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23
MAY
2013

Why WordPress?

Author Jono

On the 27th May, WordPress will celebrate its 10th birthday and we will raise a glass to our favourite content management platform (CMS) for website development.

There have been plenty of debates in the development community and an endless amount of articles written about “what’s the best open source content management system”. There are pros and cons to them all, and some are better suited to different types of project solutions. We’ve developed and experimented with all the big players; Drupal, Joomla, Concrete5 but the one that stands out above the rest to us is WordPress.

Wordpress Websites Developed by Plus Two

So… why WordPress?

Our number one reason for recommending to clients; WordPress is simple-to-use!

WordPress has a simple user interface (UI) that allows publishers to quickly create and update their website content, while giving website developers open access to the under-the-hood complexity of the system, which provides the right level of flexibility to create any type of bespoke website or blog.

In WordPress’ own words it “started out in 2003 with a single bit of code to enhance the typography of everyday writing and with fewer users than you can count on your fingers and toes”.  Since then it has grown into the most popular publishing platform for building websites and blogs with currently more than 17% of the web now being powered by this open source project. It has one of the largest, worldwide developer communities and it’s free to implement their platform code into your bespoke built site whether you want to promote your local Youth Rugby team or if you’re a FTSE 100 company. WordPress has been built and maintained by the people that use it while always pushing it forward to evolve. So, you can be confident that WordPress is here to stay.

Still not convinced by this simple, easy-to-use and flexible CMS? Then, here’s a load more reasons why to choose WordPress:

  1. Publish with Ease.
    Through the CMS you can create Posts and Pages, format them easily, insert media (images, documents, video, etc). You can quickly upload images and media to WordPress using their easy-to-use drag and drop uploader. This feature also allows you to add alternative text (alt tags), captions, and titles, and insert images into your content. With one click then your content will be live on the World Wide Web. Managing your content couldn’t be any simpler. WordPress allows you to create drafts, schedule publications, and has the ability to let you look at your post revisions. You can make your content public or private, and set posts and pages to be secure with a password.
  2. Search Engine Optimised (SEO) and Full Standards Compliance.
    The clever people who have developed WordPress have built it in a way that makes it a magnet for search engines.WordPress prides itself on that every piece of their generated code is in full compliance with the standards set by the W3C. This means that websites built in their framework will work in today’s browsers (Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer), while maintaining forward compatibility with the next generation of those browsers.
  3. User Management
    WordPress allows the administrators who manage the site to be able to set the level of control for users. Not everyone requires the same access to your website and you have the power to set the levels to have a variety of contributors to your website, and let other users simply be part of your community.
  4. Built-in Comments
    Comments are handy for both websites and blogs. The comments feature in WordPress gives an environment for your website users to engage with your content. Allowing you to interact with your user and to be a forum for discussion and the ability to moderate that discussion.

And if that’s not enough, WordPress has a plugin directory with thousands of plugins to spice up your website or blog. These plugins include; complex interactive galleries, social networking, forums, quizzes, social media widgets, spam protection, calendars, fine-tune controls for search engine optimisation and forms. WordPress also has plugin integration for some of the biggest customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, such as;  Salesforce, Eventbrite, MailChimp and Etsy.

Ultimately WordPress is top of our list, but we will happily develop in other platforms if the project requires.

If you have a website project you would like to talk to Plus Two about, please email us at sales@plus-two.com or call us  on 020 7261 9967.

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09
MAY
2013

The Importance of Being Responsive

Author Sarah

With sales of tablet devices expected to exceed 100 million this year and an estimated 25% of your website traffic set to come from some form of handheld device by the end of 2013. The way our customers consume data is constantly evolving.

The increasing use of games consoles, Smart TV’s and eReader’s to access the internet, coupled with the fact that in 2012 for the first time since 2001 PC sales were lower than in the previous year reinforces our belief that this is a trend that is here to stay.

So, how do we provide the optimum viewing experience whatever device our customers are using? We get responsive!

PresentiaFX Responsive Visuals

 

What is responsive web design?

 
Responsive web design is an approach to crafting websites, which provides the optimum user experience across multiple devices. Responsive web design allows easy reading of and navigation through a website without the need for zooming in and out of content.

But creating websites responsively is more that just styling and re-factoring a webpage to fit on a smaller screen. There are many considerations.

 

Considerations for responsive web design

 
As mobile devices are often used in areas with limited internet connectivity, we need to think about which areas of a page are of most importance. Sometimes we may to update or remove content areas in order to reduce the load time of the page.

Another important consideration is that on mobile devices, touch tends to be the primary method of interaction. This means that users have less accuracy in their interactions, and the hover state that is often used for displaying sub menus on websites, becomes an irrelevant feature.

Its also worth noting that users consume the web differently on mobile than they do on a computer; page flow, font sizing, headings and line spacing all need to be carefully considered.

These differences in interaction present interesting design challenges which if not considered during the design phase, will contribute to a bad user experience.

 

SEO and responsive web design

 
Not only is it key to provide a responsive experience for users. It is no longer favourable from an SEO perspective, nor is it practical to create separate websites for specific devices.

Google has cited it’s recommended website configuration as follows:

‘Sites that use responsive web design, i.e. sites that serve all devices on the same set of URLs, with each URL serving the same HTML to all devices and using just CSS to change how the page is rendered on the device.’

Having a responsive website may not be the simplest solution but done well, it will most definitely be the most effective in engaging with all existing and potential customers whatever their viewing preference.

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02
MAY
2013

Women Like Us… Like us!

Author Sarah

Women Like Us, a multi award-winning social enterprise approached Plus Two for help with the design and development of a new website that would act as a portal for the thousands of mothers in the UK who feel ‘locked out of work’. The objective was to create a place where these mothers can find all the information they need, interact with others in a similar situation, share information and gain access to expert advice.

Women Like Us Homepage VisualWith backing from the Innovation in Giving Fund, run by Nesta and funded by Cabinet Office. There were clear targets and objectives to be delivered within a very specific budget.

Plus Two rose to the challenge!

Through a collaborative approach to solving any issues that arose from the brief, the website scope was defined, wireframes were created to help aid understanding of how the different areas of the website would work and ensure a user friendly experience. This, along with a continuous dialogue between Women Like Us and Plus Two enabled the delivery of an appealing design approach that offered both simplicity and sophistication.

The Women Like Us website was then built with HTML5 and CSS3 to offer Women Like Us all the functionality they required along with a full content management system (CMS), for which WordPress was used. This allows Women Like us to maintain and update almost all the website content themselves.

With the support of the Plus Two team, Women Like Us then populated all content in order to get to grips with the CMS.

With testing completed by Plus Two, Women Like Us and selected third party testers, the website was ready to launch on time as planned.

With the help of some PR coverage the new website has seen an increase in traffic of over 150% and Women Like Us are continuing to receive great feedback from and engagement with the website.

Emma Stewart, Founder and Director of Women Like Us had this to say:

“We’re thrilled with the design of our new site. We’ve had a huge amount of positive feedback even in the first few days – not just from women, but also from our corporate and government partners. Everyone’s saying how fresh and inviting the site is. Plus-Two have really caught the spirit of the Women Like Us brand and created a website that stands out in the market place.”

Check it out for yourself at www.womenlikeus.org.uk

If you’d like more information about this, or any of our projects, please do not hesitate to email us at sales@plus-two.com or call us on +44(0)207 261 9967.

 

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22
JAN
2013

The Website Design Process, A Digital Agency’s Guide – Part 1

Author Martin

This 2 part series is based on website design processes and procedure at Plus Two a digital agency in London. We appreciate this is not in the end how all digital agencies work; but aim to give a solid foundation on what to expect when commissioning and building a website with a digital agency.

Our guide walks through the different stages of website design and development. In part one we cover the steps leading up to design sign off and in part two we look at how websites are built, delivered and supported. While having the potential to be quite lengthy we try to keep things brief; our guide should give insight and reassurance during a websites design and development.

Design

Good web designers take great care when creating a solution for a client. There are a number of considerations including user experience, accessibility, aesthetic and function. Good digital agencies will involve a lead designer in some way during the design process. Lead designers have years of experience, during which they have built up a skill set which forms the base for good design and user experience.

In this section we cover some of the more important steps leading to good website design.

Group Discussion

As a digital agency it is important to gain an understanding of your clients business, their customers and any existing guidelines which exist due to branding or other constraints, a good way of getting to grips with the bulk of this information quickly is with a good ol’ face to face discussion. From the clients perspective; face to face discussion allows for a better insight into how a digital agency works, clarifying what to expect during the course of a project.

It is essential that the key players within the client company take part in early stage meetings. Senior management or executives know their brand, products, services and company ethos better than Jane ‘that new girl in marketing”, it is these key people who know what content needs to be on the website and what information will be most important to the intended audience.

Content is King

Raison d’être

  • Who is going to be using the website?
  • What purpose does the website serve?
  • What content will be on the website?
  • What is the best way to present the websites content?

These are all questions which should be at the forefront of a team’s minds when embarking on a new project, it is the specification created from this information which will insure the success of the website not the pretty graphics or the developers super human coding skills.

Content types and functionality

Only once the client and digital agency have established a mutual understanding of what needs the website will fill, it is time to define types of content and functionality, these are the fundamental building blocks which will influence the design and overall experience of the website.

Most websites will have funnels for driving leads towards the various website goals. In e-commerce this might be to take a warm lead and drive them towards a purchase or, for more service based companies this might mean capturing their email address via a form. Data capture is an important part of many websites; the aim being to capture contact details or behaviours for use in future marketing, many websites do this by offering whitepapers or free content accessed only via email submission.

What information will aid with the websites retention? How will this be presented? And what form does it take? Press releases, whitepapers, webinars, podcasts and HTML pages are all examples of the various chunks of information or resources which a website might be able to offer its users. Providing valuable resources will help to establish the site as an authority within its field encouraging back links which as you may know can only be good for SEO.

Once content types and core functionality have been defined and agreed the agency can then utilise this specification to create the sites information architecture and begin wireframing.

Sitemap

A sitemap is drawn up to show the way that pages relate to one another, this helps to align the clients and agencies understanding of how pages will sit with one another whilst providing greater insight into how many types of template/pages will need to be created for the website.

Mood boards

The design agency will sometimes ask for links to sites which are liked/disliked as the client, asking for reasons to support why they have chosen them. Using other sites in this way can form the basis on which the design grows. Do not forget however as a client you are paying a design company to come up with a creative solution and this is something which they do best - After all isn’t that why you hired them in the first place?

A mood board will be created, this will contain elements which the designers have decided will work best within the brief, this should outline type styles, border styles, layout ideas, colour pallets and other design elements.

Wireframes

Initially wireframes act as a communication tool used by the agency and client teams. To start they will be created by the agency to reflect how they think the website will function then over a course of requested amends and discussion they are refined to reflect a shared vision of how the website will function.

When a wireframe has been signed off by the client, it is then used as the specification on which the website design will be based. In more technical builds it is often the wireframe which is referred to by developers to ensure that the website operates as expected.

The Design

Moe, Larry and Curly

Many agencies will supply 3 homepage designs as a starting point for design discussions these occur after the mood board has been supplied and discussed, this means that the pending results should hopefully all have elements which appeal to the client for one reason or another.

When these 3 designs have been submitted for review the clients team inevitably pour over the designs and decide which elements they like and dislike, this feedback is key to the final design and a crucial part of the design process.

The final showdown

A final homepage design will be drawn up using the previous 3 designs and corresponding feedback as the blueprint. This design should be very close to the end result with only a few minor amends being required. Once this design is finalised then the agency will draw up designs for the remaining pages based around the themes and styles defined on the homepage.

The mobile web

There are 1000′s of internet enabled devices including various phones and tablets so an important consideration when crafting a website for today’s web is how to handle mobile. There are 3 basic options here; do nothing, make a mobile site or adapt the site according to screen size.

1) Decide not to have a mobile site. If  its decided not to commission a mobile site then all is not lost, people will still be able to see the site on their devices though relevant testing must be undertaken to ensure forms, menus and other interactive components work or fail gracefully when not supported.

2) Get a separate mobile site. Creating a mobile version of a site is another common practice and can lead to a better mobile experience for users. Mobile websites serve up only the information that mobile users need to have access to and in manageable chunks of accessible digestible information. Using tools such as jQuery Mobile developers are able to supply an experience similar to that associated with mobile applications.

3) Get an adaptive or responsive site. Responsive sites have several benefits over bespoke mobile sites though it is worth saying that for one reason or another the user experience can sometimes take a hit. Responsive sites tend to have a faster development cycle than creating both a mobile and standard site this is often reflected in the cost. Google has also recently recommended this as the best approach for building smartphone optimized websites. Responsive layouts may also be adapted on the fly using JavaScript to introduce more suitable menu systems and page devices.

Design amends

This is a designers favourite part of a project, the time when they amend their favourite bits of  a design  to meet the clients needs. Expect a bit of back and forth at this stage due to getting everything just right for both parties (remember – the client and digital agency are in this together).

Design sign off

Once everyone is happy then it is time for the client to sign off the design, a small word to the wise… further graphical amends may now come at cost.

All systems are go! The design is signed off so the digital agency will start the development cycle. This cycle is where those pretty graphics, the requirements, a bit of CSS and a spattering of technological wizardry are blended together to create a shiny new website.

Content delivery

During the process the client company should have been amassing content which will eventually end up on the website. Ideally content is delivered either at the end of the design stage or early into development. The sooner content is supplied the better! Early delivery allows the digital agency to identify potential issues or mismatches, for example the templates which were quoted for may not fit with the delivered content or images may be low resolution so are not suitable. Catching content issues early means that delays with the website launch can be minimised.

Supplied content should ideally be delivered optimised for SEO, though the digital agency should be able to help with this – either during its creation or its entry into the website.

Conclusions so far

Thus far we have covered the design phase of how digital agencies build websites. As you can see during a websites design phase clients are heavily involved with the process, expect many meetings, lots of emails and a good number of conference calls to boot. There are several decisions to be made and so a client should work closely with its digital agency making the best possible decisions ensuring a balance between function, budget and usability.

It is important to stay on top of assembling your content and any other client requirements for delivery. A digital agency will schedule your website in amongst other projects so any unexpected delays from the client such as not having content ready on time could unfortunately mean a delay in your website launch.

Continue on to The Website Design Process, A Digital Agencies’ Guide – Part 2 to delve into website development, website delivery and support.

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22
JAN
2013

The Website Design Process, A Digital Agency’s Guide – Part 2

Author Martin

This is the second part of a post on the website design and development process. In this part we cover website development/build, website delivery and support. For part one of this post read ‘The Website Design Process, A Digital Agency’s Guide – Part 1‘.

Once again the content of this post is based on our processes and procedures at Plus Two, they are outlined to aid with general understanding of a digital agency’s website design and development process. We appreciate this may not be how all digital agencies work, but should give a solid foundation on what to expect when creating a website with a digital agency.

Build

Building websites involves a variety of technologies and technological know how, this section provides an overview of the developmental steps which lead up to a website launch.

Domain registration

Most if not all websites have a web address, it is important to secure the name wanted for a website early on; so that competitors or other companies can’t get there first. Some agencies will look after this step but others won’t. There are many domain registrars out there to choose from personally I use http://www.domainmonster.com/ whereas another popular registrar is http://www.123-reg.co.uk/.

When choosing a domain name it is wise to consider which keywords you want to rank well for in search engines, if possible weave a couple of these terms into the web address.

Web hosting

Web hosting is rented space on a server which is accessible from the internet, it is where a website will ‘live’ once it has been uploaded. As with choosing a domain registrar there are many options out there for web hosting , the cost of these vary from free hosting to prices verging on extortion. Some agencies will sell hosting as a managed service which will cost more than hosting a site on a private hosting. If its decided to opt for managed hosting through an agency make sure to ask for a breakdown of the pricing.

Different websites have varying requirements from their a web server this is something a digital agency will be able to advise you on. Essentially there are 3 basic types of web server; shared hosting, virtual private servers and dedicated servers. Shared hosting is usually only suitable for basic websites and sometimes low level CMS functionality, virtual private servers offer websites more resources and so are used more often with CMS based websites, dedicated servers are used for enterprise level solutions and would be surplus to most website requirements.

There are generally 3 web servers which are used during the development of the site; these are local, staging and live. A local server is local to the developers machine, changes here are only visible on the developers computer. A staging server is a server which can be seen over the internet but is not indexed by search engines, files will be uploaded here for content population, testing and review. When a site is signed off the files will be migrated from the staging server to the live server which will indexed by search engines and visible to web surfers everywhere.

Tiered development

To CMS or not to CMS

Concrete5, Drupal,  Joomla, Moveable type, WordPress… the list of content management systems goes on. Content management systems (CMS) are a platform for publishing, editing and modifying content. Deciding whether a website should have a CMS depends on the purpose and scale of the website. Microsites and small websites (3 to 5 pages) which will not have content updated frequently may not require the additional overhead of using a CMS whereas medium to large websites usually benefit from having one.

CMS’s provide a fast and efficient way to keep a website’s content up to date this often reduces the cost of setting up a large website, with medium websites (5 to 20 pages) you might not see this saving when comparing quotes this is due to the cost of setting up the CMS being comparable to populating the content directly into the raw HTML – something to remember is that future content amends and updates will be cheaper if a CMS has been used.

CMS Plugins

Many digital agencies utilise CMS plugins to extend functionality. It is a normal practice for these to be included when tailoring a website for a client. Plugins come in three flavours Free, Paid and Bespoke. Many agencies have their own library of trusted or paid plugins though if a piece of functionality is unique then the agency may create a bespoke plugin.

Ruby on Rails/ASP/PHP, HTML, CSS and JavaScript

After a wireframe, sitemap, design and the decision on whether to use a CMS have been made development will begin. There are two main elements to this backend and frontend development, these run in synergy with one another.

Back-end development refers to the code and services which run on the web server these are things like creating the database and sending/retrieving data, these instructions are written in server-side languages 3 of the main ones are PHP, ASP and Ruby on Rails. Front-end development refers to the bit of website everyone sees, on the whole this is built using  HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Testing

Developers will continually test their code across browsers during development; this reduces the chance of ‘surprise bugs’ when the development cycle is nearing its end. Once a website has reached a stage where it is nearing launch then a formal testing cycle will begin. Having a testing cycle reduces the risk of things going wrong once a site is live, all facets of the website will be heavily scrutinised across multiple devices, platforms and browsers. As bugs are found and reported they will be fixed and retested to ensure the bug no longer exists.

Content population

If no CMS was included in the build content population will take place throughout the build as an integral part of creating the website. Most websites built by Plus Two include a CMS as part of the package. After a CMS has been installed on a server content population may begin and will continue as the site is developed. Content will include text, images and where applicable audio and video. It is worth noting that video and audio may need encoding into new formats in order to work with internet browsers.

What good is a a website if nobody can find it? It is important that SEO is considered when collating the website content. SEO is a vast subject, too vast to be included in this post – in brief: page titles, headings, first paragraphs, link text, image names and alt tags should all be considered as places to consider placing keywords, however try not to keyword stuff. SEO plugins are available for most CMS’s for WordPress we tend to use Yoast’s WordPress SEO plugin; amongst other great features this plugin makes it easy to manage page titles and meta descriptions from within the editor.

Content amends and Sign off

Once the site has been tested and content population has come to a stop the client will be asked to give a final review. The purpose for this review is to identify any content amends and tweaks to functionality, once these amends have been completed the client is asked to sign off the website as complete, only after sign off is given will the site be ready for delivery.

Delivery

Websites tend not to be physically handed over to the client unless a backup of the files on CD or memory stick is requested, instead they are uploaded onto an agreed server and the proverbial ‘keys’ are handed over via training and provision of documentation.

Migration

All files and database entries are transferred to the live server, any settings within the CMS preventing the site from being indexed by search engines are updated.

Update domain name settings

DNS settings with the domain registrar are updated to point the domain name at the live site, these changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate and so 48 hours for the site to appear as live.

Documentation & Training

Documentation if required will be prepared and supplied to the client, other 3rd party on-line resources may also be supplied as training aids.

If training has been included in a quote then a session will be scheduled either as a face to face or web meeting. In a face to face meeting relevant client employees will be walked through the process of adding and amending content, supplied with biscuits and a free flowing supply of tea and coffee. Unfortunately scientists haven’t yet figured out how to send biscuits or tea over the internet so these tend to be excluded from web training.

Support

Once a website or project has been completed this tends not to be the end of the client-agency relationship. Web technology moves forward, budgets are renewed, new features are desired and old ones removed, this leads to a state of continued development; both of the client-agency relationship and of the project. Below are some examples of how the client-supplier relationship may continue to grow.

Content

Depending on the level of training or by prior agreement; content amends may be made by the supplier at the request of the client. A retainer may be created to cover content updates and the addition/removal of website features.

Technical support

As new technology is released and a website grows  it is an unfortunate inevitability that the occasional bug will appear, a digital agency however should happily fix any which were covered by the original remit.

Assistive support 

As new employees are hired and fired or time passes clouding memory en-route there may be the need for retraining or for the occasional reminder on how to do something. A client may also look for support with finding the best solution for new features. Whatever the assistance the digital agency should be happy to help out.

Conclusion

Hopefully by now you have a feel for the way a digital agency defines website design and development. As you can see there is a fair amount of client responsibility and work that goes into a website. A good agency should be willing to discuss any part of the website design and development process with a client and it is important for an agency to get the client involved; especially early on in order to insure a good product is delivered.

Also important to note is that the client needs to have faith in the digital agency to make the right calls in terms of usability, they have a vast body of experience in the field and its in their best interest to make the best possible choices when deciding where items live on a page and what technologies to utilise. Remember it’s their portfolio, the client-agency relationship (future work and recommendations) and finished website which they are working towards.

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