I have been working on the Travel Generation design, and those that know about the project will know a how much it means to me. Anyways, I came across an interesting list of how a non-designer should think in order to have a designer point of view. The list is actually 50 points long and is part of designer Karim Rashid’s Karimanifesto but here is the top .

1. Don’t specialise
2. Before giving birth to anything physical, ask yourself if you have created an original idea, an original concept, if there is any real value in what you have disseminated.
3. Know everything about your profession and then forget it all when you design something new
4. Never say “I could have done that” because you didn’t
5. Consume experiences, not things
6. Normal is not good
7. There are three types of beings - those who create culture, those who buy culture and those who don’t give a shit about culture. Move between the first two.
8. Think extensively, not intensively
9. Experience is the most important part of living, and the exchange of ideas and human contact is all life really is. Space and objects can encourage increased experiences or distract from our experiences
10. Here and now is all we got

We recently upgraded the look and feel of the Base Backpackers hostel pages and introduced a feature we had been developing for awhile (those who have seem the Adventure Tours Australia website would have seen it before) - that is, the displaying of images onto the website that sit on Flickr.

The idea here is that we take an RSS feed directly from our these pages and then display the most recent 20 or so images. This works fantastic for a company such as Base which has 14 hostels across Australia and New Zealand and a continually growing mountain of images that are taken almost daily by staff, customers and friends.

A lot can change in a week in a hostel and there is just so much going on from regular parties in the hostel bar to activities and local events. By using a Flickr account we can give access to all the hostel and bar managers who can easily update their photos in real time without the need to continually go back to the website content manager to get new photos. It keeps the images fresh and gets everyone from the crew to the customer buy in - hey that’s me in the bar the other night!

I have said this before in my articles etc, but Flickr also provides a parallel marketing medium. For example someone looking for images on Magnetic Island on Flickr might come across Base or the Full Moon Party and subsequently be enticed to investigate Base Magnetic Island hostel as the place to stay.

We are currently in the process of extending the functionality such that we also pull in the description and tags of the images as they appear on the Flickr site and are displayed on Base, Adventure Tours etc websites.

Launching a new version of your website can be a stressful exercise, particularly when so much of your business comes from direct Internet enquiries. The biggest risk is that you lose those hard earned search rankings and virtually have to start again. I am writing this post as one site I know very well has just recently launched a new version and experienced just that a large fall in their search engine rankings.

The reason I am sure is that they have overlooked one of the most important steps in launching a new site - the art of 301 redirects. 301 redirects are page redirects that tell search engines that URL’s have permanently changed their name and therefore to take the previous information held about this page, including all it’s incoming link value and most important search engine position and permanently transfer this information to the new page names.

301 redirects are a server side redirection, meaning that once a search engine (or user for that matter) comes into the page looking for a previous URL they are redirected to the new URL and simultaneously told to remember that redirect because the change is permanent.

Most websites are hosted on apache web servers and therefore the easiest way to handle a redirect is with regular expressions in the .htaccess file. The

To Move a single page add: Redirect 301 /oldpage.html http://www.domain.com/newurl.html

To Change domain names:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^.*oldwebsite\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.newdomain.net/$1 [R=301,L]

For some reason on our sites we don’t actually use the first command instead preferring to add: RewriteRule ^oldurl\.htm$ /newurl [R=301,L] for individual page redirects as well.

The $ sign means that this is the end of the URL, note the forward slash before the dot in the redirected URL also. In the brackets at the end of the rule the 301 states that this is a permanent redirect, while the L says this is the end of the rule. Note also for a single page redirect that capitals are important. If the URL is in capitals on your previous site then it must be in capitals as well and also note that you clearly need to state whether the old URL is htm or html suffix.

If you are dealing with a huge number of URLs that are to be redirected and they have similar names it is possible to not include the $ sign and simply produce a regular expression that is encompassing of a group of URLs, such as RewriteRule ^/folder/ /newurl [R=301,L]

I hope this helps, as I say, a popular campervan company I know of recently launched their new site only to experience significant falls in their search engine rankings, which can only be attributed to the 301 redirects not being done properly.

So continuing on from my earlier post about Backpacking Queensland (which you can read here) going live and “that’ email from Simon Gehert, I quote:

“Rarely have we seen something more obviously shoehorned into existing technology where it shouldn’t be. Take an open source CMS you didn’t develop complete with tag clouds, social network site links, unrelated blog headline feeds, google maps etc ,which was never intended for this purpose, add some crap interface design, a link to your site in the footer which says “Well made in New Zealand by Xebidy … and you have all the makings for a car crash of epic proportions.”

In my earlier post about the site I discussed the Silver Stripe content management system. One of things I said was that in the whole scheme of things Silver Stripe is not a very large Open Source project, which means that unfortunately at this stage a lot of the functionality such as tags, social bookmarks, RSS feeds, maps etc we have had to develop ourselves - plus there is not enough people using the Bootstrap interface yet. So I thought I would use this post to introduce you to some of this functionality and explain what it means and why we have chosen to use it in the Backpacking Queensland site:

Tags: I posted last month on the tags in Backpacking Queensland (read that post here) and my belief that in fact the tag system we have used in this site are more meaningful that many of the tags I have seen on other sites. The way they work is that users can add their own keywords to pages throughout the site as they travel the site to use to remind them of the pages. When an internal page is tagged this tag helps to build up the tag cloud which appears on the home page. The larger the font of the tags on the home page, then the more pages within the site that have been tagged with those tags. Tags, subsequently, provide an informal navigation structure created by the users. We added a little twist to the whole tagging concept by also then providing the user with links to You Tube for videos, Flickr for photos, Wikipedia for definitions, and del.icio.us for other pages across the Internet tagged the same. That means, if a user tags a page Cairns and then wants to see videos and images of Cairns from where they are on the Backpacking Queensland site the functionality is there.

Social network links: The social bookmarks facilitate users saving the Backpacking Queensland pages in popular bookmarking websites. Sites such as Digg and Del.icio.us are where users save their favourite web pages instead of saving them in their browsers. This is very pertinent for travellers who are never in the same Internet Cafe, or on the same computer, and so use these social bookmarking sites save pages they might want to go back to for booking or more information. By providing these links we think we are making it easier for the users, one less impediment to use, and therefore hopefully increasing users likelihood of returning to the Backpacking Queensland site. We included the ability to save a page to Facebook as well, because lets’ face it, everyone in this market uses Facebook.

Blog feeds: I have written and presented so many times before about the importance of user generated content. In the new Internet users are seeking information from their peers about the products they are consuming, whether they be travel products or otherwise. Reviews and ratings sites, forums, and blogs provide a user with a great deal of independent content to help them evaluate their options. In the same way as a traveller will talk to other travellers in the hostel common space so too do they use the Internet to research their travels. On the Backpacking Queensland website we have introduced links directly to blogs about the member products. Like the concept of linking the users to You Tube and Flickr for same tag images and videos, we believe that by providing this information on the Backpacking Queensland users will be able to get the independent feedback they require about the products without necessarily needing to go searching elsewhere. The travel stories are all received through our Xebidy Xefeed product where the feeds can be checked for relevancy and then fed back to the Backpacking Queensland website. It means that “unrelated” feeds do not appear. We have handed this completely over to the girls at Gate 7 to manage on a daily basis - although we do offer a complete Internet and social media monitoring service in house here, which you can find out more about here.

Google maps: I think the functionality is pretty intuitive here and don’t quite know what Mr Gehert is referring to when he says “… which was never intended for this purpose”. The maps show you where the member being shown on that page is, and an aggregating map shows where all the members in the area are. Rather than using stylised maps which are meaningless to a user who has not been to, say, Toowoomba, a Google map can be traversed and can show different views from street levels to satellite. On the Backpacking Queensland site we default to satellite maps for the aggregating views because they are fun and make the site look cool, and then use hybrid maps which combine the satellite map with streets for more purpose (unless the satellite view is not high enough density and we just use street view). The user can easily change these views. As many know mapping is something we take quite seriously at Xebidy and unfortunately it becomes a function of time and cost as to how much mapping functionality to include to a client. We are currently undertaking a very extensive development with another client that would see the maps being able to change the content on the page around them and also have a lot of information around the main focus of the map, for example, a hostel can show where supermarkets, ATM’s things to do etc are relative to them. Hopefully, we can extend Backpacking Queensland mapping in this direction at some point in the future.

There is lots more cool functionality in this site, and lots more to Mr Geherts’ email and I will introduce all this tomorrow - need to get on with some work now. As I am sure you can all see, loving the new Backpacking Queensland site though, well done guys.

Heres’ an issue that everyone faces as more resellers of products appear on the Internet - the issue of duplicate content.

Say you write great content for your website, but then you share that content with all your main affiliates or suppliers, for example, a hostel might give the same content they use on their home page to Hostel World or a tour company might do this for STA Travel, what will Google and other search engines think when they see the same content?

We know that duplicate content is frowned on and we know that those sites that have plagarised content are devalued by Google in the search results rankings even to the point of being banned for sometime. The risk is that by supplying the same copy to your partners you are in fact risking having your content considered as duplicate content and having your own site devalued.

For example, Hostel World, STA, eBookers and so on are always going to be considered more authoritative websites than your own - they have thousands of pages, thousands of links and are good quality sites. They probably have higher page rank than you too. So, when Google reads your content on their site it is highly likely that Google may interpret that content as theirs and penalise you for copying them. Now thats’ not on!

What about if some of these sites even pay for cost-per-click ads on your name. Well it is surely not a bad thing if you are say Base Backpackers and STA Travel are promoting your brand in the search results so as they sell more of your products is it? Perhaps it is. After all the sale always has a cost of commission. If you are coming up in the search engines number one for your brand you are hoping that you will secure the sale yourself - thereby paying back the investment you have made in web marketing and getting that amazing site. You don’t want to be giving away revenue for someone else trading on your name without actually doing anything for themselves.

These are interesting conundrums for the travel (and other industries). Perhaps it is time to turn against the hands that have fed us for so long, the STA Travels, the Hostel Worlds and so on. When it comes to the web you are all on an even footing and perhaps you are right to say no to large commissions and demand that these companies produce their own content about your product or even not trade on your name in the search engines.

Unfortunately, no matter how good the content you write is - ain’t nobody going to read it. Well it’s not that bad - but you certainly can not expect someone to curl up on the couch and read your website. They will, however, probably scan it for a few seconds to see if it’s what they are looking for, and move on if its’ not.

To this regard there are a few essential rules to keep in mind when creating your website.

Create visual order: your content should be presented in an order across your site that tells your readers the importance of your content. Combine this with colour, contrast, font size and weight and relative positioning against other content to emphasise its’ importance.
Make the page easy on the eyes, but at the same time interesting: The quickest way to lose readers is with small type, bad colour combinations and wide columns.

The introduction is the important part of the content: your website visitors tend to skim the read your introduction paragraph first and for this reason it should be concise and summarise what you web page is about.

Use headlines to draw a users attention into paragraphs: giving paragraphs headings serves to highlight the paragraph for the user who can subsequently read quickly or detailed through your work. Use the content of the headings to draw attention to the paragraph and summarise its’ content. A good tool. to use is to ask a question that is subsequently answered in the following paragraph. (and don’t forget your keywords for search engines!)

Writing effective web content is not easy. Verbose sites loose a readers interest, too sparse a site and the user feels that page has nothing to offer. Finding the right mix of imagery and content is essential to capturing your readers interest while they scan through the Internet looking for that “right” page.

I have been involved in a lot of web designing in the past few months on a variety of projects and I am always asked to look at web designs. It is probably the best part of my job - as although I can in no way call me self a web designer I think I have a pretty firm idea of what works and doesn’t and probably more importantly I spend a lot of time looking at other websites.

One of the most important parts of web design is typography. Selection of fonts can make or break a website. Here is a few rules of thumb that I think can be applied to font selection:

1. Only use one or two fonts throughout your site. I was asked to look at one new site only a few weeks ago and there were no fewer than 4 fonts used on the one page. The page looked confused and messy. It was difficult for the reader to cast their eyes quickly over the page and digest the information.

2. The use of small font sizes should be combined with good letter spacing. I believe that using small font sizes such as 10 px is not necessarily a bad thing if combined with at least 1px letter spacing. This makes the words easy to see and easy for a reader to cast their eyes over the page.

3. If you are looking to create an expensive looking page use Georgia over Times New Roman - just my opinion!

4. Combinations of italics and bold used with the same sized font for headings and important sections can make for a stylish page. I have two favourite sites that do this very well (http://www.jontangerine.com and http://astheria.com/)

Finally, remember perhaps the most important rule in web design with regard to font selection. A font is not embedded in a web page - instead it is only rendered on the screen if it exists on the viewers computer. In this way there are really only 5 or 6 fonts that are considered safe fonts - that is fonts that appear on both apple mac and windows pc computers. The safest and most often used fonts as arial and verdana - they are sans-serif fonts, meaning they don’t have any of the loopy things between the letters like say Times New Roman and are therefore much easier to read on the web.

I am so sorry that there has been no posts for some time - since we put the Bootstrap video up with have been inundating with enquiries and feedback. We are finalising the demo site and expect it any day now! Plus, I have only just graduated from the couch to the kitchen table with this broken ankle.

In the meantime, I have some cool news to report. We have been so busy here at Xebidy developing all our new stuff (Breathe website, Backpacking Queensland website, new functionality for Base Backpacker, and Wayward Bus and The Park websites getting close to going live) that we simply did not have time to do the designs for the new Oz Experience website. Anyway, a local company here in Queenstown called Fluid Designs was commissioned to do the designs - and they have come back with three awesome options. So much so in fact that we can’t decide which direction to go in next.

The solution: Bruce Thurlow at Oz Experience has asked the Oz Experience groups in Facebook for their opinion. I think this is awesome - after all these are the same customers that use and enjoy the product - they know the product better then the company themselves. Lets’ hope we get some constructive feedback.

Whats’ more, by empowering the customers he has created a bit of an aire of anticipation too. Once we get the feedback the plan is to report to the group and keep them in the loop, announce new functionality and generally spread he word. This sort of social marketing really gets me excited!!

Sorry for the delay in writing these posts for those that don’t know I broke my ankle on the race snowboard which has meant an operation, two pins and some heavy downtime. This has given me time, however, to work on a lot of the content that has been needed on many of our new partner sites (in particular, Breathe New Zealand, Wayward Bus and Adventure Tours Australia, and Backpacking Queensland). None of these sites are live yet, but they are all in that phase of production where we need to be getting the first round of content in.

There is that rule that 20% of the work takes 80% of the time; which in the case of creating a website is certainly the case. One of the biggest problems I seem to come up against over and over is the unpreparedness of website managers of exactly what content is to go on what page when the time comes. It seems to take an eternity to get from site designed and developed to finalising the content stage.

One of the tricks I use is to create a word document writing the first page and then creating all the hyperlinks to other pages within that first page text. By building up the headings for those other pages you very quickly build up a framework for the whole site. It is just a case then of going back and filling in the content. But, better still you can suddenly see how the content fits into the designed site and what more design and development is required. That is, assuming you did not write all the content first, before you got the website designed - which of course, you did!

In the last month I have been involved in a number of website review processes and found that I have started applying a pretty regular (if not cliche) list of headings that might best be described as The Theory Behind a Website. The list in it’s basic form is:

• Website vision
• Objectives
• Unique selling propositions
• Competitor analysis - space definition - strategy canvas
• Measurable objectives and calculated return on investment
• Website usability and navigation
• Design
• Layout of homepage
• Establishing trust and credibility - authenticity and authority
• Site map
• Internal page structure
• Website promotion and traffic generation
• Booking process

Hope this helps - it is an interesting place to start by simply listing all the headings and then making a short discussion about each one. It soon leads to many branches worth exploring in evaluating your current site and how any future strategies and developments might be tackled.