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A collection of advice, insights, tutorials, news and other general musings centred around digital transformation.

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Protective mother deer with her fawn looking into the distance.

Green lights and red flags for inter-agency collaborative working

Calendar 2 Jan 2024 #Insights #Advice #User experience #Drupal #WordPress Most responsible agencies have working relationships with fellow branding, marketing or creative agencies who have a particular skill set that can knock the socks off their clients when they partner up.

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Businessman with a unicorn head.

Why you need to STOP hunting for the unicorn

Calendar 10 Oct 2023 #Insights #Advice Let’s face it - recruitment is hard. And it’s not getting any easier. Inundated with CVs, but nothing that quite fits the bill. Know the feeling? You’re not alone.

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A mess of plugs and cables looking very dangerous.

Where businesses are going wrong with managing multiple websites

Calendar 11 Sep 2023 #Insights #Advice #Security & compliance #User experience #SEO #Drupal #WordPress Why you might have ended up in a multisite muddle.

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Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo da Vinci.

Engineering Excellence

Calendar 3 May 2023 #Insights #Advice #Security & compliance Like any great business, we hold ourselves to a high standard. That means every client benefits from our core services that combine to create websites and web based applications that help you thrive online.

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Bundles of Euro bank notes overlaid by handcuffs and a sinister sillouetted character on the left.

Google Analytics: Is it legal?

Calendar 24 Nov 2022 #Insights #Advice #Security & compliance Promise: not clickbait! It's hard to believe that this popular product could be considered illegal.

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A girl grimacing in disgust.

What to consider when you're thinking about your webforms

Calendar 3 Nov 2022 #Insights #Advice Webforms are a great way to consolidate interest and turn your visitors into potential new customers. But we bet you hadn't considered the power, positive and negative, that a webform can have on your potential new customer's experience of your business.

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The ruins of a building in the middle of a field.

6 reasons not to use a standalone microsite for your Christmas marketing campaign

Calendar 27 Oct 2022 #Insights #Advice #Security & compliance #SEO We've compiled a list of the six reasons businesses shouldn't entertain the thought of a microsite - and they're pretty compelling.

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Pivale logo + Platform.sh logo

Platform.sh: affordable and ethical enterprise-grade hosting

Calendar 21 Sep 2022 #Insights #Advice Your hosting headache - and how it's costing you business

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A sky scene with indecipherable technical information overlaid for effect indicating cloud hosting

3 reasons your choice of website host isn't just an IT issue

Calendar 16 Aug 2022 #Advice #Security & compliance Choosing the web infrastructure that supports your website is of paramount importance. And given that your choice of website host underpins the ability of your business to exist online, it's fair to say you need to make a well-informed decision about your hosting service.

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A roll of blueprints

Why documentation and processes could stop your website from failing at a critical moment

Calendar 29 Jun 2022 #Advice #Security & compliance Do you have documentation in place so that, when changes to your website are needed, there is a clear process to be followed whether by your in-house developers or your outsourced digital marketing partners?

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An ambiguous figure in a suit throwing dice towards he camera.

Are you gambling with the security of your business?

Calendar 7 Jun 2022 #Security & compliance Ignoring security updates will seriously impact your business. It's time to take action.

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A series of tesselating hexagons containing padlocks - one of which is open and highlighted in red.

Why poor web security will damage your business

Calendar 27 Apr 2022 #Security & compliance The consequences of poor web security can be catastrophic so it's essential you have a strategy.

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A large padlock integrated in to a circuit board.

Five reasons why you need ongoing website maintenance

Calendar 10 Mar 2022 #Security & compliance Ongoing security maintenance is essential to the longevity of your website or application.

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An isometric illustration of people stood on a deconstructed website.

How to make your website accessible for everyone

Calendar 2 Feb 2022 #Insights #Advice #User experience Accessibility is perhaps the most important and most ignored aspect of web development. Let's change that.

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A row of black chess pawns and one red pawn standing out from the others.

How to make sure your homepage is clear and concise

Calendar 4 Jan 2022 #Insights #Advice #User experience The next entry in our homepage series focuses on keeping it simple and effective.

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A crowd of people covering their eyes.

Five things to avoid on your homepage

Calendar 1 Dec 2021 #Insights #Advice #User experience Your homepage can be the most important page on your website. Make sure you avoid these mistakes.

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A mockup of an ecommerce site home page.

Do you have a home page content strategy?

Calendar 2 Nov 2021 #Insights #Advice #User experience How to make an effective home page.

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Masterful lady in a zen pose.

Being compliant doesn't have to be a bore

Calendar 24 Oct 2021 #Security & compliance The importance of balancing the exciting parts of web design with standards and good compliance.

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Five hands showing five through one digits elevated to indicate a countdown.

Top 5 cost influencing factors for your new website

Calendar 23 Jul 2021 #Advice In this article we will consider five areas which will often drive the main development costs for a website build.

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A sign post with writing Which Way To Go in opposite directions with the WordPress logo on the left and the Drupal logo on the right.

WordPress vs Drupal

Calendar 12 Jul 2021 #Insights #Advice #Drupal #WordPress Explore the differences and pros/cons of both WordPress and Drupal.

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A hand made, brightly coloured sign with the word OPEN.

The benefits of open-source website CMS software

Calendar 16 Jun 2021 #Insights #Security & compliance What exactly are the differences between open-source and closed proprietary software and why should I care?

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A man in shorts and t-shirt lying back in a deckchair on a white sandy beach with a laptop on his lap.

Digital problem solving made easy

Calendar 19 Nov 2020 #Advice If you manage many websites, you probably know how much effort is required to maintain them. Find out how to get your web portfolio back under control, boost their performance, and save costs in the long run.

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A square peg smashed in to a round hole with a hammer.

Could mismatched web solutions scupper your business growth?

Calendar 5 Aug 2020 #Insights #Advice If you're responsible for the IT or strategic marketing in a medium or large business, ask yourself 'How is your web portfolio looking?'

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An elephant inside a business meeting room.

5 ways your addiction to spreadsheets increases risk in your business

Calendar 13 Jul 2020 #Insights #Security & compliance It's time to talk about the elephant in the room: your addiction to spreadsheets! Relying on spreadsheets is bad for business. Here's how to fix that problem.

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A well designed room featuring a large piece of wall art featuring a bee hive and the Pivale Assemble: Multisite Solutions branding.

The smarter way to manage many websites

Calendar 17 Jun 2020 #Press #Advice Do you crave the agility and speed of smaller market players? What effect would it have if you could work faster and smarter? Make this dream your new reality.

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The Pivale logo printed on a luxurious textured paper stock.

Real Life Digital relaunch as Pivale Pivale

Calendar 1 Jun 2020 #Press Real Life Digital unveil their exciting re-brand, with a more targeted focus on digital transformation, multisite infrastructure and custom software.

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A woman working from home.

5 ways to stay operational during a health crisis

Calendar 16 Mar 2020 #Insights #Advice These are unprecedented times with the arrival of COVID-19. What do you do if you've never had to work from home before?

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A close up of a hard disk drive.

Data sovereignty, the cloud and custom software

Calendar 5 Aug 2019 #Security & compliance Implementing cloud-based services within your business could you be exposing you to hidden risks all for the sake of a "convenient" solution?

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A man and a women smiling at the camera.

What to think about when choosing your corporate rebranding partner

Calendar 13 Jun 2019 #Insights #Advice A corporate rebrand can be risky or a big opportunity. Choosing a partner who understands the process is a key step in ensuring success for your web brand.

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Chocolate cake with strawberry on top.

Not just another web developer!

Calendar 24 Apr 2019 #Insights #Security & compliance Have your cake and eat it! Find out how our approach gets you the quality and experience of working with a large agency without the overhead.

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Boy expressing anger with a shouty face and outstretched hands.

Why the lack of industry standards makes us mad!

Calendar 22 Mar 2019 #Insights #Security & compliance We all too often speak to potential clients who have been 'scarred' by their experience with other providers in our industry.

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100 dollar bills.

6 ways to manage the biggest cost factors of a website project

Calendar 14 Feb 2019 #Advice Understandably it's a very common question. However, here's why there's no simple answer, and how you can influence the bottom line.

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Pensive woman looking up and right inquisitively.

ROI Focused Websites Part 4: What you need to know before you engage a web company

Calendar 22 Jan 2019 #Advice The fourth article in our Return on Investment (ROI) series is about asking the right questions, taking your time, and choosing the right team for your needs.

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Angry man shouting through the handset of a traditional phone.

ROI Focused Websites Part 3: The Trouble with Web Developers - 5 Pain Points most clients need resolved

Calendar 14 Jan 2019 #Advice The third article in our Return on Investment (ROI) series is about those who have invested significant time and money on projects but ended up dissatisfied.

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Hand counting from one to five.

ROI Focused Websites Part 2: 5 Top Tips To Pick a Winning Web Team

Calendar 19 Nov 2018 #Advice The second article in our Return on Investment (ROI) series explores why it's crucial that you pick the right team.

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A clock and some coin piles sprouting vegetation - a metaphor for return on investment over time.

ROI Focused Websites Part 1: 8 questions you should ask before engaging a web design agency

Calendar 2 Oct 2018 #Advice The first article in our Return on Investment (ROI) series asks 8 important questions that will determine your success.

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A boy looking very confused and scratching his head.

What is Pattern Lab and why should I care about it?

Calendar 11 Sep 2018 #Insights #Frontend Our front-end developer discusses why you and your business should be considering Pattern Lab for your next Drupal project.

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Atomic design components from atoms, through molecules, organisms, templates, pages to Drupal.

10 lessons from using Drupal 8 + Pattern Lab + Emulsify

Calendar 22 Aug 2018 #Frontend #Review #Drupal The musings of our front end developer after the launch of our first Pattern Lab + Drupal 8 project via the Emulsify base theme.

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A woman reading a book on a beach.

Real Life Digital: the story so far

Calendar 12 Mar 2018 #Press Our story so far; how we got started and evolved to where we are now.

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A discovery workshop in action in a relaxed meeting setting.

Discovery workshops: a solid foundation for any digital project

Calendar 23 Jan 2018 #Insights Discovery workshops are paid-for deep-dives in to content strategy and architecture.

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A humongous explosion and ball of fire.

5 steps for security and disaster planning

Calendar 22 Jan 2018 #Security & compliance Do you need to protect your brand, prevent data leaks and avoid PR disasters?

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A woman sat on the floor with her laptop.

Content strategy - an extended discussion

Calendar 5 Jan 2018 #SEO Content strategy is one of our key offerings, and we wanted to discuss in more detail our thoughts on the matter.

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Left to right: Barry Fisher, Stephen Brownlie, Darren Fisher.

BASE Bordon: a new space to create and innovate

Calendar 22 Nov 2017 #Press We are excited to announce that we are the first business to move in to the brand new BASE Bordon innovation centre.

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An aerial view of the Danube through Vienna at dusk.

We went to DrupalCon 2017 in Vienna

Calendar 4 Oct 2017 #Press #Drupal This year's European Drupal conference took place in Vienna, Austria ahead of the news that there will be no DrupalCon Europe 2018.

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A lady looks through her camera.

15 stunning FREE open-source or creative commons stock photography websites

Calendar 10 Jul 2017 #Advice As the internet matures we're realising the value of free content & tech so I went on a mission to find 15 free and creative commons stock photography websites.

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The Sass and CSS 3 logos offset in a pattern across a design grid.

Using Sass and CSS3 Flex as a grid system

Calendar 3 Apr 2017 #Frontend #Tutorial #HTML, CSS & Javascript We used to be big fans of using singularity to create responsive grids on which to craft our web layouts but we've been converted to CSS3 flex and here's why!

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Real Life Digital merchandise stand at DrupalCamp London 2017.

We went to DrupalCamp London 2017

Calendar 6 Mar 2017 #Press #Drupal DrupalCamp London celebrated its fifth birthday this year, and for the first time Real Life Digital were official sponsors of the CxO day.

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Drupal SEO - the Drupal logo and the word 'SEO' with the 'O' replaced by the Drupal icon (druplicon).

Drupal and SEO: A fly-by tour

Calendar 26 Jan 2017 #SEO #Tutorial #Drupal Drupal is absolutely the best CMS platform when it comes to SEO, but our clients don't seem to be aware of this so we finally decided to break it down.

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The Convention Centre Dublin (CCD) - a large glass cylindrical building situated on Dublin's River Liffey.

We went to DrupalCon 2016 in Dublin

Calendar 3 Oct 2016 #Press #Drupal Once again this year we had the ultimate pleasure of being guests in another exciting European city as we attending the first ever Drupal conference in Dublin.

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Google Analytics running on an Apple MacBook.

12 SEO top tips for better ranking with Drupal

Calendar 1 Jun 2016 #SEO #Drupal SEO. Search engine optimisation. Where to begin with the elusive task of search engine optimisation, around which an entire industry has formed?

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A collection of screenshots from various online CSS resources.

16 Awesome CSS Libraries and Resources

Calendar 23 May 2016 #Frontend #HTML, CSS & Javascript In his usual wacky style Darren presents his 16 favourite resources for writing better CSS, streamlining your workflow or just having some good old fun!

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The Drupal 8, Sass, Singularity, Breakpoint, Live Reload and Gulp logos in a row.

How we got a custom Drupal 8 theme up and running with Sass, Singularity, Breakpoint, LiveReload and Gulp

Calendar 11 Apr 2016 #Frontend #Tutorial #Drupal #HTML, CSS & Javascript Can Drupal, Sass, Singularity, Breakpoint, LiveReload and Gulp all play nicely together? It took us a while to crack it so we thought we'd share our findings.

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The attendees of DrupalCamp London 2016.

We went to DrupalCamp London 2016

Calendar 18 Mar 2016 #Press #Drupal Every year the Drupal community meet up at various conferences and more localised camps. This weekend we attended one of the largest camps in the country.

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An infinite swirling clock.

Websites as an Investment Part 4: What happens if I wait?

Calendar 24 Feb 2016 #Advice The clock is ticking and time is money. It turns out that delaying your new website could actually be costing you money. We try and break down why that is.

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A magnifying glass laid on top of some money.

Websites as an Investment Part 3: What will it cost?

Calendar 17 Feb 2016 #Advice Some web agencies will charge you £1000 and others £10000 but why? What's the difference? We try and break down the true costs and value of building a website.

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A hand with all four fingers and thumb up signifying '5 of something'" on a yellow gold textured backdrop.

Websites as an Investment Part 2: 5 rules for selecting a web team

Calendar 10 Feb 2016 #Advice When you start thinking about your new website, you'll need to select a team who will drive success. Here are some great tips on how to do that.

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Several bank notes on fire.

Websites as an Investment Part 1: What exactly do I need?

Calendar 3 Feb 2016 #Advice When it comes to building a new website you'll need to think 'plan' before you think about 'budget'. What do you need to do to get ready to take the leap?

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Four female hurdle sprinters are leaping over the hurdles along the race track.

Responsive Design Part 4: Overcoming the drawbacks of responsive

Calendar 25 Jan 2016 #Frontend Are there any drawbacks of responsive design and if so what can we do to minimise the impact? We explore many of the concerns we've heard from clients.

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The Scream painting by Edvard Munch.

Responsive Design Part 3: The seven deadly sins of responsive design

Calendar 18 Jan 2016 #Frontend Responsive design can be good, but sometimes it can go bad and even ugly. We explore the 7 deadly sins of responsive design. It's not going to be pretty!.

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A pile of twenty pound notes.

Responsive Design Part 2: Why do I need responsive website design?

Calendar 11 Jan 2016 #Frontend Responsive design isn't just a fad that will fade away. In fact it will make a tremendous difference to your online presence in ways you might not imagine.

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A woman smiling whilst using an ipad.

Responsive Design Part 1: What is responsive website design?

Calendar 4 Jan 2016 #Frontend The first in our series on responsive web design and why you should care about it.

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LTR: Julia, Barry and Darren eating Real Life Digital branded cup cakes.

Cody Technology Park Free Coffee & Cake Event

Calendar 14 Dec 2015 #Press We moved on to Cody Technology Park back in August 2015 but still hadn't met a lot of other tenants so we decided to give away coffee and cake to meet people!

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Two copies of Real Life Digital's branding documents - one closed showing the cover, and the other open showing the contents.

Why you need a Branding Document

Calendar 4 Nov 2015 #Advice #User experience Your brand is the face of your business, and you need to be thinking and laying down rules about how your brand is communicated to your customers.

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The drupal 8 logo on a blue background with some obscured lines of code.

Kickstarting with Drupal 8 themes

Calendar 21 Oct 2015 #Frontend #Tutorial #Drupal #HTML, CSS & Javascript Drupal 8 has many new exciting features, but perhaps the most exciting of all is the new approach to themes. Our developer Alex gives us the lowdown.

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The city of Barcelona from afar. The prominent and recognisable landmark La Sagrada Familia towers above the city.

We went to DrupalCon 2015 in Barcelona

Calendar 2 Oct 2015 #Press #Drupal Once again we joined others in the Drupal community for the 2015 European Drupal convention which was held in the city of Barcelona in sunny Spain.

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A humourous keynote slide from a DrupalCon. The slide shows a toddler clenching a fist and some wording saying 'Time to kick ass with Drupal 8'

Drupal 8 is coming and we're getting ready!

Calendar 16 Sep 2015 #Review #Drupal Drupal 8 is now due an official release so we sent one of our developers Alex on a mission to get stuck in with it and share his first impressions and findings.

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An ape looking perplexed with one hand placed on its head.

From Print to Web: The journey of a 20th century Graphic Designer

Calendar 3 Mar 2015 #Insights #Frontend Six months ago our digital designer Darren was a stuck-in-a-rut print designer, utterly unaware of the opportunity that lurked just around the corner.

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A man is holding a pen up to the camera and is in the process of snapping it in half.

The new meaning behind 'design sign-off'

Calendar 9 Jan 2015 #Insights We controversially suggest that design sign off is an archaic practice which has no place in modern web design and we think you'll agree after reading this.

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Coloured pencils artfully placed together to forma a spiral.

Flat design is going gaga!

Calendar 29 Oct 2014 #Insights #User experience Flat design. What is it? Where did it come from? Will it go away? What do I need to know? All is revealed in this end-to-end opinion piece.

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An Amsterdam Panorama - the city from afar with water, land, boats, buildings and trees.

We went to DrupalCon 2014 in Amsterdam

Calendar 5 Oct 2014 #Press #Drupal This year the Drupal community met in Amsterdam to make progress on Drupal 8, develop as coders and creatives, and of course just hang out and have fun!

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Beautiful yellow and black cocoons dangle from a tree, ready to give birth to recently metamorphosised butterflies.

What happened to Real Life Design?

Calendar 14 Sep 2014 #Press After 7 happy years as Real Life Design we decided to re-brand ourselves as Real Life Digital. Apart from the name and the look, nothing else has changed.

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Guildford From Afar - the cathedral stands tall above the rest of the picturesque town.

Calling all Drupal fans near Guildford

Calendar 14 Jun 2011 #Drupal Are you a budding Drupal aficionado in or around the Guildford area? As we all know Drupal is all about community so let's start building one locally.

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Drupal icons wrapped inside nutshells.

Drupal in a nutshell: our CMS and framework of choice

Calendar 28 Feb 2011 #Drupal What is Drupal? Why should you use Drupal? Is it really free? Why would it be free? Our quick overview of the benefits of Drupal will get you up to speed.

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