CASE STUDY//FABLE LEARNING
September 19, 2016
THE STORY
Fable Learning is a child-focused content provider that has been working with us since 2011 when they were founded by renowned author Seymour Simon. After failing to work with several other companies, Fable Learning (formerly Starwalk Kids Media) came to us and asked if we can take care of all their software needs - website development, internal content management software, E-Pub reader and server management.
Back in 2011, StarWalk was several months behind schedule and investors were becoming worried. A contact at StarWalk Kids Media called us and asked if we can create their website in under two weeks so that they can prove to their investors that the project was under control.
In 10 days we delivered a fully functional website and since then, StarWalk Kids has developed tens of projects with Web3Box - leading to an acquisition by Isabella Products in 2016 and to a six figures grant from the NSF for their most innovative learning software - Fable Writer - a collaborative learning tool for students.
KEY DEVELOPMENT FEATURES
Here's what we've developed in the past 5 years for StarWalk Kids / Fable Learning:
- A custom tailored search function developed especially for children which takes into account their reading level and suggests search term edits as they type.
Technologies used and implementation: A custom PHP search algorithm that uses "levenstein" and "metaphone" to render an "sounds like" search experience. - A custom reporting function that is compliant with "educational standards" and provides relevant info about reads and sessions for educators.
Technologies used and implementation: A set of PHP scripts that handle reporting with cached results for processing speed when interacting with the MySQL DB. - Several custom login types specific for the educational and library systems - EZ Proxy / IP Authentication / SIP 2 Logins / Bar-code based patron access
Technologies used and implementation: PHP implementations 100% custom built for all of the above login systems ... all of them connecting to a central user storage engine. - Multi-language implementation for foreign children that can read the same books in both their native language and English
Technologies used and implementation: The entire Fable Learning website was built from scratch using language constants so switching to multi-language was a no-brainer - Custom built Android and iOS book readers to allow children to read e-books on touch enabled devices with audio read-along
Technologies used and implementation: Hybrid applications that mix Swift and Java code on one side and HTML5 web apps on the other to deliver the ultimate e-book reader experience. - Custom built server infrastructure with CDN and automatically deployed servers on an as needed basis
Technologies used and implementation: One click server deployment with custom configurations, One click CDN deployment and delivery for the best user experience regardless of Internet connection quality. - MARC Records customization using a custom build PHP library and File_MARC PEAR Package
RESULTS
After thousands of hours of work, thousands of individual GitHub commits and more than a million lines of code - Fable Learning is now one of the leaders in the Children Focused E-Book Industry.
- Close to 100k customers served through the website every day
- New educational software projects financed by the National Science Foundation
- E-Book numbers increased from aprox. 200 in 2011 to aprox. 1K in 2016
- Continuous expansion sliding from an e-Books only approach to a educational software company with Web3Box "in the back-end"
