March 30th, 2010
I’ve tried and tested many an IDE in my time, starting with Macromedia Dreamweaver 3 many years ago. Dreamweaver served my needs brilliantly for quite a few years and I was in belief that I wouldn’t ever need another IDE, but as I started coding in PHP and moved to clean handcoded XHTML and CSS from table based layouts, I found Dreamweavers clumsiness just started to get in the way. I also found it slow over the network as all of my files were stored on our Linux testing server.
So the hunt for an alternative started. After a while digging around for a new IDE, I came across a neat little program called Aptana. Whilst it was still in heavy development, I was amazed how quick it was and how rich the PHP functionality was compared to Dreamweaver. I tried it out for a while and eventually ditched Dreamweaver and started using Aptana for all my web design and PHP coding.
I happily used Aptana for quite a while, but when they decided to ditch PHP support for version 2.0 in favour of Eclipse PDT and concentrate more on Ruby development, I was forced to start my search again. The PDT functionality was not a patch on Aptanas PHP support, so I was (as were many Aptana users) rather disappointed with Aptanas decision to do this.
Anyway, so began the search for a new IDE which supported PHP. I tried all sorts from NuSphere to Zend but eventually came across Netbeans. Although PHP support was in its infancy, I was impressed with the functionality in Netbeans and it had far fewer bugs than Aptana 1.5. So I installed, started using it and I’m happy to say that our entire team are now using Netbeans for our PHP and web development. Its PHP functionality is improving all the time, has good support for CSS, JavaScript and HTML. There is the ability to upload your projects via FTP and SFTP and best of all, it’s FREE!
So if you’re looking at changing your IDE, I would recommend giving Netbeans a try.
mark
design, development
March 25th, 2010
It's an adapter. Gedditt???!?!
There are a lot of worldly, wise business gurus out there. Some I ignore, some I respect. But many of them will tell you that it’s far better for your business to be incredible at one thing, instead of mediocre at lots.
And the same applies to your staff . . . almost.
In a small company, your staff will probably have their own specialised jobs and you want them to be brilliant at that job – after all, that’s why you hired them!
But an excellent receptionist is even more excellent if they can help a bit with a big sales push.
If your fantastic designer is off work sick – wouldn’t it be good if your fantastic programmer was capable enough at design to help pick up the slack?
When someone can’t be in the office in a small company, it leaves a big hole. So if your staff can be more than just amazing – if they can also be good at just one more thing, then they can have a huge impact on the way your business works.
If you’re hiring for your business, try and take that into account. Skill at the job you’re hiring for is paramount (obviously!), but someone with experience or aptitude in other areas may turn out to be the employee you really need.
Be jack of all trades, and master of ONE.
hannah
random
March 18th, 2010
Once your website is up and running, please don’t neglect it. It’s horribly common for people to forget about their website when they launch a new product or campaign, or if circumstances change.
A particular client of ours has an information-based business in an industry that is constantly changing, which means regular re-writes to stay relevant.
Failing to keep your site up to date with your business or your industry can quickly make you look careless – or worse, incompetent.
Re-writes can sometimes be a struggle, you try to keep as much of the old information as you can, and slot the new stuff in, and that often leads to really simple mistakes (and believe me, I’ve made them all at one point or another!).
The most common error in a re-write is the “copy and paste” mistake. This is when you lift a new sentence or paragraph and put it into your content without checking that the words around it lead into it properly.
There are also the “tense-change”, and the “shifting persona”, where your new text uses “we” instead of “they” or vice versa, or moves into a different tense.
Make sure that someone reads to whole page of text before you publish it – and not just the new bits. That way you can make sure the new info blends seamlessly into the old content.
hannah
copy writing
March 16th, 2010
we are pleased to announce the launch of the new Bells Shoes microsite, designed specifically to assist overseas customers in their purchase of Clarks Shoes, which are not readily available outside the United Kingdom.
thomas
marketing
clarks shoes
March 11th, 2010
Councils across the country are getting their wrists slapped for using the wrong words.
Well, they aren’t exactly wrong, but if you can tell me what “goldfish bowl facilitated conversation” is then I’ll eat my hat-shaped chocolate items.
Jargon can sometimes be a really useful tool, so that people in your company or industry know exactly what they’re talking about. Sometimes jargon is just empty gibberish that could easily be replaced by normal human phrases.
Either way, the last thing you should ever do is inflict jargon on the public. At best they’ll be unimpressed, at worst they’ll be confused, and confused visitors won’t hang around on your site to find out what you mean, they’ll click back to Google and find a company that speaks plain English.
Of course, it’s harder to find yourself a new local council, so it’s easier for them to get away with it.
hannah
copy writing
March 8th, 2010
WRITING THE WORDS FOR YOUR WEBSITE
Great News! It’s actually very easy to write good text for your website. You just need to follow a few simple rules:
- Nobody Cares About You
You get to pay for the website, but realise that it’s not actually for you…it’s for your customers. Visitors to your website don’t care about you…they care about themselves. Visitors don’t care how many years experience you’ve got, who you’ve worked with or how you started out. If they want that information they’ll click on your “About Us” page.
- Everybody is Selfish
Visitors do care about what you sell, how it will help them, what it costs, how soon they can get it, what guarantees they get. You know…stuff that matters.
- Everybody is in a Rush
It doesn’t matter to your visitors if you are not great at writing long wordy sentences full of business speak and jargon. In fact, they’d prefer it if you didn’t anyway. Our golden rule is say what you want to say in as few words as possible. Bullet points and lists are ace. Big long boring paragraphs are not, because you will be the only one reading them.
- Don’t be Self Centred
Try to use the words “we” and “I” as infrequently as possible. Try to use the word “you” as frequently as possible. Following this rule helps you to connect with your customers. Not following this rule means you are going to bore your visitors (potentially to death). If you struggle with this, go ahead and write your “About Us” page first. Let it all out.
- So What?
Remember the old marketing adage “Benefits, not Features”. Every time you talk about a feature of your product or service, try and turn that sentence into a benefit that your customer will understand. (simple example: using a particular material is a feature, a smooth finish is a benefit)
- Take a Bullet!
The easiest way to write any web page is just with bullet points. It makes you focus on what’s important and stops you getting distracted by wording and style. Once you have a bullet list of all the things you want to say on that page, put them in order of relevance and then you can flesh out each point into a sentence or short paragraph.
SERVICES
The best place to start writing is for the Services page*. This is where the bulk of the information needs to be, and you can focus on what your products and services are.
Writing your Services page should help you to get a good idea of the aspects of your service that you really want to focus on. Whether it’s a particular product, your style of working or your prices, identifying what makes your company different will help you with the next stage – writing your Home page.
* If you have “we & I” syndrome as per rule 4, start with your about us page.
ABOUT US
The About Us page is the place to really focus on your business, the experience, skills and qualifications you have that make you able to provide your fantastic products and services. This is the page to tell people about how long you’ve been established, the story behind your formation, or your firm’s ethos.
HOME
Think of your home page as a magazine cover or a product on a shelf in the supermarket. Use as few words as possible to articulate the MOST IMPORTANT messages about your product or service. Customers will on average spend 3 seconds reading your home page, before deciding whether to click “back” to Google or to stay on the site.
Your Home page should never have more than 1 – 4 short paragraphs (preferably sentences), ideally with headlines, which briefly explain what your company can do for your customer.
Try to structure your paragraphs a little like this:
“You need X because of Y, and our service helps you with this you because of Z”
ANY OTHER PAGES
Follow the simple rules listed above and you should be just fine to create the pages from herein.
(I should point out that our copywriter Hannah wrote most of this content!)
thomas
copy writing
content, website text, writing
March 2nd, 2010
It’s always nice to hear from a past client, particularly when they want another website, but we also love this kind of communication too:
Since you designed my website at the beginning of January I have received press, radio and television coverage http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8540058.stm. The interest from the media started as soon the website was up and running.
Can’t thank you enough for your expertise.
Kind regards
Graham
I highly recommend you take a look at the video clip in the above link. The Graham Short Engraving website was built in just one day by Edge of the Web, Graham’s skills however have taken 48 years to perfect!
thomas
customer feedback
feedback, graham short, testimonial
