Archive for June 2011

For traditional web developers who write their own code, there has been a cool way of displaying images called ‘light-box’.

We’ve now brought this effect to WebEden so that you can take advantage of it too!

Now, when in edit mode there’s a new ‘pop up’ tab in the Editor which let’s you set the pop-up flag, the pop-up image and an image caption.

This is what the editor looks like:

This means that any image can be popped up to full size, so that your visitors can get it in all its original glory.

This is what the same image looks like when popped up on the screen:

NB. This feature isn’t available for images inside galleries or frames, but we’ll look at extending it further in the future.

The only drawback at the moment is that this isn’t available for images inside galleries or those in frames.

That’s it

Take a look at the new features and let us know what you think by leaving a comment on the blog, Facebook or Twitter.

We’ve previously talked about how to explain this web stuff to beginners and online help for people who know less about the web than you.

Now the BBC has taken up the challenge by launching a project called ‘First Click Friends‘.

The aim is to help an estimated 9 million people in the UK who have never even used the Internet.

Can you rescue a Newbie?

The BBC wants us more tech-savvy people to become the ‘first click friends’ of these people, rescuing friends or family members from the web-ignorance.

The idea is to guide their first few steps on the web, giving users the knowledge and skill to navigate themselves deeper into the web.

There are downloadable starter manuals, further resources and information about the project all on the new BBC ‘First click friends’ website.

What’s your favourite domain name extension? Have you opted for the .co.uk? Or are you a fan of the web’s biggest domain, the .com. What about one of the new domain extensions such as .biz or .info?

Well if you’re a fan of domain names then you might be excited to hear that there’s a new one on the way – the .XXX. But before you rush out and buy one beware: this is for adult content only!

The Internet’s governing body – the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) recently approved the new .XXX domain but will restrict it to ‘adult content’ Web sites.

ICANN have been chewing this over for a decade but gave it final approval at its annual meeting in San Francisco in March, voting 9-3 to approve the domain.

There’s actually quite a few governments, including the U.S., opposed the creation of the domains. And surprisingly, the Free Speech Coalition, which represents some of the adult industry, were also against it.

Perhaps the only ones to profit will be those selling the new domain extension – thought to cost $60 each.

And no, WebEden will not be offering the .XXX for sale!

What do you think – a good idea because it clearly marks out adults sites? Or is this just another money making exercise for ICANN and the registrars? Leave us a comment below.

Locked in a darkened room, fed on honey dripped down strings from the ceiling, the WebEden developers have turned their attention to beauty. And beauty, to them, means new templates.

We’ve had lots of requests from you about the type of new tempates you’d like to see. A lot of you mention that you like to start from scratch, without any template at all, so we’ve added a blank black and white one to the template list.

Others have talked about wanting to go for designs that use large background images with menus laid over the top. Here’s some cracking new ones to satisfy you:

And those of you who like more traditional formats, we’ve got some new designs that we hope will float your boat.

That’s it for now.

Let us know what you think about these new designs, either by commenting below or getting in touch with WebEden on Facebook or WebEden on Twitter.

Well what can I say?

WebHostingSearch.com, a leading webhosting guide, has recommended us as a top pick for web site building solutions!!!

And here it is the award…

We were up against some pretty big names in this market so we’re chuffed, pleased, excited, and honoured  - thanks WebHostingSearch.

After literally months of planning, arguing, designing, developing and testing we finally went live with our new website yesterday. We really like it, we hope you do to – and we’d really like to hear what you think.

Here’s what the old one looked like:

And here’s the shiny new one (to compare)

Why a new site?

Well the old one had been around since early 2005, and it was really showing it’s age.

To start with it wasn’t very wide, built for a time when screens and resolutions were a bit smaller.

Second, the font was very small, making it hard to read and hard to engage with.

Third, although we had addressed this over time, there were too many unclear demands on the visitors’ eyeballs.

Over the years we’ve added to it and experimented some too. But wholesale change was what it really required.

Why this design?

What we’re trying to do with our homepage is to reduce clutter, make it easy to navigate, and make signing up to a trial as easy as possible. There’s been a general movement in web design towards ‘single action’ pages where the design reduces the choices for users to just 1. In the case of our homepage, it’s all about getting people to sign up to a trial.

Who did it?

The original design was put together by our designer Kevin Man, and it’s been coded up by resident developer Raymond Francis. And our hats are taken off to them for the hard work.

Here’s a picture of the happy couple (Kevin in the left, Ray on the right)

Is it working?

Waaaaaay to early to say at the moment, but take a look at this, a graph of the ‘bounce rate’.

Bounce rate is the percentage of people who leave your website without looking at any more than the first page.

Before the change our bounce rate was around 30%. Now it’s nearer 23%. That’s nearly a 25% improvement. That seems like a pretty good improvement to me! But more importantly, this shows the benefit of having a re-think about the design of your website  too.

There’s still lots of work to do: sorting out the design for the forum for starters!

What’s next?

We’re really working hard to release our blog feature to you as soon as possible. It’s in testing, the feedback has been good, so it really won’t be much longer. Honest.

What do you think?

We would really appreciate your feedback on the design, good or bad, constructive or otherwise. You’ve all got good opinions on what looks good when it comes to the web, and we’d like to hear them!