The five viewable fonts are:

• Arial | Georgia | Times | Verdana | Courier

Also, when putting this brief list together, I asked Dan Crook (head of design at Solutions Four Impact Limited) for his thoughts on the issue. His reply is pasted below:

“ . . . another point is operating systems & browsers render fonts in different way – Mac osx renders them beautifully – hence why it the preferred system for designers, artists etc. – older windows os make fonts look all pixelated, as did Vista & Windows 7, but I think this has been addressed now.”

But I have seen websites with different fonts in – why is this?

The website you have seen has been probably created in Flash, or contains Flash elements. In addition, you may have been looking at an image (jpeg or gif).

Either way, if you want your site to appeal to search engines and be as accessible to as many browsers as possible, keep to the five fonts we have mentioned.

The Envelope Works

They manufacture, print and supply plain or printed evelopes of any number or size.

The company asked Incantation Media to design a completely new website for their business.

Key features they wanted, included:

• Content Management System – they wanted a website, which could be controlled and updated by their own Administration Team, with the ability to add, change or delete content instantly.
• Search Engine Optimisation – the Envelope Works wanted to be found on search engines, like Google, to increase website traffic and potential leads into their business.
• Professional Corporate Design – the company had recently re-branded and as such wanted a website that would complement their logo style and enhance their corporate image.

Mark Farrimond, Managing Director of the company, provided this feedback on the service he had received:

“We are really impressed with our website. Our team are very proud of it and direct as many of our clients to it as possible. It has definitely helped to enhance our brand image with existing customers and with people contacting us for the first time.”

Since the Jenrick Recruitment Group undertook a complete re-brand in 2005, Incantation has continually strived to improve the stature of the company within the recruitment arena.

The marketing activity that has been undertaken for Jenrick is so extensive and diverse, we have created separate sections which provide much greater detail (simply click on the ‘read more’ option):

• New logo design and launch – Jenrick wanted a completely new company logo to update the corporate image of the Group and enable each division to function with far greater synergy.
• Corporate re-brand – from the logo design a complete corporate re-brand was undertaken to update the entire identity of the Group.
• Website design and launch – the Group wanted to develop a website, which would communicate a clear message of differentiation to the recruitment industry – yet, be highly search engine optimised.
• Blog – in addition, a blog was developed to enable an avenue to post current job marketing related news stories. This has also greatly helped the company raise its profile on the search engines.
• Brochure and sales literature – a complete range of highly targeted, yet extremely cost-effective, marketing and sales material has also been created for each Division.

The last five years has seen Jenrick’s profile within the recruitment industry substantially increase and in addition the company has become a leading name in the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For Awards, the annual entry which is co-ordinated by the Incantation Media Team.

Simon Holdings is a professional services plc.; parent company for a broad spectrum of UK businesses including recruitment, property, education and printing.

Incantation has been responsible for the following marketing activities for Simon Holdings Plc:

• New logo design and launch – Simon Holdings wanted a completely new company logo to update the corporate image of the Group.
• Corporate re-brand – from the logo design a complete corporate re-brand was undertaken to update the entire identity of the Group.
• Flash website design and launch – the Group wanted an aesthetically pleasing website and as such it was decided to develop it using Flash.
• Blog – in addition, through a link on the Flash website (called ‘news’) it is possible to launch the blog, which contains all the latest news updates from around the Group. This also helps the company to be found on the search engines, due the optimised nature of the blog.
• Extranet system – it is also possible to access a completely secure extranet system via the website (‘staff log in’) that the Group use as part of their ISO quality assurance programme.
• Copywriting - the Incantation team are responsible for all aspects of online and offline copywriting for the Simon Holdings Group. This includes website content, blog articles, press releases and brochure material.

Overall, the Simon Holdings Plc website project is a perfect example of how you can implement the aesthetics of Flash, with the functionality and SEO of blogging and the security of an extranet system.

The company required a very flexible website that could cope with several different aspects of their business, including:

• Jobs – as they are a recruitment agency they needed a website that they could upload their jobs via the Content Management System (CMS). The jobs have also been uploaded in a way that helps them to appear on the search engines.
• Featured Jobs – the site also has the ability to promote specific jobs on every page, via a ‘news feature’ function. This same functionality also promotes latest news stories.
• Google Maps – the company has several offices (in the UK and abroad) and needed to ensure that accurate maps could be added to each office contact page
• Content Management System – they wanted a website, which could be controlled and updated by their own Administration Team, with the ability to add, change or delete content instantly.
• Search Engine Optimisation – the client also wanted to be found on search engines, like Google, to increase website traffic and potential leads into their business.

See My CV

It enables jobseekers to search through a database of vacancies from an entire range of iIndustries. It also enables them to upload a written CV AND a Video CV for potential employers to view.

Employers are able to use See MY CV to advertise jobs to candidates, as well as searching through the CV database to look for suitable employees.

What makes See MY CV unique is that it enables every candidate to upload a Video CV of themselves. All candidates need to do is record a short movie, using their phone, web-cam or digital camera, giving potential employers a brief synopsis of their qualificiation, career history and employment aspirations, and then upload it (in an MPEG format) to the See MY CV website.

In today’s working environment the ’soft skills’ of the candidate, ie. personality traites, are just as important as their techincal skills, to ensure that the new employee ‘matches’ the existing working culture of the business. This is why more and more employers are undertaking psychometric testing as part of their recruitment process.

School Extranet solutions are ideal for Early Years, Primary, Secondary and Special Needs Schools.

Furthermore, in response to specific teacher requests, we have ensured Schoolextranet contains the following unique benefits:

• Excellent Security – we host the system on dedicated, secure servers within the UK.
• Personalised to You – the extranet is designed around your school colours, and includes your school badge.
• Clean and Simple workspace – schools frequently comment on how fresh and easy it is to navigate and use.
• Icon Driven – we use colourful icons, keeping text to a minimum, to make the system appealing and friendly.

NEW ‘Oneclick’ homework setting – you can now set homework for your class with one simple click.

The system also offers direct remote access to your school network for teachers and students, which enables you to link with your personal and shared folders from wherever you are and from any computer – all within a safe and secure environment.

Peter Chaddock, a teacher at a Special Needs School in Chessington Surrey, stated the impact that Schoolextranet had achieved within his school:

“We cannot thank you enough for your support. Your system has opened up a whole new fun way of learning to our pupils.

We can now benefit from all the Special Needs Learning Resources that are available through the Internet and give the children more fun within their learning.

A big thank you from all the children, parents and staff of St. Phillips School.”