puffbox

Next WordPress release looking great

I downloaded the first ‘Release Candidate’ version of WordPress version 2.5 with a sense of trepidation. New functionality often means added complexity. But I’m happy to report, my fears were unfounded. It looks fantastic. The most striking change is the colour scheme: the ‘classic’ dark blue style is now joined by a more chilled, muted option [...] read on »

Nine Lords a-blogging

Very interesting to see the horrendously-branded Lords Of The Blog, a new group blog co-written by nine peers, each promising a couple of items per week. Prime mover Lord (Clive) Soley writes in his introductory post: MP’s and Peers need to find new ways of engaging with the public. A blog is not the complete answer [...] read on »

Whitehall, WordPress, where?

We love WordPress round here, and our passion is infectious. I’m currently talking to a handful of new people about possible WordPress-based projects: some small, some huge. The ‘yes we can’ message goes a long way. But the unknown in the equation is always: where to host it? You don’t have to look too hard to [...] read on »

onepolitics, the new Puffbox site

It wasn’t originally intended for public consumption, but today I’m unveiling a new website produced by Puffbox. onepolitics is an at-a-glance view of the latest posts on the growing number of political blogs being written by ‘proper’ reporters. You can wait until tomorrow to see what they say in print, or in tonight’s bulletin; or [...] read on »

WordPress as a CRM tool?

Another example of why I love WordPress. Somebody has built a new theme which, with the help of a few common plugins, becomes a contact manager - with search, tagging, ‘related people’, etc. But I think it can be pushed further. Using the standard WordPress comment functionality, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t turn [...] read on »

New Wales Office websites by Puffbox

We’re exceptionally proud to unveil the latest Puffbox site: a new corporate website - or indeed, two - for the Wales Office. And as you’d probably expect from us, it’s not just another government website. In late 2007, I was invited over to the Wales Office’s Whitehall HQ. I hope they don’t mind me saying, their [...] read on »

Breaking news blogs (again)

Alfred Hermida, ex BBC, now Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia’s school of journalism, makes an interesting suggestion: using the new WordPress Twitter-style ‘Prologue’ theme as a breaking news site, ‘with reporters adding the latest details as they come in’. I actually suggested something identical to this, back in July: ‘A ‘breaking news blog’, [...] read on »

Leading blogger is new e-gov Minister

I haven’t yet seen official confirmation, but I’m reliably informed that Tom Watson is the new minister for e-government, post-reshuffle. The Cabinet Office website only says that: ‘Following on from Gillian Merron’s departure to the Department for International Development, Tom Watson MP has been appointed as new [...] read on »

WordPress meets Twitter

As if I needed another reason to love WordPress, along comes their new Prologue theme which effectively gives you your own local version of Twitter. That’s not to say it’s a competitor to Twitter: the whole beauty of Twitter is that everyone is using the same platform (with occasionally unfortunate consequences). But as a team [...] read on »

Thoughts from Barcamp: just do it

The mere fact that Saturday’s BarcampUKGovWeb happened at all would have been enough in itself; but the assembled group of influential, inspirational and interesting people made for a fantastic day. At one point in the afternoon, I remember looking at the schedule and getting depressed at the countless interesting sessions I’d missed. It’s been a [...] read on »