Trunk Media

Dynamically creating headings in custom fonts

26 April 2007

When we are developing client websites we try and use Verdana, Arial or Helvetica for ease of content management, smaller page file size and for greater accessibility. However, it is often necessary from either a design perspective or client requirements to use non-standard fonts for headings or other elements within a page. Inconsistent browser support for the embedding of fonts has meant that any non-standard fonts used have typically required the production of multitudes of images (one for each heading).

Invariably this is a time-consuming process, particularly for large sites. It also increases maintenance costs when the client wants to change or add a heading. To aid with the production of these images and give something back to the development community we have created a custom control and released it as open source (under the Lesser General Public License) to dynamically create these headings.

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GetCompiledPageInstance and .html mapping

20 April 2007

Some of you developers may be aware already that the customError section in the web.config file does not handle 404 errors correctly. If you specifiy a 404 page in your custom error handler section you should be horrified to know that your page does not return a HttpStatus code of 404. This may not seem like a big deal but I assure you it is and especially for your search engine rankings.
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Caffeine and customer service

16 April 2007

Our offices are in the Auckland CBD, needless to say there are a host of coffee shops in the vicinity for that caffeine-fix.

I went to “Coffee Shop A” regularly for a couple of months. Coffee shops are high traffic outlets that rely on quick customer turnover (and what must be a huge markup). However, after frequenting the same place three or four times a week and being served by the same people over that two month period I do expect the baristas to know what I will order. Is it just me? Is that too difficult?

I don’t have long black Monday’s or hot chocolate Friday’s. I order the same thing every time I purchase. The fact that the baristas never seemed to recognise me let alone anticipate what I wanted was eventually so frustrating that one day I went next door to “Coffee Shop B”.

A couple of weeks later I was able to walk in the door and have the barista ask me if I wanted a coffee (Yes) and it would be made – takeaway, double shot, trim milk, no sugar and no need for repetition. Ok, so “Coffee Shop B’s” coffee is not as good as “A’s” but I will continue visiting because they know what I want, I have a chat with the barista no matter how busy she is and leave feeling I have got more for my money than I ever did at “Coffee Shop A”.

What can “Coffee Shop A” learn from this? Their coffee offering was superior to their neighbour’s however it came back to relationship marketing and that was seriously lacking. When you are in a competitive marketplace reputation and customer service are paramount. If those lemon-sucking baristas at “A” could plaster a smile on their faces then maybe one day I will venture back. Then again why would I?

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It’s all about image

12 April 2007

Whenever you put yourself out into the marketplace you’re presenting an image whether you’ve thought about it or not. If you haven’t thought about your image then you can’t really focus on how to improve. You can’t change what you don’t know. However, if you have created yourself an image and bought the domain name which goes with it, you might want to make sure that embarrassing things like this don’t happen to you:

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