Back in the mid to late 1990’s I had the pleasure of working for a pretty cutting edge research group called ABACUS – part of the Architecture Department at the University of Strathclyde.

Much of the work we were involved in was focussed around the use of IT (and later the web) to Architecture and the Built Environment, and Abacus developed what was at the time one of the biggest 3D city models – 25 square kilometres of Glasgow City Centre.

In 1998, I was challenged with the task of making the model available online, and using new and exciting visualisation technologies such as VRML (Virtual Reality Modelling Language) and QTVR (Quick Time Virtual Reality) – carried out a prolonged R+D period which resulted in a system we called “The Glasgow Directory”.

In short – An interactive Map/3D Model which accurately gave a true reflection of the real city with layers of data accessed on request. Our urban information system allowed web-based users to explore and “walk around” the virtual Glasgow model, highlighting areas of interest such as key city landmarks, tourist resources and more, with fancy 360 degree panoramic views of selected street-scapes… this sounding at all familiar yet?

When the Glasgow Directory was launched, it was very well received within the web research world, particularly those working in the field of VRML and city visualisation. As a result, I was fortunate enough to present a number of academic papers at various locations across Europe, highlighting our innovative system, and explaining our ideas to take it further in the future. Anyone know if Larry Page or Sergey Brin visited around that time?..

Ok – being serious – I don’t actually think that Google based their Google Maps (and more recently – Google Street View) on the VRML Glasgow Directory, but in retrospect, some of the similarities are astounding….

Above… George Square and the City Chambers… both systems have the ability to explore the “virtual space”, identify the street names, buildings of interest etc…

 Glasgow Catherdral from the roadside….  left is the VRML Glasgow Directory, right is Google StreetView

  Using the Map as an information system, searching for a good Bar in the Merchant City – in this case Bar 91

Unfortunately, much of the original source for the Glasgow Directory is now lost. Regrettably this includes a lot of the later research and development including embedding realtime audio, location specific navigation feedback (VERY similar in nature to Google Maps on the iPhone with GPS) and multi-user “avatar” based interactions.

Some links to material and examples that I did manage to dig up:

Working Glasgow Directory (kind of) – requires a VRML client such as the Cortona Plugin

Research Stuff:
Inside The Map – Academic Paper written by myself for a Cartography Conference
Visit VR Glasgow  – Academic Paper written by Myself and Prof. Tom Maver

So Google.. if you’re reading this… own up – was it me that invented Google Maps, Google Earth and Google Street View? I’ll assume that I did until I hear back from you. In the meantime, I’m off to dig out that primitive working example of an online video sharing site that I remember showing to some Paypal employees back in 2001…

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On Sunday 15th February, NSDesign celebrated 10 years in business – a very proud achievement and the perfect excuse to have a party – with a difference!

Teaming up with the Scottish Rocks Basketball team, we invited over 100 customers to the game against Cheshire Jets, enjoyed a load of on-court shenanigans, before opening up the bar with free food and drink to all..  In summary – a seriously good night.

We started the night (before the game) with our 5 competition finalists taking the court to attempt a free throw.  From the five, one made it, so congrats to Robert Scott who won an iPod:

We then picked Martyn Robertson at random, who won the chance to shoot for a brand new car…  Something we’d been promoting for the past few months, and given us a lot of publicity…  So did he make it?..  Check out this Youtube video for a full summary of all the shots!!

The Game itself wasn’t the best, and the Rocks ended up losing, but as with any Basketball game at Kelvin Hall, the excitement, cheerleaders, and genral fun and games kept everyone enjoyed until it was time to hit the bar…

After the game it was up to the “Kelvin Suite” (a very posh name for the wee bar up the stairs from the court), and everyone enjoyed some free food, drink, and birthday cake (both of them!)…  It was also our opportunity to say a few thanks for clients, like Simon Howarth – our very first customer back in Feb 99, to staff, and to everybody connected to NSDesign over the 10 years…  You can view my “Thank You” speech on You Tube.

All in all… a seriously good night, and one that marks a very special decade of NSDesign.  Here’s to the next 10!!

Check out more of the party photos at Facebook

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2009 is upon us, and while most of us are making personal resolutions that we’ll never keep (there’s simply too much chocolate kicking about from the kid’s selection boxes), owners of business websites should really be making a few of their own that WILL make a difference to the success of their site this year.

We therefore present to you, our Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions for your Business Website, a few of which you may already have signed up to personally!

Lose Weight

Like maybe yourself after some over indulgence on the turkey and Christmas pudding, your website has probably become a bit “bloated” over the past year or more…  Often put together in a piece-meal fashion, it’s not unusual to find bolt-on javascript examples, unnecessary inline css, html hacks, cool (but now very dated!) dynamic effects (you can lose the animated snow now).  Make a start by clearing out your code and get it back to a lean mean selling machine!  And if you really feel up for a challenge, get rid of the html tables and deprecated code, and ensure your site code validates to xhtml/css standards.  You’ll end up with a site that’s faster for your end-user, easier for you to update, and produces better results in Google.  There’s no such thing as a tummy tuck here, but you can still be ruthless with the scalpel!

Kick those Bad Habits

While your site probably doesn’t smoke or drink, it most likely will have a few bad habits that you’ll want to address this year.  Like the spelling mistakes you know are in there, or those 2MB images you uploaded straight from the digital camera that you always meant to go back and reduce, or the “honest, it’s not spamming” approach you still take to mass-mailing potential new contacts instead of ensuring only a 100% clean “opt-in” list.  Running a website on a day to day basis is bound to result in a few cut corners and quick-fixes, but left alone, such bad-habits can seriously impact your site, or worse – your company’s reputation.  Cut them out now!

Get out of Debt

OK – so you may not actually be in debt, but in these unstable economic times it’s vital that your website focuses on making your business PROFIT, not just generating turnover or page-views.  With that in mind, take a look at all the products and services you offer on the site.  Identify which aren’t actually generating profit, and get rid of them.  Focus your efforts on selling the services that generate the most profit and even start to look at existing services currently given away for free, and turn them into revenue generating assets.  Even if you don’t actually sell anything – does your website generate enough page views that you could make profit from external advertising?  The internet is full of sites offering “free stuff” – your business website does not need to be one of them!

Talk More

If you haven’t already got a company Blog up and running, then start one.  If you already have a blog, then blog more.  Blogs are a great way for you to (informally) communicate to your audience on a regular basis, and the more you post, the more successful the blog will be.  Think of it as your “unofficial company news”, with posts on anything and everything related to your company and industry.  What’s more, a regularly updated blog will help you get a better listing in Google and other Search Engines.

Talk Less

With the exception of your new Blog, consider reducing the text and content on your website to only say what it actually needs to.  The quicker you can make your point to a website visitor, the more likely they’ll go on to make a sale, or complete the contact form etc.  Remember that the majority of your visitors do NOT read every single word on the page – they scan it to get a quick overview, before deciding whether to take further action.  Make it easy for them, and say only what you need to.

Don’t Break the Law

You’re probably not even aware of it, but chances are – your website is breaking the law.  Data protection laws, intellectual property laws, disability discrimination laws, distance selling laws and more – they ALL impact on your website, and you as the owner of the site need to ensure that you comply as best you can with them.  From simple things like ensuring your limited company name, number and address is clearly shown on the site and on emails, to a privacy policy, fit for use terms and conditions, and website accessibility compliance.  Don’t be a law breaker and take advice from the professionals where you need to – it’s not worth the consequences.

Make New Friends

The more people who know about your site the better, so make a point of making new friends on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter or any other social networking platform of your choice.  The chances are many of your existing business contacts, colleagues and co-workers are already signed up, so you’ll be able to build up a “friends list” in no time at all.

Get out More

Not directly related to your company website itself, rather general good business advice.  Network!!  Don’t rely on twitter to grow your social and business circles, get out there and actually meet people.  Face to face really helps your business (especially any online business) promote a “real” presence beyond the website.  People like to do business with other People, and so getting in front of these potential customers is vital to grow sales as well as company image.  Don’t be frightened of “Networking” and view it as a crucial part of your marketing strategy for 2009 (you often get free wine and cakes too – just don’t break the first resolution!!).

Face-Lift?

Could your site do with a slight make-over or a complete face-lift?  The overall design of your site is probably the key factor in forming a new visitor’s first impression, and it’s got just 50 milliseconds to do it.  No pressure then.  Now’s the time to appraise your site (or better yet – get some 3rd party “testers” to do it for you) from not only a design point of view, but also usability, as the two go hand in hand.  You may have launched your site a decade ago, but does it still look 10 years old?  What about clear, consistent navigation – is it easy to move around and quickly arrive at your “profit” pages?  Web design has come a long way in a short space of time, and web users are quick to understand what’s hot, and what’s not.  If you’re in need of some facial reconstruction to improve your visitor’s perceptions of you then get it done sooner rather than later.

Be Excellent to one another!

As a wise man called Bill S Preston once declared to the masses – “be excellent to one another”.  Not just for the purposes of making the world a better place, but because it actually makes solid business sense.  Excellence in customer service and support is what will stand a company out from it’s competitors over the next few years – as economical troubles mean that customers look for good, reliable and trustworthy companies to do business with – ie: ensuring that their money is well spent.  Nowhere is this more true than the internet – with customer support emails and phone calls all expected to be dealt with instantly.  Provide an excellent customer service and offer true value – and your business should endure the rocky road ahead.

We hope that you enjoy our Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions for your business website, but more importantly, we hope that you’ll actually employ even just one of the resolutions and improve your site in 2009.  For your benefit (and amusement) we’ve created a nicely formatted PDF that you can download and pin to your wall summarising all 10, and of course if you’d like any further help or advice on improving your website, we welcome your communication.  We promise to be excellent in our response.

NSDesign Business Internet Solutions
Web Design | Web Hosting | Web Consultancy
www.nsdesign.co.uk
info@nsdesign.net

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On Monday I attended the latest “Digital Future Debate“, one of a number of seminars looking at IT, Innovation and Entrepreneurial skills in young people, and its potential positive impact on Scottish businesses. 

Focusing on Education, the event gathered together a wide number of relevant parties including educators, policy makers, business owners and (most importantly!) young people.  Panel members included among others, Sunday Herald business editor - Colin Donald, Raymond O’Hare (Regional Director of Microsoft Scotland), Kirk Ramsay (Chief Executive of the Science Centre), Joe Wilson (SQA Business Manager) and David Kelly (one of our web hosting clients!)..

In summary, the event generated a lot of good discussion, including debate on the “graduate skills gap” topic that I recently blogged on, with a representative from University of the West of Scotland claiming to be fully aware of the “relevancy” issues surrounding the teaching of ICT and Technology within Education Institutions, and confirming their plans to change it with some rather radical (and greatly welcomed) different approaches to traditional teaching.  Colin Donaldson introduced the sessions with the question “Does business do enough to help education produce people with the required skills?”  I’d argue that the issue is the inverse…  Having knocked on a few educational doors over the years to see how we (as a small company operating on the “front line”) can help guide coursework etc, it’s clear that many in the traditional eductional world want to go it alone.

With regard technology in schools (primary and secondary), it was generally believed that even today, it’s the kids that are teaching the teachers, but there was some disagreement on whether online tools such as blogs, wikis, facebook and bebo, instant messaging etc were appropriate for the classroom.  Personally I welcome them – the kids are already using them outside school, and as Joe Wilson pointed out, by using a combination of all these online apps they are effectively building their own “personal learning environments”, in which the potential to “learn” is often far greater than in the traditional classroom environment.

All in all – it was actually quite positive, with the future of education and it’s digital input looking promising, but as with all of these focus groups and debates, we now need to act rather than keep talking a good game-plan.

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Following on from my earlier blog post about universities not teaching relevant web design skills, Opera and Yahoo apparently feel the same, and have come together to launch the Web Standards Curriculum.

It’s an entire standards-based web design course – free online to anyone, and covers HTML, CSS, Javascript and more. 

Well done to those concerned for taking the time to develop what is a great starting point for not only students (who can supplement their “formal” education, and teach themselves the right skills), but also teachers and businesses as well – able to use the resource to improve their current methods etc.  Let’s hope the universities and schools catch up quickly.

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Having recently interviewed a number of Graduates for a Web Development assistant position, my concerns over the formal teaching of web design in our Colleges and Universities have not exactly been alleviated.

While I’d fully expect to see some sort of “skills gap” between those candidates straight from university, and those with a little real-world experience, it is the size of that gap that continues to worry me.

I’d like to stress that all our recently graduated candidates were bright, intelligent and talented individuals, all with (or about to get) good degrees – they are not at fault – but I fear the institutions teaching them, and preparing them for a career in web design are letting them down.  

One or two actually hinted at being fully aware that what, and how they were taught was not “recent”, and that they knew they’d need to learn new skills immediately.  We had 1 guy interview who was entirely self taught, and said the only reason he did his university course was to get the bit of paper that  confirmed he could do it.  He then went on to say that he was actually worried that during the 3 years formal education he might actually “un-learn” all his good habits with the bad habits he was being shown.  By bad habits he was referring to things like table-based layouts, ignorance of semantic markup, and lack of standards or css.  All quite worrying stuff…

I recently did a lecture to the School of Computing and Creative Technologies within the University of Abertay, Dundee, to an audience of Computer Arts and Web Design Students.  At the time I was really encouraged by the enthusiasm and feedback from the lecture hall, which later spilled out into the café – the majority were genuinely interested, asked some great questions, and left me with a positive outlook on web design (and technology) education.  So clearly the passion is there, I just hope it’s backed up by the teaching of relevant skills. 

Personally – if I were a student considering my options for web design and development at University or College, I’d be damn keen to interview them – not the other way around.  Challenge their bold statements on their websites about “web standards” and “advanced web authoring” and get down to the detail about what you’re actually going to teach me.  Show me a <TABLE> and I’m gone.

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Since our announcement yesterday about our new “Go Green” initiative, we’ve received loads of feedback – mostly positive, but some negative. 

Nagative  – like the Blog post at Techworld.com which suggests that we’re using the initiative as a marketing exercise, with no real interest in improving the state of the environment, and that planting trees is pretty much a waste of time.

They failed to mention that in addition to this latest initiative, we’re also one of the few web design/hosting firms to voluntary offset our entire carbon footprint through the purchase of Kyoto-compliant carbon offsets – the only type of credits that meet the UK government’s offsetting code of practice.   Or that we host on carbon-neutral servers, or that we enforce a strict recycling policy in the office, or that we all use public transport or car-share…  (there’s even a vegetarian in the team but let’s stop there)..

Of course, on a serious note, planting trees won’t solve global warming, but it’s a start, and something everyone can do.  Trees promote biodiversity, create habitats and improve the environment for people.  Visit the Tree Appeal website for more on the benefits.
 

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Yesterday’s press announcement from the Scottish Nationalist Government regarding moves to introduce a Top Level Domain (TLD) for Scotland, has sparked some lively debate.  Despite the fact that this is nothing new (similar proposals have been around for many years), finance secretary John Swinney is backing the campaign for the new “.sco” suffix which will see Scotland have it’s own domain space.

My own opinion to the question – “should we bother” is featured in today’s The Scotsman newspaper (p 24), but in short – I seriously question the value in the .sco domain, and can’t help thinking it’s being used by the politicians to push their own agendas, and not the interests of the companies trading online from Scotland.  Shortbread and whisky anyone?

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On the 26th March, The Scottish Rocks will play the Milton Keynes Lions, Live on Setanta TV following an exclusive deal with the Basketball league. 

It’s a brilliant opportunity for both the team, and the sponsors, with everyone hoping for a record crowd to showcase the Rocks to the rest of the UK.

As an incentive, an “early booking” discount is available – From now through Monday 10 March only, you can book adult tickets for just £4 and child tickets for just £2! That’s more than half off the box office price.

These prices are valid only for on-line bookings and only through Monday 10 March for the Milton Keynes game (Wed 26 Mar) only.

http://www.scottishrocks.co.uk/Tickets/

I look forward to seeing you there, and if you’d like to support NSDesign (the Rocks Official Web Partner) at the game, please get in touch and I’ll send you out some very glamorous promotional T-shirts that I’m sure the TV cameras will love!

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Ok – so we’re not actually for sale (before we get clients phoning in a panic), unless of course Microsoft wants to come in and offer $40 billion to aquire a thriving web design and consultancy company from Glasgow – the value they placed on Yahoo just last week, when they attempted to buy the web search company.

Their somewhat random offer was actually 62% above the “market value” of Yahoo, based on their share price at the time, a valuation most traditional businesses in the past would have jumped at.  But just how do you value a “Web Company”…  It’s certainly not an easy task, and (as MS have shown) not just down to the current stock market trends.

 So… will we see a MSNahoo?  Or will (as many as speculating) Google suddenly appear as a rival bidder.  And what will it all mean for us web users?  Less choice?  A better service?  Only time will tell…

Ps – I was only kidding about selling NSDesign for $40 billion…  I’d take less..

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