{"id":186,"date":"2012-08-17T18:05:12","date_gmt":"2012-08-17T18:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/digitalegre.com\/home\/?p=186"},"modified":"2012-10-04T23:33:21","modified_gmt":"2012-10-04T23:33:21","slug":"web-developer-finds-creative-opportunity-in-el-pasos-digital-frontier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/digitalegre.com\/home\/web-developer-finds-creative-opportunity-in-el-pasos-digital-frontier\/","title":{"rendered":"Brandon Silverstein: Making the web work in El Paso"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Brandon Silverstein, owner of Impulse Development<\/p><\/div>\n

Brandon Silverstein<\/strong> could have left El Paso with his computer science degree from UTEP in 2004, but he predicted his hometown was on the verge of offering greater career opportunities to someone with digital skills and a strong local network.<\/p>\n

\u201cI chose to stay in El Paso because it was the perfect place to start my own business,\u201d said Silverstein, 30, the owner of website building company Impulse Development<\/a>. \u201cI had numerous friends, family, and business colleagues that formed a network that was crucial to finding business and getting started six years ago. \u00a0I have no regrets staying here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Right out of college Silverstein had the classic comp sci job offer – the coding gig with a major data company that would put him in a cubicle on the programming assembly line.\u00a0 But, even though it was a practical career option, it didn\u2019t seem like a good fit to the creative Franklin High grad who taught himself to build websites back in middle school and was fascinated by design.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was going to be very, very boring,\u201d said Silverstein.<\/p>\n

Instead, he took an opportunity to work at Stanton Street<\/a>, a pioneer company in the El Paso web design and website development community.\u00a0 And less than two years later, Silverstein decided to launch his own web development company in El Paso, Impulse Development. He was joined there by web developer Andrew Hite.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was 24 at the time and didn\u2019t have a mortgage. Wasn\u2019t married. No kids. So it was the perfect time to try it,\u201d said Silverstein, who thinks he would likely have ended up on more of a project management \/ supervisory path had he stayed at Stanton Street.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Now, six years after launching Impulse and building his own team, Silverstein continues to be hands on with a lot of the web designing and programming he likes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still fun for me to do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Silverstein\u2019s passion for keeping a hand in his work drives him to stay up to date on design trends and usability standards. He often teams with Armando Alvarez from boutique design firm Viva Creative Group<\/a>, with whom Impulse shares office space and support staff. Silverstein cultivates his craft through collaboration, observation and conferences. His most recent trip to An Event Apart<\/a>, the sold-out Austin coding conference of web industry stars, offered inspiration for new tools and techniques as well as reinforced Impulse Development\u2019s guiding principle to create good user experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to keep all our designs modern and creative. And we never want to go too overboard with the design because we don\u2019t want to detract from the usability of the website.\u201d<\/p>\n

Usability<\/h2>\n

When working with clients, Silverstein says educating them about web usability is important for a successful outcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes clients want to design a website the way they want it to look, but they\u2019re not the end user,\u201d Silverstein said, explaining his company likes to work with clients to help them understand how to make their design ideas functional for those who visit their websites.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make our websites easy to navigate, easy to find the information for the end user.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, Silverstein said, a few years back some clients wanted to use Flash animation for parts of their site.\u00a0 Impulse developers explained how Flash has compatibility problems with some browsers and can\u2019t be used on popular devices like the iPhone and iPad. They convinced the clients to go with building features using JavaScript for wider accessibility for their digital audience.<\/p>\n

Process<\/h2>\n

As a range of El Paso businesses and organizations venture onto the Internet, Impulse Development makes sure to walk clients through the process of website creation up front.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a mix of clients where they know exactly how the development process works and we\u2019ve had clients that have never had a website before so we\u2019ve have to tell them \u2018we start with the design, then move on to the programming and then you add content.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n

The process begins with an investigation phase where Impulse works with the client to develop a site map and outline the functionality of the website.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we agree on first so we have a good idea of what the website needs to be, whether it\u2019s a static brochure site, an e-commerce site or custom web applications,\u201d Silverstein said. \u201cThen we move on to the design, the look and feel of the website.\u201d<\/p>\n

Products<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a>Search for anything in the El Paso-area Internet and you will quickly find a number of vibrant sites that were built by Impulse Development. Impulse has built sites for restaurants, retail shops and other businesses, associations, non-profits, entertainment and education groups, New Mexico\u2019s Silicon Mesa and more. Their long list of clients include: Ripe Eatery, El Paso Convention and Visitors Bureau, El Paso Bar Association, UTEP Office of Special Events, Hope and Anchor and the El Paso Art Museum Foundation. They even created the iPhone app for the Plaza Classic Film Festival.<\/p>\n

In February 2011, Impulse Development picked up six El Paso Advertising Federation ADDY Awards, including the Best of Show award for the Hope and Anchor bar\u2019s Jukebox Facebook app.<\/p>\n

Now Silverstein is excited about the marriage of form and function in the recent launch of an e-commerce website they customized on Shopify for client http:\/\/jluxeboutique.com<\/a>. Reflecting the web trend for \u201cresponsive design,\u201d the website detects which device a user is viewing it on and resizes itself to the best format for desktop browsers, smart phones or tablets.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cBuilding a website for a desktop isn\u2019t enough anymore,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Responsive design is different from the earlier trend of building one site for desktop viewing and another version of the site for a mobile device. \u00a0Now only one website is built and that site adapts to whatever device it is being viewed by.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many devices coming out now with different layouts and widths and heights that it\u2019s really hard to do one website that works for everything, so the way you code it you need to make sure that no matter what device is around now, devices that come out in one year, two years can still see the website.\u201d<\/p>\n

Impulse Development also created its own intuitive content management system that Silverstein says doesn\u2019t have as much of a learning curve for clients as platforms like WordPress, Drupal or Joomla. Clients can update or change much of the content on their sites whenever they want to by logging on and making the changes themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hardly have any questions about how to use it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Opportunity<\/h2>\n

As his business has grown, so has Silverstein\u2019s confidence in El Paso\u2018s potential for digital entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a ton of opportunity. Not only for people to find a job, but in some cases it\u2019s easier just to start something on your own,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Still, Silverstein, who claims to be \u201csurprisingly good\u201d at ping pong, bowling and darts, has a backup plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf web design doesn’t work out, I can probably hustle people in bowling alleys and make some money,\u201d he replied in a follow-up email, and then tagged on a smiley face. \u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

This profile is part of Digitalegre’s series on the digital community in the El Paso, Juarez and Southern New Mexico area. If you know of a person or company that you would like to learn more about, please email kategannon@digitalegre.com<\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brandon Silverstein could have left El Paso with his computer science degree from UTEP in 2004, but he predicted his hometown was on the verge of offering greater career opportunities to someone with digital skills and a strong local network.<\/p>\n

\u201cI chose to stay in El Paso because it was the perfect place to start my own business,\u201d said Silverstein, 30, the owner of website building company Impulse Development. \u201cI had numerous friends, family, and business colleagues that formed a network that was crucial to finding business and getting started six years ago. I have no regrets staying here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2wBu4-30","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/digitalegre.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/digitalegre.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/digitalegre.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/digitalegre.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/digitalegre.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"http:\/\/digitalegre.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":216,"href":"http:\/\/digitalegre.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186\/revisions\/216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/digitalegre.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/digitalegre.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/digitalegre.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}