Website Technology

In order to be successful website, you need to move beyond the previous generation of static content webpages. In the new internet, the web 2.0 world, you need to be able to connect with your customers and interact with them in a way that wasn't possible in the past.

So, what has changed to enable this new breed of website?

• First of all, the internet has got a lot faster. The majority of web visitors are connected through high-speed, high-reliability links. This means that now not only static pages (text and pictures) can be sent from webservers, but dynamic content such as videos.
• The technology in the web-browsers also improved. Originally the web was only constructed using a simple text format, HTML, which only described a static webpage with pictures and links. HTML evolved to enable more complicated pages to be shown and along the way, a programmable software language that could directly modify these pages was introduced. This language, Javascript, and the way it could modify a webpage became gradually more complex. The content information in a webpage was also separated from the formatting and so webpages now consist of the bare text in HTML and the text and page style in CSS. This combination of HTML and CSS allowed the first real dynamic websites, Google Maps being the most famous.
• With a fast internet connection, the dream of being able to interact in real-time with visitors to a website became a reality when Javascript in a browser was extended to respond to XML data sent from a webserver in such a way that a page was dynamically altered rather than completely reloaded. This allowed the first of the real web applications, with Google Mail being a well-known example. This technique became known as Asynchronous Javascript and XML, or AJAX for short.
• As well as these browser advances, webserver abilities were also increasing with better software languages such as Java, PHP, PERL and Ruby which themselves gained better support for generating webpages, interacting with databases and generating web-content on-the-fly. This has lead to many complex websites now being generated by software programs running on the server which obtain their content from a database.
• Software has also evolved on the browser. Javascipt is now much more capable and languages are now being developed which can allow great web software applications to be easily developed to run on browser plug-ins such as Adobe's Flash or Microsofts Silverlight. Examples of these languages are OpenLaszlo or Microsoft's XAML. The great advantage of these web based programs are that they run the same on ALL computers. A web application running on a web-enabled PDA should look exactly the same as one running on a Windows, Mac OS or Linux desktop web-browser.
• So now it is possible to have an interactive program running on users web browser (not on the desktop) which sends and receives live data to and from a remote webserver which generates tailored, dynamic, real-time content back to the browser.

and we have the dawn of a new internet...

How can we help?

Well, there are plenty of companies who can design websites for a price using canned website "templates" and some stock photographs.

The better companies can create a website based on your design ideas and artwork and make the website look how you want it.

The best companies can even incorporate more advanced features, like photo galleries or Flash animations. Unfortunately, these mostly tend to be produced using "canned" solutions that they buy in.

But what if you need more?

That is where we come in - we work at the level of the best website designers, but we can also add a whole new dimension. Not only are we website designers, we are software engineers and can help to make your ideas reality, and unique.

• We create complex websites from the ground up. However, we don't believe in re-inventing the wheel. We deal with Linux and open source software, so if there is software available that will do the job, or a part of it, then we will use it. This means that you pay less money and get to market quicker.
• We look at what you want to do and figure out the best way to do it. If we need to write server-side software, we write it using PHP, PERL, Ruby, Python, Java, C/C++ or a combination of them. We can use a server-side database to keep the data persistent and track your visitors preferences and creations. On the browser side, we can create rich internet application user interfaces in Flash or by using AJAX.
• We advise at all steps along the way. We will advise you on what is possible and the fastest and least expensive way that it can be done.

Email us at enquiries@neomara.com to get started.

We guarantee confidentiality and are happy to sign NDAs with start-ups prior to offering advice. Initial consultation is free of charge. Even if you are at the early stage of thinking about a new venture and only have an idea then please talk to us.

Examples of recent work

Static Website

http://www.natures-genius.com is a recent example of a traditional static website. However, it also uses advanced CSS on the front page to make a dynamic menu based on artwork supplied by the customer. Using CSS rather than Javascript means that it loads fast and also will work with browsers where Javascript has been disabled for security.

Dynamic Website

http://www.puzzlepixies.com is a completely different type of website. It's pages are generated on-the-fly backed by a database backed content management system. It also contains a large number of both Javascript/CSS games and Flash based games. The Flash programs were written using the OpenLaszlo rich internet application (RIA) scripting language. The biggest example is the Pixie Paint painting application. This has a complex user interface, and all pictures are sent and restored from a database on the server. When pictures are submitted, software on the server creates a thumbnail and full image file of the picture and queues it for insertion on the gallery pages. When a picture is approved for display, it is automatically added to the online gallery. Almost all of the artwork, graphics and audio files used on the site were created by us.