January 2011
1 post
10 Best Intranets of 2011 (Jakob Nielsen's... →
December 2010
4 posts
HOW TO: Turn Slacktivists into Activists with... →
Facebook Co-Founder Launches Social Network for... →
1 tag
New Client: Marcus Jones MP →
1 tag
New Client: UK Political Radio →
September 2010
1 post
6 tags
SMSToMailbox Android App →
SMSToMailbox does what it says on the tin - backs up your SMS messages to your Gmail (or other IMAP) mailbox. You can even use your Gmail on your computer to remotely send and receive SMS and MMS messages. Ideal if you like to keep the phone charging in one room and your computer is in another or if you are at work and need to keep texting discreet.
August 2010
5 posts
7 tags
On Facebook's Place App
Facebook are launching a Foursquare-style app that allows Facebook users to “check-in” to physical locations, sometimes automatically. The feature will allow friends to see where you are wit the intention being to develop a range of games or social apps that take advantage of location-based information. For example, advertisers can provide discounts for check-ins against products and...
2 tags
Our New Corporate Colours
Roused Orange H:15 S:83 B:94 R: 240 G:90 B:40 L: 59 A:57 B:58 C:0 M:80 Y:95 K:0 #F05A28 Roused Royal Purple H:244 S:65 B:38 R:38 G:34 B:97 L:17 A:18 B:-38 C:100 M:100 Y:31 K:22 #262261
6 tags
“Meet @mikerouse — He’s #HootSuite’s first new sign-on for the...”
– Twitter
1 tag
Rebuild and Reinstall Weekend
In our experience when you’ve got a popular site running on WordPress it’s possible for it to start crumbling unless you pay careful attention to it.
In our old way of working we simply installed websites, but did not put any ongoing maintenance agreements in place. Any future needs were done somewhat casually.
Now we’ve had a casualty of that way of working that strengthens...
5 tags
HootSuite - like TweetDeck, only better*
It was back in October 2009 when HootSuite first appeared on our radar and was an instant must-have, must-recommend, must-support tool.
It seems that in the UK political ‘bubble’ most folk have taken to TweetDeck, which though a fine bit of software requires to have the Adobe AIR service installed on your machine. HootSuite, however, runs entirely in your web browser meaning you can...
July 2010
13 posts
10 tags
Facebook 'Like' button for your website
As you can see at the top of this post there’s a “like” button for Facebook that allows you to tag this post as something you’ve enjoyed reading and share it on your Facebook profile for your friends to see. The idea is to enable websites to connect into the Facebook platform to allow them to tap in to the vast traffic potential it could offer.
We’re also social...
6 tags
BlackBerry Tablet
Mashable is reporting that RIM could be releasing a BlackBerry tablet device as early as November 2010. They cite Bloomberg.
Features could include a front-facing camera for video calls, however it’s been suggested that it would not have 3G connectivity built-in but would instead allow you to tether the device to your BlackBerry handset. Whilst that may sound cumbersome it does mean users...
5 tags
Building an on-screen Twitter display app
With conference seasons fast approaching in the political world we’d like to look at how to make a Twitter feed appear on a large TV screen or projector. It could follow a certain hashtag or certain key people at a conference.
The first step is to create a single feed - decide if you want a hashtag for your event and agree what it is going to be. Alternatively you can provide a list of...
2 tags
Do you need to worry about Internet Explorer 6?
The short answer is no, not any more. The battle between web designers and places with IE6 installed is nearly over and I’m delighted to report that the web designers are the assumed victors.
Approximately 2-4% of users in the UK now browse websites using Internet Explorer 6 with the rest either using version 7, 8 or Firefox. Google Chrome is making great strides in market share.
Here at...
5 tags
Commercial Break: Mass E-Mail
We’ve now got 5 Members of Parliament taking up our services and one of the increasingly popular ones is our mass e-mailing services.
We provide a bespoke solution based on each MP’s situation and ensure it’s the best fit both in terms of technology, usability and cost.
Please email Mike Rouse via mike@roused.co if you are an elected member and would like us to propose our...
8 tags
Our Quest for a New Logo
Here’s what the current Rouse Media logo looks like:
We also have some favicon versions you may have seen on other people’s websites:
It’s not a bad logo and it has gained recognition over time. However, we’re moving away from the ‘media’ part of the name and just calling ourselves “Roused” (pronounced as in ‘rousing’ as in to awake...
10 tags
Firefox 4 and CSS3 Support
If you want an intro to what Firefox 4 is all about check out this list of features or check out Steven Dent’s excellent tumblog for a perspective from a power user in the UK political world. I’m going to focus on its support for CSS3, a very important part of what we do for our political (and other sector) clients.
CSS3 Calc() Support
This one is more popular with developers...
3 tags
Mike's Blog - Graphics and Growth in July
Dear Reader,
The feedback to setting up this blog has been positive. Some points about the tone of voice and how it should be a bit more professional that I’ll take on board - sorry, I was trying to sound ‘fun’ and probably became the digital equivalent of an embarrassing uncle at a wedding.
I was due to meet a potential graphics designer today, but had to postpone because one...
3 tags
Introducing Subversion Control
“Subversion” is a system that allows multiple people to work on your website at once and in a way that establishes clear versions between every tiny change of code. In practical terms it allows us to go back to a previous design, recover from security threats quicker, and helps us to remember what we were doing with your code when we come and look at it again some months later.
...
4 tags
Persona-Based Design
Whether you’re launching a new blog as en elected member or a full website for your latest campaign you need to sit down and think about the type of people that are going to use the website and then break it down using ‘personas’.
Let’s say you’re a candidate in a parliamentary constituency - it’s not accurate to believe that your website is going to be visited by every...
1 tag
Facebook's 500 Million
We’d like to believe that there’s not a politician, lawyer or investment banker* out there who doesn’t realise the power of social media when it comes to their own campaign, product, service or brand. Instead of harping on about the virtues we’ll leave it to fellow Twittering and Tumbling politico Steven Dent who’s got the stats and a write-up.
Part of the...
1 tag
Putting any font on a web page
One of the really exciting and cool things we’re doing for our new website is building it using HTML5 and CSS3 standards so we can use the @font-face technique to show any font on a web page. Before you switch off because you saw an acronym hang in with us for a minute whilst we explain why this is relevant to you.
It’s cool. You will be able to choose from an enormous range of fonts...
Getting Roused...
Hello, Mikey Rouse here. Your loveable web designer to the political giants. I’ve been in this game since before 2005 and since then I’ve made some friends, some enemies and some business partners. It’s been a roller coaster to be honest and anyone in business would probably say the same. We’re no Facebook and we’re nowhere near to living out the dream in Silicon...