http://vps.padmedia.co.uk/~padmedia/index.php en robert.games@padmedia.co.uk Copyright 2011 2011-01-03T17:59:00+00:00 http://www.padmedia.co.uk/blog/article/10_things_to_expect_from_pad_media_in_2011 http://www.padmedia.co.uk/blog/article/10_things_to_expect_from_pad_media_in_2011#When:17:59:00Z The Christmas break is an excellent time to take a step back from the day to day running of your business, and look at the processes from a strategic angle. What better time to start implementing these changes than in the new year! So here is a taster of what to expect from Pad Media during 2011. And while you are here, why not let us know what your plans are for the new year! Monthly Email Newsletter - The latest news from Pad Media, recent projects, industry tips, advice and anything else that springs to mind direct into your inbox! Our Blog - For any of you who know us well, our blog has always been “content challenged”. We are planning to up our game and start releasing regular articles in association with our email newsletters. Re-Branding - We’re Evolving! Pad Media is approaching our sixth year in business and like most things in life, since our early days we have grown up a lot! That’s not to say we don’t still make time for a bit of fun!As such we felt it was time to update our brand during 2011 to reflect our approach and passion for what we do. Lightweight CMS - Own a small website? Only want to update a handful of pages regularly? Don’t want to pay for a content management system with all the bells and whistles? Sound familiar?That’s why Pad Media have released a lightweight content management system that does exactly that. Why not call us on 020 8399 9782 or email us to find out more. New Website - With the new branding on the way, it was only natural that we needed this to reflect our website.As any busy web agency knows your own website always comes after your customers. So the redesign and development of the Pad Media website has been long over due. New Workflow & Project Management Tools - As if projects weren’t running smoothly enough already!. Pad Media believe there is always room to improve efficiency, so watch out for some of our latest tools and techniques we will be implementing during 2011. New Office - After several fantastic years based in Teddington, Pad Media have decided to up sticks and move to the leafy suburbs of Surbiton. It might sound like the middle of the countryside but is only 20 minutes and a travelcard from central London. So drop us an email. Or pick up the phone for a chat. Mobile Content - Everywhere you turn people are talking about iPhones, iPads and Android. It is safe to say hand held devices are revolutionising the way we view digital media. As such Pad Media have been busy working away on delivering a solution for small businesses to target this rapidly expanding market. New Email Reporting Metrics - Just because someone opened the email campaign you just sent out, doesn’t mean they actually read it! Ever wanted to know who skim read the campaign, who deleted the campaign, even who forwarded or printed your campaign? In 2011 Pad Media are introducing a new range of reporting metrics which do just that! Integrated Analytics - Tired of updating your website in one application, and having to log in to another program to view your website statistics? We are! In 2011 we will be bringing detailed website analytics into the control panel of your content management system, so you can update your site, whilst viewing real time reports. 2011-01-03T17:59:00+00:00 http://www.padmedia.co.uk/blog/article/google_announces_flash_indexing http://www.padmedia.co.uk/blog/article/google_announces_flash_indexing#When:05:38:00Z We all knew it was coming! On the 28th of June, Google announced that they have released an algorithm to effectively rank flash based websites and content. Great, bring on a new era of flash websites Hold your horses, there is still major draw backs with using flash on your website. Accessibility - Unfortunately people with visual disabilities will still have trouble seeing a flash site. There is a lot of aided technology on the market which converts an html page into an audible format, or a text only reader which allows users to increase font size unfortunately these do not work with flash sites, so it is best practice to still offer an HTML alternative to a flash version of the site. Furthermore., under the 1995 Discrimination act by offering an inaccessible site could be deemed against the law. Some people just don’t like flash! - Whether it is because they have a slow connection speed, or they just like reading the content without all the bells and whistles, offering an html version is still important. No Semantic Mark-up - To simplify this, semantic mark-up is breaking the page up into the main title of the page, sub headers, and paragraphs. Google uses this to rank the relevancy of words on the page. For example Google will assume the main title of the page has the most relevant words in it. Flash does not have the ability to break up the content into relevancy, and as such this will affect Google rankings. Google does not attach content from external files called by the flash site - Content managed flash sites usually allow you to update text and images through an xml file, or similar file types. If Google does not read the external content, then all content managed flash sites are still not able to be ranked. Most large flash sites, pull their data from xml and html files, so this improvement in Google’s algorithm has little benefit for them. Googlebot does not execute some types of JavaScript - So if your web page loads a Flash file via JavaScript, Google may not be aware of that Flash file, in which case it will not be indexed. When should you use flash? Flash penetration in the UK is well over 99%, and as such it is the perfect vehicle to deliver rich media such as videos, and interactive user interfaces. The good news We’ve all seen them, flash intros and fancy navigation… With Google’s previous algorithm, quite often only the homepage of a site could be indexed. With the new algorithm hopefully all the pages within the site should be indexed. http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/06/improved-flash-indexing.html 2008-07-09T05:38:00+00:00 http://www.padmedia.co.uk/blog/article/pad_medias_website_has_gone_live_finally http://www.padmedia.co.uk/blog/article/pad_medias_website_has_gone_live_finally#When:09:05:00Z The long awaited Pad Media website has finally gone live. After months of speculation, hard work and a hefty rebranding exercise, the beta version is finally on your browser. Why the new site? To put it simply, the web design industry is constantly evolving, and as an agency we pride ourselves at being at the forefront of its development. Since we developed the first Pad Media website over three years ago, when we started, our approach to businesses and the services we offer have naturally changed. Our branding no longer reflected our position in the market and as a result our site looked outdated. It was a classic case of cobblers shoes. We were so busy developing great sites for our clients, we neglected our own online presence. Robert Games, Managing Director of Pad Media.   What’s new on the site? It would probably be easier to list what isn’t new! Firstly, I would like to thank Turner Ink for the great words on the site. We’re not the easiest of clients but she had the patience to slog through hours of “Ideas” and “branding” discussions. You will have already noticed the blog section. We wanted to keep you up to date with the latest goings on at Pad Media, and the fast moving market place that is the Internet. We are going through some exciting times, and we would like to share it with everyone. We have made a big feature of all our recent work. As there is nothing more reassuring to prospective clients than examples of great design and development. What’s coming next? The site is only in its infancy at the moment. We have great plans for the future, so keep coming back to check on the latest updates, or sign up to our email newsletter (below) to have the latest gossip delivered straight to your inbox. If you have any suggestions or comments on what you would like to see, please feel free to send an email to , or give us a buzz on 020 8399 9782. 2008-05-26T09:05:00+00:00