Tag: website

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My SDES

One of the last sites to move to our web cluster, the “My SDES” site was a simple (and horrible) application that used Integrated Authentication, LDAP, and WebDAV to allow users to use a web interface to access their appropriate folders on our file server. Even if you ignore the dangers in that statement, WebDAV has basically been phased out for WAN communication, so we had to come up with another solution. Rather than allow the application to continue to be a security hole, I convinced management that based on IIS logs, very, very few people utilized the site and replacing it with a site explaining the benefits of VPN and Remote Desktop was preferable.

I was given free reign to design the site and after deploying my template base, I tried to keep the elements as simple, inviting, and informative as possible while keeping it to a single screen.

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LINK

  • Type: Website
  • Language: PHP
  • Framework: None
  • Authentication: Integrated
  • Data Source: SQL Database

Purpose

This project was largely self-initiated. As with many problems at UCF, my task arose from a former student assistant’s bad and incomplete code. Rather than tip-toe around it and poke and prod as necessary, I decided to take up a sprint to rewrite the database front-end and accompanying student-facing site.

Method

As we had yet to adopt a PHP framework, the CRUD for each table was developed by hand, with a few helper functions that matched httpPost values with SQL table columns for create and edit pushes.

Highlights

For the public event submission form, I was able to discover an API to UCF’s campus map, consume it as JSON, parse out the list of buildings, and make that a required choice for the event. Once the event was approved and posted, public users could then discover the location of the event through a link to the campus map.

As each event was displayable as both a master event and a single session of a master event, I was able to integrate each with a “Post to Facebook” and “Post to Twitter” button, allowing a social layer of connection to the program’s social networking presences.

Finally, we developed some icons that allowed event categories to be associated with a color, allowing users to quickly determine differences.

Takeaway

Sometimes, throwing away the remnants of a bad idea and starting fresh is the best way to go, despite the time commitment. The resulting application has survived with no changes for years now–a testament to the customer’s satisfaction with the user experience.

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SDES IT: Training Application

  • Type: Website
  • Language: C#
  • Framework: MVC 2
  • Authentication: Integrated
  • Data Source: SQL Database

Purpose

Our training situation at SDES IT developed into a full-time training position. Once hired, this trainer requested a way to have users discover classes, sign up for said classes, and be sent reminders for said classes.

Method

For this application, I wanted to dip my toes in .NET MVC (then at version 2). The resulting app absorbed the existing PHP site (including videos, text copies, and links) and introduced a Windows-Auth-protected section that allowed users to sign up for available classes and fill out a profile (which would be pulled up on subsequent visits). After each submission, an iCal-formatted ICS file would be dispatched to their email address, allowing them to track their own class signups.

Highlights

The delineation of access levels is so painless in MVC, as each controller can easily be filtered to a certain Active Directory user or role/group. This allowed the app to cover public users, domain users, and administrators in one project with ease. Also, building an ICS file from scratch was exciting and highly effective.

Takeaway

While we were not quite prepared for the volatility the trainer position would exhibit over the next few years, the application ran into very few problems during its tenure as a class-signup solution. It is currently on hold for a redesign to match future needs.

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UCF Creed Site Design

In my quest to make everything I can at UCF better and nicer, I recently decided to tackle the CUF Creed site. The site only displays the UCF Creed (a small collection of statements) and a page of discussion points for professors. I attempted to adapt the styling to the normal UCF template, streamline the display of the tenets, and write some custom CSS to style the blockquote of the main Creed statement. I found an older, seemingly-professionally-produced video about the Creed, uploaded it to our SDES IT YouTube channel, and embedded it opposite the tenets.

This site was developed proactively in Notepad++.

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Order of Pegasus

Order of Pegasus is a program that recognizes outstanding students at UCF on an annual basis. I still haven’t actually figured out who runs this program (it seems to change every year), but given that printed materials are already created for the event, I decided to design a much nicer site that utilizes these existing assets.

The site displays the thumbnail and name of each in the Order, opening a Fancybox (lightbox) with a full portrait for each individual when clicked. The full program is included as a PDF and the site is largely driven by typography and these thumbnails only.

Pictured above is a before-and-after of the site designs. This project was completed proactively with jQuery, Fancybox, and Notepad++.