Jekyll2020-11-07T19:55:39+00:00http://www.el-studio.com/atom.xmlel-studio.comSoftware & strategies to help you connectelstudioOpening global water data with WPDx2016-03-03T00:00:00+00:002016-03-03T00:00:00+00:00http://www.el-studio.com/work/wpdx<p>Lack of clean drinking water is a huge problem globally – especially in the developing world, especially for the poor.</p>
<p>There has been great progress. The UN’s Millennium Development Goals provided drinking water to half the world’s population that lacked it, and the current Sustainable Development Goals continue this work, pledging clean water and sanitation for every household worldwide by 2030.</p>
<p>With governments, NGOs, donors and academics focused on these ambitious goals, stakeholders need information about what is happening on the ground.</p>
<p>But while cell phone and GPS technology has made it possible to collect data from water points, it has not so far been easy for governments and organizations to share that data.</p>
<p>WPDx, the Water Point Data eXchange, was created to address this. WPDx is the global platform for sharing water point data among stakeholders – governments, nonprofits, donors, NGO’s and academia.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sharing this data has the potential to improve water access for millions of people as a result of better information available to governments, service providers, researchers, NGOs, and others.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We created software that enables sharing of water point data in several ways:</p>
<ul>
<li>Direct upload of data. Allow providers direct upload of data to the website (and get WPDx out of the email business).</li>
<li>Data validation. Identify invalid or duplicate data submissions, and make it easier for providers to upload correctly-formatted data.</li>
<li>Dissemination of water point data by download or charts and graphs.</li>
<li>Availability. Make data and functionality accessible to mobile devices in the field with limited bandwidth.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>The new WPDx web platform has transformed the way that water information flows through the sector. With broad support of organizations around the world, WPDx data improves decision making – and, ultimately, water access – around the world.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>See <a href="https://beta.waterpointdata.org/blog/2015/whats-new-water-point-data-exchange-website">the announcement on the WPDx blog</a> for more details about the project.</p>elstudioLack of clean drinking water is a huge problem globally – especially in the developing world, especially for the poor.Drupal’s flexibility makes updating the website the easy part of a reorganization2016-02-25T00:00:00+00:002016-02-25T00:00:00+00:00http://www.el-studio.com/work/verisconsulting<p>Veris Consulting chose the CMS for their corporate website for typical reasons: Drupal is an open-source way to let non-technical staff update company news and job postings.</p>
<p>But after a corporate restructuring spun off two of their consulting practices, the Drupal’s flexiblity came to the fore.</p>
<p>EL Studio was able to re-structure the content and the website in record time, allowing Veris to focus on the reorganization, not on limitations of the CMS.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Just wanted to say, once again, thanks for everything with respect to revamping the website! You made it an easy seamless process.</p>
</blockquote>elstudioVeris Consulting chose the CMS for their corporate website for typical reasons: Drupal is an open-source way to let non-technical staff update company news and job postings.Drupal Multisite Without Code2014-07-31T00:00:00+00:002014-07-31T00:00:00+00:00http://www.el-studio.com/blog/drupal-multisite-without-code<p>Just because you can create customize functionality in your Drupal site, that doesn’t mean you need to. Come see how SGIA.org transformed their web presence by coloring within the lines. Not only did they build three websites on one installation and incorporate commerce functionality, they also created an online experience dedicated to ensuring their audience can find the rich and useful content they offer.</p>
<p>Cindy McCourt and I put together <a href="http://2014.capitalcampandgovdays.com/capital-camp-and-gov-days/sessions/building-dynamic-multi-site-presence-shelf">a presentation for #CapitalCampDC</a>, where we shared the strategies we used, the issues we faced, and the solutions we devised. This includes:</p>
<ul>
<li>Tagging strategies and related content</li>
<li>Not your typical search functionality</li>
<li>Transitioning strategies to move between three themes</li>
<li>Commerce functionality and multiple domains</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/elstudio/multisite-drupal-without-code">Slides from the presentation are available over on Slideshare</a>.</p>
<iframe src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/37553398" width="427" height="356" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" style="border:1px solid #CCC; border-width:1px; margin-bottom:5px; max-width: 100%;" allowfullscreen=""> </iframe>
<div style="margin-bottom:5px"> <strong> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/elstudio/multisite-drupal-without-code" title="Doing Drupal Multi-site without code" target="_blank">Doing Drupal Multi-site without code</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/elstudio" target="_blank">el-studio.com</a></strong> </div>elstudioJust because you can create customize functionality in your Drupal site, that doesn’t mean you need to.Association Content Management for SGIA2014-06-14T00:00:00+00:002014-06-14T00:00:00+00:00http://www.el-studio.com/work/sgia-drupal-association-cms<p>SGIA, the leading trade association for the graphics and printing industries, had outgrown their website. The old site, a patchwork of static HTML and homegrown ColdFusion applications, made content updates difficult, and even staff had trouble finding resources everyone knew were there.</p>
<p>Worse, members couldn’t find resources they were looking for, and prospective members weren’t aware of the depth of technical resources that SGIA had assembled over decades.</p>
<p>SGIA set out to put a content management system in place to address these shortcomings – and improve member outreach. Search was critical, as was building staff capacity for content updates and new features.</p>
<p>SGIA brought us in to to build a new website using Drupal, the open-source CMS.</p>
<p>We worked together with SGIA to achieve several goals for the project:</p>
<ul>
<li>Address SGIA’s separate Garment Decorators and Graphics audiences with distinct-but-related website designs and targeted content</li>
<li>Implement a standard look and feel across a decade worth of how-tos and technical resources</li>
<li>Expose all SGIA content – web pages, spreadsheets, Word and PDF documents – to full-text search</li>
<li>Suggest related content dynamically, based on tags and full-text content analysis</li>
<li>Allow convenient access from both mobile and desktop browsers</li>
<li>Build staff capacity with Drupal so that future site enhancements can benefit from SGIA’s in-house graphics and programming expertise</li>
</ul>
<p>Member feedback on the new design has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly among SGIA’s Garment Decorators, who have their own home online for the first time. And usage of the site has increased –</p>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>The number of people using the site is up 19.5%</li>
<li>The number of page views is up 26.9%</li>
<li>The average session duration is up 5%</li>
<li>The bounce rate is down by 18.6%</li>
<li>The number of new visitors to the site is up 41%</li>
<li>The number of mobile users is up 8%</li>
<li>The number of tablet users is up 24%</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>– <a href="https://www.sgia.org/industry/executive-summary-blog/introducing-two-content-driven-websites-sgia-community" title="Introducing Two Content-Driven Websites for the SGIA Community">Introducing Two Content-Driven Websites for the SGIA Community</a></p>elstudioSGIA, the leading trade association for the graphics and printing industries, had outgrown their website. The old site, a patchwork of static HTML and homegrown ColdFusion applications, made content updates difficult, and even staff had trouble finding resources everyone knew were there.AquaNow.info: The World’s Water Data Engine2013-08-23T00:00:00+00:002013-08-23T00:00:00+00:00http://www.el-studio.com/work/aquanow.info-worlds-water-data-engine<p><a href="/work/water-news-to-go-web-software-publishes-email.html">OOSKAnews, the global water news service</a>, aims to be the most comprehensive resource for the World’s water data.</p>
<p>We worked to expand the site’s online offerings by adding geographic data. Content now displays on interactive maps — even on mobile devices — allowing much improved browsing and discovery.</p>
<p>The result is a new look — and new value for OOSKAnews subscribers.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>International water professionals can now use a web-based engine to exploit the world’s most substantive database of water-related news. AquaNow.info empowers users to deep-search around a third of a million tagged datapoints across 26,000 water news articles.</p>
</blockquote>elstudioOOSKAnews, the global water news service, aims to be the most comprehensive resource for the World’s water data.Nonprofit Community for Sustainable WASH2013-01-21T00:00:00+00:002013-01-21T00:00:00+00:00http://www.el-studio.com/work/nonprofit-community-sustainable-wash<p><a href="http://sustainablewash.org">SustainableWASH.org</a> aims to improve the longevity of WAter, Sanitation and Health projects in the developing world.</p>
<p>This unique collaboration of development experts, WASH providers and funders had several goals:</p>
<ul>
<li>Make sustainability best practices more widely available to organizations implementing and funding WASH projects</li>
<li>Establish a database of resources for more sustainable WASH projects. That database should accept user contributions</li>
<li>Provide a forum for ongoing seminars and conferences pertinent to the WASH community</li>
<li>Enable self-assessments of WASH organizations to encourage sustainable practices</li>
</ul>
<p>We worked with the client and a committee of experts to define, then implement these requirements in Drupal.</p>elstudioSustainableWASH.org aims to improve the longevity of WAter, Sanitation and Health projects in the developing world.Membership Management with Drupal and NetForum2013-01-20T00:00:00+00:002013-01-20T00:00:00+00:00http://www.el-studio.com/work/association-membership-management-drupal-netforum<p>ANCOR is a trade association representing community providers of services to people with disabilities.</p>
<p>When it was time for a website redesign, ANCOR brought in <a href="http://www.balanceinteractive.com/node/630">Balance Interactive</a> to refresh the look and feel of the site.</p>
<p>The design and build process sailed along, but there was one sticking point – ANCOR’s membership application.</p>
<p>Because of our NetForum and Drupal integration experience, Balance called us in to build ANCOR’s complex affiliate form, which was complex enough to be prohibibitively expensive to implement in the AMS.</p>
<p>Our approach was simple. We built the form in Drupal, where ANCOR could tweak text as needed. But the membership data is saved to ANCOR’s NetForum AMS database. Membership maintenance is then handled by NetForum.</p>
<p>This approach plays to the strengths of each system – and it’s working well for ANCOR.</p>elstudioANCOR is a trade association representing community providers of services to people with disabilities.Water News to Go: Web Software Publishes Email Newsletters2012-06-05T00:00:00+00:002012-06-05T00:00:00+00:00http://www.el-studio.com/work/water-news-to-go-web-software-publishes-email<p>A year or so ago, we helped <a href="http://www.ooskanews.com/">OOSKAnews</a> move their
multi-year archive of water news online, where it remains <a href="http://work.el-studio.com/from-pdf-newsletters-to-the-searchable-web">searchable and
available to newsletter subscribers</a>.</p>
<p>At that time, not ready to upend their publishing processes, OOSKAnews stuck
with their PDF-based newsletter production using Adobe Indesign. One year
later, OOSKAnews brought us back to streamline their publishing process.</p>
<p>el-studio designed and built the newsletters in native HTML, readable by all
popular email clients. Both subscription management and newsletter production
is handled by their existing Drupal website. Reliable email delivery is
provided by Amazon cloud services. Editors now build newsletters and story
archive in the same publishing process, which has proved to be a big time
saver — enabling OOSKAnews to switch to a daily publishing schedule.</p>
<p>We also refreshed the design of OOSKAnews.com, bringing many of the design
elements from the newsletter back to the website. The results have made the
world’s best source of dedicated water-industry news even better!</p>elstudioA year or so ago, we helped OOSKAnews move their multi-year archive of water news online, where it remains searchable and available to newsletter subscribers. At that time, not ready to upend their publishing processes, OOSKAnews stuck with their ...A Childrens’ Author Connects with Fans2012-05-31T00:00:00+00:002012-05-31T00:00:00+00:00http://www.el-studio.com/work/a-kids-author-connects-with-fans<p><a href="http://www.ourpinkbear.com/">Pink Bear, a book by Betsy Knode Newton</a></p>
<p>This simple, one-page website provides a place to learn about Pink Bear – and
buy the book.</p>elstudioPink Bear, a book by Betsy Knode Newton This simple, one-page website provides a place to learn about Pink Bear -- and buy the book.Women for Water: Fundraising to Save Lives2012-04-05T00:00:00+00:002012-04-05T00:00:00+00:00http://www.el-studio.com/work/women-for-water-fundraising-to-save-lives<p>Global Water Challenge <a href="http://womenforwater.com">Women for Water Campaign</a></p>
<p>Clean water is a huge problem globally – especially for women. So the Global
Water Challenge knew it had a unique opportunity to tell womens water stories,
and to ask for help.</p>
<p>OgilvyOne Worldwide produced video and a site design to speak to the heart of
the matter.</p>
<p>el-studio built the site, including donation functionality, and launched
it in time for World Water Day.</p>elstudioGlobal Water Challenge Women for Water Campaign Clean water is a huge problem globally -- especially for women. So the Global Water Challenge knew it had a unique opportunity to tell womens' water stories, and to ask for help. OgilvyOne Worldwide ...