Creative Stream | Blog - Sorbrook - Website Design Banbury

Instant Chat should be a primary contact method for your website

sshepherdApril 13, 2018 New Business, UX Design, Communication No Comments

For a number of years, we have enjoyed contacting support services using instant chat. There just seems to be something satisfying about talking to someone in real time whilst they sort out your problems. So is instant chat right for your website? This has been adopted by many different styles of website which puts their customers in charge when asking questions or support. But you need to be able to ensure that there is someone on the other end of the instant chat when requested. You need to choose the right solution for your website. We currently use Slaask which is great not only does it place a friendly picture of […]

The Good and Bad of Website Hosting

sshepherdApril 18, 2018 WordPress, Technology, Hosting No Comments

So over the years, website hosting has been my biggest outlay for a small business providing clients with all they want for a great online service. But over the years there has been some corkers and stinkers when it comes to hosting. Website Hosting by third-party companies When I started out in 2002 with my first venture I had some friends in the business of hosting websites and email. This was great as all I had to worry about was the creative side of the business. If a problem occurred all I had to do was pick up the phone or drop an email to them and my hosting friend […]

Should we use deep links to apps on mobile sites?

sshepherdApril 3, 2018 Social Media, Mobile, Website Design, UI Design No Comments

We all use apps on mobile devices and they work perfectly to link relevant content and usability. What about when you need to link to an app on a mobile device from your website? Deep Links to mobile apps It can be annoying to link to a browser when on a mobile device especially when you could link to an app like Facebook or twitter which is already on your device. This is where you need deep links which request permission from your device to open the app and then open the page or post within that app. For a more detailed look at deep links check out this post […]

New Tax Year – WordPress Cleanup, WordPress Support

sshepherdMarch 26, 2018 Marketing, WordPress, Security No Comments

The new tax year is almost here so as well as getting your finances sorted it is also a great time once the dust has settled to take a look at your WordPress website. House Keeping Its time to brush off those cobwebs and start making those updates to plugins, themes and the all important WordPress platform update. These can sometimes be daunting but if you take the right precautions these will be done in a snap. Updates are extremely important when it comes to WordPress as the code is open source which means it is open to everyone to develop with. Though there are millions of super stars out […]

Are you https yet? Things are changing by July 2018

sshepherdMarch 29, 2018 Security, Technology, SEO No Comments

So https is a big thing in regards to website security and a favourable position in the boiling pot of google SEO. Google will be updating their widely used web browser Chrome in July 2018 to make it even more obvious sites are not secure. So now is the time to ensure you have the green padlock next to your domain. This may leave you several questions on why you need an SSL certificate and how you can achieve https on your domain name. What is https? Lets start with http which stands for Hypertext transfer protocol which for years has been how website pages have been displayed to you […]

Website design for CMS, the best for your business…

sshepherdJune 27, 2017 WordPress, Website Design No Comments

Since 2002 I began my website design journey building small website for myself and others in HTML with the use of site building tools such as Adobe Go Live and Dreamweaver. With time came new technology and after a few years I started creating shockwave and flash animated sites until the revolution of using a CMS as a website platform. What is a CMS Website So a standard html website is built directly on your webspace and most of the details called by this sort of site are provided by 3 types of code files and imagery, these being html, css and javascript for example. The CMS however is a […]

The Creative Day – are we really productive for a full 8 hours in a day?

sshepherdApril 18, 2017 New Business, Business, Technology No Comments

I have seen lots of posts over the last few months providing an argument that working the standard 8 hours from 9am to 5pm is actually not productive. Lots of creative companies out there are now switching to remote working or freelancers to provide resource in their agencies. Freelancers can work within budget and time frames but don’t work regular hours meaning they can work when they want or have to. Other countries are looking into 6 hour days to capture those key productive hours and give employees more free time in the day. So where does the the whole 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week come […]

Windows 10 is coming

sshepherdJune 1, 2015 Tech Blog, Business, Technology No Comments

Windows 10 the new operating system from Microsoft is being released at the end of next month – 29th July To remind you of this if you are running Windows 7 or 8.1 you will find a windows icon in your tool box (bottom right of your screen) offering the Free upgrade to Windows 10 when it becomes available. So as a small business do I take the plunge head first into a new operating system? Or should I bide my time and await feedback from the wider public on release? I personally loved Windows XP and when Windows Vista came a long and I jumped right in. At that […]

WordPress Hacking Woes…

sshepherdMay 12, 2015 WordPress, Security No Comments

After starting my business in December 2010 the rise of general Hacking trying to infiltrate the standard WordPress CMS has grown exponentially. We all keep a lot of information and personal work within our websites so when it has been hacked it is heart breaking. I am always asked by clients “why would someone do this to me?” Well the main reason for a hack is normally to gain access to your information and in some cases to redirect your site to somewhere they feel will gain them money through advertising. Though I have encountered some hackers who just want recognition for their work which seems to be a breed that […]

Facebook “Like Box” is due to disappear!

sshepherdApril 28, 2015 Branding a Business, Marketing, Social Media No Comments

I have seen and created sites which utilise the Facebook “Like Box” to engage with people on a website to urge people to like a Facebook page. If used well these can not only display your number of likes and faces of the people that like your page but they also can display your post feed and tell you if any of your friends like the page also. Well The Facebook Like Box is about to be no more! With the release of Facebook Graph APi v2.3 the Like Box plugin will become deprecated and thousands if not millions of websites around the world will end up with a blank […]