Bitten By Design » Update

No more IE6

Nick — Sat, 22 May 2010 02:05:26 +0000

The time has come to officially announce that I will not be adding stylesheet support for IE6 into the websites I am designing. Basically it comes down to offering the best user experience for the visitors to a site whilst working within the project budget limitations. I would much rather spend the difference on additional testing and further features over creating an additional stylesheet for a browser that is no longer supported by it’s creator. Most designers and developers have already joined the IE6 is dead movement but after having just generated two complex ecommerce websites to fit within a clients criteria of being fully compliant in all browsers (right back to the one they are still using), I believe any site user is better served with a more considered design that looks to future browsing developments in the HTML standards rather than attempt to force a band-aid solution for older browsers that are no longer compliant or supported by their developers.

Don’t get me wrong I can build sites that appear as close as possible in IE6 to other browsers but it will be an additional cost and an option that I will suggest is not the best expenditure of the project budget when we could be looking at an HTML email template being designed in addition to the website instead, or even the balance of funds going toward a targetted adwords campaign promoting the website itself upon launch.

I am sure it won’t be long before I am announcing the same thing for IE7!

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May 1 Reboot 2010

Nick — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:50:18 +0000

The next reboot is just around the corner and I am considering what needs doing to refresh my site to give it a fresh and functional look
for the coming year.

In fact building a mobile device option into my websites theme seems to be the first step. Now that I have my iPhone, all the usability issues for websites on the iPhone are easily tested. Just look around at any graphic or web designer and invariably they will have or plan to get an iPhone. This is my primary mobile viewer, so putting something nicer than the default interface together may just be the ticket to stand out a bit more.

The next thing is to make the site design wordpress 3 ready, there is plenty of write ups to the changes and how to implement them.

So, making everything stable and ready for mobile devices it comes down to updating the look of the site and I am tempted to switch to a fluid layout and look at building the layout so it functions well at any width. With computer monitor sizes getting ever wider the fixed format of my site is going to be something I feel will hold it back later on. It could be that I know it will be a full year till the next overhaul and who knows what will happen in six to eight months. Not that I am suggesting you will be viewing the Internet on your 3D TV from the comfort of your lounge in six months, but I do want to have adaptibility built in sooner rather than later.

This site has had a bit of progression in design and functionality since it was launched. Invariably the changes have been invisible to
users, but has helped clean up a lot of unnecessary information and options within the site making it easier to navigate.

My goal for the site itself is to try and maintain the branding style but bring a fresh look and design in without pushing it too far away from what it currently is and confuse return visitors with a completely different look and format.

We will see how I go! Reboot 2010 here we come!

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Getting super spammed

Nick — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:22:21 +0000

It seems some of my posts are ranking well in the google results and as a result I am seeing a huge posting of spam comments. In response I am locking out comments on some of the pages that are affected. This will hopefully clear up some of my time as I normally have to manually approve every comment on the site.
Please note: repeated bulk spamming the same comment across every post on the site will get your IP banned from viewing the site.

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May 1st Reboot is online!

Nick — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:34:46 +0000

So here we are at May, and the site has had a new theme makeover based on chaoticsoul so if the feedback is positive, I will keep it, otherwise I may build a different theme for the site and see how that is received.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone’s new site designs!

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May 1st Reboot 2009

Nick — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 23:11:15 +0000

Although the normal Reboot community is quiet this year, I am planning on doing my own website reboot this year.

So from April 1 to May 1, I will be working on a new site design, to launch on the 1st of May.

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Portfolio Freshness.

Nick — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:13:32 +0000

As we start a new year, I have decided to add some additional samples into the portfolio pages, and will keep doing so every so often, rather than waiting to do a big change, I am going to do it in stages.

So drop by and check them out every so often, you never know when there may be something new to look at!

Or, subscribe to the RSS feed and see all the new stuff as it goes up.

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Pricing restructure

Nick — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 22:16:18 +0000

After almost two years, it is time for a small increase in my hourly rate. Any work already quoted will stay as is, also any contracted work will continue as is, until the contract end, when the new pricing structure will be brought into effect.

At the end of November the new pricing will be in effect for all new quotes and work, so if you are planning on getting christmas cards done, now is the time to get a quote!

Thankyou to everyone for their support and their work over the past two years. I wouldn’t have been as successful as I have without all of you.

Nick.