Hosting online videos is a tricky and expensive process. Videos are resource hogs. Their files are very large compared to a page of text, and bandwidth requirements are also bigger. If a video is popular, it can grind the performance of your entire website to a halt. For this reason, we have always advised hosting… Continue reading Adding videos to your pages
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Inaugural Directory customer newsletter
This week we published the first of our Directory customer newsletters that we hope you have received by email, but you can also view it here. Read about our collaboration earlier this year with Coram Family and Childcare, updates from our Local Offer online forums, our new FIS Directory website page, and an insight into… Continue reading Inaugural Directory customer newsletter
Are you HTTPS yet?
HTTPS, the lock icon in the address bar, an encrypted website connection – it’s known as many things. The “S” in HTTPS stands for “Secure”. It’s the secure version of the standard “hypertext transfer protocol” your web browser uses when communicating with websites. HTTPS was originally intended for passwords, payments, and other sensitive data, but the… Continue reading Are you HTTPS yet?
Home(page) work
You don’t always need a homepage message, but if you have one keep it punchy. Think of a blackboard standing outside a shop – people won’t stop walking to read it. Don’t assume ANY knowledge of the terms you’re familiar with because of your job role. Use simple terms that anyone would understand even if… Continue reading Home(page) work
Media Manager bugfix
As you may have noticed, the Media Manager had lost its ability to provide cut-n-past image filenames. That feature used Shockwave Flash which was discontinued by its owners Adobe, because “technologies evolve and the use of mobile devices has grown, interactive content has moved to platforms such as HTML5 Canvas and Web GL“. In line… Continue reading Media Manager bugfix
What’s above the fold, affects SEO
The concept of above the fold dates back to early printing presses. Newspapers were folded over on news-stands, so only the top half of the paper was visible to the passer-by. The newspaper industry quickly worked out that to sell papers, they must present attention-grabbing content in the top half of their front page. This… Continue reading What’s above the fold, affects SEO
Spring pruning improves design
For the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines, a sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences. Contrary to some printed content, where column inches signify importance, your users may not even SEE every word on your web page. Words take up space, and can often be removed… Continue reading Spring pruning improves design
New BCP design is not just for sighted users.
People who are blind can read books, use maps and even play specially designed video games. They can do anything they want to unless we build things that stop them! BCP Council have just gone live with a redesigned homepage. Not only did their design carefully consider smaller screen sizes like phones and tablets, but… Continue reading New BCP design is not just for sighted users.
CORAM’s Childcare Finder
We are delighted to announce that a refresh of CORAM’s Childcare Finder site is now live. We are pleased to be able to continue to work with CORAM to deliver this site that connects to many of our customers’ Family Information Services websites. You can view the refreshed site here: http://finder.familyandchildcaretrust.org/
New version of our user authentication module
We have now released a new version of our user authentication module. This release has added a simple Google reCaptcha check into all new user registration forms. This check will actively prevent spambots from creating any spurious and unverified user accounts in your User Manager.