Our Passion
We believe everyone should be able to easily create and control brilliant websites that are beautifully designed and that function flawlessly. Our passion is to make this happen.
Razvan Neagu, Founder & CEO, Komotion
Background
I started Komotion in 1997 to provide design centered software solutions. In 2002 I created a custom photo gallery website, as a wedding gift to my best friend. Soon, everyone I knew wanted one and I realized there is a need to be filled.
Gallery generator: Version 1
It initially started as a way to automate what we were doing internally as a web design process. But we knew that we could only do so many galleries… So we created a software program that anyone could use to make impressive galleries – Web Gallery Wizard.
Gallery generator: Version 2
With the success of the product we decided to keep improving with lots more features, including ecommerce, geo-tagging, slideshows, etc. The new product got a new name too – Shozam. As technology evolved, monitors screens got bigger, bandwidth pipes got larger, social networks got more important, so did the demands from our users get more sophisticated. They wanted not only to showcase their images in a web gallery, but they wanted full-featured website that they could create themselves.
At Komotion, we care deeply about great design, from gorgeous user interfaces to intuitive user experiences. We see ourselves as technologists with a heart and see it as our mission to democratize the positive impact of technology by making it easy to use by all.
Our Vision
The right website can really change everything!
The Web has evolved to the point where we are all part of the digital economy. Mobile apps, social networks, the connected anywhere, anytime lifestyle… It is hard for the casual user – individual or small company to keep up and separate opportunity from hype. Our vision is to provide you the tools and knowledge you need to be successful in the new economy. We’ll do the research, identify the trends, set up the technology and provide you automated tools to do the hard work so you don’t have to.
We provide tools, knowledge and support to ensure your success
Our focus is on providing tools, tutorials and guidance to help you and your website achieve peak performance. You will be able to create and control a web presence that best serves your personal or professional brand and interests. Having the right website really can change everything!
Our Approach
We initially created our gallery generators as client-side programs, so the program installed on your own computer, generated the gallery files there and then you and then you had control over what web server you would up-load them to. We also developed all the functionality from the ground up since three was nothing similar on the market, at least not at the quality bar we were shooting for.
As we went to improve Shozam we realized we need to rely on
So we went back to the drawing boards and decided to automate not only the process of creating image galleries but the whole web gallery process.
We pride ourselves on our ingenuity, talent, and professionalism that we carry into each and every project.
Our Technology
Shifting trends: From building from scratch to integrating components
As we researched the problem we tried to solve, we realized that the best approach this time is different than with our gallery generators. Before we had to develop our solution from the ground up, from scratch as no components were there that would meet our functional and quality needs.
This time the technology landscape has changed and the solution is different. We now have a chance to build faster and better by leveraging existing functional components, things like Content Management Systems (CMS), themes, plugins, widgets, etc. The challenge is no longer how to build a specific functional component but rather how you integrate it, document it and ensure a top-notch user experience.
Open Source software: By the People, to the People and for the People
What enables this shift is the Open Source movement. Open Source technology is typically developed by a community of passionate developers and creates “free” software. In this context this does not mean free of charge but rather that the end-user is free use and change the software as needed. Users have access to the full source code and can change it as they see fit. The wisdom of crowds has turned the Open Source movement from a hobby into best-of-breed software generating machine. The Open Source community has matured to the point where it produces better functionality, and keeps a faster development speed and momentum than can be matched by any single company developing proprietary technology. Open Source really captures the spirit of by the people and for the people that resonates with us.
A Smarter Way: Research, evaluate, implement and document
Rather than have each developer re-invent the wheel, find the best wheel developed by someone else and leverage it to build on top of it, adding your differentiating expertise. But since Open Source development is not centralized and commercialized through regular channels, it take a great deal of time to research each component, find the best-of-breed, make them work together and provide the documentation to allow our customers to just do what they need and not have to worry about how it all works.
So we transformed our own organization from more typical software development to becoming more of a systems integrator. This enables us to sit on the shoulders of giants. We survey the landscape to spot trends, research and evaluate technologies and combine the very best components that would solve your problems. Our efforts are now shifting from development to adding value by creating a knowledge base. And in true sharing form, we document our findings through this website, tutorials, blog, etc. so they benefit the community at large.
Technology components: Sitting on the shoulders of giants
Some of the important components that we have assembled in our Komotion Web Package are amazing state-of-art technologies by themselves:
- LAMP – Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP as a reliable server environment
- jQuery – JavaScript library for client-side effects
- Highslide JS – full-featured image effects for slideshows, lightboxes and image enlargements
- WordPress Content Management System – CMS and blog platform with 56 million users, powering 18% of sites across the web
- Template framework that helps transform WordPress
- Plugins:
- NextGEN Gallery – database-driven image gallery system
- Gravity Forms – advanced functionality for rich contact and submission forms
- Akismet – spam protection
- Search Engine Optimization
- And much, much more…
Assembled together, as you’ll see, is simply brilliant!
Get empowered. Get it right. We will be there to help along the way.
Try it yourself and get empowered. The right website can truly change everything.
