The amazing fact about wordpress is that it allows you to set a number different themes  each of which can then  be customized individually to give a totally different  look. A simple example to illustrate that would be http://demo.socialtract.com VS http://jandemo.socialtract.com/ Notice they use the same theme  but look almost different  from every aspect ranging from  background color to navigation  buttons!

You can visit the wordpress plugin I created based on that  by visiting in the the main wordpress plugins repository at  http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/facebook-foot-panel/

You can also find more info about the plugin and details on new versions at my site I dedicated to share my wordpress expertise at http://www.wprooms.com

If all goes well, I will be releasing the regular wordpress plugin within the next week or so.

Customer satisfaction is measurable, and can be summed up based on a few factors as I am going to share below.

Quality of work (ability to deliver beyond customer’s expectations)

First of all, a buyer hires you simply because they think/hope you can do what they can’t and hopefully with as much details as they have in mind (though this is not always possible). It then makes sense that most buyers want good well done applications.

Delivery time.

The time it takes from the  time a project is assigned to the time it’s handed as complete.  It is another factor that site owners especially take very seriously. There are many  possible reasons, but the clearest to me is that most of them are web entrepreneurs who want to use their websites to generate some revenue. The sooner that money can start flowing the better. Most of my clients are reasonable with time delivery ranging from 2 days to 6 weeks  so far depending on the project at hand.

Affordability

Why would someone pay $2000 to get a wordpress theme they could get done at $600? My clients have told me over and again that they were impressed by my service because of the fairly priced services at various levels. In other words the ” Service provided to the amount charge ratio ” falls within the affordable range. For more information on pricing, check the prices at the Pricing page.

Professionalism.

When I was working in Technical support at Hewlett Packard, the main focus was politeness and professionalism. Of course! That is what makes the customers like your company’s products and services. So far the response I have had from my clients indicate a good sense of satisfaction from as far as professionalism is concerned. I definitely owe this to my experience as a Technical Support agent and a Customer service representative for Bell Canada, where I served for more than two years.

As of January 2010 Janvier Designs is heading in another direction with a new set of principles to insure maximum satisfaction for our clients. This is the main reason the bar’s been raised in terms of price and the kind of service we offer. As a fully featured developer for Wordpress and Buddypress, the focus of Janvier designs this year will be to provide excellent quality service because that is what our clients want and we should not go any lower!!!

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1. Custom Fields.
   Custom fields are just a cool way wordpress adds extra data to a page or post. Each custom field have a name and value. So, if you want to add say a custom logo on every post and you want distinct logos, you simply add a custom field called “post_logo” and in the value field you can add the  full URL to the image you would like to use.
2. Page templates.
   Wordpress calls theme files in a determined order. You may choose to have two pages display different (different feel) by using a cool feature wordpress uses of defining page templates. I used 4 different theme pages on swissiteinternational theme!
3. Speed.
   The whole point to design from scratch was to avoid cramming unnecessary code in the theme. So, I designed with “speed in mind” mentality. For Chiara Bolognini who use the the, I am sure she wouldn’t probably had liked anything better!

If you would like to have a custom wordpress theme designed for your website’s needs, please contact Janvier. You can also visit the pricing page.

For subsquent pages, I used the regular wordpress page hierarchy! Sometimes it pays to think outside the box. The design proved so nice that I decided I am going to use it on the upcoming Janvier Designs Wordpress Themes.

With all that in mind, when it comes to customizing wordpress, there are three basic steps one needs to understand.

1. What do you want?

   Pretty trivial… I know. Like any other project, this is the step that you need to understand more than any other ahead of time. It is important to figure this part out so you know which plug-ins and themes to choose or design.

2. Do you know what you are doing?

   Wordpress is a CMS. That is, it is subject to updates and upgrades once in a while as it becomes necessary. While it is possible to change its behaviour by editing core files, it is not a good idea because it comprises of more than 3000 files. This not only makes it pretty hard to figure out which file to edit to bring about the desired result, it is not recommended given that a silly mistake (error) in one can cascade throughout the CMS, ripping havoc. So, know what you want to do, and if you don’t or are not very sure, hire someone to help.  Like Janvier , or check out the net.

3. Do you know the limits?

   It may be the world’s best publishing platform, but if you expect to build an application that will be used to remotely control robots on the battle field using wordpress, I think you may be missing the point. I give this example because a few months back, I had a client approach me who wanted to build a wordpress  based social network “exactly like facebook“. My reaction was “with wordpress MU you can come close enough, but with regular wordpress, it’s fairly almost impossible, or you could pay at least $7000 to achieve that – or try to“. So, before you start customizing or hire someone to do the job for you, it is a good idea to know – or at least have an idea – of the limitations the software has. This will help you to avoid tons of headaches, but most importantly it will save your pocket from leaking unnecessary cash to freelancers!

In my next post on how to unleash the beast within wordpress, I will discuss the steps involved in carrying out the customization you need.

There are various advantages for this application, as discussed below, but the most important is the “real time effect”.

1. Real time effect.
   As the Internet ages, people need access to the information fast. The more accessible in “real time” the information is, the better it would be.
2. Assisted navigation.
   Let’s face it, most people out there don’t care going through every page of your website. As a matter of fact, the less pages the would have to go through the better. In a chat environment, it is pretty easy to help your visitors navigate through your sites by pointing them in the right direction.
3. The web standards today encourage “interactivity”.
   It used to be the case that the web master would provide the content of the site 100%. Recent leaps in web development have made it possible to make more interesting application that enhance user participation. Live chat is one of the best, if not the best!
4. Cool features !
   I know that sounds pretty cheesy, but the truth is, the chat capability allows the visitors and the operator at JanvierDesigns do much more than just  chat. They can share documents, screen snapshots, links and so much more. Could it be cooler than that?
5. We’re not always online, but you can still reach us!
   JanvierDesigns is not an enterprise with people all over the world that we would work 247. However, if we happen to be away from the desk, you can still reach us by leaving a message. Even during the weekend, we answers emails!

Web development is about combining different types of skills and tools to make an interesting website or web application. Chat can enhance that to an amazing level!

The thing is, she has a network of moms she wants to bring together via http://timeformom-me.com to help them practice better self care. Do I understand everything there? You bet I don’t. However, I make sure they can do what they want with the website, and that the site looks as they want it to. That’s the job of a web designer anyhow.

It is now my second week managing the site on a part time basis, but the experience is very rewarding. With more than fifty blogs already, you can look and imagine what it will be within the next few months. I am excited and challenged to come up with new solutions to make the experience of the users even more rewarding!

As you can tell (or not), my obsession with Studio Press themes is far from over. As a matter of fact I am thinking of launching a fully  featured service tailored at Studio Press themes. There are various reasons for that, but the main one is the ease with which customization is done.

It is a combination of the basic pages that come with the lifestyle_30 theme and a swarm of custom made pages to suit the needs of the website!