Blog Archives
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Syndication
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February 2, 2012
Drupal 7.12 and 6.24 Released
By New SignatureDrupal 7.11 and 6.23, maintenance releases which fix security vulnerabilities are now available for download. Drupal 7.12 and 6.24 also fix other issues reported through the bug tracking system. Upgrading your existing Drupal 7 and 6 sites is strongly recommended. There are no new features in these releases. For more information about the Drupal 7.x release series, consult the Drupal 7.0 release announcement, more information on the 6.x releases can be found in the Drupal 6.0 release announcement.
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January 25, 2012
New Signature and Viderity Launch National Archives Transcription Pilot Program
By Craig ZingerlineNew Signature is proud to announce the launch of the National Archives Transcription Pilot
Program. New Signature teamed up with Viderity to provide strategic consulting, design and implementation of this new system that was developed for NARA – the National Archives and Records Administration.Developed primary during a one-month development sprint, this application allows users from the public to visit the website and transcribe historical documents that the Archives have in their collection. Users can choose the difficulty level for the transcription and can work on a page by page basis within each document to move the documents along the transcription workflow.
This site was built in Drupal 7 and features a zoom option within pages of the document to allow for image resizing for readability, page locking so that multiple contributors cannot compete for the same page, and a streamlined workflow that enables multiple site visitors to quickly review documents and add their transcriptions and comments about the documents.
Check back regularly for updates to the Pilot program as they progress.
Interested in more information about New Signature, or have a Drupal project you need help with? If so, contact us now.
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January 24, 2012
New Signature Launches Redesigned Equality Michigan website
By New Signature and Bryan Hackett
New Signature is excited to announce the launch of the newly designed Equality Michigan website. The website features a complete overhaul of the design, content organization and information architecture and overall user experience and styling. The website incorporates a robust Take Action section that puts supporters in touch with various officials and law makers as well as information on how to report discrimination or violence. The site also features a Media Center hosting timely and relevant information. Social media integration was included as part of the overall strategy for spreading the word about the organization’s important cause.The website was built on the robust Drupal 7 platform.
Equality Michigan works to achieve full equality and respect for all people in Michigan regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. Equality Michigan’s number one priority is a fully inclusive, non-discrimination policy by 2014, on the way to full legal equality including full marriage equality. As they work to achieve this change, they will count and counter through advocacy services acts of discrimination from bullying in the schoolyard, to wrongful termination in the workplace, to acts of violence committed against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the community.
The redesigned website can be viewed at EqualityMI.org.
Interested in more information about New Signature, or have a Drupal project you need help with? If so, contact us now.
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December 21, 2011
Designing for the Metro Interface (Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8)
By Christopher HertzSmashing Magazine’s “Introduction To Designing For Windows Phone 7 And Metro” post is a great read if you are interested in learning about the fresh approach to content organization and a different UX, based on the Metro design language and principles that will be incorporated into Windows 8.
As Smashing Magazine explains, Microsoft’s new mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7 (WP7), introduces a fresh approach to content organization and a different UX, based on the Metro design language and principles that are also incorporated into Windows 8. It also targets a different market than its predecessor: instead of being designed mainly for business and technology workers, WP7 is targeted at active people with a busy life, both offline and online, and who use social networks every day, whatever their background.
In addition to this great resources, I also recommend watching the “Designing Metro style: principles and personality” video embedded below the fold and recorded on September 14, 2011 at the BUILD conference. (more…)
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December 12, 2011
New Signature Wins Three Outstanding Achievement Awards in Website Development from the Interactive Media Awards
By New Signature
New Signature is excited to announce that the AFL-CIO’s Collective Bargaining Facts, Foundation for Excellence in Education’s Digital Learning Now!, and Food & Water Watch websites have won IMA Outstanding Achievement Awards. These awards recognize that the websites met and surpassed the standards of excellence that comprise the web’s most professional work. The judging consisted of various criteria, including design, usability, innovation in technical features, standards compliance and content. In order to win this award level, all three websites had to meet strict guidelines in each area — an achievement only a fraction of sites in the IMA competition earn.The Interactive Media Awards are a highly sought-after prize, and this nod from IMA is a demonstration of New Signature’s ability to create world-class websites and capitalize on our close working relationships with our clients. These awards further validate that New Signature is a leader in the interactive industry, able to effectively and efficiently develop powerful and appealing websites for our clients.
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December 1, 2011
League of Women Voters Launches Redesigned Website
By New Signature
The League of Women Voters has launched a new website that was designed and built by New Signature’s experts. The website is built on the Drupal publishing platform and is built to provide a platform that energizes the League’s efforts in regards to educating voters, registering voters, improving elections and improving government.The website offers visitors a number of interactive features–you can find a local League, contact your elected officials, and the League’s online community. The website also supports offline activities. For example, visitors can become an active volunteer and join their community local or state League and be part of the solution! This helps develop community leaders to participate in order to make the United States a strong, safe and vibrant place to live.
The League of Women Voters is a citizens’ organization that has fought since 1920 to improve our government and engage all citizens in the decisions that impact their lives. We operate at national, state and local levels through more than 800 state and local Leagues, in all 50 states as well in DC, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Hong Kong.
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November 21, 2011
New Signature Launches Trade Adjustment Assistance Website
By New Signature
The Trade Adjustment Assistance website launched today to help workers start a new chapter. New Signature designed and built this online resource to help explain and promote the Trade Adjustment Assistance program. The project was spearheaded by the AFL-CIO Working for America Institute in collaboration with a number of other partners. The project was funded by the US Department of Labor under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.Since the 1960s, the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program (TAA) has helped millions of trade-impacted workers who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own start a new chapter in the new economy by providing a path for employment growth and opportunity. Administered by the US Department of Labor, the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program is a federally funded program that provides long-term training benefits, health care support, job search and job relocation allowances, and income support for TAA certified workers. Once certified, workers must then separately apply for each benefit. Though the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program doesn’t replace the good job lost due to foreign trade policies, it does help the trade-impacted worker get back on their feet.
The website includes a wide array of information on the program, including compelling video narratives of impacted workers from across the nation.
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November 18, 2011
New Signature Helps Working America Launch NineDemands.com
By Craig Zingerline
New Signature teamed up with Working America to design and launch the “Nine Demands of the 99%” petition website. The web application collects petition signatures from public supporters for the 99% movement going on across the country right now. The application supports co-branded partner pages so that petitions and content management. As of now, Working America has partnered with eight other organizations including Daily Kos, AFL-CIO, National Employment Law Project, Stand With Wisconsin, California Labor Federation, North Carolina State AFL-CIO, Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans and AFSCME.The petition page was designed with two clear objectives:
1 Make the petition process straightforward, with a very clear call to action.
2 Integrate social media on both the landing and success pages. This helps to spread the petition reach.
The petition application was created on an accelerated schedule, and went from concept to launch in less than three weeks. The results have been fantastic, with the primary petition page receiving more than 4,400 Facebook likes and shares within 24 hours of launch. This represents a social participation rate of one in four visitors!
The primary petition page received over 4400 Facebook likes and shares within 24 hours of launch. This represents a social participation rate of one in four visitors!
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November 14, 2011
New Signature Teams with Inside Higher Ed to Relaunch Website
By New Signature
New Signature teamed up with long time client Inside Higher Ed to launch the third major iteration of this highly popular online source for news, opinion and jobs for all of higher education. The New Signature team collaborated closely with the Inside Higher Ed team to migrate the website from its eZ Publish platform to a Drupal 7 publishing platform.The revamped website provides visitors with breaking news and feature stories, provocative daily commentary, areas for comment on every article, practical career columns, and a powerful suite of tools to help higher education professionals get jobs and colleges identify and hire employees. The website has been designed to make it an online gathering place for all of the many constituents and diverse institutions that make up the rich web of higher education.
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November 1, 2011
New Signature Websites Bring Home Four Wins at 2011 Davey Awards
By New Signature
Food & Water Watch’s Factory Farm Map, ioby, Oceana’s Adopt-a-Creature and HeadCount / State Radio’s Take Action for Troy Davis websites have won 2011 Davey Awards. With nearly 4,000 entries from across the US and around the world, the Davey Awards honors the finest creative work from the best small firms, agencies and companies worldwide. New Signature is proud that these groundbreaking websites we designed and built for our clients have been honored by the International Academy of the Visual Arts:- 2011 Gold Award: Factory Farm Map in the “Websites – Activism” Category
- 2011 Silver Award: HeadCount / State Radio’s Take Action for Troy Davis in the “Websites – Activism” Category
- 2011 Silver Award: ioby in the “Websites – Charitable Organization” Category
- 2011 Silver Award: Oceana Store in the “Websites – Charitable Organization” Category
“The International Academy of the Visual Arts was honored to have once again participated in the International Davey Awards competition. We were truly amazed and excited at the overall caliber and quality of this year’s pool of entries” noted Linda Day, Executive Director of the IAVA. She added “The Davey Awards serves as the benchmark for recognizing creative excellence and continues to raise the bar in honoring the best work from small agencies and firms worldwide. Congratulations to the “Creative Davids” at the forefront of their industry, helping to push the limits in creativity and design.”
The Davey Awards exclusively honor the “Davids” of creativity, the finest small firms, agencies and companies in the world. David defeated the giant Goliath with a big idea and a little rock – the sort of thing small firms do each year. The annual International Davey Awards honors the achievements of the “Creative Davids” who derive their strength from big ideas, rather than big budgets. The Davey Awards is the leading awards competition specifically for smaller firms, where firms compete with their peers to win the recognition they deserve.
