Website design and marketing news, hints and tips
March update
Mar 9th
So it’s been a fairly hectic past month here at Infobox – our Website MOT service is going from strength to strength and is flying off the shelves. If your website is not getting you the right results, traffic or conversion of traffic into paying clients – then let us examine how it can be improved. We provide a clear and comprehensive report giving you a precise plan of action to push your site forward.
Also we have been busy putting together a really good package for small and start-up businesses which has been a great success. We have teamed up with Business Link as an authorised service provider – if you are a new business, why not check out their site and see if you are entitled to any of their vouchers which can be redeemed against Infobox Media website products. Read the rest of this entry »
Connecting to a named instance of SQL remotely
Feb 26th
I got stuck for about a day and half with this.
A client had a server with two instances of SQL installed – the default being SQL 2000 and the named instance being SQL2005. I needed to connect through SQL Management Studio remotely.
The default configuration was that the SQL2005 instance was using dynamic ports – no good to us as their firewall restrictions were particularly strict. Read the rest of this entry »
Client Update – CFS blog revamped
Feb 20th
We have recently revamped the C Fire and Security blog, why not check it out.
CFS are specialists in fire detection and prevention, designing, fitting and maintaining security and access control systems as well as experts in implementing cutting-edge technology such as thermal imaging. They are based in Hertfordshire, Stevenage. Read the rest of this entry »
Apple to release iPad
Feb 8th
Apple have announced the imminent release of their new gadget – the iPad.
The aim of this device is to provide a product in between the iPhone and a laptop in terms of mobility, performance and price.
By connecting through either WiFi or 3G (mobile broadband), iPad users will be able to surf the web on their gadget, controlling their navigation with touchscreen technology in a similar fashion to the existing iPhone – but on a larger and superior screen. There are a host of other features iPad users can access too – check out Apple’s site for more.
So what does this mean for your organisation?
Read the rest of this entry »
What exactly is a Website MOT?
Jan 22nd
The last couple of months have seen our Website MOT service go from strength to strength, with more and more customers coming to us for this terrific service.
The basic concept of the Website MOT is to provide an all-in-one analysis of your website, informing what works well, what could be improved and what is in urgent need of repair.
Instead of trying to generate a report purely from automated tests and services, we carefully build each report on a bespoke basis. Each report assigned to one of our team members and they will physically go through each page on your site testing things, making notes and writing a lengthy summary, in plain English, on their findings. Also they will include reports from any tools or services they used to check loading times, validation errors, backlinks etc.
Read the rest of this entry »
Our current projects – updated
Jan 20th
January has been a frantic month so far – with lots of developments on our existing website portfolio, plus some new additions to the Infobox family.
EEliz.com – the gallery website – has had some great new features added. You can log on to the site and upload your own images and an amazing art gallery will be created with your pictures hanging on the walls. It is really easy to use and completely free – why not try it out today. Just go to the website, click Upload and register your details.
If you are looking for some custom development including picture uploads, picture resizing, galleries, thumbnails or slideshows then we can help you. We use the cutting edge ASP.NET 3.5 (vbScript) framework implementing VS2008. We can look after project consultation, development, analysis, full hosting including SQL Server 2008 Database. Read the rest of this entry »
Generating a random number (integer) in ASP.NET
Jan 16th
For one of my sites (Eeliz.com) I needed to randomly position an image either left or right. For this I used the following random number function :
Public Function RandomNum(ByVal MaxNum As Integer, _
Optional ByVal MinNum As Integer = 0) As Integer
‘initialise the number generator
Dim r As New Random(System.DateTime.Now.Millisecond)
’some validation on the values passed in
‘on exception will return 0
Read the rest of this entry »
Configuring 3D Vista – IIS7
Jan 15th
When we upgraded our servers we moved to IIS 7. For sites which incorporated 3D Vista 360 degree tours this caused a bit of an issue…To get the movie to play certain MIME types need to be configured – and this is how 3D Vista advise on their site :
1 – Go to Start / Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
2.- In the tree view to the left of the IIS Manager Window go to “Websites“. Right-button click and select “Properties”
3.- Select the “Http Headers” tab and click on “MIME types” button.
Read the rest of this entry »
New year resolutions
Jan 7th
So you’ve recovered from your festive hangover and it’s back to the daily grind. By now you’ve probably broken all your new year resolutions – so here are a set of resolutions that anyone with a website should make sure they stick to in 2010!
1 – Make sure your website code is clean and valid.
Messy, obsolete or error-filled HTML code can lead to all of the following problems :
* Your website appearing differently across different browsers and environments
* Users not being able to access parts of your site or the site altogether
* Google and other search engines may struggle to index your site, and may penalise you with a low search engine ranking
* Compromises to the security of your site and the integrity of data
* Your business or organisation appearing as unprofessional
Read the rest of this entry »
Happy xmas from everyone at Infobox Media!
Dec 23rd
We would like to wish all our clients, partners and subscribers a very happy christmas and a prosperous new year.
Look out for more exciting small-medium business initiatives from us in 2010 as we continue to make the web more accessible to companies just like yourself.
If you’ve not got in touch with us yet, give us a call and see how we can help your business to flourish in the new year.