Citizensheep » webdesign http://citizensheep.com/blog Michael Grimes lives in Birmingham (UK). This is his blog about anything that he fancies. Wed, 23 May 2012 15:29:35 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Cookie event cancelled. Have some useful links instead. http://citizensheep.com/blog/2012/05/02/cookie-event-cancelled-have-some-useful-links-instead/ http://citizensheep.com/blog/2012/05/02/cookie-event-cancelled-have-some-useful-links-instead/#comments Wed, 02 May 2012 16:25:09 +0000 Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=3526

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    • ]]>     I am very sorry to have had to cancel my cookie law event in Birmingham. Please accept some links as compensation.

    The cancellation is a big disappointment. The key speakers could no longer make it so we tried to find someone else at short notice to give a neutral, authoritative overview of the legal situation. Sadly, without success.

    And I know, from bitter experience, that clear information about this law is hard to find.

    So I’ve pulled together some key documents, which I hope will help you to make sense of the situation.

    Guidance on the use of cookies

    Enforcement

    About cookies

    Implementing an opt-in solution

    I hope these are useful.

    PS: If you signed up for the seminar you should have received an email, very similar to this blog post, a couple of days ago.

    ]]>     http://citizensheep.com/blog/2012/05/02/cookie-event-cancelled-have-some-useful-links-instead/feed/ 0     Cookie Control: a painless solution to cookie opt-in http://citizensheep.com/blog/2012/05/02/cookie-control-a-painless-solution-to-cookie-opt-in/ http://citizensheep.com/blog/2012/05/02/cookie-control-a-painless-solution-to-cookie-opt-in/#comments Wed, 02 May 2012 16:00:48 +0000 Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=3520

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    • ]]>     The good folk at civicuk have built a free tool that takes all the sweat out of complying with the cookie regulations.

    Cookie Control creates an opt-in for your visitors that is clear, uncluttered and unobtrusive.

    You can tell it whether to pop up when the page is loaded, how long to pop up for, where to position it, and what you’d like it to say.

    All you need to do is tell it the text you want, the link to your cookie policy and whether to include Google Analytics in the opt-in process.

    That last bit alone is very neat, as it means you have control over the thorny issue of Google Analytics.

    Analytics cookies are not exempt from the law, but the Information Commissioner’s Office says it is ‘highly unlikely’ that such cookies will be used to prioritise enforcement.

    Therefore we have to decide ourselves whether setting analytics cookies is likely to get us into hot water.

    Just remember that the cookie guidelines are not as black and white as some might like (I’ve collated links to some of the key documents).

    Indeed, Cookie Control’s refreshingly user-friendly terms and conditions warn us that the developers are not lawyers, and that we must use this tool at our own discretion.

    Cookie Control is free, very quick and simple, and can be used for as many websites as you like.

    ]]>     http://citizensheep.com/blog/2012/05/02/cookie-control-a-painless-solution-to-cookie-opt-in/feed/ 0     Creating Database-driven Apps with Sinatra http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/08/20/hello-sinatra-using-sinatra-in-ruby/ http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/08/20/hello-sinatra-using-sinatra-in-ruby/#comments Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:00:12 +0000 Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/08/20/hello-sinatra-using-sinatra-in-ruby/

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    • ]]>     Sinatra itself has useful help pages, but (so far) this the best tutorial I’ve found.

    Creating Database-driven Apps with Sinatra

    ]]>     http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/08/20/hello-sinatra-using-sinatra-in-ruby/feed/ 0     Web Designer’s Checklist http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/07/18/web-designers-checklist/ http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/07/18/web-designers-checklist/#comments Sun, 18 Jul 2010 08:01:06 +0000 Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/07/18/web-designers-checklist/

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    • ]]>     An up-to-date set of comparison tables for browser support of CSS3 selectors and HTML5 properties. It doesn’t include IE9, because they have a whole separate page of tables previewing IE9 support for HTML5 and CSS3.

    Visit Web Designer’s Checklist

    ]]>     http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/07/18/web-designers-checklist/feed/ 1     YUI Graded Browser Support http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/06/25/yui-graded-browser-support/ http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/06/25/yui-graded-browser-support/#comments Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:00:09 +0000 Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/06/25/yui-graded-browser-support/

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    • ]]>     This page has been around for a good while. I’m flagging it up now because I’m trying to build up a sort of toolkit and primer for colleagues managing websites; the rather unsophisticated ‘every user should have exactly the same experience on our website’ is – sadly and surprisingly – still a common attitude.

    This explanation of Graded Browser Support and ‘progressive enhancement’ from Yahoo! is well put and, coming from Yahoo!, adds credibility to our arguments for it.

    Visit YUI Graded Browser Support

    ]]>     http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/06/25/yui-graded-browser-support/feed/ 2     HTML5 Readiness http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/05/19/html5-readiness/ http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/05/19/html5-readiness/#comments Wed, 19 May 2010 17:01:34 +0000 Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/05/19/html5-readiness/

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    • ]]>     This is a very nice demonstration of what HTML5/CSS3 is capable of, and shows how ready the various browsers are for it.

    Visit HTML5 Readiness

    ]]>     http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/05/19/html5-readiness/feed/ 0     Scratching my head over Rails http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/05/17/scratching-my-head-over-rails/ http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/05/17/scratching-my-head-over-rails/#comments Mon, 17 May 2010 08:20:34 +0000 Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=2379

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    • ]]>     I’m trying to teach myself Rails, but I’m not even a programmer. So when I’m stumped, I’m fairly stumped. Currently my app is not saving form data when it should be, and redirecting when it shouldn’t.

    Update

    I’ve actually fixed this now. It was the ‘home_path’ route that was causing the problems. Thanks to everyone who made suggestions on Twitter, and particularly Josh Hart for thrashing it out with me over a coffee.

    I’ve had a few suggestions via Twitter, but still can’t get it to work. If you happen to be a Rails developer I’d be eternally grateful for any advice on the code below (for some reason the embedding seems to be screwing up the line numbering).

    ]]>     http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/05/17/scratching-my-head-over-rails/feed/ 0     Nibbler – take a taste of your website http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/03/29/nibbler-take-a-taste-of-your-website/ http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/03/29/nibbler-take-a-taste-of-your-website/#comments Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:01:45 +0000 Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/03/29/nibbler-take-a-taste-of-your-website/

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    • ]]>     Nibbler is a free online tool for testing websites. Give it a URL and it will test five associated pages against a range of criteria. It's still in Alpha, and I haven't looked closely to see how it actually works, but it could be very useful as part of a web developer's toolkit.

    Visit Nibbler – take a taste of your website

    ]]>     http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/03/29/nibbler-take-a-taste-of-your-website/feed/ 0     "Mad Libs" Style Form Increases Conversion 25-40% http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/03/08/mad-libs-style-form-increases-conversion-25-40/ http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/03/08/mad-libs-style-form-increases-conversion-25-40/#comments Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:05:18 +0000 Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/03/08/mad-libs-style-form-increases-conversion-25-40/

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    • ]]>     This is really interesting, because I always assumed that online registration forms were easier to use if their components were separated clearly.

    This post suggests that in fact a narrative paragraph containing the form fields in-line is more likely to encourage use.

    Thanks to Martin Black for drawing my attention to this on Twitter.

    Visit “Mad Libs” Style Form Increases Conversion 25-40%

    ]]>     http://citizensheep.com/blog/2010/03/08/mad-libs-style-form-increases-conversion-25-40/feed/ 0     Web Design Dashboard http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/09/30/web-design-dashboard/ http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/09/30/web-design-dashboard/#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:00:32 +0000 Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/09/30/web-design-dashboard/

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    • ]]>     A set of very handy lists of online web development tools, neatly and clearly laid out. Covers inspiration and design as well as markup, coding and marketing.

    Visit Web Design Dashboard

    ]]>     http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/09/30/web-design-dashboard/feed/ 1