One of the current fast-growing Internet trends is to push more control over functionality and animation to the client-side browser, now that newer browsers are powerful enough to run them natively. In simple terms, this gives us as designers and programmers more flexibility when coming up with creative solutions to problems. (Or, I could just say, we get to do more fun stuff!) One of the leaders of this trend is jQuery, which is a JavaScript library that is very powerful.

With jQuery, we can develop all kinds of solutions that improve the user’s experience, from improving form usability and validation, to more-engaging photo galleries, to a very fluid and dynamic browsing experience. And just as importantly, many times with jQuery we can build these new solutions more quickly and with less code than prior coding techniques. It’s the ultimate win-win: our clients get better-looking and better-functioning web sites without an increase in cost!

Today, I’d like to talk about one specific jQuery component that I have used on a recent project. It’s a plug-in named DataTables. From the DataTables web site, DataTables is:

Hmm. Maybe that definition doesn’t help us very much. To simplify, here’s my DataTables definition: DataTables gives programmers a set of tools when displaying a table of information that provides instantaneous pagination, sorting and searching. DataTables replaces the old, standard way of these three functionalities of having to send the request to the web server and wait for it to respond. An example:

Old way:
1: While browsing records 1-10 of a table, you click a link to go to the next page, containing records 11-20.
2: The browser sends the request to go to the next page back to the web server.
3: The web server passes the request on to the database server.
4: The database server then works with the web server to get the data for the next page and sends it back to your browser. While this process is happening, your mouse becomes an hourglass while you wait for the page to load.

New way: When you click a link to go to the next page, the browser instantly updates with the next page’s information! You click the link, and the page updates.

Sorting and Searching provide similar experiences. Here’s an example of a table of information using DataTables:

So, what you see here is a table of information showing browser statistics for visitors to sangereby.com during July 2010. As a small side-note, we are always reviewing browser statistics for audiences of our web sites to understand which browser and screen resolutions are relevant to our audience (again – it’s another principle of ever-changing trends in the Internet industry). Okay, let’s talk a little bit more about each feature:

Pagination: As already stated, the primary benefit of this pagination approach is its speed. It’s just blazing fast. But, almost as importantly, DataTables generates all of the pagination links and functionality automatically – we programmers do not have to develop custom code to generate the pagination. So, less code, faster development.

Sorting: Okay, you can already guess – it’s ultra-fast and minimizes code to write. Great! The sorting feature also packs some extra bells and whistles. Instead of coding only one primary column to make sortable, all columns are instantly sortable. In the header row, you get the wonderful icons and background-color indicating which column is currently sorted and whether it is sorted low-to-high or high-to-low. You can even sort on multiple columns, to further sort sub-sets of data (hold down SHIFT and click a second column heading).

Searching: Of course, the quickest way to find the information you’re looking for is to search for it, right? So, we have a search box. But, think of it as a high-powered search box, because it searches keystroke-by-keystroke. Go ahead, try it! Start typing in “M-a-c” to see all Macintosh users. The results filter with each keystroke – amazing!

As someone who loves to dig through data and find the information buried within, tools like this that improve a table’s functionality are just plain outstanding. I look forward to using it (and learning about and using other jQuery tools) on future projects! If you want to know more, or have other jQuery recommendations, let me know in the comments.

In 2008, we received a call from a past colleague to help market a non-profit she was passionate about. As President of the Board of Directors for the United Coalition for Animals (UCAN), she recognized the organization’s need to form a relationship with a company that could help elevate the nonprofit to the next level and reached out to us to help.

The opportunity aligned itself perfectly with one of Sanger & Eby’s, and my own, core values: giving back. The Sanger & Eby and UCAN relationship started out very simple – providing pro-bono graphic design support for the organization. I was allowed ample time to create brochures, newsletters and other necessary print pieces that would be used to educate people about UCAN’s mission – ending pet overpopulation and animal euthanasia through responsible pet care and spay/neuter surgeries.

With each piece I created I continued my own education, quickly learning why an organization like UCAN is so necessary. To explain things in the simplest way possible, there are too many pets and too few homes. For every person born each day in the United States, seven kittens and puppies are born* – more than we could ever hope to find homes for. A decline in pet overpopulation will lead to a decline in animal abuse and neglect. It will lead to a decrease economic strain by decreasing the amount of tax dollars spent yearly to round up, care for or euthanize these animals. And it will help increase our abilities to properly care for our own pets and our area’s homeless animals. Pet overpopulation and the resulting euthanasia of these healthy animals will remain with us unless the cause is consistently addressed. Since 2001, UCAN has worked to address that problem through its nonprofit spay neuter clinic and pet health programs.

Over the last two and a half years, that simple relationship of a company lending its expertise to a great cause has grown into so much more. I currently serve on the Board of Directors and as a member of the Marketing and Fundraising committees. I have been able to give my time and talents to an incredibly important cause. I have grown through education and through the people I have had an opportunity to meet. My life has been shaped by my experience with UCAN and I am left with an imprint, a paw print, because I have been able to give back to my community through my career at Sanger & Eby.

*Facts from SpayUSA

What is a summer internship? When some college students break free of that hectic schedule of classes, labs, papers, and exams it is time to kick back and enjoy a relaxing summer of sun and friends. For others, it is time to put their knowledge and skills to the test. As a strategic communication major, after two summers of a relaxing job by the pool, I decided to put my new education to the test by seeking summer internships. After the struggle of finding successful companies still offering internship opportunities in the tough economic times we face, fate brought me to Sanger & Eby for a summer as their first Marketing Intern.

I had many preconceived ideas about what being a summer intern would be like as a junior in college. Many of these ideas including getting coffee, filing papers, and answering phones. I am now entering my fourth week as the marketing intern for Sanger & Eby Design and any expectations I had for an internship have been blown out of the water. My first day on the job consisted of a client meeting at Macy’s corporate office, lunch at a quaint downtown Cincinnati café, followed by a client staging for a magnificent website our designers had created. I was thrown right into the meat of what strategic communications is all about.

Interning at Sanger & Eby has already been beyond what I would have imagined. If my first day wasn’t good enough; I have since, written and mailed press releases, researched many topics for use on projects, participated in client meetings, been assigned lead for pro bono projects, and participated in the social media strategy of the company. As a college student I expected to come into a company and feel like a college student. Instead, upon working at Sanger & Eby I have been welcomed, not as an intern but as a part of the team.

Every day that I am here I am learning something new. At Sanger & Eby it does not feel like a group of designers, developers, and project managers; but, rather it feels like one team working together to create marketing masterpieces. Yes, as a marketing intern I have worked directly with project management, marketing, social media; but I have also worked directly with designers and programmers. I never expected to be able to interact with the founders of the company on a daily basis in my internship, but here everyone seems equal, everyone is valued, and everyone is heard.

I cannot speak for every summer internship a college student may hold, but I know for myself; up to this point my expectations have been completely demolished.  Each day I come to work with an open mind and ready for a new assignment, a new project, and a new lesson.

If you’re like millions of other Internet users who engage in those activities, chances are pretty good that you’re exposing a lot of personal information to more than just your online friends.

There has been a lot of backlash in the media lately about Facebook repeatedly updating and changing its privacy policy and default privacy settings, exposing additional user information to both their marketing partners and search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing.

For GenXers (like me) and many folks of older generations, the concept of privacy is something we consider sacred. Making your weekend escapades public and spouting off controversial statements for everyone to see and hear is typically not something we would have done before the advent of the World Wide Web and social networking.

So, why do so many of the younger generation do it now? (And get off my lawn while you’re at it!)

Is the concept of privacy outdated to them? Do they not realize that the things they post now can come back to haunt them later in life or when entering the job force? Or does it just not matter as much?

The simple fact is that the pervasiveness of social networking has somehow made it acceptable to trade our privacy and personal information away for luxury of being connected to other people. I personally disagree with this philosophy, but for those kids and teens who have never known a world without the Web, it’s a different story. The fact that the Web enables anyone to self-publish is a double-edged sword.

Facebook and other social networking sites may be “free,” but there is nothing truly free about them. In exchange for you giving out information about your interests, hobbies, job and games and friends, they let you use their site to connect with your friends. They use your personal information to sell ads targeted directly to you. Facebook’s default privacy settings expose a lot of personal information to search engines and even to Facebook visitors who are not logged in. Their own privacy policy is quite clear:

Information set to “everyone” is publicly available information, just like your name, profile picture, and connections.  Such information may, for example, be accessed by everyone on the Internet (including people not logged into Facebook), be indexed by third party search engines, and be imported, exported, distributed, and redistributed by us and others without privacy limitations. Such information may also be associated with you, including your name and profile picture, even outside of Facebook, such as on public search engines and when you visit other sites on the internet.  The default privacy setting for certain types of information you post on Facebook is set to “everyone.” You can review and change the default settings in your privacy settings. If you delete “everyone” content that you posted on Facebook, we will remove it from your Facebook profile, but have no control over its use outside of Facebook.

This disturbing trend continues unabated all across the Web at sites like Spokeo, which collects information about people all over the world based on their location and other highly personal data (like address, phone number, home value and credit score) and allows anyone to view a good amount of that information free of charge.

It was shocking enough to me (a fairly jaded Internet veteran) that when I viewed my own Spokeo profile, I immediately filled out the form to have my information removed from the site. A lot of it was dead-on, but there was some info that was just dead-wrong. I won’t deny I looked up few people myself while I was there, though.

So, how can you protect yourself and your children from this invasion of privacy? First and foremost, you can simply choose not to participate. Don’t set up a Facebook profile or MySpace page. Don’t give out any revealing personal information to any Web site or use the Internet for banking or communications.

The problem is that not all of us who are privacy-conscious want to be Luddites. In this era of instant communication, live blogging, YouTube, smartphones and all of the other cool stuff the Internet allows us to do, staying disconnected is probably not an option.

The Web is no different from going into a bad neighborhood – you have to watch your back and make sure you are protected. Unfortunately, there are no Internet Police, but there are some things you can do to prevent your personal information from leaking on to the Internet.

1. Read the Privacy Policy. I know that it is paragraph after paragraph of legalese and it’s really dry stuff, but it literally tells you how the site will use your personal information. If you disagree with site’s privacy practices, don’t sign up.
2. Get familiar with the privacy settings on the site you’re using and set them to a level that makes you comfortable. For example, I lock down my Facebook page and make very little available to non-friends. You can see my picture and my name and that’s about it.
3. Log out of the site and attempt to access your page to see what information is publicly accessible. Adjust your privacy settings to prevent any personal information from being exposed.
4. Learn your rights and how companies use your information.
5. Sign up for a credit-monitoring service if you do any online shopping. Consider using a pre-paid debit card for online purchases, as it will help protect you from identity theft and credit card fraud.
6. For parents, make your kids give you their passwords and make sure you are friends with them so you can monitor their online activities. Make it a condition of being allowed to use the Internet.
7. Actually monitor your child’s online activities. Whether that means using a NetNanny/ CyberSitter-like filtering or monitoring solution or just popping in and keeping an eye on what they’re doing, it’s your responsibility to make sure that they are safe online. It’s no different than vetting their friends or making sure they aren’t watching inappropriate television shows.
8. Educate your children on what privacy means and how something they post online is basically the equivalent of hanging a giant sign on your door proclaiming the same thing. The Canadian government has an excellent parent & child resource site that contains relevant information for US citizens, too: http://youthprivacy.ca/en/index.html.

In short, there is no way to totally protect yourself online. It’s just like the real world – you need to be conscious of your surroundings and take the appropriate steps to protect yourself and those you love.

I’d love to hear some of the ways you protect your privacy online in the comments.

Sanger & Eby created and developed the new website for the Festival. The goal was to create a site that captured the style and feel of R&B, jazz, hip-hop, soul along with this year’s theme of Rhythm and U. The new site is filled with information about the upcoming artists, lodging, dining and a complete history of the the sights and sounds of previous festivals, allowing the audience to revisit their favorite artists performances from years past.

This was my first project after I came on at Sanger & Eby as a designer. It was fitting for me that it was a music related site, as music plays a very important part in my life and I have past experience designing and building sites for musicians and artists. Finding music new and old is something I enjoy greatly and to be able to be a part of this project was very fulfilling. This genre is something I’m not all familiar with, so it gave me a great opportunity to add new artists (at least to me!), like Charlie Wilson, to my iPod as well as give me a chance to explore a new design style.

After the initial meeting with the Macy’s team, viewing the poster art for the festival, and watching a few of the performances from years past I felt I had a good grasp on what style they were looking for to capture the essence of the music and festival weekend. By using bright colors, some of the artwork from the festival poster and a “street art” typeface, we were able to give the festival website a fresh look and feel that highlights the important information for the user.

You can visit the new site by following this link:
http://www.macysmusicfestival.com/

So came the challenge from our client, who wanted to generate excitement and interest as well as to substantially cut costs for a major printed piece. If we could make the primary experience online engaging enough, we’d need significantly fewer copies of the actual book printed—and that could save tens of thousands of dollars. Plus, it would be fun.

The catch was that we still wanted the online experience of the text-heavy content to be like the experience of the printed piece, without traditional navigation or long, scrolling text—but still with a good, intuitive user experience. Our client used the visual of an animated page turn to describe what she was looking for, though she knew that wasn’t the right solve. I agreed—combining the weaknesses of one medium with the weaknesses of another doesn’t leave much hope for a good user experience.

So there we are. Well. I love a challenge.

Knowing I had to fit the experience into what’s comfortable for the user to look at on the screen, I started working through the options while I visualized how the end result should look and flow. Putting the book online isn’t a clean transition from print—it’s more like a presentation than a website. I initially thought about Flash, but I wanted an easily searchable, truly accessible experience. So how could we get the dynamic qualities of Flash combined with the user-friendly qualities of HTML and CSS?

I walked through my thinking with my programming partner on this project, Aaron. He suggested jQuery as a solve. If you’re not familiar with it (I wasn’t), it’s a cross-browser JavaScript library that streamlines interactions between JavaScript and HTML, and provides the capability to do what we were trying to achieve with this experience. A quick check with the client’s IT group confirmed it would not only run in their environment, but was actually their preferred solution. Sold!

Aaron built a prototype to test the idea, which was a big win. It confirmed the idea would work as we envisioned it, and brought it to life for the client. The solution allows the user to focus on a single page while still having awareness of the other pages in the document—similar to a book, but without the added tools and navigation of a standard web implementation. The navigation mechanism is clearly visible and moves with the user, creating the illusion of the eye moving to focus on a different part of the document (think of a newspaper with multiple articles artfully arranged on a single large-format page and you’ve got the idea).

Adding value to the solution, it’s also easily searchable and indexable by search engines, and meets accessibility standards—a growing requirement for online content as well as a passion area of mine. Accessibility is not only key for an equitable user experience—it’s a growing legal concern. Developing sites and online experiences to be accessible just makes sense, for the business as well as from the human perspective.

So how did it work? Really well. Our client was able to share the information, provide an excellent user experience with great search visibility, and dramatically reduce her printing costs—final savings are in the tens of thousands of dollars. We’ll post an update on more results as they develop. Stay tuned.

How many of these tweets and/or Facebook updates have you seen from the people in your social media network? Tens? Hundreds? If you’re like me, you see these updates all the time. Whether at work, school, a restaurant or a bar, people are now sharing the details of where they go via Foursquare, one of the hottest new location-based social networking tools.

Simply explained, Foursquare lets you “check-in” at different places and share your location with your friends. As you check-in around town, you earn points, and if you accumulate enough points by visiting a venue often, you can become “Mayor” of that venue. Your check-ins can be shared via Twitter, Facebook and the Foursquare app, which is available for iPhone, Droid, Blackberry and Palm. Your check-ins are only shared with friends, who are people you approve to follow you.

So who cares where I go and what I do? All of my friends of course, and not surprisingly, the businesses I frequent. With over a half a million users as of March, 2010, companies are increasingly interested in Foursquare as a way to reward repeat visitors through discounts and incentives.

Foursquare has developed a set of business tools that allow business to create four different types of incentive offers: Mayor Specials, Frequency Specials, Check-in Specials and Wildcards. The goal is to get repeat visits, engage customers and make it lucrative for you to “check-in” and share your location with your social network. Foursquare provides real-time venue stats so companies can see if an offer is generating new and repeat visits, as well as mentions on Facebook and Twitter.

Think local businesses around the country (and globe) aren’t testing the Foursquare waters? Think again. In Cincinnati, where Sanger & Eby is based, plenty are:

• Bakery Sugar Cupcakery rewarded my friend @redrabbit with a free cupcake for visiting and checking in
• Blackfinn American Saloon offers free cover on certain days when you check in
• Grinders Coffee rewards you with $1.00 off every fifth check-in
• Taste of Belgium, a waffle shop in Findlay market, recently posted that specials via Foursquare would be coming soon

Nationally, brands like Starbucks ($1 off Frappucinos for Mayors) and Carrabas (show you’re the Mayor and enjoy a complimentary dessert with entrée purchase) are getting on the bandwagon too. Know of any other Cincinnati businesses that are using Foursquare? National? Who do you think should be actively promoting business on Foursquare?

We are thrilled to share our nomination with the other worthy finalists, and while we’re looking forward to finding out who won, we are truly honored to be nominated.

Shop for a Cause is Macy’s national charity shopping day to support national and local nonprofit organizations. And, since 2006, Shop for a Cause has helped non-profits raise more than $28 million for their ongoing charitable efforts.

As of August 1, things just got a whole lot easier with online registration for non-profits nationwide. Macy’s has partnered with Sanger & Eby to develop the site and robust application system. For the first time ever, non-profits can register their organizations for the October 17 fundraiser, select from a list of participating stores, and get email updates for and about the big day — all online. The site and backend database helps Macy’s streamline the entire registration and communication process, with tools to track ticket sales, validate charitable status, and manage specific store events.

We are proud of our continued relationship with a company whose culture, like ours, is deeply rooted in giving back. 

If you are involved with a non-profit group and want to see what a difference a day makes, sign up to get your group started.

According to twitter.com, “Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”

Twitter is a “micro-blog”. Like a blog, Twitter allows you to create an online journal or diary and share it with the world. However, unlike a blog, Twitter only allows entries/thoughts that are less than 140 characters. This limitation demands short updates and quick thoughts. This allows users to share experiences through Twitter much faster and more frequently than is conventionally done through a blog.

Why are we using Twitter at Sanger & Eby?

Well, just like the definition above stats, we want to share what we’re doing here at Sanger & Eby. We believe that we have a great story to tell, and want to have a running dialogue with you – our friend. We’ll be sharing stories right here on our blog as well, of course, but Twitter will allow us to quickly record and publish smaller experiences.

Also, we understand the you live in a busy world – if you follow our Twitter feed, you’ll be able to very quickly get a feel for recent happenings here at Sanger & Eby. If you have time to learn more, then you can read the blog!

Finally, we are always striving to stay in touch with the latest Internet trends, and what better way to showcase this expertise than by putting it to use ourselves!

Twitter Fun

Many celebrities, including Ashton Kutcher (@APlusK), Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstronG), Shaquille O’Neal (@The_Real_Shaq) and even Cincinnati’s Chad Johnson / Ochocinco (@OGOchoCinco) to name a few, are using Twitter to talk directly to their fans. And not just one-way communication, either. I follow the @The_Real_Shaq and @OGOchoCinco Twitter pages. They regularly post dozens of Tweets a day, which are nearly completely filled with replies to people who have sent messages to them directly. I’m not the biggest fan of Chad, but I have a lot of respect for how engaging he is with his fans.

More Information

Of course, this is just an introduction. There’s a lot more than meets the eye at first glance with Twitter. A few examples: using Twitter via mobile phone SMS messages, learning about breaking news – many events hit Twitter before mainstream media, and even chatting directly with your favorite celebrity, as highlighted above.

If you want to learn more about Twitter, here are a few links that may be helpful:

Twitter.com/

What is Twitter? Twitter Basics

How to Set Up a Twitter Account

Why Use Twitter?

How to follow Sanger & Eby on Twitter:

1. Create a Twitter account: https://twitter.com/signup
2. Visit the @SangerEby Twitter page: http://twitter.com/sangereby
3. Click the Follow button.

That’s it! Now, when you’re logged in to twitter.com, our updates will be included on your home page!