Rapid Web News » Rapid Web News

ATG Training – new websites launched

Kirsty — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:05:00 +0000

Rapid Web have recently launched a series of new websites for our client ATG Training. The sites showcase the broad range of training courses and apprenticeships that this highly-experienced training provider has to offer. These sites have all been built with Rapid Web’s own bespoke content management system to allow ATG Training to make edits and updates as necessary. A custom course booking module designed specifically for ATG’s needs has also been incorporated. Check out the new sites – ATG Training, Cycle Training and UK Apprenticeships

Kids T-shirts – New Halloween Collection

Adam — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:17:48 +0000

We recently announced one of our most recent client websites launches, Kids T-shirts. Despite only being released a few weeks ago the site is already seeing a steady increase in orders and visitor traffic. The site utilises our in house, custom developed e-commerce solution, modified to suit the needs of the client and its users.

With Halloween fast approaching the range of t shirts offered by kids t-shirts has expanded to accommodate all things spooky and scary in preparation for the Halloween festivities. Some of the most prominent and bestselling items in the new collection are the new glow in the dark t shirts. They feature many a spooky design perfect for trick or treating or any planned Halloween party.

Some of the new glow in the dark range are shown below, the first being the classic Banksy’s Grim Reaper design, followed by a series of flying cartoon bats.

Why not take a look at new range today by visiting the Kids T-shirts website.

HSBC epayments issues relating to SSL certificate mismatches

Jordan Hall — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 09:58:51 +0000

This is a technical post provided as advice to server administrators having issues with the HSBC payment gateway system.

HSBC have recently updated the SSL certificates on their payment gateway system. However it seems they did not provide the intermediate certificates for the certificate authority they used. This leaves the job of updating the CA bundles up to HSBC’s clients. The following advice refers to resolving the issue on a Linux server.

Step 1 – Check the problem is definitely related to an SSL Certificate mismatch

To do this, it is best to simply request the main secure-epayment API via curl. Running the following command will suffice.

curl https://www.secure-epayments.apixml.hsbc.com

If this issue is present, you will likely see a message such as the one below. If you do not see this message or one similar, the issue is likely to be unrelated and we recommend you contact HSBC’s epayments support line to resolve the issue.

 curl: (60) SSL certificate problem, verify that the CA cert is OK. Details:
 error:14090086:SSL routines:SSL3_GET_SERVER_CERTIFICATE:certificate verify failed
 More details here: http://curl.haxx.se/docs/sslcerts.html

 curl performs SSL certificate verification by default, using a "bundle"
  of Certificate Authority (CA) public keys (CA certs). The default
  bundle is named curl-ca-bundle.crt; you can specify an alternate file
  using the --cacert option.
 If this HTTPS server uses a certificate signed by a CA represented in
  the bundle, the certificate verification probably failed due to a
  problem with the certificate (it might be expired, or the name might
  not match the domain name in the URL).
 If you'd like to turn off curl's verification of the certificate, use
  the -k (or --insecure) option.

Step 2 – Update the CA bundle on your server

Obviously it is possible to remove the verification of the SSL certificate, but this is heavily not recommended due to potential negative security implications. To update the CA bundle file from the curl website, use the following commands. Note that may have to adjust to certs path mentioned to conform to the distribution and configuration of your operating system. Also, it is recommend to back up any existing ca-bundle file and any related configuration.

 cd /etc/pki/tls/certs/
 wget http://curl.haxx.se/ca/cacert.pem
 mv cacert.pem ca-bundle.crt

The file available from the CURL site shown above is generated weekly from the latest Mozilla certs, so should be reasonably up to date with all existing certificate authorities.

Step 3 – Test the CA bundle update has resolved the issue

This is merely a case of rerunning the curl command from step 1 mentioned previously. If the update has been successful you should now see the following response from HSBC (or similar) indicating a secure connection has been established.

 
 
  
   
    6
    
     16
     Merchant
     CcxXmlInput.A
     CcxXmlInput
     1
     793
     CcxXmlInstance.cpp
     13:30:24Jul 14 2009
     8
     6
     The HTTP method received is not valid.  Only POST is accepted.

Step 4 – Restart any dependant services

This step may or may not be required depending on your software and/or configuration. You may need to restart any services which are dependent on the updated CA bundle.

For example, the following commands are commonly used to restart the Apache 2 webserver.

/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

/etc/init.d/apache restart

/etc/init.d/httpd restart

I hope this article aids any server administrators currently experiencing issues due to the recent HSBC epayments SSL certificate update.

Feel free to discuss this issue further in the comments section below.

No related posts.

Google Chrome team releases finger exercises for fast web users

Jordan Hall — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 09:02:39 +0000

Google have paid special attention today to users of Google Chrome who have difficulties keeping up with their web browser’s general speed. To aid in this they have released a finger exercise program dubbed the ‘Chromercise’ routine. They have released a instructional video to demonstrate the required exercise structure and all relevant safety precautions requires to perform Chromercise exercises prior to the user of the Chrome web browser.

Although we are not offering dedicated Chromercise instruction here at Rapid Web, we are beginning to enforce these as part of our regular health and safety routine. If you would like further advice on these procedures, please see the relevant Chromercise documentation.

April Fools’ 2011, also Google releases new motion control system!

Jordan Hall — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 08:57:06 +0000

It’s April Fools’ day today. It has come around quickly and I remember writing last year’s April Fools’ post regarding the crazy things large web companies has done.

In other completely unrelated news, Google have released a new motion control system, akin to the Wii’s controllers, Xbox connect and the PlayStation Move system. It is called ‘Google Motion’ and as per the majority of new Google products, it is currently considered beta. Take a look at the awesome video demonstrating Google Motion beta and its advanced universal gesture recognition system below.

Looks very impressive. We’ve already started making use of the new system for our internal development meetings. It both increases productivity and also gives us all a decent workout.

If you have any awesome April Fools’ jokes you’ve played this year on your website or in your workplace, feel free to put them in the comments. I’d be interested to hear what pranks have been played!

In terms of today’s customer service, as always, feel free to contact us. If you’d like to get yourself in on the April Fools’ day jokes and give your website an unexpected face-lift, feel free to give us a call.

IE 9

Andrew — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 10:11:59 +0000

Another point is that IE9 will only be available to people with Windows 7 or Windows Vista service pack two. The larger user base of Windows XP machines will be left with IE8 which has hardly any HTML5 capability so for the people who want to enjoy HTML5 sites will just download a third party browser like Google Chrome or Firefox rather than upgrade their setup.

Perhaps I am being too harsh on IE9 it runs smoothly loads pages quickly and has at last adopted a lot of the functionality that other browsers have had for a long time, but maybe that is the point other browsers have the same if not better functionality while allowing for full HTML5 compliancy and no need to have to upgrade your computer to use.

So in conclusion is it any good? There is better…

No related posts.

Saint Valentine’s Day comes up once again

Jordan Hall — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:42:15 +0000

Valentine’s Day is coming around once again.

Last time this year we mentioned how many people were taking their Valentine’s shopping online. This year seems no different, with many of our e-commerce websites featuring new Valentine’s Day sections in preparation for the big day, this coming Monday.

Saint Valentine’s Day, commonly shortened to Valentine’s Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions.

The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentine and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 500 AD. It was deleted from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, but its religious observance is still permitted.

It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as “valentines”). The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

Wikipedia

Best wishes go out to all couples who will be celebrating Valentine’s Day on the 14th.

Valentine’s Day shopping heading online this year

Body Sculpt Gravitational Training

Jordan Hall — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:28:41 +0000

Rapid Web is pleased to announce the recent redesign of a long term client’s website, Body Sculpt UK.

The new web design of Body Sculpt UK features an entirely custom web design, templating and integration into both existing and brand new textual content. The new website design also features the use of a dynamic blog system to go alongside the static content of the main site. Links also exist to various social networking and social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter allowing easy promotion of the the Body Sculpt brand.

Body Sculpt UK have been working with us at Rapid Web for several years now, and we are delighted to see them continue to work with us into the new development of their brand and website.

If you’re interested in getting a new web design for your website, feel free to give us a call on 01785 250222 or contact us directly.

Facebook – New Web Design Changes

Jordan Hall — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:46:18 +0000

Facebook, one of the largest and most well known PHP powered social networking websites has made significant changes to its web design. Facebook have taken a more minimalistic web design approach in many respects, removing most of the bottom application and instant messaging bar, and moving to a left hand side bar. From a technical perspective, Facebook have increased their use of many web technologies such as JavaScript and AJAX in an effort to increase the speed of website loading and make improve the overall user experience. This certainly increases speed but can cause issues on intermittent or unreliable Internet connections, or on browsers with no or poor JavaScript support. However, Facebook has full support for Internet Explorer 7, 8, Firefox 3, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera.

The left sidebar of the new web design now features links to the news feed, friends, messages, friends and Facebook applications. These applications include both built-in Facebook applications such as Photos and custom made applications such as Rapid Wish List (in the Facebook screenshot above). The sidebar also includes direct links to the top online friends in your Facebook instant messaging, providing you are signed into Facebook’s chat system, which is not the case in the screenshot shown above.

Hopefully you enjoy the new web design Facebook has adopted, but as always there are many Facebook groups which heavily dislike the new changes to the Facebook web design. This is always the case with Facebook design changes it seems. What do you think? Do you like the changes or find that they make the website more difficult to use?

If you’re interested in a new web design for your website, whether minimalist like Facebook’s new design, or much bigger and bolder, please feel free to contact us. We do web design, web development, the creation of dynamic PHP-powered web applications and search engine optimisation and much more. Take a look at some of our other work.

Craig Jones Wildlife Photography

Clayton — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:35:09 +0000

Another one of Rapid Web’s projects bore fruit today with the launch of Craig Jones’s visually stunning Photography site. Craig has always had a fascination with the natural world, since he was a boy in fact and in turn a love of capturing all things wild from his own unique perspective;

“…My images are simplified visions of this seen through my eyes, with the emphasis on composition, lighting and colour at the very heart of each picture, capturing their beauty, fascination and graceful expression with each image…” – and looking at some of his stunning pictures you can almost feel the passion.

Craig is also an active contributor to Arkive – a huge collection of all things wildlife, videos, stills and facts often focussing on endangered species.

“…I also give my time and expertise for free to registered charities, nature projects and developing young talent, giving something back in aid of helping others and the natural world. I am also available for worldwide commissions…”

Rapid Web has felt proud to work with a professional such as Craig; he first came to us in September with an idea for a platform for his superb photography. Less than 2 months later and that platform is realised in the form of a shiny new website. Take a look at some of his pictures; I know you’ll be impressed.

Craig Lynch, Fool On The Run