I’m happy to say that it is. This will be my 10th Byte Night. Since 2002 I’ve slept out for one night a year so that others less fortunate than me don’t have to.

Me, a board member?

The first four years, I slept as part of a team from my old company, CNET, badgered into it by my esteemed colleague and Byte night founder, James Bennet.  When I left CNET I asked James if there was a way for me to stay involved and he suggested that I join the board.

I have to say I was sceptical. Me, a one man band on the board with Dell, Cisco and BT? What would I be able to do that would justify my presence in such company?  But what I’ve learned in the last 5 years is that size doesn’t matter when it comes to making a contribution.

It’s about ideas and contacts.

Ideas that generate new ways to recruit people, that make it easier for people to raise money, that help communicate to a wider audience.

And it’s about who you know. Who can you get involved? Whether as a member of your team or entering their own. You never know who might be interested unless you ask.

Dive in and have a go

Unlike the big companies represented on the board I can’t enter 5 teams or sponsor the event financially.  My philosophy has been to throw myself into anything, and everything, that I can think of.

As a result, over the last 10 years I’ve: -

• Been lucky enought to visit several projects and been humbled by the work that Action for Children does and the dedication of its staff.
• Been a surrogate team captain for individual sleepers and for celebrities that have supported us on the night
• Sold hundreds of pounds worth of raffle tickets
• Campaigned to reduce the individual sleeper target to £1000 to encourage more people to join us
• Recruited three new board members
• Instigated the inititive to get us a place on the IT Directors forum this year
• Been locked in a small room with Jenny Agutter broadcasting to 20 local radio stations.

Along the way I’ve raised over £15K personally and more than £50K collectively as part of my teams.

10 years and counting

Each year culminates with the event itself. By Christmas we know the total amount raised and then, on a cold January morning, the process starts again with the first board meeting of the year.  That’s when the passion and enthusiasm of James and Ken kicks in to spur me into action again.

This year, I’m hoping to convince some of my past team-mates to join me again to celebrate a decade of sleeping out. Ten individual nights that cumulatively have made a huge difference.

We’ve got a dedicated section on the website to promote the team and I’ve had some new business cards printed which will hopefully prove to be a conversation starter!

Why not join us?

So, if you’re thinking of getting involved but are daunted by doing it on your own, why not join us?  I’m living proof that even the smallest companies can make a difference and we’ll guarantee you a night to remember!

We’ve got a new section on the website to help raise awareness and give people a central place to come to find out what’s happening with the Compound Media team this year.

We’ve also had some new business cards printed (see above) which we think will be a great conversation starter!

If you’d like to be involved but are hesitating because you can’t get a full team together, why not join us?

I’m living proof that even the smallest companies can make a difference so drop us a line to find out more.  We’ll guarantee you a night to remember!

Today, users are consuming on-line content on an ever increasing range of devices.  The relatively new discipline of “responsive design” has a lot to offer publishers.  By designing a series of flexible grids, content can be dynamically formatted to automatically work on the widest range of screen sizes from the largest desktop displays through to the smallest mobile handsets. 

Developing sites in this way, although initially more time consuming, creates a future proof platform for publishers that far outweighs the cost of developing different solutions for each family of devices.

The challenges

The proliferation of different devices is a problem that confronts all web site owners.  Where once we could safely assume a minimum screen size, browser type and hardware, there are now literally thousands of possible combinations.

This introduces some tricky challenges in presenting web content in an accessible and interesting way across devices that may have completely different: -

• Screen sizes and resolutions
• User interfaces – touch screen/”rollerball”/keyboard
• Functionality – GPS location, compass, cameras etc.

What does this mean for publishers?

For content publishers, screen size is the most important element to be tackled. Users simply won’t engage unless we can provide a great reading environment regardless of device.

The iPad is reasonably straightforward.  It’s a great device for browsing and because of the large screen size, if you design sensibly, there is no reason why you shouldn’t direct users to your normal desktop site.

The rise of the smartphone has resulted in an exponential growth in mobile traffic. Social media has had a huge impact too, with more than half of all Facebook and Twitter activity now happening via mobile devices. With the majority of posts containing  links, this is driving increasing amounts of mobile traffic back to content sites.

To add further to the problem, there are a new generation of mid-size devices being launched. The new Kindle fire has a 7 inch screen, 33% smaller than the iPad but significantly bigger than even the largest smartphones.  How will we serve content to these users? Do we treat these devices as a small iPad or a large smartphone?

Until relatively recently, to serve all these users successfully, we would have needed to build custom solutions for each device format.  For publishers, whose main priority is delivering content to users in the most appropriate format, then responsive design may well hold the answer.

What is responsive design?

Luckily, the proliferation of portable devices has brought with it a new breed of browsers that are smarter than their legacy desktop cousins.  These HTML5 enabled browsers can dynamically check the screen resolution and adjust the layout to suit.

For small changes, these changes are quite gradual, resizing fonts and images to create the best reading experience.

Larger variations in screen size produce step changes by adding or removing columns to reduce the site width. We’re only using 2 columns here but reduce the width far enough and you’ll see that it eventually gives up resizing the elements and reduces the site to a one column design, perfect for mobile.

“Stacking” design elements

It does this by “stacking” the design elements into a predetermined list. It also changes to a more mobile friendly navigation unit suitable for use on touch screen or Blackberry devices.

A lot has been written about responsive design, if you want to find out more about the technical details then this e-book is well worth downloading.

Alternatively if you’d like the layman’s explanation, check out this great video from our partners at Squiz

Creating responsive sites

The good news is that if you already have a site built on a reasonably up to date content management system (CMS) then you can probably redevelop the front end to use responsive templates.

This works best if the site is relatively simple in design as in the new grid layout, the elements will need to “stack” elegantly and consistently.  This route also has the advantage of not having to migrate any content and allows you to continue with your existing editorial systems and processes.

The one potential downside is that more complex pages might need a major overhaul, especially for mobile screen sizes.

Building from scratch

If you don’t currently have a site, or are considering a full redevelopment anyway, there is even better news.

By building the site using responsive techniques from the outset, you will be able to minimise complexity and leapfrog the previous generation of legacy web/mobile/tablet solutions.

Start simple

The key to developing a responsive site is to start simple. By definition, you are forced to design with mobile and touch screen devices in mind from the outset.  This results in simpler, more elegant designs that are device agnostic and  ”touch friendly” from the start.

The big benefit for content rich sites is that text and images are relatively straightforward to deal with. Fonts and image sizes can be scaled proportionally to work well on all screen resolutions.  Video, if handled correctly, can be set to play natively within the device interface, removing any issues of screen resolution completely.

Add more functionality later

Once the issue of screen resolution is addressed, thought can be given to the different device interfaces.  For example, gesture support can be added to allow touch enabled device users to swipe through image galleries.  If you are using a touch screen device you can see this in action on the slider in the next section.

More complex functionality might require more effort. Complicated forms could require a little more thought and location based functionality would need an element of device specific development.

The holy grail?

That might be going a little far!  Responsive design still has it’s limitations and if you want to build custom functionality that has deep integration to the device capabilities then your best route is probably still to build an app.

However, for publishers who want to access to the widest range of users, across multiple devices, with the least amount of effort, we think that responsive design is a great place to start.

It’s certainly more cost effective than maintaining multiple website versions (or apps) and it makes it simple for editorial to publish once to many devices.

The users get a great experience regardless of the resolution of the device they are using and, unlike an app, the content is social. Links can be shared, and read by the recipient, regardless of  device.

Update – Jump suite is now responsive!

One of the factors that deters people from taking the responsive route is the time and cost of the initial planning and design.  That’s why we’re happy to announce that from today, responsive design is now an option on our Jump Suite web platform.

Just as with the “off the peg” Jump suite module, we’ve already been through the thought process and built a working template that will fulfil the needs of most content publishers.

We’ll have more details and a full demo site up and running soon but in the meantime, if you’d like to find out more about how we could help you transition your existing site or build a new one, please contact us.

Image by baldiri on Flickr

Kenton and I have know each other for a long time now and have been working together on an ad-hoc basis for several months on different projects.

Both our organisations have very strong strategic and project management experience in their specific markets.

Complementary skills, shared philosophy

By joining forces, we bring together Compound Media’s expertise in web UI and architecture and KentonFrank’s team’s wealth of experience in the design and technical fields.

More importantly than the complementary skills, we have a shared philosophy. This is based on improving not just the end user experience, but also the workflow of the editorial teams and business users that manage the sites.

We do that by creating niche, cloud based, CMS products with custom back end interfaces to ensure the most efficient use of business users time.

Cloud-based products

For us, that means our JUMP Suite platform for publishers, KentonFrank, have a variety of different solutions including membership based organisations with their MembershipCMS.

We’re both excited by the opportunities this opens up. For us, it means we have access to a dedicated design and development team that will allow us to continually improve JUMP Suite.

For KentonFrank, we can share UI and product development expertise to improve the quality of their products.

Shared development platform

Importantly, because we share a core development platform, it also creates opportunities for crossover projects such as subscription based publishing solutions and membership organisations that want to use content marketing techniques.

Last years Byte night was the biggest yet, raising over £180,000 more than in 2010, a massive achievement considering the challenging times we find ourselves in.

Over 800 people slept out at events in London, Cambridge, Thames Valley and Edinburgh. We were once again at the London event and a great night was had by all with the weather being kind to us so we were cold but not wet.

We’re already looking forward to next years event, if you want to see what it was like this year, take a look at the photos.

While Farrers have had a web presence for many years, the previous version of it’s website had been built more than 5 years ago. However, all websites need to be refreshed and updated periodically.

The style was “of its time” but had become dated. It didn’t properly reflect the more modern image of this 300 year old legal practice.

Improving the user experience

The firm wanted to build a site that would address some of the misconceptions about its brand through improving the user experience and refreshing the design.

The result is a site that is easier to navigate, more dynamic and provides a platform for thought leadership targeted to specific audiences.

Compound Media worked with the Farrer team to scope the project and manage the agency selection process. We led the site architecture phase of the project and then project managed the agency and Farrer teams through to testing and launch.

Web, mobile and email newsletters

The project included adding mobile capability and integrating a new email newsletter system into both the site and the firm’s CRM system.

The Farrers site is now live, providing a clean, modern showcase for the firm’s individuals and their areas of expertise.

The project also aimed to create a platform for the future. Now that the core site is complete, further developments will be launching over the coming months.

A full case study will be available shortly, in the meantime, why not take a look at the new Farrer site and let us know what you think?

Do your target audience have smartphones? Are you already providing them with high quality print products? Do you want to connect with them digitally?  You should be thinking about using QR Codes.

What are QR codes?

Surprisingly, they have been around since 1994, originating in Japan to be used for tracking automotive parts.  QR stands for “Quick Response” and the best way to think of them are as printed versions of hyperlinks.

We’re all familiar with the way hyperlinks enable us to explore the web, QR codes allow us to extend this linking to the real world.

They work in a similar way to barcodes but with a lot more flexibility.  They can contain a wealth of information such as: -

• URL’s
• Geolocation data
• Text
• Phone numbers

Using a wide variety of freely available apps, QR Codes can now be scanned by anyone with a modern smartphone.  This provides an excellent method of eliciting an instant response from a user.

Scanned a URL? You’ll be taken to a website, a phone number? Dial it instantly, geolocation data? Show me the store on a map and give me directions.

How are they being used?

The possibilities are only just starting to be explored but here are some examples of how QR Codes are finding their way into our daily lives.

1 – Product information

They can provide quite utilitarian functionality such as this Japanese McDonalds packaging which has a QR code linking to nutritional and allergy information: -

Hint: - Most of the codes in this article (even the ones in the pictures) can be scanned from the screen using your smartphone (or clicked on) to link through to the destination URL.

2 – On-line shopping

Slightly more advanced, this Ralph Lauren example provides direct access to their on-line store: -

3 – In social media

Diesel are using them as part of an innovative social media campaign allowing people to “Like” real world products on Facebook: -

4 – As billboards

They have even been used as giant billboards on buildings: -

5 – A step too far?

Creating codes

There are several on-line resources that will help you to generate QR Codes for free.  As an example of how simple this is, all you need to do is add the required URL/text and kaywa.com will create a shiny new QR code for you.

If you’re using the link shortening service bit.ly then a QR code is generated automatically for each link you create.

By carefully coding your links (as we do in the Jump Suite Smart Tracking), then users that scan them will appear in your Google Analytics as having been referred from the related printed material, store collateral, building signs, etc.

What does this mean for publishers?

These examples are just scratching the surface of what’s possible.  To find out what this means for publishers, why not download an app to your phone now and scan this code to find out?: -

Alternatively, click on the image if you’re reading this on a mobile device (or if don’t have a smartphone to hand)

If you scanned the QR Code to get to this page, welcome back! Easy wasn’t it?

Opportunities for customer publishers

The most obvious opportunity for publishers is to use codes within magazine articles to link back to associated on-line content. Some potential ways this could work would be: -

• Special offers
• Video content
• Competition entry forms
• Email newsletter sign up
• Follow us on twitter
• Links to a Facebook fan page.

For retailers, once product related content is hosted and live, the codes could extend to in-store linking back to product reviews or video previews.

In Japan and increasingly in the US, QR Codes are being used in outdoor advertising such as window displays, billboards, movie posters, cars and busses.

They have even appeared on TV shows such as The Only Way Is Essex linking to exclusive on-line content.

An art form?

Because the codes are designed to withstand some damage (think coffee cup rings, fingerprints etc.) up to 30% of the code can be obscured or incomplete.

Designers have exploited this and produced some fantastic looking codes integrating various design motifs and colours (See below)

This means that one of the potential objections of adding them to beautifully designed magazines (that they look ugly!) can be resolved with a little planning and imagination.

Opportunities

With smartphone penetration increasing exponentially, the ability of users to scan codes and get instantaneous access to content/ offers is exploding.

For smart agencies, the possibilities to create joined-up offline and on-line campaigns are almost limitless.

The humble hyperlink, largely taken for granted on-line has found a new way to influence and enhance user behaviour.

What do we think?

We believe that there are some exciting opportunities for content agencies that have experience in print and can “think out of the box”.

Clearly, in order for the experience to work effectively, clients will need to have to have a solid mobile platform. That is becoming a pre-requisite though now for anybody that uses email or social media marketing tactics.

It also creates some interesting opportunities to measure the value of your print assets in a way that has simply not been possible in the past.

We have a wide range of experience in scanning technologies, mobile platforms and measurement.

If you would like further information on how we can help you join the two worlds together, please drop us a line or sign up for our email newsletter “Joined-up”

For the past four years, we’ve been helping customer publishers create high quality, content rich websites for their clients.  We’ve had some great successes but it’s often been a struggle to get past the initial phase of the on-line companion site.

That’s why we created Jump suite.  It’s a fully integrated suite of products that delivers content across web, mobile and tablet devices with email newsletter integration and deep links into social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Modular

With web publishing at the core, the suite is completely modular allowing you to use whichever mediums are the most appropriate for your clients.

In our “Off the peg” product, we’ve used our 12 years of on-line publishing experience to create a framework that can have you up and running in 4-6 weeks instead of the usual 3-4 months.

Once the web module is deployed, you can expand your offering across multiple platforms or build exciting on-line tools to add even more value to the core content.

“Baked in” analytics

Smart tracking allows editorial teams to see where users have originated whether that’s from search, email newsletters, social media sites or even print!  They can then make informed decisions on content strategies based on the most popular content and most valuable users.

Scalable

The platform is scalable from the smallest companion website through to complex bespoke developments which means that the suite can grow with you and your clients, protecting your investment.

Take a look around the Jump Suite site and let us know what you think.  If you’d like to find out more, contact us and we’ll be delighted to show you more.

Competition was fierce with Kelly Maxwell the eventual winner very kindly donating her prize back to the Byte Night cause, thanks Kelly!

That, along with the raffle of a signed Jenson Button photograph and various other devious methods to extort money from all that attended helped us raise over £2,100 on the night.

A big thanks has to go out to Rich from GPMD for leading the charge in organising the event and also to Fanni for her (and Intendance) support.

We hope to organise a second event in the new year to kick start our campaign for 2011 and Kelly has already agreed to defend her crown so watch out for that date and sign up for a great night.

In the meantime, check out the pics from the event on Flickr