Looking for: Website designer/master

There have been many threads covering this in the past.  I want to give the newer members a shot too.

Looking for a 6 page website design. Fairy standard design to start.   We will want it to evolve into database driven website at some point where our customers can set up their orders, print labels, retrieve results etc.

Game plan is to offer consumers soil testing and analysis.  We offer this service on a different scale to growers now. 




Eric Morgan
Trident Ultra 4.7
Not the guy selling the Outback
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Would this site be in addition to the link in your signature?
Here is my website: www.northbridgeweb.com
Contact me with your ideas so we can discuss further.

Mike

Would this site be in addition to the link in your signature?
Here is my website: www.northbridgeweb.com
Contact me with your ideas so we can discuss further.

Mike

Yes, new site.  Ill check out your website tomorrow and get in touch.  I want to get a bunch of bids and ideas before making a decision.  Last website was made in India.  I don't want to do that again.


Eric Morgan
Trident Ultra 4.7
Not the guy selling the Outback
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Chadrock's wife Sara designs websites.

Right on Tiny,  I think I will need a lot of help on this.  I have spent a lot of time thinking about this.  I  love this forum and I think we have a really diverse group.  RAWYAK used his CAD skills to take an empty warehouse and create an office and lab for me early last year.  We have a bunch of talented people among us.

I wanted to add a few other thoughts and ideas to my first post to get people thinking.  I think this is a lot bigger than just a website.  Maybe someone among us can help us put it together.  There are two phases.  Phase one is now and phase two is in the event this takes off.

Phase One:

Basic website that has 5-6 pages that will enable my customers to understand what we do and how we do it.   I think there will be very little information collected on this website, more of an information source to promote initially.   Our customers will need to download a form that they will send in with their samples.  We will run the tests and send a set of results and analysis back to them.   I imagine payment will initially be via paypal.

Phase Two:

Basic website is expanded on and allows for our customers to view and input more data.   Online payments are accepted via paypal and credit cards.   Details associated with accounting are exported to Quickbooks. They should be able to (with their log in) to see their results and download them too.  We should start a forum where myself and my wife and other techno garden dorks can facilitate a conversation with the customers on gardens and garden related issues.   My wife is doing this now with her "Garden Utopia" Facebook group.    Results from several tests will be ran in our lab.  A web based database should be employed in the lab to record the measurements.  Everything will be barcoded.  The barcode should correspond to a database defined reference number the database generates when the customers pays for and selects the tests they want to run.  Staff will split up the submitted samples, label them with the same barcodes and then take them to different areas of the lab for processing.  Results should be able to added to the record when the barcode is scanned.  The customer should have the ability to log in and see the status of their sample as it makes its way through the lab.   Raw results will be available to the customer but are subject to change pending a quality control audit.  When the tests are all complete and QC has been finished,  a report with all the results will be sent out to the email of the customer.  There will be some level of graphic representation on the report, possibly with colors to show things in red that are high or low etc.   I currently have a daily robust database for my ag. customers but I feel like something web based is more inline for the audience I'm trying to get to.   We will also be outsourcing some tests to another lab.   We get those results back via .csv and the .csv file will need to be importing them into our database for reporting to the customer.   The web based database will also need to email or otherwise inform our outside lab of the samples that are coming in with the information specific to the sample.   


I know this is probably a lot for many of you,  but maybe one of you, just one knows how to do exactly what I need to get done.

As far as the business goes,  It dovetails into my nitrate testing for veggie growers.  We secured www.soilhealthlab.com but right now it redirects to www.plantfertility.com.   I just went to conference on soil health and want to employ new scientific methods in the ag fields but I have a feeling they will fit well with small growers and home gardeners.   Essentially we can measure what your soil WILL contribute to your crop/garden in the coming year by analyzing the CO2 emissions from it.  If your soil is very healthy,  it will expel a lot of CO2 in 24hours and that result corresponds with the level of nitrate that the microorganisms will generate for the crop/garden.  Our goal is to take sustainable ag out of the field and into the home.

A web based database also means that I can get to my data after spending a day fishing in Mexico 

Thanks!

I currently have a daily robust database for my ag. customers but I feel like something web based is more inline for the audience I'm trying to get to.

What DB platform are you using currently?

I currently have a daily robust database for my ag. customers but I feel like something web based is more inline for the audience I'm trying to get to.

What DB platform are you using currently?

Pretty sure it is a SQL database. It runs locally on my network.


Edit, I think SQLite

When programmers installed my software on the sever, they downloaded that first. 

Eric Morgan
Trident Ultra 4.7
Not the guy selling the Outback
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Pretty sure it is a SQL database. It runs locally on my network.

Most are these days. It would be good to know more specifically, ie Ms Sql Server (there are a couple flavors of this as well), MySql, DB2, Sql Lite ... and then what forms the front end (user interface) to that currently. I only mention it because while you're working on phase one, you can be designing phase 2. In my experience people *never* (and I never say never  ) give enough consideration to design/architecture in advance.

Give some thought as to the complexity/depth of your platform versus ongoing support/maintenance. Try and guess at how much web traffic and how many financial transactions you will be processing. Then try and guess how much and how fast each will grow. It's not that you're married to these estimates, but getting into the right universe initially could save you a lot of time, frustration, money or all 3.  While all SQL databases use the same fundamental construct in calls to the database, they all have their own features, dialects, etc ...

What you describe in phase 2 is very doable, but isn't trivial. Treat your planning like a blueprint, lots of details.

All that said, it sounds like a fun project. Too bad I couldn't write a line of HTML to save my life. 

Eric,

If you are currently using an SQL DB, connection is a snap.  You might want to consider installing the SQL DB on your hosted web server (unless you host your own site) and using MySQL and PHPMyAdmin to control parameters.  Prior to that though, as FishFarmer has given some very good advice, you need to plan the database out.  figure out what data you are going to enter and what data you are going to allow a customer to retrieve.  An easy way to figure this out is to use an Excel sheet and create a few entries of what a typical report may consist of or whatever information you would like to enter or retrieve from the DB.  You can use HTML and PHP as the front end (customer interface) as well as YOUR front end where you could enter the testing results, notes, etc.

Phase I is a snap.  Integrating Paypal or some other CC processing structure is pretty easy as well.  You can create a downloadable pdf form or you can have an on line form that will submit information to a database or via email for you to do what you want with.  There are many options.

Phase II is a bit more challenging.  Exporting data to quickbooks is beyond my knowledge but I'm sure there are ways to connect to the SQL database for that.  A quick google search should turn up the proper way to handle that.  Creating user accounts and allowing customers to download data and/or reports is pretty straightforward.  Attaching a user forum is a great idea especially if you plan to check it often.  They are easy to manage and have a ton of options.  The forum structure we are using now, SMF, is in my opinion, the best out there.  The barcoding stuff will likely be handled by 3rd party software.  That is another part of your project i am unfamiliar with. 

Again, like FishFarmer stated, the requests you make are doable.  However, to do it right, a great deal of planning and detail layout needs to take place.  First step for Phase II is the database structure.  Phase I can happen at anytime.  I see that you are using GoDaddy to host your new domain.  You will need to make sure the hosting account allows for database adds or pay the additional fee to get them.  You can also consider building everything using WordPress.  I have created several sites for customers that wanted to be able to edit information anytime they wanted without having to know any HTML code.  There are many options with a WordPress site including the ability to connect to a SQL Database. 

If you would like some examples or would like to discuss further, shoot me an email at [email protected]. 

Mike B
NorthBridge Web Design

Edit, I think SQLite

It's funny, but I have a real affection for Sqlite. It's as fast as anything reading the database (good Web candidate), not so much on writes ... but not bad at all. It also has the ability to serve up data from multiple databases with single queries which can be useful in a pinch. It doesn't have (last I checked) any native security built in. Your web site can compensate for that, but it leaves you a bit more exposed on the server side. The last desktop app I wrote was designed around Sqlite, with a switch that allowed it to talk to MySql instead when the time came, so you have some options. MySql *does* have substantial security measures in place, but will also have more maintenance considerations over time.

If you imagine you're going to have hundreds of visitors per day, and not thousands, Sqlite *might* be a good candidate. If not, then you must consider how integrated you want the data acquired from your web site to be with the data on your LAN, and how you want it accomplished. If done poorly you end up with dumb cracks in the integrity of your data.

Sorry, I didn't mean to ramble on, but this is a small taste of the decision process you're headed toward. It's worth your while to take your time and work though the questions as they come up. You'll always have to deal with the unexpected, but less is better.

Ben

The information is very helpful and useful,  thanks!  I had a major hand in the architecture of my current DB.   I know what I am in for.  I gave the ideas and they made it work.  These were agronomic concepts that had not even yet been utilized anywhere!  The best things we added were actually my wife's ideas   .   I have already started to work on webiste content a little bit.   I will get all my content, pictures, links etc put together and then get it out to bid I guess.   Mike,  I will be sure to include you in this.    Once I get Phase one started I will visit with phase two.  The company that designed and maintains my current DB is awesome but they are swamped and have gotten much more expensive as their available time is very limited.   I'll let them have a crack at it too I guess.  I do know this,  know what you want to include now because trying to add it later gets really expensive.   I generally pay $500 for a new report 

It actually got a little depressing yesterday when I thought about the amount of work that I had to do to get this done.  I really want to snap my fingers and have it be done and sadly,  only one person can do it .

I have a lot on my plate daily,  this does not include twin two yo girls.   Adding this will be a strain but I think I can really make this happen as I feel it is a market that is less than underserved.  We are generally very slow in the winter time and cash starved.  Adding this in may help cash flow too.

On the sever are Microsoft SQL server 2008 and Microsoft SQL server 2008 R2


Eric Morgan
Trident Ultra 4.7
Not the guy selling the Outback
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

On the sever are Microsoft SQL server 2008 and Microsoft SQL server 2008 R2


Eric Morgan
Trident Ultra 4.7
Not the guy selling the Outback
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk