We exhibited at the Colchester Business Fair yesterday which was held at the Colchester football ground. It was a successful day meeting and greeting and a chance for us to scope out the workings of a business fair. We will be looking at attending more in the future so check back for further updates.

Our exhibition graphics, click here to see the full version.

Images from the show and promotional booklet that we produced.

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There are a variety of tools out there for you to use to browse the internet, known as web browsers. The major browsers are Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera, and each of these has a number of different versions. One of the biggest challenges we face as web designers is ensuring that a website looks right in all browsers. Often it’s not possible for a site to look exactly the same, but we try to make it as close as possible. Perhaps the biggest headache of them all is Internet Explorer 6 (and all it’s sub-versions). IE6 was first released back in 2001, which is a long time ago in internet years. Because of this, there are many modern techniques which are simply not supported by IE6, and even those that are supposed to be supported often don’t work well. Google has recently announced that it no longer supports IE6 because of security vulnerabilities. We are now following suit and no longer testing new sites in IE6 unless specifically requested to do so. This has been a tough decision to make, but will save a lot of development time. If you are still running IE6, we strongly suggest you upgrade your browser to IE8 (if you’re a big IE fan), Firefox 3.6 or Google Chrome

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Open Source software is something that you might not have heard of before. Open Source literally means that the source code is available to edit and extend. A lot of Open Source software is released under a license which means that it’s freely available to download, install and use (although there are many versions of licence – so it’s worth checking the detail).

The advantages of Open Source software are pretty obvious. The software is free – and with a little expertise you can use it straight away, and with a little more expertise you can change the way it works to suit you. Many of the Content Managed sites that we build are based on Open Source systems, which means that the client doesn’t need to spend hundreds of pounds on a commercial system, and only pays for our time to set it up, and design & build the site.

There are however some disadvantages, and how much this affects you will depend on the nature of your business, the use you have for the application, and your outlook. Open Source software tends not to have detailed documentation (although there are exceptions) so you may need to work out how to use it with some trial and error. There are usually however thriving communities on the internet who will help out newbie’s. Open Source software is generally produced by a community of developers, and becasue of this there may be quite frequent version releases. This can be positive because your application will get new features and bug fixes, but if you don’t have the expertise to do the upgrades yourself, you may need to pay someone to do it for you.

So, what can Open Source do for your business? Well, there are web applications out there that deal with a number of business problems, including Website Content Management (CMS), Customer Resource Management (CRM), Human Resource Management (HRM), Online Forums, Blogs, Project Management, Collaboration Software, Image Galleries, Document Management, and more!

So, if you fancy trying out a free alternative before investing in costly commercial software, get in touch to see what we can do.

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MARC&ANNA, a design consultancy in London, came to us with a beautiful design for The Music Exchange website. The Music Exchange is a not-for-profit music shop in Nottingham, co-ordinated by Framework.

“A social enterprise providing a safe environment for individuals who have experienced a period of unsettled life to rebuild confidence and self esteem enabling them to gain invaluable retail training alongside our volunteers and staff team who provide ongoing support“.

The site required a few specific functions, allowing the guys in the shop to upload tracks to the site for the user to browse through in the Music Archives, and listen to on the TME Radio.

You can see the site at www.themusicexchange.org.uk.

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We posted back in December that we have been working with SBZ Corporation to develop a series of sister/microsites to help them promote their ever increasing range of services and products.

Not only have we been developing the microsites but we have also redesigned and developed SBZ’s corporate site, bringing the company’s entire web presence up to date.

The work for the corporate site included collaborating with SBZ on reworking their logo, designing and developing some custom, interactive Flash features and developing a calculator interface and framework.

The Flash elements on the corporate site are used to tie in and promote the new microsites as well as the e-commerce sister site Liquid Spill Solutions.

You can view the new SBZ websites here:
www.sbzcorporation.com
www.fuelantioxidant.com
www.fuelcorrosioninhibitor.com
www.fuelbiocide.com
www.liquid-spills.eu

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Over the last few months we’ve had the busiest period we’ve ever had, and while new projects have been going live we’ve not really had the time to get them up on the news. So here is a summary of the projects that have been completed since February:

The Music Exchange – Designed by London design consultancy MARC&ANNA and built by us, The Music Exchange is a site for the not-for-profit music shop in Nottingham, run by homelessness charity Framework.

www.themusicexchange.org.uk

SBZ Corporation and Microsites – We recently redesigned and redeveloped SBZ’s corporate site as well as designing a series of new microsites to promote their services and products.

www.sbzcorporation.com
www.fuelantioxidant.com
www.fuelcorrosioninhibitor.com
www.fuelbiocide.com
www.liquid-spills.eu

Principled Wellbeing – Peter and Sue Coltman, of Principled Wellbeing, required branding, stationery and web design for their business providing positive thought and wellbeing training to a wide range of individuals and organisations.

www.principledwellbeing.com

123APP – Providing custom build property apps for the iPhone, 123APP required a brochure site that really shows of the apps and drives enquiries.

www.123app.co.uk

Antony Gibb – Designed by Suffolk based design agency Holy Cow and build by us, this is a brochure site for Antony Gibb’s heritage consultancy, building conservation and architectural design firm.

www.antonygibb.co.uk

Willis Toys – Willis Toys is an e-commerce site selling a massive range of educational games and puzzles for children of all ages

www.willistoys.co.uk

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This completed project for Peter and Sue Coltman’s business, Principled Wellbeing, consists of a logo, website and company stationery. The website can be viewed at www.principledwellbeing.com. Peter and Sue were great clients to work with as they provided us with a clear and concise brief which we were able to follow and add our creative touch too.

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