Nur Ahmad Furlong

Category: Web

  • This Linkedin Digital Strategist Cape Town Job Ad stalked me into applying

    The following Digital Strategist Cape Town Job ad has been following me around linkedin for the last week or 2 now. It’s everywhere I go on Linkedin. I assume the fact that I’m restructuring my career towards a more Strategic UX role makes it stand out for me as well as the Yellow Dot Logo which is a constant visual nag. I’ve been spending alot of time on linkedin lately, building my network, interacting with people in certain industries and discussing UX related topics on forums. This ad hounded me so much I eventually applied for the position regardless of the fact that it required someone more experienced in strategy than I am.Urbian-Digital-Strategist

     

    I’d be interested in knowing what Urbian have spent on this Ad and what kind of response it resulted in.

    • Is it targeting the right people
    • Has it resulted in the kind of response they expected in terms of numbers of appropriate applications
    • What level of targeting do these ads offer

    Have you had a similar ad stalking experience? What was it?

    PS: Can someone please grab this Digital Strategist role and get it out of the way now! I can’t take it any more! Apply Here!

  • Selling my Web, Strategy, Creativity, Productivity Books

    I’m not a big reader when it comes to novels and function in general, I just find the fantasy a bit of a waste of time to be honest. But when it comes to books covering practical knowledge on the stuff that matters to me, I’m a bit OCD.

    So i’ve been trying to clear out some of the books I haven’t been using in a while and I found a set of real gems from my Web, Strategy, Creativity, Productivity collection. Each of these books has played a major role in helping me get to grips with the range of subjects I need to keep myself informed on as a Web & Creative Professional.

    These books cover a wide range of subjects from Coding & Coding Standards, to Productivity, Time Management, Marketing & Communications Strategy, Web Strategy, Usability, Creative Thinking. The information contained in these books should be enough to get any web novice up to speed with the principles and methods needed to dive straight into the web industry. They’re also a great resource or reference for anyone working in this industry or teaching/presenting on these topics.

    1. The Open Brand: When Push Comes to Pull in a Web-Made World
    2. Six Thinking Hats – EDWARD DE BONO
    3. Lateral Thinking: A Textbook of Creativity – Edward De Bono
    4. The 4-Hour Work Week and Timothy Ferriss
    5. The Truth about Email Marketing – Jenkins
    6. rework – 37 Signals
    7. don’t make me think – Steve Krug – New Riders
    8. building findable websites – New Riders
    9. Introducing HTML5 – Lawson Sharp – New Riders
    10. Designing for Web Standards – Second Edition – Jeffrey Zeldman
    11. The Ultimate CSS Reference – Sitepoint
    12. A Designer’s Research Manual – Jenn + Ken Visocky O’Grady
    13. eMarketing eXellence – Chaffey Smith – Third Edition
    14. Starting & Running a Successful Consultancy – How To Books
    15. The Art & Science of CSS – Sitepoint
    16. Logo Lounge 2 – Rockport

    I’m planning on selling this entire stash to the highest bidder to make space for some new material.

  • The anti-SOPA movement is in full effect with SOPA Blackout Day

    Today, January 18 is SOPA Blackout Day, and international internet strike aimed at voicing opposition to the internet censorship bill SOPA/PIPA being pushed through by the US government. WordPress are fully behind the anti-SOPA movement, as well as many other major web players like Wikipedia.

    WordPress.com is purposely censored today in protest.

    Wikipedia is about to Join the Blackout as well

    To learn more about SOPA, The “Stop Online Piracy Act”, visit the wikipedia page dedicated to explaining the details – Stop Online Piracy Act. We have no doubt that anti-Piracy is being used as a guise to clampdown in the freedom of spreading information and on legitimate free speech. Personally I’m not concerned about  prevention of actual piracy as i support this in that stealing other people’s products is obviously wrong. I am more concerned of the hidden agendas and ripple effect of consequences which this piece of legislation attempts to establish.

    Some of the big players opposing the Bill include Facebook, Google, Twitter, eBay, Yahoo!, Mozilla, Wikipedia, WordPress.

    Check out what Mashable had to say about Why SOPA is Dangerous.

    Join the protest – http://sopablackout.org/

    A Wide range of WordPress Plugins exist to support the Anti-SOPA movement – http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/search.php?q=sopa Some are even going to the extent of laying the ground for establishing an alternative internet to circumvent censorship and governmental controls by working on a plan to launch an Internet in space – German Hacker Group Working on Space Internet

  • Mixing in HTML5, CSS3 and @Media Queries for studentology minisite

    A few days ago I was approach by a good friend, Jamaal Khan who runs www.jayz.co.za to design & develop a splash page for one of his clients, Studentology. The site he required needed to be completed within 24 hours, which was a tough ask at that point but I obliged seeing things were relatively calm work wise for me at that point. In hindsight I should have known that was going to be impossible considering client feedback cycles testing and changes but I dove in none-the-less.

    Grab the Pencil & paper just to be sure

    I didn’t want to end up diving in too soon with photoshop and ending up shooting myself in the foot by spending too much time on prepping a look and feel without a clear layout approval, so I quickly threw together a couple of sketches based on the elements the client requested.

    First Draft Sketch

    I made a quick pencil sketch with some important bits highlighted to outline my thinking on how I planned to approach the page layout followed by a phonecall to make sure I’m understanding what each element actually is and what it’s function/priority is. In cases like this one there’s no need to go the full digital wireframe and a well planned pencil sketch could very much suffice.

    Finalised Wireframe Sketch

    Using Pre-designed graphic elements to speed up the process

    Based on the concept I knew I had to create a box for the competition they were running as their concept relied on the users guessing what’s inside the box. Soi a quick search on google for some freely available vector graphics gave me a few options to work with.

    I also regularly collect web elements and graphic styles which provide photoshop layered documents when I need to throw together a quick UI in emergency situations like this one, so I tapped into that folder and threw together a few Photoshop layouts within an hour or 2.

    No time to think, just whack it out now

    I initially decided to just hunt down an existing free HTML template which had enough of the ingredients to bash into shape. I had to make some quick decisions about how we’d approach the design & build due to the limited timeframe, but also wanted to explore some newer un-chartered territory.

    Draft 1 – Graph Paper bg
    Draft 2 – Brownpaper bg

    I’d been eyeing the CSS3 & HTML5 framework called Less which is now in version 3 of it’s development. With it one can quickly build HTML 5, cross browser web layouts which re-adjust themselves to the specific media or device resolution being used to view it. I also employed a few simple CSS3 techniques to give the design a little spice without needing to use too many complicated background graphics or image text. This included text-shadow, border radius and box shadows as well as background gradients.

    Granted not all of these techniques are completely cross browser compatible, but at least with the text-shadow being the least supported feature, I could still have a decent enough looking design in lower end browsers without too many graphics needed.

    The full width was really the main focus, so most of the design and styling considerations were applied to work better in this width.

    Studentology Full Page Width

    Studentology - The Student Connection - Full width
    This is the main layout suitable for average computer screen resolutions

    Once that was established, I had to use the maximum width for smaller more tablet like screens like the iPad for a slightly narrower layout. In this site, CSS media queries are used to switch the width and layout styles for certain elements so they realign and reorder themselves to fit into the new screen width. For example, most of the elements within the blue content area are 30% width and floating to arrange themselves next to each other, which will be switched to a different percentage for smaller screens.

    Scripts, scripts and more scripts

    To avoid needing additional pages I made use of a jquery fancybox script to allow the video and entry form to popup over the page. I also used Jquery solutions to save space with the competition steps, using a slider to show each step of the process, and for the twitter feed in the footer. JQUERY is your friend, as long as you don’t mix it with too many other Javascript libraries which leads to script conflicts.

    iPad width

    Studentology - Tablet PC or small screen resolution
    This is the main layout suitable for tablet screens like iPad

    As you can see that some elements are now 50% of the full width of the layout while others are 100%, now changing the layout and order of the elements.

    On another note, and even though CSS3 is completely capable of generating the effect I’ve used on the call to action buttons, I stuck to using graphics instead there as I didn’t want to run into too many degradation problems with the call to action items. At least for those elements it doesn’t matter what browser you’re using you’re pretty much going to get a nicely styled call to action without too many hours or device specific code.

    Mobile Width

    Studentology - Mobile Phone Layout
    This layout configured to display for small screens like mobile phones

    I ran into a few problems with older versions of Internet explorer as you would imagine, so ended up employing a javascript solution called If Oldie, which redirects the Internet Explorer viewer to a plain HTML version of the site which has a fixed width and makes use of XHTML instead of HTML5. I didn’t have enough time to troubleshoot the HTML5 shiv script which comes with the Less Framework and is meant to allow IE to recognize HTML5 tags, so that part didn’t work out as planned.

    Even though due to time constraints I wasn’t able to craft everything to perfection I’ve learnt some really valuable lessons by tackling this project in the way that I did.

    1. Use frameworks and existing tools instead of always building from scratch, it helps with rapid development.
    2. Building device specific web pages is easy when you use the right tools.
    3. When you run into problem, don’t waste too much time trouble shooting, change direction quickly.
    4. Collect freely available web resources for emergencies, it’ll save your life when you need it most.
    5. Use 1 Javascript library for all your needs to avoid script conflicts, JQUERY is your Friend!
    6. 24 Hours is a ridiculous timeframe so never agree to design & code a page in that amount of time unless you’re gonna hack & smack.

    This post basically outlines some of the decision making, tools and processes I employed to whack out a really quick but effective minisite which looks good, works across devices yet still employs some of the latest development tricks. It’s not perfect nor 100% bulletproof but it did the job in the time and budget available.

    If I had a little extra time I think I could have implemented a much more HTML5 compliant solution which works across most browser using many of the fallback methods available at this well organised resource.

  • Web Guru Spotlight 6: Rob Stokes – Quirk Star Master

    Rob Stokes - Quirk Founder & CEO

    I was spurred into action to revive my Web Guru Spotlight Series of interviews when I came across the release of Quirk e-Marketing’s latest online marketing e-book. Rob Stokes, the brains behind Quirk has been a key figure in shaping the online marketing landscape in South Africa.

    I have been watching Quirk with interested over the last few years due to the fact that they just seem to be staying ahead and being innovative in a seemingly saturated space.
    So enough about Quirk, let’s chat with Rob, the man responsible for getting the Quirk Ball rolling.

    Hi Rob, thanks for giving us some of your valuable time to chat and answer a few questions.
    So you started Quirk the year after I graduated from design School. What lead up to the founding of Quirk?

    I’ve always been a bit of a serial entrepreneur and Quirk was simply the next step for me. Quite honestly at first it was just a way of making some extra cash so I could stop delivering pizza like a poor student…

    Are you positive about the direction the online media space is taking in South Africa.

    I think we still have a long way to go, but it’s only going up. With SA being a relative laggard in global tech this also has some long term positives. For example you don’t see Neotel laying down copper cables. They will be fibre from the start and that will really benefit us in the long term.

    Yes, I’m a glass half full type of guy

    Your team are called QuirkStars and your office is called the Quirk Station, tell us a bit about this and the working environment you’ve created.

    I absolve myself from all blame on these names! The seemingly silly names have evolved from my staff over the years and whilst we know they are a bit geeky, we’re proud of being QuirkStars so I guess it’s just stuck. As for the working environment, I think we have the best coffee in Cape Town! Seriously though, I think we have created an open working environment where the creative juices can flow.

    Do you think the Online Industry is saturated or do you think there’s space for more players?

    Definitely not saturated, but definitely fragmented. I think as the industry evolves we will start to see some consolidation and within 10 years I’m sure the online marketing industry will mirror the structure of the traditional ad industry today. I’m happy to mirror their structure as long as we don’t mirror their stereotypical marketing beliefs 😉


    What is the potential for the online industry to have an impact on the unemployment rate in South Africa

    At the end of the day, pretty much anything that stimulates an economy will benefit unemployment. Ferdie Bester said to me the other day that the best thing we can do as South Africans is start a business and employ people and the internet has made that easier than ever. Now, if only our government would support entrepreneurship as well as the internet does…

    How do you think we can nurture better skills in the online space in the strategic, creative & technical spaces? Should the focus be on educational institutions or industry players?

    I think there needs to be partnerships between the private and academic sectors. The reality is that cutting edge online tactics evolve from industry and not academia – this is as a result of competition driving innovation.

    I’d like to see more companies across the board doing their bit to work with the tremendous academic institutions in SA.

    The team you have working for you seem to be a really uniquely chosen bunch and are stars in their own right. Could you give us some insight into your hiring approach?

    For starters it is our goal to have a brand which people want to work for. Solving this is half the problem.

    Secondly we will experiment with pretty much anything to find people. From Facebook ads to hiring bounties we have tried many things, some have worked, some haven’t, but that’s what online marketing is all about.

    Once someone cracks an interview, they are generally seen by their possible team leader and our COO. It might take a few interviews, but if they prove that they have the skills, they then get to be grilled by me to ensure they will fit into our culture. I ask a lot of strange questions, but if you make it through, chances are you rock.

    Apart from that, the only other unusual thing is that we work on one man one vote. Inpsired by Ricardo Semler, this means that I, as the CEO, can get outvoted on hiring people. In fact I’ll admit that in the past I’ve voted against hiring someone who the team wanted. We hired that person and I’ll admit that I was wrong and they turned out to be awesome… ah the power of democracy.

    Is there a difference between online & offline entrepreneurship?

    The fundamentals remain the same only the tactics change.

    Many people see online entrepreneurship as this ultimate money making space similar to the way they did before dot bomb. Do you think a crash might be headed our way?

    No. Some will fail, some will succeed, but I don’t see an industry wide crash.

    I’ve spent the last few weeks teaching some newbies XHTML, CSS & WordPress. What do you think would be the most essential additional skills to pass on to newbies.

    Basic HTML, SQL, SEO and PPC. Once you’ve wrapped your head around those concepts, marketing on the internet becomes a far easier and more intuitive process.

    You’ve been very involved in the web community since I started getting into the whole meetup / (un)conference scene, has this added value to your organisation?

    I think it’s important that we are a contributing member of the community in which we work. Being part of these events goes a long way to achieving that so yes, I do think we have benefited.

    Would you recommend all businesses go social in this way?

    I think businesses need to interact with their customers and community on their terms and in their space. If this means an unconference then so be it.

    I’ve always been an advocate for giving before receiving and admire your gesture of releasing your e-marketing textbook. Does the cost of producing it really justify this type of approach?

    Publishing a book is not an easy or cheap exercise. The Quirk eMarketing book took us 8 months and all in all cost us almost half a million Rand.

    On the surface we will make a massive loss, but we’re not looking at book sales to drive any sort of ROI for us on this.

    This is an example of capitalist driven social development. Quirk will gain from this if we can get thousands of students each year to enjoy learning from our book. These students will become our future staff and customers and it’s very difficult to put a price on that.

    So that’s how we justify it from a business perspective. From a personal perspective we have done something really good here. This book will improve the lives of many people and that makes us feel incredibly good.

    Lack of access to information and knowledge tools & resources is a big disadvantage for the majority of South Africans.

    Do you think there is a serious business case for corporates developing capacity in this area?

    YES!

    We want the Quirk book to be an example to companies in all industries to do the same.

    Open Education began primarily as an initiative at school level, but eventually I hope it will permeate all areas where skills are required. Imagine if De Beers wrote a Geology textbook…

    Have you focused much on mobile strategies and where do you think the coming mobile revolution could have the most impact?

    No, this version of the textbook is very thin on the mobile side. However as we needed to have the book ready for the second university semester of 2008 we left out a few chapters.

    We plan to update the book over the next few months with about 5 new chapters of which mobile is definitely one.

    Do you think consumer action or provider competition could ever have an impact on the cost of bandwidth in South Africa?
    Without doubt. Both are fundamental to economic efficiency and the internet itself promotes both by giving consumers a voice and lower barriers to competition.
    I found the launch of Brandseye very interesting. How has the uptake of this innovative solution been so far?

    It’s been OK. Internationally it has been well received but locally the mindset isn’t fully there yet and I do acknowledge that the price makes it pretty exclusive.

    However we have a plan to cater to a wider audience so watch this space…

    Do you guys use Brandseye for Quirk?

    Of course!

    Do you think knowledge work and mobile workers are on the rise in South Africa?

    Definitely!

    What are your favourite tools you use as a knowledge worker on a daily basis?

    Twitter, our internal Wiki, RSS

    Mac or PC?

    Sigh…. PC

    Firefox or Safari?

    The Fox… it’s the only way!

    How do you feel about IE6?

    Poef

    What’s next for South Africa Online?

    Video. Currently it’s a pain to watch online video locally. I’d like to think that in the next 2 years South African’s will forget what “buffering” means…

    Any last words?

    Thanks for a thought provoking interview…!

    Thanks to “YOU” Rob and we look forward to hearing you speak at the Heavy Chef session on the 27th.

  • Heavy Chef does Rob Stokes on e-marketing

    The Quirk e-marketing textbook has been doing it’s rounds locally and internationally. The textbook is jam packed with years of knowledge and experience and takes the reader through from the very beginning to more advanced strategies in online marketing.

    This month’s Heavy Chef session will see Rob Stokes, author of the e-marketing textbook and founder & CEO of Quirk e-marketing, giving an introduction to e-marketing.

    Heavy Chef sessions are run by the guys at World Wide Creative on a monthly basis. They’ve been hosting top events for the last 1.5 years. I missed the last one which focused on e-commerce but definitely don’t want to miss this one.

    Here are the details:

    Aug 31 (Cape Town), 5.30pm – 7.30pm:introduction to eMarketing

    Speaker: Rob Stokes, CEO of Quirk eMarketing

    Want to attend? Email Rowan to enquire about booking your seat.

    Seeya’ll there!

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