Archive for the ‘Development’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »
0404.11

The Hunt for the Deli of the Year 2011 has begun

Posted by Amanda in Design, Development, News

Each year Olives Et Al run a Deli of the Year competition in order that the general public can nominate and vote for their favourite Deli. This year Olives Et Al approached Optix Solutions, in Exeter, for the design of their new Deli of the Year website.

Optix Solutions were proud to be selected as the chosen Web Designer and Developer and consulted closely with Olives Et Al to ensure the site exceeded their expectations.

The website’s clean and natural lines give it an uncomplicated, focussed feel. Optix Solutions felt it was important that any visitor could easily find the relevant sections of the site, without being bombarded with excess information and confused by unnecessary clutter.

It was essential that the site was scalable across all browsers and could be navigated within the myriad of platforms. As a result the site was designed with embedded videos and without the use of Flash.

On visiting the site the user can select various options, although most importantly they can vote for their favourite Deli. There’s an option to discover how Deli of the Year works, a FAQs section and downloads – including the Deli of the Year badge for nominated Delis to display on their website. There’s also a blog to keep everyone up to date with the progress of the competion and news from previous winners.

Rather than limit voters to a restricted list of Delis, the user can nominate their chosen Deli if it has not already been voted for. The management system behind the site, allows Olives Et Al the functionality to contact all Delis nominated via csv exports. This way they can ensure that details submitted are accurate and that the Deli wishes to be included in the competition.

So who’s your Deli of the Year and have you voted yet?

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Design, Development, News | No Comments »

1703.11

Remove Google Personalisation – Objective Results in Google

Posted by Dan Cave in Development, SEO

Google’s Search Engine is incredibly complex, exceptionally intelligent and frighteningly accurate at guessing what you want.

There are times though when, to be quite honest, I would prefer it to mind its own business and stop personalising my results, so to that end Optix Solutions have a solution should you feel the same.

Removing Google Personalisation isn’t easy; using traditional methods would result in you losing your ability to remember your login details, keep you logged into sites and all kinds of other behind the scenes things your browser can do. Google’s Personalisation is mixed in with these things and you have to be a bit savvy to work around it. One way to remove the personalisation is to turn off cookies and search history in your browser and search settings. Although this isn’t the best!

The Best Way to get Objective Google Results – In our opinion

Step 1

To view the results the rest of the world would see you need to add a little known piece of code to the end of the URL, (web address,) of your search which sets personalisation to zero. And here it is:

&pws=0

Putting that on the end of every search you do is a bit inconvenient so we also suggest step 2

Step 2

now, turn off google instant search in your Firefox Web Browser, becuase it prevents this from working.

In Firefox, install the Grease Monkey plugin and use it to automatically add the piece of code to the end of the web addresses for you.

To do that:

  1. Install Grease monkey – Get Grease Monkey
  2. Make a new script that includes:
    // @include http://www.google.co.uk/*q=*&*
  3. Put this code in the operational bit:
    if (location.href.substring(location.href.length-6,location.href.length)!='&pws=0'){location.href=location.href+'&pws=0';}
  4. Enable the script
  5. Enjoy personalisation free results

If you prefer the whole Grease Monkey script to remove Google Personalisation i’ve included it below:

// ==UserScript==
// @name personalisation remover
// @namespace pws
// @description adds &pws=0 to the end og google addresses
// @include http://www.google.co.uk/*q=*&*
// ==/UserScript==
// Author Optix solutions

if (location.href.substring(location.href.length-6,location.href.length)!=’&pws=0′)
{
location.href=location.href+’&pws=0′;
}

Credits go to our Developer Rich Moore for this one, with inspiration coming from Dan Cave and encouragement from James Dawkins and Nick. You can see them all on our team page.

Rich MooreDan Cave

Rich and Dan

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Development, SEO | 2 Comments »

1403.11

Exeter Web Design Company builds an Ecommerce site for a Global Broadcast Equipment Supplier, complete with additional eAuction Site.

Posted by Amanda in Company News, Design, Development, E-Commerce, Online Marketing, SEO

Gearhouse Broadcast  were one of Optix Solutions’ first customers and have worked with them for over ten years. Exeter Web Design Company, Optix Solutions were delighted when they were commissioned to design and build a global website encompassing Gearhouse Broadcast’s operations across five continents.

Gearhouse Broadcast have worked behind the scenes on many prestigious projects – such as the technical infrastructure they provided for the Commonwealth Games, Beijing Olympics and they are the sole technical provider for I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!

Gearhouse Broadcast have four very different aspects to their business, Sales, Rentals, Project Solutions and System Integration, in five different countries around the world. One of the challenges for Optix Solutions was how fundamental it was that the new site was able to serve not only the unique needs of each sector – but also their geographical region. Each business area needed to cross promote complimentary areas of their business – for instance if someone was looking to buy a camera, the site needed to prompt the user that it could also be rented.

Optix Solutions had the challenge of ensuring multiple staff from around the world were able to update content, each business area needing to be tailored to the specific needs of each global sector.

The main features of the new website include:

  • More room for promotion of offers / deals in key areas of the sales/rental pages
  • New design and state of the art infrastructure – allowing the client to pull in relevant information (like case studies) to other areas of the site
  • Unique look and feel for each area of the business
  • Site designed to incorporate the client’s new brand identity
  • Site was fully optimised for SEO and Online Marketing

As well as the redesign of the new site, Optix Solutions also produced an eAuction site. One of the problems Gearhouse Broadcast faced was the large volume of equipment they needed to purchase for one off projects, such as the Olympics. They would be left with an over stock of equipment, that would rapidly decline in value and reduction in revenue.

The purpose of the eAuction site was to allow Gearhouse Broadcast to set up and run their own auctions, thus being able to sell bulk quantities of equipment, maintain their revenue stream and not be left with large levels of depreciating stock. Customers were given the option to request registration, and if approved by the client could subsequently register and bid on auctions. The first auction ran in late 2010 and was a great success. Optix Solutions intend to build on the functionality of the model and roll out the eAuction concept to other clients in the future

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Company News, Design, Development, E-Commerce, Online Marketing, SEO | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »