Chatter with Damian
Damian: hey
Alan: what’s up?
Damian: A-S showed me the software you have developed,,, looks very nice
Alan: ;) - yeah we’re still hard at work at that. it’s ready to develop sites with though, but the (trickier) next step is getting the business model right I think. i kinda hinted at AS about something for designers as well… ;)
Damian: so how much does your thing cost? i might get a personal one for my music projects
Alan: we’ll be rolling out at 3 price points (with more to come, i think), with the 1st option = free blog: posts/personal. as you use further functionality you go up a notch: R85 per month for posts/pages/personal, then R170 per month for posts/pages/business. something like that.
Damian: ok,,, so what do i get for R85/month? :)
Alan: besides a fully content-managed website; complete separation between content and code that allows you to switch to a new skin (or design and develop your own) via a simple preference; plus other goodies like clean, friendly, readable, hackable urls; loosely attached comments and files? not much really.. ;)
Damian: sounds good
where do i sign up?
:)
Alan: let me know what you want to call your site and i’ll set you up a test account now, and we take it from there..
Damian: ahh,,, so it has to be on the dynamo domain?
Alan: no, that’s just interim measure. you can point any domain to it, i’ve for instance used page-commenting and post-commenting quite heavily here: www.e-vent.co.za.
Damian: ahh,,, ok,,, because i bought the domain pioneerunit.com
Damian: so when i start playing with it to have a look?
Alan: now: pioneerunit.dynamo.co.za
Damian: oh,, does this include hosting or do i need to organise that separately?
Alan: no, includes it. you want me to set up some pages and a journal, or you want to figure it out from scratch?
Damian: maybe i should try to work it out on my own,, if i get stuck i’ll give you a shout - like a real beta-tester,,
Alan: check your mail for your account details and log-in creds..
i set up you up on the ‘Cutline’ skin. use that as a basis to start from, easy to adapt to a new one after that - http://cutline.tubetorial.com/
Damian: cool,,, it looks pretty easy
Alan: give us a day or two: we’re rolling out an update that will allow you to switch skins as well..
Damian: i forgot about the whole having to provide content for a web site thing….
Alan: aah content. that old hat.. .;)
Damian: heh
Alan: the other good thing is you can do information architecture ‘on-the-fly’: architect and build it at the same time.
Damian: what is a sibling page?
and a child page is for levels down i take it?
Alan: sib = brother/sister - not a child, not a parent in other words.
return to the site dashboard now and then to see how it plays out (tree structure of your site)
Damian: yeah,,, i’m sure i’ll work it out in the end :)
the one thing that’s a bit annoying is not being able to change the order of your pages
Alan: you can: drag and drop them in the dashboard.
Damian: no way! :)
ah,,, web 2.0,,, you gotta love it :)
Alan: remember, the topmost page becomes the homepage.
Damian: perfect,,, it’s really easy
it’s great that you can just build and change a web site on the fly
Chatter with Anne-Sophie
Anne-Sophie: hey alan :)
dynamo is so cool!
watched damian playing with it last nite,,
nice
Alan: yeah, he seems quite impressed…
Anne-Sophie: yeah completely
he was like.. i’m a coder.. i’m a coder.. ;)
Alan: you guys are only seeing the tip of the iceberg - there are many other pretty cool stuff happening behind the scenes and ‘under the hood’…;)
Anne-Sophie: hehehehehehehehe
can’t wait to see more
Alan: can i use that quote in our blog: ‘i’m a coder i’m a coder’… ;)
Anne-Sophie: haha suuuuure
especially coming from damian
he was soooo chuffed you gave him freedom
and was marvelling at having restrictions too
Alan: ;) restrictions are the way forward..
Credits
Damian Stephens
Anne-sophie Leens
Chats used with permission. Slightly edited here and there. Irrational Studios is a design agency in Cape Town. They do graphic design, interactive design, stare out of the window, typography, meet in nice restaurants for coffee, information design, send IM, user experience, research, experience design, film direction, send sms, take camera phone photos, environmental design, surf flickr, bespoke brand identity, social software, illustration, animation, obsess over tiny details, travel, art direction, talk, drink beer and bubbly.