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Exceptional Smithers
 I've had the wonderful opportunity to work with the great people at Concept Design in Prince George. They conceptualized a Flash intro for the new Exceptional Smithers website and Abacus built it for them. The web page was built by Greg at Sticky Wicket Designs of Prince George.
The website is a portal page that points to lots of different information about the beautiful town of Smithers, BC. Please check it out at www.exceptionalsmithers.ca |
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Quesnel Youth Soccer Association
 The QYSA has officially launched their new look and website. The look was generated by Splash Media of Prince George (nice job, Michael Doran!). Abacus Webware provided the website including the integrated Content Management System (CMS).
Please check out their website at www.QYSA.ca |
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Quesnel Music Website
 We welcome Quesnel Music to the Abacus family. Quesnel Music is northern BC'c retail music store with thousands of products to choose from.
The skin and CMS for the website were build by Abacus Webware and the content was added by Quesnel Music using the Abacus CMS system.
Please visit their site at www.QuesnelMusic.com and while you're there, check out the music event calendar and support live music in Quesnel. |
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Measuring Up The North
 Abacus has just finished the Measuring Up The North webiste. This website uses the Abacus CMS (Content Management System) so that the client can edit their own website content securely from any web browser. This site also conforms fully with accessibility standards.
Measuring Up The North Project in Northern British Columbia is a partnership between the North Central Municipal Association and the BC Paraplegic Association with supporting partners 2010 Legacies Now and the BC Healthy Communities Initiative.
The goal of the project is assist 41 communities and regional districts to develop livable, senior-friendly, disability-friendly, universally designed communities.
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Community Futures Website
 I have completed the Community Futures of the North Cariboo Website. The website uses the Abacus CMS (content management system) and web statistics module.
The CFDCNC can edit the complete content of each web page with a browser-based editor that behaves very much like MS Word. Text formatting and image management is all built in and is very easy and intuitive to use.
The site has some specialty functions, namely a Business Profiles page and a Calendar of Events. These two web pages are database driven with a records editor built into the sites administration area. To add an event, the CFDCNC staff member logs into the website and enters the event info (title, date and description) into a form. Once submitted the event shows up in the calendar. The business profiles behaves basically the same way.
The website also includes a "sidebar" manager which allows the CFDCNC to control what is displayed on the sidebar of each page. Each page sidebar can display a Success Story (business profile), an Upcoming Event, an Interesting Fact or some text/picture the CFDCNC enters. This can also be set to Random so that a page's sidebar randomly display any one of these.
The website automatically keeps track of hit counts and page views as well as search engine phrases used to locate the site, websites that refer visitor to the site and spider and crawler visits. This information is displayed with easy to understand graphs and lists in the administration area. Also because the content can regularly change, the meta tags are dynamically created to reflect the pages current content so the search engine spiders index each page correctly.
So far the feedback has been very positive. I am always happy to see clients use their websites as a business tool rather than just some brochure that sits out there and gets stale fast. Please visit their site at www.cfquesnel.com to learn what the Community Futures office can do for you.:THUMB: |
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Quesnel Figure Skating Club
Abacus Webware would like to welcome the Quesnel Figure Skating Club to our hosting family. Please visit their site at www.Quesnelfsc.org. The site was designed by our good friends at Southhills Graphics. |
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The Quesnel Network
 I have finished the Quesnel Network website project. I was totally amazed at how many services were out there for our little burg of Quesnel. Talking to the Director, I also learned that not all the services have been added to the network yet. Please visit the site at www.QuesnelNetwork.com and let me know what you think.
Next on deck are the Community Futures Development Corporation of the North Cariboo and Measuring Up The North, an informational website about accessability in the north. |
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Still Hard At It :CRAZY:
 The Quesnel Rotary site has successfully been revamped. That "Other Companies" old content management system has been replaced with the Abacus CMS. The Look and Feel has also been changed. Feedback from the Rotary has been very positive. Check it out at www.QuesnelRotary.com if you feel so inclined.
Next up on the plate are the Quesnel Network, the Community Futures Development Corp of the North Cariboo and the Quesnel Farmers Market website revamps. All three of these websites will be using the Abacus CMS system.
After that, on deck is a website update for the North Central Municipal Association as well as adding a photo gallery to the Quesnel Millionaires website.
On top of all this there is more Video work at Quesnel River Pulp and I continue to sub-contract to James and Sons Electric a few days a week.
These are indeed busy times. |
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Child Development Centre
 We have finished the new Quesnel & District Child Development website. We've given it a new look and feel as well as produced 7 videos you can view over the web to learn more about the programs that are offered.
I really like working with the CDC as the people are amazing and the kids just melt your heart. Please support the CDC with a donation to the upcoming Telethon and visit their website at www.QuesnelCDC.com. |
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New Websites
We would like to welcome the following companies and organizations to the Abacus Webware family. |
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What's New At Abacus
It's been very busy here at Abacus Webware. I've deployed our new "Super-Computer" web server. I'm long in the tooth as far as the IT industry is concerned and it amazes me how much computing power is in these little boxes today. There is far more power today in these little desktops than was used by NASA in their moon shots.
Anyway, the new web cluster will provide for much future growth as well as provide the raw power needed to serve our new video training web-sites. |
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James & Sons Electric
Westfraser Timber has completed a hiring sweep in Quesnel and has hired most of the techs in Quesnel. This has help secure the closure of ABC Commuications computer service department and nearly did in James & Sons Computers.
As a temporary measure I am subcontracting 3 days a week to James and Sons until they can find a replacement. The demand for skilled computer technologists in BC right now is extremely high so it may be awhile until my replacement is found.
Meanwhile I will do my very best to maintain the high level of customer service that the Abacus Webware family has enjoyed in the past. |
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Quesnel Child Development Centre
I have recently been contracted by the Quesnel & District Child Development Centre to Administer their MS Server 2003 Network. The staff are wonderfull and I've really enjoyed seeing the kids smiling faces and hearing their delight at play.
The CDC Telethon is on Sunday October 29, 2006. I have added a convenient and secure donate function to their website so they can also collect donations for the Telethon and throughout the year over the Internet. Please visit www.QuesnelCDC.com and help support Quesnels kids. |
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Personal Fitness Training
 My latest website is Heather Hartridge Personal Fitness Training Studio. Heather is a long time fitness instructor in Quesnel and is opening her own studio in Quesnel. Please visit the site, visit her studio and get in shape... |
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Carter Jewelry Website
Abacus Webware is currently working in conjunction with South Hill Graphics on the New Carter Jewelry website. It proves to be a massive job as their entire inventory will be online. It is predicted to be released in November.
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Quesnel Live Arts
The 2006-2007 Quesnel Live Arts season is about to get underway. I have just completed their website update. Please check out the Quesnel Live Arts website to view the upcoming years schedule and ticket info. |
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New Websites
We are pleased to welcome some new members to the Abacus Webware family. Our good friends at South Hill Graphics have done a great job at designing these sites. Please check them out: |
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Innovation Resource Centre Board Member
I have become a member of the Innovation Recource Centre Board of Directors. The Innovation Resource Centre (IRC) located in Prince George helps people make the arduous journey down the path of taking a good idea and building a business. It is primarily concerned with the Science and Technology sectors.
If you have a good idea and would like some help moving it to market, please contact the Innovation Resource Centre or contact me and I can point you towards some help.
We meet the last Wednesday of the month. Check out the website at innovate.bc.ca. |
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Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) Awareness Video
I am working on another Industrial Safety video, Hydrogen Sulphide Awareness. Hydrogen Sulphide, or H2S, is a highly toxic and deadly gas that kills quickly. The video will detail:- H2S Characteristics
- Physical effects at varying exposures
- Where it is found in the workplace
- How to monitor for H2S
- Preventative steps
- Procedure to rescue overcome co-workers
This video will be delivered in DVD and Streaming video format. |
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Focal Point Accessories
We welcome Focal Point Accessories from Salmon Arm to our Abacus Family. Focal Point Accessories makes eyeglass and other custom jewelry. Please visit their website at www.FocalPointAccessories.com. |
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Barkervill Rush Relay
 I have just put up a whole bunch of pictures and race results for the 2006 Barkerville Rush Relay. The race starts at the beginning of the Barkerville highway and goes through Wells to Barkerville and back into Wells to finish.
Please visit their site at www.BarkervilleRushRelay.com to view the updates. |
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Contractor Orientation on the Internet
The ROI is fantastic, tens of thousands of dollars a year saved on training contractors. I have just finished a new website, QRPContractors.com, that tracks and trains all the contractors that work at Quesnel River Pulp.
Employees of contracted companies can securely sign in and take their training before entering the mill site. Training records are kept and reports can be generated that allow a company to know when their employees training is out of date.
The training is delivered via streaming video and a series of questions are asked to test understanding and ensure competency. There are 4 section to complete:- Basic Orientation
- Lockout
- Confined Space Entry
- Effluent Area
I will endevout to put up a demo version of it on the Abacus website sometime in the near future. |
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WHMIS and QRP Mill Tour
 I have been invited back to do two more videos at QRP; a mill tour video as well as their WHMIS training video. As before I will be working on the mill site for about 6 weeks, delivering the videos on both DVD format and on their company Intranet.
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Quesnel Sustainability and Retention
I have just added a new Sustainabilty and Retention section to the eQuesnel portal website.
The new area was developed in partnership with the Quesnel and Community Economic Development Corporation. It is designed to help educate the citizens of Quesnel about the impending Pine Beetle epidemic and how we might mitigate the losses cause by the loss of our economic base. There is an interactive map showing new projects as well as an online forum where you can provide your feedback to the plan. |
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A New Interface for the eNorthernBC, eQuesnel and ePrinceGeorge Portals
I have changed the fixed width interface of my community portals to a variable width one. This variable interface will accomodate browsers running in resolutions of 640x480 to 1280x1024 and higher.
Check them out at:If you encounter and bugs or glitches please contact the me at Webmaster@AbacusWebware.com. |
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