Switch Apps

Voisins Department Store

Wed, 22 Dec 2010 12:38:17 GMT

Project Brief

To convert the provided designs into compliant website templates, provide and integrate these with a fully featured and flexible content management system and ecommerce platform.

Switch's Role

Switch converted the design's into the SiteBuilder platform and configured the ecommerce facilities for the online gift card purchasing facility. Further configuration included a blog with RSS feed, brand directory, multi-gallery layout options, dynamic newsletter sign-up form, YouTube Channel, anaytics integration with ecommerce tracking and newsletter system.

Client Testimonial

“Design, construction and implementation of a website can be a very daunting and stressful experience but Switch Apps have made the process far more manageable than we could have hoped for. The content management system has been really easy to use and when we have needed extra assistance Damon and Juye have always gone out of heir way to help. I feel they have definitely gone the extra mile when dealing with us, which is always a nice touch! We look forward to developing our site further with Switch Apps and would recommend them to business both big and small. ”

View the website on » http://www.voisins.com

Style Group

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 12:28:53 GMT

Project Brief

Work with Style Group to source a website designer and information architect to redesign and restructure their website, encorporating all of the group's six companies. Switch Apps was to then convert the provided designs into compliant website templates, provide and integrate these with a fully featured and flexible content management system and input the content to the specified site architecture and guidelines.

Switch's Role

Switch converted the design's into the SiteBuilder platform and configured the facilities to support features including image slideshows, video content, 360 tours, PDF brochures, e-newsletters and enquiry forms. We then set-up the initial website to the new site architecture and input the intial content before providing training and handing the website management over to Style Group.

Client Testimonial

“Being a group of companies consisting of six different construction related companies it was always going to be difficult to revamp our website so that was cohesive but also individualized each company, its products and its services. With the help and expertise from the team at Switch Apps we have managed to do exactly that. The website not only looks great and is easy to navigate but there is also a great synergy between the individual company pages.

We find the content management system very easy to use so we have no excuses for not keeping our news pages and project information up-to-date and we are looking forward to using the many functions available to us including the newsletter system and the uploading of videos and 360 degree images to our site.

We have had good feedback from visitors to our site and thank Damon and Juye for their patience and professionalism.”

View the website on » http://www.stylegroupjersey.com

NotYourAveragePen.com Online Store

Wed, 8 Dec 2010 21:33:47 GMT

Project Brief

To convert the provided designs into compliant website templates, provide and integrate these with a fully featured and flexible content management system and ecommerce platform.

Switch's Role

Switch converted the design's into the SiteBuilder platform and configured the ecommerce facilities to supprt multiple categories, multiple SKU product lines with multiple images and multiple payment providers. Further configuration included a custom basket preview, add to basket notification, customer account screens, anaytics integration with ecommerce tracking, newsletter system and custom designed picking and packing slips.

Client Testimonial

“We have been very impressed by Switch Apps, both by the SiteBuilder platform, its flexibility and user-friendliness together with the team at Switch Apps’ can do attitude. Switch Apps have been exceptionally supportive, professional and we are really enjoying working with them. We have been happily recommending Switch Apps to other on-line retailers.

Looking forward to a long working relationship with the Switch Apps team. Thanks Damon and Juye!”

View the website on » http://www.notyouraveragepen.com

Infuse IT Consultants

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 11:09:22 GMT

Project Brief

To convert the provided designs into compliant website templates, provide and integrate these with a fully featured and flexible content management system to enable the editing of site information, postings of regular blogs and restricted client access area.

Switch's Role

Switch converted the design's into the SiteBuilder platform and configured the various dynamic content sections of the web site, including animated Jquery elements, Google map, private client zones and integration with the Disqus commenting platform.

Client Testimonial

“Being an IT professional I have been involved in developing software and delivering client service for 15 years. Content management solutions have been being developed since the very beginning of the web. Companies have been delivering service since the start of time. Whilst I cannot comment on the creative quality of a website I can absolutely verify that SiteBuilder + Switch Apps is the real-deal. My research into their hosting environment, software capability, service and costs gave me confidence. My experience of their execution and ability to communicate with a separate design company, left me in no doubt that Switch Apps deserve to be the #1 in Content Management Solution provider in Jersey. Well done.”

View the website on » http://www.infuse.je

Blank Page Digital Marketing

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 22:39:16 GMT

Project Brief

Following an in-depth review of SiteBuilder's search engine features and performance, digital marketing agency Blank Page instructed Switch Apps to build their own website from provided wireframes and designs.

Switch's Role

Switch converted the design's into the SiteBuilder platform and configured the various dynamic content sections of the web site.

Client Testimonial

"A key part of our business is advising clients how to optimise their sites for search engine traffic and perhaps more importantly, just how critical it is to provide content rich websites with consistently relevant information. Switch Apps' content management system makes it incredibly easy to keep any website up-to-date, relevant, optimised for search engines and engage with customers. If we are ever asked by a client to recommend a CMS it is very easy to say that we like this one so much, we use it ourselves!"

View the website on » www.blankpageconsult.com

BabyBarn.co.uk Community

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:43:26 GMT

Project Brief

To provide a fully featured and flexible content management system to enable the daily editing of a community web site. The site will support a vast amount of information from business listings, blogs, articles, images, videos and competitions.

Switch's Role

Switch converted the design's into the SiteBuilder platform and configured the various dynamic content sections of the web site, including integration of an eNewsletter system.

Client Testimonial

“Switch has provided the perfect solution for BabyBarn.co.uk. The nature of the site means it needs to be updated daily and the content management system is so easy to use and extremely flexible. We can very simply add listings, upload images, write our blog and update news items, meaning our website remains fresh and up-to-date which is crucial. We are also using the Switch newsletter system regularly and look forward to developing our site with an ecommerce facility in the future.”

View the website on » http://www.babybarn.co.uk

Our Services - what we do

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:29:33 GMT

We are often asked “What is it you guys actually do?”. We offer quite a few services, so it’s hard to sum it up in an elevator pitch, and often when we try, people look at us with a blank stare.

Anyway, I guess our elevator pitch would be “we build web sites”, but we think that doesn’t really paint the picture very well, so here’s our non elevator (long flight of stairs, if you will) version.

SiteBuilder
SiteBuilder is our web publishing system which allows our clients to build and maintain their own websites and online stores. This is our primary business and we spend most of our time working on enhancements to the system and implementing client projects using it. Some of our clients are very web literate, and are able to build their sites from scratch using SiteBuilder without any assistance from us. Others are not so, in which case we are able to offer a fully hands on service, assisting with anything that needs to be done to launch a successful site.

Design to website conversion service
We like to concentrate on doing what we do best and don’t provide web site design services. Instead, we work closely with design agencies, independent designers and marketing departments. Most sites that are built on SiteBuilder are first designed in an image format that is then passed to us ready to be ‘sliced and diced’. This involves converting the images into SiteBuilder templates using HTML, CSS, JavaScript and any other technology that is required. You can read more about our design to website conversion service here.

Custom development
In addition to building websites using SiteBuilder, we also offer custom development services. Every business is unique, so it’s obvious that a one stop solution won’t meet everybody’s needs. In the case that one of our clients needs something a little bit different (or a lot different in some cases) we offer the following development services

SiteBuilder Extensions - SiteBuilder was built as a web publishing platform. It has many features and is hugely customisable. You might be surprised at the variety of sites that can be built with it, and the vast majority of our customers use the features provided out of the box. However, sometimes we run up against a requirement isn’t directly supported. This isn’t a problem as when we originally planned and built SiteBuilder we set one of our must have requirements as it being easy to extend. So when we do run up against a scenario that we can’t handle out of the box, we can easily provide custom development services to extend it to meet our client’s exact needs.
Mobile Development - As mobile usage continues to grow, more and more consumers are using their devices to access the web. Whether it’s an extension to SiteBuilder, to display your web content in a mobile format, or to allow online shopping through a native client, or whether it’s a completely standalone mobile application, we can help with our development services for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile 7.
Web Applications - Whilst SiteBuilder can be used for a variety of websites, online stores and web applications, sometimes our customer’s requirements just don’t fit. If that’s the case, we can work with you to define your business requirements and provide custom development services to build online applications that meet your exact needs.

Design Agency Support
We work closely with design agencies to supplement their in house teams and are able to offer the following services.

Pre-sales support including requirements gathering and creation of project proposals.
Web technology research and advice.
Design conversion, XHTML and CSS slicing.
Cross-browser and W3C compliance testing.
Design referrals from Switch source projects.
Outsource your development projects to us.

Why we built SiteBuilder

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:51:03 GMT

People often ask us why we built ‘another CMS’ when there are so many other options out there, so we thought we would put this post together to try and explain.

We’ve been building web sites, online stores and web applications for our clients for over ten years. During that time we have used open source systems, purchased and extended commercial systems and built from scratch, all of which have their pros and cons.

We eventually found ourselves in a situation where we had the following problems we wanted to address:

We had a number of servers, each with their own operating systems and middleware that required constant patching and maintenance to keep secure and up to date.
Quite often, open source systems would get us to about 80% of where the client wanted to be. We would then have to build additions (through modules, plugins or by extending the system depending on what was supported) to provide the extra 20%.
Each site was running on it’s own installation of whatever software it was built in. Some open source, some commercial and some home-grown. All of these systems had to be patched and upgraded individually as new versions came out. This was made even more difficult in the cases where we had extended the system to run custom functionality specific to the site. We had to first check that the upgrades weren’t going to affect the custom code and data, and in the cases that it did, we had to then handle it somehow.
When first reviewing options, many commercial and open source systems appeared to provide the feature set and functionality that was required to get the job done for the client. But upon closer examination, we often found that the systems were lacking in functionality, usability and/or performance. Sometimes this was only apparent after using the system in production for a few weeks. Additional development was often required to address these issues, which then in turn impacted on our ability to keep the system on the upgrade path provided by the vendor or the open source project.
Each site had a separate maintenance and backup plan.

About three years ago we decided to sit down and plan for the next few years. Where possible, we wanted to consolidate our servers and software into a single platform that would then allow us to concentrate on providing a better service to our clients instead of spending so much time on maintenance.

To help us search for this new software platform to host all of our clients on, we made a list of our high level requirements. At the time, we knew that we were unlikely to find a silver bullet, but hoped that we could find something close.

Should be possible to have one installation of the software that runs many sites. This would allow us to apply upgrades to all sites in one go, meaning that all of our customers would then receive bug fixes and new features at the same time.
Should be scalable across many servers, so that we can grow as our customers grow.
Should be easy to extend the system to support new features in a way that will not impact future upgrades.
Should provide a way for us to create a new site at a click of a button.
Should provide a way for us to separate out functionality into ‘price tiers’ so that our customers only have to pay for what they need.
Should provide content management, ecommerce, customer relationship management, and application building functionality out of the box (classifieds, job listings, blogs, news, etc).
Needs to be extremely easy to use and to have a ‘nice looking’ (we will know it when we see it!) user interface.
Should be aimed at both web developers/designers and end users. It’s really important that our clients can use it to maintain their own sites and don’t have to revert to us for every change.
Needs to be supported by one maintenance and backup plan. Ideally, we want one hour backups.
Needs to be built using technology that our customers are comfortable with. This seems like it shouldn't be important, but one of our guarantees to our customer is that we will provide the whole system, free of charge, if we were to ever cease trading. We don’t plan on that ever happening (we’ve been here for a long time already) but it does give our customers peace of mind.
It’s got to be shiny. And have turtles all the way down.

We spent a long time looking. But nada.

It wasn’t that we didn’t find great options - we did. But none of them fitted the bill exactly. Hardly any of them were multi site. There weren’t very many options that provided content management and ecommerce and customer relationship management and the ability to build applications. Some of them were written in languages that wouldn’t fly with our customers (don’t ask, we don’t want to start a language war). It was a really frustrating time, because some of the options were very good in some areas, but lacking in others.

So, we were a bit stuck. The choices were:

Carry on as we were.
Settle with something that would meet most of the requirements.
Build it ourselves.

The first option wasn’t really an option at all. We couldn’t carry on the way we were and be happy with the service that we were providing.

The second option, when we really thought about it, was really just a variation on the first. No matter what we went with, we would have ended up with the same problems in our list. We also considered finding an open source option which we could contribute to, but were worried about investing a lot of time and effort into a platform that we ultimately had no control over the direction of.

The third option seemed to be the only way, but we were wary. First off, we knew this would be a big undertaking. Second, we were worried about the Not Invented H ere syndrome - was there really nothing that we could use?

After a lot of deliberation, we decided that our only real option was to build a system that would meet all of our requirements. Work on our web publishing platform began in 2007. Our first public version, then called Visual Edit, was released in 2008. A year later we released our second version of the platform, renamed SiteBuilder.

It’s now 2010, and we are unbelievably happy that we decided to create our own web publishing platform. It meets every one of our initial requirements, we’ve been able to adapt it to our exact needs, we no longer spend all of our time on maintenance tasks and we’ve had great feedback from our clients.

It wasn’t an easy decision, but it was definitely the right one.

Axis Mason Architects

Thu, 8 Jul 2010 17:45:39 GMT

Project Brief

Update Axis Mason's web site to simplify the navigation, maximise the profile of key projects and relate their online presence directly to the updated brand guidelines.

Switch's Role

Switch Apps worked directly with Axis Mason's brand agency, London based Brand Mirror, providing a full web building service to bring to life the brand's online concepts. Working from provided web visuals and brand guidelines, Switch Apps converted these into XHTML/CSS templates and integrated them into our SiteBuilder web site management system. Switch then implemented several interactive and animated features including image slide shows, 360 tours and the main accordion style navigation menu.

Client Testimonial

"Switch Apps recently helped us restructure our website to reflect the evolving nature of our business. Throughout the process we found them to be both professional and creative giving us the ideal tailored solution."

View the website on » www.axismason.com

New Static web site building service

Thu, 1 Jul 2010 10:30:50 GMT

We are delighted to announce the launch of our new 'Static' web site building service for those who wish to benefit from a great web site technology platform but don't yet require content management features.

At Switch, we have found we can build sites so quickly through our SiteBuilder system that our quotes are often less than a competitor or design agency building a static web site manually. Therefore we've decided to now offer static web site builds using our SiteBuilder system so you still benefit from SEO friendly URLs, the performance and security of dedicated servers, hourly back-ups and search engine feeds, yet only pay a reduced hosting fee.

Better still, should you decide that you require access to regularly edit your web site, we simply upgrade your monthly fee and we provide you with instant access to your site, no waiting, no rebuild.

As always, all sites are built with best practice techniques to pass W3C validations and maximise you search engine ranking and Switch would be delighted to assist with any web services including design conversion, technology advise or recommend design partners.

Further information is available on SiteBuilder Pricing or contact us.