This document summarizes a presentation about the Andrews Online project. The project involved developing a new website for an estate agent to generate more and higher value leads. Key aspects included using ASP.NET MVC, LINQ to SQL, jQuery, and SharePoint to build the site, with a focus on clean architecture, performance, and responsive design. Stakeholder feedback was positive and the project was delivered on time and on budget.
2. Why did I choose this project to present?
• High profile
• Responsibility
• Enjoyment
3. High profile
• Estate agents spend 41–80% of marketing budget on
internet
• Two way interaction – revolutionary for Estate Agents
• Andrews Online is visited by X unique visitors a month
• Business critical software
• X% of leads generated from the website in the last year
4. Responsibility
• Designed and implemented the architecture
• Led the team of developers
• Ensured successful delivery within timeframe
• Stakeholder involvement
5. Enjoyment
• Delivering a better user experience
• Choosing the best technologies for the job
• Sense of pride and satisfaction for the whole team
11. Technologies used?
• C#
• ASP.NET MVC 2
• LINQ to SQL
• Sharepoint
• jQuery
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4
12. Why MVC?
• Routing – Clean URL structure to help deliver better SEO
• Separation of concerns, clean and semantic code
• Testable functionality
• Flexibility to add features as requirements change
13. Why LINQ To SQL?
• Very fast when compared to heavier entity modelling tools
• Ability to implement search predicates
• SQL injection protection
• Integration with existing libraries and infrastructure
14. Why jQuery?
• Well documented and supported framework
• Backwards compatibility and browser support
• Allowed team to get things done
• Easy to extend
15. Why Sharepoint?
• Used as CMS system
• Also the public media server
• Already available in the business
• No extra cost to the company
• Security features to manage department’s access
16. Keeping things Fast
• Media website for non blocking HTTP requests
• Search result timer during development
• Simple, clean, well built HTML and CSS
• Controllers that have one responsibility
• Use of caching for content pages and coordinates
17. Geocoding and Mapping
• Google maps and street view
• Street level searching
• Local information, such as schools and train stations
18. Feedback
• Microsoft launch event
• Positive feedback from internal and external customers
• Improvement to search paging system
• Geo location enhancements
19. What did we learn
• Sharepoint poor choice for a CMS
• Needed more time on site from web designer
• Business content is key to successful site
• Understanding the teams limitations
• Agency skills really enhanced the project
• Geocoding hard to do on small budget
20. Summary
• Project delivered successfully, on time and within budget
• Majority of the key technical decisions proved correct
• Positive feedback
• Sense of pride from all members of the team
Easy to Use – The site needed to be easy to navigate and allow the customer to achieve their desired goal with easeFind property – Search needed to be easier to use and more configurable than the old siteContent Up to date – Business section’s having the ability to change content / add content and react to market requirementsHigher placed in web searches – Attract customers through Google and other engines by being higher in the rankings than key competitionStable – One of the main complaints about old websiteFast – Another common complaint with the old website was slowness
Easy to Use – The site needed to be easy to navigate and allow the customer to achieve their desired goal with easeFind property – Search needed to be easier to use and more configurable than the old siteContent Up to date – Business section’s having the ability to change content / add content and react to market requirementsHigher placed in web searches – Attract customers through Google and other engines by being higher in the rankings than key competitionStable – One of the main complaints about old websiteFast – Another common complaint with the old website was slowness
Isn’t Linq to Sql Dead? – No, just no further development. Ability to implement filtering – No inline SQL, predicates to build filters
Business content is key – Slowed down by the marketing department trying to decide how the different businesses should be shownIn house ability -Lack - Designers / User Interaction studying / Requirement gathering / presentations skills - Had - SEO / jQuery / MVC / .Net / Html / CSS
Key technical – Linq to sql = fast and flexible, infrastructure layers are open for change