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Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Monday, September 01, 2008
Q&A - 1 - "Standards Compliance"
Welcome to the first of many Questions and Answers blogs from PurePages. We get many questions from our clients and from the general public. So we thought this an apt way of answering these queries, whilst making them accessible to everyone else.
So our first question is: "As a non-techy what does it mean to say that a site is standards compliant? And how will this affect my website?" - from So Sumi
Well firstly let me say in my eyes there are two sets of standards in web design and development. There are rules of best practice [generally accepted by the web community] and also the standards of W3C (for the mark-up languages), the other is the environment standards (this is how the site behaves in a browser), this can include anything from font, to colours and beyond.
We say a site is standards compliant (at least at PurePages) when the site not only validates in W3C and bobby but also when it has had usability testing completed and appropriate changes made (the project cycle). This means that each site we release is not only valid (when coded in-house) but is also accessible to the audience, regardless of who they are and what disabilities they may or may not have. Also for PurePages standards include looks and layouts, ensuring that as well as functionality we supply top quality websites.
So what effect does it have on your site then? Well to be clear, standards make your site accessible to everyone, regardless of the fact they may or may not have a disability. But more than this they make your site continuous between browsers, keeping your brand intact.
However you have to be careful, certain browsers are not fully standards compliance and developers are having to pull dirty tricks to make the site look compliant in them. By certain browsers I mean Internet Explorer 7 and below, although 7 has helped a little. (A review of the Beta for IE8 will be online soon). On the other hand Firefox and Safari are much more standards compliant, though nowhere near perfect.
One last note. Although standards can maintain your brand and design it is important to remember that a little variance in design between browsers can make people remember your site a little more because it has appeared to change slightly even if it hasn’t.
So our first question is: "As a non-techy what does it mean to say that a site is standards compliant? And how will this affect my website?" - from So Sumi
Well firstly let me say in my eyes there are two sets of standards in web design and development. There are rules of best practice [generally accepted by the web community] and also the standards of W3C (for the mark-up languages), the other is the environment standards (this is how the site behaves in a browser), this can include anything from font, to colours and beyond.
We say a site is standards compliant (at least at PurePages) when the site not only validates in W3C and bobby but also when it has had usability testing completed and appropriate changes made (the project cycle). This means that each site we release is not only valid (when coded in-house) but is also accessible to the audience, regardless of who they are and what disabilities they may or may not have. Also for PurePages standards include looks and layouts, ensuring that as well as functionality we supply top quality websites.
So what effect does it have on your site then? Well to be clear, standards make your site accessible to everyone, regardless of the fact they may or may not have a disability. But more than this they make your site continuous between browsers, keeping your brand intact.
However you have to be careful, certain browsers are not fully standards compliance and developers are having to pull dirty tricks to make the site look compliant in them. By certain browsers I mean Internet Explorer 7 and below, although 7 has helped a little. (A review of the Beta for IE8 will be online soon). On the other hand Firefox and Safari are much more standards compliant, though nowhere near perfect.
One last note. Although standards can maintain your brand and design it is important to remember that a little variance in design between browsers can make people remember your site a little more because it has appeared to change slightly even if it hasn’t.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Website Navigation
This week we felt our website needed some minor changes to make it a bit more fluid. One are we felt needed the most consideration was the navigation. A recent article in Web Designer magazine illustrated really well how we all have predefined layouts of our houses as one example (like you would know if you went to my house where the best to look for my socks would be). But the same can't be said for websites. The article also highlighted a survey recently that found that a bar across the top of the page that remains constant throughout the site lead the least number of errors. So that's one part solved - where to put the main navigation.
But we also felt that we need to make navigation inside the different subsections clearer too. A good example of the sort of thing we liked was the idea of thumbnails of each project inside the subsection. I can't make my mind up though on whether a patterned border to the page (allowing for widescreen monitors etc...) are a good idea. I think it would have to be an inoffensive yet stylish design to pull it off well.[1]
But that is off the point slightly. The key it seems is making sure the user knows where they are on your site but can also get back to the home page easily and also reach other pages easily without having to go to the homepage first.
1. Headscape & BoagWorld - use background images very effectively
[edit - ak]
But we also felt that we need to make navigation inside the different subsections clearer too. A good example of the sort of thing we liked was the idea of thumbnails of each project inside the subsection. I can't make my mind up though on whether a patterned border to the page (allowing for widescreen monitors etc...) are a good idea. I think it would have to be an inoffensive yet stylish design to pull it off well.[1]
But that is off the point slightly. The key it seems is making sure the user knows where they are on your site but can also get back to the home page easily and also reach other pages easily without having to go to the homepage first.
1. Headscape & BoagWorld - use background images very effectively
[edit - ak]
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Podcasts
Many people listen to podcasts the world over, many of you reading this will do so too. But unlike the rest of the world i think you are more interested in Web-Design if not Technology podcasts. So without further ado heres my to ?? of podcasts for the PurePages Group Blog readers.
- BOAGWORLD - No# 1 on my list, as for many others. Boagworld is the longest running podcast and is for anyone vaguely in the web-design field. An utterly fantastic (uk based) podcast, and highly recommended - www.boagworld.com for more info.
- .NET Mag - (web design TV) .NET Mag is a web developer magazine and is one which i highly recommend subscribing too, however the podcast (which is a video cast) is also well worth a look - www.netmag.co.uk
- TWiT - (This Week in Tech) another great podcast, American based and covers a much broarder spectrum of tech and the internet than Boagworld or .NET mag. Well worth a listen if you have a little spare time on your hands. Furthermore if you have the time then tune-in to watch TWiT tv live for all thier other casts in recording.- www.twit.tv
- WebDevRadio.com - Only tuned to this a few weeks ago but is already having a lasting impression and this podcast offers more than its fair share of hints and tips. Web Dev orientated as the name suggests. - www.webdevradio.com
- Tech Weekly - The No# 1 podcast of the gaurdian, a general tech podcast a bit short and is simply out for the news and analysising it, presented by the gaurdians very own tech lady Ms Alecks Krotoski with various geusts. A great listen on the move. - http://tinyurl.com/565kdl
Other podcasts of note include: http://web20show.com/ - http://webaxe.blogspot.com/ - http://podcasts.engadget.com/
Hope you enjoy the above as much as I did and will continue to do so im sure.
Be sure to visit our site at www.purepagesgroup.com for PPG updates
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
This week's work
So this week we've been trying to update a lot of stuff. Mainly websites we did ages ago that seem to have been forgotten about that need updating drastically. But other than that we've been trying to update ourselves too so getting a few things in order that were kind of needed too - think spring clean in terms of administration but in the summer instead.
In getting a few things sorted did we come across a couple of nifty sites. For any hardware requirements we found www.gammaglobal.com very helpful. For web design trends in 2008 we thought www.webdesignerwall.com was chock full of excellent ideas and examples of cutting edge design. On a slightly different subject if any of you are involved in Google Analytics then their own official blog is worth checking out too.
In getting a few things sorted did we come across a couple of nifty sites. For any hardware requirements we found www.gammaglobal.com very helpful. For web design trends in 2008 we thought www.webdesignerwall.com was chock full of excellent ideas and examples of cutting edge design. On a slightly different subject if any of you are involved in Google Analytics then their own official blog is worth checking out too.
Friday, August 01, 2008
More on Colours
For a lot of designers colours are one of the most important ways (after content layout) of conveying a message to an audience. So with this in mind it is easy to see why so many designers spend so much time dithering and experimenting with colour schemes.
Over the past few months here at PurePages, we have spent numerous hours playing around with colours, colour scheme software and visited many websites to find the colour scheme we liked for a clients website (some of these have been mentioned in our last blog).
So here's a quick look at what we have found most useful.
Websites
-colourlovers.com- My personal fravourite of the bunch. This site has thousands of colour schemes/palettes along with hundreds of patterns (for use as backgrounds or as you wish). This really is a top notch site.
-Adobe KULER- A Fantastic little gadget and certainly one to take a look at if you have a few minutes on your hands. KULER although flash based is slick and easy to use (though i doubt it does much for seo), it has a nice collection even if a little limiting.
-websitetips.com- Once you've played around with this you will find this a nice little tool to add to your arsenal of colour scheming tools.
-Dulux.co.uk- This may seem a little odd, but Dulux on their website show colours that go together (imagine it as a static version of their tv adverts). So in theory its as simple as letting them do all the work so you don't have to... as long as the client likes those colours that is.
Software
-Colour Schemer- As well as the online version this site also allows you to download a much handier tool (working out at around £25). This tool is far more advanced than what you see on the internet. However I would urge caution in it's use as I believe its likely to be a combination of this software and a website from above that gives the best result.
[EDIT: AK - KULER ADDED]
Over the past few months here at PurePages, we have spent numerous hours playing around with colours, colour scheme software and visited many websites to find the colour scheme we liked for a clients website (some of these have been mentioned in our last blog).
So here's a quick look at what we have found most useful.
Websites
-colourlovers.com- My personal fravourite of the bunch. This site has thousands of colour schemes/palettes along with hundreds of patterns (for use as backgrounds or as you wish). This really is a top notch site.
-Adobe KULER- A Fantastic little gadget and certainly one to take a look at if you have a few minutes on your hands. KULER although flash based is slick and easy to use (though i doubt it does much for seo), it has a nice collection even if a little limiting.
-websitetips.com- Once you've played around with this you will find this a nice little tool to add to your arsenal of colour scheming tools.
-Dulux.co.uk- This may seem a little odd, but Dulux on their website show colours that go together (imagine it as a static version of their tv adverts). So in theory its as simple as letting them do all the work so you don't have to... as long as the client likes those colours that is.
Software
-Colour Schemer- As well as the online version this site also allows you to download a much handier tool (working out at around £25). This tool is far more advanced than what you see on the internet. However I would urge caution in it's use as I believe its likely to be a combination of this software and a website from above that gives the best result.
[EDIT: AK - KULER ADDED]
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Ringing in the changes
Good Morning All,
Welcome to the Purepages blog. Hopefully we will be able to keep you up to date with all our new websites and bespoke software. Possibly the most exciting product we have under development at the moment is a management system called pureAdmin which we think will speed up the basic processes of a website and give the user a greater experience. We have also launched www.sykeschemists.co.uk recently for a Bolton based pharmacy group. Check it out, you are sure to find a few baragins on there. We have also recently finished www.audileasing.net, a bespoke site for the Swansway Group and something we hope will give the competition a good run for its money.
Anyway, if you're after some little tips and hints then one cool site we stumbled across was cooltext.com, an excellent little site which will generate small logos and superb gel buttons for Photoshop for free and they are very customisable. Another site worthy of a mention in our opinion is www.graphicdesignblog.co.uk which is very useful for those interested in design and has some lovely designs of its own. We would also like to recommend a small, inexpensive programme called Color Schemer Studio. We realise there are a plethora of sites dedicated to giving colour ideas and swatches of complimentary colour schemes but this little gem can do that and also examine the colours of any photograph to help you replicate them. Very handy if you want to blend a picture in to a banner advert for example.
Anyway, must dash.
Welcome to the Purepages blog. Hopefully we will be able to keep you up to date with all our new websites and bespoke software. Possibly the most exciting product we have under development at the moment is a management system called pureAdmin which we think will speed up the basic processes of a website and give the user a greater experience. We have also launched www.sykeschemists.co.uk recently for a Bolton based pharmacy group. Check it out, you are sure to find a few baragins on there. We have also recently finished www.audileasing.net, a bespoke site for the Swansway Group and something we hope will give the competition a good run for its money.
Anyway, if you're after some little tips and hints then one cool site we stumbled across was cooltext.com, an excellent little site which will generate small logos and superb gel buttons for Photoshop for free and they are very customisable. Another site worthy of a mention in our opinion is www.graphicdesignblog.co.uk which is very useful for those interested in design and has some lovely designs of its own. We would also like to recommend a small, inexpensive programme called Color Schemer Studio. We realise there are a plethora of sites dedicated to giving colour ideas and swatches of complimentary colour schemes but this little gem can do that and also examine the colours of any photograph to help you replicate them. Very handy if you want to blend a picture in to a banner advert for example.
Anyway, must dash.
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