Latest News

Project Management area added

Nov 08, 2008 by Nick Hayward

FCS Websites’ clients now have the ability to log in to a project area of the website, where they can see how their project is coming on. Task lists, messages and file uploads all help to make the web design process faster and smoother!

As well as using it ourselves, we can also offer integration of this project management software into your new or existing website. It’s great for working remotely and keeping track of to-do lists, with email messaging and the ability to log in from anywhere using your web browser.

Easy Furniture ecommerce site launched

Oct 22, 2008 by Nick Hayward

We are proud to announce that a new ecommerce site for Easy Furniture Ltd has been launched today. The site takes advantage of open source Zencart software and is a redevelopment of a shockingly bad OSCommerce site.

We imported all the products and text from the old site, saving EF from having to re-enter all their content. We created a fresh new image for the Birmingham based furniture retailer and integrated their Worldpay account for a smooth shopping experience.

Check out the new site at www.easyfurniture.co.uk!

Is your wireless internet secure?

Oct 07, 2008 by Nick Hayward

I went to see a customer the other day, and while connecting to their internet to show them something I found about ten unsecured wireless networks! Setting a password on a wireless router is not difficult, yet these people are letting complete strangers use their internet.

Google launch their own web browser

Sep 09, 2008 by Nick Hayward

Google recently launched their own web browser called Chrome for the Windows platform. No Mac version yet :(

The browser is fast, has minimal clutter around the page being viewed and they claim it is developed with modern website browsing in mind rather than evolving gradually from old technology. The new browser achieved a market share of 1% in ONE DAY, so hopefully it will eat into Internet Explorer’s share of the web browser figures.

We tested it out here at FCS HQ and it certainly was fast. Being nosy web designers though, we were lost without all the extensions that we have added to Firefox for poking around other people’s websites. We await the Mac version to see whether the font rendering can surpass Safari, which is beautiful.

They also provide a nice comic that explains how Chrome came about: Google Chrome comic

Target.com pay out up to $6m for non-accessible website

Aug 31, 2008 by Nick Hayward

American retailer Target have may have to pay out $6m after being taken to court by the National Federation of the Blind. Users complained that the Target ecommerce website was not designed to allow blind visitors to use it, and a class action suit was filed.

While Target admitted no wrongdoing, test cases like these pave the way for widespread fines for websites that are not accessible to impaired users. Making your website accessible is not necessarily a complicated task – contact us for details on accessibility/user testing and accessibility reports.

Samworth Brothers website goes live

Aug 23, 2008 by Nick Hayward

The Samworth Brothers Charity Challenge website went live today, allowing the charity to upload and edit their own content on the run up to the 2009 charity challenge event.

Samworth Brothers Charity Challenge

New site for Leicester based charity

Jul 21, 2008 by Nick Hayward

We have just taken on a new project for the Samworth Brothers Charity Challenge and the website will be live by mid-august. The charity raised around £250,000 last time they did this event in 2007, so we are proud to be able to help this time around.

New ecommerce site underway

Jul 11, 2008 by Nick Hayward

We are developing a Zencart shop for one of our clients who sell contemporary furniture. They already have an OSCommerce shop, so we will transfer all their products and customer data over to their new online shop.

It is having a complete redesign along with a number of additional features and some custom code. Link to follow!

Ethical issues with offshore development

Jun 29, 2008 by Nick Hayward

I keep getting emails from offshore web companies trying to get me to outsource development – this raises an interesting ethical issue. Is offshore web development a good or a bad thing? let us know what you think!

Up to our necks in it

Jun 10, 2008 by Nick Hayward

Summer is looking very busy! We have another Zencart shop in development and a multi-site project using EllisLabs’ ExpressionEngine is shaping up nicely.