February 2011
Monthly Archive
Vancouver Web Design by SplitMango
Have you seen this logo popping up around Vancouver? Me neither, but I read on McFly’s twitter feed that it has been popping up all over Vancouver. So what is it? This logo is the creative brainchild of SplitMango. The ancient Chinese used to admire the mango for it’s peaceful qualities; that was until the mango got split. Listen, I don’t really remember the story but it’s a metaphor for the kingdom getting divided and creativity being reborn or something.
Anyways, Vancouver Web Design by SplitMango is a tag line you may or not have noticed at the bottom of several websites. SplitMango are a Vancouver web design and development company and are slowly gaining more notice through their portfolio and through their social media and SEO efforts. The Vancouver web design industry is choc full of one-trick-pony companies and large scale agencies. SplitMango is a company that gets the balance right–not too big and not too small. SplitMango prides itself on pleasing its customers. They offer a well-rounded suite of services that includes website design, development, branding and Internet Marketing.
When it comes to web design you can’t be too careful. Modern design has to look good, while being functional, and adhering to web standards. Whether it’s CSS or HTML5, a good web design company has to be up-to-date on the current techniques.
Check them out at SplitMango.com or call into their office at 938 Howe St. in downtown Vancouver.
Vancouver – Most Liveable City in the World 2010
According to the latest annual ranking compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Vancouver is #1. Vancouver, for the second year in a row, sits at the top of the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Ranking. The EIU delivers trusted business intelligence and advice to over 1.5m decision-makers from the world’s leading companies, financial institutions, governments and universities, so they know what they are talking about.
Vancouver scored 98 out of a maximum 100. How it works is 140 cities are scoreded from 0-100 on 30 factors spread across five areas: stability, health care, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. These numbers are then averaged.
At the bottom of the scale is Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. It is in 140th place, and received poor scores for its stability, healthcare and infrastructure. Just be thankful we live in this great city, and think we could have Robert Mugabe as a leader instead of Stephen Harper.
Vancouver websites
It’s the best city in the world, so check out our list of top Vancouver websites for inspiration and things to see and do. There are websites for sight seeing, activities, restaurants and more. Check them out and send us your suggestions of what you think Vancouver’s best websites are.
Plenty of Fish – Vancouver Dating Website Hacked
January 18, I started getting emails from brunettes instead of blondes. I suspected something was up, and I was right–Plenty of Fish had been hacked!
Over 300 people registered with the online dating website could have had their personal information stolen after the Vancouver website was hacked.
The CEO of Plenty of Fish, Markus Frind, said plentyoffish.com was hacked on Jan. 18 in an “incredibly well planned and sophisticated attack”. Frind runs the free dating website, out of an office in Coal Harbour, Vancouver. The site gets around 145 million visitors a month.
In a James Bond-esque scheme, the hackers then tried to blackmail Frind by requesting employment and money from him in exchange for the return of the information. The hackers claimed they had merely found a Apparently a “bug” in the website design and that they were trying to help.
The security guys at Plenty of Fish had since reset user all passwords from affected users and the company will carry out an external security audit to ensure similar attacks do not happen again.
The Plenty of Fish website, while free, still generates around $10-million a year in ad revenue, and is popular all around the world. We are going to add it to the list of top Vancouver websites because of its functionality, design, and because that’s where I met your mom.
A Smashing Book on Web Design
Highly recommended by all the team here at Websites Vancouver: The Smashing Book 2 is a printed book about best practices in modern Web design. It comes from our heros over at SmashingMagazine which is actually an essential online resource for us in the website industry.
It’s a little late for a Christmas present, but Valentine’s day is just around the corner and this is a great gift for the (web design) lover in your life. The Smashing Book 2 shares practical insight into webdesign, usability and coding. It provides valuable advice for designing sites and applications for mobile devices and building successful e-commerce websites. It explains common coding mistakes and how to avoid them. It includes the principles of professional design thinking and graphic design and how to apply psychology and game theory to create engaging user experiences for the websites you design.
The book also feature interviews from web design professionals and industry experts on the future of web typography and other factors to consider for the decade ahead.
For full details on the Smashing Book 2 and to order it online click on the banner below:
