Mobile internet use is growing rapidly, with about 205 million mobile data users in the United States¹. In recent years mobile devices have become much more sophisticated, and frankly, much more useful. The mobile web is no longer a novelty.

Three years ago we took our first steps in making our own site “iPhone friendly” by adding an alternative to the Flash-based navigation, to be used when a browser doesn’t support Adobe Flash. This simple change made our site usable, but zooming and scrolling in two directions isn’t an ideal experience.

We’re usually so busy working on clients’ sites that our own site gets neglected, but recently we took the next step and created a simplified version of our site that’s optimized for mobile devices. If you go to www.consensus-technology.com on any of the popular smartphones you’ll be automatically redirected to this optimized site. It has the information we think mobile users are most likely to want, presented in a very straightforward way.

The footer of each page contains a large “View Full Site” link so users can easily get to everything, but the things they’re most likely to want are now much easier to find. For instance, the mobile contact page lets them ‘tap’ to call us, and includes a link that opens the Map application to find our location and get directions. (If a particular phone doesn’t have this feature then it will open Google Maps instead.) As we gather statistics on how the site is being used we may make adjustments to its content and design.

What Are People Saying About Your Mobile Website?

Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve always embraced artistic endeavors and have many clients and friends in the arts. Recently we started a ‘celebrate the arts’ feature on our Facebook page. Each Friday, as we wind down our work week and look forward to some recreation, we celebrate the creativity and hard work of an individual or group involved in the arts. This week we’re focusing on our friend and client, “Best of NH” composer, Lawrence Siegel.

Larry is currently in Houston preparing for a major concert: on November 23rd the Houston Symphony and Houston Symphony Chorus will perform a full symphonic version of “Kaddish”, Larry’s oratorio which draws on the actual words of Holocaust survivors. “My intention in writing it is to make common cause with those who survived the Holocaust. I want the audience to feel some shadow of what the survivors felt and feel. I want us to carry in our hearts, and, metaphorically, on our backs, those who perished.” says Larry. The work is powerfully direct, never more so than in the resilient, defiant, and joyful closing movement, “So Here I Am”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Should you use Social Media?

One of the many data security seminars I attended this year to stay current as a computer security specialist  (I can’t remember which or I’d give credit) included a good story as illustration…

Imagine this is 1989 and you’re a foreign intelligence agent tasked with identifying potential “assets” in a US aerospace defense contractor. You target female senior engineers, divorced, in their 40s. It might take months of research to identify individuals, and months more to find their interests and daily habits. All of this would be quite costly. Fast forward to 2009: you could find all this data and much more in minutes through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and similar sites. People tend to trust contacts they make through social networking sites so after a few dozen interactions, and almost no expense, they trust you. You know what their hobbies are, their likes and dislikes, and are well placed to recruit them. This is one of the many nightmares facing big business and government, and it’s one of the reasons Read the rest of this entry »