Case Studies

Including success stories and How-To articles that are longer than your average Techniques.

April 2, 2019 By Jeff Cohan Leave a Comment

I Built a WordPress Plugin for Downloadable Files

If you’ve ever embedded a PDF file or other downloadable file in WordPress posts or pages using the standard “Add Media” button, you probably know what a pain it can be if and when — but most likely when — that file needs to be updated.

You can’t just upload the newly updated file to the Media Library and expect “voila” to happen.

Even if the updated file has the same filename as the original, WordPress will rename it on upload rather than replace the old one with the new one. (I’ve tried a plugin that offers this replacement functionality, but it wasn’t user-friendly and fell short in other ways.)

So I made my own plugin.

February 24, 2016 By Jeff Cohan Leave a Comment

Ferncliff Cemetery Website

This post describes key features of my rebuild of the Ferncliff Cemetery Web site: new responsive design; grave search; memorialization options; and backend CRM system.

October 9, 2015 By Jeff Cohan 2 Comments

Hayes Shutters Online Ordering System

Word-of-mouth referrals are still our favorite source of new business. One day no so long ago, I called a fellow (actually lady) Web developer after reading her humorous and all-too-familiar account of a “sales call from hell” on her Facebook timeline. After some commiserating, we shared highlights of recent projects and agreed to think of each other if and when opportunities to collaborate arise. Before we hung up (a soon-to-be-obsolete metaphor, I imagine), I had contact information for two prospects who might need my services. A little more than a month later, one of those prospects became a client. This article describes my first project with that client.

September 13, 2015 By Jeff Cohan 4 Comments

Custom Web Form: Contract Generator in PHP & MySQL

Forms are the engine that drive user interactivity on the Web. We see them everywhere — they are the meat of eCommerce Web sites and online surveys, and simple versions of forms are common on “Contact Us” pages. Some forms are easy to make, using basic HTML, online form builders, or plugins for platforms like WordPress. But there are other applications for Web forms — including some applications for which you might not initially think a form is the answer — that require a custom solution with custom programming. This article describes a project in which we created a form-based system for generating contracts for a private school’s Independent Study Program. This system, housed within the existing password-protected Intranet/Administrative area of the school’s Web site, automates and streamlines the process of generating contracts, minimizing the need for manual calculations and eliminating most, if not all, of the opportunities for user error.

July 26, 2013 By Jeff Cohan Leave a Comment

Case Study: Emergency Notice Banner for Hybrid Web site

In December of 2012, in anticipation of school closings, late openings, or early dismissals due to extreme weather, the head of Eaton Academy asked me to implement an emergency announcement banner that would appear on all pages of Eaton’s Web site. The challenge was that the Web site is a hybrid: the main section of the site was custom built, while the blog section was built on WordPress. This case study describes the approach we took to solve the problem. I think this project is a good example of how easily WordPress can be hooked into.

December 14, 2012 By Jeff Cohan 4 Comments

How to create 323 unique landing pages with Pretty URLs – from just one page

The Challenge nSiteful Client Jay Maurice operates a music instruction business called Lessons In Your Home. At this writing, the business has over 200 active music teachers in eight major U.S. markets. Jay wanted to optimize his email marketing and pay-per-click advertising campaigns by having a customized landing page for each market and each instrument […]

December 10, 2012 By Jeff Cohan Leave a Comment

Use SurveyMonkey to Schedule Meetings

Scheduling meetings involving multiple participants can be such a hassle. Here’s a way to use SurveyMonkey (the FREE plan, even) to take the hassle out of the process.

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