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Jennifer Dunn joins Gray Web Technology + Design

Gray Web Technology + Design — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:15:00 GMT

We're proud to announce that Jennifer Dunn has joined Gray Web Technology and Design as an Account Director. Jennifer Dunn has 15 years of marketing and communications experience, with much of her expertise built in the health care industry.

Jennifer joins Gray Web Tech after working for San Antonio-based marketing firm Guerra DeBerry Coody (GDC,) where she served as the account supervisor for one of the agency's larger clients, a national hospital and health system.

With a strong commitment to helping healthcare organizations improve communications with their consumers, Jennifer led several high profile branding campaigns and countless service line launches. Additionally she served as lead consultant for this client's corporate marketing and communications strategies including working with Gray Web Tech to developed several hospital websites.

Prior to joining GDC, Jennifer worked with two of Phoenix's larger medical groups, overseeing marketing communications and business development.

A New Hampshire Native, Jennifer received her Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Arizona State University. She lives in Phoenix, AZ with her husband Matt and their two-year old daughter, Victoria. Jennifer and Matt are pleased to announce they are expecting twins later this year.

Taryn Kail joins the AAF-San Antonio Board

Gray Web Technology + Design — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:05:00 GMT

Congratulations to our Project Management Director, Taryn Kail, who has recently become a member of American Advertising Federation- San Antonio's 2009-2010 Board of Directors. Taryn will lend her support to the Finance and Membership committees and looks forward to the coming year's events and involvement with the AAF.

The AAF- San Antonio (formerly the San Antonio ADFED) seeks to support San Antonio's advertising industry and individuals and promote the quality of advertising in San Antonio to local, regional and national audiences.

To learn more about AAF - San Antonio, visit their website at www.sanantonioadfed.org.

Employment Opportunities at Gray

Gray Web Technology + Design — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:55:04 GMT

We have immediate openings for the following positions:

Associate Web Developer
Interactive Media Traffic Coordinator
Social Media Coordinator
Web Production Specialist

To learn more about these positions and other opportunities at Gray Web Technology + Design visit our Employment Opportunities page.

Habitat for Humanity build day is here!

Gray Web Technology + Design — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:03:00 GMT

We appreciate everyone who signed up for the Gray Web Technology + Design Habitat build day this Saturday June 27th. If you wish to participate in the future please email brad@graywebtech.com for the upcoming build schedule.

For those of us carpooling:
Location: 816 Camaron, San Antonio Texas 78212 (Gray Web Technology + Design offices @ the Finesilver)

Time: 7:00am

What to bring: Closed toe shoes, hat, sunscreen and refillable water bottle! Its going to be a hot one-

For those meeting us at the build site:

Location: Palo Alto Subdivision (Habitat_Build-Palo_Alto_Map.pdf)

Parking: is off the street in the grass, follow the parking signs

Time: 7.45am

What to bring: Closed toe shoes, hat, sunscreen and refillable water bottle! Its going to be a hot one-

It will be a great day for a great cause, thank you everyone who is participating-
Brad Gray

Site Launch: Saint Vincent Hospital

Gray Web Technology + Design — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:44:00 GMT

The new Saint Vincent Hospital website has launched as of Monday, June 15. As a part of a much larger project for Vanguard Health Systems, the Saint Vincent Hospital's site provides a wealth of information for patients, visitors and health care professionals.

The website features an EBSCO Health Library, dynamic forms, Find a Physician search feature and employment search. Google Maps was integrated into the site, providing the viewer with a choice to see either the main hospitals or Saint Vincent Hospitals satellite offices and find quick driving directions to each facility.

This site uses the latest release of Sitefinity (3.5).

Take a look at the Saint Vincent Hospital website.

Site Launch: St. David's NeuroTexas Institute

Gray Web Technology + Design — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:19:23 GMT

Gray Web Technology + Design is proud to launch a new website for St. David's NeuroTexas Institute.

The new site for NeuroTexas Institute at St. David's Healthcare launched on June 10, 2009. This Sitefinity 3.5 site includes a featured procedures section, google map, dynamic forms, newsletter archives and sign-up, patient stories, appointment scheduling requests, and more.

The site is designed to work with the look of our earlier work on the St. David's Womens Center of Texas.

This site uses the latest release of Sitefinity (3.5).

Take a look at the St. David's NeuroTexas Institute website.

Developers Corner: Sitefinity Social Media and Multimedia Enhancements

Gray Web Technology + Design — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:07:00 GMT

While this post is geared more towards technical minded web developers it's also good information for those of us marketing focused folks who use Sitefinity or are considering implementing a Sitefinity Content Management System (CMS).

Right out of the box the Sitefinity CMS makes it incredibly easy for non-technical users to administer their websites and manage their online campaigns without worry of the behind-the-scenes technical aspects. To learn more about the Sitefinity web content management system visit our pages or Sitefinity's website.

Now Sitefinity is making it easier than ever to integrate Social media and Multimedia campaigns. Here are some of the latest developments. Future posts will go into more detail and show off working examples. Keep in mind these articles are geared towards more technical programmers and web developers. Give us a call, email or send us a message on facebook or twitter if you have questions or if we can help.

Facebook Integration

Pull in friend lists and other information from facebook. Create seamless links between your website and facebook. Here is an article with the technical nuts and bolts; keep an eye out for future posts and examples. Read More

YouTube Video List

Include your YouTube video play lists on your site. Visitors can scroll through and select a video to watch. Technical information

Picasa Photo Gallery Integration

Take advantage of Picasa to highlight your product images and other photography. Our Picasa controls make it simple to integrate your albums into your website. Read More

Enhanced Integration of 3rd Party RSS Feeds

It's easier than ever to pull in news articles, blog posts, twitter feeds or any other RSS based information from other sites or applications. Take a look at this

Native Integration of Windows Media Player

Quickly and easily add Windows Media Player audio and video files to your Sitefinity driven website. Upload videos from the administrative section just like any other file and select what page to add the video to. Read More

Google Checkout Integration

Makes setting up an ecommerce site even easier. Read More

Developers Corner: Integrating Google Map with Sitefinity

Richard Baugh — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 09:52:00 GMT

A while back we decided to integrate the Google Map into our websites. We liked the functionality and use of the maps and wanted a way to allow our clients to be able to experience the maps on their websites. So we created a control, two actually, that allows us to place a Google Map on a Sitefinity CMS site with a single location or multiple locations.

We built the controls out using the Google Maps API, and also leveraged the ever so popular JQuery framework. The controls use a jQuery plugin called jMaps, but was altered to meet the requirements and customizations in which we felt would best suite our clients needs. The locations are added to the map via XML files. The XML file specifies the icon the location should use along with the information to be specified in the info window when you click on a marker. We also needed to allow for categorizing/grouping the locations so that one could show a certain set of locations. We also integrated the ability to get driving directions based on a certain location.

Attached to this post, you will find the code to implement the controls in your own Sitefinity site. The controls are not specific to any one version of the CMS system and utilize some of the built in dialogs of Sitefinity such as the file browser dialog. All you need to do is extract the files into your Sitefinity site, add a reference to the controls in your web.config file along with adding in the Google API key to your web.config file. The archive includes a file called example_web.config with the necessary entries in order to get the controls added into your site. Don't forget to get your Google API key so you can replace the key in the example_web.config file before you add the entry to your web.config file. Each key is specific to the domain the map is to be used on.

We also added the style sheets used on our site along with the Skins used for the RadComboBox. Since the version of your Sitefinity CMS might have a different version of the RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX then the one we use, you might need to adjust the RadComboBox and or the skin used for the control. When adding the controls to your site, you will need to already have added the jQuery framework to your site. The controls will include everything else but assumes that the framework is already added. You will also need to set the "LoadConfigurationSettings" property, found on both the single and multiple location controls, to true. This will load all the jQuery plugin and also load in the Google Map API. If this property is not set, then the map will not function. Caution, if you add the either control onto a page more than once, this property should be set to false for every additional instance. It is only needed for the first map added to a page.

Checkout the examples of the controls on our site. The single map version can be seen here, and for the multiple location version here. You can find the source files here.

Looking forward at our next implementation of this control, we are planning on getting rid of the XML files and use the GenericContent module as our platform for adding the locations to the map. This will give our clients more flexibility in adding, editing, and removing locations and make them less fearful in creating invalid XML files. Let us know what you think.

Social Media: Where to start?

Gray Web Technology + Design — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:14:00 GMT

While it's tempting to dive right in and join the rush to social media it's best to slow down and take the time do it right. You need a plan!

Define your goals

What do you want to accomplish and how will you measure it? Keep in mind that social media is best used as a platform for ongoing conversation with your audience, not making sales on the spot. Goals can be as simple as the number of fans on the company facebook page or more advanced metrics based on search engine rankings, visitor interactions or sales. It's best to start off simple, but be prepared to re-evaluate and set new goals frequently.

Determine which social media tools to start with

Take a look at your target audience. Talk to your customers to see which tools they are using and feel most comfortable with. Then step back and look at your organization. What information can you offer your visitors and in what format? Do you have product pictures, videos, white papers, offer classes or access to knowledgeable employees? Armed with this information you'll be better prepared to select two to three tools that make sense for your organization's entry into social media.

Learn how to use the tools

Take a look at what other organizations are doing. Don't limit your research to companies of your size or industry. What type of interactions are they having? Who has an engaged audience and why? Familiarize yourself with the workings of the tools. Make sure that everybody who will be supporting the campaign has set up and uses the same social media tools that will be used by the organization. A "live" social media campaign is not the place to learn the technology by trial and error.

Make the organizational commitment

Social media is very much a get-what-you-put-into-it proposition. Successful social media campaigns take time to and energy to kick off and maintain. Allow time for those involved in the campaign to explore and interact with visitors. Timeliness is of the essence. Again, think of it as a conversation, the quicker you respond and the higher quality the message the better the chance for a positive experience and overall success of the campaign.

Re-evaluate frequently

Take a look at your goals and results. Is it time to add new social media tools or set advanced goals? Don't be afraid to make changes. Once you get past the initial hurdle of integrating social into your organization adding or changing campaigns can be very easy and rewarding.

Let us know how we can help.

210-820-0566 x13
info@graywebtech
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Developers Corner: Sitefinity Templates and Stylesheets

Richard Baugh — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:29:00 GMT

Sitefinity allows you to add extra link and meta tags to your templates and pages. By going to the properties section of a template or page you can add extra link or meta tags to a template or page, whichever you are working on. By adding these extra tags to a page or template, you are able to add additional styles or overwrite styles already defined. These tags are added after any tag that is added through the master page or through the default adding of all stylesheets for a specified theme, an ASP.Net feature. This makes it useful when you would like to overwrite a css declaration.

While working on a site one day, I discovered that when adding stylesheets to a template through the admin section, the styles where not appearing on a page when in edit mode. After digging around in the code I found that the link tags for the template where not being added in. In the Sitefinity admin folder, there is a page called EditPage.aspx. This page is the page that is used when in edit mode for a page or template. The page is inheriting from the EditPage class found in the Telerik.Cms.Web namespace. Looking at the code in the CreateChildControls method, I found my solution. Here is the code I am referring to:

      
 if (base.CmsPage.Template != null)   
                 foreach (IHeaderControl header in base.CmsPage.Template.HeaderControls)   
                     if (header is HtmlMeta)   
                         this.Header.Controls.Add(header.LoadControl());

In the first line, it is checking to see if there is a template for the given item. As I mentioned before, this class is used for editing the pages and templates. So this check is necessary as a template will not have a template, only pages will have a template. If the template exists then it gets a reference to all HeaderControls. This control collection holds all of the HtmlMeta and HtmlLink controls. Here we can see that it is only adding those controls which are of the HtmlMeta control type. What we need to do is modify this code to add only the HtmlLink controls as the meta tags/control are not needed when editing a page.

      
 if (base.CmsPage.Template != null) 
                 foreach (IHeaderControl header in base.CmsPage.Template.HeaderControls)   
                     if (header is HtmlLink)   
                         this.Header.Controls.Add(header.LoadControl());

After making this change I noticed that if I change the template, which occurs only when editing a page, that the page was not re-loading with the correct stylesheets. This is because the above code is only adding in the HtmlLink controls that are assigned to the template of the saved page. When you make a change to a page, it is making the changes to the "Staged" page. Then when you save the page, and publish if workflow is turned on, then the "Staged" page becomes the live page. So what we want to do is add the "Staged" templates HtmlLink controls. This way if you change the template, you will load in the correct HtmlLink controls. Here is the finished code with a little extra checking added in:

      
 if (base.CmsPage != null)   
         {   
             if ((base.CmsPage.Staged != null) && (base.CmsPage.Staged.Parent is ICmsPage))   
             {   
                 foreach (IHeaderControl header in base.CmsPage.Staged.Template.HeaderControls)   
                 {   
                     Control headerControl = header.LoadControl();   
                     if (headerControl is HtmlMeta)   
                         continue;   
                     this.Header.Controls.Add(headerControl);   
                 }   
             }   
         }   
   
  

Attached is the modified EditPage.aspx file and the code-behind file. All you need to do is to extract the two files into your Sitefinity/Admin folder.
EditPage.zip