Category: General

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FD v11.1!

A scale & polish for our clients at Farleigh Dental.

Just completed our latest revision - 11.1 - for our professional dental care clients Farleigh Dental.

The Plan

  • A review of all pages to ensure layout compliance across the most commonly-used screen sizes, from desktop to laptop to mobile to tablet.
  • Replace four separate infopanel blocks with one universal modular version and remove duplication across the old blocks.
  • Simplify layouts for cross-platform viewing, replacing click-to-enlarge images with new-build text-centric sliders.
  • Make it easier to edit/change/update sections that were difficult in v10.
  • Improve access for the visually and hearing impaired.
  • Universal styling for certain elements across all pages.

The Build

Not a new site as such, but no page left untouched.

The Result

Ensuress that patients and prospective patients can easily access all the information they need. It's easier to maintain as we've replaced complex sections with simplified ones that look just as good or better.

Visit Farleigh Dental for all your family's dental needs, and let them know we sent you!

Want to see some of our other projects? Check out our portfolio here.

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Farleigh Dental website version 10

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FD v10

The tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth!
- a brand new website for our clients at Farleigh Dental.

A little late posting about this as it was actually in the summer of 2022. We built the first website for our first professional client, Farleigh Dental, back in 2013. Back then, CMS-based websites were still in their infancy and required a lot of PHP coding, were not always secure, and frankly didn't do what we wanted them to do. Our first build was done in ye olde HTML and CSS and contained a lot of interactive features, and a lot of pages. Bulldog's efforts resulted in building the site for sister company Farleigh Clinic (which sadly ceased operations in 2021).

The Plan

As CMS systems evolved and became more secure, Bulldog decided that the time was right to move away from HTML/CSS legacy sites. All our existing clients would be moved to CMS-based sites. Covid-19 arrived and threw multiple spanners into the works, so the major work required for an all-new Farleigh Dental site was delayed. Lockdown saw us provide what was effectively a full-size bolt-on site to the legacy build with Covid-19 information to help protect Farleigh Dental's staff and patients in the meantime.

The Build

The threat of Covid-19 has thankfully subsided a bit, but it's still a borkfest. We completed the initial build with a launch in the summer of 2022 and retired the old legacy HTML site at the same time. The new site is fully operational, and we're more than happy that it meets the high standards expected by our lovely clients at Farleigh Dental. By far the biggest published CMS build we've done to date, eclipsed only by one Bulldog had in development for the late sci-fi author, Mark W. Bonnett.

The New Site

The new site is straight-forward, no-nonsense, clear and concise, so that patients can easily access all the information they need. It's easier to maintain too, one single responsive site rather than two parallel versions for desktop and mobile/tablet screens, with only a few minor variations in layout where needed.

Visit Farleigh Dental for all your family's dental needs, and let them know we sent you!

Want to see some of our other projects? Check out our portfolio here.

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RDS Decorating site upgrade

Farleigh Dental version 11.1! The latest revision

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#muckfusk

Last week, multi-multi-multi-billionaire Elon Musk bought Twitter. Today, Musk fired thousands of Twitter staff. In this economic climate, to lay off so many people when he has so much money himself - just to recoup some of the cost of his vanity acquisition - is absolutely despicable. We do not support his vision for Twitter, and his support for certain a**holes who we won't sully this post with by name. Today, we joined hundreds of thousands of other users and permanently closed our Twitter account. Admittedly we didn't use it much, other platforms are far more useful to us for engagement.

A side-effect of this is we'll no longer provide Twitter management services for clients going forward. We weren't doing that for any current clients, so it's not a loss for us.

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Farewell, Ma’am, and thank you.

The end of an era

It probably hasn't escaped your attention that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-reigning monarch in the history of these divided isles, passed away on Thursday 8th of September, 2022. Bulldog was born a royalist, raised a royalist, and proudly remains a royalist. We appreciate not everybody was, but for the majority of the population of the UK and the Commonwealth of Nations, the passing of our Sovereign Queen is a profound loss and a huge change.

Her Majesty wasn't just "a" queen, she was "the" Queen. Figurehead of our nation and head of state of many others, but above all - for those of Bulldog's age who never knew her as anything else - she was sort of the nation's gran. As with all grans, we knew this day would surely arrive one day - so soon after ol' Phillip was a shock - but the preparation of time leaves us no less numb.

Rest in peace, your Majesty. Long live the King, Charles III.

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Farewell, Mr Bonn

Bulldog received the sad news last week that former DigitalBulldog client Mark Bonnett had passed away suddenly. As author Mark W. Bonnett he created the Cynos Universe which began with the epic Messiah's Shard. As extremely talented artist and creator Bonnatron/Johnbonhamatron he gave delight to many with his Transformers custom addons and third-party figures. With the impending publication of his first book, Messiah's Shard, Mark asked Bulldog to help proofread the manuscript. Whoever was supposed to do it had been unable to. Building the website for Mark's books was one of Bulldog's favourite projects - Mark had a sharp mind for science fiction with a sympathetic yet satirical humour, like the unexpected offspring of Arthur C Clark and Mark's own literary hero Terry Pratchett. Many long nights were spent bantering back and forth on how inventively daft and satirical we could make that website.

While we hadn't talked over the past few years, Bulldog would like to express his sincere condolences to Mark's family and loved ones.

Further tributes to Mark and a link to donate to his family's chosen charity can be found here.

May you find eternal peace on the next page, old friend, and maybe an epic 80s spaceweasel or two. Til all are one.

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RDS Decorating version 2.0

RDS Decorating website - version 2.0, August 2021

At DBWS, we're aiming to move all our legacy HTML sites to CMS-based designs by the end of 2021. RDS Decorating is the latest of our clients to undergo the upgrade. Going with the simplicity of a fully single-page site, and of course it's fully responsive, it's a huge step up from the final legacy site. In addition to a clean and clear layout, we also made some simple tweaks to the logo, creating a high-res fully scalable version for multiple uses. The end result takes RDS Decorating's web presence into a modern more-professional era. Our client approves.

Visit RDS Decorating for the best decorating services in South London.

You can check out our other active projects in our portfolio here.

 

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Farleigh Clinic: 2015-2020

Farewell, Farleigh Clinic: 2015-2020

The Farleigh Clinic team regretfully informed us in June that they would not be reopening due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation and following the retirement of their senior staffer, Pauline. We mentioned this previously on the Clinic project page, but decided we'd post a more in-depth tribute on the Blog.

Bulldog was originally a bit uncertain about this project back in 2015, due to the client's required colour scheme - lime green and fuschia pink. Regardless, Bulldog made a go of it and made it work. Over the subsequent years however, Bulldog did assert some creative control, and a softer colour pallette found its way on to the site.

The build for Farleigh Clinic had required a LOT of research, specifically into the treatments offered. We would need to figure out how to make the treatments appealing, without making anyone... well, squeamish. Bulldog had to put his paw down on a couple of things, including the fact that Botox and any variant of the word is a registered trademark. Any Botox-type product that isn't actually the Botox brand can't be called Botox treatment (or even botox treatment). Yes, some sites specifically mention Botox/botox, even if they're not using that brand, but it could open them up to expensive legal challenges for the client AND for us. Best avoided, so we settled on "Wrinkle Relaxation" as the compromise name for that treatment.

Staff members came and went at Farleigh Clinic, including one who promised much in the way of increased contact and new content. Unfortunately she left before we could implement any of that, and we wished her all the best in her future endeavours. The one constant at Farleigh Clinic, alongside owner Cavan, was the legendary Pauline. Always friendly and loved by her colleagues and clients alike, Pauline's decision to take a well-earned and well-deserved retirement in 2020 in part led to the understandable decision to stand the business down. With the beauty and aesthetics business still adversely affected by the ongoing pandemic, only the biggest fishes stand a chance of coming through the other side.

Over the years, we evolved the logo we'd originally designed back in 2015, but always keeping a version of what we dubbed the "Farleigh Face" icon, and usually the "Farleigh Flow" curved lines. The final work we did for Farleigh Clinic was to announce the closure, with this subtle custom graphic:

We'll miss Farleigh Clinic, and we wish all their staff all the best, wherever the path may take them. Lastly, we'd like to wish Pauline all the very best and a happy and long retirement.

Farleigh Clinic has no connection to the current resident of their premises, Farleigh Medical.

Visit Farleigh Dental for all your family's dental needs.

Want to see some of our active projects? Check out our portfolio here.

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Evolution of Dog

A Digital(Bulldog) Evolution

It's 2020, the world has gone nuts, so here at Bulldog's Kennel we decided to deploy what little sanity remains on a new look for DigitalBulldog. Combining our red and blurple colour scheme with our traditional bulldog logo, we've created a stylish new look fit for the beginning of the 21st century's third decade. It's simpler, brighter, and a bit less "aggressive" than our traditional bulldog icon, and will feature prominently going forward in all our material, both online and print.

Bulldog thought it would be fun, now that this is finished, to highlight the evolution of DigitalBulldog's logos over the past 10 years. The slideshow below takes it from the hazy days of Bulldog S.I.T.S through DigitalBulldog IT & Web Support, to the current era,

Want to see some of our other active projects? Check out our portfolio here.

 

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Spotlight: Farleigh Dental site upgrade

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Spotlight: Farleigh Dental website upgrade

Farleigh Dental website update, 03/10/2019

Farleighdental.co.uk, our first major build, went live in late 2013. Though the site had received some minor cosmetic tweaks in recent years, it was starting to look a little dated. DigitalBulldog upped the game for Farleigh Dental with a fresh new look and scheme for the site. Designed to compliment the practice's own current colour scheme, which was now very different from the original site theme, the rebuild went live in early October. Now mobile-friendly with a fully-featured mobile version, this build is intended to be the last legacy version for Farleigh Dental. Now, onwards to do the same for Farleigh Clinic!

Visit Farleigh Dental for all your family's dental needs.

Want to see some of our other active projects? Check out our portfolio here.

 

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Spotlight: RDS Decorating website upgrade

RDS Decorating website rebuild, 26/09/2019

While the new CMS-based site is still in the planning stages, we decided to give the existing RDS Decorating website a new lease of life. Most of the site's multiple pages have been condensed into a one-sheet style homepage, and the mobile-friendly variant was completely rebuilt from scratch. We also installed a more-secure better-protected message form to help prevent spam. The end result takes the RDS Decorating website into a more-modern more-professional era. Our client approves.

Visit RDS Decorating for the best decorating prices in South London.

View other active projects in our portfolio here.

 

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