Category: WMS

EU Cookie Directive Update

Posted on by Ezone Interactive

 

With the deadline of the 26th of May drawing nearer, after which the new cookie laws will begin to be enforced, we wanted to look at how different websites are adhering to the changes in legislation:

The new cookie law states that:

“Those setting cookies must:

• Tell people that the cookies are there,
• Explain what the cookies are doing, and
• Obtain their consent to store a cookie on their device.”


Whilst there has been considerable debate as to what is an acceptable way to address these changes in the law there appear to be three solutions commonly being implemented:

  1. To simply have a prominent link to your privacy policy on your home page and to provide detailed information within the policy regarding what cookies your site uses, what they do and how the user can adjust their settings regarding what cookies are allowed to be placed on their computer.
    This seems to be quite a popular solution as it is the least disruptive to the browsing experience for the user.
    Examples: http://econsultancy.com, http://www.waitrose.com and http://www.dominos.co.uk/
  2.  An ‘opt-out’ setup whereby the user is prominently informed on the home page that cookies are being used and given a link where they can opt-out of the cookies being used (or in some cases select what sort of cookies they want to allow).
    These also include links to a detailed privacy policy.
    Examples: http://www.magiq.com/,  http://www.bt.com/ and https://www.gov.uk
  3. A full opt-in plugin. In this case cookies are disabled by default and the user must choose to opt-in to enable them. This also includes a link to the privacy policy with details of what cookies will be used if the user does choose to opt-in.
While the third approach appears to most strictly comply with the ICO guidelines it is also the most disruptive and it has been suggested that it may not be necessary if your site is only using cookies for purposes such as analytics.
However, if your website has more complex cookie functionality such as, for example, a login then the second or third approach may be more appropriate.

At Ezone Software we can provide the following 4 step solution:

1. An audit to see which cookies are running on your website.

2. The creation of a privacy page on your website (or alteration of an existing privacy page) – to state what these cookies are and explain what they do.

3. (Optional) The addition of a free third party solution to allow the site user to give informed consent that refers/links the site user to your privacy page (or which has this information on screen as part of its functionality) so that the user can make an informed choice.

4. A report will be provided on the audit findings and work done.

As an alternative to step 3 we can work with you to supply a bespoke solution developed at Ezone Software along the same lines of the third party solutions but more befitting the branding of your website.

If you would like us to carry out this 4 step EU Cookie Directive Audit or if you would like more information please contact [email protected].

Domain Expiry can be a pain!

Posted on by Ezone Interactive

You get used to your website being up and available, no problem for a couple of years until one day when you type your site’s domain into a browser and its not there! Your domain has expired and your site is down.

This happened recently to a client of ours. The reminders were going to an old email address and the domain wasn’t set to auto-renew. We had contacted our client to give a “heads up” but other day to day matters had monopolised their time. On Friday afternoon we received a support ticket reporting the site as down but we were seeing it as still up. The domain was in the process of lapsing and the site was on its way down for the weekend – not ideal for a hotel website to say the least.

So we got in touch with our client and after a couple of calls between us we managed to track down who held the domain and who had the login details to renew online. The site went back up later that night and was available over the weekend.

To prevent this happening the WMS as a courtesy service tracks all the domains registered within it and we get in touch with clients when domains are due to lapse. Also if your domain is about to lapse you will see the following when you edit your website in the WMS:

“The domain for this site will expire soon! See “View Domain Info” in your Site Properties for more details. “

So while we don’t manage your DNS directly we can help remind you about domain renewal dates. You can also access your domain info yourself at any time in the WMS:

WMS > Admin > Manage Sites > Domain Info > DomainTools Whois

For all involved on this occasion it was a much nicer feeling to go home for the weekend a little later but with the site safely up again. But to avoid situations like this we recommend checking when your domain is due, heeding the WMS warnings and watching out for our reminder emails.

Best Wishes

Stuart Ferguson – WMS Support

WMS Support Feedback 2012

Posted on by Ezone Interactive

Hello Valued WMS Support User!

We at WMS Support would like to get some feedback from you on your experience of using WMS support with the following 10 question survey.

This information is important to us to help us improve the WMS support service and experience for you.

Therefore please don’t hold back if you have any criticisms! However also let us know where we are doing a good job so we don’t try and fix something that isn’t broken 🙂

Here is a link to the survey: Click here to take survey

If you have any questions about this survey either prior or post answering it – please contact [email protected].

If you are able to fill out the survey then thanks for taking time to participate! If not then thanks anyway for being a WMS Support service user. We understand people don’t always have the time for surveys – although this one may help us to tailor WMS Support more to your needs.

Thanks

Stuart Ferguson – WMS Support

Ensure Your Website Complies with New EU Privacy Laws

Posted on by Ezone Interactive

On 26th May 2012 the ICO will begin to enforce the EU “Cookie” Directive. In the UK this EU Privacy Directive has resulted in changes to the Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations. The directive came into being on 25th May 2011 however the ICO chose to give a year’s grace in the UK before they started enforcing it. Website owners can potentially be fined up to £500,000 for being in breach of this law.

According to the ICO:

“Those setting cookies must:

• Tell people that the cookies are there,
• Explain what the cookies are doing, and
• Obtain their consent to store a cookie on their device.”

This affects the vast majority of websites in the EU (for instance Google Analytics sets a cookie as will many third party integrations on your website). Due to the lack of guidance on exactly how the directive should be complied with most have decided to wait and see what trends develop to see if one common approach becomes clear. Currently none of the big sites such as Amazon or EBay have moved with their main solution.

The ICO website itself has a box at the top of the page where site users can check a checkbox to accept cookies before they run so a solution similar to this may be the safest option to ensure compliance with the Directive.

So at Ezone Software we recommend the following 4 step solution which we provide as an audit package:

1. An audit to see which cookies are running on your website.

2. The creation of a privacy page on your website (or alteration of an existing privacy page) – to state what these cookies are and explain what they do.

3. (Optional) The addition of a free third party solution to allow the site user to give informed consent that refers/links the site user to your privacy page (or which has this information on screen as part of its functionality) so that the user can make an informed choice.

4. A report will be provided on the audit findings and work done.

If you would like us to carry out this 4 step EU Cookie Directive Audit or if you would like more information please contact [email protected].

As an alternative to step 3 we can supply a bespoke solution developed at Ezone Software along the same lines of the third party solutions.

As well as the EU Cookie Directive audit we also offer the following website audits:

  • Accessibility Audit
  • Speed Audit
  • Quality Assurance Audit

To enquire about any of the above please contact [email protected].

Best Regards

Ezone Software

WMS Library Upgrade due January 2012

Posted on by Ezone Interactive
Season’s Greetings to WMS users and all of Ezone Software’s Clients! A further update on January’s WMS Upgrade which is due early January 2012.

This update will include the following:

Brand New WMS Library Functionality

– Improved features – such as the ability to “cut” or “copy” folders and images from one place in the library to another (to enable you to manage you library files and folders more easily)
– All files can now be previewed in a browser window (you can preview PDF files as well)
– A great new image editor – allowing you to edit images within the WMS library (rather than having to edit images externally and then upload them to the WMS library)
– Clicking on the “select” button in an element that is linked to the library (such as an image element) now allows you to upload images at this point as well as selecting images in the element. So you don’t have to go to the library first, you can:
  • Click on “select” in the element on you page in the WMS which links to the WMS library
  • Upload the file from your local computer to the WMS library at this stage
  • Select the image in the element – a much quicker process
– Plus more. In general the new WMS library is much easier to use with a new User Interface
Support if IE9 and IE10 has been significantly improved when using the WMS
As well as a number of general fixes and improvements

FAQs on the new WMS Library Functionality can be found here: WMS Library Functionality
Further training options on the new WMS library functionality will be available closer to and after the upgrade launch.
We will be emailing you and posting on the Ezone Software Blog with more information the day before the launch – so watch this space!
An online training session covering these library changes will take place at 11am on Thursday 5th January. Please email [email protected] to book a place (15 places maximum – A second session can be scheduled if numbers exceed this).
As usual we will be available to provide support for you on this and any other WMS matter at [email protected]
Wishing you a Happy New Year when it comes!
Ezone Software

WMS Support – Xmas Availability

Posted on by Ezone Interactive

To WMS Support Service Users and all of Ezone Software’s Clients!

I am happy to report that Ezone Software will be providing an improved Festive support package this year. The WMS Support calendar for the Festive period December 2011 to January 2012 is as follows:

– Up to and including 21st December
Normal WMS support

– 22nd and 23rd December
Full support capabilities but reduced hours and speed (morning and late afternoon covered)

– 24th to 27th December
No WMS support

– 28th to 30th December
Full support capabilities but reduced hours and speed (morning and late afternoon covered)

– 31st December to 2nd January
No WMS support

– 3rd January onwards
Normal WMS support

If you have content you need added WMS Unlimited will be available throughout the Festive period on the above dates. However turnaround times may be longer than usual and may need to be re-scheduled to January 2012.

Please email [email protected] if you have any questions on Ezone’s Festive WMS Support Package

Best Regards and Merry Xmas!!!

Stuart Ferguson – WMS Support

WMS Upgrade due January 2012

Posted on by Ezone Interactive

Season’s Greetings to WMS users and all of Ezone Software’s Clients!

We would like to announce the latest WMS Upgrade which will be launched early January 2012.

This update will include the following:

– Brand new WMS Library functionality

– Support of IE9 and IE10 has been significantly improved when using the WMS

– As well as a number of general fixes and improvements

FAQs and training options on the new WMS library Functionality will be available closer to and after the upgrade launch.

We will be emailing you and posting on the Ezone Software Blog with more information closer to the launch – so watch this space!

As usual we will be available to provide support for you on this and any other WMS matter at [email protected]

Wishing you a very Merry Xmas!

Ezone Software

WMS Unlimited (content editing service)

Posted on by Ezone Interactive

Please gather round! We would like to announce the arrival of “WMS Unlimited” our new WMS content editing Service! Available at no additional cost to the current WMS subscription.

As well as using the WMS to add content yourself you may want to get us to do it for you. You can then spend your work hours doing something else. Essentially you can send us any amount of content and we will add it to your website via the WMS for no additional cost. This includes image resizing and you can use the service as many times as you want.

We operate a fair usage policy on this service which means that your content is scheduled into an available time slot so it may not be possible to add the content immediately and the more content you send us the longer it will take.

To use this service (or for more information) please email [email protected] (or open a support ticket through the WMS) and attach the content you want added. Please include all the content you want us to add (including images, PDF, hyperlinks etc) and guidance information on any specific way it should be added.

If you have already purchased Edit Credits these can be converted into bankable WMS development hours.

Easy 301 redirect management plus making Template Editors lives easier!

Posted on by Ezone Interactive

The WMS was updated last week, this was mainly a maintenance update; but there are also two new features that we are excited about:

Making it easier to manage 301 redirects
A “301 redirect” is a permanent redirect from one URL to another (there are several different types of redirect hence the need to specify that this is a 301). This is a part of some companies SEO optimisations of a web site. It is especially useful when a site is moved, upgraded or significantly change (moving or removing lots of pages).

On large sites, or those that change regularly it can be a headache to manage these redirects and there are also several different ways to implement these redirects, depending on the site’s hosting and technology. This is were the new WMS feature comes in! All you need to do is build a CSV list in excel and upload it; the WMS takes care of all the hard work and generates the correct code for that site!

It is worth noting here that, this should only be a part of your SEO work. So if you are not sure there are plenty of other SEO optimisations you should consider first; the most important of these is to keep you site content fresh and relevant!

Making the job of a WMS Template Editors even easier!
The second new feature is actually two! Firstly check out the new “Furniture FTP” feature under your sites “Templates” menu. And then take a look at the new “Compare” tool when you are editing a template.

As always, please contact WMS support if we can help you in any way!

New Charity site: challengesworldwide.org!

Posted on by Ezone Interactive

At Ezone we pride ourselves in our values; we firmly believe that the figure at the bottom of the financial accounts is just one aspect of our success. As one example of this we use our expertise and resources to help selected charities to gain the most from their web activities.

So, we are very excited about our newest charity site challengesworldwide.org!

Challenges Worldwide is a leading international development charity that recruits, trains and manages expert volunteers to carry out short assignments for social enterprise in developing countries. Challenges Worldwide uses its specially designed management tools to work with organisations to identify their operational strengths and weaknesses.

Other charities that we have helped include the Edinburgh Cyrenians and the Scottish arm of Music in Hospitals.

Check out this page for more details.

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