Many developers and organizations have used Drupal to develop corporate websites, news portals, and online communities, but I’ve yet to see any intranet being built on the Drupal platform.  I’m sure there are intranets out there that were built using Drupal.  They just aren’t documented for public viewing or they may be using Open Atrium or Acquia Commons, Drupal installation profiles for intranet or group collaboration.

I’ve tried the “intranet out of the box” version developed from Open Atrium and Acquia Commons, but I wasn’t too impressed with the user interface.  It looked complicated for novice users, especially in a non-profit organization.  These products are also limited when it comes to designing your own custom look and feel.  For this reason, I wanted to build an intranet using Drupal to explore the capabilities of the product and to see whether it was a good solution for small to medium sized companies and non-profits.  I’ve chosen to use Drupal 7 because of its cleaner user interface and built in modules such as Views, CCK, and image handling capabilities.  Plus I didn’t want to have to upgrade the intranet within 2-3 years when the community decides to phase out Drupal 6.

Before I started building the intranet, I had to figure out what features are required for an intranet and what features are nice to have.  Below are some of the features I felt was necessary for an intranet of any size:

• Pages – for company and departmental pages
• Blogs – for employee blogs
• Calendar – listing of company events and announcements
• Document library – a place to search for forms, downloads, policies and procedures
• Books – to develop online documentation in structured form
• Site Search – for searching pages, posts, and documents
• Roles & Groups – must have the ability to create custom user groups and roles
• Security – each page/post/document can be restricted to roles, user(s), or group

Nice to have features:

• Discussion forum
• Chat
• In/Out Board to list employee statuses
• Publishing videos

Within two months while working on this intranet and other projects, I was able to developed a functional and decent looking intranet for my organization using Drupal 7 and a handful of contributed modules.  The intranet design was the Duplex theme from a Antsin.com.  Overall, I’m quite happy with the intranet so far considering the cost and how long it took me to develop an intranet from conception to implementation, less than two months.  What do you think?  Is Drupal the best solution for an intranet over other open source solutions or commercial offerings?  In future posts, I will list all the modules that I used to develop the intranet if there are enough people interested.

Mobile apps currently have better usability than mobile sites, but forthcoming changes will eventually make a mobile site the superior strategy

The most important question in a company’s mobile strategy is whether to do anything special for mobile in the first place. Some companies will never get substantial mobile use and should stick to making their desktop sites less insufferable on small screens.

But if your site happens to have decent appeal to mobile users, then the second strategy question is: Should you produce a mobile website or develop special mobile apps? The answer to this question today is quite different from what it will likely be in the future.

According to this article from Jakob Nielson, the current mobile strategy today is mobile apps, but the future in mobile strategy is going to shift to mobile web.  Any businesses that has a web presence should consider plan their mobile strategy carefully, because ultimately, the end goal is being able to reach the most customers regardless of what media devices they are using.

Read full article…

Careers in Dentistry is an education and career resource for dental professionals.  I’ve conceived the idea one day when driving to work.  Recently, I’ve been reading many news articles about the healthcare industry and thinking about transitioning my career in that sector.  Well, according to this article below, the job market for healthcare professionals looks bright.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics also thinks so too.

“Despite unemployment overall may be hovering near 10 percent this year, but a growing and aging population, the promise of wider health insurance coverage, and advances in medical technologies are translating into attractive salaries and signing bonuses for many of the people delivering care.  The dental profession is no different.” (Source: US News)

After doing some research, I realized that there is a need for an education and career resources for dental professionals in California.  This is when the idea of a new career resource website CareersInDentistry.net is born.

This was a WordPress multi-site installation using the Genesis Framework.  The site also integrates with JobRoller, a job board plugin developed for WordPress.  When there are no jobs listed, the system pre-fills the website with jobs from Indeed.com.

Lifetime Solutions is a firm in Sacramento that specializes in placement care services for seniors.  The company’s unique partnership with Independent and Assisted Living facilities, Board and Care homes and In Home Care providers enables them to provide free help to families in need of senior care services. Their caring staff will help you find a State Licensed facility.

Monclaire Marketing was lucky enough to be referred to Lauren at Lifetime Solutions to redesign their website.  The old site was not getting enough leads for new clients, so Lifetime Solutions contacted us to help them design a new website and help drive more traffic.  We integrated the new website with a Pinterest plugin so that visitors can pin their favorite articles on their Pinterest account.  We also developed a Facebook company page to allow staff to share posts, stories, and photos with their fans.

Visit LifetimeSolutions.org for more details.

Capital Public Radio began in 1970 as student-operated KERS at Sacramento State, the organization has seen many changes over the years. In the 1990′s, the organization added KXSR in Groveland and KKTO in Tahoe City, and joined all of its stations under Capital Public Radio, Inc.

Monclaire Marketing was brought in to help the web team at Capital Public Radio, Inc. to move their three year web redesign project forward.  After two months working with the team, the Capital Public Radio’s new website was finally launched.  Our involvement and project deliverables included:

• Project Management
• Information Architecture design
• Wire Framing
• Converting PSD designs to HTML
• Developed a Flash-based audio/video player
• Developed XSLT templates for the Umbraco CMS

Monclaire Marketing had the privilege to work with Aquarium Depot to deliver a website that showcases the company’s passion for fish and talent.

Since 1985, Alterations Unlimited has provided the Bay Area with quality service and a friendly attitude.  The company specializes in in-house alterations on all formal wear, men’s and women’s clothing, mending, military, letter jackets and more.

Alterations Unlimited, will happily take care of anything from your wedding gown to your favorite pair of jeans. They provide dressing rooms and will gladly measure your clothes for you here.  They also offer steaming and bustling. There is no appointment necessary but we recommend you make an appointment for fitting and consultation.

Monclaire Marketing developed an online presence for the company back in 2009 using WordPress and the Woo Themes Framwork.  Today, customers in the area can contact the company through their website and get directions.

Visit the Alterations Unlimited website for more details.

Martell Day Spa & Salon is at the forefront of a worldwide trend. Complete personal well-being and renewal — physical and mental as well as spiritual — increasingly is the mantra of today.  The spa is a full-service salon, nail, facial, and spa.  Located conveniently in Jackson, California.

Visit MartellDaySpa.com for more details.

The California School Boards Association is a collaborative group of virtually all of the state’s more than 1,000 school districts and county offices of education.  CSBA brings together school governing boards and their districts and county offices on behalf of California’s children. CSBA is a member-driven association that supports the governance team — school board members, superintendents and senior administrative staff — in its complex leadership role. CSBA develops, communicates and advocates the perspective of California school districts and county offices of education.

Monclaire Marketing’s founder, Robert H., was the lead designer in the website redesign project in 2009.  The website was developed in collaboration with an integration services firm name RoundedCube in St. Louis Missouri.  The website is managed using Sitecore CMS, a leading .NET content management system.

Visit CSBA.org for more details.