What is a QR Code?

Published | 16.35, 6th of October 2010, by Chris van Aurich | Technical

A QR Code is a matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by QR scanners, mobile phones with a camera, and smartphones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data.

Although initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR Codes can now be used in a much broader context, including both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users (known as mobile tagging).

QR Codes storing addresses and URLs may appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards, or on just about any object about which users might need information. Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader application can scan the image of the QR Code to display text, contact information, connect to a wireless network, or open a web page in the phone's browser.

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HTML 5

Published | 16.07, 15th of September 2010, by Jay Vincent | Technical

The online world is currently atwitter (no social media pun intended) about HTML 5, and how quickly we as web developers can adopt this 'new' mark-up language as our formatting default. But just how much excitement should this really merit?

I've used XHTML 1.1 transitional for the last 4 years, and for good reason. Mostly, I enjoy the consistency of it. Everything lowercase, all attributes within quotes, all tags must have an end. The XML-rigidity of it is extremely appealing to me, and also makes it more readable when it comes to making amends or working within a team.

HTML 5 doesn't inherit this rigidity - any case is allowed, attributes not required to be in quotes and tags don't require an ending. I'm not so sure about this, it could quite easily lead to messy code and inconsistent standards, especially with new coders, and I don't think this is a good thing - surely, code consistency is best practise.

This personal gripe can be solved, however, by serving HTML 5 with an XML MIME type, thereby turning it into XHTML 5. This way, all the new elements and features of HTML 5 can be used whilst maintaining the strict coding standards I so enjoy.

Here are some features I'm really looking forward to using:

• Wrapping the a tag around any element, including block elements such as div - Up until now, this could only be done using a javascript fix.
• HTML 5 video - clearly the most talked about HTML 5 element is video, for good reason. Video on the web currently relies on plugins being installed within the browser such as Adobe Flash, or Microsoft Silverlight. With HTML 5, video playback is native within the browser, requiring no plugins or javascript integration. This also opens up the video element for CSS manipulation for things like opacity, overlapping and rotation (with CSS 3). Annoyingly, a codec squabble is preventing consistent cross-browser operability at present.
• Improved web forms - the text field has been revised, and HTML 5 now recognises input type="email", "tel", "url", etc, as well as returning validation through 'The constraint validation API'.

There are of course many more features, these are just some of the things that I can see will immediately improve my day-to-day life.

To find out more about HTML 5, visit http://www.whatwg.org  

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Searching just got faster, Google rolls out Instant

Published | 10.54, 9th of September 2010, by Chris van Aurich | SEO

Google Instant is rolling out its search enhancement that shows results as you type. The ethos behind Google Instant is they are always looking to improve the speed and quality of the search results.

Instant does not effect page rank or position within certain results, but over time it may well affect the way in which people search and choose results. In future it may well be time to recognise these changes, adapt and flourish.

 

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An alternative to Google Analytics?

Published | 10.08, 26th of August 2010, by Chris van Aurich | Business

Over the next few months we will be beta testing a new online analytics system called Reinvigorate. A new real time analytics system with some really nice features:

• Live Visitor tracking
• Hourly, daily, and monthly breakdowns
• Track visitors from your desktop (mac and pc)
• Heat Map Technology
  (See where visitors click the most. Correct dead spots and improve your site's traffic flow.)

We look forward to giving you our honest feedback, and see if it's something we will roll out to all our customers.

We will be trying it on a few sites to see the results.

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The importance of brand guidelines

Published | 15.47, 25th of August 2010, by Chris van Aurich | Design

Does your company follow or even have brand guidelines? It is a really important question and one that a very large number of companies ignore. If you are not sure what I mean, brand guidelines are normally developed by the designer in conjunction with the client. They are designed to establish common rules as to how your brand is used in different environments and audiences.

But why is having and sticking to brand guidelines so important?

• They keep your image defined and memorable
• Help relate the promise/memory of your company
• Improve confidence
• Improves awareness
• Creates larger scale impact
• Increases competitiveness within any market place

Making sure you understand your brand, the promise and the memory that it leaves with your audience, will be the determining factor as to the long term success of your brand on and offline.

If you would like to discuss your company's branding and how these guidelines can affect your business call for a chat, or pop in for coffee.

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