Web Design & Development: Tech Specs

One Hat Design Studio is on the cutting edge of web design and development. We build highly functional, yet beautiful web applications, and use the following methods and technologies:

PHP / MySQL / Apache

Most of our server-side programming is done in PHP, using MySQL as the backend database, and Apache as the web server. We are willing and able to work with other setups such as Ruby or Microsoft IIS, but this is our "home turf". This is a very common setup, as it uses all open-source software (meaning it's FREE to use!) and has an enormous installed user-base.

Ajax / Web Services

Yes, we do it all the time. Yes, we can do it for you.

Unobtrusive DOM Scripting

Javascript programming doesn't have to be ugly in order to be functional. One Hat Design Studio uses techniques to make sure our code plays nicely with code from other sources. We also do our best to make sure our javascript is used for behavior, not for content or presentation.

(X)HTML / CSS

Our HTML is clean, browser-friendly, and marked up semantically. We use table-less designs, and rely on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for layout. This means your site will be consistent across browsers and platforms, and automatically increases handicapped accessibility. However, when the need calls for it, we will break with convention and do whatever it takes to make your site work—we are not slavishly dedicated to web standards.

Flash

With Flash, a little goes a long way. We usually only use Flash as a tasteful enhancement to an existing HTML document for the sake of handicapped accessibility and keeping the cost down. There are times when only Flash will do the job (for instance, with video or other media elements), but oftentimes Javascript is better suited to the task.

Browser Support

We use a graded system of support for browser compatability. Our A-grade browsers are Internet Explorer 6+, Safari 2+, Firefox 1.5+, and Opera 9+.