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Hilly Field Barn – Holiday Cottage – Website

Saturday, February 19th, 2011

On the 16th February the new Hilly Field Barn Holiday Cottage website went live. The website was designed and developed by myself. Take a look at: http://www.hillyfield-holiday-cottage.co.uk/

A little while ago, the owner of Hilly Field Barn approached me, PanoConsulting Ltd, for a quote to build a new website. They already had a website but said it was hard to update it. So, we discussed the project at length and I proposed a solution.

The pivotal part of a Holiday Cottage website is keeping the availability calendar up-to-date so as well as re-designing and developing the website, I built a bespoke calendar management system into the owners password-protected CMS (Content Management System) that I also created. So, in the CMS, as well as being able to update the content of the website pages, add new images to the gallery, and maintain the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) settings, there is also a separate module for Calendar management.

The calendar section of the CMS couldn’t be easier to use. Please see the image below as an example. The image below shows the month of April 2011 in the CMS as the owner would see it:

Availability calendar

Click on the image to view a full-sized version

As you can see it looks just like a normal calendar for April but here are the key features of it:

1. Down the left-hand-side the owner simply enters the price for each week of the calendar month.

Then, for each day of the month,

2. The owner ticks the left-hand checkbox if the day is PROVISIONALLY booked.

Or,

3. The owner ticks the right-hand checkbox if the day has a CONFIRMED BOOKED.

Finally, the user would click the save button and then the changes they had made to the availability calendar would be instantly reflected on the website to their customers.

If you haven’t already done so, check out the website at: http://www.hillyfield-holiday-cottage.co.uk/


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Okehampton Deer Park Website

Saturday, February 19th, 2011

Sometimes I forget to update the portfolio section of this website, it is a fair bit out-of-date. One such site that has not been added yet is one we did for Okehampton Deer Park. The website was designed and developed some time ago but for reasons outside of our control the launch of it was delayed. The website eventually went live on the 10th November 2010 and has a bespoke CMS (Content Management System) enabled the end user to update the web site content themselves. Take a look at: http://www.okehamptondeerpark.co.uk/


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This website design is now 2 years old

Saturday, February 12th, 2011

The current design of this website was completed two years ago this month. February 2009. Wow , that is like a life-time in web development terms! It doesn’t look too shabby after two years if I do say so myself.

Most web developers will tell you that they are so busy building other peoples websites that they neglect their own. That is definitely what has happened with mine. Now, regular viewers of this website (I can dream) may have noticed a couple of additions I have made to this website:

Number one, rather than being a ‘flat image’, the big image above now fades in and out to reveal more images. This gives the site a fresher and more dynamic look.

Number two, I have added a sub-menu at the top just below the main navigation links. Refresh the page and see how the sub menu slides down and then the links flash once. I have put these links in place to make it more obvious what my key services are. They are:

Click on some of the links to read more details on what we can do for you.


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Getting a lot of spam comments on your blog?

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

If you run a blog and get a lot of comments submitted to your blog that are spam or links to malicious software, don’t worry, your not alone. According to WebSense 95% of blog comments are spam.

There are steps you can take to limit the amount of spam you get but the methods to combat spam vary depending on the blogging software you use (e.g. Blogger, WordPress, etc).

You could also take the drastic measure of turning off comments completely so that nobody can submit comments but then this doesn’t encourage a community and might make regular blog readers who like to leave a comment stop reading your blog.

Contact us if you would like to learn more.


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Website counters – don’t do it

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

Web counter 1
I’m going to let you into the mindset of a web designer/developer. We cringe when clients ask us to put a Web Counter onto their website and we do everything we can to persuade a client against having one on their website.

Here are the two reasons why I get asked for a web counter along with my general response:

“We want to be able to see how many visitors we get to our website”

My response: “Instead of putting a Web Counter on your website I will integrate Google Analytics for you which will give you more feedback on visitors to your website that you will ever use”. I won’t go into the power of Google Analytics here but suffice to say it is a very powerful solution and is 100% FREE.

“We want other people to see how many visitors we get to our website”

My response: “Why would you want to give away key information about your business whilst risking the survival of your company at the same time?” Lets just say you have a website selling jam pot covers and you have only been operational for 6 months. Then, lets say your Web counter shows you have had 18,000 visits in 6 months. What you are telling people is that jam pot covers are highly sought after and therefore profitable. What’s to stop these people setting up a website in direct competition to you.


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New Website: Traumatic Cleanup Ltd

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

I have just today made a new website that I have designed, developed, and hosted live. The website is for Traumatic Cleanup Ltd and you can see it at: www.traumatic-cleanup.co.uk. We also designed and created the logo.


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Hideaway Beds website given a face-lift

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

PanoConsulting had already designed and developed the Hideaway Beds website earlier this year and it had strong bold colours and was a bit more cutting-edge that your average healthcare website.

As the recession in Britain continued I was contacted by Hideaway Beds again to redesign the Hideaway Beds website. The website still has the same functionality but Hideaway Beds wanted the design to be changed to make it less flashly and more like a DIY website.

So… thats what we did and the feedback I have been given by Hideaway Beds is that it is working…

Take a look at the new-look website at: www.hideaway.co.uk


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Another New and Happy Client – Fast Lane Fitness

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

Business Card - FrontHere at PanoConsulting we have a diverse range of skills and are not limited to purely web design and web hosting for example. That is why when we were approached by a Startup company and asked if we could develop a branding package for them that included a colour scheme,  logo, business cards, website, and web hosting we immediately informed them that they were in safe hands if they chose us to work alongside them to give their new business an identity.

Business Card - Back
A few weeks down the line and the end result is another happy client for PanoConsulting, Fast Lane Fitness, run by Nick Lane a recent University graduate. Have a look at there website for yourself at www.fastlane-fitness.co.uk.

How do we know that Fast Lane Fitness are a happy client? Simple… the level of service and skill we provide ensures that our clients are always happy.

Below is the testimonial that we have just received from the client:

I was given Nicks number after speaking to a friend who had recently had a website made by Nick. After the initial consultation I was pleased to know that Nick catered not only for websites, but business cards and logos as well.

Nick developed a great brand image, which reflects my business and style. Being a personal trainer, I had to have the website looking inviting and friendly, whilst getting across all my information. Nick picked a great format for the site, which is easy to navigate for potential clients, and a neat little blog for me to update whenever I need to.

The logo, business cards and website were done quickly and at a great price. Nick has a rare creative style and I would recommend him to anyone.

Nick Lane – Fast Lane Fitness


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UK households without broadband

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

According to The Times newspaper today 40% of UK households do not have broadband and, of the UK customers that do have broadband 44% of them do not know what broadband speed they receive.

The percentage of households without broadband should be taken into account when a website is designed. The reason being is that for the users without broadband it takes a lot longer for a web page to load on their computer than it does for a person with high-speed broadband. Therefore, If a website does not cater for the current 40% of households without broadband then this will have a negative impact on the website. For example, users simply may not wait for a website to load if it is taking a while and, they may be frustrated when it actually does load so the website is already facing an uphill struggle to gain that users trust and affection.

There are many factors to take into consideration to optimise a website for users with and without broadband but, the key word is optimisation:

  1. For example photos need to be optimised for the website and not used unnecessarily. Optimising a photo for a website (in a nutshell) is all about balancing an acceptable image quality with an acceptable file size. So, the higher the image quality the higher the file size will be which means the longer it will take to download.
  2. Also, a website that is hand-coded rather than created with a  WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) software will reap dividends. Hand-coded websites is a way to separate the wheat from the chaff so-to-speak as WYSIWYG software adds a lot of “code” that is surplus to requirements and just inflates file sizes which inflates loading times.

One final word from me on broadband. Research conducted by the BBC found that roughly 3 million households in the UK have broadband speeds of less than 2 megabits per second (2Mbps). The Government has pledged that all UK citizens will have access to broadband speeds of at least 2Mbps by the year 2012.


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Tips on choosing a domain name

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

Below are some tips to help you choose a domain name:

Domain name trolley

1. Keep it short and simple

You need to do what you can to help people find your website so a memorable website address is imperative. Give some thought to the shortest name that your target market will associate with your website.

2. Register similar domain names

The most popular domain name extensions are “.co.uk”, “.com”, “.eu”, and “.net”. Ideally you should have all of these registered at least. By registering all of them you can help to prevent cyber squatters and losing traffic.

3. Consider common typos

Do you have a domain name that can be misspelt or has a few ways of spelling it? If so, consider registering those as well to stop your potential website traffic not being able to find your website or even going elsewhere.

4. Act NOW

Ensure you register your domain name as soon as possible. The longer you leave it the more you risk somebody else registering it before you. Contact us on 0800 756 9999 if you require assistance and we will be happy to help you.


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