How We Code Archives | Ideas2Executables

Choosing the technology for a project requires balancing proven software and tools against cutting edge offerings. The former have a track record of success, while the latter come with promises of an efficiency boost. We try to gain the best of both worlds by selecting a single area in the project to fold in new technology and building the rest of the project on a proven platform.

This approach limits the project’s exposure if the new technology turns out to be hype that can’t live up to the reality. Just as importantly, it let’s us embrace new technology so we can keep our development process as efficient as possible.

In future phases of the project we re-examine the new technology we used and determine if it has earned a place among our preferred tools, or if it should be avoided in the future.

Yes. 3rd party APIs are one of the secret weapons that help super-charge an entrepreneur’s idea. Instead of having to develop all functionality from scratch, you can use 3rd party APIs as a foundation to build on. For a specific example, check out our case study: Navigating A Custom App’s Back-End Cost vs. Functionality.

The vast majority of our customers are working with both time and money constraints. To address these, we’ve found the most efficient way to develop mobile apps is to use a platform that allows us to develop a single mobile app that can be deployed on both iOS and Android. This strategy achieves the goal of producing a high quality mobile app that can be sold in both the Mac and Android app store, at a fraction of the cost of native development.

There are a number of platforms in existence to achieve this strategy. Our preferred is Ionic. Ionic has demonstrated multi-platform success for many years and is backed by a responsive and reputable company.

Our standard UI toolbox consists of Bootstrap and jQuery. These technologies are well proven and have a large following, so finding developers in the future to work on your site won’t be difficult. They also provide a large eco-system of plugins and themes that we can leverage.

Because of our custom development programming experience, we also like that both Bootstrap and jQuery make developing our own custom plugins an easy option.

The majority of our server side code is developed in PHP. To some, PHP is a crufty old programming language that lacks features new languages bring to the table. We’d challenge that opinion. PHP has been well maintained, and the style that we develop software in utilizes its modern enhancements. More importantly, when we develop in PHP we can be confident that there is a large ecosystem of programmers who can maintain and improve the source code should you decide to have a firm, other than Ideas2Executables, work on your code.

In short, we treat the custom software we develop for you as an important asset to your company. We want that asset to be something you’re happy with and can benefit from for many years to come. We believe PHP and other well established technologies help to ensure this goal.

We do not develop native mobile apps. Using a platform that allows us to build an application once and deploy it on both iOS and Android is such a significant cost and time savings, that we can’t justify building individual native apps.

We have developed a wide range of software, from the plugins that power a tech blog, to video education platforms to a simulator to help a professional gambler. And yet, we have never built games. While we are open to the possibility of developing games in the future, we don’t have any experience in this area and would therefore most likely not be the best firm to develop your game idea.

Yes. We have extensive experience developing custom plugins, addons, post types and taxonomies for WordPress. Whether it’s a hard squash bug or a crazy idea for a plugin, we love working on challenging WordPress problems. The thornier, the better!

Yes, we can assist with debugging and enhancing Drupal sites.

Yes, we can assist with debugging and enhancing Joomla sites.

“It is very hard to find a developer who knows your platform, performs the work, and will be a partner with you for your website. Many developers farm out their work, causing miscommunication, wasting time, and making it difficult to trouble-shoot. It’s such a relief to be able to form a relationship with a developer who listens and is responsive and honest.”

– Jennifer

“We love working with Ideas2Executables! Ben does a great job of communicating with us on projects and helping us with the details of how everything will work. He has a wealth of knowledge and keeps up with the latest technology. We always get projects back on time and quick responses to any questions. I would highly recommend Ideas2Executables to anyone.”

– Sarah

“For the past 8 years, I have had the pleasure of working with Ben on the development and evolution of my website, ASLdeafined.com. When I think about Ben and what he exemplifies as an outstanding professional, these traits would include hard working, being timely and meeting deadlines, forward thinker, and extremely detailed focused. It has been such a pleasure to work with such an outstanding developer and professional for the last 8 years and counting. I look forward to working with Ben on new and exciting features of my website. As a developer, Ben has made such a great impact on thousands of people because of the work he does. And if it weren’t for Ben, ASLdeafined would not be the educational tool that it is today to help people learn American Sign Language. It is without reservation that I write this testimonial for such an outstanding developer! Thank you Ben for all of your hard work and class.”

– Paul

“Ideas2Executables has been a consistent and wonderful vendor to deal with. They have worked tirelessly with us to develop a complex website and their steady hand has guided other professionals through the development and maintenance of the site. Their responsiveness and attention to detail is unparalleled.”

– Roy

“Working with Ideas2Executables was one of the best decisions my company has ever made. Like many companies, our success is tied to the effectiveness of our website. Putting our site in Ben’s skilled hands, with the combination of high quality work and fast response times, has been integral to our growth over the last several years.”

– Brendan

“Since November 2011, Ideas2Executables has proven to be an excellent long-term partner and integral part of our ongoing development strategy. Their team created excellent and well-documented code to power our web-based solution. They are reliable, flexible and have completed every project in a timely manner. Most importantly, they genuinely care about the success of our business.”

– John

“For the past couple of years we have had the luxury of working with Ideas2Executables. We turn to i2x for our most challenging projects; taking advantage of their creativity, professionalism, and web development expertise. It is comforting to know we have their team in our corner.”