Case Studies
If you're interested in how Listingslab Produstions might be able to fill a requirement, you'll want to see some of our real life case studies.
What follows is a list of some of the work we've some with Drupal, WordPress and other technologies in the past few years.
Enquire Now
If you think there is anyway we could help you, and you'd like to discuss the possibility of working with Listingslab Productions, please use this form to contact us.
You can expect a personal reply within 24 hours or you can call us on skype (listingslab).
Flash Development
Developing Flash for more than 10 years
We have been devloping flash since Flash version 3 back in around 1997.
In the past 10 years in the industry we've developed a lot of flash. Our crowning achievment was the development of a prototype for the globally successful magainze publishing platform, cerosmedia.
www.ceros.com
A few years later, we even came back and produced the ceros.com drupal website for the product.
Web Development
Rapid web development services in the following areas
- Drupal
We have been part of the Drupal open source movement for several years and have become experts in using this amazing free technology.
What We Do
Listingslab Productions provides fast, cost effective high end web development Services. This includes Drupal, Wordpress, Flash and many other creative services.
Photography
Listingslab's Photography revolves around our flickr account. We've been using flickr for years, uploading over 3500 images in that time.
Although we are not professional photographers, we have been known to organise the odd photoshoot.
We have also been working with ski company All Mountain Performance over the past few winters and have produced a decent sized collection of images for use on the website and other marketing areas.
Wordpress
Case Study
Le Delice is a thriving restaurant in the heart of Les Houches.
With a strong regular crowd of sometimes trouble makers, and a solid
family oriented restaurant at the same time, this is the place to go in
Les Houches whether you’re local or on holiday.Le Delice uses a Listingslab Productions wordpress blog along side a strong facebook presence to reach out to their local customers and new business.
A site like this takes only days to make, and prices start at just EUR 500
Other WordPress Development
Here is a selection of wordpress websites we have set up and currently manage on a support only basis.
About WordPress
WordPress is a free and open source blog publishing application. WordPress is the official successor of b2\cafelog which was developed by Michel Valdrighi. The latest release of WordPress is version 2.8, released on 11 June 2009.
Drupal
We have been part of the Drupal open source movement for several years and have become experts in using this amazing free technology.
What is drupal and why do we use it?
Our questions were all answered here http://drupal.org. It's the mothership website of a world class, open source and most importantly FREE content management system and
It's too technical and specialised for most developers to bother getting too far into, but here at Listingslab Productions we have had nearly 3 yea's experience, so we'll do the hard bit for it for you, leaving you with a slick, modern website that actually works for your buisness.
Flash and Drupal
Flash
(especially ActionScript 3) has excellent support for loading, parsing
and using data provided in XMl format. This XML can be anything from a
SOAP request to a static .xml file on a server.
XML is simply a way of structuring data in a way which makes it easy for different applications and systems to share that data.
When we want to access external data in Flash, we use XML as the communication protocol.
At Listingslab
Productions we have extensive experience of using PHP to interact with
MySQL to dynamically create xml output for flash.
Combined with
the powerful Drupal CMS, we can create a PHP script witin the Drupal
system which has access to everything the Drupal API has to offer.
In
this way, we can simply call our script from within a Flash movie
embedded in a page, allowing live access to the Drupal system from
within the very powerful flash player.
An example of the ease of use of the new ActionScript 3 features can be
seen at the top of this page. The flash movie (only delivered to web
users who have the latest flash player. It is omitted when viewed on
iphones for instance) queries the Drupal database for information on
the page the flash movie is being displayed on.
Using Flash to interact with Drupal Systems using XML
XML is simply a way of structuring data in a way which makes it easy for different applications and systems to share that data.
When we want to access external data in Flash, we use XML as the communication protocol.
Flash (especially ActionScript 3) has excellent support for loading, parsing and using data provided in XMl format. This XML can be anything from a SOAP request to a static .xml file on a server.
At Listingslab Productions we have extensive experience of using PHP to interact with MySQL to dynamically create xml output for flash.
Combined with the powerful Drupal CMS, we can create a PHP script witin the Drupal system which has access to everything the Drupal API has to offer.
In this way, we can simply call our script from within a Flash movie embedded in a page, allowing live access to the Drupal system from within the very powerful flash player.
OPML Outline Processor Markup Language
OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language) is an XML format for outlines (often blogrolls).
We are interested in the OPML format both for it's simplicity and it's current use by Google as the native format for importing and exporting data such as Google Reader feeds.
For instance - Here is an example of a Google Reader OPML file . Try it out - download the file and try importing it into your Google Reader subscriptions.
Originally developed by Radio UserLand as a native file format for an outliner application, it has since been adopted for other uses, the most common being to exchange lists of web feeds between web feed aggregators.
The OPML specification defines an outline as a hierarchical, ordered list of arbitrary elements. The specification is fairly open which makes it suitable for many types of list data.
XML Extensible Markup Language
XML is simply a way of structuring data in a way which makes it easy for different applications and systems to share that data. There are many different flavours of XML: RSS feeds, OPML, SOAP - the list is virtually endless.
At Listingslab Productions, we were first exposed to the delights of XML when Macromedia (now Adobe) released Flash version 5 in 2001. This version of flash included support for XML. We have been creating, and working with the XML data format ever since.
Advantages of using XML
(taken from Wikipedia)
- XML provides a basic syntax that can be used to share information between different kinds of computers, different applications, and different organizations. XML data is stored in plain text format. This software- and hardware-independent way of storing data allows different incompatible systems to share data without needing to pass them through many layers of conversion. This also makes it easier to expand or upgrade to new operating systems, new applications, or new browsers, without losing any data.
- With XML, your data can be available to all kinds of "reading machines" (Handheld computers, voice machines, news feeds, etc), and make it more available for blind people, or people with other disabilities.
- XML provides a gateway for communication between applications, even applications on wildly different systems. As long as applications can share data (through HTTP, file sharing, or another mechanism), and have an XML parser, they can share structured information that is easily processed. Databases can trade tables, business applications can trade updates, and document systems can share information.
- It supports Unicode, allowing almost any information in any written human language to be communicated.
- It can represent common computer science data structures: records, lists and trees.
- Its self-documenting format describes structure and field names as well as specific values.
- The strict syntax and parsing requirements make the necessary parsing algorithms extremely simple, efficient, and consistent.
- Content-based XML markup enhances searchability, making it possible for agents and search engines to categorize data instead of wasting processing power on context-based full-text searches.
- XML is heavily used as a format for document storage and processing, both online and offline.
- It is based on international standards.
- It can be updated incrementally.
- It allows validation using schema languages such as XSD and Schematron, which makes effective unit-testing, firewalls, acceptance testing, contractual specification and software construction easier.
- The hierarchical structure is suitable for most (but not all) types of documents.
- It is platform-independent, thus relatively immune to changes in technology.
- Forward and backward compatibility are relatively easy to maintain despite changes in DTD or Schema.
- Its predecessor, SGML, has been in use since 1986, so there is extensive experience and software available.
Team
Our team of developers includes many talented people from all diciplines. We tend to work with freelance developers remotely. If you are interested in joining the team, please enquire here.
Team
Drupals Pathauto module
The Pathauto module for drupal is very good. Once you've installed it and turned it in in modules, you want to have a look at your admin/build/path page and look for a tab which says Automated Alias Settings.
But remember, when you start messing with content types, your site will get confused. You should delete all emails periodically and recreate them. The paths are also created 50 at a time by the cron job, so make sure you have that set up at good intervals
http://drupal.org/project/pathauto
The Pathauto module automatically generates path aliases for various kinds of content (nodes, categories, users) without requiring the user to manually specify the path alias. This allows you to get aliases like /category/my-node-title.html instead of /node/123. The aliases are based upon a "pattern" system which the administrator can control.
Pleased to welcome Mark
We're please to welcome Mark to the team. He's a drupal/php social media type developer who has decided Listingslab Productions are good enough to work with and has kindly agreed to write a blog about our drupal development.
With the work piling up and the demand for drupal marketing sites gets only stronger, we're going to need many more web developers who can turn things around quickly for a reasonable hourly rate.
Drupal Development - The Summer Situation
The management have asked me to write a quick blog post about what drupal development we're doing at the moment. Aside from the 2 sites sitting waiting, and the excellent progress we made with extracting XML into AS3 scripts, I'd say it was going very well, thanks :)
Spoonfeed. Measure your SEO effort
www.spoonfeed.co.uk
Keep an eye on your Search Engine Ranking keywords you are interested in
Spoonfeed uses a piece of software called Advanced Web Ranking to generate a Keyword Rank Report for certain websites and keywords
A Keyword Rank report shows the position of your website for each keyword. Our flash software reads the XML containing information about the rank evolution of the selected websites, on the selected search engine, with all the active keywords in your project. This will help you see how well your website is ranked for each keyword.
It is updated daily, and customers will be able to create an account tomanage their keywords and domains.
It is currently testing well in the beta stage, but we will be developing a new interface using ActionScript 3.0
Le Delice WordPress Blog
Le Delice is a thriving restaurant in the heart of Les Houches.
With a strong regular crowd of sometimes trouble makers, and a solid family oriented restaurant at the same time, this is the place to go in Les Houches whether you’re local or on holiday.
Le Delice uses a Listingslab Productions wordpress blog along side a strong facebook presence to reach out to their local customers and new business.
A site like this takes only days to make, and prices start at just EUR 500
The Week Microsite
Whilst working with BigKid, London, we helped create a microsite for The Week magazine to promote advertising in the print magazine.
5 areas of Internet Marketing
Our Drupal website design, consulting, and development services help you implement and improve these 5 Driving Forces to maximize your website profitability.
Visibility - The Search Process: Can your website be found on the internet when your prospects are searching for your products/services?
Credibility – When your prospects visit your website, do they take you seriously or does your website hurt your credibility?
Usability – Is your website easy to use and does it work on your prospects’ computers?
Sales Process – Does your website effectively guide the visitor through the sales pathways of your site to deliver your website goals?
Operating Costs - Drupal allows you to easily update your website and since it is Open Source, that means no license fees and a healthier bottom line for your company.
Built to Last - Drupal Empowers You to Continuously Enhance the Usability and Profitability of Your Website
Drupal has a search engine friendly architecture which helps your website get indexed and positioned in the search engines.
Thousands of developers have spent 7 years developing Drupal and have implemented best practices for usability which means you can spend more time on developing great content and less time worrying about if your site "works".
Drupal allows you to easily manage your website without programming knowledge. This means that you or any employee in your company that has basic computer skills can update the website in minutes and never have to pay expensive fees to a programming to make simple text updates to your website.
Updating your website on a regular basis will boost your website's credibility and a clean, user friendly design will leave a lasting, positive impression on your visitors.
Having the ability to manage your own website content allows you to continuously test and improve your sales process. Use Google Analytics or other analytics software to setup tracking goals and then test multiple landing pages and sales pathways to determine which option produces the highest conversion rate.
If you'd like to speak with us about developing a Drupal site for your business please enquire now.
ActionScript 3
We currently develop Actionscript 3 applications, having recently moved on from our outdated, though still Oject Oriented ActionScript 2 approach.
An example of the ease of use of the new ActionScript 3 features can be seen at the top of this page. The flash movie (only delivered to web users who have the latest flash player. It is omitted when viewed on iphones for instance) queries the Drupal database for information on the page the flash movie is being displayed on.
That information is delivered to the flash using XML, which is then parsed and displayed.
ActionScript 3.0 overview
"ActionScript 3.0 is a powerful, object-oriented programming language that signifies an important step in the evolution of the capabilities of the Flash Player runtime. The motivation driving ActionScript 3.0 is to create a language ideally suited for rapidly building rich Internet applications, which have become an essential part of the web experience.
Earlier versions of ActionScript offered the power and flexibility required for creating truly engaging online experiences. ActionScript 3.0 now further advances the language, providing superb performance and ease of development to facilitate highly complex applications, large datasets, and object-oriented, reusable code bases. With ActionScript 3.0, developers can achieve excellent productivity and performance with content and applications that target Flash Player."
Time Lapse Photography
Need some time lapse photography?
Time lapse photography is quite difficult to do. It's exactly like
taking a photograph and having to wait 6 hours for the shutter to go
click. Obviously a tripod is used. And a video camera which takes high definition resolution
pictures at a fixed interval. And you need to be near a plug socket
because the camera's battery will die after a few hours. So once you've
set everything up and you think the camera is pointed in the right
direction, you can forget about it for a while. But you'll wish you
adjusted the focus,white balance or just framed the damn shot better
for that entire 6 hours.
When you've finished the photography
bit & turned the camera off, you simply compile the photos together
Video usually uses a frame rate of 25 frames per second. But it doesn't
have to. 15 fps is quite fast enough and saves bandwidth. So I've got
508 images taken 1 second apart. At 15 frames per second I get about
half a minute of time lapsed shot. I could batch edit those images in photoShop to tweak colours and cropping etc, but 500 high res images take a while to crunch. So I open up an Image Sequence in Quicktime Pro (which it's well worth paying for), and then simply export the movie with the compression I want for the web. Done.
Here is some of our work from summer 2008
Internet Marketing Service
Please fill in as much information as you'd like to allow us to properly gauge which part of our service is best for you.
Internet Marketing Service
Introducing our new Internet Marketing Service
Our Internet Marketing Service will revolutionise the results from the time you spend marketing your website.
Over a 12 month programme we create a complete balanced online presence for your website so that you are not only getting hits and sales but you are also set up for huge traffic in the future and you are not reliant on any one medium for your traffic.
The Marketing Course is multi-functioned. Not only will it generate and build traffic for your website but during this process it will give you priceless training and experience in online selling which you can take forward yourself to any level. The Marketing Package will take you step by step with your account manager setting up increased and ongoing SEO and other marketing methods to build and possibly explode your level of traffic which directly relates to your number of sales.
Price is currently on application, please enquire here.
Jobs
If you're a freelance developer with experience in any of the following areas and would like to introduce yourself as a potential developer we could call on if a project demands, please get in touch.
Drupal, PHP 5, XML, RSS, Twitter App Development, Facebook App Development, Flash ActionScript 3.0, SEO
Best Of Vimeo
Best Of Vimeo is a fast growing drupal communtiy website where film makers and people who market films can promote their work.
For the casual website visitor it is a blog consiting of the best videos we find on Vimeo.
Our Drupal Development Domain
www.adventure-addicts.com
Adventure Addicts is a domain name we registered a few years ago for a project which never fully got going. Because the domain, PHP5 hosting, MySQL databases, not to mention email addresses etc were all taken care of, it seemed a shame not to use it as a development environment.
When we work with other developers, we generally clean and open up this dev area to the new team of professionals to give them a chance to work together in a space where it doesn't matter if something goes wrong.
Currently we are experitmenting with a Drupal Aggregator/Twitter RSS mashup application called Spectrum Twitter.
Murdering Little Bastard
I've been blogging for ever (blog.listingslab.com), but today I made a film instead with the intention of using it as a blog post.
Here's the post
Vimeo's embedded videos are SO superior to youtube's in terms of quality (especially in High Definition), but the real beauty of the vimeo embed script is that it offers full-screen mode to my blog readers
Chez Chalet Narnia
Mainly this is a little film about my evening BBQ which showcases the time lapse photography I've been working on while I've been living up here in the Vaugdange.
chalet-narnia.com
That's what my mate Corin is going to be calling his chalet with it's rented out over the winter. I've been staying there this week, taking care of his dogs while he's away and I love the place. This film is vaguely aimed at being shown on his website as an advert.
Lets Shave Fred
Kind of an advert for Le Delice, and partly just making a film for the sake of it. Mark and Fred get their heads shaved for charity.
