A lot of bad stuff has gone down in the world in 2016. But we still go about our daily lives, which can make the larger global changes seem merely like the cherry on top. Here are some reflections on my 2016. Read full article
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I put off making my website more secure because I dreaded it would be difficult. In the end it was a ten minute job. Read full article
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In ten years, Twitter has transformed from a geek enclave to a mainstream form of communication. But I find it difficult to imagine signing up to Twitter today. Read full article
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Our perspective on how a digital product should be managed is strongly influenced by our background and our role. That certainly helps explain some of the difficult conversations I have had over the years. Read full article
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In an era where TV viewership is declining as a whole, TV-centric sports like football, NFL and F1 are at risk of becoming irrelevant. Read full article
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The odd thing about John O'Groats is that you would imagine it being like the edge of the world the way people talk about it. But once you get there, it doesn't feel like the edge of anything. Read full article
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We covered the whole northern coast of Scotland in one day. Read full article
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Like the mid-century modernists, today’s digital designers are creating the future. Some digital designers are making the same fundamental mistakes. Read full article
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Accessibility Scotland was a high quality event with a diverse range of speakers. Find out what I took away from the event. Read full article
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On a glorious day we saw a beautiful lighthouse, walked to a natural wonder and stayed at a campsite with the most incredible view. Read full article
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The web is facing many challenges from new technologies, threatening the open culture that made it such a success. We need to fight for its survival. Read full article
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The next stage of our journey took us to the North West Highlands Geopark, where the landscape was at its most dramatic. Read full article
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This day's drive was a long one. In total, we spent over four and a half hours driving. But we just had time to stop off at a legendary beach before heading to the wonderful Badrallach campsite. Read full article
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Microsoft recently announced that it will acquire LinkedIn for $26.2 billion. But do any of LinkedIn's users actually derive value from it? Read full article
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We continued our North Coast 500 by heading west. But we were a little disappointed by one of the area's main attractions. Read full article
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Part 1 of a series of posts about the North Coast 500, a road trip that takes you on a circular route around the north coast of the Highlands of Scotland. Read full article
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The free versus paywall debate was a red herring. What matters is the quality of the product. Read full article
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This is how Apple's latest emoji design could cause some serious misunderstandings. Read full article
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My highlights from the the Institutional Web Management Workshop, the valuable annual conference for (mostly) higher education web managers. Read full article
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How my brother and I caught the bug at the world's most legendary motor race. Read full article
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I was delighted to be given the opportunity to speak to my colleagues last week at IWMW 2016, the Institutional Web Management Workshop. I spoke about my experience building new teams at the University of St Andrews and SRUC. Read full article
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Core liberal values of unity, openness and cooperation are under threat. Read full article
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Google wanted to fix mobile interfaces for people with motor impairments. But this new technology will benefit us all. Read full article
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Last month Ofcom published a report on the people who rely on their phones as their main way of accessing the internet. Some of the findings are shocking and eye-opening. Read full article
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Good designers aim to meet their users' needs. But there is a whole other breed of designers who are trying to trick their users into something they don't want to do. Find out about the evil magicians using dark patterns on you. Read full article
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We have an innate desire to pursue mobility. This is why that makes audio interfaces the logical next step in digital design. Read full article
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This edition of the digital design digest highlights some incredible looking technology from Microsoft that could transform mobile interfaces. Read full article
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Why are writers publishing their content to platforms like Medium when it threatens to undermine the do-it-yourself culture that made the web great? Read full article
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One of the biggest challenges designers face is avoiding bias. We all have perspectives that subconsciously affect our decisions. In the case of design, those choices we don't even realise we are making can have big consequences. Read full article
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A guest post about the Institutional Web Management Workshop. Read full article
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Excellent radio with a passion for the unusual: Steve Davis and Stewart Lee discussing their love of experimental music on the BBC, and the triumphant return of Iain Lee to late nights. Read full article
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Online security has always been important. But a number of recent stories have shown why it is becoming even more important all the time. Read full article
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You've probably been using some emojis wrongly without realising it. Read full article
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This first edition looks at why designers should take so-called edge cases seriously, to the benefit of all users. Read full article
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Why conflicting demands and changing tastes are mounting up to present a serious existential crisis for motorsport. Read full article
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This month Alex and I took a long weekend break in Berlin. Despite almost getting caught up in something nasty, we had a brilliant time. Read full article
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As an industry, web professionals have failed their users. It's time to stop building bloated and inaccessible pages. Read full article
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I was bracing myself for a difficult experience. Instead, I found myself amazed at how easy it is to make your WordPress site compatible with AMP. Read full article
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The web is in a bad state of health right now. Web publishers and developers can blame themselves. Read full article
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I didn't think moving to WordPress multisite was going to be easy, and sure enough I hit some bumps along the way. Here are six big lessons I learned. Read full article
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Designers like to fret about the differing keypad layouts on calculators and phones. But economics tells us it may not be such a problem after all. Read full article
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A couple of separate stories about Google today remind us that simpler is often better. Read full article
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There is an interesting debate in the design community right now about the hamburger menu. Given two extremes of opinion, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Read full article
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