Open NullOperator404 opened 1 year ago
NullOperator404
commented
1 year ago UPDATE 6/20/23
The new landing page is virtually finished, save for a few minor loose ends to tie up. I've also finished laying out the "Services" page, though like the home page the footer & nav bar functionality needs to be finished.
NullOperator404
commented
1 week ago UPDATE 9/28/24
It's been some time since I've worked on the project. A lot of life events have occurred since last year. However, as of this date, the status of the new site is:
Home Page: -- Virtually finished, except I think I'm going to restructure the carousel to emphasize screen printing, signage, etc since that's the bread 'n' butter of my business. I won't drop web design services entirely, but I feel they will be less well-received due to their high prices. Over the last 10 years, Dynamik Graphics has established itself as a t-shirt printing & graphic design shop, so it doesn't make much sense to "reinvent the wheel" as it were to reposition the business as a web developer.
There are still a few minor adjustments that need to be made regarding the mobile-friendly version of this page. The order of the menu options under "Services" will also be changed to reflect the emphasis on printing.
Our Work -- This page has not been done, mainly because there's little to it. It's basically a page to showcase some of the prints, signs, logo designs, etc I've done over the years. I will probably implement some kind of filtering system so users can narrow down results to one specific category, like "Screen Printing," but that's a relatively simple task in JS. Clicking an image might pop up a modal with a brief description? I don't know... just spit balling; I haven't given this page much thought since it's so far down on the priority list.
Pricing -- The bulk of this page is finished, including the functionality of the "quote" tools for t-shirts and signs. The only change I'd like to make on this page is restructuring the HTML so that the t-shirt quote tool is first, then signs, then graphic design, then web development. Again, this is to correspond with the emphasis of the landing page. The Sign quote tool needs a little minor CSS on the boxes.
About Us -- Nothing on this page has been done, as it's as low on the priority list as the Our Work page; it's just a brief biographical summary of the company, our history, what drives us, etc. Some of the copy for this page will likely be carried over from the current site.
Contact Us -- Nothing on this page either, mainly because I originally planned to have this page just display the phone number and email address, but after some recent thought I've decided to include a form where the user will fill out their name and a place for them to write their message.
Design Lab -- A lot still needs to be done here. The biggest hurdles right now are:
Solving the problem of users being able to upload PDF, AI, CDR, EPS, etc files, these files being passed to a server-side converter, then returned to the browser in PNG format for display on the design space.
Getting the PayPal checkout process to work. Everything is in place, but the instructions and code PayPal provided to implement the tool would not function. I will need to see if any solutions have been presented in the past year.
Making the Design Lab mobile-friendly. This may or may not be a colossal undertaking, and that's mainly my own fault for initially designing the lab around PC/MAC use. Last year it occurred to me that MOST users would be introduced to the tool by seeing ads on their social media, so they'd likely be using it via a mobile device. At the moment, I'm thinking the only solutions are to refactor the entire CSS to make it reactive (thus displaying the lab differently depending on the screen size), or writing a completely separate set of CSS styles for the mobile-friendly version and setup some kind of initial "check" with JS when the lab initially loads -- the browser would check to see whether the user is on a PC or mobile, and then select the appropriate style sheet. In either case, this is going to be no small task; in effect, it will be building the lab from the ground up again.
Completing the extensive databases. This task isn't so much challenging as it is daunting. It's just a truck load of busy work; collecting image files, cropping them appropriately, and inputting data into the JSON file that contains product numbers, descriptions, color codes, and so on. There's also the task of filling out the clipart library, which will no doubt end up consisting of thousands of images collectively. However, since I DO have the database retrieval systems working, I feel this task should be left for last. The other issues listed above concern the lab's functionality, and the top priority right now it is to get it working smoothly.
Final thoughts: I'm going to do my best to set aside one hour each day to work on the project (more time on weekends, possibly). I really need to get this finished and go live with it, as it no doubt represents thousands of dollars in potential sales just waiting to be made.
Over the past month or so, I've been working on integrating the payment process for the design lab, as well as building out the clipart libraries. I've now estimated that it will take at least several months of continuous work to complete the clipart libraries, and there's still the product database to tackle.
For this reason, I have decided to place the design lab section on hold and focus on building out the rest of the website so I can get it live. I want to be able to offer web design & development services, so the landing page needs to be re-worked to emphasize these services more.
Today, I will be working on wireframe drawings of the various pages and making notes on how I'd like them to function. The past six months working with JavaScript has given me much greater insight on how build more interactive pages, so I'm going to apply this knowledge to the other pages on the site.