2009
19
Nov
By Daniel Keegan
The results of a survey of the cost of workers using social networking sites have been published, putting the figure at £1.34bn.
The report, commissioned by tech firm Morse, was covered in the Daily Telegraph in late October, and labels the use of these platforms as a “productivity black-hole”.
2009
13
Nov
By Kate Murray
Information architecture is a key phase in all of our projects at Content Formula. Whether website or intranet, we know that if you get the structure, organisation and classification of content right at the start of the project, the end result will be a seamless, usable site.
It always starts with defining both the business and user requirements. It’s important that you define both, because the way the business wants to organise their content is not necessarily going to be how users will search for it. There are numerous ways to gather this information (that’s a whole other blog post!), including interviews, surveys and focus groups. This stage is also often combined with an audit of any current site or content.
2009
12
Nov
By John Scott
A brief history of mobile web browsing
Web browsers first appeared on mobile phones at the start of the millennium. These initial attempts to ‘mobilise’ the web were pretty disappointing. Firstly, the hardware wasn’t powerful enough to handle full web pages, and screens were too small and low resolution. Also, use of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) and WML (Wireless Mark-up Language) demanded special tools and limited the possibilities for creating usable interfaces. Furthermore, the web’s best content was rarely adapted for delivery to mobiles.
2009
11
Nov
By Geoff Scaplehorn
I enjoy blogging. It’s a bit of a hobby – which is great, because I get to maintain this blog in my professional time. In my spare time, I write about whatever takes my fancy: everything from the fashion industry to the latest video games.
Getting your blog noticed on the internet is difficult. Large, well-known brands have a natural advantage in that people are already searching for them, but what can the rest of us do to put our words in front of the world?
2009
11
Nov
By Dan Hawtrey
Many companies have jumped onto the Facebook application bandwagon. Most of these apps bomb and the ROI must surely be negative. However, there are some great apps out there. Here’s a case study about an app we found that ticks the right boxes.
2009
06
Nov
By Hugh Fidgen
Making sure your designs work no matter which browser is being used is one of the most important things an agency can do. Experience and knowledge go a long way to making this an automatic process, but there is no excuse now for websites that don’t work properly in certain browswers. But what can you do if you don’t want to have dozens of browsers installed, or you have IE8 but want to test in IE6?
The answer is this suite of FREE online tools which make things almost completely hassle free! Enjoy!
http://seleniumhq.org/
http://browsershots.org/
https://browserlab.adobe.com/
2009
26
Oct
By Daniel Keegan
On one of our intranets, we developed custom functionality to enable employees to rate feature articles. The client stipulated that ratings should appear itemised beside the article with each employee’s name.
However, there was the possibility that this would discourage members of the organisation from providing feedback, given news of soaring unemployment all over the world due to cutbacks.
The fear that all employees’ engagement is visible across the internal network potentially leads an employee to ask themselves “will my manager scrutinise my level of participation in my next appraisal?”
2009
16
Oct
By Geoff Scaplehorn
A blogger by the name of Derek Powazek recently ranted about how Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is “poisoning the web”, and that it “should not be undertaken by people with brains or souls”, which wasn’t a very nice thing for him to say.
Derek followed up his post with an FAQ, in which he offers an explanation (he’s stopped smoking) and a few clarifications. Both articles are worth reading, because they’re very entertaining and well-written.
2009
14
Oct
By Geoff Scaplehorn
We send out a lot of newsletters for clients, as well as our own newsletter. There’s a lot to think about for each one – how many articles, what images to use, what’s on the banner – but the most important part of every newsletter is literally one of the smallest.
The headline.
Think of it this way: if you’re anything like me, you receive a lot of emails on any given day. You prioritise a lot of them by looking at the sender, and then you go through the rest in some kind of order. Anything that looks unimportant or dull goes straight to the recycle bin, because you simply don’t have the time for it. Most newsletters fall into this trap.
2009
02
Oct
By Vicky Edgerton
Social Media is undeniably a powerful tool in the hands of patients, enabling them to give immediate feedback to doctors, pharmacists and marketers.
Patients are able to exchange vast amounts of information and insight into their conditions through a range of social media tools, providing valuable perspectives. For example, people who suffer from diabetes can engage with online communities and cover areas related to their condition, such as how successful their medication or glucose meters are. Discussions like these provide a support network for patients and allow healthcare providers to listen and engage with their target audiences.
