Monday, March 26th 2012 | Short URL
Here is our latest website, designed and developed for Cycling for All.
Cycling for All belongs to the London based charity, Wheels for Wellbeing, who support disabled people to cycle.
Wheels for Wellbeing commissioned Make Hay to create the project's visual identity, logo and website design and develop the website to meet their aim of providing an online resource for those interested in inclusive cycling.
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This brand new responsive site is designed for optimal use on regular desktop monitors through to small smart phone screens.
It includes many features to allow visitors to gather advice and information on a range of cycling topics and learn about others' experiences.
See our portfolio for full details of the website specification and the services we provide to Wheels for Wellbeing.
We can build a website like this for you too. Do get in touch to tell us about your project.
Thursday, March 15th 2012 | Short URL
You may have heard about the EU Cookie law which is currently causing much discussion amongst web developers and website owners. Within the UK all websites are now subject to an EU law which states that cookies should not be used unless the website user is provided with clear information about the use of cookies and given his or her consent for the cookies to be set during his/her visit to the website.
What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small file which is downloaded and stored on a website user’s computer (or other device) when they visit certain websites. The cookie is then sent back to the website on each visit. Cookies ‘remember’ your visit between web pages, for functions such as setting options (e.g. change text size for accessibility), logging-in to secure pages, affiliate advertising and for tracking web visitors (e.g. Google Analytics), amongst other things.
Cookies are included in the majority of websites and have done for many years. They do their job much of the time without us even noticing. It is likely that your website uses cookies.
What is this law for?
The law is intended to protect people’s privacy when browsing the web. However, it is very broad and even covers cookies which aren’t being used to collect personal information. It’s a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
There are some exceptions to this law but not many. Basically websites will not be required to gain permission from its users to set cookies if those cookies are strictly necessary to provide the service that the user has requested. Therefore e-commerce websites which use a cookie to remember a product added to the shopping basket before proceeding to the checkout do not require permission.
However, cookies used for affiliate adverts and website statistics trackers do need permission.
How does this law affect you?
If you are a website owner in the UK then your website is affected by this law. You will need to be aware of the law, the implications of it and make an informed decision about what to do next.
At this stage there is much debate about the best way to comply with this law and there is still a lot of confusion about how best to approach it without negatively affecting website visitors’ experience and the efficacy of your website.
What does it mean in practice?
The law says that websites need to make information about cookies available and gain the user’s permission before the cookie has been set (or as early as possible). If the cookie is set before the user has been made aware of it and given consent then there are likely to be compliance problems.
Given that not all website visitors will know what a cookie is or even heard of them, this may be quite tricky. Nevertheless the Information Commissioner’s Office states that “The information must be clear, comprehensive and readily available”*
“The website setting the cookies must:
- tell people that the cookies are there
- explain what the cookies are doing, and
- obtain their consent to store a cookie on their device.”*
The practical solutions that some websites have opted for already are a message positioned at the top of the screen or pop-up box which appears over the web page.
You can see some examples already in place here:
ico.gov.uk
allthingsd.com
deliaonline.com
allaboutcookies.org
Some important issues and debates
As you can imagine there has been much discussion and debate about what this law means to businesses, organisations and website visitors. Here are some important issues that have been raised and things to consider:
Enforcement of the law and penalties
Although the law is currently in place the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) have provided a period of time for measures to be implemented at websites and this is by 26th May 2012.
Information from the ICO suggests that a complaint will need to be submitted about an organisation’s website before they begin the enforcement process.
“…in May 2012 the Information Commissioner will consider complaints about cookies in line with his normal approach to complaint handling under the Regulations. This will involve in most cases contacting the organisation responsible for setting the cookies in the first instance asking them to respond to the complaint and explain what steps they have taken to comply with the rules.”*
Enforcement will be carried out by the Information Commissioner as follows:
1. Information notice – This requires that the organisation (website owner) provides information to the Information Commissioner by a specific time. The ICO do not stipulate what this information will be exactly but we would guess that it would be details about the cookies or similar functions that your website is using.
2. Undertaking – The organisation is committed to a specific course of action to improve its compliance.
3. Enforcement notice – The organisation must take the action specified in the notice to bring about compliance with the Regulations. Failure to comply with an enforcement notice can be a criminal offense.
4. Monetary penalty notice – Requires the organisation to pay a monetary penalty of an amount determined by the Information Commissioner’s Office.
The ICO says about enforcement: “The Information Commissioner will take a practical and proportionate approach to enforcing the rules on cookies. He has to enforce the law, but he does have some discretion in how he exercises his formal enforcement powers.”*
More information
The information given here is the basics and by no means constitutes legal advice, nor is it meant to panic anyone. There are more details and further explanations of the law, which you can find at the ICO website and specifically their document ‘Guidance on the rules on use of cookies and similar technologies’.
What to do next
The ICO advises that the first steps should be to:
For our web design clients we can conduct an audit of your site to carry out steps 1 & 2 above and discuss with you how you may approach step 3 and compliance with the law. To request an audit please do contact us.
* quoted from the ICO document ‘Guidance on the rules on use of cookies and similar technologies’.
Monday, March 12th 2012 | Short URL
Where did February go? Not that we're complaining because spring is finally here! Hope you enjoy our latest client news roundup:
Welcome to new Green Hosting Clients:
Cycling for All - An online resource for anyone who thought they couldn't cycle.
Sustainable Saltaire - Creating a more sustainable, successful future for the community.
Polar England - Representing recreation as an artform. Sports products by Factory Design.
More client news...
Fifi Bijoux, luxury ethical jewellery store is highlighted in TV's 'The Wedding Fairy' e-book, promoting fair trade gold.
Factory Design celebrate once again on winning two design awards. The DBA effectiveness award and another for innovative material use. Congratulations guys!
Creative Nottingham share their roundup of upcoming visual art exhibitions in Notts.
Green Talk announce Sir David King as the keynote speaker at the Green Talk 2012 event this summer.
Ask Iris gets ready for 'Any-Body Month'. A chance for anybody to try paralympic sports and activities for free.
A creative Foxglove Covert volunteer makes films of wildlife at the nature reserve.
Climate Change Gardening announces plans for their new project Climate Gardens, making a difference in green spaces in 2012 and beyond.
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust's Cow Appeal gains support from Olympic Storyteller.
Attenborough Nature Centre announces launch of NWT's 2012 peregrine cam. Also, buy your very own cuddly peregrine from the Attenborough Nature Shop.
Ethical Weddings welcomes latest addition to their team. Awwww, congratulations Katie, Jamie and big sister Polly!
Climate East Midlands publishes their 2012 Climate Week programme taking place 12th - 18th March.
Gertie & Mabel get great reviews from their customers.
Images above © Ask Iris and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust
©2011 Make Hay Ethical E-Media Ltd. Company Number: 5223822