The following skills are essential for somebody wishing to apply for this role:

• Third level qualification – in a creative or technical discipline
• At least 3 years experience in a similar role
• Exceptional communication and client facing skills
• Experience of budgeting, planning and management of digital projects

The responsibilities of the role include:

• Preparation of project plans, estimates and specification documentation for clients
• UX and Wireframe production in conjunction with designers, programmers and the client
• Day to day management of team members and their tasks
• Presentation of concepts and materials to clients
• Resolving project issues, negotiating conflicts and troubleshooting problems
• Management of project budgets and evaluating risk
• Delivery of projects on time and on budget!

Interpersonal Skills

• Excellent written and spoken communications skills
• Strong team player
• Highly motivated and detail orientated
• Ability to work independently
• Possess strong problem solving abilities
• Ability to handle fast paced and demanding environment
• Can do attitude

If you are still reading and think you fit the bill then send a mail to careers@lightbox.ie with your CV and a note telling us why you are the right person to join the Lightbox team.

We do not require the assistance of agencies at this time. Seriously.

The post Digital Project Manager – Job appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

We are delighted to also be finalists at both awards!

We have been shortlisted for the 6th time in 7 years in the Web Design & Development Category at the Eircom Spiders and our client Wexford Beach Homes makes it onto the shortlist in the Travel, Tourism & Hospitality category for their newly designed booking engine website.

We are also finalists for the first time in the Web Agency of the Year category at the Irish Web Awards.

Congratulations to all our fellow finalists (at both events) and looking forward to meeting up with many of you on the night.

The post It’s Awards Time! appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

Whilst 3D Secure payments have been around for a while it is only recently that the payment processing companies are enforcing the implementation of this technology. Elavon, who provide merchant IDs for Bank of Ireland customers in Ireland, operate globallyand are already ensuring the implementation of 3D secure through their terms and conditions. (Failure to comply means your funds are blocked…) There has been anecdotal evidence of lenience being applied if direct contact is made but by and large all merchant IDs issued by Elavon need to be signed up for 3D Secure.

What does all this actually mean for the online merchants and their users? Below are a few pros and cons worth considering:

Pros

• 3D Secure provides an added layer of security for the merchant as well as the customer.
• Merchants are not liable for monthly charge backs if they have 3D Secure in place. Until now if a fraudster buys goods/services from your site with a stolen card the merchant has to pay the charge back that the credit card company paid to the owner of the card. For smaller merchants these charge backs can be especially damaging.
• There is added incentive on merchants to ensure that their shopping cart experience is as seamless and user friendly as possible – a better general level of user experience can only be a good thing.

Cons

• Website users hate 3D Secure payments… The Twitterati have a few things to say about it here (NB: some of these NSFW)
• Are 3D secure payments really necessary in all cases? Lightbox work with a number of charities who take donations online. There are no products to be bought and the “customer” gets nothing for their money – they are giving their money to the charity. If I am going to commit credit card fraud I am unlikely to hot foot to the nearest charity website unless I am a particularly altruistic thief. (Update – having spoken with the team in Realex, fraudsters often bombard charity sites to generate valid credit card numbers using the Luhn algorithm and will then use those card details on a third party site where they can purchase something of real value).
• Lead time for getting up and running online is now even longer. (Elavon have never been particularly speedy at issuing merchant IDs.) Now you will need to add on an additional 10 days as payment processing companies like Realex have to confirm with the bank before they can set your business up 3D Secure on their systems.
• Additional development – if you already have an online shop you will most likely need to upgrade your payment process to comply with new terms and condition. For Magento developers, Studio 49 have already done some of the hard work by developing a plugin. Cost is €145. Alternatively merchants can use Realex Redirect for processing payments which is an easy to use alternative whereby Realex do all the processing and 3D Secure verification on their site and pass the user back to the merchant.

There will always be differing points of view when it comes to new technology but like it or not 3D Secure is here to stay. Whilst Elavon are the only merchant services company enforcing 3D Secure at the moment in Ireland other providers and banks will no doubt be following suit in the not too distant future.

The post 3D Secure payments and the online shopping user experience appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

At a basic level a responsive design is one that will provide an optimal user experience whether viewed on a standard screen or on a smaller mobile device. The idea is that the design and layout of the page will “progressively enhance” depending on the screen size being used to access the site, meaning whether your users are on their mobile phone, tablet or PC they will get a similarly rich user experience. Full browser support on mobile devices is relatively recent but with the explosion of smart phones and tablets led by the iPhone, Android and iPad it has become increasingly important to ensure that your site has the inbuilt flexibility to accommodate these varying audiences.

As a result of this growth in mobile users, a new design philosophy has emerged that says that if you are thinking of designing a responsive site that you should go “Mobile First”. Rather than starting with the traditional desktop monitor resolution your designer should start with the mobile version of the site and work up from there. This ensures that your designer is thinking about how the smallest screen user will browse the site, and the intricacies involved with that, before they consider the more traditional larger screen. The designers choice regarding the relative positioning of elements and their size and colour have to be carefully considered for the smaller screen before the larger screen is thought about. As the screen size reduces, the impact of these design choices becomes more pronounced.

With the launch of our new website we have made the site fully responsive to show how this type of design can enhance the user experience no matter what device they are using. Whether your site needs to be responsive or not right now will depend on the demographics of your users and how they are currently accessing your website. Your favourite web analytics tool will tell you what devices and screen resolutions users are accessing your site with and this data will then inform your decision on what steps you take next.

As with any new technological advance, it is always easier to consider responsive design for your website from the beginning of the project. If it is planned from the outset then it can be easily incorporated into the process and the resulting design can accommodate the necessary requirements. Retrofitting your site to be responsive is not impossible but will certainly take more time.

Here is a link to a site with some of our favourite responsive sites – www.mediaqueri.es.  An Irish site has also recently appeared with a gallery of responsive sites – www.responsive.ie

The post Responsive design – what does it mean for your website? appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

Necessary technical skills:

• Java/JSP
• Grails
• Spring
• Hibernate
• mySQL
• XHTML/CSS
• Javascript/Jquery/Ajax
• XML/XSLT
• Linux server administration
• Subversion CVS

Experience in some or all of the following would be a distinct advantage:

• Lucene
• Struts
• iPhone/Android application development
• PHP

Interpersonal Skills

• Ability to work independently
• Excellent client facing and communications skills
• Highly motivated and detail-oriented
• Good team player
• Possess strong problem-solving abilities
• Be able to handle fast paced and challenging environments

This is a permanent role but we are open to discussing contract opportunities.
We do not need the assistance of agencies at this time.

The post Java Web Developer role available appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

The following creative and technical skills are essential for this role:

• Very good knowledge of Photoshop/Illustrator/Flash/Fireworks
• Strong HTML/CSS/Javascript skills
• Excellent understanding of SEO/usability/accessibility and implications for design on the web
• Experience in online advertising/campaign/social media design e.g. Facebook pages, banner ads, micro sites etc
• Strong information design skills with experience in Visio/Axure for wireframes/prototyping

Interpersonal skills

• Excellent client facing and communications skills
• Highly motivated and excellent attention to detail
• Strong team player
• Be able to handle fast paced and challenging environments

If you think you fit the bill please send your CV to info@lightbox.ie along with a link to your portfolio.

The post Lightbox are hiring – Junior Web Designer role available appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

We are currently hiring a web developer to join the team. Working with our designers and other software developers you will be responsible for the technical output of our client projects.
We are looking for a motivated self starter with at least 2 years experience in a similar role.
An undergraduate or post graduate qualification in computer science or equivalent is essential.

Necessary technical skills:

• PHP
• mySQL
• XHTML/CSS
• Javascript/Jquery/Ajax
• XML/XSLT
• Actionscript
• Facebook application development
• Word Press integration/development
• Magento integration/development
• Linux server administration
• Subversion CVS

Experience in some or all of the following would be a distinct advantage:

• iPhone/Android application development
• Java/JSP/Grails
• Ruby/Rails

Interpersonal Skills

• Ability to work independently
• Excellent client facing and communications skills
• Highly motivated and detail-oriented
• Good team player
• Possess strong problem-solving abilities
• Be able to handle fast paced and challenging environments

This is a permanent role but we are open to discussing contract opportunities.
We do not need the assistance of agencies at this time.

To apply please send your CV and covering letter to info@lightbox.ie

The post Lightbox are hiring – Web Developer role available appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

A great night had by all and congratulations to all the winners. A special mention goes out to Tattoo.tv who won the Community category sponsored by Lightbox. Below is a picture of Tom presenting the award. Nice bow tie!

The post Whoseview.ie wins Best Listings Website at the Eircom Spiders! appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

Below are a few screen shots of the app.

The post Lightbox launch new iPhone app for Toyota Ireland appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

The shortlist for the Eircom Spider Awards was released today and we are thrilled to say that we have been shortlisted for the 5th year in a row in the Best Web Design and Development category. It is a real testament to all of the hard work that the team have put in that we are in the reckoning again.

Four of our clients have also been shortlisted in a wide range of categories.

• Whoseview.ie – Following on from last year’s success Whoseview are shortlisted in the Listings category and also in the Community (People’s Choice) category.
• Wheretoeat.ie - One of our newer sites, Where to Eat is in the Travel, Tourism & Hospitality category
• Media Contact - fresh from the relaunch of their website Media Contact are straight into the shortlist as One to Watch.  They have a cracking business and a great ethos and deserve to go far
• Children’s Sunshine Home – We have just redesigned their website and they are short listed in the Charitable & Non-Profit Organisations category. The Children’s Sunshine Home is one of the worthiest causes out there and if you do nothing else please check out their site and give them some support.

Congratulations to all our clients and we wish you the best of luck on the night!

The post Lightbox and our clients shortlisted for 6 Eircom Spider awards! appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

Earlier this year the Children’s Sunshine Home and Laura Lynn House joined forces to build Ireland’s first children’s hospice. The aim is to provide families and children with life limiting illnesses with support, care and friendship. Currently the Children’s Sunshine Home are in the middle of building this hospice and there is detailed information and pictures on the site.

We have really enjoyed working on this project with the team in the Children’s Sunshine Home. The work that the organisation does for sick kids and their families is incredible and I would encourage you to find out more about what they do and get involved if you can.

The post New Children’s Sunshine Home website goes live appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

The new site features an umbrella “group” site under which we have broken down the four distinct divisions of the company. The goals of the new site were fourfold:

1. Present the products provided by Media Contact in a clear, engaging interface
2. Incorporate a commonality of design across the divisions
3. Improve the user experience in terms of howthey use the applications and improve the purchasing workflow.
4. Incorporate new functionality into the application to enhance the product offering.

We’re pretty happy with the way it has turned out – comments welcomed! MediaContact.ie.

The post Media Contact gets a facelift appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

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We are looking for a motivated self starter with at least 2 years experience in a similar role. An undergraduate or post graduate qualification in internet technologies, multimedia etc. is essential.

Skills used on a daily basis include the following:

• XHTML, CSS, Javascript/Jquery
• JSP/PHP
• mySQL
• XML and Actionscript.

Applications include:

• Photoshop/Fireworks
• Flash, Dreamweaver
• Expression Engine, WordPress
• Netbeans IDE

A solid understanding of WAI/Accessibility and SEO is required and experience of developing cross browser and cross platform consistent websites vital.

Other technologies that would be desirable include a working knowledge of ASP, Grails and the use of a CVS system or Subversion.

Please send your CV and covering letter to tom@lightbox.ie

The post Web Developer role available appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

http://www.bizstartup.ie/news/item/16264-social-review-website/

The post Social review website start-up stands out appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

The post Content is King Conference 2009 – Video appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

The successful candidate should be experienced and proficient in the following technologies:

Programming:
Good knowledge of Java EE and PHP
Knowledge of one of the following frameworks: Spring, Grails or Struts.

Database Management:
MySQL, Oracle
Knowledge of Hibernate framework would be desirable.

Servers/System Environment:
Tomcat, Apache, Linux/Unix

Web Technologies:
(X)HTML, CSS, XML, XSLT, AJAX, JavaScript frameworks (jQuery, Prototype, Scriptaculous)

We are looking for somebody who is an enthusiastic team player who is keen to work on the development of complex web applications for our client projects. In addition to the above it would be a distinct advantage to have experience developing for mobile platforms.

If you think your skills match the details above please send your CV and covering letter by email only to tom@lightbox.ie. No phone calls or letters please.

Salary is negotiable and comensurate on experience.

We do not require the assistance of agencies at this time.

The post We are hiring – developer role available appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

The 2009 Golden Spider Awards were on last night and I am delighted to say we didn’t come home empty handed. Between Lightbox and our clients we were shortlisted in 5 categories and Whoseview.ie managed to win the Best New Indigenous Website Award.

This is a great honour for the team at Lightbox and Whoseview and is just reward for all of the hard work and long hours put in to the project by everybody involved!

Congratulations to all of the other winners on the night – especially our friends in Pix.ie (we designed their logo as it happens) who won the people’s choice prize for Best Social Networking website.

The post Whoseview.ie wins Best New Indigenous Website Award at Golden Spiders appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

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We are delighted to have been shortlisted for the fourth year in a row for the Best Web Design and Development Agency category at the Golden Spider Awards.

Two of our clients are also in the frame for silverware on the night – Whoseview.ie and Mediacontact.ie. Whoseview are up for 3 awards – Best New Indigenous Website, Best Entertainment and Games Related Website and Best Classified Website. Media Contact are shortlisted for the Best Professional Services Website.

These nominations are a testament to the hard work of the whole team here in Lightbox and the efforts they have put in over the last 12 months. Well done guys!

Congratulations also to all of the other nominees – we are looking forward to a great night!

The post Golden Spiders Shortlist Announced appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

I will be giving a talk as part of the “Content is King” day organised by our friends in Media Contact on November 19th. Thankfully people won’t just have to listen to me all day. There are lots of other interesting speakers that I hope will make the day memorable for all those attending.

My talk will be about “Creating Winning Websites” and will focus on sites that make an impact. What they did, how they did it etc. I am sure there will be some room for some shameless plugging of client projects but mostly I will concentrate on the bigger picture…

I am really looking forward to the event – no doubt nerves will play a part as I am sure Jack will ensure that the room is full to bursting point. If anyone has any helpful nuggets of info that they think should make it into my presentation leave a comment below!

The post Content is King – How to create exceptional blogs, videos and podcasts appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

The following website of a business providing employment law advice in Ireland was brought to our attention this morning:

This would seem to me to be quite clearly an act of plagiarism. When I suggested to the site owner that perhaps he had copied the design I was told that the two sites were different and that there was no similarity… and after all you couldn’t copyright page layout and images… I suddenly felt a Magritte moment coming on.

The best bit of all was that the designer/developer in question hadn’t even bothered to change the HTML code. There was code in the page referring to the fact that they were mirroring the NERA website and they left in all of the comments from the Terminal 4 content management system e.g.
<!– End T4 – Page Content Template–>
We are going to take this as a compliment I think but I am not sure that the client will be taking the same view!

The post Design plagiarism – ceci n’est pas le meme site… appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

His latest offering could (and should) torpedo the slew of “social media, buzz monitoring, twitter writing, facebook page managing” consultancies that are popping up all over the place. Brands in Public provides brands with a one stop shop of content pulled in from numerous sources so companies can see (and manage) what is being said about them onlin through one simple interface.

It seems that the site is geared primarily at the bigger brands out there – Coca Cola, Lego, Guinness etc. Why should the smaller companies of the world be precluded from this? This is surely a service that we (and other agencies) should be providing as a matter of course. We are on the case…

The post Social media consultancies beware…Brands in Public goes live appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

The Irish Web Awards are upon us again. We were delighted to have been involved last year as a sponsor for the inaugural awards. What a refreshing experience. We tried to sponsor a category again this year but were told that if we or any of our clients wanted to enter that we would be precluded as a sponsor. This is the way it should be – awards ceremonies take note.

Given that a number of our clients were keen to submit entries (which doesn’t cost a thing…) we decided that sponsorship could wait until another year. In any case our sponsorship budget has been used up with the Digital Media Awards where we have designed and developed the site for this year’s event.

The great thing about the Irish Web Awards is the democracy of it all. There are approximately 85 judges on board – any one can apply to be a judge – and they are each given 25 sites to judge. This means that every single entry is judged a number of times by a wide variety of judges which should mean that you are getting the fairest and most objective view possible. Sponsorship, table purchase, advertising and other financially lucrative activities do not play a part in the decision making process here.

We are delighted to say that 34 of our clients have been included on shortlists in a number of categories and we can only hope now that at least one of them comes home with some glassware! Whoseview and Media Contact are both in the  Best Practice category which is a testament to the efforts of the Lightbox development team – we are firmly on the fence in terms of who we want to see win!

• Whoseview.ie appears in the following categories Best New Web Application/Service, Best Social Media Campaign and Best Practice.
• Media Contact is shortlisted in the Best Practice category
• Newstalk is shortlisted in the Best Radio website category for the second year in a row.
• Totally Dublin is shortlisted in the Best Entertainment Website Category

Well done to all shortlisted websites and looking forward to a great night on October 10th.

The post Irish Web Awards shortlist announced appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

The Whoseview.com site has now been up for over a month and the site is flying. Traffic to the site has been very healthy and people are engaging with the site on a daily basis, posting reviews and comments about all of their experiences in Dublin.

During the first month we received a lot of feedback from various sources. We also spent quite a bit of time analysing the traffic to the site to see what users were doing, where they were clicking etc. As a result we have made a number of key changes to the design of the homepage that we think will improve the product and get people more involved.

Please let us know your thoughts!

The post Whoseview homepage gets a makeover appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

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Let’s be clear. “Social media” isn’t new and it isn’t a fad. Humans are social creatures – and we’ve been on the planet for a while. We like to stay in touch with our friends/family/colleagues/clients/customers etc.  We simply have a different set of tools to communicate with people these days compared to previous generations. What’s new is the immediacy, the geographical reach and the accessibility.

You can talk with your mate in Australia on Skype whilst chatting with your brother in Dublin on Facebook all the while uploading videos to You Tube of  your latest holidays. You can tell 1000s of people about your latest product launch or your coolest special offer simply by typing a few words into Twitter. It’s all there, all instant and all free.

The Internet is the most revolutionary communication tool since Alexander Graham Bell said “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.” Of that there is no question. It doesn’t mean though that we have all suddenly become brilliant communicators. It doesn’t mean that just because the tools are there that anybody is listening.

Twitter, Facebook, Slideshare, You Tube etc. have given us the tools to communicate more effectively but if the message is wrong in the first place none of this matters. In fact, given the noise levels on sites such as Twitter and Facebook and the competion for our attention from other media (TV, Radio, Print), the clear presentation of your idea is the most important thing whether it’s written on parchment or in magic flashlights in the snow.

The post Social Media – We have been doing it for years appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

The post Social media – is here to stay… appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

Here is the end result: www.digitalmedia.ie – comments please!

The post Lightbox team up with the Digital Media Awards appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

We will keep you posted!

The post Tuesday Push helping Whoseview get exposure appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

In this day and age this is not a plausible excuse and if you are saying you are too busy to maintain your blog then you might as well be saying you have no time to talk to your clients. You are not interested in hearing what they have to say or how your business might improve through their feedback. Your blog is a vital communication tool that enables you to get your message out there but also enables you to provide your customers with better service. Your blog is a two way street – you aren’t simply talking at your audience but rather opening the door and inviting them in for a conversation. It would be trite of me to suggest that your company blog is the be all and end all of your company’s communication strategy but it is a vital part of the overall picture and needs to be given appropriate attention.

But I told you I’m too busy!!

Nonsense. I have used this excuse for months myself… if you cut out all of those interruptions to answer unnecessary phone calls and reply to non-urgent emails you would quickly find that you had much more time in your day to spend on constructive tasks like writing your blog.

Writing your company blog is a bit like having your cup of coffee in the morning. It becomes a habit and a necessary part of your day. It doesn’t need to take hours to write a post – 20-30 mins for a post is plenty once you know what you want to say. Sometimes it can be hard to come up with a topic for your next blog post but as with any habit once you get started it becomes easier every time. Here’s hoping!

The post Why is maintaining your blog important? appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

We have concentrated on providing more detailed information on the projects we have worked on recently to give clients and prospective clients a better understanding of what we do and how we do it.

As with all our projects we have focused on a clean, professional design that ensures information is clearly presented and easy to navigate – good work Tony! – and all pages adhere to the latest and strictest standards – hats off to Loic!

Let us know your thoughts/feedback – give us some comments below!

The post Lightbox launch new website! appeared first on Lightbox Digital.

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