5 UX lessons to learn from 5 UK banks

We've recently launched a separate company for our own start up HallsHire Limited - it's been going 20 years now and has grown to a size that it's best being it's own beast that a subdivision of 18a. So that's exciting times! But as a result, we needed to open…

Why your traffic stats are changing: GA4 vs GA Universal Analytics

Google Universal Analytics is being turned off in July 2023, as they move everyone to their new beast - GA4. Google have also been sending people emails lately to say they're automatically moving you over to GA4 this month (March) if you haven't moved yourself already. The change over -…

Speeding up arranging meetings with AvailabilityCal

We've recently launched AvailabilityCal.com - a neat little tool to help ease that back and forth over email when you're trying to arrange a mutually convenient time for a meeting. Apparently the average meeting takes 7 emails to arrange - eugh! Now, as long as my Google Calendar is up…

The rise of AI

AI is quickly becoming one of the most talked-about topics in 2023 and if early indications are right, it stands to radically transform many people's lives - in a very big way in a very short space of time! AI, or artificial intelligence, is a branch of computer science that…

The Dos and Don’ts of Sharing Your Availability Calendar with Others

We've developed AvailabilityCal.com to help make sharing your availability calendar with others quick and simple. Sharing your calendar can be a great way to streamline scheduling and improve communication. However, it's important to follow some best practices to ensure that you're sharing your calendar appropriately and effectively. In this article,…

Why Availability Calendars Are Essential for Effective Time Management

Effective time management is a crucial skill for professionals, entrepreneurs, and individuals who want to achieve their goals and maximize their productivity. One powerful tool for managing your time is an availability calendar, which allows you to schedule and organise your activities, meetings, and tasks in a visual and intuitive…

Asking people to allow analytics cookies to help you out

I spotted an interesting approach to asking for Analytics cookies on themodernhouse.com at the weekend.

Does ChatGPT repeat itself and produce duplicate content?

Can we rely on ChatGPT to produce unique content for us each and every time?

Upgrading php7.4 to php8.0 on Amazon Linux 2 Webserver

We recently had to upgrade a webserver running php7.4 to php8.0. It's a relatively easy task, but as with everything, it's a lot easier if you know the right buttons to press. So below are the steps I took to complete the procedure. Firstly, I needed to make a note…

Installing Supervisor to process Laravel queues on an EC2 instance running AML2

I recently had to install Supervisor on an Amazon Linux 2, EC2 webserver and it didn't seem to be as straight forward as the Laravel docs made out, so I thought I'd leave some notes here for future reference and to perhaps save somebody else a few hours trial and error. Here…

Getting a SSL certificate ready before launch: should you use Let’s Encrypt?

Let's Encrypt can only work on the final domain of a website meaning you can't set it up in advance.

Getting set up locally: what does it mean and why do developers do it?

Developers often need to get set up locally before they can work on a website, but what does that mean?