http://www.mid.co.uk/blog en zack@mid.co.uk Copyright 2013 2013-04-03T11:29:18+00:00 http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/new_website_for_highgate_cemetery http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/new_website_for_highgate_cemetery#When:11:29:18Z ​One of the world’s most famous cemeteries, and last resting place of Karl Marx, finally has the website it deserves. More details to follow.Visit the new Highgate Cemetery website, and let us know what you think! 2013-04-03T11:29:18+00:00 http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/recent_site_launches http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/recent_site_launches#When:19:43:17Z ​It's been a busy year so far at Morgan Internet Design, and our web design portfolio is in danger of getting out of date. Here are some of the sites launched so far this year. Hopefully, we’ll find time to update our portfolio pages soon.Colchester English Study CentreNew identity and new website for Essex language school Free Law DirectFree Law Direct provides advice agencies and not-for-profit organisations with free access to a network of lawyers. All advice is delivered anonymously via the website. Heritage HelpWhatever your interest in the historic environment, this website will help you understand the basics and show you where you can find out more. Pro bono accessLawWorks’ interactive guide to eligibiity for pro bono legal services.Disability and Tax – a guideInformation, help and resources for care and support employers in receipt of direct payments, from the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group.  2013-03-12T19:43:17+00:00 http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/mobile_is_the_new_standard http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/mobile_is_the_new_standard#When:19:10:09Z ​Google have some interesting research on their Our Mobile Planet site. You can make your own smartphone usage chart if you’re into that kind of thing: Those of us with less time on our hands will find the figures nicely summarised in this downloadable PDF. And here‘s the even shorter version: Smartphone ownership has reached 51% of the population and is growing fast.59% of smartphone owners access the Internet every day on their phone, and most never leave home without it.95% have researched a product or service on their phone, and 31% have made a purchase.  Mobile access has been mainstream for a while of course, and is set to overtake PCs in the next few years. It‘s obvious what this means for most website owners. Not only do you need a mobile-optimised version of your site, but your mobile website will soon be more important than the desktop-bound sites we’ve become accustomed to. What does this mean for MID’s customers? When we develop your website it will have a mobile version, at no extra charge. Because we wouldn‘t want to build a site any other way. I've added some of the mobile websites we’ve developed to our portfolio. Many more on the way. Maybe yours could be one of them. 2012-11-16T19:10:09+00:00 http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/top_tech_award_for_revenuebenefits_website http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/top_tech_award_for_revenuebenefits_website#When:20:04:14Z The revenuebenefits.org.uk website, which we developed for Lasa and the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group has won a prestigious prize in the LexisNexis Taxation Awards 2012. The site won the “Technological Innovation” category, in recognition of its use of technology showing invention in addressing a need of taxpayers and their advisers. The LexisNexis awards are seen as the gold standard of excellence in the UK tax industry and are much sought after by tax professionals throughout the country. Shawn Mach, Head of Social Welfare Law Services at Lasa, said, “At a time when vulnerable people are being hit hard by the recession, Lasa is delighted that our expertise in providing much needed support is being recognised. With unprecedented welfare reform taking place, as well as cuts to voluntary sector funding, revenuebenefits is a low-cost high-impact solution that enables thousands of clients to receive good quality advice and information.” See the Lasa press release for more. 2012-05-25T20:04:14+00:00 http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/responding_to_the_eu_e_privacy_directive http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/responding_to_the_eu_e_privacy_directive#When:18:05:33Z The deadline for compliance with the EU e-Privacy Directive is fast approaching. For those not familiar with the ‘EU Cookie Law’, here’s a brief, non-technical introduction: A more complete explanation is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office: ‘Guidance on the rules on use of cookies and similar technologies’ (PDF). The ICO acknowledges that compliance will not be straightforward, and in fact their own site has been criticised both for its lack of compliance, and the clunkiness of its attempted ‘cookie consent’ solution. So although most websites will strictly speaking be illegal after 25 May, there is no need to panic, unless (perhaps) your site is flagrantly abusing the privacy of its users. For now, the common-sense approach seems to be, update your privacy policy to make sure it explains what cookies you use and what they are for — and work towards full compliance, i.e. not setting cookies at all until visitors have understood the implications and explicitly accepted their use on your site. For us, and most of our web design clients, this will mean upgrading to the next version of our favoured content management system, ExpressionEngine, which will allow visitors to opt in and out of cookies, as the e-Privacy Directive requires. If you are updating your privacy policy on an ExpressionEngine-based website, you'll want to let your visitors know about the following cookies. exp_tracker: this cookie temporarily keeps track of the last 5 pages you visited on the site. This information allows the site to redirect you to the page you were on before activities such as submitting a comment or sending an email through the contact form. It is a ‘session’ cookie, meaning it expires as soon as you close your browser. exp_last_activity and exp_last_visit: these cookies store the dates of your last activity on the site. exp_last_visit is only relevant to registered users — if you’re browsing the site as a guest, this cookie will be set to a date in the past. These are ‘persistent’ cookies, which do not automatically expire when you close your browser. exp_css_skin: if you have made any display choices (for example to select a high-visibility layout for visually impaired visitors) this persistent cookie is used to remember your choice next time you visit. If you are allowing a third-party site to set cookies, which will be the case if your website uses Google Analytics, YouTube videos, or sharing/bookmarking services such as AddThis, then a link to their privacy policies would probably be a good idea, too. Ironically there is so far no sign of the Internet’s big data collectors updating their policies or practices to conform to the Directive, despite the fact that they are likely to be amongst its primary targets. If you have any concerns about your website’s compliance with the EU e-Privacy Directive, please feel free to get in touch.Update The Information Commissioner's Office introduced a last-minute clarification of their guidance, and are now advising that explicit consent is not required after all, “Implied consent is a valid form of consent and can be used in the context of compliance with the revised rules on cookies.”This looks like good news. It means that your site can continue to use cookies, and you may not need to make any technical changes. However, the ICO also say, “If you are relying on implied consent you need to be satisfied that your users understand that their actions will result in cookies being set. Without this understanding you do not have their informed consent.” So, to stay on the right side of the law, you need to: Make clear to site visitors that you use cookies.  Explain the purpose of each cookie.  Inform visitors that their use of the site indicates their consent to your use of cookies.  This will probably mean updating your privacy policy, and adding a prominent link from each page of your site to its cookie-related information.  Please note that this is professional advice, not legal advice. For legal advice you should of course contact your legal adviser. 2012-04-10T18:05:33+00:00 http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/websites_from_the_90s_part_2_from_the_mid_portfolio http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/websites_from_the_90s_part_2_from_the_mid_portfolio#When:15:51:00Z Following on from my last post, Websites from the ‘90s, here’s what MID was up to back in 1997. 2011-09-29T15:51:00+00:00 http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/websites_from_the_90s http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/websites_from_the_90s#When:15:21:00Z Serge K. Keller’s album of screenshots from the early days of the web took me right back. Remember when all web pages were grey, with Times New Roman stretching from one side of the screen to the other? Most of the sites in Serge’s collection are from the first generation of sites where the word 'design' could be used in the same sentence as 'web'. And at the time, they seemed great— wow, look at those colours. But, looking back... well, what do you think? Here are a few more screenshots, from my own internet archives. Can you guess the year? Apple Boston.com Chicago Tribune CNet Cool Site of the Day Labour Party Yes, those are some of the better-looking sites from 1997. None of our own work here—that’ll be another post. 2011-09-29T15:21:00+00:00 http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/rightsnet_shortlisted_nominet_awards http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/rightsnet_shortlisted_nominet_awards#When:10:48:00Z The rightsnet website we developed for Lasa has been shortlisted for the Nominet Internet Awards 2011. The awards highlight UK companies, charities and individuals who are making a difference on, or through, the internet. Shortlisted entries highlight ‘phenomenal work’ using the power of the internet to have a positive impact on society. Lasa Chief Executive Terry Stokes said, “We are delighted that Nominet has recognised our work in using the internet to ensure advisers across the UK have access to the most up-to-date information on the latest developments in social welfare law, and, in these difficult economic times, helping some of the most marginalised communities across the country to have access to the advice they need.” Update: the results are in, and rightsnet has won. Congratulations to the rightsnet team! 2011-06-23T10:48:00+00:00 http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/domain_name_research_tools http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/domain_name_research_tools#When:12:29:00Z It's been a while since I dipped a toe into the domain name market. Naturally, it hasn’t got any easier. I spent a few days researching potential names for a new venture recently, and found a few domain name research tools worth noting. For made-up web 2.0 domains wordoid.com domai.nr For dictionary keyword combinations namestation.com nameboy.com Good luck with your domain name research! A word of warning Before doing any domain research, it’s worth taking note of the advice in this article at domaintools.com. Any site you use to research domain names could be passing the information on to datamining firms who will then register the domains before you. And typing the potential domain into your browser address bar is a very bad idea. As Jay Westerdal of Domain Tools says, “It is such a strong urge to type the domain name into the address bar and see what website comes up. Most users think perhaps there is already a company using the name and this will be a quick end to the question. Wrong! This is the most dangerous thing to do. Internet Service Providers (ISP) sell NXD data. You may be asking yourself ‘What is NXD data and how does that effect my domain research?’ Non-eXistent Domain (NXD) Data is a response the DNS system tells the asking computer if resolution on an IP address fails because the domain doesn’t exist. Yes, ISPs sell this data.” Domains, 2011-04-06T12:29:00+00:00 http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/new_js_office_environments_site_launched http://www.mid.co.uk/blog/new_js_office_environments_site_launched#When:16:43:00Z Our latest site launch is a revamp of the JS Office Environments website, featuring an extensive furniture catalogue as well as a project portfolio. More details shortly. In the meantime, visit the site at www.jsonline.co.uk. Update: Now added to our web design portfolio. 2011-01-31T16:43:00+00:00