The Big Shift: How to Redesign Content-Heavy Websites Without Losing Your Mind

Struggling with a content-heavy website redesign? Discover three proven strategies—including AI-assisted migration—to simplify the process and create a better user experience.

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What Does Being a “Top Workplace” Mean to Us?

Hansonites reflect on what being named to The Blade's Top Workplaces of 2015 means to them.

As you may have heard, Hanson was recently named to The Blade's Top Workplaces (for the second year in a row). Because this award is based on employee surveys, we wanted to hear what being named a top workplace means to our fellow Hansonites. (Spoiler alert: a lot of us feel lucky to be part of this team!)

Through the Looking Glass: Developing Hanson’s First Glass App

Hanson developers Richard Carhart and Joel Lanciaux talk about their experience developing Hanson's first Google Glass app.

My colleague Joel Lanciaux and I got the opportunity to develop Hanson’s first Google Glass app. So we thought we’d take a few minutes to talk about what we learned from the experience. What follows is a loosely-edited transcript of our conversation.

Technology

Apps

Google

En Guarde! Couch Knights and the Oculus Rift at PAX East

Hanson software engineer David Williams writes about his experience testing the Oculus Rift dev kit 2 and Couch Knights at PAX East 2014.

While there were a lot of cool things demoed at PAX East 2014, the most exciting part of my experience there was getting to try the latest version of the Oculus Rift. The Oculus Rift, for the unaware, is a head-mounted virtual reality display. VR headsets have been forgotten about or made fun of since the mid-90s (rightfully), but the Rift shows that technology can now do the concept justice.

Technology

Emerging Technology

Virtual Reality

3 Approaches to eCommerce Architecture

John Ewing, managing director of engineering at Hanson Inc., presents the pros and cons of 3 approaches to ecommerce architecture.

Thinking about jumping into the world of ecommerce? It’s all about the architecture. The best way to approach it depends on a lot of factors, like whether you have an existing site, the state of your product catalogs, how much custom functionality you need, and what your budget and technology resources are. We work closely with clients to recommend the very best solution for their unique needs, but if you’re still in preliminary thinking mode, here are some broad tips to get you started.

Technology

Engineering

eCommerce

The Evolution of Web Hosting

Steve Bumbaugh of Hanson Inc. presents the evolution of web hosting, from workstations (Hostopithecus) to cloud computing (Hamazon Sapiens) and beyond.

Hanson often provides hosting recommendations, solutions and services to our clients. Like most technologies we deal with, this is a rapidly evolving part of web development. The hosting options available today would appear alien to developers and system engineers from only a few years ago. So for those interested in a little technology time travel, I present: the evolution of web hosting.

Technology

Emerging Technology

Cloud

On Mobile Forms and Homer Simpson Fingers

Designing successful mobile forms is about removing as much data entry as possible and optimizing what remains so even Homer Simpson could fill them out.

There’s an old episode of The Simpsons where Homer, working from home, tries to call the nuclear plant to warn about a meltdown. As he dials, he hears the following recording: “The fingers you have used to dial are too fat. To obtain a special dialing wand, please mash the keypad with your palm now.”

Beyond “HTML5,” Part 3: The Future of the Open Web

What Open Web features are coming, and what are their current alternatives? Dave Rodriguez of Hanson Inc. concludes his 3-part blog series.

So far in this blog series we’ve explored the meaning of “HTML5” and the road to the Open Web, and we’ve reviewed Open Web technologies supported by today’s browsers. Now it’s time to look at some exciting Open Web features that will shape the web of tomorrow, and their current alternatives...

Technology

Emerging Technology

Interactive Design

Beyond "HTML5," Part 2: Open Web Technologies You Can Use Today

Dave Rodriguez, Hanson's Director of Front End Development, looks beyond HTML5 at open web technologies you can use today.

In part 1 of this series, we discussed some myths and misconceptions about HTML5 and proposed the term “Open Web technologies” as a more accurate alternative. Today we’ll explore some Open Web features that have widespread support in desktop and mobile browsers today...

Technology

Emerging Technology

Interactive Design

Beyond “HTML5,” Part 1: The Present and Future of the Open Web

Dave Rodriguez, Hanson's director of front end development, introduces a blog series on HTML5 and the present and future of the open web.

In April 2010, Apple CEO Steve Jobs wrote about his decision to ban Adobe’s Flash plugin from the iOS operating system. He voiced a number of concerns including battery life, performance, and touch incompatibility, but above all the closed, proprietary nature of Flash...

Technology

Emerging Technology

Interactive Design

Intranet Governance: Intranet Best Practices, Part 4

Mike Osswald of Hanson Inc. concludes his four-part blog series on intranet best practices with recommendations for intranet governance.

Thanks to all of you who have been following along this four part series on best practices in intranets. Now in this final installment, it’s time to talk about how to manage it all: intranet governance.

Technology

Intranets

Digital Experience

On Collaboration and Recognition: Intranet Best Practices, Part 3

Mike Osswald, VP for Experience Innovation at Hanson Inc., continues his series on intranet best practices with a look at collaboration and recognition.

In part one of this blog series, we established how intranets standardize work processes and connect employees to others who can help them do their jobs. In part two, we looked at some of the best search, personalization, communications, training and support features of effective intranets. Yet another prime feature of great intranets is the opportunity for collaboration and recognition.

Technology

Intranets

Digital Experience

How the VIMM Model can Improve Usability of Your Site or Application

The VIMM Model is a practical approach to improving usability. Learn how to use it to improve usability of your website or application.

There are many definitions of “usability,” but most of them are too general to be useful. The VIMM Model is different. It’s a practical approach to improving usability that can be applied by just about anyone.