I haven’t blogged here in a while, and it’s because our little real estate tools creation engine, Tasman Labs, was acquired by GoPickle.com. Therefore, I haven’t been freelancing under the Semaphore, LLC banner for a few months now. Instead, Vanguide is now a part of the Webtown Media mix of small business websites, and I’ve been designing our next generation of online tools. Well, it’s finally time to journal what I’ve been up to, because it’s so darn cool.

Just two weeks ago, we took the wraps off of our new Local Business Directory, the new GoPickle.com. GoPickle.com has always served as a super-local yellow pages. But in addition to a completely revised backend, now, local businesses can upgrade their listings for themselves. Think of merchantcircle.com without the spam and social networking fluff.

So with the above in mind, we set out to design the best UI experience we could, both for searchers and business users. Our first thought: “Use a map!” it’s intuitive, it’s not too new, and it looks friggin cool.

We quickly ran into the problem of consistent-height headers, footers, info panes, and all the other data that makes a yellowpages website. Our solution: make it all movable! You can see how it works on a search results page for Restaurants in Rogers, Arkansas

With our design, we avoided the persistent-size problem because now you can scroll the extra stuff out of the way, and the map will stay put. Traditionally, either you have to sacrifice your details display OR you have to sacrifice your map size. We get the benefits of both.

The effect has a ton of benefits for our business customer. Compare our customer page:

• Abuelo’s Mexican Food Embassy

To what their page looks like on the competition out there. Notice how much room there is above for photos, description, etc; now notice how small and cramped the actual business information is on all the following pages:

• http://www.insiderpages.com/b/3709734355
• http://www.yellowbook.com/profile/abuelos-mexican-food-embassy_1493600708.html?addressId=0
• http://national.citysearch.com/profile/41371105/rogers_ar/abuelo_s_mexican_food_embassy.html
• http://local.yahoo.com/info-26852378-abuelo-s-mexican-food-embassy-rogers
• http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/139/913535/restaurant/Fayetteville/Abuelos-Mexican-Food-Embassy-Rogers
• http://www.superpages.com/bp/Rogers-AR/Abuelos-Mexican-Food-Embassy-L0112745362.htm

One more consideration: we’re future-proofing our design by making the layout get better as screen resolutions continue to get larger. When you get a new computer with a bigger monitor, you can still make your web browser full-screen and not be afraid of missing all the tiny details, surrounded by boxes and extremely large margins of unused space.

So that’s it. The above is live now, but there is still a lot more on the way.

In 2008, the Fast Lane doors will open in Lowell, Arkansas. When complete, the site will feature cosmic bowling, go karts, a two-level laser tag arena, a gaming arcade, and more. Additionally, Fast Lane Entertainment will custom cater to all types, including team building reservations, birthday parties, and just fun for families and friends of all ages. More information on Fast Lane Entertainment in Lowell, Arkansas may be found at the Fast Lane website.

FastLaneBowl.com is built on a fully-featured Content Management System (CMS), which allows promoters to edit and maintain their own pages, content, events calendars, and newsletter services. Semaphore, LLC worked with IFWORLD, Inc. to create the look and feel of FastLaneBowl.com’s CMS application to deliver a customized brand image online.

IFWORLD, Inc. is known for custom-designed websites that have garnered dozens of awards for design and use of technology. With access to industry leading talent and a multi-homed and multi-directional Internet backbone, IFWORLD, Inc. offers the services, bandwidth, and stability to provide dependable service. More information may be found at the IFWORLD, Inc. website.

Semaphore, LLC is a graphic design and web development company located in Northwest Arkansas. Semaphore, LLC clients include fortune 500 companies, non-profits, leading manufacturing businesses, large and small real estate offices, technology firms, and creative companies. If your business has an online need, Semaphore, LLC offers the solution. We finish projects by applying the technology behind the scenes that brings online results.

Semaphore, LLC has partnered with the industry leading talents of IFWORLD, Inc. to provide online solutions to many clients. More information on the services and talent of Semaphore, LLC may be found at the Semaphore, LLC website.

The SHOT Show’s 30th anniversary celebration began Saturday February 2 with 1,948 exhibiting companies encompassing more than 715,000 net square feet of space, making it the largest ever. The Daisy Design Studio interactive kiosk is a pivotal feature for Daisy’s exhibition at this year’s Show, which allows retail attendants to create a customized gun with unique materials, colors, and even authenticity certificates for their own stores.

View screenshots of the kiosk interface by clicking the thumbnails below.

The Daisy interactive kiosk is built using MERB and is distributed using Mercurial. The use of these technologies allows for portability and duplication of a reliable kiosk application on a variety of OS platforms. Semaphore, LLC worked with IFWORLD, Inc. and fellow contractor Madriska Media Group to create a touch-screen application for the Daisy Design Studio.

Daisy Outdoor Products is the world’s oldest and largest manufacturer of airguns, ammo and accessories, each year producing in excess of 5 million items. In addition, Daisy works with a number of national youth organizations to teach young owners of Daisy products the responsibility of gun ownership. More information on Daisy Outdoor Products may be found at their official website.

IFWORLD, Inc. is known for custom-designed websites that have garnered dozens of awards for design, layout and use of technology. With access to industry leading talent and a multi-homed and multi-directional Internet backbone, IFWORLD, Inc. offers the services, bandwidth, and stability to provide transparent, and dependable service. More information on IFWORLD, Inc. may be found at their official website.

Madriska Media Group specializes in web design and development, custom web applications, and design that fits a diverse style. Madriska’s goal is to listen and learn from you what makes a company great and then express that greatness in clean, creative design and efficient programming. More information on Madriska Media Group may be found at their official website.

Semaphore, LLC is a graphic design and web development company, located in Northwest Arkansas. Semaphore, LLC clients include fortune 500 companies, non-profits, leading manufacturing businesses, real estate brokerages and small offices, technology firms, and creative companies. If your business has an online need, Semaphore, LLC offers the solution. Semaphore, LLC finishes projects by applying the technology or design behind the scenes that makes you or your company better at what you do by filling in the gaps and bringing online results.

Semaphore, LLC has partnered with the industry leading talents of IFWORLD, Inc. to provide solutions for many clients. More information on the services and award-winning talent of Semaphore, LLC may be found at their official website.

With one of the largest cash prize pools in America, the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup undergraduate & graduate business plan competition is designed to encourage students in Arkansas, Nevada, and Oklahoma to act upon their ideas and talents in order to produce tomorrow’s businesses. More information on Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup may be found at DWRGovernorsCup.org

DWRGovernorsCup.org is built on a fully-featured Content Management System (CMS), which allows the promoters of the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup Competition to edit and maintain their own pages, content, events calendars, and newsletter services. Semaphore, LLC worked with IFWORLD, Inc. to create the look and feel of DWRGovernorsCup.org and customize DWRGovernorsCup.org’s CMS application to deliver a customized brand image online.

IFWORLD, Inc. is known for custom-designed websites that have garnered dozens of awards for design, layout and use of technology. Other professional services include server and data colocation, broadband connectivity, transport solutions, and networking services.

With access to industry leading talent and a multi-homed and multi-directional Internet backbone, IFWORLD, Inc. offers the services, bandwidth, and stability to provide transparent, and dependable service. More information on IFWORLD, Inc. may be found at IFWORLD.com

Semaphore, LLC has partnered with the industry leading talents of IFWORLD, Inc. to provide online solutions to many clients. More information on the services and talent of Semaphore, LLC may be found at SemaphoreLLC.com