Putting Customer Service First

Local web firm takes one final look at every RocketFusion website, in preparation for new functionality

In anticipation of exciting new functionality being written into the RocketFusion platform, to be released in late May (more about that, below), Montague WebWorks has decided to invest in one last review of every RocketFusion website -- 300 sites in all -- to ensure all websites work well across all devices and platforms, most importantly the view on mobile devices.

MWW co-owner and Business Manager Donna DuSell sought and hired a local teen, Sean Hamilton, a senior at Franklin County Technical High School, as a CO-OP intern to assist in the process. The fact that Sean came from the Franklin County Tech School's Programming and Web Development Shop is a bonus, as MWW hosts the Tech School's website, and is a student of Marcus McLaurin, who manages the website internally for the school.

"We were looking for someone with technical skills, attention to detail, and an interest in website development." said DuSell. "We also wanted to employ a teen from a local school to give them real-world experience, and an understanding of what it's like to work in the field."

Sean has been chipping away at our long list of websites, with a large checklist of things to look for, including legibility and effectiveness of all website headers, navigation, carousels and jumbotrons, while also reviewing website font sizes, "Side Drift" (whether the website slips sideways on a mobile device), "Breakpoints" (the point at which the layout changes as the browser window gets smaller), and image fluidity (whether images will resize on smaller screens). He also checked the footers and copyright area at the bottom of each website.

"It's repetitive" said Sean, "but it builds on skills I already have and is teaching me what to look for, and as some of the sites may use the same website template, I have begun to see patterns emerge in terms of issues or problems that some of the older sites have."

It's a team effort; Sean's reviews then go to Production Assistant Joey Lawson, who completes changes and alerts Lead Programmer Mik Muller to RF code-specific fixes..

At the current pace, this review work is estimated to be completed by mid-June.

New RocketFusion Feature: Page Sections

"This review work is very important to us, as a company" said co-owner Mik Muller. "We need to ensure every customer's website works flawlessly on all display devices and platforms, and that every website is ready for the upcoming upgrade, which should be released by the end of May."

This upcoming software upgrade, which staff are calling "Page Sections", brings the ten-year-old website platform up to speed with other mature website Content Management Systems, such as Wordpress, which has a similar feature, called Divi.

"I believe the Page Sections upgrade will revolutionize how RocketFusion websites are created by us and managed by our customers", said Mik. "It will be far easier to edit and add new content on the fly. Anyone will be able to manage their content and make their website look awesome while they do it."

Montague WebWorks, the owners and purveyors of the RocketFusion platform, is working hard to have their website software fully upgraded and ready to go by June 1st, just in time for a busy summer season of new clients, particularly new Towns and contractors, who need an easy yet solid platform to manage their websites.

"We are very excited about these current projects", said Mik. "We always promise our customers they will never have to worry abuot software patches or upgrades, and will always be kept in the software improvement loop as part of their monthly hosting fee."

Look for future articles about the new Page Sections feature.

Montague WebWorks is a Greenfield-based website design and hosting business, specializing in Towns, contractors, farms, and real estate agents, as well as general local business customers. They are always looking for new clients.