New Website Launch: VestaVu

Our latest site launch marked a major milestone for DiscoverTec. In an industry that moves as fast as web development we don’t celebrate many “firsts” too often. That’s because by the time we’re done celebrating , the "first" is old and something new has come along. We made an exception this week when we launched the beta version of VestaVu because it marked our first website application developed using Microsoft Silverlight.

Silverlight is a website application framework that Microsoft released in 2007. It provides website developers with a powerful tool to create rich internet applications (RIA) and have a much more seamless interaction with the graphics and presentation layer. In the past, we’ve used Flash to develop web apps with motion graphics and the developer had to hand off to the designer, and vice versa, and there was no true collaboration. With Silverlight the connection between functionality and design is so natural that we’re able to modify designs, add features and go live with both in a fraction of the time we’re used to. The only problem was, we needed a project to use it on.

Enter VestaVu. We met with the folks from VestaVu over a year ago to learn more about their industry-changing idea to revolutionize real estate property tours. Initially, we tried to steer them towards Action Script, a powerful, but somewhat limited, motion graphic technology that leaned heavily on Adobe Flash. Over time they developed their idea and we paid attention to what Microsoft was doing, and then there came rumblings that a new, substantially more powerful version of Silverlight was coming down the pipe.

Fast forward to Fall of 2009 and VestaVu is ready to go. The first week we started architecting the question was posed “Why aren’t we building this in Silverlight again?” It’s a new technology so there’ll be learning curve. The adoption rate is still low. Will it do everything we need it to? Since we love a challenge and pride ourselves on being on the “bleeding edge” of the latest and greatest technology out there we decided to jump in with both feet and go with Silverlight.

It paid off.

The learning curve was there, adoption is less of a concern now with Windows 7 having Silverlight pre-installed and it does everything we wanted it to do and so much more. We’re in beta now and there’re some rough edges here and there, but it’s exciting to us that this is just the tip of the iceberg. As of this writing, there are only 801 Silverlight applications live around the globe (we’re submitting ours to be #802). It’s very rare in our industry that we can truly say we’re one of the first teams to implement a new technology.

So if you have a few minutes and want to check out something that you won’t see every day on the web, cruise over to www.VestaVu.com and take it for a test drive. We’d love to hear your thoughts, again we’re in beta so go easy, but we’d appreciate any feedback in the comment section below.

New Website Launch: Krungstock

After months of development Krungstock.com has been launched live. DiscoverTec partnered with nationally-recognized Jacksonville-based photographer Paul Figura to build a state of the art stock photography website that will serve as a “one-stop-shop” for buying and selling premium stock images. The website features a robust image search engine with fully-customizable keyword tagging, complete e-commerce shopping cart functionality and advanced sales/order management system.

Our goal with this project was to provide the Krung team with a way to market top-quality images that would appeal to buyers while at the same time attract the top photography talent nationwide to market their work through Krungstock. Not to mention, we wanted the site to look as great as the photos on it and function faster, better and smarter than anything else that’s out there. Most stock photo websites are overloaded with average images and photographers and buyers alike get frustrated with their “one size fits all” limitations.

Krungstock is completely custom-built specifically for Paul's needs and from his unique point of view as an experienced professional photographer. We focused heavily on ease of use for both buying and selling of the images, as well as Krungstock’s ability to manage every aspect of the website as efficiently as possible. We’re proud of the final product and had a blast working the Krung Team, stay tuned for updates and as always, leave a comment below to let us know what you think of the site.

Biker Blast III is live!

The Rotary Biker Blast is going into its 3rd consecutive year and is bigger and badder than ever. We launched the new website this week and in my humble opinion it's the best one yet. Partial proceeds are donated to the Wolfson's Children Hospital. Every year this event has grown bigger and bigger, and on February 27, 2010 we're taking things to a whole different level. Live music, awesome food, and oh yeah, the chance to WIN A HARLEY!

For the past 2 years the event has been held at local motorcycle dealerships and we're proud to say that this year we're going all out at the Jacksonville Landing. To be a part of this special event visit www.rotarybikerblast.com to learn more and a purchase a ticket. Remember, it's for a great cause and you could ride off in a brand new Harley. See you there!