This post is going to outline RSS for those who do not know. If you know all about RSS just skip to the bottom for some RSS goodness.

Did you see the abbreviation tooltip on RSS above, what about <- that one? RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.

Really Simple Syndication?

Really Simple? Syndication?

Yep.

Once understood RSS can change the way you access online information, and it is really simple.

The syndication bit in the abbreviation is there to describe the nature of RSS. RSS is a format of outputting data in a standard way so that it can be syndicated (distributed to multiple recipients). This format can be imported by lots of different programs and used in a variety of ways (News would be display as latest/breaking news etc.). Meaning content can be read and seen without visiting the website in question. Links to the full posts and content are available to go to the website in a conventional manner.

Example:

News stories, blog posts, articles and web posts of any kind; are the sort of thing that work well as RSS “Feeds” (RSS content is often described as a feed).

When a post is made the RSS will include that new post. Your RSS/Feed reader (more about readers below) will notify you of new content (much like email) for you to peruse at your pleasure.

How simple does that sound? I would say Really Simple

What’s needed?

So you have come across a feed you want to “subscribe” (having a RSS feed that you read is called a subscription, totally free though…) to, you’re going to need a “Reader” (or as they are properly known, aggregator) of some sort.

A feed reader is much the same as a email client. It will manage your subscriptions to feeds and display them for reading (with links to actual content).

See this list for a comprehensive list of aggregators

Like email clients, feed readers can be applications on your computer (like Outlook, Thunderbird etc.), or they can be web based (like Hotmail, Yahoo etc.).

Google has some excellent free applications you can use including Google Reader. When you setup a Google account, all the different applications can be setup and used. I would definitely recommend them. They are easy to use and having it all under one login is a bonus. Also being web based it can be accessed from any internet connecting browser/application.

When you setup a Google account you can have a customized Google page (iGoogle) which can be tailored to include RSS feeds and gadgets. See below for mine…

My iGoogle Homepage - Styling matching my Firefox theme...

Signup now…

Do you do Firefox?

The popular alternative to Internet Explorer (and much better, make the switch now if you have not already), Firefox has built in RSS bookmarking behaviour. Instead of having an “inbox” for content, Firefox can subscribe to feeds as “Live bookmarks”. So when new feed content is available the bookmark will update with the new content. Look for the feed icon in the address bar for notification that the page has a RSS feed.

Oh, and if you still use Internet Explorer, download and install Firefox anyway (or another modern, better alternative). It is safer and full of excellent features and add-ons to make using the internet a lot better.

See some testimonials and experiences of people who have made the switch for the better.
(There is no real excuse not to if you value using the internet and your computer…)

I could not recommend Firefox enough…

The power of RSS

The adoption of RSS as a fully featured delivery method has made it indispensable.

RSS is used as the mechanism for delivering podcasts. For those who have no idea of what a podcast is, it is a media file (usually audio, but can be video too) that are released as episodes, with RSS managing the subscription to the podcast, so when a new one is available you are notified and can download it.

The BBC offer lots of podcasts of their radio shows and audio content, with handy links to subscribe via your favourite aggregator.

Lots of people are making podcasts and distributing RSS feeds of their content these days. All the big news corporations and media big players will have RSS feeds to subscribe to. Keep a look out for the “standard” feed icon (The big orange icon at the top of this page) to keep right up to date with the latest the “information super highway” (Is the internet still called that by some people, I haven’t heard it for a bit, that’s why I used it…) has to offer.

Some RSS/Podcast Goodness

Skipped here for the goodness? Read the full article and want some goodness?
Either way here are some RSS feeds and websites utilising them to great effect that will Inform, Entertain and possibly Educate… I will break it into said areas.

Information…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/
– Can you get more Informative than the British Broadcasting Corporation? I doubt it. Browse the full site for specific feeds in different areas.

http://www.reuters.com/tools/rss
– Want lots of world news feeds? Look no further…

http://en.wikinews.org/
– The free news source that even you can write…

http://news.google.com/
– Google providing a “mashup” of news aggregated from many sources.

http://www.sciencenews.org/
– Interested in Science? Masses of science news to read and assimilate…

Entertainment

http://icanhascheezburger.com/
– Hilarious AND cute? Yep.

http://failblog.org/
– I know it is similar to lolcats… but I cannot stress how funny it can actually be… It has hurt me with laughter before and will again I think…

http://www.marriedtothesea.com/
– Want some funny comic goodness? “The Champagne of Comics” has got what you seek…

http://boingboing.net/
– Indulge on geeky/cool (delete as appropriate) news/entertainment.

http://technorati.com/pop/blogs/
– This is a bit of a cheat. The top 100 blogs/entertaining websites. I would call that entertaining by proxy… Go through the list and find some new passion.

Education?

http://www3.open.ac.uk/sesame/ounewsrss.aspx
– Open university news feed for all thing OU related…

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/_/WoD/rss.aspx
– Word of the day to expand your vocabulary…

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/_/WoD/rss.aspx?type=article
– Article of the day for topic knowledge expansion…

http://clifmims.com/blog/
– Good blog about education and technology

http://www.zencast.com/channels/welcome.asp?mc=2&sc=22
- Educational podcasts available for Zencast (software for subscribing downloaded off the website)

http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/education/rss
– The guardian’s educational feed

Enough linkage. Hope this helps with RSS needs. Any questions use the comments below. Post up some good feeds for those who might read this (and me…)

We were asked to develop the brand for a new business venture. Which would be incorporated into a new website once the final design had been approved. The client was supplied with a range of styles and colour schemes so they could canvas friends, family and colleagues for feedback. An important step making this choice.

Our instinct for which design will be chosen is usually very good, we always have our favourite though! We pride ourselves on our graphic design skills and the ability to translate our ideas to any format or media. By way of an example; this client required the rapid production of some vehicle livery which involved printing their chosen logo onto vinyl. We managed all the aspects of this from printing the design to the fitting on behalf of the client.

Our business thrives on recommendations from our existing clients. We thoroughly enjoy what we do and that shows in the work we produce.

The Website:

Visit the FiTsports Website

Gallery of Work:

FiTsports logo

Screenshot of the FiTsports homepage

These companies are cold calling many website owners with these claims and it does certainly make a compelling argument for you to part with your hard earned cash. We have spent time talking options through with many of these companies on our clients behalf and time and time again we see the same thing. What could be termed ‘black hat’ at worst but is certainly counter productive at best according to the guidelines issued by many of the top Search Engines (SEs). Essentially these companies are avoiding doing the hard analysis and detailed project design that is required to give your website a true long term advantage in the marketplace.

In a lot of cases you would be as well to spend the money on an AdWord campaign for the same permanence of affect that it has! These are effectively pyramid sales schemes with your website. They rely on an ever increasing network of websites for them to drive their rank increasing process.

We have seen these companies do a couple of things to participating websites.

• A basic review of your homepage title, description and meta data to give the impression that this is a key part of their work. This should just be the tip of the iceberg if best practice techniques were to be followed.

• The key is usually some link exchange code that allows them to add links from other sites they control. So several sites will reference you and you will reference several others. The more relevant the links the more they charge (over £200 per month per link in some cases!). Most website owners go for the cheaper options which means irrelevant links appear on your site and irrelevant websites reference yours….

This is what the major SEs view as counter productive because one of their key aims is to give users of the Internet only relevant websites whenever they search it. These SEs are applying ever more complex algorithms and becoming ever more adept at identifying relevant websites. They gather huge amounts of data about client behaviour through applications like the Google or Yahoo! Toolbar and Google Chrome. It is only a matter of time before any non-compliant websites slip down the rankings. They then have to play catch up by doing the detailed SEO and link building work that should have done in the first place in a planned and analytical manner.

Like a lot of things in life, the rewarding activities are those that require focus and application to achieve. Short cuts are rarely as effective and this topic is no exception.

When e-IGNiTION was commissioned to further develop this site, we knew it already had lots of great content that did well in helping it rank effectively for local pet related searches. They have a passion for canines and one of the ways this has manifested itself is in an online ‘Dog Friendly Guide‘ to the local area. Listing everything you could possibly want to know when visiting with your four legged friend. There was also a small shop or e-commerce capability.

As this site had evolved over a period of time much like most small business’ web presence.  The e-commerce solution was clearly not capable of scaling up in an effective manner when both cost and time were considered. The site was also not making the best use of the latest Search Engine Optimisation principals for the shop content.

By migrating to a new purpose built e-commerce platform we were able to create a fresh look while maintaining their branding. The key aims were to reduce the management time and increase their visibility on the web. This was to affect both the shop and ‘Dog Friendly’ elements so that they could confidently update content themselves with little outside assistance. In making such fundamental changes we managed the transition so that we did not lose any existing searches that they ranked well for. The new system would ensure that all the shop content was viewed by search engines in the most effective manner, guaranteeing to get all the items in the shop visible on the web. This then dramatically broadened the range of terms they can be found with on the Internet and over the longer term these can be analysed and fine tuning carried out where competition is tough.

The e-commerce platform is incredibly user friendly considering how powerful and configurable it is. The features are too numerous to go through here but the main area that our client raved about was the Order Management capability. With multiple people able to manage the orders by tagging them with updates was very important so everyone knew what had been completed. Simple changes of status would not have allowed this level of freedom when managing the orders.

Take a look at the site and see what you think. If you have a dog you may find something useful there too!

The Website:

Visit the Podgy Paws Website

Gallery of Work:

Podgy Paws logo

Screenshot of Podgy Paws homepage

With Google AdWords it is possible to target the specific words and phrases that a potential customer would use to find your product. Correctly implemented AdWords campaigns will make sure your advertisements only appear in front of people that would find your product relevant. Now this ability is great by itself but we can go even further if it fits the marketing plan. You can choose to only pay for displayed adverts that people then click on to visit your site! An incredible level of control when you relate it back to the placement of an advert with traditional media where you pay a fee and are not guaranteed any return from it.

When the AdWords system is combined with the Analytics service; the real power of the Google suite of tools will become apparent. With carefully crafted AdWords campaigns directing traffic into your website; visitors entering via an advert can be monitored separately to other traffic. This allows the cost of advertising to be measured directly against any goals set within the site. Such as signing up to a newsletter or making a purchase through your e-commerce system. As well as gathering information about visitor’s movements within your site it could even be configured to record the sale price and items that were purchased! So you would then be able to easily see the entire journey that your customer took from showing an interest in your product; to making the sale and hopefully returning in the future.

All of this data is integrated into one neat and accessible system that can provide all the detail needed to be able to make confident decisions about marketing effectively and evolving your business.

What I have described above gives a broad picture to the services available, however this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are real opportunities to learn about your customers in an unobtrusive manner. We are more than happy to fill in the rest of the picture if you are interested….

Google has recently released its Chrome system as it makes its first moves into the web browser market currently dominated by Microsoft and Internet Explorer. In a strategy reminiscent of the Microsoft approach taken in the mid 90s to package IE with its operating systems, Google is currently in discussion with a number of PC manufacturers to offer Chrome as their pre-loaded browser for 2009.

The web browser market is becoming increasingly competitive as the major players involved attempt to establish dominance over one another and open source user-driven applications like Firefox. Microsoft’s recent attempt to buy Yahoo was a strong signal that the company has at last come to terms with the fact that it has missed the boat as far as Web influence is concerned, while open source applications such Open Office continue to threaten their dominant position in desktop applications.

Google’s Chrome adapts and develops on some of the features that you may already be familiar with if you are using IE7 or Firefox to browse the Web, with Security, Speed, Stability and a clean User Interface representing some of the issues that Google have tried to actively address with their Beta version release.

SearchWiki

If in addition to Chrome you are using Google Search, a ‘wiki‘ function has been introduced to the browser, which allows users to manipulate and comment on their own search content. SearchWiki lets users re-order, remove or add specific web search results, meaning that the next time they perform the same search, the personalised version will pop up. Although some commentators think that the SearchWiki system will only be used by a dedicated group of web enthusiasts rather than the Internet population at large, if it is well received, the introduction could have profound effects on emerging trends in search. Social Search, for example, combines traditional algorithmic search favoured by today’s engines with human editorial input, the idea being that humans have the ability to craft a better result in any given situation because they can make the types of distinctions machines can’t.

Let us know what you think; you can download and try Google Chrome for yourself by visiting http://www.google.com/chrome

We think that it’s important that you can find lots of useful information for free on this site, and will develop it in that vein for our customers, potential customers and interested visitors alike.

So have a look around, and if you think there’s anything that we can do for your organisation, by all means get in touch for a chat. If you’ve already got a website partner, use the knowledge you gather to beat them up and make sure that they do a better job for you. Finally, if you’re a site developer looking to poach our fabulous content, at least you’ve got good taste, by all means help yourself….after all, new ideas are rarely new for long these days!

Cheers

Keith

Web 2.0 sounds new… The phrase refers to a new way of approaching web design and its technologies.

Coined by Tim O’Reilly when he said:

Web 2.0 is the business revolution in computer industry caused by the move to the Internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.

Although the Web 2.0 technologies are nothing new as they have existed since the internet developed and it’s foundations were established.

Tim Berners-Lee (Founder of the internet) says:

I think Web 2.0 is, of course, a piece of jargon…

I think he is referring to the fact it has no real solid definition. It means different things to different people. To me it is more a notion than a specific thing.

Ajax??

A technique often associated with Web 2.0 is AJAX. No not the cleaning fluid or football team (For us geeks it is: asynchronous JavaScript and XML).

AJAX is a method of a webpage to use JavaScript to load without a page being refreshed/reloaded. It can load pages/responses into elements in a page. There are some smart programs utilizing such methods. In page editing is a good example. If you use Gmail/Google mail, or Google Maps, they use AJAX to load data without page refreshes.

Not a new thing though AJAX, the technology has always been there, but as web developers got hold of it and used it to better the internet as a platform AJAX is born…

In a nutshell

Web 2.0 in a nutshell is about participation. About the internet growing to be a multi faceted content rich environment. Old websites are notorious for being bland static and clunky. Web 2.0 is a phrase coined to suggest the Internet has grown into it’s new version, one of dynamicism and user freedom.

characteristics of Web 2.0 are: rich user experience, user participation, dynamic content, metadata, web standards and scalability. Further characteristics, such as openness, freedom and collective intelligence by way of user participation, can also be viewed as essential attributes of Web 2.0.

The above quote contains the essential considerations I have when approach web design. I do not view it as Web 2.0 to be honest. I am in Tim’s corner, it is jargon. I see what people refer to as Web 2.0 as being the most contemporary way of doing things. The Internet has grown and developed thanks to many people. It is the striving for the bettering of what exists that produces phrases like Web 2.0.

More than likely you have seen examples of “Web 2.0″ (Should be written in quotes if you ask me;·), they will impress you if done well, or subconsciously be “right”.

Let me know some of your favourite “Web 2.0″ sites.

The problem with this is it means that Yahoo stand to lose out on a large part of the market and thus lose revenue.

Yahoo’s earlier decision to turn down an approach by Microsoft to merge their advertising services would have solidified their position. But it looks like a much poorer offer would be put on the table if they were to revisit that idea. Microsoft may even wait to see if Yahoo get into difficulties and then pick up the pieces.

I think we need competition in this market as that is what has driven the rapid development of the Internet up to this point. Rarely has it been non-profit organisations being responsible for ground breaking advances affecting the way we use the Internet. It has been commercially driven companies forging new ideas and technologies to get more people contributing to and utilising services through it.

I have recently moved to Keswick to join e-Ignition. I think helping my brother Paul with various projects he’s worked on over the years and keeping him updated as to my evolution as a designer/web developer rubbed of on him enough to put me forward for this great opportunity.

This is more of just an informal introduction. I will be writing up thoughts and bulletins as time allows, so if you want to keep track of my ramblings subscribe to my RSS feed.

Don’t know about RSS? It is a great way of keeping updated by content published on websites. If you subscribe to my RSS feed you will be notified when I post something new.

For those who know RSS, get subscribing and pass on any comments (No obscenities of course ;·) you may have.

If anything web related needs explaining and if I can find time to write about it ask away, and a post maybe dedicated to it.

Hope all is well!