Custom Feature Development

Fit Kid Champions, a partner of the University of Michigan’s Project Healthy Schools, is an outreach program that encourages kids to “get moving”—part of a national campaign   promoted by Michelle Obama. The organization approached us with an idea for a web-based log that would allow kids to track their activity on a daily basis, join virtual teams, and earn points and recognition in the process. We worked closely with the staff of Fit Kid Champions to develop additional social features for the log, including the ability to upload images, see each other’s profiles and progress, and post messages to teammates. During the project, the log was also expanded to include more aspects of a healthy lifestyle, allowing kids to also track eating well and caring for others. The final product is currently in beta release and being tested with local schools.

Open.Michigan is the University of Michigan's contribution to the Open Education Resources (OER) project—an initiative that promotes the free and open exchange of courseware, throughout the world. After several years of using the eduCommons platform, which is built on the Zope and Plone CMSs, Open.Michigan decided it was time for an upgrade. Their goal was to build a top-notch courseware delivery system and make it freely available to the OER community. Drupal was the natural choice for this endeavor because not only is it robust and scalable, it is also open-source. Over many months, we worked very closely with the Open.Michigan team to develop a complex courseware delivery system to meet their exact specifications. Features include one-click download of all course materials, easier collaboration among university departments, and a full revision-tracking system. Since the system launched in late September, the staff at Open.Michigan have seen huge improvements in productivity. Piet Kleymeer, Open Education Manager, states, "...an improved user interface and more reliable and consistent software behavior, has cut our publishing time by nearly 400%." The system developed by Open.Michigan is available for download through github.com.

The online archive of scholarly journals, JSTOR, was undergoing a complete overhaul of their user interface. In conjunction, the organization decided to rebuild the informative and marketing side of their public-facing website, spinning it off into a separate sub-site at about.jstor.org. Having chosen to use Drupal for this part of the project, JSTOR approached us with an aggressive timeline, looking for a completely new design that would sync with their rebranding efforts. We worked within in the guidelines provided by their parent organization, ITHAKA, to create a minimalistic website that still packs a lot of information. We built out a system for creating and managing landing pages for their specific markets, membership communities and content collections, as well as an integrated multi-level fee structure. 

RE/MAX Platinum Online was developed to serve a community of both real estate agents and home buyers and sellers. The vision was a website where independent sales professionals from multiple cities could come together to share information. We designed and developed a Drupal-based system that supported a variety of users types, from community members to real estate professionals. We also worked with an industry-specific search builder to incorporate up-to-the-minute featured listings for homes, and allow users to search the database. 

Meadowlark Builders needed a site that reflects the artistic detail and quality they put into their homes. From custom designs to green building renovations, Meadowlark also wanted to educate visitors on the many services they offer. Working closely with the client’s design team and using Drupal as a development platform, we helped them organize their wealth of knowledge into an easy-to-navigate and aesthetically pleasing website. In addition to building out an intricate design with many sophisticated features, such as custom scrollbars and embedded fonts, we also implemented dynamic photo galleries and a categorized case study system allowing the client to showcase their work.

Long Wing Education Consulting helps schools achieve success in all areas of education, from administration to student performance. Wanting to detail their approach to a large range educational challenges, the company chose a Drupal-based solution to organize and maintain hundreds of pages of content. To help their visitors navigate the vast amount of information, we developed a dynamicly-populated drop-down menu system. We also designed and imlpemented a custom theme including flyout menus and a rotating banner, as well as built out a multi-question job application system that provides an interface for Long Wing staff to sort and filter candidates by specific criteria.