We are starting our tenth anniversary year with a new look web site.
News
There are many instances of private data being retained on old hard drives and good practice is to scrub and destroy such media prior to disposing. However check out this video – not many people would have thought about private data being held on office copiers!!
We are setting up a suit of new hosting packages specifically tailored for Content Management System such as WordPress, Drupal and Joomla. These hosting packages are configured to get the best hosting of these content management systems to get you the best value and performing package for your web site. We’ll be posting the full details here shortly! Watch this space.
You may have seen more and more that references to web pages are using short URLs (e.g. like http://bit.ly/bb-shorturls and http://goo.gl/p4Tk - both point to this post). These are produced by a number of services (Bit.ly, goo.gl, tinyURL for example) to crunch a long web address into a short one for ease of use. It is particularly handy when using Twitter so that you don’t use up most of your 140 characters with a long URL. Google provide a URL shortening service but only through their APIs (feedburner, Google Toolbar and plugins for Chrome etc). Bit.ly have a nice analytical system that enables you to monitor the click throughs of your shortened URLs. They also allow you to use aliases to give your short URL a real word (e.g. http://bit.ly/bb-shorturls).
As with any links you should be aware that phising and scam sites increasingly use shorturls to hide their activities. You should be cautious when clicking through to a short url from someone you don’t know. Bit.ly and TinyURL both offer preview systems to let you see the destination before you go there (as extensions to Chrome and Firefox).
Although we do build some soutions for our clients from the ground up, we increasingly base our solutions on standard content managment systems (CMS) such as WordPress (for simple sites and blogs) and Drupal (for more complex and tailored solutions) – Read More »
We all know the popularity of social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and the like – but have you considered how these channels can be used to widen the audience for your information and services. Access to these services provides new and compelling opportunities for promoting your business to a wide and very immediate audience. We have a good track record of leveraging these services to provide solutions for our clients – Read More »
UKWildlife - Species Legislation
Ten years ago we started a web site UKWildlife.com to provide web space for non for profit Biodiversity and conservation projects. One of the features of this web site has always been a listing of the species protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. We have refreshed the design of this site too and upgraded the listings. Have a look and let us know what you think.
Visit UKWildlife >>
Brief: To generate a standard database from two large databases resulting from coordinated monitoring of waterbirds in the UK. The client required a set of management utilities to enable the maintenance of core aspects of the resulting database.
Solution: We provided major data cleaning and dimension modeling services to create a database in MS-SQL of over 10 million records in the NBN data format (with extensions). We provided a custom application that enables the comprehensive management and viewing of the data in one interface. Data import and validation utilities are also provided to enable import of new data to the database.
Brief: To create a single database out of a series of information sources relating to species of conservation concern in Scotland. The resulting database was to be delivered with a web interface that enabled searching and updating for the clients Intranet.
Solution: The various spreadsheets and other data sources were cleaned, reconciled to use standard dimensions and modeled within a single relational database in MS Access format. An ASP application was designed and built around Dreamweaver templates . The resulting Intranet application enables the delivery of the data across the clients intranet. A user management model enables control of access to features such as editing, etc.
Brief: To create an information management system using a standard data model and custom COM based add-ins for the Recorder 2000 software. The data model was to be populated with trial data from a number of external partner sources. The resulting database was to be presented online in a dynamic web site to enable online browsing of the data.
Solution: We developed a data model based on the standard datamodel for biodiversity information developed by the NBN. A custom add-in for the Recorder 2000 software was developed to enable collection of the core and extended attributes of the data model using the Recorder 2000 software. A tag based ISAPI application with standard templates was developed to present the data online.We provide domain registration and hosting for this site. See for yourself: www.wapis.org.uk
