When developing content, site architectures, and interfaces for websites, we focus frequently on helping users get to the content and sections of the site that they are most interested in with as little effort as possible. Extending this mentality to subscription and sharing services allow us to ensure that users are proactively being delivered content that is always relevant to their interests and needs, and via a medium that suits their online lifestyle.

There are a growing number of 3rd party web services giving access to their data that can be consumed and made useful on your website. Sites like Twitter, Yelp, Google, Yahoo!, and Weather.com facilitate this connectivity often at no cost. The services provided by these sources are useful to your visitors, but still would be important to have on your website to increase the value of your site.

 When our development team came back from Adobe Max last year with tales of a design/dev hybrid tool called Flash Catalyst, my interest was peaked to say the least. Flash Catalyst seemed like the holy grail of interactive apps, promising a streamlined Photoshop/Illustrator to Flash/Air experience that empowered designers and made developers’ lives easier. After a week of total Catalyst immersion, however, I have a few bones to pick with Adobe.

Every day more and more web traffic originates from mobile devices. The majority of that growth comes from touch-enabled devices like the iPhone and Android. A great deal of the excitement over these two platforms is largely due to the advanced capabilities they deliver through applications and services. Features like touch, tilt, and locations services have made them the hottest platforms around. Most of these technologies, however, are also available through web browsers on theses devices. Incorporating some of these functionalities into your websites will enhance user experience when viewing it on a mobile browser and portray your company as forward-thinking.

For many small B-to-C businesses, the hardest working member of their sales team is their webstore -- working 24 hours a day and seven days a week. As local artisan chocolate makers Taza Chocolate work around the clock to recover from heavy flood damage to their recently renovated factory and brand new retail store, they have enlisted the help of the e-commerce system to do more than just sell products.

As a company with a strong appreciation for web statistics, hosting the Boston pops Fireworks Spectacular website was a great experience. Our servers handled the traffic spike well due to the combination of Common Goal WebManager and page flattening.

Need to create a buzz around your event? A community-driven event website could be the answer. Event websites have a unique set of needs that differ from the traditional corporate website, which — when strategically addressed — will stir up excitement in both potential attendees and repeat event-goers.

Social media campaigns are evolving to not only focus on creating engaging user experiences, but also to more directly impact upsell opportunities and ROI. To be effective, social media tactics should remain entertaining while increasing the value provided to consumers. The result of this approach is not merely a corporate marketing asset, but a sought-after tool for a company’s consumers and online communities that will encourage widespread viral marketing.

Now that our digital devices prominently feature touch interfaces, the ways of interacting with the devices and the content they present have begun to displace the methods of interaction made popular via traditional methods of human-computer interaction, most notably the monitor-mouse-keyboard setup. The interactions that went from physical to digital in the late 70s and early 80s are now merging – tapping, flicking and turning our digital devices allows us to physically interact with our digital content in ways not possible before now. Furthermore, these new levels and forms of interaction allow (and perhaps require) us to re-imagine the way we produce and deliver digital content.

Silverscape, a leading independent digital agency, took home top honors at the 2010 SMPS National Marketing and Communications Awards. This annual competition is the longest-standing, most prestigious awards program recognizing excellence in marketing and communications by professional services firms in the design and building industry.

Our everyday conversations contain a lot of terms, acronyms, and ideas that are not always easy to understand – regardless of technical acumen. Consider this blog entry a glossary of key terms to give you (and ourselves) a common foundation

Despite the popularity of social networking sites, the classic web based forum is still an extremely important and functional tool allowing the creation of communities for your users with even more appeal than a trip to Facebook.

 When Silverscape was hired to design and develop Tedeschi Food Shop's new website, we knew that local community involvement would bring immense value to the project.

Tuesday June 15th, Silverscape received distinguished honors from the New England Direct Marketing Association (NEDMA) and took home 12 awards –including 4 gold - for excellence in print, web and interactive design.

One thing great websites have in common is great web copy. Read on for writing tips and to learn about some of Silverscape’s practices that make your copywriting easier.

 “The Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular,” sponsored by Boston-based insurer Liberty Mutual, is pleased to announce the launch of its brand new vibrant and community-driven website.

 I recently spoke to our Senior Developer, Jake Story, about the page flattening functionality we have developed for Common Goal WebManager. This functionality is useful on any web site since it virtually eliminates the chance of server side errors, but is especially important for sites expecting a high amount of traffic.

 Branded Twitter pages create a richer experience for your readers and a more dynamic stage for your tweets. Being devoted tweeters and Twitter page designers, the importance of the two working together has been something we’ve used to gain followers and brand recognition for our clients and ourselves.

 Lately, we’ve discussed some interesting new features in HTML5 for video playback. Phill explored options for dealing with inconsistent features and support between multiple browsers. However, these options are somewhat cumbersome as they add additional time to producing and delivering your content. Understanding the valid reasons for these inconsistencies is key for developing work-arounds to create a seamless A/V experience.

Consumers' abandonment of printed media signals an end of traditional book culture and the rise of a different kind of literary community. E-books account for 10% of Penguin Books total book sales, and are expected to account for 40% of Amazon.com's. These numbers, compounded by consistant Kindle sales and the much-hyped release of the iPad suggest that we are not disengaging from literature itself, but merely its native medium. If print ads are a staple of your marketing budget, if you want to make a splash in the tradeshow space or if you have a stack of novels on your nightstand, read on.