Recently, the UK Secretary of State for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Andy Burnham did an interview with The Telegraph.  During the interview he confirmed that the government was looking into a cinema-style rating system for websites.

As a web developer, hosting provider and internet user, I do not understand how such a scheme would be possible.  There are a number of issues that need to be considered before anything like this is implemented in this (or any other) country.

Firstly – the majority of websites available on the internet are not hosted on servers based in the UK.  As such, they are not under the jurisdiction of our laws.  Additionally, hosting costs in the UK are significantly higher than other countries such as the United States and Europe.  This poses a huge problem for such a scheme as the majority of websites are likely to ignore the requirement of content ratings and there is nothing our government can do apart from completely block access to unrated sites.

A rating scheme is also clearly open for abuse.  As proved with cinema, video and game rating schemes already in place, a large proportion of people do not pay attention to them.  Parents continue to buy 18 rated games for children of much younger age.  In the case of this scheme, children would probably still be able to view websites not suitable for their age group unless there was some way of verifying their age.

Some sites already implement an ‘age filter’ of sorts.  For example, the Guinness.com website asks for your date of birth before you enter the site.  It doesn’t take much effort to work around this filter.  It also isn’t best practice to provide your date of birth to any website as it could potentially be used for identity theft.  Unless there is a way to safely and accurately identify a user’s age, a rating system can only act as a guide and would still require parents to monitor usage of the internet.

A further concern is how a website will actually be rated.  Technically it is possible to rate the content of a website through the use of Meta tags (and a W3C standard already exists – PICS).  But this plan would rely on a level of trust between website owners and users.  What would stop me from running a “harmful” porn website, and classifying it as “suitable for all ages?”  A safer way to do it would be using third party rating systems, similar to the way secure certificates are provided at the moment.  However this would likely incur a cost to the owner as the third party would need to validate the content of the site.  An additional cost in development is likely to force website owners to look abroad for hosting services that do not require this level of regulation – harming the UK industry and making the rating system useless.

The only ‘safe’ way a rating system could be done is through an independent government funded organisation whose sole job it is to rate websites – similar to the BBFC.  However this opens a whole new can of worms.  Who would regulate the regulators?  How can we ensure that the ratings are fair?  How can we ensure that an anti-government website isn’t deemed “dangerous” and blocked by internet providers?  How will it be paid for (it is bound to be extremely expensive)? An existing scheme like this has already come under heavy fire in recent weeks after the Internet Watch Foundation added a Wikipedia page to its block list, essentially stopping the whole of the UK from editing the site.

In the end, it just appears to be another plan by a government minister who does not know how the Internet works.  For those who have read my blog for a while, I posted about a similar plan in May by the Home Secretary who wants a national database of all emails and phone calls sent in the UK.

Now, I’m all for making the internet safer for children and vulnerable people.  However, systems already exist to do this – there is plenty of “Net nanny” software available to stop people accessing websites with certain keywords or content.  You can even buy hardware solutions which will do it for you.  We do not need the government deciding what is safe for us to view.  This just brings us another step closer to countries like China.

I think it is about time the entire government is sent back to school to learn how the real world works, because they have quite clearly forgotten.

You can get more information at Techcrunch and The Social Programmer.

Last week I was busy trying to put together a new design website design for an important client at work.  As always, we were on a very tight deadline and it had to be completed the end of the next day.  I’d left work early so I could concentrate on the design without being distracted by the inevitable:  “Can you just make this quick change to…”, “Can you take a look at this…” and “This won’t take long, but could you…” things that take up most of my day.  I got home, made myself a cup of tea, sat down and… nothing.  Designer’s block hit me with a vengence.

No matter what I did, I couldn’t think of anything.

The next day, I came across an article on Spoonfed Design with tips on how to avoid designer’s block.  At least next time I suffer from the block, I can try and find a way around it.

In the end, I managed to put together a design I’m quite proud of - and hopefully it’ll see the light of day sometime over the next month or two.

The web design & development industry is incredibly fast paced.  What is current and ‘acceptable’ today, might not be tomorrow.  New technologies are being developed all the time, new ways of doing things, new ways of thinking.  As I’ve mentioned before, keeping on top of these changes is almost a full time job in itself.  With everything changing so quickly, you can’t afford to fall behind the curve or you risk losing clients to other developers.

So, how do you keep your head above the water?  Well, everyone has their own ways as you can see from the discussions over at Freelance Folder.  I have a number of methods I use:

Read blogs
I subscribe to a large number of blogs from other web developers from both the design and development ends of the industry.  A huge amount of useful information comes from people who are facing the same struggle to keep ‘fresh and new’.

Twitter
Twitter is a fantastic resource for developers – how we all coped before it existed I have no idea!  I follow many designers, developers, freelancers and technologists on Twitter.  These people regularly point me in the direction of new and interesting things on the web which help me to produce better sites.

CSS Galleries
I find that looking at CSS galleries such as CSSMania or Best Web Gallery help inspire me to create better designs.  They show off some of the web’s best websites and really help to formulate ideas.  There are plenty of galleries around the web, covering all sorts of niches.

Magazines
A few people say that magazines are a waste of time – by the time they’ve been written, subbed, edited, printed, distributed and read, the industry has passed them by. I don’t agree, the internet moves so fast that it is easy to miss out on important information if you happen to blink (literally).  Magazines help fill this gap.  I have a subscription to .net magazine which is a fantastic resource for designers. (But then again, I would say this – my partner is a magazine journalist… but no really, mags are an invaluable resource).

Conferences
This is probably one of the most expensive parts of keeping up with the industry, and something that until now, I haven’t been able to afford.  There are a huge number of web related conferences throughout the year and across the world, from Future of Web Apps in London, Miami and Dublin, to DeveloperDeveloperDeveloper! in Reading.  Conferences enable you to hear from some of the most influential and knowledgeable people in the industry.

Contribute
Probably the most important thing you can do.  The web is shaped by the people who produce it – whether designers, developers or writers.  If you don’t contribute, you can’t make an impression.  If you follow people on Twitter, respond to them, talk to them.  If you read blogs, comment on them, or better still, write a full response.

So how do I fit all of this in?  It is very difficult – you have to strike the right balance.  Spend too much time keeping up with the web and you don’t get any work done, spend too much time working and you drop behind the curve.
On the train into work in the morning, I read blogs, and last night’s twitter messages.  At work, I have TweetDeck keeping track of twitter for me – letting me know when new messages arrive.  When I have a bit of downtime (such as when I’m waiting for something to load or compile), I look at new blogs that have been posted.  In the evening, I read things in a bit more detail, and at some point I find time to sleep!

As I said, trying to find the right balance is difficult a challenge, but whatever you do, don’t fall behind or you’ll discover it is difficult to get back on track.

This weekend I went along to a Developer Day at Microsoft’s campus in Reading.  The community-organised day concentrated on software development using Microsoft’s .NET Framework.  However, unlike conferences such as PCD and Mix, there were no Microsoft technologists in sight.  Instead, all the speakers were from members of the .NET development community.

During the day, there were five sessions, each with four talks on different subjects, from building a scalable web application and server virtualisation, to ASP.NET MVC and how to develop .NET on Linux.

Unfortunately, due to the limited amount of time, it wasn’t possible for me to go to all of the talks; but luckily, each one was filmed for us to watch online later.  The day was really worth the early start to get to Reading!  I came away with lots of useful information that we can utilise to make the products we produce better, and a very good insight into the way the platform is going to progress over the next 12 months.

The organisers did a fantastic job getting everything sorted for the event and making sure it all went so smoothly.  Microsoft was also great for hosting the event, providing tonnes of free food and drink and looking after us all day.

This was the first technology event I’ve been able to go to – but definitely won’t be the last.  I’ve already bought my ticket for Future of Web Apps (FOWA) taking place in Dublin next March.  I’d also recommend that anyone interested in .NET development look out for tickets for next year’s developer day.

A few days ago I came across an article about the branding of the Dutch Government.  It appears that they are fed up of having different brand for each of their 200(ish) departments and ministries.  Instead, they are developing a single ‘Government’ brand that will be used for everything the government does, irrespective of the government.

This strikes me as a great idea – not only could it save money by just having one brand instead of 200, but it could help people recognise the work that government does.

After reading the article, I decided to take a look at branding used by our government here in the UK.  I surprised to learn about the sheer scale of central government and the huge number of brands in use.

The UK Government is comprised of around 45 departments & ministries (such as the Department for Transport and HM Treasury).  It also has approximately 72 executive agencies – these are organisations that have a degree of autonomy but are still linked to a particular department (such as the Food Standards Agency, Office of Fair Trading and the Crown Prosecution Service).  In addition to these, there are at, last count, 827 Non-Departmental Public Bodies (source: Cabinet Office, 2007).  These are agencies that are sponsored by government to deliver a particular public service such as the Environment Agency, the various arts councils and the British Potato Council.  You can find lists of the various departments / agencies on wikipedia (1 & 2).

It should be pointed out that this is just central government – it does not include local government (council councils etc), or the regional governments of Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland (or their associated public bodies).  Furthermore; it does not include organisations such as the Police, Fire department or the NHS.

A large number of these organisations have their own branding – that’s nearly 1,000 different corporate images!  The amount of money spent developing; maintaining and re-developing these brands must be astronomical.

The cabinet is regularly re-shuffled, which sometimes brings with it department splits, mergers, disbanding and creation.  In the last few reshuffles for example, the Department for Constitutional Affairs merged with some parts of the Home Office to create the Ministry of Justice; the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) was split in half, becoming the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS); the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was created; and the Office of Deputy Prime Minister became the Department for Communities and Local Government.  Quite a few changes!

With each of these changes, an old brand has been retired, and new brands created.  Gone are the Department for Constitutional Affairs, Department for Education and Skills, and the Office of Deputy Prime Minister.  Now we have five new brands in government.

If the Government just had one brand – “HM Government” or “UK Government”, with just one logo, one typeface, one style, the amount of money that could be saved during each reshuffle could be huge.

Now I’m not suggesting that we replace all 944 brands with just one - that would be a bit draconian, however, a substantial slimming down of brands within central government makes a lot of sense.  What do you think?

Selene M. Bowlby, a web designer and developer who has recently taken the jump into full time freelance work has just posted a blog entry with 60+ essential feeds for freelance web designers. She made the post in response to an open thread on Freelance Folder asking “How Do You Stay Sharp?”.

As a web developer, keeping on-top of changes in the industry is almost a full time job in itself. Dropping behind the curve is not something you can afford to do. When it does happen, getting back on-top of things is especially difficult.

I already follow a large number of the feeds that Selene suggests, and will definitely be adding the rest. I currently use netvibes to keep track of my RSS feeds - primarily because I use so many different computers throughout the day it allows me to keep everything in one place. If anyone has suggestions for a better reader, let me know.

It has been nearly 4 1/2 months since I started working for VSI, so you would think I would be getting used to the daily routine.  Get up at before 7, drive or catch train to Cardiff, get to the office at 8.30, work till 5.30, drive or catch train home, arrive home at 7.

I always have high hopes for the evenings – maybe go to the gym (and make use of the membership that is dutifully being taken out of my bank account every month), maybe finally get around to doing the blogs I keep meaning to write, maybe getting the Govilon history website finished.  However, by the time I get home, I’m always so tired, these things rarely happen.

I think part of the problem is the commute – an hour and a half each way.  If the traffic is good, I can do the journey to Cardiff in just over 45 minutes, but at peak times it takes up to an hour and a half.  The train is just as bad – always overcrowded and now that we’re well into winter it is frequently late.

Just before I went away on holiday, I worked some extra hours to cover for a workmate on paternity leave.  This meant I was getting into work an hour earlier than usual, and leaving an hour later.  The difference in the traffic was amazing.  I could leave the house at half 6 and be in the office for 7.  Leave the office at half 6 and be at home by 7.30.  Just the half hour difference in the morning gave me a whole extra hour at work.

When my colleague is back in the office, I’m going to try and move my hours so I start earlier and leave earlier.  Maybe then I might be able to get through some of the things I want to do in the evenings.

I’ve been very quiet for the last 6/7 weeks.  Everything has been a bit crazy at work – lots to do, lots already done, but not much to show for all the effort!

Over the last few months we’ve been busy working on several new websites, a fair number of which have now been handed to the client for final approval.  We’ve also been working on some of our own projects, and another new release of our content management system.

At home, I’ve been busy working on some of my own projects, including an updated Govilon History website (which I’m sure I’ll get finished eventually), and a new personal homepage (which I launched last weekend).

As soon as some of my work starts making it into the public domain, I’ll post some more.

I’m a little behind the times, but better late than never!

Techcrunch, a technology blog covering ’web 2.0’ and internet start ups had a bit of a redesign earlier this week.  As a blog that I keep track of all the time, I’m really pleased to see it move away from its previous, cluttered look to this clean and fresh design.

Features of the new look include a much more integrated navigation including links to other blogs from the Techcrunch  network, more consistent advert space, links to most active and recent comments, and a move away from full posts on the homepage.

The new navigation brings a much more consistent feel across the website.  Links to the other Techcrunch blogs (CrunchGear, MobileCrunch, TechCrunchIT etc) have moved from their previous location at the bottom of the old advert column to the very top of the page, making it easier to navigate across the network.  However, TalkCrunch (the network podcast) and CrunchNotes (Michael Arrington’s personal blog) are notably missing from this list.  Other links which a regular reader wouldn’t use very often but are still important (such as About, Contact, Advertise etc) have been moved to the right of the logo.  While they are still obvious, it means they do not take up as much valuable real-estate as the previous layout.

The new Techcrunch network navigation makes it easier to move between blogs

The new design loads much quicker than before.  The old site took an age to load (it was almost worth going to make a cup of tea while waiting for it to load), however the new design is pretty much the same as every other blog in the world.  I can only assume this is mainly achieved through a simpler layout and improved code.

One of the way’s the speed has been increased on the homepage is by switching to an excerpt scheme (only showing a small extract rather than full articles).  From a web design point of view, this is a big improvement - it increases page views (because you have to visit a dedicated page for each article), and it can increase your Google rank (because you no longer have duplicate content on your site).  But from a user-interaction point of view, it requires many more mouse-clicks, and makes it difficult to just scan through a series of entries.  I’m torn as to which is best and have been considering a similar switch on this blog - comments from readers would be much appreciated.

In general I think this redesign is a big success (although a fair amount of the comments on their website seem to disagree with me).  Mark Hendrickson (who announced the re-design) explained their intention to roll this design out to other parts of the network, an aim which would bring consistency across the board.  However, I’ve heard this before. CrunchGear has had two designs over the last year, both of which were supposed to be rolled out across the network and never were, and more recently new layouts have appeared on TechCrunchIT, TalkCrunch and CrunchNotes.  If, however, this does happen, all the blogs will be much more pleasant.

Other recent Techcrunch layouts.

As I mentioned in an entry earlier this month, I’ve spent virtually every minute of every day (when not eating, sleeping or going to the gym) working on numerous projects for both VSI and my freelance clients. The first, a revamp of my blog was finished 2 weeks ago, the second was finally finished this afternoon.

Following several weeks worth of work, I’m really pleased to launch the new company website for VSI-Thinking - the web development company where I’m employed. The new website showcases a number of the systems the company has produced for clients such as Thomas Cook, the Celtic Manor Resort and Peterstone Court. The site also shows off a few of the solutions we offer to our clients.

The launch of the new VSI site is my first major achievement since becoming a full time developer at the company. Over the past two months, I’ve been involved in a complete revamp of our in-house content management system, providing a much more consistent look and feel across all of our modules, adding new controls and improving the quality of the code. The VSI website is the first to make use of the improved CMS.

What I’m especially pleased about however, is the launch of our new company blog. All the developers at VSI (myself included) will be regularly posting company news, random thoughts and solutions to some of the challenges we encounter.

Of course, despite the site launching, we can’t just draw a line under it and move on. We’ve already begun development on the next version of the CMS, bringing in improvements and features that didn’t make the cut this time around. I’m also hoping we can introduce blog commenting facilities in the near future.

So, keep an eye out for posts from me on the VSI Blog, and go check out the new website and let me know what you think.