Kintera Sphere provides a robust and powerful web site publishing solution. Easily create and update web sites, drive engagement with interactive features like photo gallery, bulletin boards, e-cards, and personalized web site content. The CMS sites module includes more than 160 online tools, WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) editing tools, workflow controls, templates, publishing scheduling, personalization, file sharing and reporting. Allowing users to raise and save money, get your message out quicker, build affinity and reinforce their marketing messages. Users are be able to increase productivity with easy-to-use tools such as surf-to-edit and content and article listings.
One of my primary charges as a Product Architect for Kintera was to improve the user experience and efficiency of their proprietary content management system. I wrote and designed 6 product functional specifications and managed expectations, timelines, and engineers and QA personnel.
Replacing Ektron Editor
The first task was to replace Kintera’s current WYSIWYG Ektron editor throughout Sphere to be compatible with IE7 and backwards compatible with IE6. This was no easy task as there are were 16 slightly different instances all of which contained custom dialog windows proprietary to Kintera’s infrastructure. After that spec, there was a follow-up release for Firefox compatibility as Kintera made the business decision to informally support the browser for their Apple Mac clients.
AJAX User Interface
Kintera has a decent content management system however it was often hindered by load times, pop-ups, and productive workflow. My task was to improve this experience by converting it to the first AJAX driven interface in Kintera Sphere. WE took an incremental approach by dividing it into 4 product specifications.
- General UI & Site Structure
- Content Management
- File Libraries
- Revisiting & Cleanup
The specifications added new functionality such as drag n’ drop menu trees, rollover contextual information, edit in place, modal dialog box (stylistically similar to lightbox), multiple pages or pieces of content open and the same time. Ultimately the functionality included a completed revised middle tier development architecture to separate back-office presentation from the code layers making it easier to update, manage and make changes in the future using object orientated interfaces.
Kendall Davis : May 24, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Dave is a very intelligent, skilled and insightful architect with a true passion for his work. He naturally incorporates the broadly inclusive views of every task he approaches. Additionally, he’s very personable, a good communicator and well liked.
Thalia Driessen : September 4, 2007 at 12:19 pm
I’ve worked with Dave for many years and have always been impressed by his innovative thinking. He keeps current with development trends and has been a great asset to Kintera. He thinks outside of the box and comes up with smart solutions to issues. Products he was instrumental in developing have aided our Creative Services group remarkably. I highly recommend Dave.
Lisa Chandler : September 19, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Dave is great at what he does and has a high standard for quality. He can see a vision, how to get there and then can do it.
Brett Coin : January 6, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Dave was hired in to Kintera to drive the CMS architecture and engineering which he did successfully for many years. He was always well regarded by both management and peers for not only being an innovative engineer who gets things done, but also for being an easy person with whom others enjoyed working.
Andrew Firstenberger : January 8, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Dave is a creative and hardworking innovator who regularly went above and beyond expectations. While at Kintera (now Blackbaud) he excelled at identifying demanding business needs and meeting them with innovative solutions. As Software Architect, Dave paved the way for the core of Kintera’s business. Creating successful products for demanding clients, partners and executive staff. Furthermore, Dave is a great person to work with. His talents are only surpassed by his passion and pride for his work.
Nathan Ginoza : February 20, 2010 at 11:59 am
I have worked with Dave B. at Kintera. Dave had a very good grasp of extracting and developing excellent software for client’s requirements to solve their business issues. He was very pleasant to work with. I would recommend him without hesitation.
Robert Dunning : March 1, 2010 at 11:49 am
I worked with Dave for five years at Kintera. Dave was the knowledge leader in the design of our CMS system at Kintera. He was responsible for revamping the user interface of the CMS system used by approximately 1,000 clients. The interface was widely appreciated as being a good design.
Dave also served as my unofficial “go to guy” concerning questions about Domain Names and the underlying structures that Kintera’s CMS used to create friendly domain names for Kintera’s Software as a Service CMS product.
Dave has a good sense of humor which I enjoyed while working with him.