either build your own custom solution, or you can choose from a bunch of plugins which are well documented and tested for security issues because of all the other people programming with Rails. As of right now, the number of plugins for Rails is well into the hundreds of thousands. Basically, anytime that you decide you’d like to do something that other people might have a use for too (connecting to Facebook, Twitter, uploading images, etc), chances are pretty good that it has already been written. Also, another benefit of using a framework that lots of other people use is that as a developer, it’s pretty easy to look at a Rails app you didn’t write and quickly figure out what’s going on, because the layout of the app is familiar.

Then, you can’t mention Rails without mentioning Ruby, the programming language that it was built on top of. Ruby is a young language, built by a Japanese developer named Yukihiro Matz Matsumoto, and released in 1995. It is elegant, concise (in general, it takes a lot less Ruby code to get something done than it would in another language), and it’s easily readable/understandable compared to other languages.

These things combine to make Ruby on Rails our number one choice at Gatorworks for building web applications. It lets us get things done and go from idea to code in less time than anything else we’ve used.

Here are some projects that we’ve developed using Ruby on Rails:

• Go See Campus: http://www.goseecampus.com
• Event Connect: http://www.eventconnect.org
• Tiger Bookmarket: http://www.tigerbookmarket.com

We’re proud of what Zach is doing and excited to have assisted him with his new website.

The new PolicyPitch.com website designed by Gatorworks

Here is a quick tour of the main areas of the site:

Once the child creates an account, he/she will be greeted by the elf and see this home page. This is Santa's Island where the child can begin their journey!

If the child clicks on the snowman, he/she will see a naked snowman with a box that contains various articles of clothing and accessories. The child can click and drag the items over to the snowman to create one of their own. If an article of clothing doesn’t look just right, then the child can drag the item over to the trash can to remove it.

We decided to make a cowboy, bowler Snowman!

If the child goes over to Santa’s Mailroom, he/she will see a very active room with letters being sucked down a pipeline and being dropped into a pile in the center of the room. A friendly elf is quickly sorting the letters into “naughty” or “nice” pipelines that go directly to Santa’s office. If the child clicks on the colored letters on the ground, he/she can read a letter written from other children to Santa.

The Elf in Santa's Mailroom quickly sorts letters from children across the world.

Santa’s Toy Factory is my favorite part of the website. This is where children can see the worker elves in action making plenty of toys. There’s a countdown to Christmas on the wall at the top right, and the child has the option to click on a toy of their choice on the conveyor belt. If the child clicks on a toy, a window will pop-up that pulls the actual image of the product from Amazon. Then, the child has the option to add the toy to his/her “wishlist.”

Toys are quickly being assembled by elves in Santa's Toy Factory.

The final component of the site allows the child to email Santa Claus, and the child has the option to include items in the email that they selected from Santa’s Toy Factory.

So, as you can see, this was a rather involved project that required a great deal of custom illustration and then custom animation (and action script) using Adobe Flash. We were very excited to win an ADDY for this project at the 2010 awards show this year.

I invite you to visit the actual site so you can see these screenshots come to life and hear the jolly Christmas music we have playing in the background. If you have children, I encourage you to let them visit the site and have some fun next Christmas!

Do you like this site? Check out some other completed projects by our award-winning team.

Visit NewsFifty.com!

Our team recently launched NewsFifty.com which aims to provide the best daily political, state, and breaking headline stories from all 50 states around the nation. You’ll notice the site uses a very lean design very similar to The Drudge Report or the local Dead Pelican; however, the competitive advantage with NewsFifty.com is the ability for the user to quickly and efficiently click from state to state to see the news that matters to them. Each state also has an extensive directory of links to blogs and media outlets.

Check it out, and let us know what you think!

Zymeaux gives advertisers a chance to create an immediate impact in a way no other medium can provide. Text messages hit the consumer wherever they are, which is mostly on the go. It becomes a small part of your customer’s daily life, not in an annoying bombastic way, but as if to say, “hey we know you’ve had a long day, why not stop by [insert your establishment’s name here] for half price appetizers just for our very special text message subscribers like you! Oh, and bring your friends.”

The end result is a dynamic cost effective communication system that is delivered instantly via a highly personable channel to a very specific audience at the most opportune moment.

We’re very excited to be working with Zymeaux, and we look forward to helping their company grow!

Check out some of our fun features such as our last.fm stream that will show you the most recent song each of our team members have played here at the office. Feel free to take a look at our flickr stream or stay informed with our twitter feed!

We hope that you will continue to support our firm and the many other local design and tech firms.  I invite you to stay updated with the tech happenings specifically in New Orleans by following my friend Chris Schultz’s blog here:  www.voodooventures.com.  In fact, Chris has a great list of the different happenings down in NOLA in this post:  Hitting a Tipping Point in Louisiana.