Web Design Manchester Blog - Web Design

Junior Digital Designer Opportunity

rsheldon — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:13:03 +0000

First Internet is offering a young and talented digital designer the opportunity to work closely with our
head of Digital Design over the summer holiday and gain some excellent experience.

Projects will include:

Helping with the design of new websites and development of online branding

Creating images to promote brands in an eye-catching manner.

Helping with the redesign and refresh of our existing clients websites on an on-going basis and other adhoc projects for web, emails for special promotions and tactical sales banners etc.

Download the Specification here

Google Buys Metaweb

lbethell — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:22:44 +0000

It has been announced that Google have bought the San Francisco based company; Metaweb. The Metaweb database called Freebase is, unlike Google, able to understand the relationship between people, places and things. The database then assists the website in making these connections between those words. The use of Freebase by SEO services could prove very beneficial and has been described as a “tremendous resource” by Jack Menzel; director of product management at Google.

The database currently indexes information on over 12 million subjects, including books, TV and film, celebrities, businesses, countries and more. Metaweb want to encourage other web companies to contribute to this huge catalogue of data.

Google intend to utilise Freebase to generate more relevant and accurate results when users search using complicated questions. Google’s current algorithm cannot cope with complicated questions i.e. ‘Bands from Manchester who have had a top 10 single.’ Freebase will be able to understand the question resulting in more relevant Google results. This is a positive advancement for the search engine.

The iPad and Web Design

katieperry — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 07:54:21 +0000

So you know what it looks like the details of the specs and so on, but what’s the iPad really like?

The truth is that it is only when you actually get your hands of Apple’s latest piece of innovation that it really begins to make sense. It’s light enough to be perfectly manageable in one hand while you tap, swipe, pinch-zoom with the other. Or you can grip it with both hands and type with your thumps. Either way, it’s a highly tactile device with the same intimacy that you feel with other touch screens.

The real stand-out feature of the iPad is its speed and as Google has now confirmed that its new ‘Caffeine’ algorithm change has been fully rolled out and here to stay, it seems that a site’s page load speed is set to become a major issue in web design. But back to the iPad . . .

The increased speed of the device means that apps open instantly, internet pages build quickly, the big screen responds immediately. This all makes it a very satisfying experience. Of course it’s not a full computer experience – the touch screen keyboard can be fiddly and doesn’t have the haptic response that many smartphones make the most of. Also there is no Flash animation support, so not every site displays properly, but this is one of the few disappointments when you get to grips with the iPad.

All in all the iPad is a light, cute and powerful alternative to another laptop in the house.

Are you using an outdated web browser?

mgibson — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 13:25:34 +0000

If you’re one of the 7% of internet users still using Internet Explorer 6, then now is the time to think about upgrading to a more modern web browser. You run a higher risk of virus infection or identity theft, and with Google officially dropping support for IE6 in January 2010, many of your favourite websites may soon stop working properly unless you upgrade.

How can I tell if I need to upgrade?

Not sure if you’re using Internet Explorer 6? Well it’s easy to find out, so you might as well check now:

In the toolbar menu on the top of your screen click “Help” and choose “About Internet Explorer”. This will give you a screen with the version you’re using. (Later versions of Internet Explorer don’t have the “Help” menu, so if you can’t see this then you’re safe).

Why should I upgrade?

So you’re happy with what you have at the moment and still not convinced you should upgrade? Well here’s why:

Internet Explorer 6 has many security problems: You’re more likely to get a virus on your computer, and you’re more likely to become a victim of identity theft
Many websites don’t work properly with Internet Explorer 6: The browser has many bugs which can cause webpages to display incorrectly, or even crash your computer. With big websites like Google and YouTube ending support for IE6, you may find your Internet experience becomes very limited!
Internet Explorer 6 is holding back the Internet: Web developers such as us spend hours fixing website problems caused by IE6. This is a waste of time and money, which could otherwise have been spent improving the experience for users of modern web browsers

How can I upgrade?

We hope you’re now convinced that you should upgrade your browser. Fortunately doing this is easy.

Option 1: Switch to a new browser
First Internet recommends you install Mozilla Firefox, it is more secure than Internet Explorer and very easy to use. You can download it from the Mozilla website.
Option 2: Upgrade Internet Explorer
If you’d prefer to stick to Internet Explorer, then simply download the latest version from Microsoft.

What is the Key to Behavioural Targeting?

katieperry — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 08:14:51 +0000

Behavioural targeting could well define the future of internet advertising. The principle is simply the better you understand users, the more accurately you can target the. But where do we draw the line in collecting and collating the data. And who’s going to draw it?

Behavioural targeting is no longer a fledgling technology. The first stage was simply looking at users’ behaviour and targeting them based on what they are doing right now. For instance, if a user had looked at an insurance website in the past hour, then they were a prime target for an insurance ad.

However, the second stage has moved thing on much further. The question now is to understand users enough to predict what they haven’t even done yet. By looking at independent threads of information collected on a user’s behaviour the aim now is to predict what products they may be interested

Whats next for Online?

katieperry — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 08:14:46 +0000

Here at First Internet, we stand by our theory that ‘time’ in the online industry should be measured in dog years- such is the rate in arrivals of industry-shaking marketing ideas and era-defining technologies.

It has been six months since we last momentarily stopped, drew breath and took stock of the recent developments in online advertising. The interim period has seen the industry cement its reputation as an essential medium of forward-think marketers.

As predicted the IAB online spend figures for the first quarter of 2010 saw online spend rocket past the £3bn mark. So what are the reasons for this continued growth of Roman Empire proportions? Well, in fact, its success is down to the perfect blend of old and new.

Marketers continue to get better at using the online essentials, such as display and search, while ceaselessly striving to maximize the effectiveness of the medium and tap into the latest nuance of consumer behaviour.

Social Shopping and Web Design

cguerreiro — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 11:40:35 +0000

We knew it wouldn’t be long until the social networking sites integrated a shopping platform into their web design. The increase in users and time spent on site indicates that users are clearly embracing social networking. We trust status updates and tweets from our friends or followers so it would be a natural transition for products to be bought directly through this channel.

A recent study by Omniture suggests that Facebook is the most popular method of direct interaction with consumers. New tools are being released to allow users to sell goods through the social media site of their choice. However, research shows that unfortunately this functions at its best when the company selling the goods already has an online presence on the social media channels. The costs involved are not cheap either.

From the 600 marketers surveyed, around 80% of users in the retail sector are using social media to market products. 63% believed that Facebook was the most important site with blogs at 40% and Twitter lagging at 28%.

The direct shopping technology involved can cost around $25 a month for certain sites and Facebook plan to charge 30% of the total value of goods sold through the site. If the margins for your product are already being squeezed then selling your goods through social media channels may not be the most appropriate move for you. Perhaps the recent addition of the “like” feature on Facebook may be enough to pass on your friends seal of approval on a particular brand’s fan page?

Choosing Digital for Entertainment

cguerreiro — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:15:39 +0000

The internet has always been a medium where free content is natural and we have come to expect it. Whether it be an article, document or video content we are used to viewing these without having to pay. In a recent study carried out by Edelman, it stated that the internet came second for entertainment purposes, with television in the first position, of course.

In the US, a healthy increase of 15% of users compared to 2009 have been accessing content online for entertainment. The study also highlighted the fact that this is the first year that users are more likely to opt for paid content vs. free content. Perhaps this is because there has been an increase in sites offering paid content and the poor quality of free content can ruin the user experience.

Delving deeper into the study, the reason for the uprise in digital entertainment is that 61% of 18-24 year olds in the UK consider social networking to be a form of entertainment. Do you think that the constant evolution of web design and web development have been factors of this increase?

Potential of Mobile Search and Web Design

cguerreiro — Fri, 28 May 2010 16:23:34 +0000

The information society is even more relevant today, we are constantly accessing web design on the move through our internet-enabled phones. Will we depend more on local search? Perhaps.. however when we are out and about, our search behaviour is different to searching on a desktop as we need access to information quickly. Whether it be a specific location, directions to a restaurant, bar or shop.

The new Google Maps version released this month has enabled cyclists to find their way using mobile search. I believe this will be an invaluable tool for any cyclist who gets lost in the countryside.

Mobile search is also used to compare prices on the high street. We are time poor and this can save us time by cutting out walking from shop to shop.

Amazon and eBay have certainly taken note of mobile search by creating ’search, shop and buy’ and an iPhone app.

What is your most popular mobile search?

More Brands are tuned in but the Future is Still Fuzzy

katieperry — Mon, 24 May 2010 13:37:47 +0000

Here at First Internet, we watch trends in web design and online with an almost obsessive interest; we – along with the rest of the online world – were excited by the meteoric rise of social media and we waited with baited breath for news of Google’s ‘next big thing’. Therefore, the fact that online television has – as yet – failed to make a significant impact on the world has not escaped us, but why?

With BT cashing in with their i-player service and ITV and Channel 4 launching similar propositions, internet protocol television (IPTV) is one of the sector’s hottest topics. Yet, paradoxically, it is also perhaps one of the least understood and under-used. While the UK was ahead of the game, launching its first IPTV service way back in 2003, its growth has been at best marginal and at worse stunted.

One of the main reasons for this is that the UK’s TV industry were not sure about what opportunities IPTV offered to advertisers and many questions were raised about how appropriate traditional advertising models would be in this new medium.

However, while there remains – for the moment at least – a mainstream audience for whom any form of advertising is an unwanted invasion, there is still a wealth of opportunity in IPTV ,as any advertiser who is willing to be creative in the medium will see.