It’s finally happened. After almost a year of waiting, a team of web designers, web developers, an agency and many talented others have been working with a well-known newspaper to launch the much-anticipated and new Boston Globe website. Why is this big news? Because the new Boston Globe isn’t an ordinary newspaper website. For the first time, Responsive Web Design has finally got a poster child to call its own.

Responsive web design has come a long way in just 1.3 years. Back at the end of May 2010, Ethan Marcotte famously (at least to us web designers) published his seminal article on A List Apart, aptly titled ‘Responsive Web Design‘. The article introduced a new paradigm to web design – a revolutionary but not destructive or disruptive one – stating that websites should be inherently flexible to their constraints. This thinking wasn’t necessarily new, but it was so well considered and logical in both its theory and methodology that I and many others stood up and noticed. Since then, many of us have adopted it as the new norm when creating websites for clients.
However, as with any new and groundbreaking idea, it was always a working concept. Since its inception, RWD always needed a big backer. A name big enough that people beyond our small community/industry would notice and think ‘well, that’s a good idea’. A website big enough that when people viewed their other favourite websites on their multiple devices, they would notice that the Globe’s experience just ‘fit’. No pinching, no zooming, no squinting required. They could view the Globe site on their iPad, their iPhone, their Android, Android tablet, or – if they so desired – on their 13 year old Apple Newton, and for each device, the viewing/reading/browsing/subscribing experience responded and adapted to the device – not the other way around.
The point is, responsive web design, however practical and logical it is from a service provider’s perspective, needed a live and in-the-wild example to prove its real worth. The new poster child that is the Boston Globe represents in plain view just how useful, applicable and cost-effective a well-made & responsively designed website can be.

A tour of the new BostonGlobe.com from jeff moriarty on Vimeo. I’m lucky enough to have clients who have understood the application and benefits of using responsive web design in their projects from the onset. And, judging by the fantastic output of http://mediaqueri.es, many others do too. However, the majority of companies and businesses out there are likely to need a little bit more persuading as to why designing with this approach is the best way forward. Thankfully, our jobs have just been made all the easier thanks to Ethan and that A-Team who designed and built the new http://bostonglobe.com

Cheesy promo-speak aside, this video highlights a really creative use of QR codes, piloted in South Korea by – surprisingly – Tesco (renamed HomePlus for the Korean market). Using QR codes to purchase specific groceries from a subway station, which are then delivered to your door the same day? Sounds like something Ocado would/should jump on soon enough.

We’re conditioned to be reactive in life. If it’s too sunny outside, we wear a hat. If it’s too cold, we wrap up. As freelancers or small businesses, much of our time is devoted to working in a reactive state. We have clients who require a service, and we react accordingly to provide them with that service. This might seem like a sustainable process for now, but it can’t and won’t last. Simply existing to be reactive doesn’t make a good business great. You need to be proactive.
Reactions assume ‘something’ has already happened, and you react accordingly. Waiting for leads to come to you via your website or phone is the definition of being reactive. And it’s easy.
From a freelancer or small business’ point of view, being proactive is perhaps the single hardest thing to get right. Working alone and wearing the financing, design, sales, marketing and admin hats, it becomes harder and harder to think ahead. It requires a certain lucidity and awareness of what’s coming next, and how it might affect your business, and acting (not reacting) accordingly. Continuing to identify and act on ways to make your business grow, can help you stop being reactive and focus more on making things happen.

“Control your destiny or someone else will” – Jack Welch

Be proactive through strategy Your business strategy is always something you intend on doing, but it always seems to be something you’ll focus on after this month’s project. Or next weekend. Or at the end of this quarter. It rarely happens because you’re stuck being reactive. Reacting to client needs equates to income, so that gets top priority.
Fortunately, devising a strategy doesn’t have to be as difficult as it sounds. You wouldn’t be doing what you’re doing if you lacked any sort of strategy.. Going freelance is a strategy (working for yourself, controlling your destiny), as is employing 5, 10, or 15 new people within 2 years or growing revenue by xx% by 2012. All a strategy does is define the ‘who, what, where, when, why and how’ of your current and future business.
Think proactive Considering a strategy of ‘how you’re going to get there’ is the best way to start thinking proactively. You’ll start to see things that you should and shouldn’t do, and you’ll start thinking of ways to drive your business forward that might not have been clear before. The reality is, if you run a business that services clients, you’ll always be reactive. That’s obvious. But the more you consider ‘the big picture’, the more you’ll start to focus on what gets you to where you want to be. The client services becomes the norm, and the ‘what’s next’ becomes the road in front of you. You’ll focus on elements of your business that will get you to your destination, and move away from those that become obstacles.
Thoughts for the New Year In an ideal world, this is all very easy. In reality, it’s not – but the more you consider your business, its current situation and its future, the more likely you are to stop reacting (at the drop of a hat!) to client demands just because you have to. Couldn’t we all do with less stress and better business in 2011?

As I recently commented on Twitter, the Google Creative lab crew recently posted a shared slideshow showcasing 87 cool things that, from their perspective, was stuff ‘worth knowing about’.
In a nutshell if any or all of the slides happen to give you goosebumps, put a smile on your face, or just simply make you go ‘wow’, it’s pretty obvious that:

a) If you’re already in the web industry, you’re in the right industry b) If you’re not already in the web industry, you sure wouldn’t mind being in it c) Technology, innovation and the rampant growth of the web is something to get excited about, no matter how you look at it

Check out the ’87 cool things’ slideshow, you won’t be disappointed.

‘What do you think? Should I focus on SEO?’ A friend and colleague asked me this question recently, interested in breaking out of their current web publishing role and exploring some new, exciting options in the industry to keep interested. I replied with my usual garble about SEO – that it’s not something to focus on – IMO good SEO starts and ends with good code and good content. So instead I got all anthropological. As humans we’re inherently 2 things: mobile and social. We like to move and we like to be gregarious. So my answer was pretty simple – both are the way forward in web. With smartphone sales set to eclipse PC sales by 2011, we’re going mobile as a society whether we like it or not. As for the social aspect… well, regardless of the surge in social media ‘gurus’ sweeping the web, all that was ever needed to get humans talking on teh interwebs was the technology to facilitate conversations and interaction. As a species we’re born to be wild social, and the professionals plying their trade in the social media space aren’t professional socialites per se, they’re just professionals at understanding the many vehicles and technologies – current and future - out there that enable us to be social. The current arena for social media might be our desktop/laptop and a browser, but ask any social media strategist you know about the importance of the mobile web, and I hope they stress just how important it’s going to be: very. As mobile technology gets more sophisticated, as GPS improves, and as mobile apps and augmented reality continue to multiply and grow respectively, our mobile media use will become second-nature. Handsets will become more powerful. Our social media use is already becoming ubiquitous. We as an industry will continue to combine the two in new and innovative ways, enabling users as a collective to be more productive, more connected, and more interactive than ever before (disclaimer: one’s rate of adoption and privacy concerns notwithstanding). Web Version 3.0 isn’t about the semantic web anymore, it’s about the socimobi web with semantics and microformats already built-in for good measure. My advice to my colleague in the end? If nothing else, keep an eye on the mobile horizon, and be social. Take some refresher classes or training in the basics, sure, but no matter what just get into it. Go social, and have fun – try a favourite social network on a data-enabled phone, and get stuck-in. Learn what value an app gives a user, visit favourite sites through a mobile browser, or try out Google Latitude. It’ll be more interesting and engaging than SEO, that’s for sure.