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Generating printed directories for a community of a few hundred or a few thousand people can be a daunting undertaking.  People enter and leave the community; change addresses, phone numbers and names; ads of various sizes need to be layed-out efficiently; and getting it all to look great takes hundreds of hours of effort.

SmallTownPhoneBook.com makes the whole process easier by organizing the listings in a database and using sophisticated page lay-out and typsetting technology to produce consistently great looking results in a variety of formats.

Controls

Lots of options and controls are available to deal with everything from cell phone numbers, web addresses and cross-references to proper alphabetization and automatic index generation.

Many of these controls were custom designed for SmallTownPhoneBook.com to make maintaining the directory as easy as possible while still offering flexibility and features to make your directory look just right.

Data Entry

Listings are entered into the database by way of forms that walk you through the process in a step-by-step fashion. Expandable sections organize the fields into manageable groups. Selecting certain options make the relevant controls appear and the irrelevant ones disappear. Data like web and email addresses are verified before they are saved so that errors can be identified and corrected immediately.

Progress Indicators

The process of laying-out and typesetting the directory involves several steps and sometimes takes a few minutes to complete. This multi-step process is necessary to make sure that the index, table of contents and page references like 'See our ad on page ??' are correct. A custom progress indicator keeps the user informed. When the directory has been typeset completely, SmallTownPhoneBook.com displays buttons that allow the completed documents (in PDF format) to be downloaded to their computer for printing.

Output

And the results are gorgeous! Ad images have been scaled to fit the allotted space, filler images have been inserted as needed, running page-headers and footers have been generated and the final result is ready for the printer.

Dozens of details like what to do with titles that are a bit too long and how to alphabetize 'The 900 Club' have all been handled for you. And making an edit is as easy as making changes to the listing form and clicking 'Typeset.'

Managing Resources

VSKN.ca is a classic Web Portal. Their experts search the web to find the best resources for people running volunteer organizations. There are about a hundred resources highlighted on this site, with more being added all the time.

Keeping track of so many web site links was challenging. Broken links lingered for months, consistent presentation relied on the experts entering each resource EXACTLY the same way, maintenance was very time consuming, and it wasn't very visually appealing.

Custom Controls

Several custom controls were developed for VSKN.ca; among them were controls to allow experts to enter formatted text without knowing any HTML and a tree control for placing resources on different pages (the same resource might appear on several web pages.

Users can create new pages and then add resources to those pages. The menu maintains itself.

Managing Links

The system automatically captures images of web web resources (resizing as needed). Search performs a full-text search not only of the portal pages, but also all the pages linked to the portal... including PDF files!

Another link maintenance feature, shown here, is a link-checker which quickly checks every link on the we site and reports which are 'good' and which are 'broken.'

Drag-n-Drop

To organize resources on the portal pages, users simply drag-n-drop them into the desired position. This works for pages as well, allowing users to change the order of pages on the menu.

Tracking

Other features of this web site include the ability to maintain information on how to contact the experts and quick access to the server's web stats (shown here).

Home Page

Positioned between craigslist and eBay, WiseGarage.com offers features specifically for people wanting to sell their car.

Unlike some of the other sites shown here, WiseGarage.com needs to allow any user with any browser to fill in forms and upload images. There's a self-register process complete with notifications sent to the owner by email when new cars and images are loaded.

For Buyers

Buyers can view details about cars, see multiple images uploaded by the seller, check the Vehicle Identification Number for accidents, and see what other viewers have said about this vehicle.

For Sellers

Sellers simply fill in the fields of this form to list their car for sale. The system will checks that they entered the VIN number correctly and reminds them of important information that's missing.

Double-Blind

WiseGarage.com has a double-blind email system where the buyer and seller can communicate without either of them knowing the other's email address. All messages are recorded in the database so the owner can handle any abusive behaviour that might occur.

Searching

This site required some specialized search features: by maximum price, by distance from buyer to seller, and so-forth.

Portfolios

Clicking one of the slideshows on the home page displays a portfolio of just Mike's Art, Architecture or Industrial Design projects.

These portfolios display a slide show of all the images for each project.  Custom slider controls across the bottom and left side allow the user to select a project and a particular image of that project (which is displayed full-screen).

Slideshows

Mike is a prolific architectual and industrial designer and a stone artisan.  He wanted a portfolio that could handle hundreds of projects and dozens of images of each project... with more projects and photos each month.

The HiotakisDesign.com home page features three simultaneous slideshows - one each for Art, Architecture and Industrial Design.  The slideshow images are selected at random from the images he has identified as 'best' out of the (literally) thousands of images in his portfolio.

With so many images being displayed, it is important that the size of each one be minimized without losing quality.  The website handles this entirely automatically.

Data Entry

Mike can add/change/delete projects and images easily using just a couple of forms like this one. There are custom controls that allow him to upload several images at a time and rearrange the order of the images (the first image is considered the 'best').