Living in the Clouds

A great example of the possibilities of the internet & cloud computing was unveiled this week at the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco – streamed video games.

Cloud computing is the name given to the trend which sees services being provided via the internet rather than run from the desktop, meaning that users don’t need to buy, install and run software, and don’t need to know as much about what it is and how it works.

This is already an established trend in much of computing, but thanks to a new service called OnLive, it could be set to change the face of gaming. The service, which had its first public outing at the GDC after seven years in stealth mode, offers "on demand" games straight to the PC, Mac or TV, with the company promising high quality gaming even if you’re running a five year old laptop with all the processing power of a microwave oven - because the whole thing is being run remotely.

There are those who have looked at the service and proclaimed it too good to be true, and others who have questioned what the pricing structure will be like when the service finally launches, but it seems likely that it will have given console manufacturers a bit of a nasty turn – if the whole thing really works as promised it could mark the end of expensive games consoles and the start of living in the cloud. March 27th, 2009 / Trackback

How to choose a website design agency

Choosing a web design agency – it can be a tricky thing. Do you go for the first thing that comes up on Google, do you poll everyone you’ve ever met to see if they have any recommendations, or do you spend hours researching online for something you like the look of? After all, there’s a lot at stake – you’re probably looking at significant expenditure, and you want the job done right.

Well, to help point you in the right direction, here are a few things you might want to consider when choosing a website design agency to work with.

• Does the company have experience of building the kind of website I want? Check out their portfolio and see if anything catches your eye.

• Are their existing websites well thought out, easy to navigate, well designed, and appropriate to the client’s business sector? Visit one or two of the websites in their portfolio and see how attractive and easy to use you find them – bearing in mind that these sites have been designed with specific aims in mind which may not be the same as your aims.

• Does the company make an effort to understand my business, and the message I want to put across? Website design is all about communication – in order to build a site which communicates effectively with your target audience, an agency must first understand what your aims are.

• Can I speak personally to the designer who will be creating my site, or will I be kept at arm’s length by account managers? Communication is almost always improved by removing one step in the chain. This in turn improves the way the project runs from start to finish, for both parties.

• Can the designers come up with interesting and useful additions to my website which will help improve its performance; or offer ideas for my future needs?You shouldn’t be getting a pushy upsell, but some thoughtful suggestions indicate that they know what they’re talking about and have made the effort to understand your requirements.

• Are the designers able to confidently offer informed opinion/advice on aspects of website creation without forcing ideas or opinions upon you? Will they take your ideas and shape them into a website that really works for you, or will they bash you over the head with jargon until you concede to doing things their way?

• Do I believe that they are capable of building a site which will be ranked well by search engines, will pull in visitors, and will be able convert those visitors into customers, clients, investors etc?

It’s a complex decision, which in the end will most likely be based on a combination of factors such as the company’s portfolio of existing work, their apparent attitude to you and your project and your gut instinct on whether it will be a successful working relationship.

And if you’re still stuck, we happen to know of a website design agency which we think will check all the boxes… March 4th, 2009 / Tags: web design / Trackback

Five common usability sins (or the existential questions of the website visitor)

Usability. It’s the first and last word in successful website design, and although the concepts are easy to grasp it can still be overlooked by the best of us, or get elbowed aside by other concerns. Here are five of the most basic usability sins.

Why am I here?

Sin #1: No clear information on what your site is about. Visitors arriving at a site decide within seconds whether they’re going to stay or leave, so the first rule of usability is to make your message clear enough and easy enough to understand that no-one leaves before they’ve taken a look around.

Where the hell is the… ?

Sin #2: Making things difficult to find. Whatever your site visitor is going to need – whether it’s a login box, a search function, a particular product or a way to contact you, it should be easy to find. You might think it’s clever to put the search box in a slidy-out section which can be accessed by clicking on the magnifying glass icon, but the chances are your users won’t. To a certain extent this relates to user expectation, which in turn means doing things the way everyone else does them. Studies have shown that users have a pre-conceived idea of where to find certain objects, and that when those objects are where they expect them to be, the user is more likely to be satisfied with the site. Or to put it another way – it’s like supermarkets – all supermarkets follow the same approximate layout for the same reason: if people can’t find what they’re looking for, they get annoyed and leave.

What do I do next?

Sin #3: No calls to action. If there are things you want your user to do when they get to your website – and there surely are, otherwise what’s the point of having the site in the first place? – then you need to make that clear. A visitor arrives at a website with certain expectations, but they are also ready to be led. Your whole design and layout should be based around leading visitors clearly and easily to whatever it is you want them to see or do.

What’s going on?

Sin #4: Content cramming. The way your page is laid out is critical in making visiting your site an easy, pleasant experience. Too much content crammed in, with no visual clues as to what’s what and what’s important creates visual noise – the website equivalent of a dozen voices, all yelling at once for your visitor’s attention. Over-use of flash, too many adverts, insufficient white-space, flashing gifs and dense text all fall into this category. Make life easier for your visitor by providing well written copy which is easy to scan, having a few points of focus which are clearly the most important, and accompanying all aspects with a descriptive heading, and maybe an image or an icon too, if that makes things clearer.

Where am I? Where did I come from?

Sin #5: Inconsistent behaviour. Consistency is king. Consistency lets your visitor understand your site and where they are in it. Consistent navigation, consistent styling, with navigational clues, consistent emphasis, consistent language. Your navigation should be the same on every page – preferably with an ‘on’ state marker or a breadcrumb to show where you are in the site; your links should all look the same, and your terminology should remain the same throughout.

There are hundreds of ways to get it wrong with usability, but it all boils down to “will this confuse my visitor, make their life more difficult or waste their time?” I'm a website user too, and I have a number of pet hates which will drive me away from a site – overly long forms, three level navs that slide away under your mouse, search functions that clearly don’t work, obvious things hidden under unusual names, links that don’t look like links, and sites that don’t work in particular browsers are all things which drive me mad and are guaranteed to drive other people mad too. But with a bit of extra thought, sites can be designed so that your visitor never even needs to think – and that’s what we’re aiming for. February 25th, 2009 / Tags: usability / Trackback

Don’t build your business around your software… build your software around your business

Business software and systems make life easier. From your accounting system through document management, workflow systems and intranets to product databases and e-commerce solutions, business applications streamline processes and save time and money.

And with the arrival of ‘cloud computing’, and more and more applications going online, you can now have browser interfaces and secure remote access, without paying a lot of hefty software licensing fees.

But with so many different systems available, choosing the right one for your business - one which fulfils all your requirements, and more importantly interfaces well with all the software and applications you already have, can be a battle. In many cases, businesses find themselves constrained by the limitations of existing applications, or are forced by compatibility or cost considerations to choose software which only part fulfils their business needs.

A client came to us recently with a number of legacy systems in place which they wanted to build a new e-commerce application around. While bespoke application development means that a new system can be built which is compatible with the existing structure, it often makes for a more complex proposition, with the end result still constrained by the limitations of the old systems. The client was surprised to learn that by bypassing their existing software and starting afresh with their total list of functional requirements, we could create a solution which met all of their needs more fully and efficiently, without significant extra cost. Existing data can be migrated, meaning that the new system can be implemented without disruption to working practices, and intuitive web interfaces reduces the need for staff training.

With bespoke business system development so much more affordable than you might think, why build your business around your software when you could build your software around your business? February 19th, 2009 / Tags: cloud computing, business applications, bespoke development / Trackback

Why your company needs an intranet

For most companies, a corporate intranet can be hugely beneficial. Whether you’re a huge multi-national or a small to medium business, there is proven benefit to having a secure internal business network which takes care of internal communications, information storage and retrieval, document management and so on and so forth.

A dedicated business productivity tool, benefits of an intranet range from information management through collaborative working up to and including community building. A well designed intranet, built to bespoke requirements with users needs in mind, can save a business thousands or more a year in lost time.

A corporate intranet can seem like a massive undertaking, though. There may be existing systems in place, which while inefficient, are just about doing the job. There may be resistance from those controlling the budgets, the feeling that an intranet is not required or will not be able to demonstrate sufficent cost benefit. Or it may be that the sheer amount of information which needs to be organised makes the whole thing seem totally daunting.

Designing and developing a corporate intranet can be time-consuming and tricky. Defining and prioritising which features are required, co-ordinating the requests of different departments, managing information architecture and so on can turn into a bit of an organisational nightmare - which is why a bespoke intranet design is often the way to go.

A company which offers bespoke internet design can help with every stage of the process, from providing examples of what’s possible to organising and structuring all the data, then creating and implementing an effective design, carrying out user acceptance testing and final rollout and training.

For more information on the potential of a corporate intranet feel free to give us a call. February 10th, 2009 / Trackback