Last week we helped the Pratt Center launch a new blog called The Eminent Domain. From the site:

This website is a news, information and networking resource for New Yorkers working to influence the shape of their neighborhoods and make sure that development is an asset to their communities, not a force for displacement and destruction.

The site is built on WordPress, which serves as a simple content management system as well as a blogging platform: in addition to publishing blog posts about NY neighborhood development, the writers can manage the site’s pages and administer the site from WP’s administration area. It’s a powerful tool and we look forward to seeing The Eminent Domain’s contributors use it to promote just and equitable development in NYC.

Check out the site at theeminentdomain.org.

As more and more of our clients and partners want dynamic web sites and the ability to update their own site content, we’ve been doing a ton of development with Drupal (content management platform) and WordPress (blogging platform), including four such projects under active development presently. (Stay tuned for details!)

This has meant bigger projects, and more collaboration with colleagues. To manage these complex software packages, we’re turning more and more to version control systems, which let us track all of our development in a thorough way, manage software patches and upgrades easily, and “roll back” to previous versions if there are any problems.

With WordPress, the switch to version control has been a breeze, and has let us manage WordPress’ regular software updates for clients much quicker than we previously could.

With Drupal, it’s a bit more of a challenge due to Drupal’s complexity and the huge number of configuration changes that are made through the administrative interface and stored in the database. But version control has still been essential to let us test and deploy Drupal in a sane way.

What does this mean for you? Version control gives us an efficient way to administer more dynamic web sites, meaning a smoother and less costly development and maintenance process. So if we’ve built you a static web site in the past, let us know if you think WordPress or Drupal might make sense for you. And if you know anyone looking for a dynamic web site or content management system, send them our way!

We pride ourselves on getting to know our clients, and The Atlanta School shows why — TAS is full of great folks and fantastic educators that have been friends and colleagues for many years. But rebuilding TAS’ web site at theatlantaschool.com was special to us for another reason: the old web site was the very first that Rhys and I ever built together, back in 1999! Then known as DPC Productions, we poured a lot of heart into the site, if it was certainly showing its age by 2007…

The new site sports a gorgeous, fluid design that of course highlights the creative energy of the students. It has an integrated blog, powered by WordPress, and colorful galleries of artwork, photos, and videos.

The Atlanta School is also where The Media Spot got its start — Rhys made his very first collaborative videos with TAS students. Check them out in the Video Gallery!

We’ll always be grateful for the creative support from the folks at The Atlanta School that helped us get started. We hope their new web site serves them well!

EDIT: Belated thanks to TAS for the kind words on their own blog.