Website design

Here's the latest group of new modules I've selected for your viewing pleasure! I'm going to make this into a regular feature so do let me know if there's a module out there that deserves some attention.

Out of the 5 modules below the two that stand out for me are Views Supertable and Textualizer. Take a look at the demo linked below and you'll see what a cool module Views Supertable is. The Textualizer module also looks good and uses JQuery to create some neat text transitions and is supported by most modern browsers and IE!

Although a couple of the modules are still dev versions they are in active development so expect a full release soon.

Kay and Vie sell children's puzzles, T-shirts and toys so with Christmas fast approaching they needed their website working. Sadly their Magento site was broken and wouldn't allow access to the admin section or checkout.

Initially we fixed the issue, which turned out to be a common bug with the PayPal secure setting but it turned out the system wasn't what the client had hoped for. So next stop was migration to Drupal and Ubercart with its more user friendly design.

BivvyPower were a start up business looking to transfer their online presence from Ebay to their own website. Having created a 12v portable power supply and keen to start selling, they began with Ebay. But due to the demand decided to work with Makak Media to design and build their online shop.

The 12v power pack was primarily designed to take fishing as it's small and lightweight. Since its launch it's been such a success in a short space of time that orders have come in from as far a field as France and Germany! This prompted BivvyPower to move quickly and start working with us and get their new site live.

Ben and Gary from BivvyPower are both keen fisherman so we decided to keep the site design based around this and their best selling product, the 12v power pack. The BivvyPower shop is powered by Drupal 7 and Ubercart 3, taking advantage of the latest open source software has to offer.

I've selected 6 new Drupal modules below that caught my eye when scanning the modules list.

From those picked out I'd have to give special mention to two modules, CSS Live and Webform A/B Testing.

For web designers and themers CSS Live lookers particularly useful allowing you to not just edit the CSS but save it at the same time. So no need to go back and forth between Firebug and your CSS files saving time.

The second module which looks really attractive is Webform A/B Testing which allows you to spilt test forms and determine winning conditions. When those winning conditions have been met the winning form is then shown to future visitors to that form.

Your website is live, people are visiting and interacting, you're probably thinking that's it surely, show me the money! Whether you're running an ecommerce or a regular business site, getting it live takes time, content creation, site designed and built, so when all this is complete it means the hard work is done, right?!

Wrong, I'm afraid to say that anyone can get a website live, via free services, diy or paying a web development company to do the work for you. But I'm afraid this only sets the foundations of your online business, poor foundations can have long lasting effects. However, how you build on top of these will develop your online presence into either an also ran, or a market leader!

I sometimes hear from clients that they are not getting the results they expected from their new website. I then have to reiterate that a website can develop from very little effort or promotion, but if in a competitive niche, more time and energy is required.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) has taken a battering over the years from web developers due to it not supporting key web standards. The added work to get a website displaying correctly in IE6 can prove a real headache and one of the main reasons why we want it banished.

In recent weeks Google has criticised its' lack of security and blamed the loophole that allowed China based hackers to attack them squarely at the foot of IE6. Subsequent to this even the German and French governments have requested their citizens should switch from using the browser.

As of the first of this month Google started phasing out support for IE6 as stated in their modern browsers for modern applications blog post.

The picture to the left is of our latest recruit, Toffee, a deaf Jack Russell, from the Last Chance rescue centre in Edenbridge, Kent. She's a funny thing, preferring company and someone's lap to chasing a ball in the park!

Having had her 3 weeks now and getting used to her needs we've adapted our style of communication to compensate for her lack of hearing, although sometimes I get the feeling she's only playing deaf so she can ignore us!

This got me thinking about how your website should not just be designed to help the visually impaired, by for instance making sure your images have alternative or ALT text to describe the image to be read by screen readers. But also for those people who think in a different way. What do I mean by this?