Archive December 2009
Direct.gov.uk – site review
My car tax is due, and I received a letter to remind me. How nice. In doing so, it led me to the www.direct.gov.uk site, where I can renew it online.
This shitty task got me thinking: “Why don’t I review this site?”…so here you go! Read on to find out what I thought of the site as a whole. Or is that ‘hole’? I dunno.
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www.apple.com – more usability annoyances.
Merry Christmas! Hope you had a good one.
As a result of a faulty laptop purchase, I’ve been looking at the rather splendid, but horrifically-priced, Mac Book Air. It’s perfect for my commuting requirements (i.e it’s lightweight and has a good battery life), but I wanted to find out how much it’d be on finance. How did I get on? Read on and find out!
3Firefox 3.5 becomes most popular browser…but for how long?
So it seems that Firefox has become the most popular browser, overtaking IE 7 for the first time in terms of market share – see the lovely graphic below (click to enlarge):
This is great news, of course…but how long ’till IE 8 overtakes?
0Site recommendation: www.listentotaxman.com
Just a quick recommendation: www.listentotaxman.com has a great PAYE calculator embedded in the site – really useful for quickly working out how much you’ll take home from that new job you’re thinking of applying for!
Click to visit www.listentotaxman.com
Go take a look – ’tis rather good. Well done!
0Krispy Kreme 36 (!) for 24 offer
I recently spotted a pretty cool Krispy Kreme offer called Beat The Hotlight. It was a pretty good campaign to Tweet a certain phrase + hashtag just before the hotlight was lit up on the landing page. Pretty good, because it:
- Kept users coming back to check the site,
- Got the Krispy Kreme phrase and hashtag promoted,
- Got some lucky people some free doughnuts!
Now, I didn’t win the free doughnuts for a year – but I was sent a voucher – which I am posting here for you all to see:
Click the image to download a copy
I think that’s a fairly successful attempt at social engagement, and a nice starting point from which to build on. The offer itself looks tempting, right? Well yes…if you think you want 36 doughnuts. Who the hell eats 36 doughnuts?!? Apart from Homer Simpson?
Still, good work Krispy Kreme. 
Google Maps introduces 3d buildings
Just a quick note to point out that Google Maps has introduced a feature that shows buildings as 3d objects on the map.
Click here to see it in action on Google Maps.
Useful! But when did they do this? And why is it only in Cardiff?
3An SEO & web best practice guide: part 2
If you missed part 1 of this guide, it’s here.
Having looked at the first three things on the list, here’re the next three:
- Imagery (relevancy, contrasts, copy-as-images, alt tags)
- Flash (why/why not, navigation)
- Technical (301 redirects, non-www domains, keywords in domain names, mod-rewrite for search friendly pages, meta content)
Read on!
1Love Everyone
Nothing to do with web design, but fun anyway. I spotted these bits of graffiti in Cardiff: I love the little thumb-shaped dudes…I’ll upload more when I see them. ( Google Map with location pins )
Some simple but useful G1/Android addons
I’ve had my HTC G1 for a year now, and I rather like it. Because I’m slightly egotistical and like to think you give a damn about my opinions, I’ve compiled a short list of the various addons I’ve downloaded from the Android Market! Keep reading!
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