Tuesday, 9 March 2010

Which blogging platform should you use?

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This infographic particularly resonates because at Storm ID, we're in the process of some pretty big changes to our website (watch this space!) and this is eventually going to include moving away from our current blogging platform.

With the emergence of the real-time web, it's more true than ever that content needs to be put at the the centre of a company or organisation's online communication, so choosing the right blogging platform is a big decision. How does your blog interact with your extended web output? Can look and feel be easily or effectively customised? How many users can the platform facilitate? Are extensive social functions linked in? These are all questions that you should be asking.

As described below, Wordpress and Blogger wield a relative monopoly, but that shouldn't dissuade you from exploring other avenues. Remember that what works for the casual or personal blog might be entirely at odds with your professional image. It's worth doing your research and taking into consideration your audience and competitors.

Monday, 8 March 2010

New Vacancy - Digital Designer

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Storm ID is looking for a talented digital designer.

You are an experienced designer with a background in developing designs and user interfaces for public facing web applications. You have had broad exposure to a range of solutions in this domain and bring with you valuable knowledge and insight into best practices and approaches for creating compelling and valuable user experiences.

You are able to collaborate effectively with developers and project managers, as well as other members of the creative team. You are an expert user of a variety of design tools and have a range of complementary design skills which will support you in your role.

Upon joining the Storm ID creative team, you can typically expect to deal with the full design lifecycle of a project including concept development, iterative design development as well as output as code for implementation. You can expect to work on developing designs for use with content management systems as well as bespoke solutions for a broad range of clients.

You will be welcomed by a talented creative team, highly skilled technical team and effective project management team.

If the web means everything to you, you have a good balance of skills (preferably from an agency background) and you are committed to a career with us then please apply.

Applicant Background

• Enthusiastic web user, with an eye for latest trends in web design.

• Good knowledge of design and developer tools including Fireworks, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator and Flash.

• Although not critical, a good understanding of relevant standards for HTML and CSS as well as an appreciation of the W3C WAI standards would be advantageous.

• Desire to share knowledge and support other members of the team.

• Intelligent, lively and vocal!

Company Details

Storm ID, based in Leith, Edinburgh, is an internet development company that specialises in developing websites and online software applications for organisations in the public, private and third sectors.

We offer a unique combination of strategic, technical and creative skills that result in high quality solutions that fully meet each of our client's requirements.

Storm ID is made up of a vibrant group of people who continually scan the market place for new developments and encourages its members to play a full and fulfilling role in the development of interesting and effective solutions.

Package

• ££ commensurate with experience £25k - £32k

• PRP*

• Salary increase in line with the Average Earnings Index whenever Storm ID is in profit*

• Access to a non contributory Stakeholders Pension

• 33 days holiday (incl. 8 bank holidays)

Additional

• BUPA*

• Eye Care Scheme**

• Child Care Scheme**

*After 1 year of employment

**After 3 months of employment

To Apply

Please submit your CV, example URLs and a brief description of what it is that attracts you to Storm ID, to craig.turpie@stormid.com.

New Vacancy - Web Programmer

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Storm ID is looking for a talented web application programmer specialising in Microsoft technologies. We need a code enthusiast with clear potential, someone who will thrive on innovation and quality.

If the web means everything to you, you have a good balance of web development skills (preferably from an agency background) and you are committed to a career with us then please apply.

About Storm ID
Storm ID has a great track record for employee retention and places a high emphasis on the coherence and effectiveness of the team. Some of the other good things at Storm:

Innovation: Early adoption of MS technology: ASP.NET 4 TAP, Office 2010 PEP, Silverlight TAP, long standing MS Gold Partners with ISV, Scottish Software awards winners
Opportunity: Broad range of projects across emerging trends – Search and Discovery, Social Web, Mapping, Data syndication and visualisation, Online Collaboration
Great Technology Stack: Visual Studio 2010, Silverlight 3, ASP.NET MVC 2, NHibernate 2, Lucene.NET 2.1, SQL Server 2008, Windows 2008, Cloud hosting
Stability: Fantastic business pipeline. No External investment. Only company on all the major Scottish Framework agreements.

Key Skills
  • Core Application Development
  • Web application development (ASP.NET 2.0 / 3.5)
  • .NET development using Visual Studio.NET 2008
Required Programming Experience
  • Good OO practices
  • Design patterns
  • Unit Tests
  • Version control (Subversion)
  • Agile practices
  • Database design and optimisation (SQL Server 2005 / 2008)
Other Desirable Skills / Technologies
  • Lucene.NET
  • Web Standards
  • AutoMapper
  • FluentNHibernate
  • Google Maps
  • Microsoft MVC Framework
  • LINQ
  • StructureMap
  • JQuery
  • Silverlight
Characteristics
  • Ability to work with creative team members
  • Ability to share your experience AND learn from others
  • Preference for agile practices
  • Passionate about coding
Package
  • Salary: commensurate with experience, £30k - £35k
  • PRP *
  • Salary increase in line with the Average Earnings Index whenever Storm ID is in profit*
  • Access to a non contributory Stakeholder Pension **
  • 33 days holiday (incl. 8 bank holidays)
  • BUPA *
  • Eye Care Scheme **
  • Child Care Scheme **

* After 1 year’s employment
** After 3 months employment

Friday, 5 March 2010

Google: Numbers that un-boggle the mind

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Does your mind ever get boggled by the world's largest Search-Engine-turned-Smartphone-Developer-turned-Social-Networking company? Not to worry, Pingdom have developed this handy infographic so that you have the key numbers to hand. Check out the full infographic here.

Friday, 26 February 2010

Where is your audience networking?

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This fantastic graph should give you an idea of where your target demographic is socialising online. Ranked from youngest to oldest users, this data comes from the United States but can certainly inform our understanding of user communities online.

Tuesday, 23 February 2010

Google StreetView Coverage

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Saturday, 20 February 2010

How Twibbon appears on Twitter lists

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View the original wordle:
Wordle: How Twibbon appears on Twitter lists
 

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