Cloud Four Blog

Lyza and I are giving a mobile web workshop next week at WebVisions NYC. We’re preparing an outstanding workshop for web designers and developers who want to learn how to build for mobile devices. We’re very excited about the workshop. It’s going to rock, but we need your help!

But we’ve got a problem. We came up with a fun theme (Zombie Apocalypse!) to make the workshop interesting, but we’ve heard people were reluctant to register for the workshop because they didn’t get it.

Since we heard about the registration problem, we’ve lept into action:

• We’ve rewritten the workshop description so it is clearer what people will learn at the workshop.
• We’ve posted a fun preview of the talk. The preview made me giggle multiple times when I read what Lyza had wrote.
• We’re here asking for your help.

We need your help getting the last minute word out. If you can take a moment to share the event, we would appreciate it. Particularly if you know people in New York who would benefit, we would be grateful if you pass the word onto them directly.

And of course we have discounts to share

WebVisions has provided us with a way to save 40% on conference passes. There are two options:

1. Save 40% off a conference pass, get a FREE pass to Thomas Phinney’s “Web Typography Best Practices” workshop ($250 value) and a 60-day unlimited WebINK account (register at http://wvnyc-webink.eventbrite.com/), OR
2. Save 40% on conference passes to WebVisions NYC and receive a FREE Workshop pass ($250 value) to Kevin Hoyt’s “Web Standards Playground” (register at http://wvnyc-adobe.eventbrite.com/).

I honestly had to read that a few times to make sure I understood the deal correctly. Seriously, 40% off and you get a free workshop? My guess is that Adobe and WebINK are helping sponsor the discounts which is pretty cool way to get into a workshop and save money.

WebVisions is a fantastic event

WebVisions is new to New York, but it has been going on in Portland for several years now. It always has fantastic speakers and the line up in New York is no different. Please help us make the event a success.

Thanks in advance for spreading the word. We greatly appreciate it and promise we’ll be less cutesy and more descriptive in our workshop abstracts from now on.

Last year, John Keith, one of the founders of Cloud Four, started a side venture called Lucid Meeting. John doesn’t like Lucid Meetings to impinge on Cloud Four which is why you haven’t heard much about it on our blog. It is also the reason why I’m writing this post without his knowledge (sorry John!).

John and his co-founders at Lucid Meetings set out to make meetings that don’t suck. We’ve complained for years about rudderless meetings with no agenda, no leader and no follow up.

They decided to do something about it.

So Lucid Meetings started out focused on providing a way for people to set agendas, focus meetings, and take action items out of the meeting. Over the last year, it has grown into much more than that including:

• Meeting minutes
• Screen sharing and pdf presentations
• Time tracking to keep people on task
• Voting on motions and recording of decisions
• Integrated conference calling

It is the last one that they’ve made big improvements on today. They’ve just shipped:

• Free toll calling for every room up to 50 participants
• Volume discounts for businesses that want to switch over

Those may not seem like a big deal on the surface, but the changes are huge because the combined solution is better than current web sharing and collaboration software at a price that is significantly cheaper.

Basically, you get something better and save money. Pretty much a no brainer if you’re doing any web conferencing or running remote meetings. Check it out.

What’s even more exciting for me is that all of this has been built by a small team with hard work and passion. They’ve had no outside investment. And they’ve built something that I think will have a big impact.

I’m very excited by what they’ve done thus far and what they’ve got planned on their roadmap. Congratulations to John and the Lucid Meetings team!

Lyza and I got so much out of the last Breaking Development conference that we’ve decided to send everyone in the company possible to the next Breaking Development conference. The conference takes place on September 12-14 in Nashville.

If you’re interested in mobile web, you should strongly consider must attend this event. The speaker lineup is fantastic. But it isn’t just the speakers. All of the attendees are people who are focused on mobile web. I learned a lot from everyone I spoke to.

And while the Gaylord hotels where the conference is held are crazy huge biodomes, they have a hidden advantage in that everyone ends up staying together for meals which means that the conference experience continues long after the sessions.

We’re putting our money where our mouth is. We’re a small company and sending everyone is a pricy endeavor. But we think so highly of this conference that we’re doing it. I can’t think of a stronger endorsement that we could make.

Tomorrow is the deadline for early bird registration. Register today because this is one conference you don’t want to miss!

Are you emphatically excited about mobile technology? Do you build iPhone apps in your spare time? Not sure if Androids dream of electronic sheep, but you’re working on an HTML5-based app that will answer the question definitively?

We’re looking for an enthusiastic mobile developer to join our team: someone who falls on the engineering side of the development spectrum, but is also comfortable with front-end technology.

We’re a small agency focused on building mobile and web solutions for our customers. We believe in cross-platform solutions and advocate a mixture of mobile web, native, and hybrid approaches to mobile development depending on the project objectives.

Our ideal candidate is someone who is flexible, open to new technologies, and a quick learner. Mobile is fast-paced and constantly changing. We’re looking for someone who sees opportunities and challenges amongst the many different mobile devices and their inconsistent behavior.

Cloud Four was founded in November 2007 by four mobile and Web enthusiasts. Our mission is to create usable, inspired mobile and web applications using standards-based technologies. Our clients range from Fortune 500 companies to local businesses, and our projects vary in audience and scope accordingly.

This is a full time position on-site in lovely Portland, Ore. We offer benefits including medical, dental, vision, and IRA.

Job Description

• Research, identify and document client technical requirements.
• Determine and identify appropriate technologies to be used.
• Assist with developing technical project schedules, plans, task assignments and time estimates.
• Assist in strategic planning and requirements gathering.
• Program mobile applications and build mobile web sites.
• Be a positive and enthusiastic contributor to our team.
• Actively, consistently communicate with team members about project process and progress.

Our ideal candidate is:

• able to create a concise, clear plan of action from multiple input sources and stakeholders; flexible and responsive to changes in requirements and scope.
• self-directed; takes an ownership role of complex projects.
• strategy-focused and creative; excited to face new challenges and learn new skills.
• deadline-driven and steadfast about meeting commitments to customers.
• invigorated by learning new technologies and solving new problems.
• an excellent communicator, with the ability to comprehend and articulate technical concepts, both verbally and in writing.
• an independent learner who can quickly apply new skills productively.
• enthusiastic about the job; enjoys solving customer needs.
• a straightforward, honest, team player.
• able to effectively prioritize multiple task.
• comfortable working in a small, start-up environment.

Skills and experience we’re seeking:

• 3-5+ years of relevant technical experience or related background
• Extensive experience with cross-platform JavaScript and DOM scripting
• HTML5, XHTML, CSS
• Server- and client-side web site or application programming (more engineering than design)
• device detection for mobile web
• PhoneGap or other hybrid mobile app development
• iPhone and/or Android development
• Strong problem solving and analysis skills
• Strong competency in web technologies and development
• BA/BS or equivalent

To Apply

Email your cover letter and resume to jobs@cloudfour.com. No recruiters please.

Over the last year, we’ve been talking to people all over the country about what it means to have a comprehensive mobile strategy. That’s one of the many reasons why we were so pleased to work with HauteLook on their mobile web site.

From the very first conversation we had with HauteLook, we were impressed with how they were approaching their mobile strategy and how their infrastructure was built in a way that gave them flexibility to support new devices via robust APIs.

One of the things we talk to customers about is what I refer to as the email problem. It isn’t so much a problem as a user scenario.

Someone sees something that you offer that they are interested in sharing with someone else. Maybe they email a link to their spouse. Or they share it on Facebook or Twitter.

What happens when they follow that link? They go to your web site. What is the experience like if the person is on a mobile device? Is that experience representative of your brand?

This is especially important for companies that have social media campaigns. Links are social media currency.

The challenge is to make sure that when a customer reaches your site that

• no matter what device they are using,
• no matter where they are in the world

that you provide them with the best possible experience.

HauteLook got this from the very beginning. They wanted to support as many mobile phone users as possible.

To that end, the m.hautelook.com can be used on everything from feature phones with screens as narrow as 128 pixels to images optimized for the iPhone 4′s retina display.

Every morning, HauteLook members receive emails letting them know what the sales are that day. Those links point to the desktop web site. But when those links are viewed on a mobile device, you get a mobile-optimized version of the same page.

The email blast also triggers a morning rush of traffic. The traffic spike is significant enough that performance was key. John and Lyza spent a lot of time working on both the front and backend to make sure the site was fast under the heaviest of loads.

And mobile web is only one part of HauteLook’s mobile strategy. They worked with our friends at Small Society to create an iPhone app for HauteLook members that offers features like push notifications and reminders.

There’s a lot more to this project than can fit in a single post. Everyone at Cloud Four helped in some way to make the site a success. There are lessons from this project that we can’t wait to share.

But for the moment, we just want to thank HauteLook for the opportunity to work with them on such a great project and to thank those people on twitter who have given positive feedback. Nothing made us happier than seeing comments like this one from a Blackberry user who said:

That’s why mobile is amazing. Provide a great mobile experience and your customer will not only use it, but they’ll love you for it!