Cambridge Web Solutions Blog

16 April 2010

Twitter redesign and Google now considers site loading speed

Web news

Twittters "huge redesign" is on its way
This week Doug Bowman, the head of Twitter’s design team posted a teaser image of a new interface.

The image, whilst not revealing much, does show that profiles are being redesigned and new statistics for each profile will be displayed.  These include how long you have been a Twitter member, the average number of tweets per day and the percentage of @replies.

Google now considers site loading speed
In a blog post this week, search engine GIANT Google announced that it is adding site speed to its list of criteria that affects the page rank of a website.  Google want to achieve maximum speed and efficiency and this is another step in the long road to achieving this.

This puts even more importance on having a hand coded website.  Websites coded by hand don’t insert lots of unnecessary and unwanted code that WISIWIG editors such as Dreamweaver and website templates will add.

Cambridge Web Solutions news

This week Cambridge Web Solutions have been continuing work on Philippa Pearson’s new garden design website and the new St Matthew’s Primary School, Cambridge website.  We are also in the process of redesigning the Simply PR website.

This week’s main feature - Banning social networking in the workplace

To ban or not to ban social network websites within the workplace is an ongoing dilemma facing many CEOs and IT directors in numerous companies. Those companies that do decide to block social networking sites mainly do it for three reasons:

  1. Security risks – several viruses and Trojans have targeted social networking sites and hackers have successfully stolen login details of users.  These login details are usually identical to the login details that they use to access their corporate network.  Businesses fear that hackers may try to login to the corporate network leading to security breaches.
  2. Productivity loss– employee productivity is also a concern for businesses.  Many businesses see social networks as a waste of time and do not want their employees to use them during working hours.
  3. Bandwidth – many social networking sites include videos and large amounts of photos.  This can be a significant burden on a company’s network bandwidth and can slow down the speed of other web applications.

Other reasons include legal liability and the possibility of leaking private corporate information.

As humans we naturally want what we cannot have.  Our huge appetite for sharing information and the large number of ways to access the web has so far frustrated even the most sophisticated attempts to block access.  When a workplace bans social networking, many employees spend a lot of time trying to find ways of getting around the ban, and then even more time trying to hide the fact that they had tried to get around the ban. This often results in less productivity than if they had been allowed to access social networking sites.

Recently, Serena Software launched "Facebook Fridays." On Fridays it allows its staff of 900 (average age, 41) to spend one hour each week on Facebook updating their profiles, collaborating with colleagues and clients, and recruiting for Serena. The company has also set up an employee’s-only group on Facebook as a kind of alternative corporate intranet. It plans to use the portal to exchange documents, update corporate information, and share marketing videos.This is a good idea, however in a recent survey, it was found that 39% of 18-24 year olds would consider quitting social media restricting workplaces. 

When designing and coding websites I occasionally hit a wall or just need 5 minutes doing something else.  It’s a bit like when you are stuck on a crossword, if you put the crossword down and pick it pack up again 5 minutes later, more often than not you are able to get some of the clues that seemed impossible earlier.  I find that quick browses on my social networks are a good way to fill these 5 minutes and then I’m ready for work again.  If I was an employee who could only access social networks at certain times then they wouldn’t necessarily be at the times when I’d want to access them.  I may even find myself stopping work mid flow as I wouldn’t want to miss out on my assigned social networking time.

It is my opinion that with clear guidelines as to what is and isn’t acceptable, social networking sites should be allowed within the workplace.  Employers should let employees know what is acceptable and should extend their internet and email policies to cover social networking.  By banning sites such as Facebook you are in danger of sending the message out that you don’t trust your employees.

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