Five Technology MN » Web Projects

Providing a Communication Link for K12: The Delano School District Website

Jason Landa — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:24:45 +0000

Schools have an overwhelming amount of academic and administrative information to provide parents and students. Five Technology can help your school district put all of that information in one easy-to-access place.

Five Technology’s website for the Delano School District provides an easy, effective communication link between their parents, students, teachers, and administration. Your district can benefit from this same convenient communication link customized to your specific needs.

Easy to Navigate

Any information users need is easily found in one of the site’s clear categories.

Main Categories: From any page on the site, users can access the main categories of District, High School, Middle School, Elementary School, Activities, and Community Education instead of using the back button or needing to return to the home page and start over. For example, a parent can choose the main category High School to get to a specific teacher page and then go directly from the teacher’s page to information about a recent school board meeting under the main category District.
School and Classroom Pages: Each school and classroom has a page with its own specific announcements. Classroom pages allow students and parents to see assignments, course topics, schedules, grading scales, and more.
Teacher Profile Pages: Teachers’ pages provide a teacher’s contact information; links to each class they teach; and additional links such as parent information, class schedules, homework, and assignments.

Protected Information

Your district can customize pages for each school. Also, schools have control of all content. Parents must subscribe and students must log in to access information about individual class schedules and so forth. The site complies with FERPA regulations.

Convenient and Time-saving

The user-friendly organization of the website saves time for both parents and students who need information and the school staff who provides that information.

Facebook-like functionality: The website is easy to navigate because elements of it work like facebook, which most users are familiar with. Classroom and teacher pages are similar to facebook profile pages, and teachers can make posts on pages like a newsfeed. The bonus is that you avoid actually putting your information on facebook, and instead have your own website controlled by you.
Parent Subscribe: Parents can subscribe to have all posts from their child’s classes sent to their email address so they don’t have to search the sight each day to see if new information is posted.
Student Log-in: Each student has a log-in. When they click “My Classes” at the top of the page, they see a list of their classes so they don’t have to spend time searching for each class. Also, students can download worksheets and turn in homework for assignments posted to a classroom page.

Helpful Showcase for Your Community and Schools

People considering a move to your area can research the benefits of your community on a professional, well-organized site. Users see the highlights of your schools and can find enrollment information. Parents can see how your schools would suit their child.

Improved Communication and So Much More

This is just an overview of what Five Technology’s website can do for your school district. We will work with you to meet your district’s specific needs while providing a site that allows your teachers, parents, and students to communicate effectively and efficiently.

Screen Captures

Please don’t hesitate to navigate delano.k12.mn.us and see first hand how the Delano staff members are using these great online tools to communicate classroom activity. Below are a few screen captures of important functions mentioned above.

Use the mega navigation to navigate to any page with one click:

A classroom page that is effectively being used to communicate with parents:

A sneak peek at the teacher administration process and sample categories:

A Payroll Company Web Design: Source 5 Payroll

Eric Mobley — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:11:51 +0000

Source 5 is an Atlanta, Georgia payroll company that offers customized payroll services for your business.

Source 5 came to Five because their old site was out dated, some pages didn’t even work correctly, and most importantly they needed an effective online marketing agenda. Five created a modern, beautiful design, and then built their site on a foundation of solid fundamentals that will help them rank in search engines immediately. That will not be satisfactory for Source 5 however, as we have a 12 month agenda for their internet marketing and SEO moving forward.

Site Features

Get A Quote form to assist Source 5 to gather information quickly, and allow them to create quotes for clients.
WordPress blog with RSS Feeds so people can stay up to date with latest payroll and source 5 news.
Integration into CMS allows Source 5 to easily make updates to their site without any knowledge of the back end.
Social Media profiles were set up to allow Source 5 to easily communicate with clients.
Case studies & testimonials pages allow Source 5 showcase their work. These can be easily added and updated with our CMS!
SEO friendly design, coding, and structure.

Visit: http://www.source5.com

Law Firm Website Design: Johnson-Condon

Eric Mobley — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 17:21:37 +0000

Johnson-Condon is a Minneapolis, Minnesota law firm. Johnson-Condon came to us because their website was severely outdated and difficult to update content. They needed a modern and SEO friendly design built on a content management system that allows them to update their content frequently.

Web Design

Johnson-Condon’s new site features a modern and professional design that will give people a sense of trust and authority in their work. The content was updated to reflect the company, their attorneys, and their practice areas.

Take a look at their attorneys page to see how their attorneys have been highlighted. We wanted to include everything there is to know about each attorney including their practice areas, biography, contact information, and professional accomplishments.

Visit the website: http://www.johnson-condon.com

Custom Web App: Digital Forms and Signature Capture for Ipad or Tablet

Eric Mobley — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:54:05 +0000

After launching their website last year, Excel Mechanical contracted Five Technology to streamline their approach to filling out invoicing & billing forms.

Problem

Before the project began, like most companies that do onsite work for their clients, Excel Mechanical had to haul papers with them wherever they went. Not only that but they had several steps to complete the form and send it to the customer or client. The process went something like this: 1) Fill out a paper form 2) Enter data into computer 3) Generate PDF 4) Email to client or customer. You can imagine how much time piles up weekly, monthly, and yearly to complete this process everyday.

Solution

We streamlined their approach by taking their paper forms and creating digital forms fit for their Ipad or tablet. Not only did we digitize their forms but we also created a signature capture field that can capture signatures using a stylus. This allows Excel Mechanical’s team to fill out a form, capture a signature, and then the form automatically generates a PDF version which it sends to the client’s email. Not only that but we built an administration interface utilizing the Site Management Console to view a history of each and every form submitted.

Web Apps are the Future

In the time it took to write this blog post, Five has already completed its second project with this custom web app for another client. We have always had a strong foundation of web design and internet marketing but we also believe the future is to discover new ways to leverage web apps to make time consuming tasks simple.

If you have an idea for a web app, give us a call at 763-972-5933 or visit our contact page.

Travel Web Design: Vieques Vacations

Eric Mobley — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 22:15:58 +0000

Five Technology’s latest web design is for Vieques Vacations Travel Agency. Vieques Vacations is a new travel agency specializing in Vieques Puerto Rico. They have traveled and lived in Vieques and have much experience exploring everything the island has to offer. They can help you book your vacation to Vieques and assist you with all your Vieques travel related needs- flights, accomodations, food, sightseeing, & entertainment. If you want to explore the beaches of Vieques, we recommend going with a travel agency that knows the island inside and out.

E-Commerce Web Design: Surviving Mold

Eric Mobley — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 14:44:55 +0000

Five Technology’s latest web project is for the book Surviving Mold by Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker. Surviving Mold was written with the goal to help heal people with mold related afflictions. Surviving Mold gives people suffering from these afflictions living in mold damaged buildings the information they need to change their lifestyles and literally survive mold.

The site features a custom web design, e-commerce store, wordpress blog and a custom web app.

E-Commerce

The website features a store by which Surviving Mold is sold as well as other books and presentations by Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker. A shopping cart is utilized to easily guide customers from the moment they add an item to their cart until the checkout process is complete. This site has been live for a few months and the results have been impressive.

Web App

The VCS (Visual Contrast Sensitivity) Test is a web app allowing people test for a neurological deficit associated with biotoxin-induced illnesses. It tests the user’s ability to detect visual patterns by taking the test once with each eye while the other is covered. This web app ties in with the e-commerce feature. There are different pricing options based on how many tests you want to take and you can track your results over time. The results can be printed out so you can take it to your physician.

View the site: http://www.survivingmold.com

Web Project Roundup: Forward Technology & Calbrandt

Eric Mobley — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 23:16:57 +0000

Bring your lunch pale for two new working class websites designed by Five Technology. Both sites are redesigns and we were trusted to improve design, usability, and SEO.

Website redesigns have a special set of challenges. New and old visitors alike must be able to quickly find the information they need. The trust that the previous website has must be maintained while improvement is expected at the same time. It is a challenge the crew at Five Technology gladly accept.

Forward Technology

First up we have Forward Technology from Cokato Minnesota. Forward Technology specializes in manufacturing plastic welders, automation & robotics, and precision cleaning just to name a few.

Visit: http://www.forwardtech.com/

Calbrandt

Next is Calbrandt from Delano Minnesota. Calbrandt has manufactured railcar movers, railcar gate openers, and railcar retarders since 1980. All equipment is made in the USA.

Visit: http://www.calbrandt.com/

Visit: http://www.calbrandt.com/ and http://www.forwardtech.com/

Hot Plate Welding, Vibration Welding, Infrared Welding, Spin Welding and Ultrasonic Welding, as well as Burst Testing and Custom Leak Testing.

Web Design Project: Fehn Companies

Eric Mobley — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:15:01 +0000

Our latest web design project was for Fehn Companies Inc. out of the Minneapolis, MN area. Specializing in excavating, grading, and demolition, Fehn Companies Inc. is a second generation family owned business.

Projects

Five Technology knew it was important to capture Fehn Companies in action. That is why we did photography at three key job sites. We used these images on the projects page to illustrate what Fehn Companies can do.

Check out their Monticello Theatre & Bank Demolition project and see for yourself. This page features an informative description, a beautiful photo gallery and has excellent SEO value.

We’re excited for what we’ve seen Fehn Companies do but we’re even more excited to see what Fehn Companies does in the future.

Visit the website: http://www.fehncompanies.com/

Web Design Project: DOMUS Architects

Jason Landa — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 16:27:58 +0000

DOMUS is a Boston based architect and construction firm for over 30 years. Even with all of their success and awards, this web design is their first website in the company’s history.

Focused On The Work
It was important to bring the amazing work of DOMUS right to the forefront. The biggest focus of the website is their past and current architecture projects.

Each project features a photo gallery, project overview, highlights and design inspiration. One of the projects, The Bridge House, features a video tour and the site was built for future videos to be easily added.

The web design turned out great and we enjoyed being trusted by DOMUS to share their great work with the world. See their talent for yourself.

Visit the website: http://www.domus-inc.com

Web Design Project: FiberStock

Jason Landa — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 21:00:48 +0000

Horses, bison and cows, oh my! Our latest web design project is a redesign for FiberStock Inc. that produces fiberglass horses, other animals and custom fiberglass statues.

A Web Redesign 10 Years Later
It’s a little crazy for me to even type this, but I designed FiberStock’s first website over 10 years ago. While the old site lacked in design compared to today’s web design capabilities, it’s SEO trust continued to bring leads and business.

Although it was hard to change something that was working, they knew they needed to show more of their success, talent, offering and city art projects with a new website design.

FiberStock can create darn near any type of statue out of fiberglass and their work has been in movies, national museums, malls, universities and more.

Web Redesign Project Components

Custom web redesign
Built on our CMS for complete content management
Photo and project galleries
SEO friendly build and content optimization
Custom blog with WordPress

Two things really stand out to me from this project. The first is the opportunity to work with a client and their business for over 10 years, the second is that building a website the right way can lead to a REALLY long shelf life, no matter the design style. Results win out.

View the website: http://www.fiberstock.com