evo design - graphics, photography, web
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Allerton Health Centre Website Launch
19
JulFollowing several months of research and development we are proud to announce the launch of the Allerton Health Centre website.
The goal of the project was to transform the existing treatment focussed microsite into a much more immersive, content rich and community oriented user experience. The Allerton Health Centre has been based on Smithdown Road, Allerton for over 20 years, delivering quality complementary health services to the local community.
It has a strong reputation for first rate care in areas of osteopathy, physiotherapy, colonic hydrotherapy, acupuncture, massage, cranial osteopathy, reflexology, reiki, aromatherapy, chinese and western herbal medicine. Our objective was to communicate this value through the user experience but in a highly accessible, structured and none-overpowering way.
The suggestion was to take the overlapping sections of treatments, practitioners and general healthcare and merge them naturally throughout the website in addition to leveraging other channels such as social media and email marketing.
News,
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Responsive Web Design
21
JunCall me unambitious but I think it’s unlikely the Boston Globe will ever be a client of ours. Nor for that matter will any other massive content publisher.
It’s for this reason and a few others that I increasingly view the charge towards responsive web design with cautious optimism.
It’s not that I am a naysayer, far from it. I’ve read Ethan Marcotte’s most excellent and recently published treatise as well as his earlier essay at A List Apart. I’ve read Andy Clarke’s take on things in the immaculate Hardboiled Web Design.
As have I read numerous opinions, articles and debates on the subject. I remain firmly unconvinced. Not unconvinced of the technical prowess, the user experience goals, the aim to make the world a better place but more unconvinced at the short and medium term commercial need for this approach.
Marc Drummond waxes lyrical about how Ethan gave him an epiphany (http://marcdrummond.com/web-standards/2011/06/20/hell-bad-devices-responsive-web-design-and-web-standards) which is perhaps testament to Marc’s abilities since all Ethan gave me was a headache and an overwhelming sense that I had to start doing math all over again.
In fairness Jeffrey Zeldman does point out in the forward that those expecting a box of tricks to sprinkle over a new website will need to look elsewhere; it’s hardcore.
It is set to become the first large scale implementation of responsive web design and for this reason, it’s a pretty big deal.
Great. But I say it again. It’s unlikely the Boston Globe will ever be a client of ours. For those struggling with the reference, Ethan Marcotte has been heavily involved with the redesign of the Globe’s new, as yet unreleased, website. It is set to become the first large scale implementation of responsive web design and for this reason, it’s a pretty big deal.
The thing with the Globe is they no doubt have firstly MANY users and secondly a multitude of devices, platforms and browser versions interacting with their content. As a news outlet a much higher percentage than norm of these devices will be smarthphones and tablets.
So the Globe is a fantastic candidate for a responsive approach. As a ‘publisher’ they are also a prime candidate for a content out approach so this is your bone fide, planets all lined up, universal harmony project for responsive. Fab.
They also have a significant budget and the means with which to contract the best and the brightest to build something truly amazing. Of course this sort of project and the persons writing the books, essays and articles are operating in the top 1% of the industry.
To use an architectural analogy it’s like offering a retired couple looking for a conservatory the latest insight into Norman Foster’s contemporary thinking on stadia design. Overkill!!
For the rest of us it’s a little different. To use an architectural analogy, it’s like offering a retired couple looking for a conservatory the latest insight into Norman Foster’s contemporary thinking on stadia design. Overkill!!
We’re all to blame of course. As web designers there exists some unseen force which pulls us towards the latest and greatest. Chasing our heros through twitter, subscribing to every blog, sitting opened jawed at web conferences, we dream of pier review and acceptance into the hallowed halls of web infamy.
The day to day commercial reality can be somewhat less glamourous. Technically ignorant clients, constrained budgets, timescales and limited content. We long for clients who allow us the freedom to go on an idealogical expedition on their dime, but of course that doesn’t happen.
We long for clients who allow us the freedom to go on an idealogical expedition on their dime
How do I even explain responsive web design to the majority of clients? If I don’t how do I justify the need for a bigger budget to support more devices? I’ve read a few extracts claiming that responsive needn’t mean more costly. Rubbish.
The notion that responsive web design does not add time and effort to a project is nonsense. And before anybody throws agile and browser prototyping in my face I say rubbish to that too.
The notion that responsive web design does not add time and effort to a project is nonsense.
Bypass Photoshop and simply design in the browser. Hmmm, yes I’ve seen the ubiquitous two column responsive layout too. Let’s not be overly liberal with the word design shall we.
So why not just go ahead and deploy responsive without telling clients and build it into the price? Because when they look at their website on their iphone they will call you up and say ‘I am not happy that my website looks different on an iphone.’ And can you blame them? Clients still live in a world of absolutes, believing that websites should look the same everywhere.
Clients still live in a world of absolutes, believing that websites should look the same everywhere.
It’s not a ridiculous notion either to be honest. Marketers and brand managers have spent decades learning about the importance of consistency and attention to detail. Us web lovies come along and tell them experience should change depending on where it’s viewed.
I would have some sympathy for this idea if it was the product of original thinking but it’s not. It’s a conclusion extrapolated from the technological limitations thrust upon us by a combination of different browsers and different screen sizes. We have actually managed to convince ourselves that it’s acceptable to argue with a client about brand consistency because of ‘the size of a screen’.
We have actually managed to convince ourselves that it’s acceptable to argue with a client about brand consistency because of ‘the size of a screen’.
We will never have the Boston Globe as a client. And perhaps you’re all nodding and pointing to the rant above as the reason why. Conservatism and close minded protectionism? In some sense yes. My business cannot afford to go on a liberal idealogical crusade. Our clients do not have the budget or the time and given most of them will enjoy mobile browser stats of less than 5% I’d be unethical to push an agenda based squarely on my need to satisfy my piers.
I love the idea of responsive web design. I love the philosophy of it and the passion with which it’s being pursued as an answer to some of the contemporary problems of content distribution. But can I suggest we don’t get too carried away just yet? You’re not about to go out of business guys because your competitors are selling lots of responsive sites.
And if they are, then maybe your client is the Boston Globe.
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iOS5, iCloud and Lion
06
JunJust a couple of hours ago Steve Jobs delivered the annual Apple World Wide Developer Conference keynote address in San Francisco. For the uninitiated in all things Apple, the much lauded keynote is the platform of announcements for all the forthcoming products and services from Apple. What follows is a quick(ish) breakdown of the most exciting developments due for release of the next few months.
What is most impressive about the announcements Apple have made today is firstly the sheer number of new features, services and applications scheduled for release over the next few months and also the cost, or rather lack of, of the new offerings. The much awaited OS X Lion, the next version of the Apple operating system will be priced at just £20 (insane), has no restriction on user installs and includes the server edition of the OS (previously sold separately).
Then there is the release of iOS5, the next generation mobile operating system from Apple. As has previously been the case this is a free update to iPad, iPod and iPhone users and given the breadth and depth of enhancements it’s sure to be comparable to an entirely new device purchase.
And finally, there is the much awaited launch of iCloud - a service infrastructure which will both replace and extend the features of the old MobileMe service. Previously carrying a sizeable annual subscription this new service is completely free.
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Grand Rapids Goes Viral
06
JunCity (and Country) branding has become increasingly popular as competition for tourists continues to grow. There are in fact agencies who handle this type of work exclusively, helping city’s define, establish and publicise their brand. Unfortunately it can all be a bit samey. Similar rhetoric, creative direction, gimmicky logos…
There are numerous examples of city branding / marketing around nowadays the most common being TV ads. 30 - 60 second stabs of local celebrities and dignitaries telling you why their town is great. Creative stuff…. Harumph!!
What’s both unique and fantastic about the following example is that it’s not the result of some uber-agency charging megabucks, it’s the brainchild of Grand Rapids local resident - 22 year old Rob Bliss. Responding to some negative press about his (so called) failing city, Rob developed the concept and pulled together the 3000 or so local residents to execute an impressive 10 minutes continuous shot lipsync of Don McLean classic - American Pie.
The greatest music video ever made - Roger Ebert
However cynical one might be about this sort of thing, you cannot argue the viral merits of this attempt and if nothing else the logistical execution of a ten minute continuous shot spread across a few city blocks, involving 3000 residents is clearly impressive. Pulitzer prize winning film critic Roger Ebert called it ‘The Greatest Music Video Ever Made’. Decide for yourself…
Costing about $40,000 and underwritten by YouTube sponsors the recent release has already attracted 2.5millions views. Only time will tell if there is a sustainable impact on brand but I for one know more about Grand Rapids than I did yesterday.
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The Web Designers Reading List
02
JunThe selection of available reading for web designers and associated professionals is staggering. Without wishing to overlook some of the seminal works, here are just a handful of the more recent titles which should be close to hand for any standards junkies.
The various authors and contributors to these titles are all well known and live amongst the elite group of individuals who exist at the very top of the industry - making and shaping the future we will all be designing for.
Although I haven’t read it yet and hence can’t recommend, the following is also available from Five Simple Steps - A Practical Guide to Information Architecture by Donna Spencer. And also due out next week from A Book Apart is the eagerly awaited Responsive Web DesignNews,
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Organising Content through Information Architecture
02
JunWhat happens before a website is live? What does it take to build a website? What is involved? Creating a high quality user experience, in which visitors find relevant content and consequently the objectives of the website are met, is not a simple matter of dressing up press releases and regurgitating company statements.
Information architecture is the rather grandiose title given over to organising content efficiently and effectively, in a way that provides the best user experience whilst continuing to meet the objectives of an organisation’s website.
In order to effectively architect a website, particularly for larger projects, it’s vital to have a clear content strategy - the rules governing the type and structure of content as well as the means to harvest and maintain the content. And for all of this to work properly, it must be planned.
So returning to the original question, what happens before a website is live? What does it take? What is involved? Planning. Lots and lots of planning and drawing and scribbling:
The somewhat inadequate title of web design, creates a rather false impression that ‘design’, in traditional terms, forms a significant part of the overall project. Whilst it is true we want projects to deliver aesthetically, in reality the organisation of good quality content will have a much stronger bearing on user experience than pretty colours and pictures.
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Creating compound paths in InDesign
01
JunEver needed to knock out (mask) a section of an object to allow a background object to show through? All very easy in Photoshop and Illustrator but is it possible in InDesign, of course it is - here’s how.
Looking at the example above shows how the ornamental rules break in the middle for the text labels. They also allow the background image to show through. With no background image this is as simple as drawing a white object but this isn’t possible when an object sits behind.
Here is a closer look minus background. So how to create a compound path, just follow the steps below:
The process is the same as Illustrator. Create an object to be used as the mask and place it behind the object to be masked.
Select both objects (the mask and the object to be masked) and select ‘Minus Back’. Voila, a perfect mask which objects behind will show through.
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authentic jobs uk
26
MayLiterally no word of a lie, I was pondering the other night how the UK could benefit from a jobs website for designers built using a similar approach to Authentic Jobs.
It would seem this portentous moment was not left unanswered since as I arrive at the desk this morning I see @elliotjaystocks talking about the launch of Authentic Jobs UK
This is fantastic news for the UK web development market. Not only do we now have a space dedicated to our cause but instead of your conventional clunky jobs market websites which feel like you’re booking a flight circa 1999, the site has been lovingly crafted by @cameronmoll et al and is therefore both excellent and a tour de force of adaptive design.
Owing to the spectacular £1 job listing offer currently available it seemed silly not to take advantage and post a position - http://uk.authenticjobs.com/jobs/8598/junior-web-designer-developer
Great work to everybody involved in this project and best of luck for authentic jobs uk
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Spirit of Merseyside Awards 2011
20
MayThe Mark McQueen Foundation is once again delighted to be sponsoring an award at the annual Spirit of Merseyside Awards.
For those unfamiliar with the event it truly is a wonderful and humbling evening. Last year’s event was hosted against the breathtaking backdrop of the Anglican Cathedral and showcased some of the city’s most charitable individuals and organisations recognising and honouring their contribution to the community. Local celebrities, dignitaries and businesses come together to enjoy a wonderful three course dinner followed by the presentation ceremony.
This year the Mark McQueen Foundation has chosen to sponsor The Children, Young People and Families Award, the finalists of which are:
- Amy and Friends – Wirral
- Twin Vision – Liverpool
- Venus – Sefton
- Rampworx – Sefton
- Team Oasis – Liverpool
The Mark McQueen Foundation supports sustainable projects and charities in Merseyside, and other areas, around the theme of young men’s mental health and strategic research into suicide. It also supports young musicians and musical activities that engage with young men to reflect Mark’s passion for music.The Mark McQueen Foundation’s ultimate aim is to reduce the rate of male suicide in Merseyside and the UK.
Grants are available every six months. To apply for a grant, please visit www.cfmerseyside.org.uk or contact the Grants Team on 0151 232 2444.
To make a donation
TEXT MARK01 £5 to 70070
(or any donation amount)or contact
Cathy Elliott - Manager of The Mark McQueen Foundation at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)You can follow the activities of the Mark McQueen Foundation on Twitter @mmcqfoundation
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Penny Lane in Spring
20
May7AM on a glorious spring day. Everywhere is quiet, not a soul around, the air is fresh, the ground is moist and the sky is the limit.
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Complementary Health Allerton
16
MayWe are delighted to be working on a long term project with Jennifer Green - Allerton Health Centre to rebrand and better communicate the exceptional range of complementary health services available.
For those unfamiliar the Allerton Health Centre has been based on Smithdown Road for over 10 years. During that time it has built a sound reputation as a pain relief clinic for the treatment of acute and chronic muscular and skeletal ailments in addition to providing a range of health and wellbeing treatments such as acupuncture, chiropody and colonic hydrotherapy.
Our aim over coming months is to better communicate this range of services through improved shop front graphics, point of sale, literature and supporting website. Work has already begun through a combination of advertising, in store literature and the introduction of twitter (@allerton) and facebook marketing.
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Penny Lane Development Trust Challenge Cup
13
MayKicking Off @ 1PM on Saturday 21st May 2011, the inaugural Challenge Cup sees Penny Lane Select take on Mossley Hill AFC at Grove Mount playing field in a charity event welcoming the community.
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Urban Chic from Sleep in Style
12
MayWe have just finished a commission to deliver a new look website for Wavertree based specialist bedroom designer - Sleep in Style.
Sleep in Style have been based at 83 High Street, Wavertree for some years and have become well known as a high quality bedroom design, construction and installation firm. A recent shift towards fashionable ultra chic, modern bedroom furniture such as gloss sliding panel wardrobes, has brought about a significant change in the Sleep in Style brand.
Following a complete redesign of the showroom and store front, Sleep in Style turned to evodesign to give the website the same uber contemporary feel. Dispensing with pages of waffly content, Sleep in Style were clear they wanted focus on product and for the website to convey the essence of the new brand.
The website is a great example of how well a single page can function when design and content are architected harmoniously
Our delivery is a single page solution, yet with an elegant Javascript sliding product browser. In spite of only consisting of a single page the arrangement of content and subtle styling creates a compelling user experience. Indeed, the website is a great example of how well a single page can function when design and content are architected harmoniously.
We are delighted with the results from evo.
Our client simply had this to say, “We are delighted with the results from evo. We asked the to site reflect the new contemporary feel of the brand with focus on example photos of what our business offers. They have delivered exactly that, everyone is keen to assess the impact of the new site over the coming months.” For more information you can visit the website at www.sleepinstyle.com.
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Web Design Jobs Liverpool
05
MayThis is not a job advert - sorry. However, it is an attempt to build up a list of hungry, excitable freelancers who like to jump on and off projects and are available within the Liverpool area.
Please drop a portfolio link to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or tweet us www.twitter.com/evodesign. Any of the following warmly welcomed:
- Front End Designers - CSS Wizards
- Application Developers - PHP Sages
- Illustrators - Drawing Demons
- Graphic Designers - Brand Gurus
Don’t forget to let us know your freelance rates, and whether you drink larger or alco-pops.Cheers Guys!
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Penny Lane - The perfect place to get creative
03
Mayevodesign is one of a growing number of businesses lucky enough to have an address along the world famous Penny Lane.
Not only do we have a great address, our office is in the fantastic Penny Lane Development Trust community centre. The centre was completed in 2010, with evo moving in around July and since then it’s become a second home. Stunning views, great people and a perfect place to work hard(ish) and be creative.
Work in and around the community centre has been ongoing since opening, with huge effort going into landscaping to capitalise on the large numbers of people who come from all over the world to see this historic location.
The area surrounding the centre is a patchwork of popular culture references relating to the local area and in particular the Beatles. The importance of the area in the context of the Beatles is evident all around and embodied magically in the spectacular centerpiece Beatles wall.
The Allerton / Smithdown area is a dense community of residential and commercial activity; an ideal spot to live and work. The increasing numbers of tourists, boosted by organised tours, is evidence enough that south Liverpool has a part to play in the city’s ever improving tourist credentials. We are simply happy to be immersed and involved in such exciting times.
If you would like to know more about the Penny Lane Development Trust you can visit the website or follow on twitter @PennyLaneDT
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Webby Awards - Are they losing touch?
05
MayThe 2010 and 14th Webby Awards have been announced and celebrate the very best in current web design, interactive advertising, online film and video and mobile web development. But are they, once again, a little Flash heavy in this contemporary world of standards?
Certainly this question comes at a time when debate, if not down right argument, has reached epic proportions over whether or not Flash has any future on the web. The press over the past 10 days has been littered with punch, counter-punch between Apple and Adobe with regards the suitability of Flash as a platform for our mobile future. So, are the Webby’s, which have always been a little pro-Flash, beginning to lose step with reality?
Even a casual glance through this year’s winners reveals a significant number of Flash based websites, which leads once to wonder - what are the awards awarding? It is common knowledge that with the exception of a PC, Flash runs quite poorly on many devices. This is particularly evident under Safari on Mac OS X. This being the case, many of the websites in receipt of Webby awards provide a sub-standard user experience on a number of platforms. This is not to detract from their undoubted design credentials of course, but haven’t we now reached a point where web design is more than just - ‘pretty animation’?
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Profit Warning
14
Janevodesign announces first quarter profit warning following unforeseen infrastructure investment.
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The Ad Man
15
OctSo much of advertising focusses on perceptions and not reality - but why?
It turns out we are just as thrilled with perceived value as we are with real value.
Whilst it’s important to avoid gaps between perception and reality (cognitive dissonance), there’s nothing wrong with having a little fun with marketing communications.
This is superbly demonstrated by Rory Sutherland in an amusing and insightful TED lecture called - Life Lessons From An Ad Man.
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The Reality of Viral
13
OctIn an attempt to improve the plain old viral, many companies are now turning to reality marketing. We’ve all seen it but what is it?
In its simplest terms, reality marketing involves the production of something, typically video, in which the content is seemingly real and not the product of a several million pound media campaign.
The essence of reality marketing is to remove the ‘corporate’ entity from the equation at the onset, and in so doing, liberate the viewer from preconception.
Without this burden the viewer is watching for pure interest alone. When the reveal is made the viewer is intrigued by the curious juxtaposition of the natural content and the novelty of it actually being an advert. The YouTube example below is from the Sony Twilight Football Campaign.
Of course the obvious question is - “Is this not just like any other advert, filmed using a camcorder?”. The short answer is yes, but as it’s not delivered by conventional mass media and instead quietly seeded across the internet in an entirely non-commercial way, it’s not immediately clear - and this is what creates the intrigue.The concept keeps the primary features of a viral, in that the novelty, interest and perhaps comedy value are compelling enough to tell your friends about it. The clever twist of corporate affiliation has people saying things like ‘have you seen the really cool Sony video for their twilight camera’.
This is a far more potent force than, ‘have you seen the advert for that camera’, which for the most part invites a ‘no’ and ‘I’m not that interested’.
For a more in depth look with examples head over to Campaign website and look at the article From Branded Content to Reality Marketing.
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Jungle Disk Server Edition
07
OctA commercially viable automated backup solution for web design agencies using Amazon S3. Sweet!
For any small business there are a multitude of ways to backup data as part of a disaster recovery plan.
Unfortunately, each tends to have several drawbacks and quite often cost is a biggy. Server infrastructure, administrator skill, specialist hardware, co-location - all carry with them a big cost burden.
There are turnkey, quick fix solutions using file synchronisation services and such, or you can opt for a local system and take media home each day - but come one, are these genuine disaster recovery strategies?
Things were made a lot simpler when Amazon announced S3 and gave the world cheap as chips data storage in the cloud. Okay, so it’s a little techie to get to grips with but the folks at JungleDisk took the heavy lifting out and gave us a really neat way to use S3 for automated data backup.
Well they just went one better…
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A Holistic Approach to Search Engine Marketing
16
SepAsk any PR guru and they will tell you one of the biggest problems with press releases is tracking conversions - in other words attributing a given activity directly to the release.
Historically PR has been regarded as an activity that falls outside the domain of marketing. This flawed approach has only been overcome in the last decade or so, during which time companies have begun to see how PR and traditional marketing activities should work in unison.
internet marketing; the place in which PR and marketing become so intertwined as to be almost inseparable
Perhaps the biggest reason for this merging is the growth of internet marketing; the place in which PR and marketing become so intertwined as to be almost inseparable.
Nevertheless, the infrastructure of the web and the different nature of consumerism online bring unique challenges which must be approached with an unconventional strategy.
Several hundred years ago the world gave birth to the printing press and in so doing, for better or worse also came the newspaper. For a monochrome, 2D, low resolution medium the de facto method of grabbing attention became the headline. It’s no different today. The average news stand has a seemingly infinite number of papers and magazines, each vying for your attention.
Print has always used the headline; ergo the goal of the journalist is to produce eye-catching, clever headlines which, in an instant, turn that casual glance into an insatiable need to find out more…. and hence, make you part with your money.
A computer algorithm can’t unpick the nuance of a metaphorical headline.
The human brain has a limitless capacity to invoke symbols and images, play with metaphor, debate irony, double entendre and the word play. This offers the average journalist an enormous catalogue of potential when crafting those wonderful headlines. On the web things are very different. Very different indeed.
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What is Viral Marketing?
01
SepThe frequent use of the term viral marketing and/or viral advertising would suggest a relatively new phenomena. In fact the idea has been around and used with success for many years, though it’s true, in the area of Web 2.0 - social networks, video sharing and Flash gaming, viral marketing has seen an explosion.
Viral marketing itself is not tied to any specific medium and at its core refers to the way in which information is spread. The notion that the message is self-replicating, in other words the recipient is filled with a desire to ‘spread the word’ gives rise to the idea of a virus.
Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter create the perfect conditions for a marketing virus
It just so happens the world of social networking and video sharing using applications such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter create the perfect conditions for a marketing virus.
Unfortunately many organisations fall foul when embarking on a viral marketing quest. They do so because they fixate on the concept of the virus (the vehicle) rather than the content (the payload). In other words, marketers think the following: Facebook is cool. Therefore my message will be cool. Therefore Facebook users will think my company is cool.
If there is one thing users of Facebook are not going to think, it’s that you’re cool for using Facebook
Not true. If there is one thing users of Facebook are not going to think, it’s that you’re cool for using Facebook. In much the same way as someone using a telephone doesn’t think you’re cool if you are using one as well.
To truly go viral you need to ‘not’ think viral and instead take your product, service, company or brand and make it look completely different to anything that’s come before. You need to turn things on their head and present them in such a way that people are genuinely surprised, even for just a few seconds.
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Media Temple in the UK
12
AprYou read a lot of negativity around the blogosphere relating to Media Temple - so when evo decided to find a new hosting partner, we thought we’d find out for ourselves.
Over the years evo has partnered with 1and1 and HeartInternet to provide client hosting services.
Both have been exemplary and more recently Heart have demonstrated rock solid uptime and great customer service. However, our client’s are becoming more demanding, or rather our client’s websites are becoming more demanding and to work effectively we require a far more scaleable solution.
Our requirements are maximum uptime and speed, flexibility, complete control and rock solid scalability. If a client finds themselves lucky enough to appear on the front page of Digg - it’s our job to ensure their website can sustain the bludgeoning it will receive. If we fail to deliver a service capable of this the client loses out big time - which means so do we.
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Monochrome Madness
24
MarIt’s always nice to be noticed, and the evo site has been picked up in an article on WebDesigner Depot - titled 50 Monochromatic Websites.
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Make Your Budget Work
05
MarSuccessful marketing relies on research; knowing your customers and your marketplace.
This is not rocket science, but so many businesses pour money into advertising channels that are completely fruitless.
They don’t do it on purpose, they do it because they make unfounded assumptions about their market.
Make conclusions not assumptions.
It’s so easy in business to draw unsubstantiated conclusions about what we do. Perhaps borne out of a desire to impress, to demonstrate we know our market, or maybe naivety. Whatever the reason you should always try to justify your claims. Make conclusions not assumptions.
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Accessibility in a Nutshell
05
MarEnsuring your website can be used by everyone is not simply about law and ethics, it makes great business sense.
For many years businesses have been required by law to ensure their premises are disability friendly. In particular retail facilities must ensure appropriate placement of lifts, toilets, hand rails and ramps so that anybody in a wheelchair can enjoy the same shopping experience as those on foot.
There is already legislation in place to ensure businesses maximise the usability of their website for those with disabilities.
It stands to reason that your website, the digital representation of your business, should abide by the same laws and ethical codes as your bricks and mortar namesake. And not surprisingly it does. There is already legislation in place to ensure businesses maximise the usability of their website for those with disabilities.
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Email Marketing Works!
09
FebAsk your customers to buy. I read this in a business development kit by Brendon Sinclair published by Sitepoint. Many businesses have great products and/or services but fail to get around to asking their customers to buy.
It seems a huge over-simplification of what businesses refer to as marketing. In fact there are organisations who fail to deploy an adequate marketing channel with a succinct call to action.
“Hey Guys, we make ‘this’ and we think it would be great for you. It does x,y,z and is available at this discounted price for a short time. If you’re interested - do this!”
In fact there are organisations who fail to deploy an adequate marketing channel with a succinct call to action.
Sounds very straightforward? It is quite staggering how many people don’t actually utilise such a basic approach to developing their business.
Some would argue they send out their glossy brochure with a business card. Or invite people to look on their website. This is not the same. This is asking people to look. It’s not asking them to buy.
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ExpressionEngine is too cool.
29
NovOf all content management systems, I think EE has to be best.
The age old problem for all web developers. Does a system exist that can manage my content efficiently, but does not confine me to a stylistic straight jacket?
As any web developer will tell you, making the decision to jump from static content to managed content has always been a pained one.
On the one hand there are enormous benefits from having control panel access to all of your editorial content. With a plethora of plugins and modules you can add just about any functionality you need to a system - so the benefits can be significant.
As any web developer will tell you, making the decision to jump from static content to managed content has always been a pained one.
But then there’s the cost. Not financial per se, but the time it’s going to take you to shoehorn your elegant design into some strangely constructed theme system.
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Does my website look big in this?
28
NovYou’d be surprised just how different your website looks to other people.
According to the tome of all knowledge, Wikipedia - usability is defined as a term denoting the ease with which people can employ a particular tool, or other man made object to achieve a particular goal.
Usability is not a huge problem for many publicists since most mainstream media is published through highly standardised mediums - such as televisions. A news reader does not have to concern himself with how his jaw will look on a variety of different TVs since the world’s televisions behave in a very similar manner.
The world’s browsers perform in a variety of ways, that are often so peculiar as to render a website entirely inoperable
Unfortunately this is not true for web designers. The world’s browsers perform in a variety of ways, that are often so peculiar as to render a website entirely inoperable - even though it looked fine when you designed it.
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Quotation Marks in CSS
27
NovA good quote does wonders for an article; so how can CSS help?
I recently realised what I always assumed was simple is made incredibly complex by the myriad of implementations user agents have for CSS quoting.
According to CSS2, adding quote marks to any blockquote automatically, should be pain free. The spec handles it in such a way as to be entirely language independent - negating hard coded quote marks and allowing simple style sheet changes.
It would appear there’s nothing really simple about it at all however. So, standing on the shoulders of giants I did some searching and found a great explanation, and functioning code on David’s Kitchen.
I would heartily advise your read the full article to understand what’s happening but for those impatient developer’s out there, as we all are - click read more for an easy to drop in code sample.
CSS,
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Fresh New Brand
26
NovEVO becomes evodesign, with a host of services and advice for its growing client base.
After much work the transition to evodesign has been completed.
The change marks a consolidation of evo’s service portfolio and an improving of the brand styling to better reflect the evo way.
News,
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EVO launches Superlambananastore.com
13
AugNow everybody can enjoy the lambs of Liverpool at SuperlambananaStore.
EVO, in association with ICARUS Photographic Services, is proud to announce the arrival of Superlambananastore.com. For anybody not familiar with the, borderline hysteria, that surrounds the lambs of Liverpool then get ready for a surprise.
Anybody else who is familiar and indeed harbours a soft spot for the little beasties, can head on over and immerse yourself in everything Superlamb.
News,
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EVO on DesignSnack
01
AugEVO is happy to make it into the showcase section of DesignSnack a gallery of some of the best web design around.
The Design Snack has some truly great work, showcasing some of the very best in modern web design. A big thank you to anybody who voted to get the EVO site into the main showcase gallery.
News,
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Coffee Shop Security
10
JunThese days we are carrying a lot of secure data on our mobile devices and increasing prevalence of free wireless internet access offers huge convenience. But how can we make sure we’re not being watched?
If you find yourself in a coffee shop using the free wireless broadband keep in mind that you are operating on the same network as anybody else in that coffee shop. As such your device, and all the other connected devices are visible. When something can be seen, it means it’s easier to access.
You first line of security when working on open networks is to disable File Sharing. Under Windows this can be accessed via network properties, on a Mac via System Preferences, File Sharing. By disabling this feature you substantially increase the effort required to browse your computers hard drive remotely.
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iTunes UK Gets Movies
04
JunAt long last iTunes UK users finally get the chance to purchase and rent movies as their American cousins have been doing for some time.
Movie purchases are £6.99 for library tittles, £10.99 for new releases, with rentals at £2.49 and £3.49 respectively. HD rentals are an extra £1.00. Not all together bad pricing when compared with Sky Box Office or a Blockbuster rental especially when factoring the enormous convenience.
Of course the real beneficiaries of this announcement are those who have an AppleTV. The AppleTV is the device that sits next to your TV wirelessly syncing content with your computer so you can access it through your TV Home Cinema system.
The AppleTV has been around for quite some time but Apple have been reluctant to push it in the UK until movies where availabe on iTunes. Whilst the device makes an excellent living room juke box it’s the movies that have the real potential to make AppleTV a must have Christmas gadget.
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3G iPhone Coming Soon
03
JunRumours abound that Apple will be shortly releasing the much anticipated 3G iPhone. What will this mean for existing iPhone users?
On Monday 9th June Apple will be holding its annual Worldwide Devloper’s Conference in San Francisco. One of two annual events held by Apple which are typically used as a platform for new product releases. The standard format is for the charismatic CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, to take to the stage and present 60 minutes of dramatic reveals and demos of new gadgets and software. Most recently this took the form of the iPhone release, Apple’s first venture into the world of mobile phones.
The iPhone has been a huge success since it release taking up a sizeable chunk of the mobile phone market. Yet for a phone that boasts so much, many are still unsatisfied.
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Flash Back!
30
MayI recently stumbled across the Bargain Booze website, and was instantly taken with the animated backdrop.
When I found it to be a Flash animation I was further impressed. Not only did I want to know how to use Flash scenes as a backdrop, I wanted to find a way to tie those backdrops to the bottom of the browser window.
Ignoring the Flash for just a moment; the object of this exercise is to position content at the bottom of the browser window and have it remain there, regardless of resizing or scrolling of the window; without Javascript. It can be done but it requires a few workarounds but it’s about the most elegant solution I’ve seen thus far.
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A Simple Mootools Slider
05
AprMootools is a great Javascript framework. Using it to achieve great effects couldn’t be easier.
With essentially no Javascript knowledge whatsoever you can use many of the effects in the library with ease. For instance the slider effect to switch the navigation on and off at the top of this page is done like this.
Firstly, head on over to Mootools and download yousrself the framework. To keep you code light on its feet you can choose to only download the bits you need and leave the rest. You will need the Core, obviously, Window.DomReady and Fx.Slide. Tick each component and then download the js file.
Place it in a suitable location on your website and then include it in the head of your website…
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Lightbox and Smooth Gallery
03
AprSome will know how much I am a fan of JonsDesigns Smooth Gallery.
But what if you like a little Lightbox action too? Mootools and Scrip.aculo.us don’t play nicely, so what’s the answer.
For the uninitiated SmoothGallery is a Javascript application built on the Mootools framework. It’s a great, lightweight alternative to using Flash all with the added benefit of rich, semantic content and accessibility. Smooth cross-fading, slideshows and galleries with a number of options to help customise.
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Make The Logo Bigger
03
AprFor those designers who are getting worked up by client change requests.
Remember if it were your company you’d want things to be just right too. Don’t get too precious about your work; it’s all part of the process. And in situations where your head feels like it might explode.. Make yourself a coffee, put the phone on Do Not Disturb, sit back in your big ergonomic chair, turn up the bass and listen to a chorus or two of this little gem.
Discovered by a friend @ CreativeTechs.com
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Finding the Needle
17
MarThere are literally billions of web pages out there, how do you ensure your website ranks top of the world’s search engines.
The number one goal of any webmaster is to get the sites they host into visible locations in the directories and search engines of the world wide web. In fact the phrase that encompasses this activity and the number one buzzword for a plethora of tech businesses is - SEO, or search engine optimisation.
The essence of this practice is to understand the criteria that ‘tick the boxes’ of the major search engines and ensure your sites meet these criteria. But is it science, art or black art.
A great number of SEO companies will give you chapter and verse on the scientific approach to better ranking, and of course there are a huge number of techniques to enhance a website’s appeal to a given indexing algorithm. But when all said and done a website’s visibility rests squarely on a single concept - content.
SEO,
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All That Flash!
13
FebToo much of anything can be a bad thing. But too much Flash could be costing you visits to your website. We have a look at some of the reasons Flash is not always the best solution and why indeed many web gurus avoid it all together.
Flash is a phenomenal technology. In the days when web standards were poorly adopted, browsers weren’t very sophisticated and connection speeds were poor, Flash changed the way we used the web by offering a lightweight, platform independent technology that allowed us to deliver very rich multimedia experiences.
Of course with great power comes great responsibility and as such we were plagued by hideous Flash sites, bad pre-loaders, splash screens and a host of highly irritating methods of implementing site navigation. Fortunately things have moved on, or rather web developers have moved on and now tend to stick to using Flash for what it really works for - animation and multimedia content delivery.
We still see our fair share of entirely Flash based websites however, particularly popular with huge brands - Nike, Audi, Sony etc. Personally I dislike Flash when used to entirely displace conventional hypertext based sites. Why? The telephone is a universally ubiquitous design. It doesn’t matter if I am in Japan, Australia, Mexico or Manchester, if I pick up a phone I will be able to use it. The same is true of the world wide web - within reason.