Website & Application Technology

We believe in using technology to make things easier. We apply this commitment to intuitiveness, simplicity and usability to every aspect of our products, from visual design to advanced technology.

In-house Content Management System (CMS)

Most companies want to be able to update the content on their website quickly and easily. Usually all they wish to do is update a bit of text, or perhaps add a picture or document.

Most CMS systems allow you to add widgets, create child-parents based hierarchical structures, duplicate back-end content, edit keyword metadata and much more. However, this means that making simple text and image changes are buried deep in the complex programme.

That's why we developed our own CMS system, which strips out all the complexity and makes updating the website so easy your gran could do it (and plenty of grans do).

Instead of a complex 'back-end' our content management system is entirely intuitive. Once you're logged in, you simply click beside the bit of text you want to update and it becomes editable. Click 'save' and bob's your uncle.

Languages

We believe in using robust, established, well-supported platforms and languages to create our websites and applications, and use the following: HTML, CSS, AJAX, Flash, ASP.NET and C#.

Programmes

The right tools will not do the work, but trying to work without them will greatly affect the result. That's why we use the leading industry standard software for all design and development: Photoshop, Fireworks, Dreamweaver, Visual Studio and Illustrator.

Over the years we have also learned which supporting programmes will give us the edge - making our code and processes slicker and faster, including: resharper, firebug, IE developer toolkit, W3C linkchecker and WhoIs.

We also use a range of Google tools, including: Analytics, Webmaster Tools, Products and Maps.

Intuitive Interfaces

We don't believe in manuals. We think that a good design should be so intuitive, the user clicks the right thing without even thinking about it. A bit like movie CGI, if you don't notice the navigation, we've done our job well.

We apply a range of techniques to ensure every click feels natural and obvious, from element colour, placement and size, research on visual user routes (how your eye scans the screen), logical structuring, and application of common conventions.

Hosting

We provide hosting on award-winning dedicated servers (nicknamed Becker and Agassi), which are pampered and preened in state-of-the-art data centres, with their environment constantly monitored. Our systems are heavily backed up, with a full server restore possible in 20 minutes, in the event of a major outage.

Beware of cheap hosting that seems too good to be true. It is. If you don't mind your server being in someone's bedroom somewhere, and won't get upset if it suddenly goes down for days, then cheap hosting may be for you. However, if you want your website to be responsive and reliable, don't cut corners when it comes to hosting.

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