Internet and Web Development Blog

We are now trading as a Limited company

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 12:12:28 +0100

We're happy to announce that we are now trading as a Limited Company. Acuras Ltd started trading as of 1st April 2010 and we're looking forward to another successful year ahead!

We'll be announcing exciting new changes to our logo and website in the near future as well, so watch this space...

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

Recent Work: Digital Marketing Material and Website Re-Designs

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:13:06 +0000

We have been keeping busy with plenty of on-going and new projects. We thought we'd share some of the work we're doing with you. One significant project is for the Camis Group of companies including Camis Electronics, Camis Fabrications, Camis Motors and Camis Dispense Equipment.

A bit about the company...

"Camis is a leading manufacturer and distributor of engineering solutions to industry. Each of the companies is committed to providing the widest range of products and services available in the UK."

Their group website which incorporates the new web design style can be found here: http://www.camis.nu. Their other sites are in the process of being re-designed and re-built and will be launched over the coming weeks and months.

Included in this digital marketing material design work, we also re-designed two main brochures for Camis.

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

We are now VAT Registered

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:21:13 +0100

Just a note to say that we are now VAT registered. Our VAT number is 973 2584 90 and will be included on our wesbite soon.

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

Affordable Web Hosting and Domain Name Registration

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 22:46:17 +0100

At Acuras, we have always prided ourself on being able to provide complete web & email solutions for individuals, companies and organisations of all sorts. We have now taken this a step further and launched www.acurasinternet.co.uk.

Acuras Internet provides a complete online solution to manage your own web hosting accounts and domain name portfolio. You can even transfer your existing domain names into the Acuras Internet system so that you can benefit from the renewal prices on offer and .co.uk domains can be transferred in for FREE.

The Professional and Ultimate Web Hosting packages are ideal for resellers or web developers.

Additional services are also available such as:

- Mobile Internet SMTP Server
- Email Virus Scanning
- Email SMS Notifications

More web hosting options will be added in the near future such as dedicated server solutions and more additional services.

That's it for now... Thanks for reading!

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

New Acuras Logo Coming Soon...

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:12:26 +0100

Watch this space for the new Acuras logo coming soon. We feel it's a step in the right direction and will push the Acuras brand forward. We hope you agree!!

We look forward to getting your feedback about the new design when we launch it here on the www.acuras.co.uk website.

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

Barclaycard ePDQ CPI Integrations

Wed, 27 May 2009 17:04:56 +0100

Following up our post about the HSBC ePayments gateway, we thought we'd share a little about the Barclaycard ePDQ Gateway. We've integrated a couple of sites using the Barclaycard ePDQ CPI system recently.

The admin area provided by Barclaycard to manage your online payments is fairly straightforward once you get to grips with it. It's actually the same technology used by HSBC (and presumably other banks) so this makes the life of a developer slightly easier since there isn't a learning curve for a new system.

We offer solutions using the Barclaycard CPI solution which involves a Barclaycard hosted payment page. This means you don't have to have your own SSL certificate for your website in order to collect credit card details securely using Barclaycard ePDQ.

We offer Barclaycard ePDQ integrations as part of our E-Commerce Services and we can design & build a whole online shop for you using open source e-commerce solutions and bespoke coding.

Please Contact Us if you would like to learn more or request a free quote.

Thanks for reading!

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

HSBC XML API / CPI E-commerce Integrations

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:07:20 +0100

In this series of posts we thought we'd share our experience with the HSBC ePayments gateway.

The admin area provided by HSBC to manage your online payments is fairly straightforward once you get to grips with it. Online payments that are collected do not get "settled" immediately which is useful for testing because you can test a real payment with a real card if necessary but cancel or "void" the payment before it clears.

We offer solutions using the HSBC XML API solution (full integration) and the CPI solution (HSBC hosted payment page). The XML API solution requires you to have your own SSL certificate for your website in order to collect credit card details securely.

We offer HSBC ePayments integrations as part of our E-Commerce Services and we can design & build a whole online shop for you using open source e-commerce solutions and bespoke coding.

Please Contact Us if you would like to learn more or request a free quote.

Bye for now!

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

Photoshop to Valid XHTML/CSS Coding Service

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:33:29 +0100

We now have a dedicated solution for PSD to XHTML/CSS conversion available through photoshop2css.com.

We convert your Adobe Photoshop design files (PSDs) to valid, cross-browser compatible XHTML and CSS code.

We can also convert your designs into templates or themes for Drupal, Joomla!, Blogger, WordPress and more...

Pricing is available on the photoshop2css.com website.

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

Recommended Open Source Invoicing System

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:47:51 +0000

If you're in business, invoicing clients and keeping track of payments is an essential part of your business routine. If you don't have the right tools, this can be a laborious task and it can be hard to keep track of invoices which have not been paid for in full.

So we thought we'd share with you a handy open source application called Simple Invoices. Simple Invoices is a simple, community developed, free/open source, web-based invoicing system. We personally recommend it.

It is continually in development and has some great features which make invoicing and tracking payments simple!

We offer the following Simple Invoices services:

Installation
Hosting
Technical support
Invoice template customisation
Custom reports
Bespoke extensions development

You can check out the demo here. Please get in touch if you would like to talk to us about setting up Simple Invoices for you or if you have any questions.

Bye for now!

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

Reasons Businesses should Embrace the Web

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:29:58 +0000

We found this pure and simple site www.embracetheweb.org which succinctly states the reasons why businesses should embrace the web in this economic downturn. It's just good sense!

From the site...

It’s easy in times of economic crisis to start chopping marketing budgets, however we believe the web is a solution to survive economic hard times, not a budget item to cut. Simply put, the web is more important now than at any other time.

Here are some reasons why:

The web is cost effective

A typical website costs roughly the same as a large advertisement in a daily newspaper. A newspaper has a limited lifetime, whereas a website is longer term.

The web adapts and grows with you

Using a Content Management System, you can build content over time. A website is organic in growth, not once-off like other traditional media.

The web is timely

You can keep a website up-to-date far more frequently than traditional media. You can test and adapt your message daily, if need be.

Read more at www.embracetheweb.org

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

Henley Hearing new pages launched

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:29:52 +0000

Acuras has coded up the new designs supplied by the Henley Hearing Group for their website.

They have also registered the designerhearingaids.co.uk domain through Acuras which now points to their Designer Hearing Aids page.

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

We're on Facebook!

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:17:43 +0000

We've finally cracked and got ourselves a Facebook page!

Check it out here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/High-Wycombe-United-Kingdom/Acuras/52116297916

Feel free to become a fan or post some comments if you wish...

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

New Keepme Bags website launch

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:08:58 +0000

We have just completed the new www.keepmebags.com website build which went live last night. The designs were supplied by Keepme and coded by Acuras.

Some new features have also been developed for the site including a Press section. Take a look: Keepme Bags

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

Recent Search Engine Optimisation work

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:27:30 +0000

We have been helping a few clients optimise their existing sites recently.

We created a splash page for the new http://www.the-watersedge.co.uk/ Flash site optismised with keyphrases relvant to the site.

We have also been working on the High Wycombe Plastering website for D. C. Jones Plastering which now ranks highly on the first page in Google for the following phrases:

- high wycombe plastering
- high wycombe rendering
- high wycombe pebble dashing

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

Setting up Outlook with an SMTP outgoing server that requires authentication

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 11:51:45 +0000

Many SMTP mail servers require authentication in order to help ensure that only valid users send emails using the SMTP server. In order to send emails through an SMTP server that requires authentication, you need to setup your email client accordingly. The following instructions should help you do this...

Outlook 2000

Go to Tools > Services (or Tools > Accounts).
Select your Email Account and press "Properties."
Go to the "Servers" tab, and check "My server requires authentication" under Outgoing Mail Server.
Press "Settings," select "Use same settings as my incoming mail server," then press "OK" three times to save the changes & return to Outlook.
A restart of your computer may be necessary.

Outlook 2002 / 2003

Go to Tools > E-Mail Accounts.
Select "View or change existing e-mail accounts" and press "Next."
Select your Email Account and press "Change."
Press "More Settings." Go to the "Outgoing Server" tab, and check "My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication."
Select "Use same settings as my incoming mail server" and press "OK."
Press "Next," then press "Finish" to confirm your changes and return to Outlook.
A restart of your computer may be necessary.

Outlook Express

Go to Tools > Accounts. Select the "Mail" tab.
Select your Email account and press "Properties."
Go to the "Servers" tab, and check "My server requires authentication" under Outgoing Mail Server.
Press "Settings," select "Use same settings as my incoming mail server," then press "OK" twice times to save the changes, then press "Close" to return to Outlook Express.
A restart of your computer may be necessary.

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

New Acuras Hosting Website

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:51:25 +0000

We have launched a new website for the www.acurashosting.co.uk domain. This site is designed to promote our web hosting services which now include Windows Hosting Solutions.

We are now able to offer dedicated server solutions as well as shared hosting solutions...

So take a look and see what you think of the site. Remember, if you have any hosting needs, whether it be a website, email addresses, a blog, or a web application, get in touch and we'll be glad to help.

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

Google tells users to drop Internet Explorer 6

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:36:15 +0000

Taking a page out of Apple’s book, Google is now urging Gmail users to drop Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) in favor of Firefox or Chrome that, according to the company, run the popular web-based email service "twice as fast." Google also labels IE6 as an unsupported browser, meaning it fails to run some Gmail features...

Full article here: http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-40785-140.html

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

New Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 02:01:15 +0000

We have a new Privacy Policy as well as a new set of Terms & Conditions for the website available here:

Privacy Policy
Terms and Conditions

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

Learn Chinese Online! - New Website Launch

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:08:08 +0000

We are delighted to announce the launch of Kids Chinese Club. Acuras has been highly privileged in helping to develop and launch the site. Kids Chinese Club is a truly global product which has been carefully crafted to help everyone and anyone learn Chinese quickly and easily.

Daisy is the star of the show, but kids from all over the world can get directly involved. Kids Chinese Club is going to be BIG!

The introductory videos for learning Manadarin Chinese from English, French and Spanish have been made available on YouTube here:

English: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=r6kXBtJ7Xoo
French: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=8aB90jFAKd0
Spanish: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=E3v0lr-1Yds

I would personally encourage you to sign up for an account and see what all the fuss is about.

Take a look for yourself...

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.

Domain Name Registration Price Reductions in the New Year

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:26:34 +0000

You will be pleased to hear that we're cutting prices here at Acuras. Domain Name Registration will now be cheaper from January 1st 2009. You can see the new pricing on the Domain Name Registration page.

Click Here to read the original article or visit the Acuras Web Development home page.