We’ve kept them local, so please feel free to join the groups if you are based in Central London or in the Oxford area. The aim is to start a regular face to face meetup for each group where WordPress developers, designers, editors and users can come together and share ideas and help out their fellow WordPress advocates.

Click on the appropriate group to join up!

See you soon!

You’re a talented and enthusiastic developer looking to join an ambitious and successful digital agency. You love solving creative, complex challenges with high quality, reliable development solutions. We are looking for a top-class coder who knows LAMP like the back of their hand. If you have the minerals to take a brief, question it, shape it and suggest ideas that can help the team deliver what the client expects then you’ll want to work with us.

Role purpose:

• To lead/assist web development projects
• Create, integrate and maintain client and server side code
• Participate in setting team budgets, timescales and milestones

Skills

• Thorough understanding of PHP, MySQL, Javascript, HTML, CSS, XML
• Experience with performance optimisation and Apache configuration
• Working knowledge of HTML5 and CSS3
• Experience with web service integration (RESTful)

About you

You take pride in your work and care about delivering great results. You enjoy working as part of a team and will roll-up your sleeves and do what’s needed, along with everyone else. Whether you’re coding, answering the phone or talking to clients it’s done with enthusiasm. You maintain your cool and your ambition for digital is infectious.

Some other things we like about you:

• 5+ years working with LAMP systems
• A strong portfolio and proven track record
• Experience working in a large agency (full-time or freelance)
• Passionate about the web

About Hutchhouse

We are an expanding interactive agency based in Central London and in Wantage, Oxfordshire. Formed in 2003 by two leading industry figures, we have launched countless successful websites that delight our clients and give pride to our team. Our clients range from small/medium sized businesses to high street brands. Projects are amazingly varied and exciting, with new challenges keeping our approach fresh and innovative. We’re growing and evolving and we want people with the right skills and a great attitude to join us on the journey.

Send your CV and other info you think we’ll enjoy to jobs@hutchhouse.com

You’re a talented and enthusiastic developer looking to join an ambitious and successful digital agency. You love solving creative, complex challenges with high quality, reliable development solutions. We are looking for a top-class coder who knows LAMP like the back of their hand. If you have the minerals to take a brief, question it, shape it and suggest ideas that can help the team deliver what the client expects then you’ll want to work with us.

Role purpose:

• To lead/assist web development projects
• Create, integrate and maintain client and server side code
• Participate in setting team budgets, timescales and milestones

Skills

• Thorough understanding of PHP, MySQL, Javascript, HTML, CSS, XML
• Experience with performance optimisation and Apache configuration
• Working knowledge of HTML5 and CSS3
• Experience with web service integration (RESTful)

About you

You take pride in your work and care about delivering great results. You enjoy working as part of a team and will roll-up your sleeves and do what’s needed, along with everyone else. Whether you’re coding, answering the phone or talking to clients it’s done with enthusiasm. You maintain your cool and your ambition for digital is infectious.

Some other things we like about you:

• 5+ years working with LAMP systems
• A strong portfolio and proven track record
• Experience working in a large agency (full-time or freelance)
• Passionate about the web

About Hutchhouse

We are an expanding interactive agency based in Central London and in Wantage, Oxfordshire. Formed in 2003 by two leading industry figures, we have launched countless successful websites that delight our clients and give pride to our team. Our clients range from small/medium sized businesses to high street brands. Projects are amazingly varied and exciting, with new challenges keeping our approach fresh and innovative. We’re growing and evolving and we want people with the right skills and a great attitude to join us on the journey.

Send your CV and other info you think we’ll enjoy to jobs@hutchhouse.com

Pinterest stats

According to TechCrunch Pinterest has over 10.4 million users already. 9m of these people are logging in monthly, and 2m login daily so naturally it’s creating quite a buzz within the industry and rightly so. If the stats are to be believed some 97% are women which makes a refreshing change. For once the usual ‘early adopter’ crowd have taken to the wings and it’s the ladies who have the upper hand on this one.

The appeal of Pinterest

Having used Pinterest for the last two weeks it’s clear to see the appeal. As a designer – and somebody who prefers the visual world to the written one – browsing pages of images is far more my cup of tea then reading lots of words. As it’s often said, a picture paints a thousands words and this is possibly the secret behind the success of this platform. Pinterest is clean, no-nonsense and easy-to-use and whether you’re using the website on your desktop or your mobile, the integration, experience and consistent approach is seamless. When you compare it to the fussy and over-complicated interface of say Google+, it all undoubtably adds to it’s appeal and guaranteed success.

The competition

Having tried similar platforms – Instagram and Tumblr to name but two – neither of them really got me fired up. Instagram was one of my favourite apps for a while as it’s user journey and ease of use was enticing. Again, browsing by image makes Instagram very appealing, however because it’s based on uploaded user photos it can be a little narcissistic and for some that’s a turn-off. However the beauty of Pinterest is that it’s main staple is a diet of ‘web clippings’ of interesting discoveries which are shared and personally I prefer this angle.

Pinterest and Hutchhouse

I can see Pinterest becoming very useful to my workflow over the next year. As soon as it’s warranted I’ll be putting together a moodboard for the next project and sending it to the client to digest. I can also see it being a great research tool for discovering new interface styles, grid layouts, typefaces and colour combinations. Although I think I’ll have to wait for a little while yet. At the moment Pinterest seems to be knee deep in pictures of high-heels, painted nails and hairstyle tutorials, but hey, with a 97% female following I wouldn’t expect anything less!

You can find my Pinterest page here so I’ll see you there!

At Hutchhouse we believe the site administrator should have the ability to manage all of the content on all of the pages without the risk of breaking the site. This is a difficult balancing act between allowing clients the level of control they desire whilst delivering a site with a framework that can cope with most eventualities.

If you believe your site carries a lot of value at the front end and all you lack is the ability to manage the content via a good reliable backend CMS system – Hutchhouse can reverse engineer any website and provide you with a usable, intuitive system that will control the content on your site. We believe in giving clients the ability to make updates and additions as often as it’s required without compromising design or functionality.

Adding pages, articles, galleries, events and videos are just a few examples of elements you can manage on your website all sitting within the framework of great design that you’ve already had commissioned.

Thank you! The service you have provided us is awesome!

Adam Waller, APT Personal Training (we plugged in a CMS system to Adam’s site to great effect)

If we can help you with your website then feel free to get in touch.

It occurred to us that this has been ever so slightly taken for granted here, as we have been using Javascript in this way for years now, and that we ought to recognise the Javascript revolution that’s gaining momentum every day.

‘Anything is possible’ website user interfaces

On a recent project our client was not only impressed with how we produced a complex user interface without using Flash™, it opened their eyes with regard to what is possible using Javascript. This made us think. ‘Why do we take this stuff for granted?’.

Being in an agency where new technology is embraced daily and gets incorporated into client projects at every opportunity, is a lot like watching your kids grow up. You don’t notice them grow, learn and mature as much as everybody else because you see them every day. But the truth of the matter is that during the last few years HTML, CSS, Javascript and user interface design (in general) has hit puberty, grown a bunch of muscles, and, with the full adoption of HTML5 and CSS3 by most browsers in the next year, will have come of age. The shackles are literally going to be off.

But it’s not farewell to you yet Flash™. You’ve still got your uses… well maybe. We could just about think of one good reason to use Flash™ nowadays. There is still one niche that Flash™ currently occupies well. The space between online and offline – Adobe Air. This uses a mixture of languages including HTML, CSS, Javascript and Flash™ to deliver rich applications which are not reliant on your web browser. One such application that uses this service is the BBC iPlayer download service.

Not content with his lot, James though about striking out on his own and creating his own company. It’s still early days but it’s going really well and James’s business idea seems to be taking off nicely.

This week James was invited onto the Today Show. A popular lifestyle show that seems to be similar to our very own One Show. Anyway, the segment was put together really well and James is shown in a great light.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Looking at the analytics for his website the figures speak for themselves. For the last 28 days papthequesiton.com has been getting around 50 visitors a day. The day James was on TV this shot up to 1,145 visitors which is a massive increase. It’s now the following day and the visitor numbers are already returning to normal. However it’s clear to see the positive impact that a small appearance on TV can do for you and your business and I’m sure James will be getting a few orders out of the coverage he’s received.

Good on you Jimbo!

For more information on the project go here.

All too often we see websites that perform lots of tasks adequately, but rarely fulfil the objectives of a) the site user and b) the website owner.

Websites, especially business to consumer or business to business websites, need clearly defined objectives, backed up with simple user journeys in order to effectively complete visitor’s goals. It’s all well and good providing huge amounts of detail on what you do, who you are, where you work and why you are great, but without a clear call to action signposting visitors to your key objectives, this content (however painstakingly produced) becomes much less valuable.

What do you want your website to do?

Ask yourself this question constantly as you address the website’s design and structure and when writing the content. Keep the key objective(s) close by and remember them whenever you make a decision about the site. It’s easy to get suckered into feeling that everything is equally important – that you need to shout about all you have to say. Unfortunately from a designer’s perspective this is impossible to do effectively. You need to be strict, ruthless even, and concentrate on the key website objectives. This will help you understand and prioritise content in terms of the website design and content structure. Design techniques like the large ‘hero’ style banners are great on your homepage as they grab the attention of your users. We’ve heard it mentioned that this is simply a trend and that next year we’ll all be doing something else but the concept is deeply rooted in design tradition; that form should follow function. In the case of the homepage ‘hero’ these call-to-actions provide a great example of how well structured hierarchies in design and content can prioritise your content and help your visitors to make easy decisions on what’s important.

Getting what you want from your website

Below we have tried to identify two of the common objectives that work for most business owners:

Driving sales enquiries

So you want the website to keep you or your sales team busy? That’s a clear and concise objective and is especially common on what we label as ‘brochure’ style websites. The user experience of this type of site should be about instilling enough confidence in the user to click on the ‘Get in touch’ or ‘Get a quote’ button.

First of all the website needs to look and feel good. It needs to inspire confidence in the user in the same way an Aston Martin inspires more confidence than a rusty old camper van when getting you from A to B. The user also needs to get a sense that you care about what he or she thinks of you. You have a reputation to maintain and you don’t want to blow it because there was a broken link on your website homepage.

Secondly, they must be able to contact you (via an enquiry form, by telephone, etc) and it should be done in a way that makes them feel like you WANT them to get in touch. How many times have you been on your bank’s website and found yourself searching for a phone number so you can simply call them?

Thirdly your content needs to reinforce your professionalism and succinctly tell the visitor that they are in the right place. Refer to things consistently and in the tone that works for your business and brand. Make sure there are no typos and your grammar is spotless. It doesn’t hurt to go the extra mile and have a professional write your content because it’s that important (and difficult!) to get right.

If you do use a contact form, then be clever about it. Users don’t like to be asked a hundred questions. Forms that are too long are too time consuming to complete and it’s infuriating if the page is lost halfway through filling it out. Leave the detailed questions to your sales staff and focus on getting the visitor’s basic details right in an easy and friendly way. Ideally you’ll want to inject the enquiry into your CRM as a lead and notify your sales team to get back to them promptly. If you are getting too many poor quality enquiries then you can use the form to qualify the leads by asking pertinent questions and effectively putting off the poor quality leads.

In summary, put as few barriers as you possibly can between you and the visitor by having a clear design and content hierarchy that funnels users towards making that enquiry. A direct user journey with a single click to the enquiry or contact page is a great tool to drive sales enquiries and should be a given for this type of site.

Make more online sales

The typical objective of E-Commerce websites is of course to sell more products. So feature your products in the best light possible.

It always amazes us to see E-Commerce website’s which don’t clearly display products on their homepage, or feature new products and best-sellers, instead featuring other content (such as news) in pride of place.

John Stiles, MD, Hutchhouse

Important as your non-product content is (and news for example is very very important), it does not directly help your visitors find what they are looking for and, ultimately, make a purchase. This is where you can really help your visitors by identifying the main product categories, displaying good product imagery and encouraging visitor loyalty by displaying strong guarantees. Merchandising your shop online, as you would one on the high street, is very important. If your products don’t look exciting or if they don’t grab your visitor’s interest then the likelihood is that the desire just won’t be there to make the purchase.

Making the purchasing process as easy as possible will also promote sales. Don’t ask too much of your visitor, allow quick and easy ordering. It’s fine to give your visitors extra options like leaving feedback or displaying related products, but it’s not the key goal and is non-essential. The idea is to clear away any hurdles and allow your visitors to complete your objective(s)

As the buyer’s journey often starts with a search engine, make sure that your product pages are well optimised so they can be easily found. Follow the same journey through yourself, making sure you’re happy with the process and that it feels right. Make sure it’s easy for visitors to get all the information they need to make a decision on the product detail page and they’ll ultimately buy from that page.

The role of website analytics in meeting your website objective(s)

To coin an often poorly used phrase; launching a website is an ‘evolution not a revolution’. Now this isn’t something we are trying to hide behind, we are simply stating the fact that your website should be changing and growing continuously. You should be looking to keep your website in peak physical fitness in terms of its content, design and technology. There are a number of tools at your disposal to help you make the right decisions about the direction you should be taking. If your budget permits extensive usability testing and focus group research then it’s invaluable stuff and you should take advantage of it where you can, but for the majority of website owners the best aid for guiding your strategy will be with website analytics.

Website analytics such as Google Analytics provide a great insight into how your visitors use your website. You can use the analytics to make decisions about tone of voice, layout, content priorities and also the exact language used to label important calls to action. By measuring your objective conversion rate and by making simple changes (like changing ‘click here’ to something more relevant like ‘get a free quote’) you can radically improve your objective conversion rate.

There’s much more we could talk about here, but needless to say, analytics should be regularly referred to as a quantitative and qualitative guide to improving your website’s conversion rates.

“There are currently 14 million mobile internet users in the UK. This figure is expected to rise to 17 million by 2012 and 19 million by 2013.”

Source: Google

“It’s estimated that by 2015 more people will be browsing the web via a mobile device than a desktop PC”

Source: Morgan Stanley

The decision to build a mobile presence brings with it many obstacles and queries:

• How to develop a mobile site for Android, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Symbian users?
• What is the cost for developing a cross-platform mobile site?
• How many different handheld and tablet display sizes are there?
• Will I have to update my website and mobile site separately?
• Do I build a dedicated iPhone/iPad app?

We believe the best solution to overcome most obstacles is to use responsive web design and media queries.

Responsive Web Design

This is a technique that enables designers and developers to produce sites that aren’t constrained by device, monitor or tablet - creative design meets creative development.

For example, why not produce a site that responds to the medium in which it’s being viewed?  Flexible layouts that responds to the users interaction with their device, whatever that maybe.

Media Queries

This allows developers to apply specific CSS styles depending on the size of the screen the site is being viewed on.  This ultimately gives lots of freedom to how elements on the page are positioned depending on the space available, resulting in the site rarely ‘breaking’.

Separate mobile websites

Of course, if your mobile users demand a completely different experience to the desktop users, then a separate mobile website is almost certainly going to be required This is can be easily achieved with our content management system of choice, and provides a great platform to deliver tailored or (often) priority content to your mobile users.

Having a mobile web presence that works on all modern devices and can cope with a multitude of display sizes is guaranteed to keep you ahead of the game in this ever changing world of web and mobile internet.

So what does this mean?

Ultimately, this means that your website is adaptive.  It means that managing your site doesn’t become any more complicated or time consuming than it already is.  You will still be using the same CMS that you know and love (WordPress of course).

But wait, I want an iPhone app!

Of course, if your target demographic is leaning towards heavy usage, an iPhone app could well be advantageous for your company.  A responsive website will work for you and is there to sit alongside your iPhone app, not replace it.

But, let’s not get carried away just yet. We’re still very much aware of the existence of prehistoric browsers such as IE6. Unfortunately, we can’t ignore them just yet but thankfully there are tools out there that will make these browsers play nicely.

A good starting point with any web design project is to scope out the existing audience for that particular site. Google Analytics does a great job of supplying us with the browsers that users to that particular site are operating on. Keeping an eye on the latest browser stats are also a must.

For instance, if you find that no users are accessing your site with IE6 then there’s no need for a PNG fix. Likewise, if nobody is accessing your site with IE7 then lets not hold back using more pseudo elements in our CSS. Good research into the habits of your users will ultimately mean less of a workload (and less costs) when it comes to development time.

With the emergence of degradable CSS3 techniques it’s now possible to get creative with code. One thing that has always been difficult in the design process is illustrating interactions in Photoshop or Illustrator. Yes we can create animated Gifs but when showing interactions on a full mock up of a homepage too much quality is lost and ultimately we’re not doing our designs justice.

We’ve considered leaving the interactions until the development phase, giving our clients that extra something they weren’t expecting. Hopefully they’re already over-the-moon with the outcome of the design process, and once they start interacting with their site they might find themselves left without words!