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Mark Boulton writes a great article on some of the technicalities of typography which help us ensure that when writing copy for the web, it’s formatted in a way that is easily read.

He references three main areas where we can ensure we’re formatting correctly.

1. Measure - The measure is the width of the block of text. He suggests that it’s kept between 52 and 78 characters for legibility. This is a subjective observation and there is much research into line-lengths. However, measure is important when we consider it with other elements of typography.
2. Leading - Leading is the space between line heights and is pronunced ‘ledding’, like the metal, lead. The leading must always be greater than your word spacing. Mark suggests that a small measure requires less leading, and a wide measure increased leading to retain ease of reading. A great side observation made in the article too in in relation to the often controversial reversed out high-contrast white on dark designs we often see. The readability can be increased in these situations by increasing the leading, tracking and decreasing the font-weight! Thanks Mark :)
3. Tracking- Mark gives us one easy to remember suggestion here. Shorter line lengths, less tracking and vice versa

I found this a very helpful article and look forward to working it into our websites!

~ Rob

We’ve long known that having mirrored or duplicate content across domains can cause problems when trying to build organic rankings.

Well, thanks to the guys at Fresh Egg we’ve got some concrete research that shows how not being careful with ensuring your content looks (and is!) unique can hurt your online marketing strategy.

Even quoting *can* be a problem if your not careful.

So how do you avoid this easily encountered pitfall? Suggestions include writing meta data, page titles and keywords on pages with similar content to ensure that they look different.

Of course the best solution is to make sure that each of your websites has it’s own unique copy. You will be able to link between similar pages with different copy and experience an organic rankings boost rather than a penalty resulting from copy-paste site content.

~ Rob

We’ve recently installed an update to our great email broadcast software, ‘MailBox‘, that I am sure many of you are familiar with.

I thought I’d just outline a few of the key features which you might enjoy. We’re excited about many of them and know it’s going to provide you with an even better means for keeping in contact with your important publics in a professional way.

• Subscription Rules. Automatically subscribe/unsubscribe from multiple lists when person subscribes/unsubscribes from a given list. These rules are setup per list.
• CSV import file can be separated by comma or tab
• Added support for emails with long TLDs (such as .travel)
• Restructured code.
• Enhanced forward to friend
• View and click through stats for autoresponders
• New import process
• Unlimited options for sending filters
• Improved subscribe by email
• New reporting options
• Reasons for unsubscribing option added
• Subscriber stats
• Enhanced custom redirects
• Firefox compatible editor
• Send to a friend for auto responders
• Web version for auto responders
• Sending filters for autoresponders
• HTML, Text, or Multi-Format Autoresponders
• More message personalization options
• Send last message when adding new subscriber
• New interface (public and admin)
• Remove duplicates shows results
• Attachments for auto responders

To find out more about MailBox click here, or contact us. We’d love to talk.

~ Rob

Our good friends at Campaign Monitor are always such a wealth of advice. Looking on Stylegala this week we found a link to an interesting article asking if HTML forms in broadcast emails are a good thing or not.

The long and the short of it is ‘no’ because of the email client’s (Outlook/.Mac/Thunderbird/Mail etc) position that these forms can represent a security risk.

Campaign Monitor’s helpful table showed us that while the form may be displayed in all clients but Outlook 2007 *sigh*, it’s not able to be used in every case. This rather compelling research gives some concrete evidence suggesting that perhaps a way of engaging with your customers via a form is best not in your actual broadcast email.

So, instead of sending a form which will be dubiously received, at best, to your valued client’s inbox, simply present them with a link to a well formatted accessible form (here’s a good ‘how-to’ for you web guys out there) on your website. Sure to work, look good and ensure a professional credible result.

Need help on creating forms, surveys or creating and sending an email campaign? Contact us, we’d love to help.

~ Rob

Today we got a letter in the mail - not email, but by post. It came from the Anglican Church of Kenya c/o Tear Australia as an accompaniment to our yearly giving summary.

Before you read it - know this about Kenya and Australia (from Wikipedia):

• Per Capita Income (PPP)= US$2600 - an average, which means a few are earning a lot lot more, but lots are earning even less. Per year, not month or week.
• Australia’s PPP = US$39,320 and we complain about the cost of McDonalds.
• Kenya is ranked 152nd on the Human Development Index (a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education, and standard of living for countries worldwide)
• Australia is ranked 3rd and we think we look too old.

Dear Friends,

…Kamwangi supports about 2000 orphaned children, and 150 children who had dropped out of school are now attending regularly.

A real impact from real money. Really easy - and you don’t even notice the difference. What an opportunity to make a real change in people’s lives with a business. There’s two of us in Brown Box - we have been a part of helping 500 households in Kenya.