Steelso V6.0

Got the nod today for a redesign for one of our current clients, Langs. Going to be very interesting as we like the current design so how do we improve on work that we like? Usually we’re brought in to sort out dreadful designs. This is going to be a great one to do again. This is all part of the strategy that we put in place with Langs two years ago and we’re delighted that they’ve stuck with us on the strategy and that the forward thinking nature of Langs has proved to increase the bottom line of their business.

We’re also going to use video in this website. That too is going to be interesting. Video on websites is going to be the next big thing but is also going to be the most difficult thing to get right. We’re used to professional standards and if the tone of the video isn’t right it’s going to be the biggest turn off. Esp. as we’re using the video as a selling tool rather than a way to easily explain difficult concepts.

It’s going to be a challenge. That’s what Team Biscuitmedia are up for.

Ta,
S

steelso :: Jul.26.2005 :: Flash, Video, biscuitmedia, new clients :: 7 Comments »

Well, we’re live and running. Within 1 minute of launching the website we had a call from the Flash guru himself, Mr Hoss Gifford, who came with us for a celebratory pint to say well done on our work. He interrupted the vital research that he was doing all afternoon to come out and see us, tell us well done and, yes, actually salute us. I was humbled and delighted I was sitting down.

Hoss and I had a cryptic chat about Lost and it was frustrating as we were very aware and considerate that others hadn’t seen the series. It was funny. We both agreed that the business with Charlie and the diary was just brilliant. We also promised to have another meeting to go into the details of it and I want to know more on his project about ‘Lucky People’.

Any other comments on our new site are warmly welcomed, love it, hate it, just tell us why.

steelso :: Jul.25.2005 :: People, Social, TV, biscuitmedia :: 3 Comments »

Allan and Jamie have both mentioned the Flex application that we created for our client, Glasgow Film Office. It’s was our first delve into the world of Rich Internet Applications and Allan did an outstanding job getting to grips with it. It was a very interesting process for both designers and developers to get their heads around, mostly due to the amazing flexibility within the Flex framework.

But wait! What the hell is a Rich Internet thingie? Flex? You promised no jargon Steelso. Ok, ok…

Rich Internet Applications (RIA’s) is a method of making complex things simple. The web was designed initially to retrieve documents so as time has run on the demands on what can be done within a basic webpage have been pushed. Complex interactions are not best suited to the web. Imagine that you needed to use Excel and you could only use it on the web. Imagine that every time that you entered a number or a calculation that the page had to refresh before you got the result of your query. Imagine doing that 10, 20, 100times. It would turn you to drink!

What RIA’s do is try to make complicated interaction with a webpage easier. Imagine, if you will that you’re booking your flight with Easyjet. Imagine now that rather than clicking from page to page that you could do it all on one page, no click to the next page, no waiting, it feels like software in your browser. That’s a RIA. Have a look at this shopping cart example.

The shopping cart example is cool, it lets you change the view of the page, choose your price bracket, drag and drop items into the checkout area. And not once does it appear to go to page to page to page.

So what?

Well the less you have to click and wait for the impact of your click to have effect the more likely that you are going to stay on the website and achieve a goal. The experience becomes better, richer.

There are a number of ways to produce RIA’s. This is the presentation layer of the RIA. We’ve decided to jump in with Flex but other RIA’s are created using other technologies. Each have their merits, each have their nippy bits. We like Flex.

The application that we created for the GFO was a locations database. It was a big old beast of an app when we originally built it, the HTML process was about 10-12 pages. However it worked but it was difficult and tricky to try and work out just what was going on when and where.

When the GFO website was being redesigned it was agreed that we wanted to make the locations open to the public but it couldn’t work the way it was now, it was just to complicated. So how did we start?

Tune in next time as I go into the challenge of shifting mindsets and explaining how things work to people who don’t know how things work.

Cheers,
Stewart

steelso :: Jul.25.2005 :: Flash, Rich Internet Applications, biscuitmedia :: 1 Comment »

Thanks to the soft launchers for the input they gave us, it’s been really useful and we certainly did implement some of your ideas. Thanks for helping us out.

For first timers, welcome to our new website, we really hope you like it and find it useful in getting an understanding about us here at biscuitmedia. Please feel to add your comments, nothing here is set in stone. Get comfy.

It’s been a tough old week trying to get this all sorted out but I’m really happy. Thanks to Allan for adding in the functions, Jamie for his Flash wizardry and to Ricky for the designs and working through the content and ideas with me.

A better team couldn’t be asked for, let me tell you.

I’ll write more later, I’ve a busy weekend of fun and work.

We are going to push some e-mils out then going to have a well deserved and celebratory pint.

Take it easy,
Stewart

steelso :: Jul.22.2005 :: Uncategorised :: 2 Comments »

Hello soft launchers!!!!

Thanks for having a look around our website. This website has been the hardest one that I’ve ever had to produce because it’s ours. The idea behind it is that biscuitmedia as a team are friendly, creative approachable, professional and fun. We want the website to reflect that and hopefully we have.

I’m feart of letting my baby go, I’m really proud of the work that’s been involved in this and we have ideas for the website to make it grow and change as time goes on.

I am really looking forward to getting your feedback and know that we’re going to take it and use it to improve our presence online. Thanks.

S

steelso :: Jul.20.2005 :: Uncategorised :: 2 Comments »

The first entry in a new blog. I’ve been blogging for a while all over the place but this is the first blog in the new biscuitmedia website.

I’m writing this after working on the text for the new biscuitmedia website. By the time that you read this it’ll be up and running. We’ve been working on this website for ages, other work has always got in the way but now we’re live.

Nothing is more scary than creating a website for yourself. It’s easier looking in from the outside, being objective rather than having to look at yourself and trying to create something special, something ideal.

Please let us know what you think.

So, what is this blog going to be about then?

Well I am hoping to share my thoughts on web design, how I approach web strategy and what is good, bad and indifferent in what we do here at biscuitmedia.

I’ll occasionally pop some questions to you, I look forward to feeding back on your comments to my comments. One of the big thoughts at biscuitmedia is that sharing is good, the more we share the better we can create.

Dip.

steelso :: Jul.18.2005 :: Uncategorised :: 1 Comment »