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May 21, 2013
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Special May Newsletter
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Greetings to all our clients and
subscribers. Josh Pelland here.
Some of you have met me around
the office or at various
conferences, conventions and
trade shows over the years.
Others may know me as the man
behind the phone or keyboard,
occasionally confirming that
your recent website updates
have, indeed, been completed.
For those who don’t know me,
allow me to briefly introduce
myself. I am Peter’s son and I
started full-time at Pelland
Advertising in 2008, after
several years of working for the
company on a per-project basis.
I have primarily worked as a
graphic designer and web
developer during this time. Now,
with Peter recovering from
recent rotator cuff surgery, I
am absorbing some administrative
duties. Fear
not, you remain in good hands!
Peter is still around and he’s
still the boss. However, he is
going to try to take it easy for
the sake of his recovery. More
on Peter and his surgery below
the fold. Business will
continue to run smoothly here in
the interim. Peter might not be
available on the phone at all
times, but he’s not an easy man
to keep away from his work and I
expect him to be back in action
sooner rather than later. I'd
like to introduce our full
staff, including Charles Davis
who has been on staff for
several years, and more
specifically Daniel Dupuis, who
just recently joined our team as
lead programmer and server
administrator. But
now, here’s something we hope
you’ll really like! |
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Introducing the
newly-launched
CampVermont.com
The first fully-responsive
campground association website
in the United States
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When the Vermont Campground
Association came to us for a new
website, including a mobile-friendly
site, we decided to do them one
better. Unlike a separate mobile
website, this new technology allows
a single website to respond to each
user device and display the site in
the most appropriate form.
Responsive sites are flexible and
able to adjust, rearrange, and
optimize content on a wide range of
displays and input devices.
Unlike a mobile app, which needs to
be downloaded and installed (and
then may be rarely used), a
responsive site is not limited to
any one platform, requiring
duplication of expense for Android
and Apple devices (with Blackberry,
Windows Phone, Firefox OS, Kindle,
Nook, and other
upcoming mobile devices out of
luck). This is a new way of building
websites, and it is being quickly
embraced both by top developers and
savvy clients as a more
future-proof, economical and elegant
approach of delivering content
across the expanding ocean of web
capable devices.
Using a desktop computer or laptop,
you are presented with one version
of the site. Using a tablet or
smartphone, you are presented with
alternate versions that are
automatically optimized for the
display size and touch-based input.
The responsive design is only one of
several features that are designed
to present the most user-friendly
experience possible. In addition to
the responsive technology, the
database-driven and
custom-programmed site includes
sophisticated logic that allows
users to search for the perfect
Vermont campground or state park
using map-based markers that respond
to user input in real time. Users
who prefer text-based search can
also narrow their search by region,
pre-selected amenities, or other
variables.
When choosing an individual
campground, either from the
map-based markers or an alphabetical
listing, users are presented with
everything they need to influence
their decision and plan their
vacation, including a photo (or
three photos for enhanced listing
members), a full list of recreation
and amenities, nearby attractions,
traffic advisories, generation of
custom travel directions, and links
to the park’s website, reservations
page and e-mail.
Enhanced listing members, in
addition to presenting three photos,
may also provide links to their
Facebook pages and brochure
downloads. The new traffic
advisories are a particularly useful
feature. Since written travel
directions become obsolete with online
mapping and smartphone GPS apps,
members may post either permanent
notices regarding routes to avoid or
temporary detours that may be
required.
The site also includes an
interactive version of the 2013
Vermont Campground Association
printed directory, using Pelland
Advertising’s new Inter-Flip
technology. Among other features,
the interactive directory includes
smooth zooming, search capability,
hyperlinks to advertisers,
click-tracking through Google
Analytics, and simplified social
sharing functions. The member
interface allows individual
campgrounds to enter changes to
their listings as frequently as
necessary.
All in all, the goal was to create a
very robust site behind the scenes
that presents a very simple,
intuitive, and user-friendly
interface that will encourage
visitors to camp in Vermont.
Call us today to launch
your new responsive website! |
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Existing sites may also
be made responsive.
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Like the
Vermont Campground Association above,
the new mobile versions of the Metras
Insurance Agency and Baladerry Inn
websites, which just went live within
the past couple weeks, are using
responsive technology and are mobile
friendly companions to their main
websites. They present only the most
essential content. By default, this
content is optimized for view on a
tablet (typically the largest mobile
device display size); however, the pages
are totally responsive and scalable. If
you view the pages on a Smartphone, the
content is optimized for that display.
Turn the phone sideways, and the content
is optimized again! (On a desktop or
laptop computer, you can see these
transitions in real time by reducing the
size of your browser window, dragging
edge of the window to resize the display
width.)Notice
that the main website does not even
require a link to the new mobile site,
due to the device detection that we have
in place. If you go to the main URL
using a mobile device, you will
automatically be presented with the
mobile version of the site ... with a
link that allows you to view the full
content, if desired. There is typically
no reason for users to know the mobile
URL or for you to have to promote or
provide links to that URL. Your one
website address will deliver all
versions of content! |
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Baladerry Inn
http://mobile.baladerryinn.com/ |
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Metras Insurance
http://mobile.metrasinsurance.com/ |
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Call us today to launch
your new responsive website! |
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Peter Pelland is
recovering from rotator cuff
surgery.
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Figure 1A:
What was wrong with Peter’s
shoulder. |
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As I mentioned above, Peter is
taking an undetermined amount of
time off from his full-time
schedule here at Pelland
Advertising. That said, as I
write this, now four days after
his surgery, Peter is on the
phone and writing emails. Nobody
expected him to be able to do
this already, but it’s hard to
keep my father away from the
office, and as he likes to say,
“I have a high tolerance for
pain”.
On Thursday, Peter went in for
shoulder surgery. They gave him
a nerve block and general
anesthesia, and he was out 3 or
4 seconds after that. 3 hours
later he woke up with 5
arthroscopic incisions. His
Doctor told him it was the worst
rotator cuff tear he had ever
seen. Peter started painkillers
to get ahead of the inevitable
excruciating pain once the nerve
block wore off, which happened
around 3:00AM on Friday. On
Friday he expressed that this
was perhaps the worst pain he
had ever encountered, calling it
a “Nine” on his personal high
tolerance to pain scale. By
Saturday he was down to a “Six”,
and today he seems even better
and has even been working in the
office most of the time.The
typical outlook for this type of
surgery is many weeks of
allowing the tendon to reattach
to the bone, followed by months
of physical therapy. Peter has a
long road ahead of him before he
has full and pain-free use of
his shoulder, but it’s good to
see that he appears to be
getting over the worst of the
pain quickly and it adjusting
well to having his right arm in
the Binford 2000 of arm slings.
He will not be able to drive for
some time, and his plans for
next ski season include “not
skiing in as many crazy woods”.We
expected that I would be taking
over his office communications
for a while, but given his
recovery so far and his
determination to both return to
work and be self-reliant, we
think he will be back at his
seat at the helm in relatively
short order. In the meantime,
Charlie, Dan, and
I are
here to assist you. |
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Reintroducing Charles
Davis.
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Charles “The
Saint” Davis |
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I'd like to reintroduce Charles
Davis, who has been with Pelland
Advertising since Feb. 2010.
Charlie has close to two decades
of graphic/web design and likes
to learn new web technologies,
most recently responsive, mobile
friendly web design. Having
graduated from
Massachusetts College of Art
with a BFA in Illustration and
is proud to say he put himself
through college while working
for his father, who has owned and
still owns his own business. He
is still excited to be working
with Pelland Advertising and has
learned a great deal and continues
adding to the standard of
excellence that Pelland
Advertising keeps raising on a
daily basis.
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Welcome to Dan Dupuis,
the newest member of our team.
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Dan Dupuis:
Programmer Extraordinaire, Lover
of Nature |
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I asked Dan to summarize himself
in 5 words or less, and this is
what he’s come up with: |
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“Graduating at the start of
the technology boom, I was
working at small business. The
business, much like everyone,
needed to become present on the
World Wide Web. I offered my
help to build a Web presence.
Since that time, over a decade
ago, I have since progressed
with the times keeping current
with technology.I enjoy developing engaging
features for Websites. These
features get the user involved
in discovering, through
interactiveness, dynamic
content, location driven maps,
and complex forms. With the pace
of the changing Web, I find the
reward in learning how things
work with the use of Web development.Working with the skilled
team of designers at Pelland
Advertising, I can focus on
building the best data platforms
for sites that meet today's
technology standards. This means
ensuring that our Websites
provide and will continue to
provide the best the internet
offers on the Web.”
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Dan has been with us almost 3
months now and he’s already done
a lot of great work, including
the back end programming and
database management for the new
CampVermont.com site. I’m
sure I speak for Charlie and
Peter as well when I say we look
forward to working with Dan to
create many exciting projects in
the future, as we all work
together to raise the collective
bar both for the benefit of our
clients and our own professional
merits. |
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© Pelland Advertising • 25 Depot Road • Haydenville, MA 01039 • (413) 268-0100 • Fax (413) 268-0173 • Toll-Free 1 800 848-0501 |
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