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Case study: Helen Field Photography

Helen Field is a talented photographer who is keen to advertise and sell her work on line. Being on a strict budget, she opted to use Clikpic - an on-line content management and hosting system geared directly to photographers with a range of templates and themes pre-built for novice on-line developers such as herself. The demos and introductory examples showed beautiful sites with lovely logos, menus and galleries. An ideal fit, so Helen thought. However, the there are some caveats to this.

The system provides a series of forms for photographers and artists to upload images and add text content, with a myriad of options for creating slide shows, galleries and web pages which give them lots of control over their visual styling. The system is indeed capable of producing great-looking sites - the problem is that to achieve the kind of results Helen had seen in the demos you have to have quite a good understanding of web styling using Cascading Style Sheets (take a look at W3Schools' CSS tutorials for a basic grounding on the structure and use of CSS). After plumping for one of the pre-made templates and uploading the content, she then set about the task of trying to make the site presentable.

After weeks of effort, she decided that the site wasn't working.

"My site lacked flair, personality and sophistication and to be honest was downright ugly," complained Helen. "I also received similar feedback from a Social Media Marketing expert who advised me to do something about it!"

At this point, she approached us about redesigning her site and since Helen had already renewed her subscription to Clikpic, she was keen to make the most of her investment.

First, Maff spent some time hitting the system with proverbial hammers to see what could be achieved, before reporting back to Helen that we could indeed produce something that fitted the bill, along with screen-shots of a very rough and ready test design. The design work itself was geared towards fitting the look of the site to some themes and images that Helen supplied, but completely within the technical limitations of the design tools of the system. Luckily Clikpic allows for extensive visual changes, so the look Helen wanted could indeed be achieved with some work.

The design work itself was then pretty much carried out 'on the fly'. The settings were directly placed into the very CSS-like editing system, using alignment, margins, borders and padding entered into forms. Much of the work consisted of working out what extent of visual change is available at each level and at which point the settings had to be entered to achieve the desired result. The trick is knowing where to set the defaults and precisely when to add custom settings. This is one of the main reasons why the best-looking sites on the system have been produced by professional web developers and designers, since they already understand these concepts thanks to a working knowledge of CSS.

Once the style of the pages, text and menus was complete, a slide show was added to the front page (also included in the system). To make the most of the design, elements of the page styling were integrated into a set of photos specifically for the front page slide show. A border and background that match the site were added to tie the look together, while a subtle hand-drawn shadow gave the photos a touch of depth.

Once the last odds and ends were finished off and the content arranged, the last thing was to add a logo. Helen kindly supplied a hand-written signature that was perfect. This was scanned, coloured and combined into a complete logo that adorns the top of each page.

With everything in place, Helen now has a site that both reflects her personality and shows off her work in the way that it deserves. What's more, it's in a system that she's already familiar with, so she can continue to add more content to the site safe in the knowledge that it will both work properly and look how she wants.

To see the the results of this work and to look at some of Helen's great photography, visit helenfieldphotography.co.uk.

As for the system itself, although it can be complex and occasionally awkward to work with, Clikpic is definitely a workable solution for professionals working with artwork and photographs that want a highly-customisable content management system for showing their work. You can have a look at www.clikpic.com.

Read the CSS tutorials on W3Schools? Take a trip to cssplay.co.uk or css-tricks.com for more advanced adventures in Cascading Style Sheets.

Sue Ryder charity event

Guy met Sue Ryder representative Chris Andrews at a BNI meeting this morning and Chris asked if we could help promote an upcoming Sue Ryder charity event, so naturally we agreed.

The 'Swing for Sue' event is a 1940s-themed swing night in aid of the charity, taking place at 8pm on Thursday 8th December 2011 at The Tunnels near Temple Meads, Bristol.

There will be live music from singer Kayleigh Elliott, swing dancing, stilt walking and visitors are strongly encouraged to come in 1940s fancy dress. Here are some more details from the press release:

"The venue will be transformed with brilliant 1940s decorations and fantastic swing music.

Swing for Sue is a great opportunity to enjoy a lively evening with friends or colleagues whilst raising money for a worthy cause. All proceeds from the event will go to Sue Ryder; a healthcare charity that cares for people living with long term and end of life conditions.

Fancy dress is optional but we strongly encourage it!"

Tickets are only £8 in advance or £10 on the door. They are available from the Sue Ryder shops on Park Street and Whiteladies Road, Bristol Ticket Shop, the Tunnels, or by contacting the Sue Ryder fundraising team.

For more information about the event, please visit the event's facebook page here or contact the fundraising team on 0117 929 3618 or via email at amber.andrews@sueryder.org.

Charity website: www.sueryder.org

Venue website: www.thetunnelsbristol.co.uk

kids with guns

Today sees the release of Activision's greatly-anticipated Modern Warfare 3, the latest in the long-running Call of Duty series and with war, terrorism and all the violence and aggression that such subjects suggest as its primary content, the series is as graphic a representation of warfare as can be found anywhere. However, one element that usually goes along with the release of such a title has been so far remarkably muted: The controversy over children playing violent games.

With an extensive history in the games industry, I always feel a certain amount of tension when a game such as MW3 is released, preparing for a proverbial battening of the hatches in preparation for the inevitable tabloid furore, but the response this time lacks the bile of indignant outrage we've come to expect. There are very few column inches dedicated to the graphic violence, the glorification of war or even the fact that the game will find its way into the hands of minors. Instead, the media seems to be concentrating far more on the game's controversial development, with high-profile layoffs and staff walk-outs threatening the completion of the title. Does this mean that the games industry has reached a level of maturity where its output can be considered with the same criteria used for judging TV and film? It appears so.

What's my motivation?

So what has happened to bring video games out from under the stigma of being (to quote the Coen Brothers), “You know, for kids”? One point is that many of those with children too young to legally play games with a mature theme are gamers themselves. According to figures from the Entertainment Software Association, the average age of gamers is now around 37, while only around 20% of players are young boys under 17 – traditionally considered the main consumer of video games. This suggests that there is a much stronger awareness of the appropriateness of video games for certain age groups.

Another possible factor is that technology has given developers more control of the narrative of games. In the previous generation narrative felt very much like a simplistic justification for another section of running, bashing or shooting (if, indeed, it existed at all). Now cut-scenes providing exposition and back story can be created within the game itself, allowing them to be an interactive part of the narrative flow. This gives in-game events something that was previously lacking – context.

This puts the onus on the developers to ensure that every scene, particularly those of a sensitive or controversial nature, has a justifiable place in the narrative in the same way as filmmakers and TV producers. Returning to Activision's series, the first in the Modern Warfare series was lauded for its frank and unflinching portrayal of war. The game was not shy in showing how the fuzzy edges of international politics meet the dirty frontiers of terrorism and covert operations, including a harrowing sequence where the player has limited, awkward and (understandably) short control over a US Ranger slowly dying after being caught in a nuclear blast. Rarely has a game shone a light on the distinctly unglamorous death of a protagonist.

The follow-up, Modern Warfare 2, although a massive commercial success, was not quite as successful in ensuring its controversial scenes had a justifiable context. The discussion point in the sequel was the level “No Russian”. Set in an airport, the player took the part of an undercover agent tasked with infiltrating a Russian terrorist cell having to take part in a massacre in an airport terminal. Surprisingly, the shooting of innocent civilians was primarily attacked for being a clumsy and unwarranted attempt to justify the violent action of the "good guys" in subsequent levels rather than a more general outrage at the brutality of the scene (although there was a certain amount of pitchfork waving from the usual villagers).

This time around the developers have arguably been working even harder to push the tabloid buttons, with two scenes that historically would have been likely to cause clenched teeth and raised blood pressure in middle-England (if you want to avoid the POSSIBLE SPOILERS then skip this next section). One is a terrorist attack on the London Underground which could be seen as a nod towards the 7/7 attacks, while the other is the death of a family (including a young child) in the blast of a truck-bomb. This second one has been most discussed, partly due to the content, but also because a supposedly "leaked" video of (coincidentally) the most controversial scene in the game made its way online shortly before the game's release. Accusations have been rife that this was a cynical attempt to garner attention and fan the flames of outcry that have of late been waning, but even these arguments have largely been limited to technology sites and game discussion forums.

Shock horror!

With games becoming a far more mainstream entertainment, the controversy surrounding particular releases is more akin to showbiz trivia. The previously mentioned troubled development of MW3 has gained far more column inches and TV coverage (even on BBC's Breakfast show) than any of the shocking scenes contained in the game itself, with the stories of alleged discussions between Infinity Ward founders and Electronic Arts and the subsequent sackings, walkouts and drafting of external team, Sledgehammer Games, being a more interesting draw to legitimate journals and gossip merchants alike.

So it would appear that our much-maligned medium can now stand up and blink in the light shared by Hollywood movies and serious TV drama without having to justify the very existence of the type of mature content for mature consumers that has been freely available in the cinema or on TV for decades. And about time too.