gibbsBlog

Gibbs Studios wishes you and your family a very joyful holiday season and a happy new year!

When neighbors help neighbors in emergencies, there’s reason to celebrate. That is why every U.S. president since Franklin D. Roosevelt has declared March as Red Cross Month.

President George W. Bush said in this year’s proclamation,

“We are grateful for the tireless work of the volunteers and staff of the American Red Cross. During this month, we pay tribute to this remarkable organization…”

Learn more about our fabulous client: Concord Area, NH Red Cross »

Celebrated every year on March 8, International Women’s Day (IWD) is the global day connecting all women around the world and inspiring them to achieve their full potential. IWD celebrates the collective power of women past, present and future.

From Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director, UNFPA, “The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, “Ending impunity for violence against women,” calls for stronger commitment and action. The widespread impunity that exists today not only encourages further abuses and suffering. It also sends the signal that male violence against women is acceptable or normal. It is not. Together, we can and must do more to prevent violence against women, provide services to survivors, and ensure that perpetrators are punished.”

Watch World Education’s slideshow on Educating Girls and Women: Inspiring Imagination and Ingenuity around the Globe.

Learn More about International Women’s Day:

- International Women’s Day
- United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
- United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

From Jakob Nielsen, UseIt.com:

“The ten most egregious offenses against users. Web design disasters and HTML horrors are legion, though many usability atrocities are less common than they used to be. Since my first attempt in 1996, I have compiled many top-10 lists of the biggest mistakes in Web design. See links to all these lists at the bottom of this article. This article presents the highlights: the very worst mistakes of Web design.”

Top 10 Web Design Mistakes - Updated for 2007

1. Bad search
2. PDF files for online reading
3. Not changing the color of visited links
4. Non-scannable text
5. Fixed font size
6. Page titles with low search engine visibility
7. Anything that looks like an advertisement
8. Violating design conventions
9. Opening new browser windows
10. Not answering users’ question

Jakob Nielsen has been called “the guru of Web page usability” (The New York Times).

Jakob Nielsen, Ph.D., is a User Advocate and principal of the Nielsen Norman Group which he co-founded with Dr. Donald A. Norman (former VP of research at Apple Computer). Until 1998 he was a Sun Microsystems Distinguished Engineer.

Dr. Nielsen founded the “discount usability engineering” movement for fast and cheap improvements of user interfaces and has invented several usability methods, including heuristic evaluation.

Read the full article on UseIt.com »

Oct 23, 2006 — We’ve been working on a redesign of our own site for a few weeks and became inspired to launch it when we heard about the Pink for October campaign.

Finally that nice, but completely irrelevant, photo of Ireland is gone. We couldn’t be happier! What’s even better is that the process of changing the look of our site only took about two hours thanks to having originally coded this site using CSS as the architectural foundation.

In the near future we’re hoping to add a blog that will feature news from our clients and the incredible work they do. We’re also going to include some key articles about creative and innovative Web design, technology and strategy.

We hope you like the new design. Tell us what you think.

(Claremont, NH — March 9, 2006) Gibbs Studios won first place in the “Outer Limits - Large” for the QuitWorks Web site at the Eighth Annual New Hampshire Internet Awards March 8th at the Center of New Hampshire in Manchester.

The “Outer Limits-Large” category is for Web sites designed by New Hampshire designers for companies with 26 or more employees located outside of New Hampshire. QuitWorks is a free stop-smoking service developed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Gibbs Studios also received a second-place award in the Best Government Web site category for the New Hampshire Public Health Network (NHPHN) Web site. The NHPHN is financed under an agreement with the State of New Hampshire, Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health Services, in coordination with the New Hampshire Department of Safety with funds provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It works to assure coordinated and comprehensive delivery of essential public health services and serves as a local liaison with state agencies involved in the public’s health and safety.

Both Web sites were developed in partnership with John Snow, Inc., an organization dedicated to improving the health of individuals and communities throughout the world.The event was hosted by NH.com, the state’s premier site for news, information and events, created and hosted the Internet Awards to recognize online excellence in New Hampshire.

This year set a record for the event in terms of entries, with 307 sites were nominated in 22 categories, representing every economic sector in the state: health care, automotive, real estate, public service, government, media, retail and service, as well as sites related to schools, kids, manufacturing, hospitality, tourism and business in general. According to event manager Tricia Baker Schmitt, attendance topped last year’s numbers as well.

“This event gets bigger every year and the competition gets tougher,” said NH.com New Media Manager Ernesto Burden. “That’s a direct reflection of the maturity of the Web as a necessary channel by which to do business, and the fact that New Hampshire companies and design firms got into this playing field early and kept the energy high in terms of growth and innovation.”

Comedian Mike McDonald reprised his role as emcee for a second year. McDonald is a regular in Las Vegas and has appeared on Showtime, HBO, and the Comedy Channel. He has has entertained our troops in over 40 different countries while touring with the USO.

This year’s event also raised awareness of the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth (CHaD). CHaD staff members were available to answer questions and accept a donation on behalf of the NH Internet Awards to help further the hospital’s use of technology in the care of their pediatric patients.

About the Awards
The New Hampshire Internet Awards (NHIA) is an annual celebration of the talent and creativity of New Hampshire web designers, professionals and hobbyists alike.

NH.com is proud to sponsor this annual event as the leading Web site for New Hampshire visitors, residents and newcomers.

The Awards recognize design, programming, and creativity. All sites are judged by out-of-state Web designers over a one-month period. And the contest culminates in an Awards Gala where the sites are projected on the screen, elegant glass trophies and certificates are presented, designers have the opportunity to network with colleagues and friends, and everyone enjoys good food and drink.

Contact us to discuss your Web site needs.