How easy it is to say ‘I must have …’ and then include everything from a shopping list of features which pushes the website budget through the roof. Using the MoSCoW method provides a focus for what the website really needs to achieve its business objectives and sets the scene for talks about requirements with the design agency.

Earlier that day we had been talking through a potential project with an agency. It was for an event-based organisation who were operating on a tight budget. The client wanted a booking form, and we were advising that it could be better to focus on promoting the events on the website.

Applying the learning from the BCS event I would now rephrase the discussion. We realised that the business objective is getting more people to the events through marketing and providing a method to book an event. But within the budget, the latter could be achieved just with a simple email link. Having an easier/smarter method of handling the booking (i.e. through a form with data checking and some standardised ways of present the information) would make the process easier and be more necessary if it were a mass-market product, but that’s less of a priority for this organisation at this time. So in this circumstance the form would either be an ‘S’ (should have) or ‘C’ (could have) depending on the other features requested.

A product launch shortly after the move gave us the opportunity to support Totsbots through the process. We gave them access to areas which they’d previously not been able to control meaning they’ll be able to manage future updates without needing to call on us. And of course if they wish to work with another developer in the future they’ll have full access to the code.

In the short term we’re looking after the site to make sure that it’s stable – we’ll monitor activity on the server and in analytics, and work with the information provided by Google Webmaster Tools. We’re looking forward to working with Point 6 and Totsbots as the brand moves forward.

Her main points are:

• You’re not making decisions (so you force the people who use your product to make them instead)
• You think your opinion counts (unless you’re the end user, it probably doesn’t)
• You don’t measure it (you’ve probably not even defined metrics for ‘good experience’ let alone tried to gather data for it)
• You don’t really care (companies who really care shape their organisations, their accounting systems, the culture around their customers)

Her argument that the iPhone is the result of Apple caring about the customer experience has been underlined recently with the tales of their obsession extending to the packaging.

It highlights the challenge for outside agencies that have little or no influence on the business culture of their clients, and why we should treasure those who are aiming to make their companies focus on their customers’ needs.

A highly recommended read.

We then worked closely with the Point 6 design team on the requirements of an ecommerce site to ensure we could reach the target of launching alongside the opening of the first store in Guildford. Initially we focussed on the critical elements needed to get them ready for launch, knowing that the site would evolve as information was gathered on user activity. We used Magento for the site build and Point 6 provided the bespoke skin which we matched to their artwork. Additional work included a bulk import of the product catalogue and advising Sabichi on a variety of issues, including how to use the attributes of a product to help their customers find what they’re looking for.

After a successful launch, the Redefine Website Care programme ensures that servers are maintained, site performance is monitored, tweaks and adjustments are covered and their marketing campaigns are supported.

Over the next few weeks we’ll catch up with highlights about our recent projects, but in the meantime our portfolio is up-to-date if you want to see some of our recent work we are showcasing.

The task was to build a portfolio style site which would reflect the quality of craftsmanship, the originality of the pool designs and also convey the manufacturing process which, in itself, is incredible.

Some of the site functionality includes being able to pick up and move around images to be able to compare patterns and colours. The About Us images are placed using co-ordinates and are stacked to give the effect of layers of photos. In the Projects pages you can get more information by clicking on an image and these too are stacked.

The site wasn’t specifically built for the iPad but we’ve made modifications to some of the functions, such as adding swipe gestures, using a compatible video player and performance enhancements.

We’ve made extensive use of JavaScript throughout the site, but it’s still accessible without this technology.

The Register reported on the day that the regulations came into force that the majority of EU states would not implement the full, or even partial, set of measures from the EU Directive.This would seem to underline a disconnect between those people who drafted the law and those who will be enforcing it.

The ICO website has add a form to the header of all pages, but it will be a design challenge to create something that would work on a site that has a stronger visual aesthetic. Other than that the only major UK site that we’ve seen take any noticeable steps has been radiotimes.com. That displays a pop-up message the first time you visit for a brief period of time to explain that they’re aware of the new regulations and that they’re working on the best way of obtaining consent but haven’t implemented anything yet.

The UK Government is still talking about getting web browsers amended so that the user can state their preferences through settings rather than have the onus on the website owner.

So for the moment the key action to take is to understand how cookies are being used on your site and amend your privacy policy. In most cases for a small business running a content site this will be the use of a service such as Google Analytics. And then we have to see how the regulators come up with a ‘light-touch solution’ that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport continues to mention.

Find the normal web cookies

As a starting point for the new legislation you might want to audit your website(s) to find out where cookies are being used. From there you can try to identify why they’re needed so that you can decide if they fall within the ‘strictly necessary’ category, be more explicit in the information you give to users or possibly look to amend the behaviour of your site.

The easiest way we’ve found of identifying the normal web cookies used on a website is to use the Opera browser. In the Preferences dialog box under the ‘Advanced’ tab you will find an option for ‘Cookies’. Tick the box to ‘Ask me before accepting cookies’.

Now if you visit our site – www.redefine.co.uk – you will have a number of dialog boxes pop-up telling you about each cookie that is being sent because you are looking at our home page. Under the ‘Cookie details’ section the key pieces of information are:

• the name (e.g. __utma)
• when it expires – either a date or ‘at the end of the session’ (i.e. when you quit the browser or after a period of inactivity, usually about 20-30 minutes)
• the domain

You should receive three cookies – __utma, __utmb & __utmc – which are all related to the fact that we use Google Analytics. They come through more than once and have different expiry dates (a year’s time, the same time tomorrow & at the end of the session).  If you click on a link to another page then you’ll receive the same set of cookies again – they’re being refreshed so that the different page views are linked together into the same visit and Analytics also is aware that on subsequent visits that we’re old hands.

The domain information is interesting as they are all connected to redefine.co.uk even though we’re using a third party service. This means that the cookie information isn’t sent back to Google if you try another of our websites, for example First Friday. If instead the cookie was linked to google.com then every visit to a website that uses Google Analytics could be connected together by Google to trace your Internet viewing.

There should be a low level of concern about privacy for those cookies that are due to expire at the end of your session. Frequently you will find these for sites where you can login (e.g. Motor Sport Magazine uses PHPSESSID for that purpose) or on ecommerce sites to remember what you have put into your basket. That tracking is only while you’re active on the site, after you quit your browser it will be forgotten. That’s why you’ll sometimes find a ‘remember my details’ option as it puts the same data into a cookie that will last between browser sessions.

If you want to see an example of a third-party cookie that has a longer expiry date then try Smashing Magazine, click one of the adverts on the right, and you will receive a cookie from auslieferung.commindo-media-ressourcen.de.

Once you have been through your own website you will definitely want to uncheck the cookie prompt tick box in Opera. But it will have given you an idea of the how much the Internet depends on cookies. And how annoying pop-ups about them will become for UK web users.

Find the Flash cookies

Flash cookies are treated differently than normal web cookies & have been the subject of concern for people interested in privacy as until now they have been notoriously difficult to delete. The latest version (10.3) is now supposed to be more integrated with your browser so that if you clear your cookies through the normal browser route then it will also delete those for Flash as well.

The easiest way to check whether your website has Flash cookies is to use the global settings option that Adobe provide through their own website. This will allow you to view all that you have received irrespective of which browser you have been using.

The best approach is to start with a clean slate by using the ‘Delete all sites’ link. Then go back to your website again and visit the pages where you might have Flash content – e.g. videos, page turning software, animations, etc. – and at the end return to the Adobe page to see if there are any domains listed.

So, for example, if after clearing the Flash cookies you go to the Amazon home page you will see that there is an animated ad on the right hand side of the screen. Returning to the Adobe page (or refreshing it if you have it open in another tab) you can see that there is an entry for ‘g-ecx.images-amazon.com’ and that 1KB has been used. Similarly if you visit the Point 6 Design home page then you will see on the right their new brochure using a ‘page-turning’ Flash application. This adds another cookie for ‘static.issuu.com’.

Document and discuss options

At the end of this process you should have a clear idea about which cookies are used on your website(s) and some information as to whether they’re fairly restricted (i.e. on your domain or only for the current session). You’ll want to talk with your developers to try to identify how they are used or for those that use third-party domains you might want to consider alternative solutions.

The next step will be to decide how you obtain consent from your users. For content sites there are few options other than pop-ups or interstitial pages. If the cookie is linked to having something like a user account then you have the less obtrusive solution of including an additional checkbox along with the terms and conditions.

We will return to this in a future article once there are some example solutions in day-to-day use. It’ll be interesting to see how the Information Commission’s site changes on the 26th May.