The witterings of a web developer
My name is Garry Sibbald and I head a web design, development and web strategy company based in Bournemouth.
I have been in the web industry since its early beginnnings in the mid 90's and my motivation has always been to be at the forefront. This has certainly been of benefit to my clients and the success they enjoy speaks for itself.
Whilst I am passionate about the Internet, I appreciate that most of my clients don't share my same level of enthusiasm but by understanding their needs and concerns and tailoring an approach that suits them individually, some of my enthusiasm does rub off - even on the least enthusiastic!
Welcome to my blog "The witterings of a web developer"
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Google Nose. I smell a rat!
Google Nose. I smell a rat!
Google Nose. I smell a rat!
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Is the iPad breaking your website.
Is the iPad breaking your website.
You will no doubt be aware that Apple have launched another product onto the market; The iPad.Unless you are one of Apple's clan of geeky followers that purchases everything as soon as Apple launches it (Yikes! That now includes me) you probably won't have rushed out and got one, so it's likely that you are blissfully unaware that your website[…]
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Free Training under the Train to Gain Funding scheme.
Free Training under the Train to Gain Funding scheme.
How would you like your company to have £500 worth of free training?The Train to Gain scheme offers funding for the training of UK business owners and managers. The scheme guarantees £500 absolutely free, and if required a further £500 will be matched pound for pound with your contribution.for example;First £500 of training is freeTotal of £800 training will cost[…]
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.CO Domain name released today
.CO Domain name released today
There's a new domain name extension being released today and I think it's important that you know about it.The domain extension is .co (www.yourname.co) will be freely available to all from today - 7pm to be exact.Will .co be big? Nobody can say for sure but here's my view. It could take a year or two (depending on uptake) before[…]
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The £105 million website
The £105 million website
It has recently come to light that the HMRC website has cost £35 million per year over the last 3 years!As a developer of websites, it is fair to say that I am more aware that the larger the website the more complex the technical requirements, non more-so than for a government operated site. Cost would naturally be high because[…]
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Should free speech be free?
Should free speech be free?
After much talk and speculation, the times has replaced the times online website with a subscription only service for both The Times and Sunday Times.Clearly The Times, or to be more specific, Rupert Murdoch certainly feel that free speech and the freedom of the press should not be free to their consumers.The subscription based news service, referred to by Rupert[…]
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Clients from Hell
Clients from Hell
My job means I work closely with a wide variety of companies and from the outside many appear to be in the enviable position of running businesses that are hassle free. On the inside it's normally a different case altogether.So, what's the common denominator that causes nearly every business to suffer so much grief? Yep, you guessed right, it's their[…]
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A website needs a website manager
A website needs a website manager
Yet another report reveals that the majority of businesses know that they need a web presence, but a third of those interviewed admit that they neglect to make changes to to update their websites.One in four are unhappy with their websites design and other common reasons given were; outdated content and images, missing methods for communicating with customers and limited[…]
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Design for show, type for dough
Design for show, type for dough
Most golfers will be familiar with the phrase 'Drive for show, putt for dough'.In golf, sinking putts is more likely to win you big money than being able to hit a ball a long way.I've tweaked the phrase and applied it to websites.If you want a successful website remember, 'design for show, type for dough'.The most common area of a[…]
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Facebook users do poorly in exams
Facebook users do poorly in exams
Research has found that students who use the social networking website 'Facebook' perform worse academically. The report indicates that students that use facebook on a daily basis are underperforming by as much as a an entire grade in comparison to students who do not subscribe to the site - so being a user of Facebook could be the difference between[…]
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Poor websites miss sales
Poor websites miss sales
Research by BT has found that small businesses are missing out on valuable online sales opportunities because they fail to maintain their websites properly.Jerry Thompson of BT Business says: "Most small businesses understand that it is vital to have a website and are quick to get online, but unfortunately many websites are withering on the vine because customers cannot actually[…]
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Launch of the .tel domin
Launch of the .tel domin
The .tel domain went to public release today (24th March 2009), meaning that it is now available for anyone and everyone to purchase. The .tel domain differs in concept to a standard domain and is not designed for the hosting of websites - in fact, you are unable to point the name to a website. Instead, it acts as a[…]
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AOL - voted the worst of all time
AOL - voted the worst of all time
It comes as no surprise to see that AOL has been voted the worst ever tech product of all time PC World (US).It has certainly been a thorn in our side when it comes to emails.AOL's inability to recognise friendly emails that are being forwarded from one email address to another frequently results in them being treated as spam.I notice[…]
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Internet Explorer 6 is 7 years old today!
Internet Explorer 6 is 7 years old today!
Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) was launched 7 years ago on August 27th 2001. This shouldn't really be of that much interest any more as Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) has been available for over 2 years, giving internet explorer users plenty of time to upgrade, right? - apparently not!It looks like IE6 is still the most popular browser in the world[…]
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Gold at Olympics creates huge interest in our clients website.
Gold at Olympics creates huge interest in our clients website.
Congratulations to Ben Ainslie for winning his third gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in the Finn Class Sailing event. His achievement is truly outstanding and ranks him as Britain's most successful Olympic Sailor of all time.Naturally, interest in Ben's Olympic progress in the Finn Sailing event and his eventual success at winning the Gold medal would create a lot[…]
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Who do we want to employ? Sorry I can't say!
Who do we want to employ? Sorry I can't say!
If you have been sending out numerous CV's and not getting anywhere, do not be disheartened. It's more than likely that for most of your applications you were a non runner from the start - usually because of no fault of your own!When it comes to advertising a job, political correctness knows no boundaries and unfortunately it is getting harder[…]
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Bespoke or not Bespoke that is the question?
Bespoke or not Bespoke that is the question?
BespokeJust recently I read an article recently (Rashid Razaq, Evening Standard) which explained how the Tailors of Saville Row had lost a legal battle over the right for the word 'Bespoke' to refer exclusively to hand made suits.Menswear retailers Sartoriani was referred to the ASA because it was advertising bargain bespoke suits as "uniquely made according to your personal measurements[…]
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Typing errors make me want to Yell
Typing errors make me want to Yell
Typing errors certainly can come back to haunt you!Now, I don't want to come across as too judgemental here. I make my fair share of typing errors and even worse, some remain unnoticed for ages.It's normally a case of not seeing the 'would for the trees' or the spell checker not picking up on grammatical interpretations of words (yes, I[…]
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The Evolution of British Maths Teaching
The Evolution of British Maths Teaching
I received this from a colleague,1. Teaching Maths In 1970A logger sells a truckload of timber for £100.His cost of production is 4/5 of the price.What is his profit?2. Teaching Maths In 1980A logger sells a truckload of timber for £100.His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or £80.What is his profit?3. Teaching Maths In 1990A logger sells[…]
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A high success rate means cheaper quotes
A high success rate means cheaper quotes
Putting together a proposal for a customer is time consuming.Even putting together a proposal for the smallest of developments can take many hours. The larger the website or the larger the client the more costly the process becomes.Quotes for corporates can be a particular nightmare, the process can go on for months and involve many meetings.One proposal springs to mind[…]
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Our quotes are free - unless you would prefer to pay instead!
Our quotes are free - unless you would prefer to pay instead!
Dear prospect, thanks for inviting us in to discuss your development requirements, we would love to do the work, the next stage is for us to put together a proposal.Now where's that cheque book of yours? Why? - Because we want paying for providing you with the quote.Does the above sound normal or odd? Would you pay for a development[…]
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Small Business - Big Advantage
Small Business - Big Advantage
I read an article recently that had been written by an Aussie guy called Brendon Sinclair. He runs a Web Development Company in Australia, and his company sounds like it is not too disimilar to ours in both size and structure. The way he operates his business also has a lot of similarities to the way we operate ours, so[…]
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Would you buy from this man?
Would you buy from this man?
This article rides on the back of the Giant Rabbit article (no pun intended).I was visiting the 'Internet World' trade fair at Earls Court, London recently and as you would expect there was intense rivally between stands to attract visitors attention. In the same way that the 'Giant Rabbit' had failed dismally, there were some equally frightening attempts to get[…]
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Bournemouth to get 100mb Broadband
Bournemouth to get 100mb Broadband
It has been announced that Bournemouth will be the first town in the country to become a "Fibre City" with broaband delivery of up to 100Mbs. This is great news for those of us who work and live in Bournemouth and as work is scheduled to start straight away we shouldn't have too long to wait before we can test[…]
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The giant rabbit
The giant rabbit
I was watching the Apprentice on the BBC the other night and the 'apprentices' had been given the task of selling wedding products at a weddings trade show, with the team that made the most money being the team that one and the losers. One team was offering wedding cakes and the other wedding dresses. In an effort to attract[…]
Feel free to get in touch. My full contact details are avialable here: www.garry.tel
