Web Development
Web Development is the invisible side of Web Design. It is all of the programming, coding, and data structures that create the site everyone sees. A well-designed back end will be scalable from brochure-style sites all the way up to enterprise-level web applications.
High Level Languages
PHP is our language of choice for development. In our opinion, it harnesses the widest range of technologies with the lowest server footprint. This allows the site to access everything from databases and optimization engines to video compression and image editing. PHP also enjoys industry-wide support on web servers, so when you are looking to upgrade/downgrade your hosting service, or simply move hosting providers, chances are your new home will support it as well.
We've also used Classic ASP and ASP.NET in the past. Although it is a bit outdated, it still has its place and we know how to use it to your advantage. Many Windows-based servers using IIS will support it natively and we can accommodate those sites.
Databases
Our database of choice is MySQL. It has native support under PHP, so you know you'll have the most stable connection between your data and your dynamic pages with this combination. As a relational database, it has virtually limitless record storage. It is scalable from enterprise-level inventories and customer records all the way down to personal blogs. It maintains a small memory footprint on your server, while providing maximum performance on huge data sets. It also allows us to use interesting queries like "SOUNDS LIKE" to find data records that may be misspelled, or relate records that would be otherwise unrelated. And honestly it's just blazing fast.
If it's good enough for NASA, it's certainly good enough for us.
Frameworks
We use HTML5 and jQuery to provide the most universal experience for visitors. This allows us to implement all kinds of enhanced widgets to the site without cluttering it with bloated code. All of the enhancements that the modern web user is accustomed to will be available on your site, while remaining accessible by older browsers.
Security
Protecting your site from malicious scripts and users in the wild is part of the job. We employ both server-side and client-side security on your forms to make sure the only response you get from your site is both legitimate and safe. Validation is the first step, where we check that the input for a particular field is in the correct format. For example, if it's a time field, we don't want or need to see dates. Validation will remind the visitor to only enter a time, and provide an example of what's required. Server-side validation happens next, so that even if the form accepts the format, it is checked to be a valid date on the server. If either is wrong, the visitor is shown where and what the error is, and is given the opportunity to correct it.
Sanitization is the other portion of the server's responsibility, where even if a certain field meets the criteria, it is cleaned. This is particularly important for text fields, where formatting is usually left open for visitors to use their own punctuation. The problem starts when the visitor adds dangerous code to their input (intentionally or not) that could cause the server to interpret the input as code, and cause problems for the site or its database. We sanitize this input to remove potentially harmful code before doing any further processing. This makes for a healthy site, and productive communication with your visitors.
