We've made a decent living out of it for the last 10 years but now it seems the good times are about to stop. The cat is out of the bag - you don't need designers to do your website ..... I may as well be the first to let you know .... all the help you need for design is now here;
http://www.makemylogobiggercream.com/
Anyone need a dedicated, motivated and passionate Managing Director around the Leicester area????
Gary McCarthy,
www.eazytiger.net
Thursday, 21 February 2008
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Huge Website Improvements Minimal Effort!
Hi All,
Sorry my blogging has been tardy recently.... we've been busy re-branding the city of Leicester along with some major work for clients like Xerox and Tesco!!
This lack of time extends to updating our website - but I've learnt some valuable lessons (or remembered some) so i thought it would be good to share....
About two weeks ago I lost patience with the fact that we are web designers and yet we had a home page i hated.
It really needed some "wow factor" adding to the very informative layout that we had. One of the two images we had on a very visible part of our home page was very poor and i particularly disliked. So in the absence of a good portion of time to think through a strategy and make a proper job from day one we did things in a "maximum impact" way.
The theory being make the changes that take the least time but create the most impact and keep the train rolling in the right direction. The first thing we did was to remove the annoying image, creating more space and instantly giving everything else on the page more room for impact. Cost? A few minutes.
Next we re-jigged the layout and gave more impact to the navigation, we did this at the next available opportunity a few days later. Cost? about 6hrs.
This new layout relied on the impact being made by a flash movie in the centre of the screen - but we didn't have time to develop one that we'd be proud of - so we placed a placeholder static image in there for a week or so. Again not ideal but still meant that the site improved even though we hadn't got time to fulfil everything we wanted to.
To come are the first iteration of a simple flash movie that will have a shelf life of a month and will take about 3 hrs. Then we'll make a real high impact flash movie that will take 2 days over the next month or so.
So what we have acheived is a constantly improving home page that will be transformed into the one that we wanted just not in one step.
Somebody told me once that the only way to eat an elephant was to make burgers out of it ..... seems to be a good way of achieving constant improvement too.
Take Care,
Gary McCarthy
Sorry my blogging has been tardy recently.... we've been busy re-branding the city of Leicester along with some major work for clients like Xerox and Tesco!!
This lack of time extends to updating our website - but I've learnt some valuable lessons (or remembered some) so i thought it would be good to share....
About two weeks ago I lost patience with the fact that we are web designers and yet we had a home page i hated.
It really needed some "wow factor" adding to the very informative layout that we had. One of the two images we had on a very visible part of our home page was very poor and i particularly disliked. So in the absence of a good portion of time to think through a strategy and make a proper job from day one we did things in a "maximum impact" way.
The theory being make the changes that take the least time but create the most impact and keep the train rolling in the right direction. The first thing we did was to remove the annoying image, creating more space and instantly giving everything else on the page more room for impact. Cost? A few minutes.
Next we re-jigged the layout and gave more impact to the navigation, we did this at the next available opportunity a few days later. Cost? about 6hrs.
This new layout relied on the impact being made by a flash movie in the centre of the screen - but we didn't have time to develop one that we'd be proud of - so we placed a placeholder static image in there for a week or so. Again not ideal but still meant that the site improved even though we hadn't got time to fulfil everything we wanted to.
To come are the first iteration of a simple flash movie that will have a shelf life of a month and will take about 3 hrs. Then we'll make a real high impact flash movie that will take 2 days over the next month or so.
So what we have acheived is a constantly improving home page that will be transformed into the one that we wanted just not in one step.
Somebody told me once that the only way to eat an elephant was to make burgers out of it ..... seems to be a good way of achieving constant improvement too.
Take Care,
Gary McCarthy
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
Web Accessibility
Happy new year!!!
And guess who has reprimanded himself for sloppy blogging and has committed himself to more regular posts?? Well it's easier than going to the gym!
Interesting article on the BBC website today - apparently 10% of all websites are not accessible .... you don't say!!!
For as long as I remember we have banged the accessibility drum at Eazytiger. We certainly aim to have all sites accessible in all browsers, operating systems and devices, and only where serious technical issues limit the commercial reality of this dream do we compromise. And by compromise i mean move an item a few pixels, or change the design slightly to accommodate. It seems the world is cottoning on to the fact that Microsoft only supplies 85% of web browsers and that this is being eroded steadily.
It's interesting that most web designers design for IE, and commercially quite sensible if you are playing the quantity game - design as many sites in a week as you can and just get them out there - stack them high sell them cheap mentality. Our philosophy is quite different and summed up in 3 words - quality, quality, quality ... initially built to web standards (W3C) our sites will render in any standards compliant device. We then test in IE6 and 7, which aren't standards compliant but form the vast majority of browsers.
By taking this alternative route we can ensure a greater degree of future friendliness for our sites as the standards that they comply with are adopted by new devices and browsing environments.
The link to the full article is here .... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4115806.stm
Enjoy! And if you have an Eazytiger site - sit back and have a well deserved coffee for a great decision that you've just had another reason to feel ever so slightly smug about!!
Speak soon,
Gary McCarthy.
And guess who has reprimanded himself for sloppy blogging and has committed himself to more regular posts?? Well it's easier than going to the gym!
Interesting article on the BBC website today - apparently 10% of all websites are not accessible .... you don't say!!!
For as long as I remember we have banged the accessibility drum at Eazytiger. We certainly aim to have all sites accessible in all browsers, operating systems and devices, and only where serious technical issues limit the commercial reality of this dream do we compromise. And by compromise i mean move an item a few pixels, or change the design slightly to accommodate. It seems the world is cottoning on to the fact that Microsoft only supplies 85% of web browsers and that this is being eroded steadily.
It's interesting that most web designers design for IE, and commercially quite sensible if you are playing the quantity game - design as many sites in a week as you can and just get them out there - stack them high sell them cheap mentality. Our philosophy is quite different and summed up in 3 words - quality, quality, quality ... initially built to web standards (W3C) our sites will render in any standards compliant device. We then test in IE6 and 7, which aren't standards compliant but form the vast majority of browsers.
By taking this alternative route we can ensure a greater degree of future friendliness for our sites as the standards that they comply with are adopted by new devices and browsing environments.
The link to the full article is here .... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4115806.stm
Enjoy! And if you have an Eazytiger site - sit back and have a well deserved coffee for a great decision that you've just had another reason to feel ever so slightly smug about!!
Speak soon,
Gary McCarthy.
Thursday, 18 October 2007
eCommerce product catalogs ...
eCommerce (never started a sentence with the word before - should it have two capitals!!???) sites are extremely difficult to design in a new and creative way every time. The constraints of content management for the catalog mean that they tend to follow a familiar route of having a product and it's details within a box. No bad thing as users don't like surprises and this can make them less likely to part with their hard-earned.
However I thought I'd show you a couple that I've come across recently that have creatively displayed multiple products within a catalog without regard to this convention. Unfortunately they are not likely to be accessible so would actually be illegal if the government ever got round to enforcing it’s own laws. But they are fun and inspiring none the less…..
http://www.etsy.com/time_machine.php
https://www.cicatriz.se/
Have you seen any better examples?????
I’d love to see them.
Take care, Gary.
However I thought I'd show you a couple that I've come across recently that have creatively displayed multiple products within a catalog without regard to this convention. Unfortunately they are not likely to be accessible so would actually be illegal if the government ever got round to enforcing it’s own laws. But they are fun and inspiring none the less…..
http://www.etsy.com/time_machine.php
https://www.cicatriz.se/
Have you seen any better examples?????
I’d love to see them.
Take care, Gary.
Thursday, 11 October 2007
Web design of the future..
Sorry it's been a while since my last post. A great holiday to Gran canaria was followed by two weeks at work with my head dissapearing somewhere!
I gained a fascinating insight into the future of web design last night. My 8 year old son has been telling me all week about his great new discovery - club penguin.
It's a social networking site for young people - the idea is that you make a character, a penguin, that you can explore the club penguin world with, interacting with other penguins as well as games, fun and educational activities.
I told someone about this who has a 2 year old daughter and they were horified that I was encouraging him to spend time on there .... a clear differentiator between a web native and a web immigrant???
Well, I would have thought so - but I'm 38 and an immigrant and she's 28 and much nearer to being a native. Oh, by the way, the term web native is someone that has known the internet at school and used it as part of their daily lives since early adulthood. Obviously web immigrant is someone that hasn't. The current cross over point is 20 - 23 years old.
It seems not. It seems that it may have been more to do with a security issue. Personally I think that the time to educate someone that the internet and web persona's are real people and a manifestation of their imagination, and to be aware of the risks whilst still enjoying the experience can't happen young enough.
And I'm delighted that my son, who isn't particularly academic, or motivated towards reading or writing for fun has found an activity that will help his keyboard, spelling, typing, reading, and social interaction skills!
Viva penguins!!!
Take care. Gary.
I gained a fascinating insight into the future of web design last night. My 8 year old son has been telling me all week about his great new discovery - club penguin.
It's a social networking site for young people - the idea is that you make a character, a penguin, that you can explore the club penguin world with, interacting with other penguins as well as games, fun and educational activities.
I told someone about this who has a 2 year old daughter and they were horified that I was encouraging him to spend time on there .... a clear differentiator between a web native and a web immigrant???
Well, I would have thought so - but I'm 38 and an immigrant and she's 28 and much nearer to being a native. Oh, by the way, the term web native is someone that has known the internet at school and used it as part of their daily lives since early adulthood. Obviously web immigrant is someone that hasn't. The current cross over point is 20 - 23 years old.
It seems not. It seems that it may have been more to do with a security issue. Personally I think that the time to educate someone that the internet and web persona's are real people and a manifestation of their imagination, and to be aware of the risks whilst still enjoying the experience can't happen young enough.
And I'm delighted that my son, who isn't particularly academic, or motivated towards reading or writing for fun has found an activity that will help his keyboard, spelling, typing, reading, and social interaction skills!
Viva penguins!!!
Take care. Gary.
Friday, 28 September 2007
Back Ups..
You'd think that working in new media, building websites that need to be delivered 24/7 I'd be used to the concept of backing up essential data.
When it's on a webserver it's a given and I don't need to think about it - but over my (fantastic) holiday to Gran Canaria last week I had my phone stolen. Yep, my personal phone, not the business one that is synchronised and backed up!
What an idiot. At least I can't contact any ex-girlfriends at 3am on a friday night out now!
Are your phone numbers backed up??? You seriously wouldn't believe how inconvenient it is without those numbers!
Have a great weekend.
Gary
When it's on a webserver it's a given and I don't need to think about it - but over my (fantastic) holiday to Gran Canaria last week I had my phone stolen. Yep, my personal phone, not the business one that is synchronised and backed up!
What an idiot. At least I can't contact any ex-girlfriends at 3am on a friday night out now!
Are your phone numbers backed up??? You seriously wouldn't believe how inconvenient it is without those numbers!
Have a great weekend.
Gary
Tuesday, 4 September 2007
The inevitable has happened
I can't believe it. It's finally happened. And a couple of years before I wanted it to.
I've been to a beginners golf event run by the chamber of commerce in Leicester, hoping that I wouldn't enjoy it and I could put taking up the inevitable for a few more years..... How frustrating. I loved it!!!
Have booked my lessons and start next week. So now my time will be mostly made up creating killer online marketing strategies with clients from the rough!
So if you fancy beating someone fairly easily give me a shout I want to play as many courses as I can!
Take Care
Gary.
I've been to a beginners golf event run by the chamber of commerce in Leicester, hoping that I wouldn't enjoy it and I could put taking up the inevitable for a few more years..... How frustrating. I loved it!!!
Have booked my lessons and start next week. So now my time will be mostly made up creating killer online marketing strategies with clients from the rough!
So if you fancy beating someone fairly easily give me a shout I want to play as many courses as I can!
Take Care
Gary.
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