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Reliable UK Web Hosting

admin — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 17:13:59 +0000

I’ve been involved in the digital sector since 2003 and over that period of time I’ve had the (dis)pleasure of working with a large number of terrible hosting companies. Thankfully however, through a personal recommendation, I finally found a web host who were not only helpful, knowledgeable and excellent value for money but they are in fact also really nice guys. This company is CS New Media.

Thanks to Carl and his company for keeping my servers running for 2 years now with no hiccups, bumps or disasters.

Client wins Young Entrepreneur Award

admin — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 10:41:49 +0000

Diane from Gilda & Pearl is named Glasgow’s top young entrepreneur at the regional finals of the 2010 Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT) ‘Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ Awards. Read more about it here.

Well done Diane!

State of Independence

admin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 20:12:49 +0000

State of Independence is an international self-publishing conference organised by UK games networks GameHorizon and Game Republic celebrating the resurgence of the independent videogames developer.

We teamed up with KeltieCochrane to produce this graphically rich WordPress website to grab the attention of videogame enthusiasts and deve;pers alike.

Never lose focus with new jQuery plugin: textbox-mem

admin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:59:42 +0000

Ever wanted a simple script to clear textboxes on focus and restore default text when the user clicks elsewhere?

Well here it is: textbox-mem

This was so simple I just had to upload it to the jQuery plugin repository.

Simply include the file e.g.:

And that’s it!

Rich

http://plugins.jquery.com/project/textbox-mem

Codeworks DIBI Conference

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:58:01 +0000

Codeworks are an organisation based in the UK who work with technologists, venture capitalists, economic developers, visionaries and entrepreneurs in the development and creation of digital companies.

They approached us to transform their visually striking design for the upcoming digital DIBI conference into an XHTML/CSS compliant WordPress site. Apart from the typical integration tasks there were a handful of special features they wanted to try and push forward:

Countdown to the Big Day: We were asked if we would be able to create a countdown timer showing the number of weeks, days, hours and minutes left to go before the DIBI conference begins on April 28th 2010. We came up with a solution using Javascript which updates on the page without the need to refresh.
Smooth Animated Buttons: Another feature that was requested was to make a number of submit buttons and links animate. Simple jQuery was used to deliver a smooth transition on the buttons.
Newsletter Signup and Mailing List Integration: We were asked to develop a newsletter signup form which upon successful submission would dissolve and show a “thank you” message to the user. We also integrated the signup form with the Codeworks mailing list software to automatically add names and email addresses.
Sexy Web Fonts!: Codeworks didn’t want to settle for the typical standard web fonts. We used CSS font-face and drop-shadow to enhance fonts across the site and deliver more of an impact.
Dynamic Twitter Feed: Codeworks wanted to be able to highlight the Twitter discussions regarding DIBI throughout the site. We integrated twitter.com’s own TWTR widget which elegantly displays and animates the feed live to the user.
Back to the Top: Hidden away in the footer of the site is a nifty little “back-to-top” button for when you’ve read your way down to the bottom of the page. Clicking it will scroll you up gently rather than the jump action often seen on other sites.

At the request of the client, the site was turned around quickly and since its launch has been a huge success – featuring on many of the top website design review sites including http://hotcssdesign.com/, http://www.mostinspired.com/, http://cssmania.com/ and http://www.designfridge.co.uk/.

claude & celeste – more fragrant than ever!

admin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 04:50:59 +0000

Claude & Celeste’s previous website was bland and limited in terms of functionality and SEO potential. We developed an e-commerce plugin for WordPress specifically for the client which gave them a system which was easy-to-use, effective and maximised potential for increasing their search engine rankings.

The site was designed was by Kino Creative, one of the many talented design agencies we have collaborated with.

Sexy new site boosts profile for Gilda & Pearl

admin — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 05:19:04 +0000

Gilda & Pearl design luxurious bespoke handmade lingerie. They required a site which would have the same level of impact and quality as the amazing product line.

After receiving the logo we discussed a number of different site design concepts. The client wanted to achieve a high-profile status in the marketplace and place emphasis on her product line. We designed and developed a bespoke e-commerce and content management system to give the them the most effective way of showcasing her work whilst allowing users to easily browse and purchase items on the site.

Ben Gilbert – Jazz Pianist, Tutor and Composer

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:32:03 +0000

Ben Gilbert is a top jazz pianist and tutor based in London, UK.

He needed a portfolio site with the ability to upload examples of his performances, post gig dates and manage his own site content easily. We put together a WordPress site for Ben and helped him choose and install a number of suitable WordPress plugins. We also conducted basic search engine optimisation work which helped get the site indexed highly in major search engines for specific key phrases.

Stuart Robertson – a South American Odyssey

admin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:59:22 +0000

Stuart approached us after planning his year-long expedition to South America. He wanted a blog on which he could post stories and photographs from his travels around the southern continent.

We knocked together a WordPress site using a suitable theme chosen from WooThemes. We had to make sure it was visually appealing and had all of the features he required including Flickr, YouTube and Twitter integration.

A+ Skills Training

admin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:50:38 +0000

A+ Skills Training is a company based in Carlisle, UK who specialise in up-skilling the workforce of the construction industry.

The client required a website with a user-friendly content management system through which they could upload information about their services and add latest news about the business and the construction industry. We setup a WordPress site for A+ Skills and provided training on how to use the systsem. Additionally, we integrated a course search facility allowing site visitors to search through the extensive list of courses that they provide.