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This week's topic is:
The First Annual, Biannual, Monthly,
Weekly or Whenever the Mood Strikes Me
Prize
That's right, this week, I'm going to tell you
what's kewl to me (that's how we spell cool now
that it's the 21st century... I think it has to do
with a more languorous pronunciation of the word...
First instituted by 13 year old inner city black
kids.... where most of the kewl stuff comes from
nowadays.
Kewl to me means that even though I've been
doing this web gig for (it appears, due to recent
excavations of my ancient files) about seven years,
there are still some things that blow me away as
exceptionally useful tools.
Useful to me means that there's something that
the tool lets me do that otherwise I can't do.
I can clue you that one thing that I can't do,
and don't want to do, is computer programming. Oh,
I pass as an incredible computer whiz... to my Dad.
But that's only because I can change the background
on his desktop. And I am an exceptionally adept
computer USER.
I do word processing, desktop publishing,
Photoshop stuff, Dreamweaver, rollovers, and just
yesterday I created my first comma delimited file
to do mail merge in Word and it worked!
But I'm not a programmer, even though I HAVE
read the entire
Javascript
and
DHTML
tutorials at Webmonkey. The thing is, you don't
need to be a carpenter to be a general contractor
for a house. You just have to know some.
I'm the same way with websites.I can set up your
marketing campaign, creative angle, write the
slogan, write all the copy, import and convert what
you have already, consult with you about web
marketing and design, convert everything to HTML,
scan and import photos, cropped and optimized,
create web safe buttons, analyze and test
usability, FTP your site to a server, promote your
site on the search engines, and write a poem about
it afterwards.
But I can't write a CGI script to save my life.
Which means that if your site needs any kind of
integration with a database, any kind of
sophisticated response to e-mail inquiries, some
kind of ASP-generated page, or any customized
programming, I'm going to nod my head in agreement
as we discuss your needs and mentally I'm clicking
through my list of carpenters (i.e. programmers).
Now, when I bring in a carpen.. er, programmer,
all of a sudden I've lost control of some kind.
First of all, I can't fix the thing if the thing is
bonked. Back to the programmer. I'm also instantly
unsure of how much all this is going to cost you.
It's easy for me to bid just myself, but if I have
to add someone else in, they have to add in to the
bid.
And they are overworked right now (web
programmers). At least in my town, the dot com bust
hasn't hit the web programmer crowd.
There's a zillion 14 year olds who think they
can do what I do (site design), but programming 14
year olds are harder to come by.
So when I see something that says, "Database
integration with NO programming," all of a sudden
I'm interested.
Why? Obviously, if I don't have to go to a
programmer on a project, I get to keep all the
shekels. In other words, I get all the money,
because I provide all of the service. That may seem
mercenary, but there's more to it. If I can provide
an integrated solution, HTML, design, consulting,
and the programming, I am far more likely to make
the whole thing hold together than someone who is
being added onto the project.
I don't get that much in the way of database
integration-type work. But if I do, I probably have
to dig up an available programmer, work out an
arrangement with them, explain the project, and
then watch nervously while the project disappears
into their world for days or weeks on end while I
can't do anything to it.
I want my client's project done as soon as
possible. In the areas where I can make things
happen I make it happen pronto whenever possible.
But if the programmer has the project, sometimes
I can't move.
So when Instantis comes along and says that,
without programming, I can offer my clients the
following:
- Sales lead collection and management
- Automated eMarketing
- Seminar and event registration
- Request for quotations and proposals
- Service request management
- Product registration
- Online support
- Customer surveys
- Online recruiting
- Intranet Applications
(a list copied from one of their PDF brochures
on Sitewand),
I start to get a little animated.
Basically what their Sitewand tool does is
take a form that I may have created in Dreamweaver
or Frontpage 2000 and use it to generate a
database. Then they host the database on their
servers.
Now, that innocent little paragraph (I've bolded
it so it doesn't slip by unnoticed) needs a little
unpacking in order to understand its ramifications.
First of all, as I said, all I have to do is
create the input form and they create the database.
That's like writing a menu and having someone build
a whole restaurant for you based on what you put
down on paper and then laminated.
The analogy is not just for fun either, because
once the database gets created, the client can
query the database in all sorts of ways and add
different ways of dealing with the input, such as
internally routing e-mail requests and tracking
responses.
In other words, just because they built the
restaurant based on my menu doesn't mean that they
can't cook up all kinds of new stuff with the
ingredients that I first specified. Maybe I ordered
french fries, but they can probably serve up those
potatoes boiled, home fried, hash browned, chipped,
scalloped and twice baked.
Again, all I have to do is create a form. The
Instantis Sitewand tool uses the form I create as a
basis for the database. You can see that the
non-programmers in the room (that's everyone in my
room, right now) are grinning ear to ear, since
that may mean that I don't have to do a programmer
hunt, nor do I have to spend my next four weekends
crying over an Intro to C++ text, wondering what
happened to my literary career.
Let's unpack a bit more.
If I can create a form that generates a
database, then so can you. I understand that
Frontpage 2000 has a forms wizard. If you don't
know, a wizard is something that walks you through
the process of creating something, which is great,
as long as you don't play with stuff after the
wizard is done and end up almost drowned in
mysterious code problems and error messages like
Mickey Mouse in that little episode with the
two-hundred water carrying broomsticks.
If you can create a form, you don't need me,
either.
If you were a really intrepid and curious
Internet-loving person, you might subscribe to the
occasional web marketing newsletter (like this one)
and learn little tidbits like this.
In other words, not long after I discover some
new trade secret, I'm telling you anyway.
It's not that I don't want to make money, and
give it all away. I've just never had the problem.
The fact is, most clients that I get don't care if
they could do it anyway, they'd rather pay me to do
it than learn how to do it themselves.
And to me that shows real wisdom, not laziness.
They would rather stick to their core business of
selling
investments,
Teaching
Pilates (site in development), or doing a
student
newspaper than learning how to do HTML.
But you are probably different. You are reading
this because you want to know more about the web
thing, how to do it right, how to do it better, and
(maybe) how to do it yourself.
Instantis can make the database integration
thing happen for anyone who has the least bit of
website creation experience. Or at least is willing
to try.
Even without trying, the KEWL thing about
Instantis is that neither you nor I have to go the
programming route.
One big land mine down the programming road is
the tendency of some programmers to reinvent the
database. In other words, if you don't watch out,
they may gobble up a bunch of hours creating a
database tool that has already been created a
hundred times. And even if they do create something
simple, what do you do if you need a change? You
have to go back to them.
And what about housing the data, processing it
all, security?
That's the final unpacking from my bolded
paragraph above, since Instantis will host all of
the data that your forms generate on a secure
Oracle server.
You don't pay for server maintenance. You don't
buy a server at all. You don't hire a programmer.
You don't get a T-1 line (trust me).
Instantis does all that, and since you simply
rent space on their servers, they have all of the
headaches (for which they already have the cure),
and your virtual corporation can virtually be run
out of your living room (assuming you don't have a
cat like the one we have right now, which likes to
sit on my computer keyboard).
I don't get any money out of this. I just think
they have KEWL product.
Send me an
e-mail if you'd like to get an Adobe Acrobat
PDF that describes their Sitewand product. It's
only two pages long, and about a 98k download, so
it won't hog your e-mail in box all day.
Or check out their site at
http://www.instantis.com
If you want to talk to someone, you might get in
touch with the guy who explained all this to me,
Mark Smolinski at 408-732-8800 x228, or by e-mail
at
marks@instantis.com
Since Instantis gets the first ever OUTBOX Kewl
award, I'm giving them this graphic to display on
their site (and link to this article):
or this one:
or this
or this
and if they want someone to help them decide
which one is best, all they have to do is ask and
I'll use my new SITEBRAND tool to automatically
come up with an answer.
Thanks for attending the first annual, monthly,
biweekly (whatever) OUTBOX "Kewl" award ceremony.
There may be another one. Ya just never know
when.
Comments? Questions? Do
tell.
Next week: Site Enhancement Freebies Review
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