Archive for the ‘Technical’ Category
Does exactly what it says on the tin; just the posts that relate to the above...
Google phases out IE6
Saturday, January 30th, 2010
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.”
PHP guru required
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009
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.
Utilising Twitter for business
Thursday, July 30th, 2009
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.
Skype on iPhone
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
The latest update from Skype, the highly anticipated application, Skype™ for iPhone, will be available on the Apple App Store from the beginning of today.
With the Skype iPhone application, users will be able to make free calls using Wi-Fi to other Skype users as well as use their Skype accounts to make reduced price calls to traditional landline phones. Whilst this service has been available for some time for Nokia, Windows Mobile and Google Android phones, this is a huge development for iPhone users that have been requesting this for some time.
The Skype application for the iPhone or iPod touch will be available for free from Apple’s App Store on both devices.
WordPress consultancy
Thursday, March 19th, 2009
Mixd specialises in website development utilising the open-source WordPress™ publishing platform. Having worked with the WordPress platform for a number of years, we have extended our digital services to include enterprise-level WordPress custom solutions. We can tailor the WordPress system to your specific needs. Here is our five point guide as to why you should use WordPress:
It’s free!
Yes, that’s right, WordPress is open source, so there’s no cost to using or distributing it; and it runs on PHP and MySQL, both of which are similarly free to use. This greatly reduces the cost of development.
Simple to use
One of the great benefits of the WordPress publishing system is its so easy to use. The number one reason that content management system implementations fail is lack of adoption by owners and authors. We believe the WordPress system the most usable, intuitive and easy to learn publishing system available.
Full standards compliance
Every bit of WordPress generated code is in full compliance with the standards of the W3C. This is important not only for interoperability with today’s browsers but also for forward compatibility with the tools of the next generation.
Modular architecture
The open architecture of the system allows for content types and further functionality or logic to be ‘plugged’ into it in a modular fashion. This allows for scalability and developers to write code for WordPress.
No lock-in
Decide you don’t like Mixd and want to work with a different web agency? Any competent web developer should be able to work with the files we’ve coded, meaning you’re not locked in to working with one agency.
Search Engine Optimisation for WordPress
WordPress comes with several built in search optimisation tools that make it easier to optimise your website.
To find out more about how WordPress can help you please contact Mixd
Tellin’ stories
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
When you think about sitting down and reading a story you imagine leafing through the dusty pages of a nice hardback. Or maybe feeding your obsession for sleazy pulp fiction with something you picked up in the departure lounge on your way to Magaluf on holiday. More recently there has been the advent of digital books – but all they do is present the reader with pages, albeit digital pages staring back at you from an LCD screen.
Now, however, the whole concept of storytelling is being re-invented with this lovely piece of interactivity brought to the world by a small company called Six to Start in conjunction with Penguin Books. Hopefully the door between fact and fiction, reality and virtuality has been nudged open just a little bit more.