Oxford Web Design | Hexagon Webworks

EU cookie legislation compliance

sarah — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:14:49 +0000

[Warning: this is a long post! I've tried to make it as comprehensive as possible.] You may or may not have heard of Cookies. In this context, they’re not yummy biscuits, but small pieces of information that many websites store on your computer, allowing the website to ‘remember’ something. For example, when you comment [...]

Continuous learning: the importance of

sarah — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:20:19 +0000

Just a little thought… recently it occurred to me how important it is not to stop learning. Rather an obvious thought one might say, but it’s easy to forget when you’ve got 101 other ‘more important’ things to do. Naturally, this is more important in some industries (anything web-related for a start) than in others. [...]

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas

sarah — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:08:24 +0000

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers, clients, supporters, friends and family a very happy and restful Christmas. Thank you for all your support during the year nearly past – it is very much valued. *** The Hexagon office will be closed from midday on Friday 23rd December until Tuesday [...]

Making videos responsive

sarah — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 10:37:18 +0000

As part of a recent project, I needed to find a way to make self-hosted video (i.e. video files uploaded to client’s hosting server rather than YouTube or the like) responsive. I.e. so they shrink down proportionally with screen size. I decided to use the VideoJS plugin as a good way to support both HTML5 video [...]

A mobile update

sarah — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 09:18:12 +0000

Back in July (that long ago?!), I was talking about mobile websites. As I’m in the midst of creating my third ‘Responsively Designed’ website, (for established Medical Communications agency Ashley Communications – link currently points to their soon-to-be-old website), I thought now would be an opportune time to update you on some of my findings. [...]

Oxford charity gets brand new website

sarah — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 09:15:18 +0000

Earlier this month saw the launch of a brand new and much improved website for the Primary Trauma Care Foundation – a charity working globally to improve standards in Trauma Care. More than 10,000 people die across the world each day from injury – in road traffic accidents, natural disasters, violence and conflict. It’s a [...]

Mobile is not an option any more

sarah — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 11:18:04 +0000

The mobile web is big and it’s getting bigger. Mobile browsing is expected to overtake desktop browsing in two to four years (see here and here, as quoted by Ethan Marcote on A List Apart, in his article on Responsive Web Design). The number of mobile devices is growing ever more rapidly, with this slideshow [...]

WordPress 3.2: What you need to know

sarah — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 11:43:22 +0000

Last week, WordPress released WordPress 3.2 – the fifteenth major release of WordPress. I saw a slideshow on Mashable of how the WordPress interface has changed over the years since 2003 – and wow, it’s come a long way. The focus for this release was to make WordPress faster and lighter, but 3.2 also [...]

Introducing some discipline

sarah — Thu, 26 May 2011 10:36:35 +0000

Running your own business is incredibly different from working for an employer. You set your own schedule, your own deadlines. Yes, these are very much influenced by your clients, but nevertheless, you’re not accountable to a line manager for what you do or don’t do. When it comes to how long things take, this can [...]

Why convention isn’t a bad thing

sarah — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:27:27 +0000

Sometimes wacky is good. Sometimes being different is good. But often, following convention is better. Why convention is a good thing (we’re talking about websites here by the way…) People know where to find things. So they don’t feel silly & fed-up not being able to find what they want People focus on the content, [...]