Archive for January, 2010

Quotes

Friday, January 29th, 2010

100 quotes every geek should know. Here’s my favorite:

“Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love – they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”
- Harry Lime, The Third Man

Invention and art come from crisis. Superior invention and art come from crisis only.

Thanks to Coudal for pointing me to the quotes piece.

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Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Unify Easter Egg: Go to http://unify.unitinteractive.com and type “hadouken” #unify #verse

We’re Saying It Again

Monday, January 25th, 2010

“Unify is not a CMS.” These words have sparked a debate about the exact nature of our nifty little product. Some users/on-lookers understand our distinction while others respond dismissively or with outright incredulity. So, to help further the discussion already taking place, here’s why we don’t call Unify a CMS.

It doesn’t “manage” and it’s not a “system”

We consciously created a product that avoids both the “management” and “system” aspects found in most CMS products. Unify does not set itself to the task of organizing and delivering your content. The organization of your content is the organization of your site. Unify simply sits on top of that. Your site is still delivered by whatever mechanism you’ve devised: Unify does not touch the structure of your site.

Unify has certain advantages over database driven content management systems. For instance, any Unify installation can be completely deleted without affecting its parent site whatsoever. Have you ever tried that with WordPress or ExpressionEngine? It can’t be done because those systems inherently manage the content. Even many of the so-called “light CMS” alternatives require that your site run through their database structures. Of course, there are also limitations but the point is that Unify is different and should be called by a different name.

Unify focuses on allowing users to edit the content of their sites right on the page where that content already lives. This singular focus puts Unify is in its own product category.

Clarity for Customers

It’s not that we’re anti-CMS. We often handle ExpressionEngine integrations for our design clients. This very blog and our recently launched Just Made My Day run off of WordPress. There are some very good reasons for using a CMS, but sites that constantly need new pages, user generated content, or have very complex content structures aren’t good candidates for Unify.

Similarly, sites that are built simply and need only to be edited in a straight-forward and intuitive way don’t need a full-blown CMS integration. Unify is the perfect fit for such a site and we must make sure that we communicate this clearly to potential customers.

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Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

Pretty funny collab between Barbarian Group and Aquent http://www.internetonlinewebsite.com/ . #verse

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Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

Been working non-stop Unify in 2010. Look for some nice changes and better values with our little content editor! #unify #verse

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Monday, January 18th, 2010

Unify v1.1.6 is up! Just some minor tweaks in this release: http://bit.ly/1Q6hF9 Update now! #unify #verse

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Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Follow @JustMadeMyDay to see little bits of kindness throughout your day. #jmmd #verse

Projects to Kick Off 2010

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

After a nice long holiday break with our families, the Unit Interactive team is back at work on some cool projects. Some notable items in the 2010 hopper include:
Unit Interactive in 2010
Unify
After an interesting start (more on that in a later post) our simple content editor, Unify, is cranking right along and we’ve been very pleased with the adoption among designers and developers. Now roughly 4 months in, Unify has been much improved from the initial release and is currently in v1.1.5. We accomplished our primary launch aims and it’s time to pay some due attention to our favorite app. We’re working on updated information and a new design for the Unify website (getting away from the Unit Interactive website clone), which we plan to launch sometime near the end of this month.

JustMadeMyDay.com
Just Made My Day is a new project for us that we decided to do just because. Mostly, it’s a continuation of our effort to help make the web a happier place. It also comes with the added benefit of allowing us to flex our UX and backend development muscles in a fun and happy way. We’re looking to add features and media integration on a continuing basis, but mostly we’ll see where this goes according to where the public takes it. Hope you enjoy!

Woot
We’re now in our third calendar year of work for Woot and every week of it has been great. We’ve worked with them on developing pie-in-the-sky ideas, we’ve brainstormed new directions and features, and we’ve designed and developed the ongoing flood of required new properties, features, and pages. Notable items include the re-imagined Shirt.woot reckoning, the Kids.woot site, and their newest property Deals.woot. Work continues each week as we address new things and refine the details of the Woot user experience with the great team at Woot Workshop.

Brickyard Partners
We’re very happy to be continuing our collaborations with Howard Mann of Brickyard Partners in 2010. After the recent launch of the Ivey Institute for Entrepreneurship, the Brickyard Partners blog, and others, we’re already hard at work on the next of what we hope is a succession of new projects with BP.

Vector Media Group
We’ve been working with the guys at Vector Media Group for quite a while now and have enjoyed every minute of it. Having worked with them on two of their internal projects (including redesigning their website) and a handful of collaborative efforts for other clients, we’re again working with them on their own brand.

Sewanee: The University of the South
After our initial project with Sewanee (which we’re excited to say will be launching in February), we were enlisted to redesign two of the primary components of the university’s web presence. Details in the near future.

And more…
In addition to these we’re working on other projects that will soon see the light of day. It’s fun and busy times around the Unit offices these days and we’re having a great time. We’re looking forward to a wonderful 2010. Hope you are, too!

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