-- London, ON, Canada -- A new breed of online resources has made it easier and less expensive for entrepreneurs to build high quality web based services. "Economies of scale have led to huge decreases in the cost and effort required to develop online," said Chris McCowan, a veteran software and web developer, now CIO of Grabbo Deals. "Businesses can find resources for content development, design, marketing and more for a fraction of what it used to cost, and the quality is excellent."
Commonly used code libraries "have made it easier for developers to share code, paving the way for powerful websites that behave more like full applications." Chris admits, "it almost feels like cheating." JQUERY is a code library in use in over 60% of websites with the subtitle "write less, do more." Chris said "JavaScript was a headache before. Particularly getting it to do what you need it to do in every browser. JQUERY handles that messy part and provides a single interface so we can realize the potential of modern browsers with less code and less bugs. Templates built on libraries like JQUERY also tend to play well together."
Website templates and code libraries are not a new phenomena, "but they have matured" says Chris. "Website templates used to be extremely basic. On sites like Themeforest, you can now find templates and themes which represent thousands of man-hours, cost less than a family movie night and are very well coded. I'm really excited about the build-it-fast revolution because it means entrepreneurs can bring newly imagined services to market much faster and with less risk. It's a great equalizer and I believe we all benefit."
Chris says "There are now a number of services webpreneurs should take a look at if they would like to save time and squeeze the most out of their budget." One such site is Fiverr, which offers everything from graphic design to voice overs for five dollars. An Australian company, Envato, created a network of marketplaces including Themeforest with combined traffic that now surpasses media giant Netflix. In Envato's marketplaces developers benefit from competition and economies of scale to purchase time saving templates, graphics, audio, video elements, themes and code.
To customize and put it all together, experienced freelancers including software developers, graphic artists, writers, marketers and researchers can be hired on an as needed basis on sites like Odesk, Elance and Freelancer.com. "You can't do everything, effective use of freelancers can help keep your project moving," says Chris. When hiring freelancers Chris offered this advice: "Be careful. Start with bite sized projects. If you are hiring freelancers outside your domain of expertise have the work reviewed by someone else in the field. This is very important."
"Don't forget your friends." Adds Chris. "they can offer a wealth of information, ideas and advice."
About Chris McCowan
Chris McCowan has been the primary or lead developer for highly utilized web applications since 1998. Now CIO for Grabbo Deals. Grabbo Deals, based in London, Ontario, is a free advertising platform that aims to help consumers discover and connect with local businesses. Grabbo Deals, Grabbo Menus and Grabbo Shops will soon be in all major cities, with a host of new features. Learn more at http://www.grabbodeals.com
Contact
Chris McCowan
66 Hunt Club Drive
London, Ontario N6H 3Y5
Canada
[email protected]
519 854 3409
Source URL: http://www.pressadvantage.com/story/338
Release ID: 68501
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