The Blog of Green 17 Creative
A Website Made Out Of Real Bacon
Hats off to Crispin Porter + Bogusky, really makes an impact.
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Posted by Green17
How can I optimize my site on a small budget?
Some really good videos on Google Webmaster Central
http://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleWebmasterHelp?feature=watch
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Posted by Green17
A day in the internet
Our daily life increasingly revolves around blog posts, emails, and status updates.
The folks at mbaonline provide a snapshot of what happens in one day on the Internet.
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Posted by Green17
Has Google Chrome finally nailed user profiles?
Chrome user profiles
The latest update to the developer version for Google Chrome on the Mac has a revised UI and system in place for ‘User Profiles’.
This feature, long awaited by the team at Green17, has always been somewhat of a let down in the past, with a poor interface and lack of control. Ideally all we wanted was a simple function to switch between profiles, for example ‘Work’ and ‘Personal’, each with their own set of saved bookmarks, passwords and logins to sites.
Our original hope for user profiles was to have a Green17 Chrome profile where all members of the team can login and use this profile together. Bookmarks could be saved and synchronized along the way using the Chrome sync functionality. However, in reality this has never been an easy task, requiring the user to click through tedious menus and preferences to switch and update logins.
The latest revision within the development version however seems to be a step in the right direction, allowing the users to switch profile with a simple click.
Chrome has also changed how creating a new profile looks and functions, it is much more user friendly and easier to understand for the less technically minded.
The screen above allows you to easily manage or edit your profile.
This new profile screen is much more user friendly.
It seems Chrome is heading in the right direction with their revised UI and user profiles function. However, while these features are much improved, they still only exist only within the development version of Chrome, and so are likely to change or even disappear altogether, which would be a shame.
At the same time, while we like the UI adjustments, we don’t feel its quite there yet. It’s simply not intuitive enough and doesn’t give you the option to link a profile with a Google account by default. This would simplify the process and allow syncing of profile content from the beginning.
Good effort by Chrome, but can still think they can do better.
Tags: Google Chrome, UI Design, User Profiles
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Posted by Green17
A few apps we love… (Our top 15)
Online applications, mobile/iphone applications,
desktop applications, Just great apps…
Dropbox
The easiest way to store, sync, and share files online. It lets you sync your files/backup to any other computer – I use it all the time to sync files with my PC in the office to my home PC or laptop. Great if you get your clients or co-workers setup on it – you can then share a folder with them. Easy to use and just works… can access it from Mac, PC, Linux and mobiles like iphone and blackberry.
www.dropbox.com
Evernote
Notebook you can access anywhere – search it, tag it, love it…!
Best bit, it lets you clip web pages to it and there’s a plug-in for all the major internet browsers.
I create notes for things like; text I think I might use again, snippets of code (split into each coding language), tips for different programs I use etc.
Plus, I can access it from Mac, PC, Linux and my iphone or blackberry.
www.evernote.com
TeuxDeux
My favourite to-do list! Splits tasks into lists for each day. Go try it… and throw away the scrap of paper you use now… That said, we use different systems to manage client projects, this is just for me to sort through items that don’t fit into bigger projects.
www.teuxdeux.com
Chrome – Popchrom
Avoid typing the same thing over and over. You can create your own shortcuts for text phrases. Whether it’s an email signature or several paragraphs of a standard response.
I love this for typing my email address and have it set up so I only need to type ‘a@’ then hit Ctrl + Spacebar
https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/iinhokidgfoomcighckbjmlcndbjmomp
We dont use Popchrom any more, now trying Phrase Express which works in any program. www.phraseexpress.com
xmarks
Sync all you bookmarks and passwords to your laptop, home PC or look them up online anytime. Works on all the major web browsers IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari etc.
Love this one a lot, was bit sad the other day as it looked like they were going out of business… but things are now back on track… :-)
http://www.xmarks.com/
Xero
Online accounting done well. Invoicing, vat, contacts, statements. Have tried a lot of these online accounting/invoicing packages out there, including www.blinksale.com for 3years, but it’s very hard to beat Xero.
www.xero.com
Keepass
KeePass is an open source password manager. Passwords can be stored in highly-encrypted databases, which can be unlocked with one master password or key. Love it, there is even an iphone app. Keep the file in your dropbox and you’re sorted for synced secure passwords.
www.keepass.info
Mind Meister – Online Mind Mapping
It’s a free web-based collaborative mind mapping tool for brainstorming. Very good and you can have a load of people working on the same mind map at once from anywhere.
www.mindmeister.com
Audible app
Listen to audio books on your iphone. The app lets you download from your library. Love this and have been subscribing for a few years. Now I get a book or two each month, stick them on and work away…
www.audible.com but you may want to use www.audible.co.uk I use .com as I think it was available before the .co.uk (By the way, the iphone app might only be for .com)
Shazam
Love this. Hear a good song… open the app, hit tag and wait a few secs. It tells you the name of the song, who sang it and provides a link to buy it on iTunes… Great!
http://www.shazam.com/
LoveFilm app
Again been using this one a while now. Lovefilm lets you rent DVD/Blue-Rays and watch movies online. We end up getting a couple of DVD’s a week but if we don’t get time to watch them we don’t get a bill. When they’re watched just post them back… easy. They even have an iphone app to manage your list of upcoming rentals… great!
http://www.lovefilm.com/
0.003s
Additive iphone game…. All about reaction times… stay away from it..
DoodleJump
Again very additive iphone game….
Few tec ones…
NotePad++
The best code highlighter I’ve seen yet. So easy to see opening and closing tags… Also tabbed and very light weight, plus it’s free.
http://notepad-plus-plus.org/
Filezilla
FTP program that does it all, including sFTP which we like and it’s free.
http://filezilla-project.org/
Content17
The best content management system ever…Bit biased with this one… we built it. Only available to our clients at the min… sorry if you’re not a client :-)
Posted in Design, Programs | 2 Comments »
Posted by Green17
Apple have just launched their new iAds scheme in the US on the 1st July. Basically they will work by showing up in iPhone apps with video and ability to add links to do stuff without leaving the app e.g. buy something in iTunes, download a coupon etc.
The Apple audience is a big one and they like to tell people about how cool Apple is, this is a huge market for companies.
The Apple audience has:
Starting price for an ad is around $1 million dollars! But it might be worth it for those companies who can afford to do it. Some of the first companies on the list of premiere advertisers are: Chanel, Unilever, Nissan, Citigroup bank and Sears who are investing at least $1 million up to an estimated $20 million each! It sounds like a lot, but to be honest they are more than likely going to get the return for their money, as they will have the added bonus of being the first to do this and attract even more attention and more big bucks $$!!
Christophe Cauvy, digital director at the McCann Worldgroup said: “This is very powerful. It’s a no-brainer that’s going to work.” With the high engagement level of video and being able to interact with the ad they do seem to have great potential. Another great advantage is that you can target your specific market to a number of options including:
Once again though Steve Jobs seems to be creating controversy by excluding other suppliers and cornering the market, as this will most likely exclude the Google mobile advertising platform AdMob. It seems he has it all figured out, as what works in his favour is that people don’t mind who delivers the ads, he’s a clever guy! I love my iPhone along with everyone else who owns one, so that leaves us at Apple’s mercy, but we don’t seem to mind, as long as I get to play with my cool apps, check my email and occasionally use it as a phone I’ll be one of the Apple sheep no problem!
Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and I’ll keep you updated with how this is progessing in the UK and when it’s to launch etc. Maybe you want to buy an add? Get in whilst the buzz is still alive and people don’t find them annoying yet!
For more info on the Apple iAds check it out on their website http://advertising.apple.com/ and make sure to let us know your opinion on them below…
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Posted by Green17
Adobe Creative Suite 5 Belfast Launch
Yesterday Green 17 Creative attended the Adobe Creative Suite 5 launch orgainsed by EOS systems and held at W5 in the Odyssey Arena Belfast. The entertaining Jonathan Ferman talked at the Event. He discussed some of the new features available to us within the Adobe Creative Suite. So the aim of this post is to share my views on the new features for example what was good and what was not so good.
To be honest I thought when attending this event that there wouldn’t be too many changes with the likes of Photoshop and InDesign and the event would be more focused on the new software like Flash Catalyst. So here is what I thought were excellent new features available to us and makes Green 17 really consider purchasing the new software.
1. Photoshop. Watch some videos
Photoshop was the one I was really please and impressed with. They have this new feature called content aware fill. Basically you can remove any image detail or object with Content-Aware Fill. It magically fills in the space left behind. This breakthrough technology matches lighting, tone, and noise so it looks as if the removed content never existed. I was really impressed with this because before you had to spend hours cloning out the object which was very time consuming.
The puppet wrap tool was another tool that was pretty cool. This tool let you precisely warp or stretch graphics, text, or image elements to create unique new looks for your designs. The good thing about this is that it all can be done within seconds.
2. InDesign. Watch some videos
I was very impressed with Indesign. What adobe has done is they have intergrated flash a lot with Indesign when it comes to doing presentations. Instead of using Microsoft powerpoint you can now use InDesign to present slides with their new presentation mode feature. Also by importing your Photoshop files and Illustrator files you can now animate those directly within Indesign. You don’t have to use flash at all. That was something I was very impressed with.
Also Adobe have made it easy to do simple tasks that before were time consuming for example rounded corners and content layout can all be done within minutes.
Jonathan talked about some other software like Flash Catalyst that where very impressive but again it comes down to the old Adobe verus Apple debate that any web app you create using Flash Catalyst will not work on the iPhone and the iPad which are ini my opinion the future.
Overall I enjoyed my day out at the W5 and congrats to EOS systems for orgainsing a great event and hope there is more to come.
Tags: Adobe, CS5, InDesign, Photoshop
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Posted by barry
New report shows ‘Social media surpasses search in UK”!
“Social media services are now attracting greater numbers of visitors than search engines in the UK, a new report has shown.”
I came across this today in an article on the WARC website, click here to read the full article, it’s very interesting.
Data sourced from Experian Hitwise; additional content by Warc staff, 11 June 2010
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Posted by Green17
If you are looking for inspiration on how to get more people liking your Facebook page its a good place to start with those at the top of their game. Being the 2nd most popular business on Facebook Starbucks know a thing or 2 about Facebook promotion (Facebook are 1st). By using custom designed pages, they go beyond the usual scope of Facebook wall posts and pictures, to promote things like their loyalty card, other branches etc. Below you will see their current custom built ‘Promo Pages’.
At Green17 we have a team of Facebook specialists ready to add a little something extra to your page.
Get £50 worth of Free Facebook Ads to promote your page if you are one of the first 25 orders from 4th June!
Click here to Order online now. Don’t forget to look below this big image for some Facebook page ideas…
A few Facebook custom page ideas and tips:
1. Your Facebook landing page doesnt have to be the wall. We can set you up with a link that will point directly to a customised page. Starbucks landing page promotes their loyalty card which you can link to join, it’s obviously a great benefit to promote your company immediately on entering your profile.
2. Think of the idea and get your custom page design now. With control for us to add basic HTML and CSS we can come up with a great design to send your viewers to other links. Like Starbucks 2nd promo page which has a map. Think of the extra info you want to give and we will come up with a customised, branded and professional page to go into your Facebook business page. It can be anything, a brief intro to your list of services/products. A more detailed contact page with a newsletter subscription form. An offer! A list of your branches with a map and contact details, or even links to their regional Facebook and Twitter accounts. Get thinking and contact us before the offer runs out!
3. A competition can increase your Facebook users by 50%! So if you come up with the competition we can do the promo page.
4. Don’t forget to promote your Facebook page wherever you can. Your website, Twitter, LinkedIn, your blog, email footers, email newsletters. And any printed material you have, flyers, business cards, receipts etc.
5. Start promoting your online Facebook shop now! In 2010 Facebook will be rolling out a global payments system to allow retailers to sell goods and services directly within the site itself. This will allow all business to create an online shop within Facebook. But why wait until it happens! Get some of the 400 million Facebook users liking your page today, and you will have an already established market place. You might even think of doing an offer for early joiners.
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Posted by Green17
Good online image editors
It’s not often we have to use an image editor to resize pictures for websites as our content management system, Content17, has a built-in editor. However if we need to retouch an image or save a quick screenshot we find the following free online image editors the best and a lot cheaper than Photoshop:
www.picnik.com (handy for quick automatic touchups to brightness and contrast etc including red eye reduction)
www.pixlr.com (a simplified version of Photoshop that loads before you can even open photoshop, brilliant!)
www.sumopaint.com (similar to pixlr)
And of course if you cant be bothered with all this pixel malarchy ask us about Content17, you wont need to know anything about cropping or resizing images for your website it’s all built-in to our CMS.
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Posted by Green17
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