Monday, February 6, 2012
Mobile Device design
Chances are you’ve seen how the iPhone can flip and expand Web pages. It can show you the entire Web page at a glance or zoom in to make the text you’re interested in readable. In one sense, since the iPhone uses Safari, Web designers shouldn’t have to do anything special to create a Web page that will work on the iPhone.
But do you really want your page to just work? Most designers want their pages to shine!
When you build a Web page you need to think about who’s going to view it and how they are going to view it. Some of the best sites take into account what type of device the page is being viewed on, including the resolution, color options, and available functions. They don’t just rely on the device to figure it out.
General Guidelines for Building a Site for iPhones and Other Mobile Devices
Test on as many devices as you can
The first thing you should do is view your site on an iPhone and as many as 10 different mobile devices. While there are some emulators out there, they really don’t give you the same feel as trying to navigate through a Web site on the tiny little screen.
Make your pages degrade gracefully.
You can write your pages for Flash-enabled, wide screen browsers, but make sure that the critical information is visible even in a tiny monitor that can’t handle any special features (like cookies, Ajax, Flash, JavaScript, etc.). Anything beyond XHTML Basic will be beyond some cell phones.
Build a wireless specific page - and make it easy to find
If you’re going to build a specific page for your cell phone and wireless customers - make it available. A great way is to put the link to the wireless page at the very top of your document, and then hide that link from non-handheld devices using the handheld media type. After all, most people come to your home page, even on cell phones - and if the link to your wireless page isn’t there, they’ll leave if the page is too hard to use.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Cheers to the end of a year
Dear,
before everyone leaves for the Holidays, we would like to take this opportunity to thank our customers and suppliers for their business throughout the year. 2011 turned out to be a promising year due to their trust and cooperation, and despite the current global financial situation, we hope that next year will also be successful.
November was a bit stressful as some keyfigures in Polaris CS had some health issues, simultaneously. I expect to avoid these unfortunate situations in the future by creating a more transparent workflow towards our customers.
We wish you a happy Holiday Season and a great New Year’s celebration.
In our end-of-year newsletter, we would like to update you on our activities, events and product developments. We are grateful for your comments, support and suggestions for improvement.
Read more about:
End of Year Holiday
New Legend Hotel in Egypt
Going International
Technology Achievements
What’s next ?
Monday, October 17, 2011
GOOGLE SEO Panda Update 2.5 - September 28, 2011
After more than month, Google rolled out another Panda update. Specific details of what changed were unclear, but some sites reported large-scale losses.
Google has confirmed that the latest iteration of its Panda algorithm update is live. Based on our tracking of the algorithm changes, this is Panda Update 2.5.
Google declined to share any specifics about what types of sites, pages or content this update targeted, instead only sharing the company’s default statement:
We’re continuing to iterate on our Panda algorithm as part of our commitment to returning high-quality sites to Google users. This most recent update is one of the roughly 500 changes we make to our ranking algorithms each year.
WebProNews reported this morning that the update rolled out on Wednesday, September 28. We’ve heard from other sources that it rolled out on Tuesday. It’s the longest gap between Panda updates since April.
Previous Panda Updates
Here’s the Panda update schedule so far, as we’ve tracked and had confirmed by Google:
Panda Update 1.0: Feb. 24, 2011
Panda Update 2.0: April 11, 2011 (about 7 week gap)
Panda Update 2.1: May 10, 2011 (about 4 week gap)
Panda Update 2.2: June 16, 2011 (about 5 week gap)
Panda Update 2.3: July 23, 2011 (about 5 week gap)
Panda Update 2.4: August 12, 2011 (about 3 week gap)
Panda Update 2.5: September 28, 2011 (about 7 week gap)
source: http://searchengineland.com
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
POLARIS CS started with image enhancement service in India and the UK
Trusting an overseas company to outsource services such as photo enhancement was a major consideration, especially when looking to build a long term relationship with a company. We insist on top quality work within the time specified.
Our confidence in their ability to produce first class results for our customers at an affordable price shows in a great structure, strengthened by our customer reviews.
POLARIS CS started to participate with an offshore graphic studio located in India and the UK. It consists of a group of highly skilled DTP professionals (more than 100 operators) and offers all types of image treatment services to the world. It delivers high quality image editing services at a very reasonable cost and short turnaround time.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
It’s a Hotel ! A valuable Polaris CS partner.
Polaris CS is working on the development of a successful, long term, strategic relationship with “It’s a Hotel” since 2011.
“It’s a Hotel” became one of the leaders in the industry for hotel brand management, communication and design. During the past years, the company has been involved in over 20 hotel projects throughout the world. At present, 7 new projects are underway and in various phases of development.
“It’s a Hotel” specializes in upmarket hotel properties, restaurants, nightclubs, spas and luxury lifestyle goods, offering their exclusive clients unprecedented design and service.
More news soon !
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Sustainable Solutions for Green Hotels
This page lists sustainable practices that hotels can implement.
* Start a linen (both towels and sheets) reuse program in all guest rooms.
* Install low-flow showerheads and sink aerators.
* Switch to low-flow toilets or install toilet-tank fill diverters.
* Switch to LED light bulbs in guestrooms, lobbies, and hallways. Use sensors and/or timers for areas that are infrequently used.
* Whenever possible, buy food and guest amenities in bulk (i.e., use refillable hair and skin care dispensers).
Educate your staff to turn off lights and turn down heating/air conditioning when rooms are unoccupied. Also, during summer months, to close the drapes.
* Install window film to lower heating and cooling loads and reduce glare in guestrooms.
* Provide guestroom recycler baskets for newspaper, white paper, glass, aluminum, cardboard, and plastic.
* Provide recycling bins both in public areas (i.e., poolside), in the kitchen, and in the back office (including one at each desk) to make recycling as easy as possible.
* Buy office and guest amenity products that contain recycled material.
* Buy organic, fair trade, cruelty-free guest amenity products whenever possible.
* Use recycled paper products (with high post-consumer recycled content) that are either unbleached or bleached using a chlorine-free process. Minimize the amount of paper used for each guest (i.e., reduce paper size of invoices, etc.). Print with soy-based inks.
* Use nontoxic or least toxic cleaners, sanitizers, paints, pesticides, etc. throughout the hotel. Make sure all chemicals are stored safely in a well-ventilated area.
* Replace old washing machines with both water and energy conserving models.
If the hotel has a pool and/or hot tub, install a solar water heating system and use pool and hot tub covers when the pool area is closed.
* Provide your guests with bicycles, walking maps, and information on public transportation.
* Provide reusable items such as cloth napkins, glass cups, ceramic dishes, etc. with all food and beverage services.
* Provide glass cups and ceramic mugs (instead of plastic) for in-room beverages. Place cups and mugs upside down on paper doilies (instead of covering opening with a plastic wrapping).
* Use daylight exclusively in your lobby, bar, and restaurant for as much of the day as possible. Consider installing skylights if needed.
* Donate leftover food to a local nonprofit organization and/or use a compost bin.
* Buy organic, locally-grown food and/or plant an organic garden to provide fresh produce for your guests.
* Switch to drought resistant native plants in garden areas. Replace mowed landscaping with native ground cover.
* Replace exit signs with Light Emitting Diode (LED) exit signs.
* Include filter changes, coil cleaning, thermostat calibration, and damper adjustments in your ongoing maintenance plan.
* Monitor, record and post rates of energy and water use. Make repairs or replace equipment when rate changes indicate problems.
* Use an energy management system (EMS) to tie in air handling units, HVAC, and lighting to prevent conditioning space when it is not necessary.
* Create an incentive program to encourage your staff to participate in and improve upon environmentally-friendly practices.
* Use proper insulation and reflective roof coverings.
* Consult outside sources to evaluate the total system when replacing major mechanical equipment (such as chiller, water tower, etc). Often, this can lead to downsizing and other opportunities to reduce both the initial investment and operating costs.
* Replace electric package terminal air conditioner (PTAC) units with more efficient heat pumps or other geothermal technologies.
* Donate leftover guest amenities, old furniture and appliances to charities.
* If available, schedule an energy audit through your local energy provider or a local energy auditor (aka energy consultant).
* Conduct or schedule a water audit.
* If your hotel has a gift shop, consider purchasing fair trade products.
* Offer discounted rates to sustainable living/environmental organizations who would like stay at and/or hold meetings at your hotel.
* To reduce water use, consider rainwater harvesting.
* To reduce operational costs, water and energy consider installing an ozone laundry system
* Come up with creative ways to reward hotel guests for being green. Great example: Crowne Plaza offers a free meal to guests who generate 10 watt hours of electricity on the gym bicycle
source: Global Stewards
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Cross Cultural Marketing Blunders
Although cruel, cross cultural marketing mistakes are a humorous means of understanding the impact poor cultural awareness or translations can have on a product or company when selling abroad.
Below we have provided a few classic cross cultural marketing blunders for your enjoyment.
1. Locum is a Swedish company. As most companies do at Christmas they sent out Christmas cards to customers. In 1991 they decided to give their logo a little holiday spirit by replacing the “o” in Locum with a heart. You can imagen the result (L = I).
2. The Japanese company Matsushita Electric was promoting a new Japanese PC for internet users. Panasonic created the new web browser and had received license to use the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker as an interactive internet guide.
The day before the huge marketing campaign, Panasonic realised its error and pulled the plug. Why? The ads for the new product featured the following slogan:
“Touch Woody - The Internet Pecker.” The company only realised its cross cultural blunder when an embarrassed American explain what “touch Woody’s pecker” could be interpreted as!
3. The Swedish furniture giant IKEA somehow agreed upon the name “FARTFULL” for one of its new desks. Enough said..
4. In the late 1970s, Wang, the American computer company could not understand why its British branches were refusing to use its latest motto “Wang Cares”. Of course, to British ears this sounds too close to “Wankers” which would not really give a very positive image to any company.
5. There are several examples of companies getting tangled up with bad translations of products due to the word “mist”. We had “Irish Mist” (an alcoholic drink), “Mist Stick” (a curling iron from Clairol) and “Silver Mist” (Rolls Royce car) all flopping as “mist” in German means dung/manure. Fancy a glass of Irish dung?
6. “Traficante” and Italian mineral water found a great reception in Spain’s underworld. In Spanish it translates as “drug dealer”.
7. In 2002, Umbro the UK sports manufacturer had to withdraw its new trainers (sneakers) called the Zyklon. The firm received complaints from many organisations and individuals as it was the name of the gas used by the Nazi regime to murder millions of Jews in concentration camps.
8. Sharwoods, a UK food manufacturer, spent £6 million on a campaign to launch its new ‘Bundh’ sauces. It received calls from numerous Punjabi speakers telling them that “bundh” sounded just like the Punjabi word for “arse”.
9. Honda introduced their new car “Fitta” into Nordic countries in 2001. If they had taken the time to undertake some cross cultural marketing research they may have discovered that “fitta” was an old word used in vulgar language to refer to a woman’s genitals in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish. In the end they renamed it “Honda Jazz”.
10. A nice cross cultural example of the fact that all pictures or symbols are not interpreted the same across the world: staff at the African port of Stevadores saw the “internationally recognised” symbol for “fragile” (i.e. broken wine glass) and presumed it was a box of broken glass. Rather than waste space they threw all the boxes into the sea!
Your Facebook page dynamically translated
A lot of companies want to detect and translate their professional Facebook pages or tabs in many languages, based on the users language. POLARIS CS created a successful tool to use:
* test here: http://www.facebook. … =app_259082654105332.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Sofitel opens first Legend in Europe
Sofitel’s Amsterdam property – The Grand – has officially launched as a “Sofitel Legend”, the five-star hotel chain’s top tier for properties with “rarity and exclusivity”.
Sited in the centre of Amsterdam, the former convent and home of the Dutch Admiralty was selected to be the first European Sofitel Legend because of its long history (though it has been a hotel only a few decades).
In coöperation with Eveline Halprin (http://www.evelinehalprin.nl) who designed and managed this great event, POLARISCS created a stunning opening movie about the history of the hotel.
POLARISCS creates new brand logo for famous pub Damberd (Ghent-BE)
Recently we were tasked with refreshing the brand for Damberd Café, a Ghent based famous pub. Damberd has a great “lady in charge” with bags of personality. Having liked the way we market ourselves and promoted previous projects, she came to us to help her create a new logo and brand that could help push her pub to the next level.
Damberd café is different to visiting a regular pub because the visitor enters a contemporary, alternative and jazzy place with a huge history of certain positive anarchism. We wanted a logo that could show this clearly. We developed an image that uses a stylistic checkerboard (”dambord” in dutch) in conjunction with a strong sans serif font.
More news to come… on this blog.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Summer Holidays
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, they say.
We would like to inform you that your contact might be unavailable due to his/her summer holiday:
• Gys: July 9th - July 24th
• Veerle: July 9th - July 24th
• Tomas: July 24th - August 15th
• Timothy: no holiday
These persons have limited access to their email, so please make sure to add info@polariscs.com in cc. as the office remains open during this period!
Monday, June 27, 2011
The Polaris Chronicle online
Editorial
A designer is, according to Wikipedia, a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that “specifies the structural properties of a design object”.
Design, like media, has been undergoing a big and massive transformation in recent years. Do not worry, POLARIS CS got you covered. We are always keeping track of the latest trends and technologies to make sure that you, our client, can harvest the benefits of these (r)evolutions.
Read more at: http://www.polariscs … chronicle/index.html
Thursday, May 26, 2011
How to Run a Professional Hotel Blog
There seems a lot of disagreement if blogging is still effective in the days of micro-blogging sites like Twitter and age of social media like FaceBook.
The key for hotel internet marketing; you need a plan to get somewhere.
You need to target local attractions, events, shopping, dining and nightlife tips, etc to provide the hotel’s clients with an idea of what they can do in the destination. It is important to give your hotel blog a personal touch and informal style.
It is very effective to use a blog as a kind of online concierge or tourist guide for your hotel guests. As a next step this content allows you to engage your guests as well other travelers and about what is going on in the destination via FaceBook. By promoting local events in FaceBook and participating in discussion on other pages you create more buzz around your brands. And as a result your blog pages get likes. Very subtly you are growing the sphere of influence of your brand this way.
But blogs can also go beyond social media.
SEO (search engine optimization) is strong potential component of a blog strategy. Some of the blog articles you created can raise in position on the search engines and gained a primary ranking. Timing is of the essence here. You have to launch your blog article way ahead of the event to be able to compete.
source:Xotels / PolarisCS
Monday, May 23, 2011
iLoad Update to 3.2.3
iLoad is our easy-to-use file explorer for remotely managing files on a web server or operation as a simple file-sharing system. Its rich layout and actions make it easily accessible to virtually any end-user.
It uses an AJAX based interface, providing streamlined and intuitive functionalities, similar to that of a standard file-system explorer on any operating system.
New update: movie preview !
Feel free to ask for more information !
Friday, May 13, 2011
release iFix 2.1
The first major update to iFix 2.0 is now available and ready. What started out as a minor update, we upgraded it to the 2.1 after being able to make a number of significant improvements.
In addition to making iFix better, we were able to also make it smaller. By removing unecessary files in third party packages and optimizing other areas, the size of 2.1 is now just 1.3MB compared to 1.7MB for 2.0.
New Features
A “Create New Page” link added to the admin toolbar.
Faster inline editor loading.
The website title and administrator email address can now be specified during installation.
Internet Explorer
Without going into why Internet Explorer gets it’s own heading in an update (let’s just say it’s special in it’s own way), it is worth noting that we found and fixed a number of bugs affecting the use of iFix in Internet Explorer.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
We have a winner: POLARIS CS Contest
mr. Thierry Wittezaele has won a night full of luxury in Amsterdams most exclusive 5-star hotel, Sofitel Legend The Grand Amsterdam. A night at a luxury Junior Suite for 2 persons, So SPA entrance and an extensive breakfast buffet in Bridges Restaurant.
Congratulations !
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Launch iFix 2.01 CMS
iFix 2.01, our flat file content management system, can be as small or large as you wish. It’s structure allows you to have just the amount of functionality you need in a CMS solution, helping to keep speed and simplicity at a maximum.
iFix 2.01 is ideally suited to small to medium website projects, it can be run without need for a sql database, due to it’s flat file structure it has no need for a database meaning it can also be a cost effected method in content management.
Start off with our core system install, then add the extra functionality as you need it via the management system.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
TOPICS Special Edition: SEO Tips and Tricks
Ninety-five SEO tips and tricks you should and should not be doing on your Web pages to make them rank higher in search engines.
This list looks at more than just meta tags and the basics of SEO, so even if you’ve got some of the factors, you may not have everything. Scroll to the end of the list to look at the things you should never be doing, as well as the things you should always do at the beginning.
Interview with the GM of the Sofitel Legend The Grand Amsterdam
A conversation with Mr. Robert-Jan Woltering, General Manager of Sofitel Amsterdam The Grand.
What is unique about your hotel’s location?
The Grand hotel uniquely reflects the history of Amsterdam, the “world’s smallest metropolis” (quote claimed to be of Mick Jagger) and capital of The Netherlands. Originally, the building at the Oudezijds Voorburgwal - the oldest dug city canal of Amsterdam - hosted two convents: the Cecilia convent, founded in 1411, and the Catharina convent, which was also founded during a similar period. Together with the Agnes convent, the three combined to be the city’s convent headquarters. During the Dutch Golden Age the building mainly served as the headquarters for the Admiralty. In the early 19th century the period’s king of Holland, Louis Bonaparte, a brother of French emperor Napoleon, began to use the building as a Royal Palace, with the city government being made to relocate to the Prince’s Court.
POLARIS CS Contest Reminder
Get a 10 months 10% discount, on your next project with Polaris CS or enter the competition for a night full of luxury in Amsterdams most exclusive 5-star hotel.
Click here to enter the competition.
Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Aswan
Open sept. 2011
POLARIS CS is creating the digital communication for Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Aswan.
Enter the world of legendary people and stories. Indulge in the authentic legend and luxury personalized hospitality of Sofitel Legend Cataract Aswan & Spa. The hotel is built in the Nubian desert on the banks of the Nile, opposite Elephantine island, majestically positioned on a shelf of pink granite overlooking the Nile. Behind its Victorian facade, the hotel retains its original beauty, receiving visitors in an historic lobby with polished marble floors and high, classic Islamic arches.
Bruges newest hotel opens its doors
After a 3 month closure (and one or two slight setbacks!) we, at the Floris Hotel Collection, are very proud to announce the opening of the Floris Hotel Bruges on April 1st 2011 (It’s no joke honestly!) So what’s all the fuss about? And what’s new?
Floris Hotels’ GM, Thierry Jousse says “I have put my heart and soul into this project and I am more than happy with the results. I call it modern colonial style and it’s certainly the hotel in Bruges for families”. Lots of open public areas around the Reception area, with a modern lounge bar and real fire for those cold evening and a games/play area for the children (or young at heart!) with games consoles and large screen – FREE OF CHARGE!!
The 64 rooms are all new too, with a fresh new and modern look. We haven’t parceled the rooms into tiny boxes like so many hotels, so even in the Superior (standard) rooms there’s plenty of air and space. Annie Degraeve (Hotel Manager) can’t believe the transformation into THE trendy hotel in Bruges. Just look out for those large flat screen TVs! Work carries on and we will have the newly refurbished swimming pool open soon. Watch this space!
iSurvey, a better handle on how well you are serving people
The best way to find out what an important group of people think is to ask them. Conduct your staff, user and customer surveys with our iSurvey services to get a better handle on how well you’re serving them. Our robust online survey system feeds the data you collect into powerful reporting systems to help you make the most informed decisions you can
Barracuda NG Firewall
The Barracuda NG Firewall extends the next generation firewall concept by adding application-aware traffic routing and prioritization across the wide area network (WAN), thus optimizing performance and availability. Beyond its powerful network firewall and VPN technologies, the Barracuda NG Firewall integrates a comprehensive set of next generation firewall technologies including Layer 7 application pro ling, intrusion detection and prevention, Web filtering, anti-virus, anti-spam and network access control.
Your presentation, website or corporate movie on iPad
Incredible presentations. Incredibly easy. POLARIS CS creates powerful presentations, books or websites, completely reworked for iPad. So you can show everything on iPad with a tap or drag of your finger.
New online communication for Sofitel Legend
POLARIS CS developed the new online communication for Sofitel Legend, a world-wide collection of precious historic properties and palaces, each with its own history.
Creating webdesign for brands based in France, Egypt, Holland, Germany, Mauritius. Due to the fast and swift approach the client is planning more projects worldwide.
Winning design for Entsog
POLARIS CS created winning design for Entsog, European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas.
Design and realisation of an animated New Year mailing, based on a gas network, with sound and movement. Apparently a great succes and Polaris CS received lots of compliments for the creative and inventive tool they made.
Evil Myths of Graphic Design
Few days back, while I was flying to Belgium to visit one of my very finicky but an old client, I overheard a casual chat between two friends in the backseats. As they were inquiring each other about graphic design so I couldn’t help overhearing their conversation. It went something like this:
Phil: Hey Bob, Do you know anything about graphic designing?
Bob: Yeah, I believe its something related to drawing and sketching things.
Phil: Correct, I’ve heard its art simply done on computer.
Monday, March 21, 2011
8 Reasons Why Now is the Best Time to Start Blogging
2011 might be the best year to start a blog for your personal brand or for your company. Here are the 8 reasons why I believe that 2011 is the the perfect time to convince your CMO or boss or to decide that blogging and the blogosphere has finally matured enough to demand serious reconsideration and here’s why:
Flat File CMS Websites, Alternatives to MySQL powered sites?
When many think of content management websites they think of mambo, joomla, wordpress, drupal and similar. Powerful CMS’s storing data in MySQL databases with a wealth of features and backed up by huge communities. Meanwhile smaller less powerful cms’s such as flat file based ones are side lined and on occasion seen as the ‘poor mans’ option and bizarrely on occasion for those not willing to invest in mysql access. However it all depends on what your website needs to accomplish.