The web design was carried out by our hugely talented creative team over a number of weeks and the site was developed on a flexible, easy to use content management system.

The all new Fighters Only site incorporates a dynamic breaking news section, ecommerce functionality for the sale of print magazine subscriptions and Fighters Only merchandise the world over, a dedicated TV section featuring MMA-related videos including fights, interviews and analysis and extensive galleries of the fighters and the world famous Fighters Only Babes!

We wanted to set a new benchmark for MMA websites with a really vibrant, engaging and dynamic website. Fighters Only is renowned for its speedy reaction to MMA news breaking 24/7 around the globe so we needed to ensure they could publish and update news stories as they break, quickly and easily. We have used a content management system which allows easy editing and updating and we have kept ease of use and functionality at the forefront of the whole site design.

A lot of hard work went into the new Fighters Only site as there were very tight deadlines to meet and a number of technical challenges to overcome. Both the client and us are delighted with the results and as you can see from the banner on the screenshot above, we’re now hard at work on Fighters Only’s sister site, Train Hard, Fight Easy.

The site, which launched only in December, was designed and built from scratch by our talented teams to Definitive’s exacting requirements. We’re delighted that it has gone down so well with their clients so soon, not to mention Definitive themselves!

Here’s what Definitive Events’s sales director Adrian Evans had to say:

“So far the feedback that we have had from clients could not have been more positive about our new website. In particular clients have commented that the imagery used really excites them and puts them in the right frame of mind for looking at their events and represents our professionalism and the high calibre of events we deliver”.

“It was a bold choice to go for the colour combinations that we did, but this too has been a resounding success. After working with Fluid throughout the process we were particularly pleased with how this aspect has now translated so powerfully to our other collateral such as business cards and stationery.

“You also know that you have done something “right” when you receive positive comments from your peers and competitors…this gives you even more satisfaction.

“My own personal favourite detail on the site is the ‘interactive event clock’ giving all the information you could need on forthcoming sporting events around the globe. I can’t believe that it’s less than two months until the start of another Formula 1 season!

“It is also testament to our ever growing relationship with the team at Fluid and the success of this site that we have now chosen to work with them on the re-launch of our Definitive Events website in the coming months.”

American Soda insisted on long term contracts after a year long successful partnership with us.

The SEO, design and development work we carried out has seen American Soda’s website conversion rate increase by 27% from 3.6% to 4.6%, a 222% growth in number of products sold and a 108% increase in total transactions.

“The work Fluid Creativity have carried out both on and offsite has helped us grow our business hugely over the last 12 months,” said American Soda managing director David Hughes. “We want to build on this success, that’s why we’re more than comfortable entering into this long term partnership.”

We’re obviously delighted that American Soda are so pleased with the work we have done. We’re looking forward to working closely together over the next three years and beyond. I see this success as testament to our fantastic development and SEO teams.

Baines & Ernst are one of the country’s leading financial solution companies, delivering a full set of debt solutions to suit every situation. The company are proud to have helped over 140,000 people get their lives back on track and in the process have distributed over half a billion pounds back to creditors in the last five years. They are holders of the prestigious Debt Counseller of the Year award 2010 and were finalists in the Insolvency and Rescue awards 2009 for Debt Management Provider of the year.

Being selected by this leading company is recognition of the skill of our team and we are looking forward to supporting their business into the future.

Fluid Creativity’s MD, Lee Turner said: We have one of the best technical and development teams around and we are extremely pleased to be working with an industry leader. This great account win comes at an exciting time for Fluid Creativity as we are currently recruiting for sales, SEO and development staff to further our growth. This recruitment drive will help in doubling our size and cementing our position as a leading digital marketing solutions provider.

Kate O’Brien, Marketing Director and Paul Clayton, IT Director of Baines & Ernst added: “We required a web provider who could accommodate our rigorous exacting requirements and could provide a one stop shop. We have found fluid to be a responsive professional organisation where nothing was too much trouble and they delivered an issue free, well tested migration. They simply know what they are doing and get the job done. We would definitely recommend their services!”

We started out life in 2001 and live out in the foothills of Hyde in Greater Manchester; with loads of transport links we’re easier than you’d think to get to. Our offices are pretty sexy too, we’ve got a large and pretty meeting room with a Nintendo Wii, there’s a small gym and we’ve even got a space agency trying to put a man into orbit right next door.

Fluid are a growing business, we’re always looking to take on new talent. There are some fantastic opportunities with very competitive salaries on offer and the opportunity to progress rapidly: so what you waiting for get applying now!

SEO Technician:

Fluid Creativity requires an SEO Technician to join our growing online marketing team. This is an entry level position suitable for a web savvy someone, preferably with experience of working with website code and / or content.

SEO Consultant:

Fluid Creativity requires an SEO Consultant to join our growing online marketing team. This position is suitable for someone looking to advance his or her career in a forward thinking and growing company. The ideal candidate will have worked with website code and / or content, and have some previous client-facing experience.

PHP Web Developer:

Fluid Creativity are continuing to expand their highly skilled team of web savvy developers, designers and marketeers. We are looking for a talented new PHP web developer to join us at our lovely studios in Hyde, near Manchester.

Business Development Executive:

Responsibility for increasing sales of Fluid Creativities web and Internet services through generating new leads. The selected candidate will be responsible for the full sales process.

We pride ourselves on a great working environment and don’t just take our word for it hear what the team have to say:

Michelle O’Brien, Digital Strategy Consultant says: “I love working at Fluid, the people are great, the studios are really fun and it’s miles from the regular boring offices I’ve worked at in the past. One of the huge benefits for me is Fluid are always open to new ideas and we’re currently working on some really exciting new projects”

James Chapman, SEO Consultant added, “The opportunity to work in a hands on client facing role with a range of clients from a variety of sectors is as much a pleasure as it is a challenge.  It’s also great to be working alongside talented designers and developers who you will always be learning from.  What I especially like is that there’s no ego about Fluid and everyone is encouraged to chip in with ideas, regardless of their speciality.  That and there’s 4 chip shops nearby.”

We would love to hear from you, if you fancy a chat please don’t hesitate to give us a call on 0161 368 9814 or drop us your CV with a covering letter/email to careers@fluidcreativity.co.uk

The term retro for myself conjours images of 80’s arcade games, and as far as I’m concerned a game is only worth playing if there is a cheat available for giving you a complete set of powers, infinite gold and as many optional extras as can fit on a screen. The result of this as you can probably guess, is that I don’t play games very often.

Probably the most famous cheat code ever incorporated into a game is the Konami code or “up up down down left right left right b a” which was written in 1985 by Kazuhisa Hashimoto, a games developer who was trying to port the arcade game “Gradius” to the NES.

Over the years the code has been ported for use on the web and today around 120 sites are known to implement it (or have used it in the past).

My idea of using it stemmed from April fools day where I wrote a set of scripts to turn the blog upside down as both a technical exercise and a practical joke. Not wanting to lose this code I stored it until such a time I could find a way of re-incorporating it in a less intrusive manner.

The problem with the original scripts was always flash. On a blog which references youtube and vimeo, how do you make these appear upside down natively in the browser without creating extra work? The answer, as it appeared was CSS3.

CSS3, for all you non-techies is an emerging technology for the internet which describes the styling of web pages. The latest incarnation (version 3) which is still in development allows for some pretty cool stuff including animation, rotation, drop shadows and much much more, all completely native to the browser.

Amongst the properties available in CSS3 is the transform property which can be used to rotate, scale, skew or distort any element on the page. Setting this to rotate: 180deg produces pixel perfect rotation to the entire document. Coupling this with a short script to capture the cheat sequence hidden somewhere in the website code means that at least as long as this version of our site exists, it will be browsable upside down.

Why not check it out now: “up up down down left right left right b a”

We are looking for someone who possesses a thirst for knowledge with an up-to-date understanding of current web trends, technologies, standards and techniques. Experience in any of the following would be a distinct advantage: Magento. Zend Framework, JavaScript, W3C standards, ASP (VBScript), Linux, XML and UML.

Fluid Creativity are a small army of super creative coders, designers, artists, writers and relentless marketers. With an award winning, multi-talented team we combine our creative forces to develop original ideas, fantastic designs, wonderfully crafted websites and seamless web applications.

We’ve got a hard working but friendly culture, you can leave your shirt and tie at home unless the Queen is dropping by. The studio is pretty cool too with a large meeting room complete with a Nintendo Wii, there’s a small gym for all you fitness bods and we’ve even got a space agency trying to put a man into orbit right next door, how many digital agencies can say that?

Fluid are always open to new ideas, new people, new talents and new concepts, so if you’ve got ideas and want a job where you can have a real impact on the business you’ve come to the right place.

To apply for this position with Fluid Creativity, please send a covering letter, cv detailing experience and sample code that demonstrates your skillset to careers@fluidcreativity.co.uk

If any of you lovely folk that read our blog know someone that might fancy working for us please pass on our details.

• Strictly NO agencies
• Fluid Creativity do not accept speculative C.V’s from recruitment agencies and will not be bound by terms and conditions we have not signed over C.V ownership.
• Web development applicants MUST be eligible to live and work in the UK and may be required to attend an interview based in Manchester, UK

A huge personal bug bear of mine with Facebook is that the pages can sometimes look really dull and drab despite there being some awesome content on it. I put the challenge to the Fluid Creativity team to see what we could do to jazz up our company ‘Like’ page and this is what we came up with.

We have opened a can of worms with this one, we now have loads of great ideas for more exciting tabs for Fluid and for our clients. Holla if you like it…. we would love to hear what you think below.

In addition some useful Safari properties allow us to link directly to a Google Map of our office and have the iPhone application load, making it easier for you all to find us! Visitors can also call us directly from the site without having to remember our telephone number.

The main website is built on top of the industry standard Zend Framework, so the iPhone detection was a simple as creating a custom front controller plugin. By examining the user agent of the device we can determine if the user is using an iPhone or iPod Touch and transparently redirect them to the iPhone version of the website.

Although the site has only just gone live we already have a huge list of ideas for the next version including full integration with our custom CMS. This will allow visitors to browse our new blog posts and portfolio items directly from the device with some fancy styling thrown in for good measure!

If you’re interested in an iPhone version of your website please get in touch to discuss your requirements.

1)  PeterSage.com

If you’re looking to hire a really dynamic speaker then you may want to call on the services of Peter Sage:

This site has been my favourite for the past few months and I can’t decide on where to start in order to fully convey how wonderful it is.  The landing page asks whether you want to go to Peter’s new flash site (for which broadband is wisely recommended – each page takes about 20 seconds to load) or his html site (for which dial-up is for some reason recommended).  I implore you to begin with the flash site as each page contains a different blocky pixel flash video of the man Sage giving you a guided tour of the services described in a tone that seems to combine Alan Partridge and David Brent into one gloriously cheesy character.

There’s so much to explore and find on this site that through the tears of laughter you may forget that there’s still the html site to explore (don’t forget to unplug your cable modem and hook up your dial up modem first!).  On this site you will be able to find such treats as Peter’s words of wisdom (‘Sageisms’) and even some songs that he has penned himself.  There are also of course any number of photos of him grinning inanely as all dynamic entrepreneurs do.

And that’s not all – if you can bear to navigate away from the site you helpfully get returned to Google…but wait – oh Peter, you are a scamp:

2)  Norcalis.com

If Geocities was still around and one of their websites got smacked round the head with a baseball bat made of flash, it would surely result in the triumph that is Norcal Internet Services.

According to the strapline not only will they make your website, but they will also make your website better!  Talk about an offer that’s too good to refuse.  The website looks wonderfully serene, what with that waterfall and everything but don’t get too relaxed.  Your eyes are about to take a shelling:

In a similar fashion to big Pete’s site, a blocky video Francis Rossi stumbles onto the screen and proceeds to take you through all the visually engaging and user friendly services that he can craft for your business -  whilst some ducks float past.  Surely the results speak for themselves and there’s no reason for any other element of persuasion so virtua-Rossi is pointless.  Unless he goes on to elaborate on how Status Quo’s career was so successful despite only knowing 3 chords.

3)  Ling’s Cars

If you aren’t already familiar with Ling’s cars then you are in for a treat.  This shot doesn’t do her site justice at all, but it will show you a small slice of the madness:

The site itself is a long list of ever increasingly insane images and content – it’s the sort of site they show terrorism suspects in order to drag a confession out of them.  Bizarrely, the business seems to be very successful and the whirlwind behind it, Ling has even managed to put an appearance on Dragon’s Den.  Any business that is awesome enough to advertise on the back of a rocket clearly deserves attention.  It would appear that we aren’t the first website to appreciate the eccentric nature of Ling’s cars and Ling herself appears to go out of her way to track down her dissenters and comment on their site.  We’re half hoping that she makes an appearance in the comments at the bottom of this post!