Read the latest blog on our projects and new developments in areas like security, WordPress and Typo3. The team at Prater Raines write how projects have progressed with challenges that have been faced. We like to keep you informed in technology and security updates.
Since the launch of PHP7 in December 2015, we’ve been quietly working at upgrading our servers (and all our sites) from PHP5.6 (and at the same time upgrading to MySQL 5.7). We’re pleased to say it’s now complete and all (*) our sites, including our WordPress installations, are running on PHP7.
Although the upgrade process itself had been reasonably simple, it has taken a while to deal with incompatibilities and issues thrown up by the upgrade. There are a number of reasons for the move, but the biggest one is the speed improvement PHP7 delivers: it varies from site to site but PHP7 is estimated to be 100% quicker than PHP5.6!
In July we launched a new site with a bespoke design for Stephen Lloyd, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman (and former MP) for Eastbourne.
The new site was a key part of Stephen’s recently announced bid for re-election at the next General Election.
The site is based on and has the same functionality of our Liberal Democrat service, but the look and feel was intentionally very different to our other sites and based on ideas from Stephen’s team. It’s also designed to be totally mobile friendly and drive sign-ups to build Stephen’s team – and it’s working.
A fresh look for the website of one of our longstanding clients: Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale and Leader of the Liberal Democrats.
The design has been tested to be responsive and look good on a wide range of devices and screen sizes, and is one of over 30 available to the users of our Lib Dem Foci2 service.
Lib Dem clients can find out more on our Foci2 Facebook support group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/Foci2/
The Hampshire Foot and Ankle Clinic combines the expertise of consultant orthopaedic surgeons, podiatrists and physiotherapists with a special interest in foot and ankle conditions.
We moved the Hampshire Foot and Ankle Clinic to a new WordPress website with content imported from their legacy website in March 2016.
Like all our WordPress installations we keep it up to date with the latest updates and offer a host of other support – like making the site a https secured site, full daily back-ups, domain name renewal – as standard.
Prater Raines has been asked by various Liberal Democrat regions to deliver websites for their PCC candidates.
An important part of each campaign will be fundraising, using our Go Cardless powered donation facility, and keeping in touch with supporters, using our extensive email campaigning function.
Email campaigns with Prater Raines can be targeted at every level, with the ability to send emails to supporters in specific polling districts, wards, and constituencies. Email campaigns can also target supporters based upon the campaigns they’ve supported (through signing petitions or completing surveys), the amounts they’ve donated, and whether or not they’re a party member.
Wider campaigns can be developed through the use of petitions, surveys, opinion polls, and events set up from within your site, all of which can easily be shared to social media.
From 11 March 2016 our hourly rate for small jobs and our charges for some domain names are increasing. Most of our other prices are staying the same and other domain name charges are being reduced.
We’re building a lasting memorial in recognition of the service of the Royal Gurkha Rifles.
The Gurkha Memorial Fund was initially set up to raise funds to install a memorial statue in recognition of the service of the Royal Gurkha Rifles in Folkestone. Having achieved this aim, it is now moving on to raising funds to maintain the statue and also to educate young people and the wider community locally about the contribution made by the Royal Gurkha Rifles.
Part of this process was to modernise their existing website by moving it from flat HTML to WordPress. Prater Raines was delighted to complete the work, having been long time supporters of both the Gurkha Justice Campaign and the Gurkha Memorial Fund.
We’ve helped the CIPR (Chartered Institute of Public Relations) launch a newly designed site to complement their new print and digital offering for members and other PR professionals Influence.
Influence replaces the Conversation website which we built for the CIPR a little over a year ago: a WordPress based website that features both bespoke content and curated aggregated content from a wide range of CIPR members Public Relations blogs and sites.
The redesign required a new WordPress theme and a developing a handful of new plugins to support the revised functionality.
We’ve launched the first of two new websites for FIM Capital Ltd, who have recently changed their name from IOMA Fund and Investment Management Limited.
We worked with FIM Capital’s selected designer The Hive to deliver a sleek, easily updated website that looks good on devices from desktop to mobile.
The site is based on WordPress, making it an easy to maintain and cost-effective option, but overlaid with completely bespoke design and a few neat touches!
Prater Raines advised on site usability throughout the development process, proposing solutions that would ensure the best possibly usability of the sites design on all devices and screen sizes.
Tell MAMA (“Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks”) supports victims of anti-Muslim hate and is a public service which also measures and monitors anti-Muslim incidents. Their existing website was looking dated so they came to us for help improving its look and usability.
This project involved creating a new design for an existing WordPress installation, with the creation of a customised contact form for reporting hate crimes and anti-Islamic extremism in the UK. The ability to automatically share posts to social media was also added to the site’s functionality.