Earlier this week, I launched a mobile version of Thunderbolt, which is designed to work on almost all web-capable handsets and mobile devices. There are many options when building a mobile website and a lot to consider, so I thought it would be useful to run through the choices I made and how the site [...]
Forum software is a necessary evil of running an online community. Few credible options are available to website owners and those that are tend to have outdated designs and a poor user experience. Three systems – phpBB, vBulletin and Invision – dominate the landscape, but with the arrival of XenForo, this could change. Background The [...]
When you’re deciding whether or not to read something, you make a calculation: Is the time it will take to read this less than the time I have available? If you notice an interesting four page article in a magazine on a long train journey, you’re far more likely to read it than if you [...]
Facebook is in trouble. Over the last two weeks, concern about the complexity of its privacy controls has led to a minor panic in the media. Suddenly, the website that has become the cornerstone of our social infrastructure has been branded as a runaway corporate behemoth. Its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is drunk on “dreams of [...]
The notion that people’s attention span is shorter when reading on the Web is well known. The number of possible distractions and other things that you could be doing right now is far greater than if you were reading a book on a secluded beach. Catering for short attention spans Because people are seemingly in [...]
Last Sunday, we had the first meeting of The Association of Independent Game Websites in London. For something that was founded only a few months ago, the turnout of around 15 people was better than I ever expected. What was immediately apparent was that the AIGW appeals to a very wide range of people. We [...]
As you may be aware, I’m creating a stock trading game called CountryEx for my final year project at university. It’s been in development
Whenever I redesign Thunderbolt, one of the most discussed aspects of the site is its logo. Although the site has been around for nearly ten years, we’ve never had a single logo for more than a few years. Is this something we should be concerned about or doesn’t it matter what logo your website has? [...]