The client had a problem. They’re on the cutting edge of high-speed data cable design and production, but their old website was out-of-date, boring, and disorganized … which is exactly the wrong message to give. There was a technical challenge, too. They needed to include detailed information for 800+ products. So Quabbin turned to Guy With Glasses — a web developer with superior technical skills as well as marketing messaging skills.
Many so-called “web developers” just work with templates and can’t actually roll up their sleeves and do hard coding. These aren’t the people you want (trying) to build your advanced functionality web application.
Features of this Drupal website include:
- 800+ products with 24 data fields for each (pair count, AWG, solid/stranded, jacket material, voltage rating, etc.).
- I wrote a detailed script to import products programmatically from spreadsheets (manually entering 800 products is not cost effective).
- For consistent product naming over time, each product’s name is programmatically constructed using the data fields.
- I created a useful, detailed product search tool called “Cable Finder” — where users can selectively search products by any of the 24 characteristics. This allows customers to easily find the products that fit their application.
- The navigation menu is clean and organized by application: Harsh Environment, Commercial Data, Digital A/V & Lighting Control, and General Purpose.
- Many of the products are multipurpose and need to appear in multiple applications, so a normal menu system where one page has one menu item wouldn’t work:
- A workaround to manually add second and third menu items would be completely unmanageable due to the quantity of products, so…
- I developed an automatic menu system where products are programmatically put in the right places (using data from the products’ fields).
- I created a live product inventory feature:
- Quabbin’s internal system periodically writes an inventory file to the web server.
- A script retrieves the data when called for.
- Any stocked product’s page has a link to display its inventory.
- There’s also a master inventory page showing all stocked products’ available quantity.
- There is also an information library of white papers, tech briefs, publications, and articles.
- Online wire and cable calculation tools
- Back end tool for Quabbin internal use that exports all product data as an XLS spreadsheet.
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