Last night Steven Sinofsky and Julie Larson-Green previewed the touch user experience for Windows 8 at the D9 conference in California. As usual, Walt asked plenty of tough questions which you can watch here, but today I just want to talk about a couple of things I noticed.

HTML5 & JavaScript

Probably the most interesting revelation is that the applications they demoed are built using HTML5 and JavaScript. This is slightly different to what I wrote about yesterday.

Rather than the Silverlight and C# I was expecting, they used HTML5 and JavaScript to show that writing applications for Windows is going to be more accessible than ever. Powered by the engine in Internet Explorer 10, applications will be scalable, hardware accelerated and connected.

Clearly this is one of the most important changes which is coming in Windows 8, and it shows that Microsoft is serious about embracing open technologies moving forward. For developers this is very good news – web designers can now transition into creating fully fledged apps on Windows without having to learn Silverlight or WPF. This opens up the developer base for the platform vastly, allowing a large and otherwise untapped pool of web developers to create applications for the operating system.

I would find it very hard to believe that there would be no Silverlight and C# application layer coming in September, but for now anyone writing games and applications for Google’s Chromebook will be pleased to know that they’re not going to have to do much work to start surfacing their apps in the Windows App Store next year.

Metro Inspired Interface

Though it was fully expected, we did get to see a first look at the “immersive” interface for Windows. I’d say it looks rather impressive – though I have lots of questions on how it will behave with a keyboard and a mouse, it seems to behave as a ‘side’ interface rather than an ‘on-top’ interface like Media Center.

Jenson Harris of the Windows User Experience team shows us first public video of Windows 8 below.

Windows has clearly changed since Vista came out in 2006, and I think a large amount of that comes down to the change of leadership. Steven, Julie and Jenson are all previous members of the Microsoft Office team, which has traditionally done very well for itself.

Final thought: Kinect

One thing this new interface will no doubt work with is the Kinect system that’s currently available for Xbox 360. This will allow users to talk to their Windows 8 computer and use physical gestures to move through apps and entertainment. While this is probably not going to be shown until the BUILD conference in September it’s obvious this is the way things are going.

The next couple of years is going to be very interesting.

Today, D9 will show an early peek at the next version of Windows, currently expected to be released in 2012 with the name of Windows 8.

Spearheaded by Steven Sinofsky, the new version of Windows will build on the success of the current consumer offering, Windows 7. Steven is well known for keeping a tight ship, and making sure key information doesn’t leak, however there are a few known features which we think will bring us new business opportunities…

Windows on ARM-based Tablets

The vast majority of today’s smartphones and tablets are powered by ARM processors, not the Intel x86 ones that our laptops and desktops use. Windows 8 will arrive on both ARM and Intel x86, allowing new tablet-like form factors to run the full version of Windows. This is very important for the future of the Windows platform, meaning that in a few years even the phone version of Windows will use the same core operating system.
 
In the near-term, it simply means new types of Windows devices and new opportunities for selling apps on that platform. While it might take a while to catch up to the amazing success of the iPad, it probably won’t take long until Windows tablets are more popular than the likes of Blackberry, WebOS or even Android.

Jupiter & APPX

As part of the addition of the ARM processor, it’s expected that a new programming model will be introduced; this model called Jupiter uses an APPX package, which is based on the XAP format which is used by Windows Phone today.
 
Based on this, it is safe to assume that developers will be able to use Visual Studio and Expression Blend to create new types of applications which will run in a touch-friendly full screen environment. This will finally bring the vector-based graphics technology of WPF (originally released in 2006!) to the front and centre of Windows app development.

Immersive Experience

Along with a new app model comes a new user interface. While details haven’t been fully revealed (yet) – Windows 8 is expected to come with two different experiences, one for use with fingers and one for use with the more traditional keyboard and mouse. Referred to as “Immersive” in the leaked builds, this new interface is heavily based on the Windows Phone 7 metro design philosophy.
 
Developers and designers will need to hone their skills to ensure that apps are constructed to fit in with the look and feel of the immersive experience, while still enabling brands to stand out in the crowd.

Windows App Store

Unsurprisingly, a new app model requires a store. This new discovery of applications will allow us to help our clients sell directly to their customers and it’s something we’re very excited about. Though we don’t currently know what it will be called.

Many companies rely on just setting up a Facebook page and obtaining as many friends as possible, but it soon becomes clear that there is more to successful integration with the social media world than that.

With over 500 million users and a quick and simple set up; Facebook offers the perfect advertising opportunity, but to maximise the potential of your Facebook page; you have to know what you’re doing. Get it right; and you could have the perfect platform to connect with a new and extended fan base.

Why set up a Facebook page?

Before social media, advertising was a bit of a novelty, and brands were virtually untouchable; seen only as detached selling machines. But things have changed, and the empowerment of the consumer means they can dictate the success or failure of a commerce company, leaving the brands very much at the consumer’s mercy.

The internet is now a society, and if brands want to succeed; they must engage with their customer-base. A bridge has been formed between consumer and brand, and consumers now rely on the transparency and interactivity of a brand to gauge their brand experience.

As such, with its worldwide popularity and influence, and its offer of more volume and targeted advertising; Facebook has provided the perfect platform for brands to display their presence, and connect with their customers.

Being noticed by a larger number of people means a bigger customer-base; and by the very nature of Facebook, friends of people who are a fan of your company will also see your page, and be more inclined to click on it.

What to avoid:

However, just setting up a Facebook page and bombarding your fans with as many promotions, offers, and deals as you can fit into one day, will prove unsuccessful and could be difficult to recover from.

Last year in the US, over 81% of consumers un-‘liked’ a brand’s Facebook page, having been scared away by the constant stream of information cluttering up their news feeds.

This is an example of how not to use this powerful platform; you can’t intrude on people’s social time, you need to earn their attention and engage them, using techniques such as social media campaigns.

Using Facebook effectively:

Although some critics believe social media campaigns are essentially ‘candyfloss’ – a lot of fun, but with no substance – I’m of the opinion that they do work if executed correctly.

Some companies provide games or puzzles, which admittedly, have nothing to do with the product or service they’re offering, but the engagement and enjoyment these provide the customer, ensure they’re left with a positive brand impact, and so they don’t mind as much when they receive the occasional product promotion or special offer.

Here’s a few examples of some well-known brands which have used their Facebook page successfully to promote new products or services, as well as maximising brand exposure:

o2:
o2 utilise their Facebook page perfectly by offering competitions and prizes which suit their fan base; connecting with their customers whilst promoting their service.

Topshop:
Topshop also use their Facebook presence to their advantage by promoting new clothes lines, whilst keeping notifications to a minimum so as not to overload their fans with advertisements.

House of Fraser:
House of Fraser have integrated their website with their Facebook page, ensuring maximum click-through rates and increased conversion.

Cheerios:
Cheerios have realised the potential of having a Facebook page and created an online community whereby fans of the page share everyday tips, targeting the family-oriented Facebook audience.

Seabrook Crisps:
The Seabrook Crisps Facebook page utilises the ability to promote and advertise new products, and any competitions which run alongside it.

Conclusion:

With a predominant use of social media on the internet, brands now need to provide a social experience to succeed. But the successful integration with this platform takes time and effort, and should be taken seriously as a truly powerful advertising tool.

It’s all about getting the balance right, and knowing who to target. For this, you need to know all you can about your customer base, and remember that they’re using Facebook as a social hub, so they may not appreciate being infiltrated with advertisements, even more so if they don’t apply to them.

With some thorough planning and customer research, you could use your Facebook page to reach out to an extended audience, and form that all-important social experience which will enhance your web presence, and provide some insightful information about what your consumers want.

Nowadays, mobiles are self aware geo-location devices, but not all smartphone’s are geo-location friendly and if you assume or target your application to a specific model; then you are losing out on a significant number of end users. So how can you make sure that your mobile application stays user-friendly?

The application in question (pre-smartphone, I might add) had to show driving or walking directions for the end user on screen for all points of interest. But before the user chooses the category, we needed to provide a summary of nearest interest locations, and their distances and directions from the user location; so the user could then make a choice based on the distance and number of POI in that direction.

We calculated the distance using haversine formula, but where are these locations? Are they the same side or opposite to each other? There are high chances of the user choosing a location with a high density of POI near him rather a single POI.

Keeping in mind the end user’s dilemma, we decided to find the direction of each location with respect to the end user and show them on the mobile screen. But one major issue was still not addressed – was the end user facing North or South? To resolve this issue, our direction API came to the rescue, and we added a starting reference point with reference to a landmark. This resolved the issue with phones not supporting or embedding a compass-like device.

The approach:

To find the solution I turned to basic trigonometry; consider the mobile user as centre (0,0) of quadrant system, and POI scattered around in all quadrant with latitude and longitude as Cartesian points(x1, y1). I had the distance between two points, and I needed the included angle between the x-axis and line generated by joining these two points.

The X-axis of quadrant represent East and West, and the Y-axis represent North and South. If you split the quadrant further it gives you, NE, NW, SE and SW directions. But our POI will not be exactly on these axis lines, so you need to consider an area formed by further splitting between these directions. In the image, an underground tube station on the X-axis and the other tube station next to it both appear to be East, even though the second tube station is not exactly East. This consideration helps me to group all POI in specific directions.

The clear advantage is gained from the end users point of view, the user will have more choice by following the East direction in this case rather than South-West – where few POI are located.

The solution:

As you can see from the image, we can easily calculate directions if the included angle values lies in a specific direction pie. The following chart shows various directions and angular values:

To calculate the included angle of vertex A, I assume vertex A is on the centre of quadrant (0,0) and vertex B is POI. So in theory, the tangent of angle C should return distance “b” (AC). As soon as the distance “b” is calculated, angle A can be calculated using either sine or cosine formula.

The whole equation is resolved to a single arctan formula. This function returns the value in radians, so we need to convert it to degrees before applying any calculation logic. But soon the limitations of this approach are highlighted, it can only return values between -90 and +90 degrees and needs major adjustments to get the final value.

As my first attempt failed, I turned towards mathforum, I found a related solution, with some shortcomings. After some adjustments and a couple of days of testing with actual data, ultimately I nailed this task of finding directions.

SQL Function:

The formula from mathforum was written considering North being X-axis, so I have to turn the axis anti-clockwise by 90 degrees.

CREATE FUNCTION [dbo].[Direction]
(
	@Lat1			NUMERIC(18, 6),
	@Lat2			NUMERIC(18, 6),
	@Lon1			NUMERIC(18, 6),
	@Lon2			NUMERIC(18, 6)
)
RETURNS VARCHAR(MAX)
WITH EXECUTE AS CALLER
AS
BEGIN
 
	DECLARE @dLat NUMERIC(18, 6), @dLon NUMERIC(18, 6),
                    @angle NUMERIC(18, 6), @RetVal NVARCHAR(MAX), @Pre_angle NUMERIC(18, 6)
	DECLARE @Constant NUMERIC(18, 6)
 
	SET @RetVal = 'Not found...'
	SET @Pre_angle = 0
	SET @CONSTANT = -999999999.00
 
	SET @dLat = (@Lat2 - @Lat1)
	SET @dLon = (@Lon2 - @Lon1)
 
	/* -- Approach 2 */
	DECLARE @y NUMERIC(18, 6), @x NUMERIC(18, 6)
	SET @y = SIN(@Lon2 - @Lon1) * COS(@Lat2) * 1.0
	SET @x = COS(@Lat1) * SIN(@Lat2) - SIN(@Lat1) * COS(@Lat2) * COS(@Lon2 - @Lon1) * 1.0
 
	IF(@y > 0.00)
	BEGIN
		IF(@x > 0.00) SET @angle = DEGREES(ATN2(@y, @x)) * 1.0
		IF(@x < 0.00) SET @angle = 180.00 - DEGREES(ATN2(-@y, @x)) * 1.0
		IF(@x = 0.00) SET @angle = 90.00
	END
 
	IF(@y < 0.00)
	BEGIN
		IF(@x > 0.00) SET @angle = DEGREES(- ATN2(-@y, @x)) * 1.0
		IF(@x < 0.00) SET @angle = (DEGREES(ATN2(@y, @x)) - 180.00) * 1.0
		IF(@x = 0.00) SET @angle = 270.00
	END
 
	IF(@y = 0.00)
	BEGIN
		IF(@x > 0.00) SET @angle = 0.00
		IF(@x < 0.00) SET @angle = 180.00
		IF(@x = 0.00) SET @angle = @CONSTANT
	END
 
	-- Just for Display in Debug
	SET @Pre_angle = @angle
 
	IF(@angle != @CONSTANT)
	BEGIN
		-- This formaula refer x-axis as North direction,
		-- but while assigning Direction Character, is considering
                -- x-axis as West (as of Co-Ordinate System)
		SET @angle = @angle + 90 
 
		-- Minor Adjustment for for value range
		IF(@angle < 0)
		BEGIN
			SET @angle = ABS(@angle)
			SET @angle = @angle + 90 -- Previously Values were -ve so only 90 = total 180
		END
 
		-- No Modulo function is available for Float, so a loop is implemented
		IF(@angle > 360)
		BEGIN
			WHILE(@angle > 360)
			BEGIN
				SET @angle = @angle - 180
			END
		END
	END
 
	-- Find Direction Values; Practical data suggest to change this Direction
        -- with a 90 degree anticlockwise shift.
	IF (@angle = @CONSTANT) -- Origin [Same Position]
		SET @RetVal = ''
	ELSE IF (@angle BETWEEN 0 AND 22.5)
		SET @RetVal = 'E'
	ELSE IF(@angle BETWEEN 22.51 AND 67.49)
		SET @RetVal = 'NE'
	ELSE IF(@angle BETWEEN 67.5 AND 112.5)
		SET @RetVal = 'N'
	ELSE IF(@angle BETWEEN 112.51 AND 157.49)
		SET @RetVal = 'NW'
	ELSE IF(@angle BETWEEN 157.5 AND 202.5)
		SET @RetVal = 'W'
	ELSE IF(@angle BETWEEN 205.51 AND 247.49)
		SET @RetVal = 'SW'
	ELSE IF(@angle BETWEEN 247.5 AND 292.5)
		SET @RetVal = 'S'
	ELSE IF(@angle BETWEEN 292.51 AND 337.49)
		SET @RetVal = 'SE'
	ELSE IF(@angle BETWEEN 337.5 AND 360.00)
		SET @RetVal = 'E'
	ELSE
		SET @RetVal = ''
 
	-- Return Direction Data
	RETURN @RetVal
END

This formula accepts latitude and longitude values and returns a two-character string denoting direction. If the user and POI is on centre or the same location, it just returns a blank string.

This video was created with over 9GB of photographs taken with a Canon EOS 7D camera. Using a technique called time-lapse photography, a single frame was taken every 15 seconds from a fixed position, giving the impression of high speed of movement when they’re all added together.

We took around 200 to 400 photographs from each position, and joined them together with intro and outro graphics using Windows Live Movie Maker. The last step was to add a soundtrack which was created for us by Mike Jeffs, our very own musically talented Link Analyst.

The result is a cool example of life in the Branded3 Leeds office… and how some of us like to show up for the camera!

Bonus points if you spot the Rebecca Black fan-art.

Luckily, it’s not a default feature so users have the option between keeping the URL bar, and removing it. But how important is the URL bar to users? And would they really notice if it was gone?

These questions have web professionals divided; with some believing it’s an essential component of navigation and user trust; and some seeing it as an enhancement for those using netbooks and laptops with smaller screens.

So how does it work?

As mentioned previously, this feature is optional; so if you do decide to hide your URL bar, you enter ‘about:flags’ in the URL bar, enable ‘Compact Navigation’, then re-launch the browser, and right-click any tab to find the option ‘Hide the toolbar’.

Your URL bar will then disappear, along with any extension, and the tool menu will move to the top left of the screen, with new ‘back’ and ‘forward’ buttons. It should look something like this:

What’s the URL bar good for?

Typically, the URL bar tells the user where they are within a site, and has become an integral part of usability. URL’s that have nothing to do with what the page contains are misleading and will often trigger suspicion and distrust amongst users.

URL’s will also have a good click-through rate if they’re clear and obvious; users like to know where they’re being directed to and understand what the page is about before entering it.

Unless the link displayed in an email or on a web page shows the full URL, users won’t know where they are until they’ve clicked it. But with Chrome’s new feature, users still won’t know where they are as the URL won’t appear, so this could pose a big obstruction in the quest for a good user experience.

What does this mean for web security?

This new feature obviously poses some security risks, as it makes the threat of phishing much more probable. By hiding the visibility of the domain and SSL status of the current site, users can’t see where their clicks are being redirected to, and any personal or sensitive information they input could be at risk.

Who will this benefit?

The decision to make this an optional feature was certainly a good choice, as those more web savvy and security-conscious can stay in-the-know, whereas those wanting to embrace a larger browsing screen perhaps on their netbooks or tablets, can extend the space.

If the feature does make it onto Chrome 13, I think many will flick between the options, perhaps only hiding the URL bar on trusted sites they use daily. Providing users stay vigilant to unknown sites, I think this will turn out to be a beneficial browsing option for those using small screens, and put Google Chrome one step ahead of its competitors.

Recognising “excellence in web design and development, and a high standard of planning, execution, and overall professionalism”, the Interactive Media Award has marked a happy ending to an inconvenient period of attacks, and rewards our efforts to overcome them and make the famous site better than ever.

With increasing popularity that never ceases to astonish us; Twitition now has over 710,000 followers, making it (at time of writing) the 539th most popular Twitter account in the world. Providing a space for Twitter users to easily create and sign petitions on any topic; Twitition has transformed the process of petitioning, and utilised an effective and worldwide social tool.

Judged by a number of acclaimed industry professionals, Twitition surpassed the high number of entries in the social networking category to attain a score of 475 out of 500, deeming it an ‘Outstanding Achievement’.

Whilst receiving any accolade of this status is a nice surprise, what was even more remarkable for us was knowing that we’d won this award whilst sustaining random web attacks. Having done some research into why anyone would want to target our site, we believe a Twitition to free Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei could have been the cause.

However, with our talented and unrivalled development team, these DDoS attacks weren’t much of a difficulty to overcome, and we quickly resolved the issue to allow the site to continue to be a fun, engaging, and revolutionary platform for many.

If you want some help creating a social media presence, or some advice on how to make yours more successful, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today and speak to a member of our team.

Surrounded by all-things digital, and enjoying the free education programme; the Branded3 team learnt plenty about our industry and came away with some valuable experiences. We’ve managed to whittle our favourite bits from the digital exhibition this year down to five, and here they are:

1. Being the first to find out inside knowledge

The seminars seemed to be a highlight for most of the 12,000 people visiting this event, with queues snaking around the stands to listen to some of the leading professionals in the industry. After quickly learning that arriving at the theatre five minutes before the talk began probably wasn’t a good idea; I joined the crowds of visitors queuing up half an hour early, and managed to catch a particularly interesting seminar from Bruce Daisley, the man responsible for sales across Google’s Display Network.

Talking to the digital enthusiasts, Daisley unveiled some interesting new techniques from Google to target specific audiences. Inside info like this wasn’t rare at the event, and gave visitors the chance to be the first in the know about new technology and methods.

2. The popularity of the Branded3 stand

Sandwiched in-between various SEO agencies from across the country, with dozens of posters and testimonials lining their walls, all trying to vie for attention; Branded3’s all-black stand stood prominent, projecting just one simple message.

No, the simplicity wasn’t because we’d forgotten our props, it was intentional; and it worked. Standing out amongst a sea of colours, the Branded3 stand drew people in, and our equally simple and effective approach to web development and SEO kept them there.

3. Checking out the competition

It’s something everyone does at an industry exhibition, but no one admits; scoping the competition. Sure, we like to think of Internet World as an opportunity for the digital community to come together, but of course it’s also a chance to check out what our contemporaries are up to, and compare techniques.

As always, the competition is tough, but we still believe our organic attitude to SEO and integrated approach to web development places us firmly as the top choice for digital needs.

4. Getting advice from some key industry figures

With talks from some influential figures from the likes of Facebook, Amazon, and Yahoo!, it’s no wonder the seminar programme at the Keynote Theatre was so popular. One particular highlight for us was a talk from Yann Depoys, the Head of Display Advertising for eBay Europe.

Looking at the future of online advertising and offline retail marketing, Depoys attracted a huge audience all waiting in anticipation for tips on how the UK’s biggest e-commerce site works (although the audience could have been bigger; some seemed distracted by the ladies dressed in tutu’s just by the entrance of the theatre..).

5. Landing the best stand in Earl’s Court

Yes, the seminar programme was extensive and educational; and yes, we were surrounded by people from some of the biggest internet companies in the world; but our personal best part of the whole event, was being situated opposite the café.

Ok I’m probably exaggerating, but it was pretty handy, and not only that; but whilst the internet buffs sat sipping their coffee and eating their sandwiches, they could take in all that the Branded3 stand had to offer, and many came to speak to us once they’d finished. With our comfy sofas and convenient location, visitors were only too happy to come and have a chat with us.

Canonical URLs have had a lot of press during the last year since Google started ‘supporting’ them in order to combat duplicate content issues – amongst other things. I’m going to look at how carnonical URLs should be used, and what the consequences can be if used incorrectly.

It’s amazing how much Canonical URLs are still mis-used, or even unused where they could give a real benefit. Matt Cutts recently wrote a blog article covering the issues of Canonical URLs. It’s well worth taking the time to read through the article, and also watching the YouTube videos, as they give an insight into how Google handles these. I’ve also included an overview of how the top 3 search engines handle the Canonical URL issue at the bottom of this page.

The point:

Canonical URLs tell search engines where the definitive/master/correct version of the content on this page exists.

What do they look like, and where do I put them?

Canonical URLs are for search engines. Users should not be hindered when accessing a page through various URLs. This is a core marketing tactic – so you can see how to funnel users in the best way in order to help them end up at your product.

Canonical URLs look like this:

<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.branded3.com/b3labs/" />

The canonical URL sits inside a <link> tag inside the <head> tag of your document.

Duplicate content issues:

Websites can have duplicate content issues for a variety of reasons. Take for example any standard WordPress installation; and in-fact, this very site, and this very page.

There are many ways that you can find this page, but there are also many URLs for this page. http://www.branded3.com/b3labs/the-rights-and-wrongs-of-canonical-urls/
and http://www.branded3.com/b3labs/?p=3249 both resolve to this page – and also notice that WordPress doesn’t 301 redirect you to the main URL.

So, if you split all the links to this page in half, and half went to one URL, and half went to the other, what exactly is Google supposed to do?

How do search engines cope?

Short answer – they don’t. How is a search engine supposed to identify which page is the ‘correct’ or ‘master’ page? Without being told what to do, it can’t. Instead, it sees two pages. The issue here is that those two pages also have exactly the same content. This means that you might get penalised by the search engine for having multiple pages with the same content.

Another example often given is that of an online shop. When viewing a product page, you might get to it directly, via a category, a sub category or a search. From these various routes, you might pick up query strings in the URL.

Eg. http://www.example.com/product.php?item=coca-cola
or http://www.example.com/product.php?item=coca-cola&category=drinks
or http://www.example.com/product.php?item=coca-cola&category=drinks&subcategory=fizzy.

As well as being pretty bad architecture in general in some respects, this highlights further the issue of duplicate content.

How to fix this with canonical tags:

As the opening paragraph states, this is a way of standardising the URL. We need to decide which URL to treat as the ‘master’ and whenever the content is displayed, display this URL.

Taking our first example of a WordPress site, adding a canonical URL of http://www.branded3.com/b3labs/canonical-urls-rights-and-wrongs to both pages tells a search engine that the definitive version of the page content is at http://www.branded3.com/b3labs/canonical-urls-rights-and-wrongs. Therefore, no penalty.

Other implications of a canonical tag:

Other services also look at canonical tags, such as Facebook. When using their ‘like’ button, you can pass a URL across to Facebook, and that URL will be liked. However, Facebook is pretty clever.

It’s sharing system goes back to the site in order to pull in Open Graph Data (if it’s there) or generally scrape the page to bring a good overview of the site back to Facebook to share. If Facebook’s sharing system notices a Canonical URL, it will scrape that site page instead.

Using this incorrectly means you can essentially fake ‘like’ buttons into liking a different URL (or even domain).

With great power, comes great responsibility…

Using Canonical URLs incorrectly can lead to some interesting issues – with both good and bad consequences.

Sneaky SEO Implications:

Importantly, Google states that when canonical URLs are used: “Additional URL properties, like PageRank and related signals, are transferred as well.” This means there could be some sneaky SEO benefits to using them.

A lot of AD driven websites chunk their content into pages. This improves impression rates (as well as annoying readers!) A good example of this can be found over at wired.com. You’ll notice that the article I’ve linked to is split over multiple pages.

You’ll also notice that the inner pages have a canonical URL back to http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2011/05/3ds-virtual-console/ But why should they? In theory, they are all separate pages with separate content. Therefore, they are pages in their own right and don’t ‘share’ content at all. This could relate to the ‘view all’ function, however, if pressed on any page, it always redirects to itself with a ‘viewall’ attribute added to the URL.

In my eyes, this is NOT how canonical URLs should be used, and they must be doing it so that the page is crawled by browsers and any ranking factors are then passed back to the front page. This means that any links that are inbound to any sub pages (and there are probably a lot of links to a site of this stature – will pass their weight.

cross-domain rel="canonical" allows users to reference another domain for the content on a page. Used correctly, this is for when you move domains, or if you have multiple domains all referencing the same content.

Used incorrectly, you can pass weight to a page/site at an external domain by linking to one with a cross-domain canonical URL. Say for example, I get 1000 links to a page; Google will weight this page accordingly. If it has a cross-domain canonical URL of of a different site, the weight will pass to that other page.

How to kill your site if you do it wrong:

There are quite a few examples of how canonical urls can have an adverse effect on your site. If you use them incorrectly, then Google will drop the listing for your page. If you implement them using any form of CMS, this can quickly lead to your site being de-indexed before you even know that there is a problem!

See the following for a few examples of how canonical URLs can have a detrimental effect on your site:

http://www.malcolmcoles.co.uk/blog/rel-canonical-infinite-express/
http://www.socialpatterns.com/search-engine-marketing/msn-hit-by-canonical-url-problems/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1378504/The-Independent-embarrassed-Kate-Middleton-jelly-bean-URL-twitter-fiasco.html – sorry for linking to the Daily Mail…

What do the search engines say about canonical URLs?

Google:

Is rel=”canonical” a hint or a directive?
It’s a hint that we honor strongly. We’ll take your preference into account, in conjunction with other signals, when calculating the most relevant page to display in search results.

Can I use a relative path to specify the canonical, such as ?
Yes, relative paths are recognized as expected with the tag. Also, if you include a link in your document, relative paths will resolve according to the base URL.

Is it okay if the canonical is not an exact duplicate of the content?
We allow slight differences, e.g., in the sort order of a table of products. We also recognize that we may crawl the canonical and the duplicate pages at different points in time, so we may occasionally see different versions of your content. All of that is okay with us.

What if the rel=”canonical” returns a 404?
We’ll continue to index your content and use a heuristic to find a canonical, but we recommend that you specify existent URLs as canonicals.

What if the rel=”canonical” hasn’t yet been indexed?
Like all public content on the web, we strive to discover and crawl a designated canonical URL quickly. As soon as we index it, we’ll immediately reconsider the rel=”canonical” hint.

Can rel=”canonical” be a redirect?
Yes, you can specify a URL that redirects as a canonical URL. Google will then process the redirect as usual and try to index it.

What if I have contradictory rel=”canonical” designations?
Our algorithm is lenient: We can follow canonical chains, but we strongly recommend that you update links to point to a single canonical page to ensure optimal canonicalization results.

Yahoo!:

The URL paths in the tag can be absolute or relative, though we recommend using absolute paths to avoid any chance of errors.

A tag can only point to a canonical URL form within the same domain and not across domains. For example, a tag on http://test.example.com can point to a URL on http://www.example.com but not on http://yahoo.com or any other domain.

The tag will be treated similarly to a 301 redirect, in terms of transferring link references and other effects to the canonical form of the page.

We will use the tag information as provided, but we’ll also use algorithmic mechanisms to avoid situations where we think the tag was not used as intended. For example, if the canonical form is non-existent, returns an error or a 404, or if the content on the source and target was substantially distinct and unique, the canonical link may be considered erroneous and deferred.

The tag is transitive. That is, if URL A marks B as canonical, and B marks C as canonical, we’ll treat C as canonical for both A and B, though we will break infinite chains and other issues.

Bing:

This tag will be interpreted as a hint by Live Search, not as a command. We’ll evaluate this in the context of all the other information we know about the website and try and make the best determination of the canonical URL. This will help us handle any potential implementation errors or abuse of this tag.
You can use relative or absolute URLs in the “href” attribute of the link tag.

The page and the URL in the “href” attribute must be on the same domain. For example, if the page is found on “http://mysite.com/default.aspx”, and the “href” attribute in the link tag points to “http://mysite2.com”, the tag will be invalid and ignored.

However, the “href” attribute can point to a different subdomain. For example, if the page is found on “http://mysite.com/default.aspx” and the “href” attribute in the link tag points to “http://www.mysite.com”, the tag will be considered valid.

The prestigious award is only presented to those who excel in five criteria: design, content, feature functionality, usability, and standards compliance. Recognising the highest standards of excellence in website design and development, the award cements Branded3 as one of the best digital agency’s in the UK.

Judged by distinguished industry professionals, each aspect of the website received a score out of 100, totalling a score out of 500, which then determines the ‘Best in Class’. With a total of 489, our website passed through the comprehensive judging system to surpass nearly 200 entries in this category. Our scores were as follows:

• Design = 97
• Content = 97
• Functionality = 100
• Usability = 96
• Standards compliance and cross-browser compatibility = 99

Websites worthy of winning must be well-conceived and well-developed, and the colour, graphics, and layout should contribute to a consistent theme which makes the site easy to use and comfortable. As well as outstanding usability, the award identifies “jaw-dropping perfection” in the quality of the design; a testament to our highly-talented Head of Design, Andy Machin, and designer Max Shearer. Having managed the content for the site myself, I’m also joining in with the celebrations (any excuse!), to applaud the impressive achievement.

Excelling above our competitor’s sites and becoming a top choice for our target market; this award is a fitting result for the hours of hard work and effort put in by our design team, and reflects the skill and innovation they possess. Well done team! Now if only every Monday morning could begin in this way…

If you’d like to work with an award-winning web design team, or you’d just like some invaluable advice, get in touch with us today and speak to one of our talented designers.