This is a common issue I notice with a lot of “big brand” websites and amazes me that they don’t test their backgrounds on a range of screen sizes.

What are background images?

Background images can give a website a nice canvas and are often used to promote offers or to add a temporary theme to a website (Christmas is a common one – you might have seen ours!)

With improvements in internet speeds more and more websites are using large images rather than small repeated graphics or solid colours.

What often amazes me is the obvious lack of time spent in producing them, and more often than not, a clear lack of effective testing before launch.

Web development thresholds…

It is often common a web team will have thresholds for various factors such as browser type, page size (in kb), use of flash elements, screen sizes, within which they work, and providing they are serving a certain percentage of their potential audience (say 90%) then decisions are passed. But with this one the fixes are so simple there is no need to let a sloppy background slide!

An example: Everton FC

Take the current Everton FC’s site below: (click for a larger version)

The site has a nice Christmas theme but they haven’t tested it on a larger screen size.   Now I know we don’t all have 2560 pixel width screens, and “most” people wont see it, but based on our Google Analytics stats more than a few will, and the few are growing in numbers. (6% of visitors to our website has screen sizes with a higher pixel width of 1930px – so just over 1,000 in the past 30 days)

Solutions

The current background is 1930 pixels wide so they have covered the majority but there are simple options to avoid the ugly edge…

1. Use a repeatable graphic - should the background have been uniform, then a repeat could have been used to avoid the edge.

2. Use a fade out – The background graphic could have been faded out at the edges (like the have done for the height) This takes just minutes to do, and would have meant no ugly edges.

Other examples…

Now I’m not picking on Everton! this is just one of a load of examples I have seen in the past few days, below are a few more…

Accessorize – Could have used a repeat so easily!

HMV – Nearly got it right but you can still see the line!

Manchester City – Could have faded it out! (BTW this is my favorite football club site so its not all bad)

Land Rover – Needed to fade to the sides!

Blockbuster – Needed to use a repeat or a fade!

These screen shots are all as of today and are property of their prospective owners (16/12/2011)

We have been ranked the second best Social Media Agency in the UK by TopSEOS (December 2011)!

We scored a 98/100 overall for factors such as Timeliness (20/20), Brand Management (20/20), Consultation (19/20), Methodology (20) and Reach (19/20)

We are delighted and this is an excellent reward for our teams hard work this year. To find out more about our award winning social media services click here >>

To find out more about our award – click here >>

YouTube For Schools promises classrooms access to educational videos without the risk of pupils being “distracted by the latest music video or cute cat”.

The Google-owned site has put together playlists according to subject matter and intended age level.

Google said it hoped to attract schools which had previously been put off by inappropriate content on the site.

To go to YouTube Schools click here >>

Source BBC

Just a quick blog to let you know our opening hours over the Christmas break:

Thursday, 22nd December – Normal working hours
Friday, 23rd December – Half day – 8:30am – 12:00pm
Monday – 26th December – Office Closed
Tuesday, 27th December – Office Closed
Wednesday, 28th December – Normal working hours
Thursday, 29th December – Normal working hours
Friday, 30th December – Normal working hours
Monday, 2nd January – Office Closed
Tuesday, 3rd January – Normal working hours

This year we’ve helped all kinds of clients to grow their businesses on the internet, from local government to multi-national brands, we provide a wide range of digital marketing services with a complete focus on delivering results.

We wanted to wish all our valued clients & followers a very merry Christmas with this exciting competition. Good luck everyone!

Click the image above or click this link to enter >> For more information about Twitter Competitions click here >>

The home page and the weather sections are the 2 areas which have had the facelift – the rest of the site is as before.

The aim is to make the home page a “window on the BBC” with the aim to make it more easy to access the huge range of content available in the site.

We like the concept but I am sure it will have a mixed reaction as we know how much us brits hate change!

Let the “I hate the new BBC website” related tweets begin! – feel so sorry for you BBC web developers! – you cant win I’m afraid!

To find out more visit – http://www.bbc.co.uk/home/four/welcome/

Also a really nice timeline to show each development:

For more info see www.google.com/insidesearch/

If you are interested in using QR codes in your advertising speak to us today on 0845 257 1225 or find out more here >>

(The photos are all taken on an iPhone – better quality ones coming soon!)

Our signage outside our front door!

New reception signage!

The Clicky Media reception.

And again!

Our new boardroom with signage and sofas!

Another one!

And one more!

Boardroom view of the Chester Amphitheater!

And of Chester’s St Johns Church!

Some official professional photography of Clicky HQ coming soon!

Google announced “In life we connect with all kinds of people, places and things. There’s friends and family, of course, but there’s also the sports teams we root for, the coffee shops we’re loyal to, and the TV shows we can’t stop watching (to name a few). So far Google+ has focused on connecting people with other people. But we want to make sure you can build relationships with all the things you care about—from local businesses to global brands—so today we’re rolling out Google+ Pages worldwide.”

Find out more about Google Pages here >>

Check out Clicky Media’s new page here >>

Plus take a look at some other new pages*

*These pages are not our work! They are listed here also on Google’s official blog >>