David Behan's Web Design Ireland Blog

Well, it’s that time of year again… awards season for the Irish web industry. This year sees a new awards being launched, making it 3 awards ceremonies for us webbies to go to.

Irish Web Awards 2008

Irish Web Awards 2008 - October 11th
The Irish Web Awards is the new awards to launch this year. Following the success of the Irish Blog Awards over the past couple of years, Damien Mulley has launched the Irish Web Awards 2008. Categories for the awards include News & Media, Entertainment, Technology, Government &Community, Education & Science, Commerce, Speciality, Technical Awards and an overall Grand Prix. There’s something for everyone in there. Damien is promoting full transparency with these awards and has released the scorecard that will be used to judge nominations. Also, sponsors of the awards cannot have a nomination. These awards will be a bit more casual (as you won’t need a penguin suit) but Damien promises it will be more fun. If the Blog Awards are anything to go by, I’d well believe it. Very nice logo I might add… by Spoilt Child I do believe.

IIA Net Visionary

IIA Net Visionary - October 30th
The Net Visionaries are run by the Irish Internet Association, and according to the IIA, are unique in that they are run and voted on by the Irish web industry. They may not be unique anymore with the launch of the Irish Web Awards this year. A large range of categories are available to get nominated in, including Best Business Blogger, Innovation Award, Internet Entrepreneur, Internet Marketer, Student Project Award, Web Designer Excellence, and Web Developer Excellence. There is something new with these awards this year in that if you (or someone from your company) have won an award in a particular category over the past 2 years, you cannot be nominated in that category. Not a bad idea to allow a rotation of winners. The awards night is a black tie affair and having attended these events a couple of years ago, I must say, it’s a great night.

Golden Spiders

Golden Spider Awards - November 20th
The Golden Spiders are run by Business & Finance magazine and always raise debate about the validity of the awards. So far I haven’t seen anything this year but I’m sure it’s on it’s way! Regardless, I stick to the opinion that the Golden Spiders are a business awards and it is seen as this. We’ve won a Golden Spider award twice in the past for clients and it really does help our business and our clients in promoting their website. The difference with Golden Spider Awards and the other 2 above is that they charge for you to enter and you might not get short listed. The cost of entry is €150. There’s a whole host of categories ranging the business community from finance to professional services, property to recruitment, and many more. There’s a new award this year for Young Designer of the Year. It’ll be interesting to see who gets nominated for and wins this one. This year, the Golden Spiders have published their judging criteria on the website and have added additional information about web standards. The Spiders are a black tie affair as well and having attended the past 2 years, I found it to be a great night for networking with a lot of the larger companies in the web industry. I’ve made a number of contacts from these nights.

Well, I’ll hopefully be putting a couple of sites forward to each of the awards this year and in turn, I should be attending each of them. Hopefully I’ll see you there.

I was reading a post this morning about CMS vs Frameworks and it got me thinking about how I like to work on projects. I think there are some great CMS’s (content management systems) out there to allow you to manage content on your website, including WordPress that I’m using to write this blog post (you may have noticed that I’m writing a lot more in the last week since I upgraded to the latest version). They come with some great features and are really great to use for me and for my clients. What this article highlighted for me is two things… there is usually a learning curve around a new CMS in terms of setting them up, tweaking them, customising them to way you want, etc. and also that you often loose a lot of control over the output because you are using the accompanied frontend code.

For me as a designer and developer, I like to have a lot of control of the pages that appear on the frontend but I often need to include CMS functionality for my clients so they can update the content on an ongoing basis. So, what do you do… do it all with a custom build, e.g. custom database, custom cms, custom frontend development? Or use an off-the-shelf CMS that you can build the site around and include sections that you need? I’ve done both of these a number of times over the past few years and which one really depends on budget and timeframe.

We have our own Property Manager CMS (see www.gorhomes.ie for a sample) for our property company clients that we’ve built and maintained for the past few years. This was a custom build but we try and keep costs down by specialising in this market. On the other hand, I’ve used the likes of ExpressionEngine to build a couple of CMS driven sites (see www.trimgaa.ie for an example). Both options have their pros and cons, such as:

Custom CMS Build

• Pros - Complete control, works the way you want
• Cons - Costly to develop and maintain, takes longer to develop

Off-The-Shelf CMS

• Pros - Code updating managed for you, quicker to deploy, cost effective
• Cons - Less control over outputted code, learning curve (e.g. EE tags in Expression Engine), frustration with new development procedures (e.g. editing css/xhtml in a browser instead of in your favourite development programme)

So, what I’ve done a few times now is try a hybrid solution and I think I want to do it more in the future. Instead of using a full off-the-shelf product for the CMS and the frontend, I’ve tried using the CMS and database only, and then integrate a custom frontend website/application into that database. This way, i feel you’re getting the best of both worlds: a CMS that is quick and low cost to deploy and maintain while still taking full control over the frontend with custom hand written code.

An example of a fantastic CMS application that I’ve used in this hybrid fashion is SlideShowPro Director. I’ve used SlideShowPro a number of times on sites and it’s a great way of showing a gallery of photos or a portfolio but these days, I’m tending to stay away from flash if I can, and use javascript instead. Therefore, I don’t want to use the SlideShowPro frontend flash output but I do love the CMS that Director is. So, I’ve been able to use SlideShowDirector as a backend CMS to manage a portfolio and at the same time, custom write a frontend javascript based gallery to work directly with the database and it works the way I want it. I didn’t need to extend the CMS in any way, just see how it worked in relation to the database and away I went. I’m thinking of trying something similar with the new ExpressionEngine when it comes out as I love the way you can build custom sections in the database from within the CMS.

So, what do you think? Do you lock yourself into a particular CMS and feel confined? Or do you custom build every CMS and find you’ve never any time? Or are you looking at this Hybrid CMS Solution and if so, can you tell me any other ones you’ve used or would recommend?

No, I’m not talking up my own company this time… I’m talking about Blacknight Web Hosting. Ok, this might just be my own personal opinion but I’m not the only one to think this (they are a well respected provider in the web industry). Blacknight are a medium sized company in Ireland but with a lot to offer when it comes to web hosting. I’ve been doing business with them for over a year now and in that time, I’ve developed a good relationship with them. I’ve dealt with a few web hosting companies over the years and when I compare the service and support that Blacknight provide, they really are second to none.

Blacknight Web Hosting

Well today sees the launch of their new website, which I must say looks pretty cool and reflective of their companies commitment to quality service and support. Along with the new site, they are also launching brand spanking new hosting plans. Only a couple of months ago, they launched some great VPS Hosting plans that are very attractive for companies out growing shared hosting but not ready for full dedicated servers, which they also can provide.

So, if you’re looking to register a couple of domains, or in the market for a hosting company for your new website, or just not happy with your current host, I would 100% recommend you check out Blacknight. You won’t be dissappointed.

I welcome readers to leave their own comments on their experiences with Blacknight and whether you would recommend them or not.

There’s an Irish Webmaster Forum meetup tomorrow evening in the Harbour Master, IFSC, Dublin. The last one was very successful and we had a great attendance and we’re expecting a good turn up this time. A couple of confirmed people include:

• Richard Hearne
• Dave Davis
• James Larkin
• Micky Wall
• Louie (sorry, I don’t know Louie’s second name)
• Gavin Doolan

There are many more expected as well. So, if you are interested and fancy a bit of fun and a chat about industry stuff and maybe even do a bit of business, come along.

Last time, we were kindly sponsored by Blacknight for a few drinks. We might be able to twist their arm again this time. I believe they’re going to be launching their new site in the next day or so, with some great new price plans. I promise we’ll get a new blog post especially for that.

More information on the meetup can be seen on the IWF website.

Looking forward to seeing you on the night.

Over the past 2 months, I’ve had the pleasure of working with a great company, to upgrade their web presence. There was a number of requirements for the site: make it look good, make it more accessible and visible to search engines, and make it pink.

The company is the Select Digital Print Group, based in Tallaght, Dublin 24. They specialise in digital printing, sign and display, creative design and print. Here’s a preview of the site and I think we’ve ticked all 3 requirements for their site: looks good, seo friendly and pink!

www.selectdigital.ie

I’d like to wish Tara and everyone at Select Digital, the very best with the website and their continued success. As I mentioned, it was a pleasure to work with them and I’d recommend you check them out for your creative design and digital print needs in the future.

I’m already looking forward to designing my next pink website. Any takers?

As oppossed to writing “test post from iPhone” like I’ve seen a few times today, I decided to write a little post telling everyone that you can now update your WordPress Blog using your iPhone or iPod Touch. I’m writing this post using my iPod Touch and I must say, it’s quite handy and fairly fast suprisingly. There is also support for uploading pictures from your device directly into the post.

Now, I wonder will this actually make me write more posts and more often when I’m not at my PC or MacBook. I think it will push me to get the iPhone though so I can take pictures, create posts and upload them using the new 3G version.

Well done to WordPress for creating this app. Very nice indeed.

http://iphone.wordpress.org for more info.

I’m happy to report today that one of our clients, Blue Sky Mortgages, has done very well out of Google’s recent SERP shuffle. They’ve reached no. 2 for the search term “mortgages” on google.ie.

When we took over the site late last year, one of our objectives was to increase search engine traffic. By employing standard SEO techniques during the development process (such as compliant code, css based design, naming conventions, search engine friendly urls, etc.) and some help from 2bscene with a targeted link building campaign and optimisation of the site, we are really happy with the results this week. Being no. 2, pushes Blue Sky Mortgages above the likes of GMC Mortgages, Permanent TSB, Irish Mortgage, Mortgage Store, Ulster Bank and Simply Mortgages - to name but a few.

Blue Sky Mortgages also rank very well for other terms such as “mortgage”, “mortgages ireland”, “mortgage broker”, etc. We’re looking forward to analysing the statistical information and improving on the current results. This actually coincides with a new service we will be offering our clients that makes use of PPC campaigns to achieve exceptional results. We’ll have more on that soon.

Happy Paddy’s Day Everyone!

I hope you are all feeling very green and proud this festive weekend. I’d just like to share some photos with you that a photographer friend of mine, Reggie Smit, sent to me recently. He attended SkyFest at the Rock of Cashel on Saturday night and took some fantastic photographs. He’s given me permission to post a few up for people to see and if anyone is interested in buying printed versions of these, they can contact him on his photography website. Well, I hope my readers aren’t too hungover on Tuesday. Enjoy the photos.

Images are the copyright of Reggie Smit and cannot be reproduced with express permission.

Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve been blown away by an application for the Internet but yesterday I was. I got an email from a fellow designer (thanks Aoife) to a cool application that works for Internet Explorer, Firefox (pc and mac), and Safari. The application is PicLens and in a nutshell, it’s an image gallery viewing tool that sits above your browser (in full screen when open) and makes life much easier than traditional thumbnail listing, click for larger image, next page, etc.

If you’ve ever tried navigating a photo gallery on somebody’s bebo, myspace or facebook page, you’ll know what a headache it can be. With this application installed, you click an icon on supported images and it loads all the images into a cool interface that shows all the images on a “virtual wall” that you can skip along quickly, zoom in, zoom out, start a slideshow, and more. It’s hard to describe how it works but the best thing I can suggest is to just try it. For Mac users our there, it’s like looking at images in cover view.

My First Implementation

Web Design Inspiration Virtual Wall
This got me thinking about the application of such a tool into my every day life and I’ve come up with my first implementation. I subscribe to css galleries to keep a fresh of new techniques and designs. I put the collection into a little web app for my viewing pleasure. However, it’s not that easy to browse and find what I’m looking for so I decided to integrate PicLens into it. I’ve come up with a cool Web Design Inspiration Virtual Wall that I can quickly flick through, find a site I like and open it directly all from within PicLens. You can try it out for yourself but make sure you are using FireFox and have the PicLens extension installed as I haven’t configured it for IE or Safari yet. I’ve got a number of ideas floating around for this in my head but I imagine any site I create in the future that has a photo gallery will have support for PicLens or similar apps. I can’t see me ever browsing a gallery using standard pages if I can use PicLens instead.

Using PicLens for Web/Stock Image Searches

There’s a built in search facility that allows you to search for images on Google, Yahoo, Flickr and DevianArt. The results show up in the app and when you find a pic you like, you can click a button (top left) and it will bring to the page it is from. Way cool! We were chatting on Irish Webmaster Forum about the app and James came up with a great use of the app. I, and a lot of other designers, love iStockPhoto for images for our websites. It can be very annoying and time consuming trying to find the right image so instead of using iStockPhoto’s built in search, you can use PicLens to search Google Images for “site:istockphoto.com business” and you’ll get business related results. You can quickly browse them and open the iStockPhoto page that has the image for sale. I’m sure this same technique could be used on countless other websites too.

Well, that’s it for now. Hope you like the app and let me know what you think with a comment below. Any other good uses of this tool you can think of? Tricks? etc? To finish… Here’s a few screenshots of PicLens on my Web Design Inspiration Virtual Wall. 2 thumbs up to the guys at who created it! Superb!

Screenshots

Hi all! Just a quick post to spread the word about a web industry meet up that’s happening next week. Official title for the event is “SEO & Webmaster Meetup” but it’s really just an excuse for a bunch of us in the web industry to get together, have a few drinks and maybe do a bit of business. All webbie/techie guys and gals welcome. It should be a bit of fun!

Sponsored by Blacknight

The kind people over at Blacknight who provide excellent hosting in Ireland, are kindly sponsoring the event. There’ll be free drinks available to attendees so make sure you turn up early! I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Michele, Paul and the team over at Blacknight for their great support and service, and of course for sponsoring the event. If you don’t host with them already, you should really consider it. Check out their website at www.blacknight.com

Where and When?

Date: Saturday February 9th
Time: 7.30PM till whenever
Venue: Harbour Master, IFSC, Dublin

More information can be found on the IWF Forum. Drop a reply into the post to say you’ll be there or contact me and I’ll add you to the list.

Attendees

Some of the attendees to date include:

• Ken Stanley
• Richard Hearne [Redcardinal]
• Dave Davis [Redfly Marketing]
• James Larkin [Forbairt Media]
• Cormac Moylan
• Louie [Eire Web Design]
• Mark Walsh
• Allistar [Logon]
• Eoghan McCabe [Contrast]
• Ciaran Rooney [Weeno]
• Gavin Doolan
• Micky Wall
• Gavin [Ireland SEO & Marketing]
• Michael Flanagan

Pre Meetup, 6 Nations, 2-for-1 Special Offer

There’s a few of us meeting up earlier in the day for the Ireland v France rugby match at 4.30pm in Fitzsimons, Temple Bar. If you’re interested in meeting up to watch the game with us before heading to the IFSC, contact either myself or Ken Stanley and we’ll exchange numbers!

Looking forward to meeting people on the night! Slainte!