Archive for the ‘Web Development’ Category

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You are compilating things!

Released October 10th, 2012

The worst thing that can probably happen when you’re using LESS or Sass as part of your workflow is to have someone make changes in your compiled .css file but not in your source .less or .sass file. If there are members of your team who are unaware that you are using LESS or Sass, or (worse) they are clueless as to what it is, you’ll need to consider how people learn about the styling process in place in order to ensure that you don’t lose valuable work. Additionally, you might also need to consider your legacy and those who come after you.

At Mission Data we @import an external CSS file into our main .less/.sass/.scss file at the very top which has the following as it’s content:

/*===========================================
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DO NOT MODIFY! EDIT ACCOMPANYING .LESS FILE
More information here: http://lesscss.org/
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===========================================*/

Using traditional CSS comments will render this in the compiled .css file and since it’s the first thing you import in your main file, it renders at the very top. This won’t get in the way of your authoring but hopefully alerts anyone who opens the .css file about what they might need to know.

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Lab Testing: Now 100% Animal-Free!

Released June 25th, 2012
Screen capture of Gnarus Systems website

Screen capture of Gnarus Systems website

I’m just gonna put this subject out there: animal testing. There, I said it. Let the great debate machine gears turn, and the war of words begin. I’ll be on the side, avoiding the tossing of things.

We’ve all seen the cartoons that jokingly depict the “Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde” lab mouse or bird jockeying back and forth to wreak havoc on the scientists (or lab cats) who tormented them. The serious truth of the matter is that animal testing is (and has been) a subject of emotional debate for years, seeing animal rights activists, scientific research advocates, and members of the general public take their turn at the lectern to (sometimes rather heatedly) present their stances on the issue with nary a practical compromise being found. But, what if the issue, and thus the debate entirely, were rendered moot? Ladies and gentlemen, I think Gnarus Systems, Inc. would like to move to the podium.

Who Are They?

A Delaware C corporation organized in May 2009, Gnarus Systems, Inc. is a collaboration of scientists, mathematicians, and business developers located in Louisville, Kentucky.

What Do They Do?

Let’s face it: the various segments of the chemical industry (including pharmaceuticals, basic chemicals, specialty chemicals, agricultural chemicals and consumer products) HAVE to test their products somehow. This assessment is of utmost importance to regulatory agencies, which include organizations concerned with environmental safety such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as well as agencies regulating new drugs such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMEA). In the Europe Union (EU) there is also an increased need for toxicity assessments owing to the REACH regulation (Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals).

One of the major hurdles to this testing, however, is the high cost and lengthy time periods that are associated with the use of in vitro and animal testing methods to determine a chemical’s potential for toxicity. When you consider that the possible testing samples could number in the tens of thousands, the obvious result is that you end up with large inventories of existing chemicals that have little or no toxicological data available. Hence, this strategy becomes largely impractical.

An alternative approach is to use computational toxicology, defined by the U.S. National Library of Medicine as the “application of mathematical and computer models to predict adverse effects and to better understand the mechanism(s) through which a given chemical causes harm.”

In short, Gnarus has devised and automated a unique set of processes and methods that effectively predict the toxicity of existing and new chemical structures that will run from the safety and chemical protection suit-free environment of your computer.

The results? Lower testing costs. Faster analyses. Equivalent or superior toxicity prediction abilities. All with no live animal testing needed.

How Mission Data Helped

Gnarus came to Mission Data seeking a partner that could share the goal of making their custom-developed solution (referred to as cat-SAR, short for categorical-structure‐activity relationship) a commercially-viable services solution available to clients via a secure web portal.

Speaking to their business, Mission Data was able to develop a custom-branded solution that speaks to potentially interested users with a consumer-geared site loaded with information about their product, plans, and demos all the while melding that user experience with the cat-SAR system to create one cohesive and stylized set of services. Algorithms. Analyses. Custom data model generation. These are just a few of the “tools of the trade” that, hand-in-hand, Mission Data’s developers, designers, and Gnarus worked tirelessly to forge into the ultimate tool which could easily, and efficiently, exist as a web-based solution. Given the very technical and scientific nature of the subject, it has been an absolutely engaging, and complex, learning experience for us to ensure that we understood Gnarus’ product and needs. But, it’s one that we have loved every step of the way (we are glad there have been no formal chemistry tests imposed on us, though…yet).

Suffice to say, this final product is something we’re all very proud of, and yet we have only scratched the surface here. We highly encourage you to­ check it out, and see for yourself! For more information, visit http://www.gnarus-systems.com/ and/or contact Albert R. Cunningham (al.cunningham@gnarus-systems.com, 1.502.852.3346) or Andrew Steen (andrew.steen@gnarus-systems.com, 1.502.569.1020 extension 304).

Because, honestly? The fewer Dr. Jeckyll/Mr. Hyde mice and birds in the world? The better.

Posted in Design, News, Site Launch, Software Development, Systems Integration, Web Development | No Comments »

WordPress TinyMCE editor Visual editor not showing

Released June 15th, 2012

We have encountered a few instances recently where the default wysiwyg editor for WordPress (TinyMCE) does not render in the admin.

We tracked down the problem to a combination of the .gz file extension and git. Usually in your global .gitignore file certain folders and file extensions are set to be ignored and .gz just happens to be one of them. TinyMCE uses a gzipped file to render the editor found at “wp-includes/js/tinymce/wp-tinymce.js.gz”. Check to make sure that this file is being included in your git repository using the following command:

git ls-files  wp-includes/js/tinymce/wp-tinymce.js.gz --error-unmatch
error: pathspec 'wp-includes/js/tinymce/wp-tinymce.js.gz'
did not match any file(s) known to git.
Did you forget to 'git add'?

If not, add the file using:

git add wp-includes/js/tinymce/wp-tinymce.js.gz -f

That should override the global .gitignore and add the file.

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Mobile first, responsive web design case study

Released May 15th, 2012


The original “microsite” for the Top Chef University iPad app consisted of a single fixed-width page to promote the application, provide a quick link to the app store and describe the app features. Shortly after launching we released a social component to the app for users to share lessons they’ve completed on Twitter and Facebook. This meant that there needed to be web-accessible pages to be shared. As Brad Frost recently mentioned in regard to ubiquitous distribution,

You’d be a fool to not take advantage of the tremendous distribution platform that is the web.

The content pages lived on the same domain with preview videos and meta information but was generally disconnected from the marketing site. We needed to bring the two together so when on any page, users could fully navigate through all of the pages and learn more about the app. This was a perfect opportunity to recode the layouts with a mobile first, responsive approach, share the same stylesheet, etc.

As someone who is always a little bit late to the game but not afraid to dive in head-first, I had to force my brain to think a bit differently about mobile first. It’s easy enough to do, but rather than building the maximum-width layout first and modifying it as the viewport gets smaller, start by serving up the least amount of styles and the simplest layout to smaller-screened devices first and then layer on additional styles and features using media queries when it makes sense at larger screen resolutions.

The process: This mainly involved just minimizing Chrome to it’s smallest width and verifying the design there. The layout is very linear at this point and the benefits of strictly semantic HTML make this part of the process very quick. Testing out the layouts on a few mobile devices and using a few emulators helped ensure the styles held up.

Some Considerations

In a few instances there are images that I wanted large for high-bandwidth connections/large screens but didn’t want to serve those to small screens. I opted to use Sencha’s Src solution. It couldn’t be easier to implement and so far has worked wonderfully.

This project provided an opportunity to experiment with Adobe Lab’s Shadow product for OSX, Chrome and iOS. It was a joy to work with and made testing on multiple devices a breeze. I highly recommend trying it out to at least ease the pain of iOS testing.

The homepage of the site has an image slider that needed to be as flexible as the rest of the site. MaryLiz Guillemi shared a nice solution from Mat Marquis that she had used previously called Dynamic Carousel. The raw images are served from Sencha.io (as previously mentioned) and the script and accompanying CSS take care of the rest.

To serve up media queries to IE8 (which doesn’t support them), including Modernizr with the optional respond.js inclusion got the job done. There are a host of other scripts and goodies used that you can see by viewing the source of the pages but I’ve rambled long enough.

This quick project provided a great learning opportunity about thinking differently and building differently. Our tools are changing every single day. I’m glad I stumbled on and pulled together a mix of 3rd party tools and processes that work for today. A huge thanks is in order for our amazing community and all of the people who provide these wonderful solutions, free of charge to help us do what we do, better.

 

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Argo Links WordPress Plugin

Released April 10th, 2012

The brainchild of NPR‘s Project Argo Team has combined with the coding expertise of Mission Data’s own Corey to bring you Argo Links, an Open Source WordPress plugin that “makes it easy to collect links from across the Web and share them right from your WordPress dashboard”.

From the plugin documentation page:

“The plugin is broken up into two logical parts. First, the Argo Links plugin provides you with your own private bookmarks database. Similar to services like delicious or pinboard, you can collect and tag links via a one-click bookmarklet, and have access to all your links from anywhere. The key difference is that your bookmarks are stored in your WordPress database, so you’ll never have to worry about accessing your links from another site.

“Second, the plugin makes it easy to share your links via a special post type we’re calling a link roundup. The morning link roundup provides you with a quick and easy way of sharing the most interesting stories on your beat with your readers. Sharing links in this way is a common pattern amongst bloggers, and an approach we’ve recommend for Project Argo. To learn how to save links and create link roundups, follow the steps below.”

Corey had this to say about collaborating with the Project Argo Team on this endeavor:

“I was very excited to work on this WordPress plugin. The Project Argo Team did an awesome job of letting me know exactly what they wanted out of the plugin using a combination of screenshots and mockups.

“The goal of this plugin was to replace existing functionality that combined the Delicious service and a custom Django application with something that kept the whole process, and the data, internal to the WordPress platform.

“This was definitely one of the most interesting development projects that I have had the opportunity to work on at Mission Data. Knowing that it was going to be Open Sourced, that people are going to be allowed to freely download, use, and modify the code to make it their own and make it better, made it just that much more fun to work on.”

You can download the plugin source code, and fork it, on the Argo Links github project page.

There are also a plethora of other plugins and themes developed by the Project Argo Team available for download!

Taken from the Project Argo “Extend” page:

“All Argo Project code is licensed under a GPL-2.0 license, which means you’re free to download, use and extend the code to your heart’s content. So head on over to Github to download our plugins and themes, fork our code and make it better.”

We at Mission Data would like to thank the Project Argo Team, and NPR, for allowing us to collaborate on this plugin and provide the Open Source community with awesome free software.

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Helping a Library Jump from the Page to the Community

Released August 18th, 2011
Screenshot of the Library Foundation website

Screenshot of the Library Foundation website

Given the number of bookstores shelving business these days, the fate of the printed word appears to be in a precarious state.  Some doomsayers would even say the destiny of one of mankind’s greatest inventions is on a slippery slope towards demise. Despite our current recession within this era of fast lifestyles, small attention spans, and mobile technology, there are institutions progressing with the times and stand proud, staring that “demise” down with a look of defiance. Where, you must be asking yourself, do these heroes of literary salvation reside? You need only look down the road to your local library. And, here in Louisville, we happen to have a library that is a card-carrying member of “The Justice League.”

Who Are They and What Do They Do?

The Louisville Free Public Library was established in 1870 when a group of progressive individuals decided to create a public institution for information and enjoyment where anyone could borrow books free of charge. To maintain such long and successful existence is only possible with the contributions from countless individuals and organizations. Enter the Library Foundation.

The Library Foundation, a 501(c) 3 organization governed by an independent volunteer board of directors, was established in 1980 to benefit, promote, support, encourage, and enhance the programs and services of the Louisville Free Public Library. They solicit, receive, and acquire donations of public or private funds on behalf of the Louisville Free Public Library and serve as the fiscal agent on behalf of the library for grants and donations.

As public libraries are increasingly constrained by municipal budgets, private funding for public libraries is critically important, as it helps to:

  • result in change, making possible experimentation, innovation, and adaptation of roles to changing needs;
  • provide the margin of excellence that makes good libraries great libraries;
  • provide the opportunity to leverage public dollars;
  • spur collaborations and partnerships; and
  • create a higher level of responsiveness to needs and opportunities.

Through private donations to the Library Foundation, the Louisville Free Public Library has been able to provide programs and services and to pursue capital projects that would not be possible otherwise. Private funding is responsible for:

  • the Iroquois Project, an outreach program targeted to the immigrant community in South Louisville;
  • the Digital Media Initiative, providing the library with thousands of CDs, DVDs, and audiobooks;
  • the Technology 2000 campaign, providing the library with hundreds of public-access computers, software, and electronic research tools;
  • the Job Shop, offering a wide range of resources to help unemployed or under-employed people find work;
  • the Summer Reading program, the library’s largest and longest-running program, reaching more than 50,000 annually;
  • upgraded furnishings and technology for the new Newburg branch library;
  • restoration and renovation of the historic Main Library, which made possible highly successful partnerships with JCPS adult education and the University of Louisville;
  • scholarships for library employees; and
  • supplemental funding for the cost of taking the GED.

Operating within a governmental context can be slow and cumbersome – and usually is. Private gifts to the Library Foundation enable the library to be “nimble,” to take advantage of strategic opportunities as they arise, whether expected or unexpected. Government is risk-averse and generally preserves the status quo. Private funding allows library leadership to be bold and responsive and to pursue experimentation and change.

How Mission Data Helped

Looking to further explore avenues of growth and change while creating a stronger community, one that creates name and face relationships (not just between patrons and the library, but with other patrons as well), the Library Foundation came to Mission Data with an expanded vision and a consistently high level of enthusiasm to help their community succeed in its endeavors.

As evidenced by the aftermath from a sudden flash flood in 2009, and the subsequent outpouring of local support and sentiment, there’s a personal interest for the many patrons who fill the library day in and day out in maintaining and improving its facilities, offerings, and events through contributions. The direct result for them? Visible, physical, and participatory returns on their investment – something that many donors in other capacities may not see. Their donations personally affect a positive outcome and they are, ultimately, doing something good through their donations.

The Library Foundation’s level of commitment and enthusiasm for their cause is infectious, and we were no exception. Focused on creating a sustained audience reach and engagement level, Mission Data’s designer and developers worked in-tandem to take on the challenges ahead while taking on the Library Foundation’s cause as their own! Go to the Library Foundation’s site now and you’ll see the result of various discussions between the designer, developers and client to create a more interactive and information-rich Library Foundation web presence and utilization of the social web. The site’s design is based almost entirely on that which has so strongly defined the library since its inception: being about and for the people. Where once was a site that existed strictly “for informational purposes only” now stands an online avenue for event promotion and registration, news promotion, online donation collection, and continuously-evolving social interaction. The ongoing results of our coordinated efforts will lead to increased donations, increased community interest and engagement, and, ultimately, continuously-improving offerings and services that last well into the future.

In a time when we ARE experiencing an economic downturn and hardships, libraries are actually SPURRING economic investment thanks to available resources, helping people find jobs, and providing budget-friendly education and entertainment options for individuals and families where many places are not. So, to the doomsayers out there, the Library Foundation has something to say to you. When the dust clears, it may be the book worms that fare the best of all.

For more information, visit the Library Foundation or contact them online, by phone (502-574-1654) or by 
fax (502-574-1734). And, if you’re feeling especially generous, please take a moment to read this article and then donate to, what we feel, is one of the best types of causes.

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A Webby for Figment

Released April 13th, 2011

And the envelope please….we are proud to announce that our recent work on figment.com, a community for young folks to read, write and connect is a Webby Award Official Honoree in the Youth category.

The 15th annual Webby Award winners were announced yesterday. Some say The Webby Award is the Internet’s most respected symbol of success. We’re just delighted to receive Honoree status for our work and rank in the top ten percent of the nearly 10,000 entrants. We’re in good company too, Disney and Lego also received the Honoree nod.

Website and mobile winners were selected for recognition based on excellence in Content, Structure and Navigation, Visual Design, Functionality, Interactivity and Overall Experience. Winners were selected by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), a global collection of experts and technology innovaters, including David Bowie, Arianna Huffington, Harvey Weinstein, Martha Stewart, Vinton Cerf, Biz Stone.

We’re proud to be recognized by our peers with this gesture but we’re even more proud of our work and the success of Figment. Tell us what you think…

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Have fun with celebt.ag

Released March 20th, 2011

celebtag screenshotMost of us have been starstruck at one time or another–you see a celeb in real life, and you may think, ‘Where have I seen this person before?’ Then suddenly, it clicks–OMG, that’s so-and-so! Snap a photo on your mobile phone, as modern-day voyeurs do, and share your brush with fame using celebt.ag.

What’s celebt.ag, you ask? It’s a mobile-friendly website that combs Twitter to collect photos of celebs and let’s you see who’s been seen. We wanted to make it super simple – no commitment, no log in or username to remember – or forget, no hassle. Simple fun in three steps:

  1. Snap a photo of a celeb
  2. Upload your photo to twitpic, yfrog, tweetphoto or ow.ly
  3. Tweet about your pic and use the hashtag #celebtag in your tweet, and see your photo appear on the site.

We developed celebt.ag, as a fun, whimsical way to explore and interact with the mobile web. We also explored the use of responsive design to format the layout of the site for use on nearly any browser with one set of code. See who the top celebs are, who the top spotters are and where you fit in the picture.

Posted in Design, Mobile Application, Software Development, Utilities, Web Development | No Comments »
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DNA is Good

Released March 1st, 2011
Screen capture of the Intrepid Bioinformatics website.

Screen capture of the Intrepid Bioinformatics website.

Ok, bad paraphrasing aside, for one moment, put on your best “Gordon Gekko” suit, and loosely consider this:

In finance, a portfolio is a collection of investments held by an institution or an individual. Holding a portfolio is a part of an investment and risk-limiting strategy called diversification – by owning several assets, or “things with value”, certain types of risk can be reduced. In building up an investment portfolio, a financial institution will typically conduct investment analysis, while a private individual may make use of a financial advisor/institution’s portfolio management services.

Now ask yourself this – what if there were a way to do this with, oh I don’t know: your genetic data? Enter Intrepid Bioinformatics.

Intrepid’s founders had a vision, one of a heterogenous genetic data management platform that would allow researchers to store, compare, and contextualize genetic trends, as well as purchase reagents and consumables, all in one place. With a newly-designed identity by Katie Bush Design, Inc. in hand, Intrepid and their team came to Mission Data looking to take this concept out of the futuristic conversational realm and bring it into the “now”.

What Does It Do?

A “software-as-a-service” platform allows genetic researchers to compare similar data sets from thousands of samples side-by-side. With Intrepid, a researcher can begin to quickly identify trends in entire populations which will have the potential to quickly advance discoveries in the medical, pharmaceutical and agricultural biotechnology industries. From free trials to rich-access subscriber plans, users are presented with an impressive load of features right out of the gate – multiple upload options, data downloading, user tutorials, and active collaboration between other community members of your choice, to name a few.

Who’s Using It?

Intrepid appeals to the genetic research community in two sectors: human genome research and animal (specifically, bovine) research. The markets for these two segments are vastly different, and the audience can be further segmented into researchers working for larger companies/governments/universities vs. researchers in small, relatively unfunded labs.

Take, for example, a cattle farmer. He or she obviously has a vested interest in ensuring that their clients are receiving the best product possible, be it milk, beef, etc. By using Intrepid’s services, they can access a wealth of genetic data that will help them determine which lines of cattle are best suited for those assorted purposes. And, which lines they might want to avoid because of a predilection for disease.

That’s not to say those are the only audience contingents that Intrepid is looking to pull into their community. On the contrary, a day on the horizon can be seen in which members of the public can look to utilize Intrepid Bioinformatics’ services like a digital genetic bank, safely and securely storing their data with constant and “at-will” access.

Our team at Mission Data constantly look to push and redefine the boundaries of what is thought possible and conventional in the realm of the web. And, I think I can speak for all of us when I say that if we can eliminate boundaries and make the ideas of the future happen while partnering with great clients, then the ride is made all the better. This was certainly the case here.

To further paraphrase Gordon Gekko: “It’s all about the ‘now’, kid. The rest is just conversation.”

Posted in Database, Design, News, Site Launch, Software Development, Web Development | No Comments »
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Navigating the New World of Robotic Surgery

Released February 14th, 2011

Thoracic Surgical Specialists Website ScreenshotIf you watch medical shows like Grey’s Anatomy, you’ve probably seen the latest technology in robotic surgery: the da Vinci Surgical System®.  Aside from the fact that the da Vinci® robot looks super cool, the cutting-edge technology allows for surgery to be performed in a less invasive manner.

Although we’re not surgeons (or robots) here at Mission Data, we have been honored to assist The Thoracic Surgical Specialists at Baptist Healthcare in staying ahead of the curve for their patients. We don’t have the chops to help them in surgery, but we were able to hook them up with a new website: http://www.thoracicsurgicalspecialists.com/ to promote all of their hard work.  Now patients and physicians have a resource for thoracic conditions and treatments as well as the ability to make appointments and prepare for their visits.

The first doctors in Louisville, KY, to perform a pulmonary lobectomy (one of the most popular lung cancer treatments) utilizing the da Vinci Surgical System®, the Thoracic Surgical Specialists have 30 years of experience and lots of awards too. We hope most people don’t have the need for their services, but if and when they do, they can now find out more about their great practice online.

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