Are graphic designers ruining the web?

No, but neither are the Germans up for a bloody big war.

Fortunately, some things move on, unlike John Naughton. Cliff came across this article on The Guardian website yesterday and shared the love (or lack of) for it around the office. It ruffled my feathers to say the least – who are these people that want content only websites? I thought I’d be able to think of some instances that I would prefer simpler websites but I can honestly say that I can’t think of any reasons I’d want to view a text only website over a fully functional, beautiful, all singing-all dancing site.

With any form of considered communication, balance is generally the key to success. A website that is well designed and contains user friendly functionality is usually best balanced with being able to load at an acceptable speed. Studies show that over 60% of people will click away if made to wait for more than 5 seconds for a page to load – you can load a lot in 5 seconds, you don’t need ugly websites.

The wonders of WordPress

At Firedog our preferred content management system (CMS) is WordPress.

When I joined Firedog I had very little knowledge of the wondrous system. I have worked with various Content Management Systems previously; Kentico, Drupal and even a custom made CMS, but nothing lives up to the impeccable WordPress usability.

The writing is on the wall! Robert Montgomery’s billboards in Old St

We spotted these bill boards popping up around Old Street and now we’re delighted to have Robert Montgomery’s new exhibition just next door, at the KK Outlet gallery in Hoxton Square.

Inches from Da Vincis

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to see for myself the many spectacular creative works by Leonardo da Vinci, currently displayed for a limited time, in the National Gallery.

More fascinating and intriguing than the paintings, were the sketches and plans undergone in preparation for his many famous works of portraiture. These pieces explored anatomy, material folds and dimension. It was a special privilege to see these plans up close – not least because the vast majority of these preparatory pieces are owned by the Queen and form part of her private collection.

Did you know? Digital surpasses print in resolution, for the first time

And it’s not even a product in development… I’ve only just woke up to the fact that the iPhone 4 retina display carries a resolution of 326ppi (That’s pixels per inch).