Check the GoSquared Support Wiki for a run down on official and not-so-official web banner sizes.
You can use the example images as you wish. Give your readers an example of what ad sizes you offer if you want.
Hope this helps if you ever need a reference!
Just over 2 days ago, we launched the all new GoSquared, introducing the GoSquared Network, the completely rewritten Control Panel, Squares on other Sites, and more.
In just 2 days, we already have 14 Sites on the GoSquared Network, with more joining every day. We are really pleased that after a large influx of new users, the Control Panel is now available to thousands of Members.
The launch went smoothly, but there were a large number of bugs that simply couldn't be sorted out until we were online. We have been working without much sleep for the last few days to fix as many bugs as possible, and improve the most important areas of the site. Here's some of the fixes we have been working on:
We have completely redesigned the My Info area, giving a polished finish to your GoSquared Account details. Editing your Account details will now lead to a more familiar CP edit pane.
The Top Sites list on the Squares Homepage is now fully functional, and displays the most popular Sites at any given point in time based on their GoSquared Reputation.
At the base of the Squares Homepage is a quick preview of the most recently joined Sites on the GoSquared Network. All Sites are given a large thumbnail preview image that is updated regularly. You can see more Sites by clicking the left and right arrows. New Sites are automatically added to the queue for this preview area, regardless of Reputation, giving all new Sites publicity before they have spent a penny.
The GoSquared Support Wiki is growing, with more and more information being added every day to help you out with viewing and using GoSquared. If you need help with anything, or think anything is missing from the Support Wiki, just Contact Us.
Thanks for sticking with us, we're working to make GoSquared better everyday. We hope you enjoy the Site.
Don't forget, you haven't experienced GoSquared until you've signed in...
The other day, Sebastiaan de With of Cocoia wrote a blog post entitled "My Dream Browser".
This immediately grabbed my attention and reminded me of a few ideas I had a while ago for changes in the browser space.
Here is one of the images he posted to visualise his ideas:
The internet browser market is currently moving quickly in terms of new competition with the release of Safari for Windows, and Firefox 3 in beta, but in terms of design and UI it has been a while since any major changes took place.
The problem with current browsers is they are not designed for the new ways we are using the internet - RSS feeds are a late addition in the whole scheme of things, downloads are resigned to a small window in the background, and other media such as video and photos are still embedded into pages with no easy way of cutting through the clutter.
With this growing multitude of content flying around, perhaps a more organised approach would enable users to collect and share information online easily and efficiently.
Looking at iTunes, the most popular media software in the world, media is organised into groups of Music, Videos, TV Shows, Purchased Content, and then User Defined selection (Playlists). What if a similar approach was taken to the web? It would make sense - imagine being able to see all of the videos you have watched in the last week in a single list, with the ability to play any of them all from one page. Imagine you are downloading a 90 page PDF while also downloading a new app from your friend's site, as well as downloading the latest movie trailer from the Quicktime site and being able to monitor all your downloads, and see what type of media each of them are, without even leaving the current window.
That's our dream browser.
We also had some UI ideas of our own, some of which we are working on bringing into GoSquared itself sometime in the future.
You may remember, a while ago we wondered "why isn't CoverFlow in Safari?", well we still wonder, and it would definitely be in the browser of our dreams. CoverFlow wasn't the only idea we had though...
Take this scenario:
I find an image I really like on a page and want to share it with a friend or a colleague. Currently, I copy and paste the image into my favourite email client (Mail), fill out the "To:" field with his or her name, and maybe leave a little comment in the "Subject:" field, then maybe another little "Yo, check this out" in the body field, and then I hit send.
Wouldn't it be cool if you could do this:
Drag the image to my friend's name in the sidebar, and wait for it to arrive in his inbox.
The ability to do things like this would drastically improve the way people communicate ideas on a regular basis.
We have a few more ideas, and this blog post could run on for another few days, but for now we would love to hear what you guys and girls think.
We are actively working on the browser to make it a reality - Danny Greg from Crimson Sky Software is the lead developer on this project and he is just as passionate as we are about creating this awesome browser.
If you would like to help out, or have any ideas of your own, please let us know below!
Already, it's 2008.
Our first post of the year is not about us*, it's about our friends over at WP Candy, and their fabulously minimalist redesign.
This blog, for a start has gone from nothing to something in a matter of months, and to keep up the pace, a redesign always helps.
It is brave decision to go for such a minimal look and feel - with large white space everywhere you look. However, the white has been well balanced by the bold Helvetica logotype in the top left that draws the eye.
The logo size is of key importance here. As you may have noticed, last year we transitioned to a new design across the whole GoSquared site, and one of the main reasons for this was to promote our name, our brand. I'm very glad to see WP Candy making their name loud and clear to everyone who sees the site, I am sure this will help them to be recognized in the future. Also, a standard rule of user navigation is to ALWAYS link your name and/or logo in the top left to your home page: another thumbs up for WP Candy.
The choice of Georgia as a title font has worked very well, although would not have been my first choice considering the difference between that and their logo's font. However, it seems that the more traditional styling of Georgia gives the minimalist theme some needed delicate character to stand out from the average mundane "web 2.0" boldness of so many blogs.
The use of Helvetica as the body font is wise, as it corresponds with the logo perfectly. If Georgia had been used for the body, the theme would have lost a lot of its slick feel to overcomplicated, less readable text.
On the homepage, hover your cursor over the footer of every post entry. A simple method used to great effect: making a common set of links more subtle so as to not draw your eye until they are needed. When the user hovers over the rectangular space reserved for these links, they are darkened, making them more readable all at once. This same effect has been used at the bottom of the page to make it easier to read individual footer areas such as "Recent Commenters" and "Popular Articles" without drawing away your eyes to other sections of the page.
I am also impressed by the very restricted use of images on the site (OK we admit it- we like using images to add a little gloss or grad here and there). At the time of writing, on the homepage, there were only 19 images, most of them the tiny 10px x 10px icons for post entries.
It's a great redesign by WP Candy, but as with every design, ever, there are always ways to improve.
One area I have noticed to be slightly less useful now is the sidebar on the right. It is lovely to have a minimal page, but for most screens, it would be helpful to have at least the "Categories" title above the fold.
Promotion of your RSS feeds is becoming ever more vital for success, so it is always a good idea to make the link to your feed as clear as possible. Perhaps moving the "Syndication" title higher up the page, or simply reducing the paragraph spacing in the sidebar would help. It is good to see another link to the RSS feed at the top as well: an example of sensible (instead of logical) placing. The placing of "RSS" in the navigation bar is not logical since most of the links at the top are to different sections of the site, not actions that may remove you from the site, however, there is a higher probability that people will click through to the feed in this position.
* As Seth Godin writes: "The truism of the web: people talking about you is far more effective than talking about yourself."
If you like your blog, but want to make it better, and go tweaking the insides of Wordpress, this may be of help to you.
Our good friends over at WP Candy have done a great job in providing you with the quick shortcuts and need-to-knows of Wordpress all on one easy to use sheet.
More Help Sheets by GoSquared: HTML Help Sheet, and CSS Help Sheet
We saw earlier today that Apple had launched a useful new area of the ADC Site to help us developers make great stuff for the iPhone.
We then realised they hadn't bought the domain name iPhoneDevCenter.com, so we went ahead and bought it [as you do].
Now we're debating whether to merely sell it on, or actually do something productive with it [on top of everything else we're doing at the moment].
At the moment you'll notice that it just redirects back to this post.
What say you, loyal readers of liquidicity?
We are still looking forward to the launch of the iPhone over in the UK. Maybe then we can actually start to join in on all the iPhone craziness.
The only way to get seen on liquidicity is to purchase a Square [or make an awesome product and tell us about it].
A lot of people aren't sure why they would want to buy a Square, or who's going to see them if they do buy one.
To all those that have already bought a Square, here's some extra publicity...
Media Temple
Media Temple have already experienced a number of new users after we started promoting them with a Square. Just one Square, and we became partners. Media Temple are a top notch hosting company and we highly recommend them.
Adii
Adii is a great blog that shares many interests with us and the loyal readers of liquidicity. If you like liquidicity, you'll probably also like Adii.
ColourLovers
We've been in contact with ColourLovers for a while now, and we admire their passion for what they do. Their site has gone from strength to strength and seems to constantly be getting Dugg. If you want to know about colour, look no further.
WaffleBox
An amusing blog on design, web, and modern technology. As they put it, "Somewhere between philistine and high art."
MediaElements
MediaElements is a London based advertising agency who came to us looking for someone to design their website. We completed a successful site, are providing hosting, and of course, promote them with a Square on GoSquared and liquidicity.
We will be growing GoSquared over the next few weeks, and if any loyal readers want to get seen and support us at the same time we could really do with some new customers!
GoSquared, Get Seen. We need your support like never before.
Here's one of our client projects that we have been spending some time on, they're called MediaElements and they're an advertising agency based in London.
They came to us looking for a site design, in a very short period of time, so we thought we would step up the challenge, and here it is.
We offered a pretty full solution, with collaboration on colour choices, text layout, fonts, and actual copy. We also included advertising on GoSquared.com and are providing hosting services while the site gets off the ground.
Pay them a visit, and check out the site while you're there 
Just a quick note - as part of the redesign, we've started using the newly acquired FeedBurner to host and monitor our RSS Feeds.
We also thought it would be a good idea to inform you guys and girls - our loyal feed reading fans.
Wow, we didn't expect this. Looks like our humble blog, liquidicity, has been nominated as one of five of the Top Blogs of the year by EverybodyGoTo. Scroll down to the "web design and development" category, and just click on the one that says Go Squared. Thanks
Seriously, we really appreciate the support, and intend to keep bringing you helpful and entertaining content.
Here's to a successful second half of 2007!
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