While the website may perform the basic stuff you want it to, it will not be the best it can be, for many reasons.

Things like SEO optimisation, considerations for the best user experience, call to action button theory and a multitude of other crucial things that web design and development companies (like us) are likely to simply not be there, if you do the website yourself or if you hire a cheap bedroom coder. The things I just mentioned come with years of experience and are absolutely critical to building a successful website.

The cost argument might come up if you are just starting your business and want to reduce your spending, however you have to consider that a website that doesn’t sell you in the right light or makes you look cheap will not help you attract new business and win over clients.

If you don’t have a web presence, you don’t exist. If your web presence is not positive, you will be ignored. Playing a game of roulette is fun in a casino, but doing so with your business may not be the best idea.

I hope this article will nudge you in the right direction. ByTheScruff is only a quick phone call ( 0207 033 4269 ), brief email ( getit@bythescruff.com ) or  contact form away.

Chocolate Fudge Crunch Creams have left a lasting impression with the team. When the sun stops shining and the brain struggles to kick in after the weekend there is nothing better than a good biscuit fix. These biscuits are surprising, uplifting, thought provoking and above all, endorphin producing – we believe that a good biscuit could save the world from its troubles. World auesterity measures should include biscuits as part of their startegy.

It has to be said that when we have a good biscuit in the office we are working at our most creative and productive levels. Online marketing strategies, creative email design and beautiful flash banners come naturally as we drift into the calmness and warmth generated by a good biscuit. There is always the risk that you could get a bit carried away with yourself, but thats fine. Just go with it.

We love you Fox’s, we are at one with your Chocolate Fudge Crunch Creams.

Thank you!

The debate of whether to choose a flash based system over HTML (especially now with HTML5) is long running and shows no sign of stopping. Web sites such as Scribd, a site where people can share original writing and documents, are steering away from their past flash development in favour of more recent technology­ releases, such as HTML5 and CSS3; sure these technologies have their advantages over flash but are not yet supported fully by all browsers and are relatively new, so it will take time to know if they are the future.

On the other hand there are many companies that are hedging their bets on Flash based systems over these new technology releases. Last year YouTube announced that it will continue to favour Flash over new technologies like HTML5 for distributing video. YouTube’s main concern was its lack of a single video format; this is an understandable concern when 24 hours of video are uploaded every minute on a daily basis. What’s interesting is that YouTube is owned by Google, who themselves have already adopted HTML5 on their websites.

This on gong debate has now taken over the tablet and smart phone market. The most publicised being Steve Jobs and Apple’s refusal to integrate Flash browser support within its mobile product range. In 2010 Steve Jobs wrote an article detailing his thoughts on why flash support is not incorporated into apple mobile browsers and to give customers and critics more information into why this is so. http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

As you could imagine this is an area which most competitors, such as Blackberry and Motorola are taking full advantage of. With the use of clever advertising they are aiming their mobile products at consumers that crave more open systems that support all content on the web, customers that want consistency between their mobile and desktop surfing experiences and are not restricted on what content they are able to view.

Competitors promoting flash within their mobile devices (Blackberry Playbook).

Flash within a desktop setting, through creative and dynamic websites and online advertising has a future, but it’s hard to see where flash has an advantage within the mobile market. HTML, CSS and JavaScript, are technologies better suited for the mobile devices, with reduced download times improving battery life and data usage (which is key for mobile devices) and the improved integration of touch screen gestures, which flash poorly supports; these are the technologies that may prove to be the future for mobile browsers.

As we enter an age where there have never been more people online; sharing information, communicating and interacting with all different types of media, the technology used is going to become more and more important. Yes all technologies are improving; companies are coming up with new iterations of their products all the time, always scrambling to gain a tighter hold on the market and as this continues we will be experiencing new content and interacting with it in more creative and dynamic ways.

Here at By The Scruff, we incorporate Flash into our work, whether it is for online banner advertising or full flash based website development, for a recent example visit 30 years of Schuh.

We’re having a busy start to the month with a few large projects hopefully drawing to a conclusion in the next couple of weeks.

One of these projects is a new website for Metrica which is undergoing a complete frontend redesign and restructuring of the backend CMS. We are also working new messaging and supporting marketing properties such as Facebook and Twitter for which we are redesigning skins and layouts.

After our client update last week we had some positive feedback about the Schuh 30 years project and the flash banner CMS. If you would like to be included in the next update then send us your email.

My name is Andy and I am the newest recruit to the By The Scruff team. I have been working for By The Scruff for three months now and despite being the worst player of table football in the studio, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here so far.

A very short bit about me: My background is in graphic and communications design with a special fondness for digital, interactive and web design. My passions apart from design include electronic music, art and good beer. I dislike smelly cheese!

In the time that I have worked for By The Scruff I have been involved in a variety of projects, mainly website design, email design and creating flash banners. In addition to these, I have been part of the creative process in developing ideas and concepts for a number of brands.

One of the most recent projects I worked on was creating a Christmas flash banner campaign for Classic FM Magazine. This consisted of creating a flash banner promoting the magazine’s free CD offer over the Christmas period. It was important to maintain a good quality design with a small file size. See one of the results below.

I have also recently worked on a range of digital promotions / E-marketing and HTML email campaigns. These included another flash banner for SHL promoting their new iPQ career planner iPhone app, a digital invitation (or eInvite) for The WhatCar? Car of the year 2011 Awards, a marketing email for Optimax, and a Christmas eCard for The Wimbledon School of English sent through our email marketing platform (BTS Mail). See below for some examples from these projects.

I look forward to working on future projects with our current and any future clients.

Kind regards,

Andy

Designer and new proud member of By The Scruff

Click here to take part

If you have read our blog before and have tracked what we discuss you will notice that what we post is not always directly related to who we are or what we do such as the Shoreditch Lunch Club (a vain attempt at trying to attract business from people who might accidentally stumble upon us while looking for a place to eat in Shoreditch). As yet we have not had a single call from anyone who wanted to speak to us about developing a new email campaign whilst looking for the best place to get lunch for under a fiver. That’s not to say it won’t happen but I bet we are more likely to get a free lunch from one of the restaurants we have scored for lunch – at least I hope so.

In any case, if you are looking for a company to speak to about your HTML email campaigns then we could be the right business, assuming we’re not out to lunch that is. Click here for some more details or give us a call.

The menu was a combo of greasy spoon regulars and italian dishes with the lasagna under the day’s specials. It came with chips, salad and a big dollop of mayonnaise.

The scores

Speed of service: Considering everything is freshly made to order the service was quick and with parmesan! – 8
Quality: The homemade lasagna was great – 9
Quantity: Perfect for the lunchtime – 8
Location: About 4 minutes from the office – 7
Value: £5.50 for a taste of Italy – 8

Fish and chips on the menu so 5 points awarded! – 5

Total score: 45/55

Take your lunch hour early to beat the queues at Franco’s. Or take the day off. Well worth it!

Surely this has to be the best example I have ever seen of when to use Tiny URL for a domain name?

By the Scruff’s attempt to travel round the world in 80 lunches took us to Japan in the shape of Hoxton’s Japanese Canteen. With emphasis on canteen, the place definitely had more of a take away vibe inside; very small with limited places to sit. With focus on those in a hurry, the ordering method was to queue at the till and either wait at the side with the too-busy-to-stay people or sit in a very tall chair around a very tall table. We sat. It also bothered me that the staff were not Japanese? Let’s hope they were in the kitchen.

Chicken katsu curry was my choice with Kirril opting for the Bento box, which looked like a taste of everything – traditional dish consisting of rice, either fish, meat or a vegetable curry served with sesame spinach and seaweed salad together with a side dish of miso soup. To the scores!

The scores
Speed of service:The food was ready relatively quick after ordering, to which they gave notice by shouting your number and you collecting. Speedy yes, polite… perhaps not.– 6
Quality:The Katsu curry is chicken covered in breadcrumbs, deep-fried with rice. Nice! – 7
Quantity:A belly full perfect for lunch. Could be disappointing if dinner was the timing – 7
Location: Just across the road – 8
Value:£5.95 wasn’t too bad for a lunch deal, pretty close to the £5 spec– 7

Lots of sushi on offer but no chips so only a fish bonus of 2.

Total score: 37/55

The Japanese canteen is fast food to go, catering for the hungry hoxtonite during their midday break.

www.thejapanesecanteen.co.uk/