Qantas Cash re-launched their Australian website overnight, with a new responsive design replacing the original 2013 adaptive site.
A regular client asked me which browsers (version numbers) and devices would be supported by the new responsive web application, which we are currently building out. I was about to fire off an email in reply, when I realised that I'd been copy/pasting the same answer to this question for the past three years. How time flies when you're building websites... so I did a bit of research and a sweep around the office to get a new consensus on Wiliam's position.
Bootstrap has been around for a few years now, and everything I'd read about it told me what a fantastic front-end framework it is. That everything is faster and easier and it can save web developers heaps of time. Unfortunately, that's also about all I knew about Bootstrap. Ignorance is bliss, right?
As the project manager, it's no fun having a fully designed and developed website - i.e. technically and functionally ready for launch - when it's still full of gaping holes where content is supposed to be.
Every now and again, you're reminded about how far-and-wide the Wiliam blog is read.
I love my tablet. Until I was given one a couple of years ago, I never thought I'd like tablets as much as I do now. But that's not to say there aren't a few things that annoy me - and it's not the fault of the device. Fair warning, if you're not interested in a self-indulgent venting of certain tablet design 'faux pas' then move on. Otherwise, let me enlighten you as to why it's time to put an end to these all-too-familiar scenarios.
It's been nearly 10 years since Apple launched the first touch screen smartphone in 2007. Did you know however, that the first touch screen was actually invented in 1965? That's nearly fifty years ago to the day! Yet I wonder, would anybody have believed it, if told that by the year 2015, there'd be more touch-screen enabled smart phones and tablets, than human beings on the planet? Or by 2020, it is estimated that there will be 4.3 internet connected 'things' for every person?! That's something like 33 billion devices, with a hell of a lot of touch screens.
There comes a time on all web projects when the discussion turns to content. As simple as it may sound, content provision can actually be one of the most difficult tasks befalling the client. Thankfully there are a few tricks and tips to help get over the 'content block'.
This week, Wiliam can boast yet another successful website launch. In conjunction with MasterCard, we are proud to announce that Qantas Cash has officially launched into the New Zealand marketplace.
Wiliam are proud to acknowledge the efforts of one of our highly creative individuals in entering one of Australia's most prestigious art competitions.
Are we complicating our lives unnecessarily by hooking everything up to the internet? This 'Internet of things' is becoming a bit like Skynet...
If you're reading this, chances are this blog is irrelevant to you. But it's still interesting.
Everybody has had that moment (or maybe a few) where you wished you could 'dislike' something you've seen on Facebook. And you wouldn't be the first person who's wondered why there's no dislike button.
A little known tweak to the Google search algorithm is going to have some pretty big impacts on site rankings. From tomorrow, April 21 2015, any website that is not mobile-friendly will take a dive in search results. What does this really mean, and is your site as mobile-friendly as you think? More importantly - does Google think your site is ready??
A couple of months back I published a blog about cart abandonment technologies, and used 'Rejoiner' as a specific example that we had integrated for one of our major clients with tremendous, overnight success. Today I received a heart-felt thank you letter from the Rejoiner CEO himself. Chuffed!
This week I had cause to remind a couple of colleagues of the 'iron triangle' - a representation of the relationship between the forces that combine to constrain any project. Sometimes also referred to as the 'scope triangle' or 'quality triangle', it is also a traditional measure of project success.
Am I sentimental? Yes. And I'm right, sometimes. Maybe mobile phones still have a long way to go before we've designed the perfect interface. Meanwhile, everything old is new again, just you wait and see.
Regular readers of the Wiliam blog will have noticed that cart abandonment has been a trending topic over the past 6 months, give or take. There's a good reason for this, and there's nothing I like better than a good yarn about how we've managed to turn around the fortunes of one of our awesome clients.
It looks like I'm out of a job. And it turns out that everybody who thinks they're doing agile right, is not. Who the bloody hell created this agile lunacy? And if it's so bloody hard to get right, then why is it apparently the ducks nuts of software development? Derp derp.
No, this is not another meaningless political slogan. I just want to tell a quick story about some fantastic work we've completed for one of our major clients. Something a bit out of the ordinary from what we normally boast about, and something our team is quite proud of. It also reminded me why we are in this game, the IT industry: to support the business.
Web design trends are a funny thing. Just when you think you’ve nailed the perfect design, some bright spark comes up with a new idea or a new technology and suddenly your world is flipped on its head.
A few of us in the Production team recently shuffled our way through a Google Analytics short course. It was a great way to brush up on our knowledge as it had been a couple of years since I'd needed to dive into analytics, and a lot has changed in that time. Here are some useful snippets of knowledge that I thought were worth mentioning. Gone are the days where Google Analytics was just about hits and page loads, now I can't imagine a successful web project without it!
I was delighted this weekend past to receive an email from Houzz spruiking their new localised version of the site. Still all the same wonderful content from all over the world, but now with a dedicated local team and a .com.au domain. And immediately, I was impressed.
Ask any web developer what the worst part of their job is; up there with scope creep, impossible deadlines and any shortage of bacon will be the pain of compatibility testing. But things are changing quickly and it might be time to get excited about the end to this time consuming exercise once and for all.
Some spiffy sales agent from a supposedly reputable hosting provider recently tried to convince me that he could setup a virtual server within an hour of the request coming through to his desk.
Qantas Cash is recognised for the awesome product it is.
This is my second blog on lessons learnt, experiences gained, hair lost from project managing a $7 figure web project.
There are $50k websites. There are $250k websites. And then there are 7-figure websites. Here is the first part in my experience in running a project to deliver one of those 7-figure websites.
Google sitelinks have been around for a few years, but it seems there is still a bit of mystery surrounding them, how they work and importantly, how to land them for your own site.
One thing is for sure – as much as anything else, bad mobile site design can really impact your brand.