Granite Digital, one of Ireland’s leading website and online software development companies has just launched a new, fully responsive website for IT Tallaght, a first for any Higher Education Institution in Ireland. Using responsive design technolog

y, this investment in a leading user-experience improvement for the ittdublin.ie website recognises the huge shift in website access platforms from traditional PCs & laptops to tablets, smartphones and other mobile devices.

What is responsive design?

It’s a method of designing and developing a website with a fluid layout so that images and other elements of the site adapt or ‘respond’ to the screen on which the website is being viewed.

What are the advantages?

One of the

main advantages of this method is that a site built using responsive design offers an incredibly high quality user experience. Traditional websites, which are not optimised for mobile devices, often display content that is difficult to navigate or too small to read. We have all had the experience of squinting on our smartphone to try and read that tiny phone number or email address and scrolling endlessly up, down, left and right

With the huge increase in people browsing on mobile devices, the implementation of these new features will allow visitors to have a far better user experience with quicker and more intuitive access to content on the go.

The website is now clever enough to ”respond’ to the device and show website sections which are more relevant to the user.

John Hannigan commented; “Together with our web partners Granite Digital we have implemented a fully responsive version of our website optimised for mobile devices such as the iPad, iPhone and most other smartphone and tablet devices. We are delighted with the results and are very excited that we now serve our audience better. Our web analytics is already showing significant improvements in usage patterns from our increasing mobile and tablet audience.”

Robert Carpenter of Granite Digital commented; “From our first conversations with ITT Dublin it was agreed that we needed to implement significant change to serve a huge change in how users access and navigate the ITT Dublin website. It was essential that we prioritised their mobile audience and give users access to content on the go and quickly. There is so much talk and confusion for website owners about needing a mobile version of your website. We get calls every week from business owners saying they need an app to take care of the huge increase in iPhones and iPads. This is not true and bugs me a little at how easily people can get caught up in the hype around ‘mobile apps’ They invest in the wrong solution for their digital presence. You don’t need to develop a web version, a mobile version and a tablet version separately. This would be a huge admin headache as well as involve high running costs. You need your website to respond to your audience. With one website responding to the device there is no extra admin time for your Webmaster. All website updates are done

once centrally within the CMS (Content Management System). This is essential for ITT Dublin and any serious website owner. This phase is now delivered and we look forward to implementing even more improvements in 2013 – watch this space! ”

ITT Dublin Web analytics are already showing significant improvements in usage patterns from their increasing mobile audience and the results are very exciting.

To the best of our knowledge, they are the first HEI to release a fully responsive design to their website and are already looking forward to exciting new improvements planned for 2013.

Alf Smiddy

It was no great surprise when our own Chairman here at Granite Digital

Alf Smiddy, was invited to speak at the Cork Marketing Breakfast on Tuesday the 21st of February 2012. Aside from his work at Granite Digital, Alf has plenty of other impressive business experience and knowledge to cialis his name.

Alf was the former Chairman and Managing Director of Beamish & Crawford Plc for many years as well as the director of a number of companies across a range of sectors including Financial Services, Technology, Research, Tourism & Hospitality, and Agriculture & Food. Alf is a Fellow of the Marketing Institute, and is also a Chartered Accountant with a Masters in Executive Leadership.

At the presentation, Alf discussed Marketing Management, Branding and the importance of leadership in Marketing. Thanks to his former Chairman position at Beamish and Crawford and other expertise relevant to the industry, Alf was able to speak at length about some of his experiences during the development and introduction of many beer brands. He also discussed the Leadership in the Marketing function as well as his stance on results and executive decisions from a marketing point of view.

Throughout his career Alf worked for and alongside Marketing Directors of Unilever, Proctor & Gamble, The Miller Brewing Company, the Fosters Brewing Group, et al, all of whom became part of the International Beer Business.

Cork’s top IT companies join f

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orces following International success

Leading Cork IT companies Digital Crew and Granite Consulting have joined forces following close collaboration and the international success of the project management software, TeamworkPM developed by the software development team at Digital Crew.

Digital Crew have signed a takeover agreement with Cork firm Granite Consulting who will take over the running of the web development side of the business following close collaboration between both companies over the last two years. Under the Agreement, Digital Crew will focus on its highly successful TeamworkPM business which has rapidly expanded over cheap viagra recent years while Granite Consulting will take over responsibility for all website development with the core website development team at Digital Crew joining the Granite Consulting business.

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We were delighted to attend the launch of of an exciting new partnership between the Irish Heritage Trust and Promethean today at Fota House. This will add new interactive learning technologies to the now 1 year old Fota Learning Zone which has been

a huge success for Fota House at the team at The Irish Heritage Trust.

We were delighted to be asked to attend by our friends Jennifer and Kevin at the Trust and celebrate the great work they have carried at out at this wonderful Irish Historic Attraction in our hometown of Cork.
The speeches by Minister Jimmy Deenihan and especially Lord Puttnam were enjoyable and very thought provoking.

Below is the official Press Release released for this event.

Fota House, Arboretum and Gardens logo

Lord David Puttnam, a champion of digital education in the UK & Ireland, will be keynote speaker at Fota House. Wednesday, 24th August at 10am

Fota House, Co. Cork, August 2011: The Irish Heritage Trust is mark the first anniversary of Fota Learning Zone with the announcement of a dynamic new partnership with Promethean, a global leader in interactive learning technology. The Irish Heritage Trust will celebrate the anniversary of Fota Learning Zone during Heritage Week 2011 (August 20th-27th), with the launch of three new learning modules which tie in with the curriculum. One of these, ‘Politics or Parlour Maids’, will encourage students to analyse and decide which historical source tells us more about life in a big house: social or political. Lord David Puttnam, a champion of digital education in the UK and Ireland, will be keynote speaker on the day and the new learning module will be officially launched by Jimmy Deenihan TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht.

Under the partnership, Promethean has worked with the Irish Heritage Trust to develop educational resources to increase the interactive elements of the new modules. Promethean has created tailor made classroom materials such as downloadable lesson plans, as well as access to online workshops through Promethean Planet, the world’s leading interactive teacher’s resource site with over one million members. The Fota Learning zone will benefit from having a partner site on Promethean Planet to hold these resources, allowing students and teachers to access learning materials after their visit in the classroom and at home, and enabling Fota Learning Zone to enhance its visibility to Promethean Planet’s online community.

Promethean has also donated ActivExpression Learner Response Systems, handheld devices which enable students to work remotely and answer questions while on the go. These will enable students to learn interactively throughout the different rooms of Fota House.

Fota Learning Zone is a free digital resource for teachers and students based on Fota House & Gardens in Cork (www.fotalearningzone.ie). Funded with the aid of a grant of €28,000 from The Heritage Council in 2010, it is multidisciplinary in approach and has been designed to appeal to teachers and students of Transition Year and Leaving Certificate History, History & Appreciation of Art and English.

Jennifer McCrea, Learning & Access Officer with the Irish Heritage Trust, explains its appeal: “Teachers and students can enhance classroom-based learning by collecting and analysing on-site evidence via self-directed learning and project work. It enables students to learn in context in an historic house and generic cialis online helps them to understand abstract concepts on