Matchday programmes in the past have only been available in hard copy and only available at the match itself. The Saints were looking for a way to deliver the programme online to those fans who could not attend the game, whilst also delivering the page turn experience that they would have in the stadium.

The programmes have opened up a new revenue stream for the club in market segments tha were previously unattainable for programme sales.  International and ex-patriot fans can now download the programme and take part in the matchday experience.  Closer to home, local fans can now download the programme up to 24 hours before the match starts, meaning that the matchday build up and anticipation can start much earlier.

The programme is already selling well and Saints are very please with the final result.  Saints Marketing Manger Chris Hayler comments, “A fantastic effort and a great final product!… On a personal note thank you so much for your dedication, diligence and overall pro-active approach in pulling this together.”

For more information about matchday programmes please get in touch.

So what does this mean for web designers?  Well hopefully we’ve all been designing website that are compatible across all browsers, but there are of course those websites around that are older that Google Chrome, or that don’t look as good as they could in the browser.

So who’s next?  Most web designers would perhaps hope to see the demise of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.  Old versions of IE are enough to make any web designer pull their hair out, but even the latest editions have their challenges for web development.

With 45.51% of the market share in the UK, IE doesn’t look to be going anywhere just yet, but surely if anyone can do it, Google can.

Interesting?  Why not read more about browser and device compatibility and website accessibility.

Matchday programmes are traditionally in hard-copy, i.e. a printed programme only available at the match, on the day.  Many clubs are seeing an opportunity here to open up new revenue streams and target audiences that are unable to attend the match.

Combined with social networking tools, the online programme creates the match-day experience at home, in the pub or wherever you like with our new device-friendly programme viewer which is also compatible for Apple devices such as iPhones and iPads.

Often an untapped market for sports clubs is the ex-patriot or foreign fan-base.  The online programme viewer allows them to participate in matchday traditions, such as browsing through the matchday programme, playing the ‘spot-the-ball’ competition and even watching pre-match interviews on embedded videos.

If you feel that your club could benefit from online programmes, please get in touch with Anna Percival on 08452 300 189 or email creative[at]aap3.com.  Alternatively, read more on our online programme web page.

The transformation was relativey quick and encorporated a minor re-design to accomodate new advances in the web world and changes to company products and solutions also.

“Editing the site is remarkably simple now and I can control changes made by other throughout the site as well – helping to protect our brand” explains Marketing Executive, Michael Hollands.

Converting a site to WordPress can be a simple and inexpensive process.  Why not get in touch to discuss how thsi could help your organisation, and for a personalised quotation.

Our new site has lots to boast about; firstly it validates as W3C compliant, secondly it is fully WAI (DDA) compliant, and finally we feel it represents us as an organisation and our values.

If you are interested in getting a website built in WordPress please feel free to get in touch!

Finally, we’d love to hear your feedback, please submit any comments via our contact form.  Thank you!

A cookie is a small piece of tracking code that is placed on a website to track the visitor and store some information about them. For example, when you return to some website you might see ‘Hello Bob’ and you might wonder how it remembered you without being logged in – this is the cookie’s work.

The new law introduced in May makes it illegal to use cookies without getting the user’s permission, although the law does not make it clear how this permission should be sought.

Internet companies such as Google and Facebook are likely to be very concerned as the new law could seriously affect their business which relies heavily on highly targeted marketing – which uses the dreaded cookie!

How to comply:

This is an extract from an FT.com article (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/033a2568-86f4-11e0-92df-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1RQeGplSt)

● Pop ups: Companies could display a small pop-up box on their websites asking users for permission to collect data. However, there are fears that internet users would be inundated with hundreds of pop-up boxes, making surfing the web virtually impossible. Internet retailers are terrified this would hurt sales.

● Tracking icons: Big internet advertising companies like Google, Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft, publishers including the Financial Times and the European Advertising Standards Alliance, have committed to a system in which an icon is displayed on any adverts that use tracking technology. Users can click on the icon for more information about targeting and can opt out of such tracking at youronlinechoices.eu. However, consumer protection groups are unsatisfied by the approach and despite some favourable noises, governments have made no definitive commitments to it.

● Browser settings: Internet browsers such as Firefox and Internet Explorer allow users to set some controls over what cookies they will allow on their computers. If these controls were more sophisticated and more people used them, companies might be able to assume users had consented to tracking based on what settings they had on their browser. However too few people understand browser settings at the moment for data protection authorities to accept this as a solution.

aap³ creative solutions will keep track of the situation and post again soon.

Standards-compliant is a term often used in describing websites and web browsers relative compliance with web standards proposed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Although there is no perfect browser that seamlessly adheres to all standards, W3C compliance works to ensure better interoperability in the future.

In addition to offering future-proofing, compliance ensures that your entire audience can access your website, regardless of any disabilities or the device they are using to view your website.

To start with, compliance will be predominately delivered using our latest adopted platform; WordPress.  It is our intention that compliance will be rolled out across all platforms over time.

Read more about compliance on our compliance web pages.

Like our other adopted platforms, WordPress is also an open source CMS.  This year, at the SXSW conference, WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg revealed that WordPress now powers 12 per cent of the internet, which equates to a massive 30.6 million websites worldwide built in the platform.  With these figures, there is no doubt that WordPress is the number one content management system.

WordPress originated as a blogging tool with little other functionality or purpose.  It has grown into a versatile, powerful CMS delivering the latest capabilities in a compliant and accessible format.

Rationale

We have chosen WordPress as our PHP platform due to the following:

• WordPress is Open Source
  This means that there are no license fees or setup charges for using the software.  It also means that there is no custom development tying you into using the same developer just because they are the only people who can understand their coding.  We want you to keep using us because we are good at what we do.

• WordPress is the most user-friendly CMS in its class
  WordPress won the Most Popular CMS in Technorati’s Top 100, as well as Overall Best Open Source CMS Award for the 2009. One of the reasons it has been so widely adopted is that it has a very easy-to-use, intuitive backend. WordPress’ plugin architecture and templating system are also well-known for being simple to customize and build upon as you need to.
• WordPress has a thriving community
  WordPress 3.0 (launched in February 2011) had 11 million downloads in the first 42 days it became available.  Millions of users are actively using and contributing to WordPress development to make it the best open source CMS available. WordPress is a solid platform for any large or expanding business to build on, and it’s constantly improving. A major benefit is that improvements to core security, bug fixes, and general upgrades will always be available to you at no cost.  With custom development, it is likely you would be charged for this.
• The WordPress Platform is highly extendable
  The WordPress plugin directory recently surpassed 100 million downloads.  WordPress has evolved into a sophisticated CMS that can handle any kind of multimedia, syndication, and social networking features that you see around the web on large sites such as Facebook and Twitter.  aap³ Creative Solutions have a lot of experience using the platform and are familiar with many of the plugins available.  This experience helps us to choose the right option for you as well as customizing them to your unique requirements.

• Compliance and Accessibility
  Using our knowledge and a variety of WordPress plugins, we can ensure that your website is fully WC3 compliant and adheres to WAI / DDA compliance.

To discuss how WordPress could be using for your next website, please feel free to get in touch.

A portal is a secure site for use by a group or community of individuals who all share something in common. This may be that they purchased the same product, or live in a certain area. Or, they may be an employee of a company or a member or an organisation or group.

The portal provides a means for these individuals to communicate online and share ideas and materials. Portals are often confused for social networking sites, but although they share a similar set of functionality, it is the content and subject matter that joins the individuals.

“manage and keep a track of what your customer, members, stakeholders and the general public are saying about you – this way you have better opportunity to control and manage information”

aap³ utilises opensource .Net technology to provide a secure portal so that groups can communicate in a gated environment. aap³ has years of experience in establishing and nurturing communities, and has a sound methodology to ensure that they grow and flourish.

aap³ works with organisations to help them maximise the benefits of building communities around portal based infrastructures. We achieve this by combining our web-based membership portal system, community support services and our unique methodology to help your organisation realise direct benefits from its community.

A fundamental benefit of building your own portal or community is the ability to manage and keep a track of what your customer, members, stakeholders and the general public are saying about you – this way you have more opportunity to control and manage information about you or your organisation on the web.

Our portals can be utilised to include:

Customer Portals

A customer portal providing exclusive content and a controlled environment for them to share information and opinions about your products or services – provide a place for this before they create their own beyond your control.

Alumni

An Alumni portal for companies, universities and colleges provides added value and a source of valuable information for your members.

Professional Bodies

Membership portal for professional bodies and associations to deliver a feel of exclusivity and added value to members.

Associations

Common Interest portal for personal interest associations and groups where members can share information, opinions and seek advice.

Read more about Portals, Intranet, Extranet and Communities…

Functionality

Functionality includes:

• Document Management with server integration
• News and Articles
• Profiles (like facebook or Myspace)
• Status Updates
• Internal Messaging
• Forums
• Groups
• Friends
• Events (free and paid)
• Much more…

For more information about our portal capabilities or for an informal conversation about how we can help you, call 0845 604 2713 or visit our website www.aap3creative.com

Maintaining the colour theme and company typography, the elements team successfully met the objectives of ABEX by designing a creative yet informative site which is easy to navigate and accessible to all website users.

aap³ elements worked with ABEX to restructure their product offering, which is now easy to navigate through and gives key information to visitors.

aap³ have provided ABEX with a website that they can update regularly, by adding news articles and keeping their products and services up to date through and intuitive listings database.