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Mixd Blog
Keep up to speed with all that’s going on with the Mixd team; comings & goings, highs & lows, ins & outs and so on. (Incidentally, blog is a contraction of the term web log; why use two syllables, when one will do?!)
Google phases out IE6
Posted: January 30th, 2010 by Phil
News released from Google this morning will bring a smile to many developers! The firm said from 1 March some of its services, such as Google Docs, would not work “properly” with the browser. It recommended individuals and firms upgrade “as soon as possible”.
Quote from the Official Google Blog;
“The web has evolved in the last ten years, from simple text pages to rich, interactive applications including video and voice. Unfortunately, very old browsers cannot run many of these new features effectively. So to help ensure your business can use the latest, most advanced web apps, we encourage you to update your browsers as soon as possible. There are many choices:
Many other companies have already stopped supporting older browsers like Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers. We’re also going to begin phasing out our support, starting with Google Docs and Google Sites. As a result you may find that from March 1 key functionality within these products — as well as new Docs and Sites features — won’t work properly in older browsers.”
The great meltdown
Posted: January 13th, 2010 by Bob
And no, I’m not referring to the great thaw in Harrogate, but the loss of internet for a few hours yesterday afternoon.
We work in the digital world, so probably notice it a bit more than most, but what did we all do before internet access, broadband and Wi-Fi?
We almost felt naked. In the dark ages. Like an engine that’s lost its driving wheel.
Never to be beaten and down-hearted though, we adopted some novel practices:
- Updating Twitter and Facebook using an iPhone;
- Phoning and speaking to clients;
- Reading reference books; and
- Talking.
Whilst we abandoned MSN Messenger and talked, we discussed what we’d all be doing if the internet and web design didn’t exist:
- Phil decided he’d be a Fireman;
- Mike reckons he’d draw stuff and visit the library more;
- Dave would be a superstar DJ (The International Master of Rave);
- Bob juggled the idea of being a musician (living on the bread-line) or a self-sufficient small-holder; and
- Matt would drive limousines.
Thank goodness for the internet…
Let it snow!
Posted: January 8th, 2010 by Bob
As the nation almost comes to a stand still with the ‘big freeze’, the Mixd crew can’t wait until the weekend to get out in to the glorious white powder that is snow for a good old play about!
On Tuesday, Harrogate was one of the worst hit places in the UK for snow, frost, ice and general coldness… but that’s not going to dampen our spirits! Of course, mishaps happen owing to the weather; we know:
- Matt has crashed his car (he’s okay so that’s cool);
- Bob has twisted his knee;
- Matt then fell and damaged a finger;
- Mike had to be dug out of the car park;
- Bob’s outhouse has frozen so washing machine and outside loo are defunct;
- Dave got stuck on a train; and
- Phil nearly went into the River Wharfe at Pool after slipping on ice in his car!
Not to mention that Bob has been working from home since Tuesday owing to trecherous roads, frozen car and the general desire to shirk a tad.
But what the heck! How often do we get great snow like this? We intend to thoroughly enjoy ourselves in it.
Look out for the Mixd crew this weekend; you’re sure to spot at least one of us:
- Snowboarding down the Otley Chevin;
- Sledging head first towards a river (incidentally, Bob can confirm that the River Tees at Preston Park has completely frozen over);
- Clearing paths for the elderly and disabled;
- Taking part in a huge snowball fight with relatives, friends and anyone else who might want to ‘ave it;
- Building a phallic snow sculpture;
- Going shopping for house-bound neighbours; and
- ‘Snow-surfing’* behind a car (always wear a crash helmet folks);.
So come on Britain, let’s not moan about the cold weather… let’s embrace it!
*snow-surfing is not big and it’s certainly not clever.
Spooky goings-on at Mixd…
Posted: October 30th, 2009 by Phil
Mark Graham, whose company Original Ghost Walks of York says he found things going bump in the night at the former Mixd offices in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.
Five will make you get down!
Posted: September 21st, 2009 by Bob
Contrary to a popular belief created by nineties boy-band FIVE!, no it won’t… five is most certainly making us get up; happy and celebrating.
Yesterday was the fifth birthday of Mixd, the full service creative agency based in Harrogate and five of us celebrated in our own individual ways:
- Matt jumped down five sets of steps on his BMX;
- Mike got up at 5am to feed the twins;
- Bob sampled five different types of light ale;
- Phil bruised five ribs during a mountain biking incident; and
- Dave listened to ‘Now That’s What I call Music 5′… five times.
Thanks to all our clients, friends and supporters for making the last five years truly enjoyable and here’s to the next five.
PHP guru required
Posted: September 15th, 2009 by Bob
Today’s lesson is fundamental Economics… the basics: Supply and Demand.
We have high demand for our top-end services and a desire to supply on time, to brief and within budget. In order to achieve this, we like to work with the best in the business.
We are currently looking for a top quality PHP developer with a good working knowledge of WordPress to join the Mixd team. Initially on a part-time or freelance basis, but it is anticipated that this demand may grow to full-time.
If you want to work with an exciting team, at the top of its game, please get in touch through whatever means suits you best to arrange a chat over a coffee / tea / beer.
Bob on the main stage
Posted: August 28th, 2009 by admin
When Bob asked for a day off, we thought he just wanted to enjoy a long Bank Holiday weekend. He did mention that his band was playing a gig, but did we expect to see him on the front page of the BBC site, being touted as a headline act at the Leeds/Reading Music Festival?
We do hope he has a good weekend, but we sincerely hope his Sex Isn’t On Fire.
P..p..p..pick up a penguin
Posted: August 25th, 2009 by Bob
It was my niece’s birthday recently. My brother and I were gigging with our band in Wales the day before… of course, we had both forgotten to arrange a present and it was fast approaching 6pm on a Saturday! Rattling our male brains, we concluded that the perfect present (achievable within 24 hours via an iPhone) would be to adopt a King Penguin, somewhere in the far reaches of the Falkland Islands.
After a few Google searches, we found the right solution… a penguin called ‘Sparkle’ that could be sponsored for a year, with our lucky niece receiving email confirmation with interesting facts the next day (perfect) and a welcome pack, with fact sheet, cuddly toy, certificate etc. following by post in the week.
Now then… both myself and my bro work in the digital industry and we really struggled to work out what the heck was going on when we tried to use the site… and that’s before we tried to pay for ‘Sparkle’ (more on this later). It would appear that the custodians of the website have never, ever heard of usability with the main offences being contradictory information / instructions and ridiculous requests for data capture that would surely put most people off… unless they were in the back of beyond in the Welsh mountains, at 7pm on a Saturday, about to go on stage to play a gig. We persevered.
After about thirty minutes of guess work, hair pulling and good fortune, we were ready to purchase. Well… this purchase process was absolute testament to why, under no circumstances, should users feel like they have left your site when making an online payment. After a while, we ended up giving in and decided on completing the next day; this was mainly owing to the fact that it had got so late that we were called onto stage to start the gig… we were superb by the way!
The next day (our niece’s actual birthday), we awoke with a heavy head, regrouped, had a cup of tea and a sausage butty (with red sauce) and recommenced our battle. Eventually, we completed the transaction in the tranny van, somewhere on the M69 nearing Leicester. Although we were guessing that we had, as we didn’t have any confirmation from the website or through email… just a third party payment site thanking us for our payment; not even what the payment was for!
We did start to get worried when our neice didn’t receive the King Penguin email for a further week! Luckily, we hadn’t been scammed and it all turned out well in the end; however, we had sufficient time to go to the Falklands, kidnap ‘Sparkle’ and bring her back to Somerset for her to live happily ever after in our niece’s pond.
Now, I decided not to mention the site in question, but come on people… it’s not rocket science to realise that investing in the right framework at the start of your project, will pay dividends in the long-term; it’s simply short-sighted to do things half-cock and expect a good return on investment.
The moral of the story: put time, thought, effort and the appropriate budget into the usability of your website, especially with e-commerce.
The real moral of the story: be better Uncles and plan ahead!
Utilising Twitter for business
Posted: July 30th, 2009 by Matt
Twitter is a free social network and micro-blogging service which has been everywhere recently. Companies big and small are using it across the world to get their message out there to thousands within seconds. Twitter does not need to be a one-dimensional method of communication however and if used properly it can be extremely beneficial for your business.
Most of you will have logged onto your Twitter account yesterday morning and seen a brand-new homepage, and very nice it is too. The key difference you will notice from the old homepage is that the emphasis has shifted very much towards searching the millions of Tweets passing over the network. It is the search function which can bring real benefits to your business or organisation.
How can Twitter benefit your business
The capacity to reach an audience of thousands with your latest business news or updates is obvious. But using the search function can take Twitter well beyond the trivial “what I had for dinner” notion and act as a key tool for you in business. Below are what we consider the key benefits of using the search facility within the network:
- You can instantly search for anyone talking about anything in your field of business, potentially giving you new leads
- It allows you to find anyone talking about or sharing an opinion on your product or service, giving you the chance to gather feedback
- Finding out what your competitors are up to or what people are saying about them has never been easier
- You can find any comments that have been made about your business, whether positive or negative
- The potential for business networking and making contacts is huge
Using the Twitter search function effectively
Twitter have made the search function very flexible by making use of some expressions which will allow your business to return more specific results. Here is an outline of some things you can enter in the Twitter search box beyond the generic keyword(s) search and how it can work for you (what you need to enter in the search box is in bold):
- near:harrogate – Makes your search results specific to a certain area, great if you want to work locally
- “looking for a website” – Matches the exact phrase “looking for a website” If someone is looking for a website, you can find them
- web design OR graphic design – Search Tweets which contain any of the words “web design” or “graphic design”, a lot more specific than a keyword search
- design -CAD – Searches for “design” but excludes all Tweets containing the word “CAD” (computer aided design), allowing you to exclude areas of business that you are not interested in. You can also exclude your own Tweets if you Tweet often enough!
- since:2009-07-01 - Returns Tweets which have been posted since the beginning of July. If your business searches regularly, keep a note of your last search date and you will only see recent Tweets
- from:mixd – See what a specific business or organisation has been saying
- to:mixd – Shows Tweets directed at a specific business or organisation i.e. Tweets that start “@mixd ….”
- @mixd – Search for references to a certain business or organisation i.e. Tweets that contain “@mixd”
- #help – Matches hash tags posted within Tweets, for people that have dedicated the tag as an important search term
When you look at the example below, you can really see just how specific your business can get with your searching and how powerful a tool it can be:
“looking for a website” OR “looking for design” -CAD near:harrogate since:2009-07-01 #help
You can instantly find anyone who is looking for a website or looking for design (not computer aided) near Harrogate since the start of July, who needs help! The benefits in searching this specifically are enormous.
Want to start using Twitter?
We recommend using CoTweet which is ideal to focus your company’s Tweeting and is used by some of the biggest companies in the world.
CoTweet allows your business to set up user accounts for as many people as you wish across your organisation, letting everyone contribute and manage your Twitter output. The main benefit of course is that it allows you to focus all your Twitter activity into one area. CoTweet also has a very good search facility, an archive and an inbox which allows you to see and store messages people have posted to your Twitter directly using the “@” symbol. We have been using CoTweet (still in Beta) here at Mixd for the past few months and we couldn’t recommend it highly enough!
At Mixd we encourage the use of Twitter as a marketing tool alongside any web project we undertake and hopefully you can begin to see the true potential of making Twitter work for your business.
100 miles for charity
Posted: July 29th, 2009 by Phil
I just wanted to say a huge thanks for all the support and the money raised from the 100 mile South Downs Way bike ride that I took part in last Saturday for the British Heart Foundation.
Despite the miserable weather leading up to the day, Saturday was just amazing. With a bright blue sky and light winds all day I have a very strange tan line on my arms to prove it!
If you’ve not yet shown your support you can sponsor me at: www.justgiving.com/mixd