Yes that time of year is upon us when thoughts turn to the end of year holidays, Christmas dinner and the large amounts of alcohol to be consumed.

However, until we get to that point there are a number of other things to consider, such as:

Are we as a company going to send out corporate gifts this year?

E-Card or Printed card?

If you have not yet begun to think about these things then it might be a good idea!

If you are looking to send out small corporate gifts such as printed USB drives or branded wine kits then you should always allow about 10 to 14 working days for delivery with a little extra for the Christmas rush.

With printed cards you should allow about 5 to 8 working days for delivery.

E-Cards however can be turned around very quickly depending on the level of complexity such as animations.

Cyberdesign Works can help you select and organise your corporate Christmas gifts in time for pre-Christmas dispatch.

Still stuck as to what to do for Christmas? Give us a call.

As the current users of our sanscode Content Management System (CMS) know, we don't charge any ongoing license fees for the use of the sanscode platform.

Commonly, content management systems require an ongoing, monthly or annually recurring license fee, may include free patches to rectify any unforeseen issues that may arise during the life of the website.

This ongoing license fee may range from tens to hundreds of dollars per month or thousands or tens of thousands of dollars per year.

One would also hope that the software being purchased is relatively bug free, well tested and wouldn't require regular patching to fix issues (a la Microsoft Windows of any flavour).

sanscode, having been in solid development for the past 2 years and now used in over 30 websites ranging from small essentially static sites to full ecommerce stores and even news portals, has been bug free and has not required a single patch to be released.

That is until now.

With the recent release of Adobe Flash Player 10, Adobe has made a change to the way in which it handles security and file system permissions which has unfortunately caused the Uploader function within the sanscode File Manager to cease working.

Luckily this issue only affects a small number of sanscode installations (version 3.2.14 onwards) and only those users who upgrade their Adobe Flash Player to version 10.

We are actually happy this issue cropped up for two reasons.

1. Increased security is always a good thing.
2. The issue wasn't with our coding but was cased by a third party component.

Now, getting back to the original point of this article, as we do not charge an ongoing license fee the release of this patch did come at a cost to the sanscode installs affected.

When the cost of developing the patch was spread amongst all affected installs, it came to just over $100.00 and was categorised as an optional upgrade, thus our clients had the option to receive the patch now or wait until they did actually upgrade their Flash Player to version 10.

So now we come to the "Toss Up".

Do you purchase a CMS which requires you to pay an ongoing license fee which could potentially cost you thousands of dollars per year and thus receive this optional $100 update for free?

OR

Do you choose sanscode to power your website and only pay for maintenance when it is needed?

Hhhhmmmm it's a tough choice.

Cyberdesign Works are happy to announce that we have been appointed to design and develop a new website for the latest EasyWay Tea franchise located in Boston, USA.

EasyWayboston.com will be developed using our sanscode Content Management System and should lauch by the end of the year.

Stay tuned for more info and please feel free to sign up for updates here: http://www.easywayboston.com

With the US Presidential Election looming, The United States Studies Centre (USSC), a division of the University of Sydney, approached us to design & develop the US Election Watch portal (http://www.uselectionwatch.org.au) to assist in the education of the Australian audience in the US Election process.

Developed on the latest version of our content management system, Sanscode, uselectionwatch.org.au features a number of custom and very interactive functions such as:

Dynamic Polling - The USSC has the ability to create interactive polls as and when required with Ajax display of polling results.

Interactive Quizes - Multi question and answer quizes can be created to really test the users knowledge of the US Election process and Candidates.

Ask Uncle Sam - Users have the ability to submit questions to be answered by the USSC team. 

To assist in the promotion of the site we also designed a number of Flash banners which will be featured on smh.com.au.

Are you an experianced Web & Graphic Designer?

Do you have demonstratable experience in designing high quality websites, e-commerce interfaces, flash animations, advertising materials, and more?

Do you have the ability to change hats between design and open-source web development?

Are you looking for a new challenge, working with high profile accounts?

THEN WE WANT YOU!

The past 12 months has been very good to us and we are now in the desparate need of a high quality graphic designer / web designer.

What sort of projects will you be working on?

• Website designs for start-ups to multi-nationals,
• Development of our in-house sanscode content management system,
• Flash Animation and microsites,
• Packaging design,
• Catalogue design for fashion, and technology,
• And much more!

What type of person are we looking for?

We want someone who is not afraid to have a go at something they havent tried before! Someone who can wow us in the morning with a new experiment they tried over night and someone who can take a complex problem and solve it in a creative and innovative way.

What type of skills do you need to posess?

• Of course a high level of design ability,
• Extensive HTML, CSS, PHP and MySQL ability,
  
• Experience with Content Management Systems and Email marketing,
• Extensive Flash design and development experience,
• A keen eye and a can do attitude.

DOES THIS SOUND LIKE YOU?

Then visit our contact us page and send us your resume as well as some examples of your work and any special projects you have worked on.

Renumeration is based on experience and skill set but the sky is the limit.
You will need to be able to start asap and be ready to be challenged.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Here at Cyber we have found that there is alot of confusion over the difference between Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

This confusion seems to stem from the constant bombardment of telemarketing calls and emails from supposed Search Engine Optimisation companies who all "guarantee to get you on the first page of Google or your money back".

Unfortunately there are some very unscrupulous companies out there who do prey on peoples lack of knowledge of how SEO & SEM works.

Firstly we should define the difference between Search Engine Optimisation & Marketing.

Search Engine Marketing consists of the bidding for or purchase of Keywords within Search Engine results via services such as Google Adwords.

What this means is that when a user performs a search for say "VOIP" in Google they will be presented with two types of result.

1. Organic Results
2. Sponsored Links

Search Engine Marketing aims to position your website link in the Sponsored Links section which can be found at the top and right of the page and should a user click a link within these Sponsored Link zones the advertiser will be charged for this click anywhere from a few cents to tens of dollars per individual click.

Search Engine Optimisation however relys on the relevance of your content to the users search term. These "organic" search results are generally more trusted by users.

The only way to build relevance and user trust, besides your actual content is to ensure that relevant keywords are also scattered throughout your website in several key areas.

sanscode 3.3 provides users with the ability to dynamically control keywords on both a global (sitewide) level as well as right down to the individual page. This high level of CMS based optimisation control, coupled with a "from the ground up" approach to search engine optimisation ensures that our clients who choose to use our sanscode platform have the best possible opportunity to be ranked highly by the search engines.

Due to the organic nature of the standard Google results there is no possible way to guarantee first page positioning.

If a "Search Engine Optimisation" company does promise to get you on the first page then they are more than likely going to sell you Google Adwords which will cost you alot more in the long term that properly optimising your site for the standard organic search results.

A fantastic example of the power of sanscode SEO procedures is MyNetFone.
A sanscode user for 18 months, MyNetFone does enjoy a first page position for the very general keyword of "voip" as you can see from the screenshot below.

This result was achieved with three (3) months of the launch of the new website 18 months ago. Whilst we cannot and will not guarantee this sort of result for every sanscode

With the rapid growth of the web as businesses primary method of communication we are finding that a number of our clients are developing a need for a large number of targeted websites and microsites that form an interlinked group.

For example, a consumer products company may carry a number of different and un-related ranges of products such as baby products and car accessories.

Due to the complete difference in target markets for these two products it makes sense to split them up into targeted microsites each with their own custom design and search engine optimisation.

Normally, if you were to construct these two websites using a Content Management System you would essentially have two websites with two different control panels and twice the development cost.

The latest version of sanscode however, version 3.3, has the ability to streamline the maintenaince of multiple websites when located on the same server.

In the case of the above hypothetical consumer products company, both websites would consist of a content management system with a dynamic products catelogue.

With sanscode 3.3, rather than developing two different sites, we can simply create a single website and then make any number of virtual duplicates.

These duplicate websites will function in the exact same way as the original, but with their own design, content, products and search engine optimisation yet will all be controlled via a single intuitive interface.

Using this method we are able to rapidly rollout an unlimited number of targeted, duplicate websites for a very minimal cost per unit.

Contrary to popular belief, print is not dead. It is just seasonal.

We have just come out of the tail end of our annual catalogue season within which we tackle the simultaneous photography, layout, refinement and proofing of a number of printed catalogues.

The catalogue rush begins around July with a tight deadline to ensure that proofing and printing can be completed in time for the Christmas rush.

Catalogue design isn't simply a case of slapping down some product shots, prices and calling it a day. There is a science and skill to it which requires a significant amount of attention to detail and of course time.

One of our annual Catalogue projects is The Premier Collection.

The Premier Collection project allows our team to mix things up a little with a large amount of product photography, logo design, catalogue design & layout and proofing.

This years 08/09 edition required the photography and deep etching of over 60 new products.

In total over 1000 shots were taken, of those 1000 shots, 300 were selected for refinement. From those 300 refined images, only 160 were selected for use in the final catalogue.

This edition also included the addition of a new Eco section which features Eco friendly promotional products. This new section required the design of a new logo as well as a special design treatment to highlight its Eco Friendly message.

Over 10 logos were conceptualised for the "B Green" range of Eco products and of course only 1 was selected for the final catalogue.

As you can see, catalogue design is a lot of work but we like to think of it as a labour of love.

If you have a catalogue project that needs that special attention please give us a call and we will see how we can help.

Well if you haven't already heard, and I am fairly sure that even the guys on the International Space Station have, Google has entered the Browser wars with Google Chrome.

Now there is quite literally no point in me running through its features as as the title of this post says, there is quite enough of that already.

Instead I am happy to say that I have made the switch. Previously a loyal Firefox user and a huge love for its speed and extensability, I have now pressed the "Make Google Chrome your default browser" button and am using it full time to really put it through its paces.

I am also happy to say that I am pleasently surprised and impressed.
There are of course a number of missing features such as extensions (i do miss Better Gmail 2) and for some the interface may appear too basic but in my opinion it is a very good start and should give both Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox a run for their money.

I very much look forward to seeing where Google take this latest edition to their extensive list of jabs at Microsoft.

I am also happy to report that sanscode functions perfectly under this new and still in Beta browser.

Recently we released the latest update to our sanscode CMS, version 3.3.
Building upon this popular, intuitive, powerful and infinatly expandable platform, sanscode 3.3 provides a number of core refinements and optimisations as well we a number of new features.

Multi-site Dashboard

Sanscode now provides customers who have multiple sites located on the same server to dynamicly switch between each site from a single dashboard.

Each site is still able to have its own customised design templates, layout components and of course custom modules.

Multi-lingual support

Sanscode is now compatible with Unicode character sets which allows users to input multi lingual content such as Chinese charcters.

Coupled with the Multi-site Dashboard feature clients can now easilly upgrade their websites to provide as many multi lingual duplicates of their site as required, each with their own customised content.

Dynamic Image Cropper

One of the most common complaints we get from our clients is "I don't have photoshop! How do I crop my images?".

So we created the sanscode Image Cropper. This intuitive function allows you to simply upload any image and then dynamiclly scale and crop the image to the require size.

You can even save a duplicate so that you can experiment and not ruin the original.

Improved Usability

Getting your content loaded as quickly and simply as possible is a major focus of sanscode, so we have made a number of interface improvements such as Bigger, brighter buttons and more intuitive menus which reduce the backwards and forwards of site navigation.

There are a number of sites currently in development using sanscode 3.3 which are due to launch soon.

If you would like a test run of the sanscode platform please feel free to contact us for a free demonstration.