from the AIGA Hampton Roads Shameless Self-Promotion panel series

1. Hi.
I’m Heather.
I design and develop web pages.
Some of those web pages live inside
of Facebook fan pages.

2. Fan pages
allow you to publish custom content
by creating a Facebook app.

3. This app
generates a coupon for the latest sale
and offers ways for the user to share
the “ticket” on Facebook and Twitter.

4. This app
showcases weekly promotions.

5. A gate
is a common Facebook app.

6. This app
is for charity awareness.

7. This app
is for fundraising.

8. This app
is for a contest* @carters.
*consult an attorney

9. FBML
or Facebook Markup Language…

10. FBML
is deprecated and this is a really good thing.

11. iFrame apps
are now required.

12. iFrames
allow you to embed an external
Web page in your fan page.

13. Hosting
for an iFrame app is handled by the developer.

14. An SSL
certificate will be required for all iFramed
Facebook content in October.

15. iFrame apps
use standard HTML, CSS, and JavaScript like any other
Web page.

16. This is good
because it offers you more control of the content, page
changes are immediate and you can use best practices
as you would for other development.

17. 520px
is the width of Facebook’s iFrame.

18. Install
the developer app @ developers.facebook.com.
This is where you will go to create apps and edit
your app settings.

19. Developers
is also where you can read documentation
about the Facebook API and SDK.

20. Create an app
by choosing the “+ Create New App” button.

21. Name
your app and agree to Facebook’s Terms.

22. Setup
your app’s basic information.

23. Integrate
your app into Facebook by choosing “On Facebook” from
the left navigation and input canvas URLs for your page.

24. Choose
auto-resize* (unless you like scrollbars) and
input page URLs.
*You will need some JavaScript for this feature to work on your page.

25. Add the app
to your page by choosing “View App Profile Page” from
the navigation.

26. Add the app
to your page by choosing “Add to My Page” from the
navigation and then select the appropriate page from
the pop up window.

27. View app
on your page by navigating to the page.

28. Free is good.
If this development stuff just isn’t for you, and
you want a custom app, check out ShortStack.
They allow small fan pages (under 2,000 likes)
to publish custom tabs without all the hassle of
hosting and development.

29. Thanks.
Have fun building your own apps.
There are some great resources
and tutorials online. HyperArts
got me up to speed.
Hurry, now! And, if Facebook
doesn’t survive November,
Google+ for Business is looking
quite promising.
http://bit.ly/oQSfuD
hboone@mac.com.