Studio Skylab Journal

We’re on the hunt for an experienced PHP developer

2009-05-06T13:44:00+00:00

Manchester digital studio Skylab is looking for an experienced PHP developer who is black belt in Web 2.0 Kung Fu... We are expanding our code team and are looking for an experienced person with a natural interest and ability in website development, web 2.0 technologies, application development and social networking. This job is right for you if you are passionate enough to live and breathe this stuff at work and in your spare time. The candidate will be right at home writing object oriented code for websites and online applications. A solid understanding of the MVC pattern will be required. Core skills include: * PHP 4 and 5 * mySQL * Javascript * xHTML and CSS that are standards compliant, semantic and accessible. Experience with PHP frameworks, content management systems and e-commerce platforms will also be highly advantageous, particularly: * Symfony * CodeIgnighter * ExpressionEngine * Magento or other Knowledge of managing servers and other online infrastructure will be required for example: * Linux * Apache * Domains and DNS * Amazon Web Services * Subversion / Version Control There will be plenty of opportunity to experiment and further your skills and explore new technologies such as: * iPhone * Adobe Air * Facebook Applications * R&D projects Other skills that will be considered beneficial include: * Flash / Flex - Action Script 2 / 3 * Natural SEO

Skylab get naked for the day! (CSS naked)

2009-04-08T03:30:00+00:00

Tomorrow (9th of April) is "CSS Naked Day":http://naked.dustindiaz.com/. Tomorrow, hundreds of brave website owners across the web will remove all of their CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), stripping their website of all design! Why on earth would we do a crazy thing like that? To quote the event organiser... bq. "The idea behind this event is to promote Web Standards. Plain and simple. This includes proper use of (x)html, semantic markup, a good hierarchy structure, and of course, a good 'ol play on words. It's time to show off your ." We at Skylab are firm believers that "web standards":http://www.webstandards.org/ are vitally important and while I could ramble on, I think "Zeldman":http://twitter.com/zeldman sums up the benefit of web standards more eloquently and succinctly than I ever could... bq. "Web standards are tools with which all of us can design and build sophisticated, beautiful sites that will work as well tomorrow as they do today." ...and that's the key, designing with web standards ensures your site is future proofed and stands the best chance of working on new browsers or devices. It's easy to forget the bad old days of a few years ago when websites would break every time a new browser was launched - we've come a long way! So for tomorrow only, we are removing all traces of design and showing of our beautiful in all it's naked glory - enjoy!

Skylab on location in Berlin

2009-04-07T14:00:00+00:00

The Skylab moving image team have recently returned from a film shoot in Berlin. We are currently working on a client project which took the team to Germany to cover sites of historic importance. Starting with a fast paced walking tour of the city to shoot some nice GVs of The Brandenburg Gate and the very impressive Reichstag building. Day two was a much more sobering experience for the team as they visited Sachsenburg concentration camp. This remarkably well preserved site was actually the prototype for all Nazi concentration camps and death camps. Day Three brought a whirlwind tour of the remaining parts of the Berlin wall, Checkpoint Charlie, The Holocaust Memorial and Potsdamer Platz, all the while dodging the Berlin half marathon!

Our view of Media City

2009-04-04T12:55:01+00:00

Well it looks like things are starting to take shape in Media City in Salford Quays. Skylab is based just round the corner and this is our view of Media City. It's a fantastic opportunity for all creative industries in the Northwest to focus around one big hub and as the glass starts to go up, it's becoming a bit more 'real' rather than just being a concrete skeleton. On Thursday 2nd April Skylab attended the launch of the new look Northwest Vision & Media, which now has a wider remit for all creative industries in the Northwest. The event took place at the Lowry and overlooked Media City. NWVM's new remit, combined with the sheer scale of the Media City development will make a very powerful offering for large and small creative industries in the Northwest. We are looking forward to watching the site grow into this once in a lifetime opportunity and to playing our part in engaging with all that Media City has to offer.

Google Maps Street View available in Manchester

2009-03-19T16:53:00+00:00

Google have been busy lately. We were surprised to discover they have visited the Skylab HQ! A good portion of Manchester is now covered by Google Maps Street View, a service which "allows you to visually explore and navigate a neighbourhood through panoramic street-level photographs". So if you're in need of directions you may find the following useful...
View Larger Map Google have also listed several ways in which "businesses can make use of the service":http://sites.pressatgoogle.com/ukstreetview/things-to-do-with-street-view--business which makes for interesting reading.

Graphics inserts for ITV

2009-03-12T10:34:00+00:00

We've just delivered the latest project for ITV's 'Tonight' show. Friday's programme (12th March) concerns the harsh treatment dished out by Customs & Excise. This is our fourth broadcast project for ITV. Hopefully, there are many more to come!

Turn your email spam into a work of art!

2009-03-06T16:24:00+00:00

The guys n' gals over at "EnBW Spamrecycler":http://www.spamrecycling.com have devised a rather amusing and creative way to get rid of email spam. Simply forward any email marked _spam_ in your inbox to a special address and they'll recycle it for you, creating a work of art! Lovely stuff, what a great idea - and here's one above a created earlier. Check them out at "http://www.spamrecycling.com":http://www.spamrecycling.com.

Lunchbag Art

2009-02-12T12:10:00+00:00

We've recently come across a Tumblr site for a really talented comic book artist. It would seem that he creates a unique lunchbag every day to pack his kids off to school with. His quote *"A new bag each day for my kids. I'm the dad. I make these during my lunch break."* We like this dude a lot. Head on over and check out his Tumblr site "LunchbagArt":http://lunchbagart.tumblr.com/

Hidden Faces on Facebook

2008-11-21T08:25:00+00:00

Here's a nice aside to the usually design-led journal entry. We are acting on information that has come to light about members of the Skylab team being involved in a secretive cabal of online photo-activists. Their aim is simple to 'out and expose' the many hidden faces in our society. We tracked down the groups founder and chief activist Dave 'The Face' Roberts in a bid to find out more. Speaking from his secret hilltop hideout Dave says "I've been aware of the spectre of these hidden faces in our lives for some time. The public had no idea quite how many there are just lurking there with their inane grins and funny looks, so I decided to take action. I've formed a crack team of 'outers' they're totally dedicated to the cause and I believe they're the first of their kind. It takes a lot of guts to confront these demons head-on and it's all credit to my team that we've found so many." Go Dave Go! Head on over to the "Facebook Group":http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=14495060618 to see the 'outed' faces.

Snokart now on Facebook

2008-11-14T13:32:00+00:00

We are very excited about the new e-commerce site we've been working on for "SnoKart":http://www.snokart.com. It features some great photography and the product is pretty innovative too! If snow-sports is your thing then head on over to the "facebook":http://www.facebook.com/pages/SnoKart-Unique-innovative-luggage-systems-for-the-snowsports-traveller/39315951961?sid=7a8492e1b0f1d9c3f9a60060e0ce55e9&refurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fs.php%3Fref%3Dsearch%26init%3Dq%26q%3Dsnokart%26sid%3D7a8492e1b0f1d9c3f9a60060e0ce55e9&ref=s page or subscribe for updates on the "holding page":http://www.snokart.com.