In this issue
Symetris' evolution - 5 years, new office & website
We haven't sent out a newsletter since last year, but it's because there have been a lot of positive changes here at Symetris!
First of all, Symetris incorporated late last year, so we're now "Symetris Inc". This is an important step in the evolution of our company and affirms our commitment to stability and a long-term horizon.
Secondly, this past February, Symetris turned 5 years old! We've been serving our clients since 2004 and look forward to continue to do so for the years to come.
Thirdly, on June 1st, we moved into a new office. We're now located at 805 Mont-Royal Avenue East, in Montreal (H2J 1W9). In the center of the Plateau, two blocks away from the Mont-Royal metro station, it's a prime location on a fun and trendy street.
Fourthly, we just launched a revamped Symetris.ca website. With a fresh design, up-to-date portfolio and current news, we're quite proud of our creation. It was developed with the Drupal content management system (an open-souce CMS).
 Recent projects we launched
In the past few months, we've been hard at work with quite a few projects.
In December, we launched the new website for the Alliance des cabinets de relations publiques du Québec (www.acrpq.com). In early January, we launched the bilingual 5/30 Health Challenge website; we migrated the old website to the EzPublish content management system, developed many templates, and regularly integrate their weekly and monthly newsletters.
Winter also saw the launch of the redesigned website for the Société de Développement de la Baie-James (www.sdbj.gouv.qc.ca), a project mandated by AGC Communications. This bilingual website includes secure sections, a custom-made content management system as well as regular newsletters.
The snow was slowly thawing when we launched the VistaProps.com and JFKfoundation.ca websites as well as a new design for the CQGCR's "Take 2" newsletter.
In spring, we launched two "sister-sites": www.employabilityeducationmtl.com and www.artscultureheritagemtl.com. Both are database-driven and were mandated by the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN). Other springtime website launches included two AGC Communications mandates:
CompétencesMontréal.qc.ca and Crèperie Bretonne Ty-Breiz.
We're always looking for new challenges: contact us if you have any projects in mind!
Open-source content managements systems
Most of our clients are realizing how easy it is to update their website in-house without any prior programming knowledge, thanks to "content management systems" (CMS).
There are two approaches: installing and configuring open-source software available online, or building a CMS from scratch. For most "typical" websites that present standard information (text, images, news, etc), we don't need to reinvent the wheel: the best option is often to use an existing platform, because it has been tested and improved upon by thousands of developers around the world.
Many options exist for open-source CMS software, but one we've been using more frequently is called Drupal; among the most popular online. This CMS is flexible (great for programmers) and easy to learn and use (great for end-users). Also, thanks to its popularity, many "modules" are continually being created that can be used to add features to your website.
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