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In just 3 days it has received over 100,000 views, which is a fantastic accomplishment for any YouTube video, let alone one produced in Northern Ireland.

The video was put together by one of NI’s talented young cinematographers Matt Good (who incidentally happens to be my cousin). Well done to Matt and all Friends’ staff and students involved in the video.

Makes me want to go back to school. Enjoy.

You can view some of Matt’s earlier work here.

The main question I had in my head was “What do you stand for and why should I vote for you in this election?” but I also wanted to see how they coped in the modern day era of mobile devices (smartphones, tablets etc).

NI political party websites viewed on iPhones

Here are screenshots of my first view when looking up their respective websites.

The examples I’ve used below are of Northern Ireland’s top 5 parties (as of the last election), ordered A-Z.

Alliance

What’s good

• Clear intro to what the party is and stands for

Could be better

• Not optimised for mobile
• Could do with a call to action to guide me towards the 2011 election page
• Navigation doesn’t actually work for iPhone at all

DUP

What’s good

• List of 7 priorities on homepage
• iPhone app available to download

Could be better

• Not optimised for mobile
• Video doesn’t work on iPhone
• Could do with a call to action to guide me towards the 2011 election page

SDLP

What’s good

• Clear intro and call to action for the 2011 election
• From a design perspective, definitely the most aesthetically pleasing
• Video works fine on iPhone

Could be better

• Not optimised for mobile

Sinn Fein

What’s good

• Video works fine on iPhone

Could be better

• Not optimised for mobile
• A splash page with a video blocks me off from the main site (the main site link bottom left doesn’t actually work)
• Could do with a call to action to guide me towards the 2011 election page

UUP

What’s good

• Separate navigation for election

Could be better

• Not optimised for mobile
• Rotating banner lacks call to action

Accessibility

The two major accessibility issues that jumped out for me were:

1. Alliance website main navigation didn’t function at all on iPhone
2. DUP’s video didn’t work/load on iPhone (it’s a YouTube video so I’m not sure why this is)

Loading and page weight

Page download time is also an issue for mobile devices. Mobile users may not have wifi access and they may be paying for the amount of data they download, so the smaller the ‘page weight’ the better.

A quick look at Firefox and YSlow shows how large each site is (remember none of the sites are serving up a mobile optimised site).

• Alliance: 821.2K
• DUP: 1026.5K
• SDLP: 628.3K
• Sinn Fein: 456.2K
• UUP: 1219.7K

Note that these figures don’t take into account the video size.

Is it important for your website to be mobile optimised?

Time and budget are an issue for any project and other things often take priority. But for a campaign where you’re trying to get as many people to back you as possible, you want to make sure everything is accessible to iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows Mobile, Blackberry and other smartphone users.

A responsive design is one option or serving up a separate mobile site is another. At the very least the main desktop version of the website should work on a mobile.

Should the local parties have invested in mobile optimised websites? Does it matter? Have you come across any good mobile optimised political websites?

What is TweetNI?

Old site

1. A directory

TweetNI is a website I set up in 2009 that lists people from Northern Ireland on Twitter.

The hope is that it will help you find people, either to follow or to contact.

If you wanted to find any Northern Irish journalists on Twitter, for example, you could search for journalists and assuming they mentioned the word journalist in their description, they would be returned in the results.

2. A hashtag

After launching TweetNI I included a little Javascript widget that would show any tweets containing the #tweetni hashtag on the homepage.

After a while quite a few people were using this hashtag in their daily tweets, including the likes of @utvlive, @bbcnewsline and @nidirect. There could be up to 200 tweets a day containing #tweetni.

Why the update?

New site

1. The design was a bit awful looking.
2. Tweets weren’t actually getting saved anywhere, so I was missing out on some good data.
3. People were listed by follower count by default meaning anyone who follows lots of people (generally to get more followers in return) still got listed high up.
4. It wasn’t that easy to maintain thanks to my hacked together code.
5. I wanted to try out some Rails 3 development.

How I built it

It’s actually pretty simple to build and there are only a handful of tasks.

Ruby on Rails

The website is developed with Ruby on Rails.

Here’s a great step by step guide on setting up your first Rails application.

If you still need to setup Rails, Ruby and MySQL on Snow Leopard then take a read at this.

Twitter gem

Using the Twitter gem it’s easy to call the Twitter API and find out who is tweeting what.

Search for #tweetni and save the results that are returned. It’s that simple.

HTML5 and CSS3

As with any personal or side project I got to make the most of HTML5 elements and CSS3 goodness.

From Northern Ireland? Be sure to add yourself

To join TweetNI all you need to do is tweet “Just joined Northern Ireland’s Twitter directory http://tweetni.com #tweetni”

Okay, maybe not the nicest way to register people (OAuth is slicker) but one that helps spread the word at the same time and it’s quick and painless to implement.

Have you developed any projects using the Twitter API?

I recently tweeted looking for recommended Northern Irish iPhone apps. Based on a combination of the replies I got, the top 10 local apps from SyncNI and my own personal favourites, I’ve put together this list of apps from Northern Ireland that you should definitely check out.

1. Pocket Universe

Pocket Universe is an easy-to-use app that will help you learn constellations, bright stars and planets. You can literally hold up your iPhone 3GS/4 in front of you, and the app will use the built-in compass to display the same view of the sky you see – but one that’s complete with names and information.

Developer: Craic Design

2. Used Cars NI

Search Northern Ireland Used Cars for sale, Offers, Vans, Farm/Plant, Motorbikes, Caravans/Motorhomes, Salvage and Boats in an easy-to-use application.

Developer: Ecliptic Labs
Website: Used Cards NI

3. Shhmooze

Shhmooze helps you connect with the useful or interesting strangers around you. With Shhmooze you don’t need to ‘work’ a whole room – you can focus on getting to know the people you need to know – quickly and easily! Change the way you meet people with Shhmooze!

Developer: Shhmooze

4. Belfast Music

The Belfast Music iPhone app showcases past legends and contemporary inspirations that have shaped the music landscape of our city. Check out where Belfast legends grew up and cut their musical teeth, and check out the many venues that show off the present wealth of musical talent.

Developer: Filmtrip Ltd
Website: Belfast Music

5. Cool FM

Listen Live to Cool FM on your iPhone, at home, at work, on the move.

Website: Cool FM

6. Rory’s Story Cubes

Rory’s Story Cubes is an invitation to shared creative thinking, just open-ended enough to encourage spontaneity and humor, just structured enough to maintain focus and challenge…Play it by yourself. Play it with friends. Play it with family. Play it at a party. By all means, play it.

Website: Rory’s Story Cubes

7. NI Job Finder

Search through Northern Ireland’s largest selection of jobs.

Developer: GCD Technologies
Website: NI Job Finder

8. Hector

When a hostage crisis erupts in the centre of Clappers Wreake, only one man has the diplomatic finesse to defuse a simmering situation before it boils over into a stew of butchery and bloodshed: Detective Inspector Hector.

It’s not for kids.

Developer: Straandlooper
Website: The Hector Files

9. Rock Out

Think air guitar meets the real thing. A simple interface ensures you can feel the rhythm, follow the beat and rock out to the music in true style.

Developer: The Design Zoo
Website: Rock Out Legend

10. Irish FA

Get the latest information from inside Northern Ireland football.

Developer: Paper Bag
Website: Irish FA

Bonus: Lookaly

Added as a bonus since this is the one I’m associated with. Lookaly helps you find the best places and services in your area based on reviews from others.

Developer: Ecliptic Labs
Website: Lookaly

More apps from Northern Ireland?

Apologies if I forgot any obvious ones or overlooked your own app. There are a lot more that I’ve missed but I’m more than happy to add them to the list here.

• Go Explore NI
• Grand Opera House
• Media Lightbox
• My Webcam
• Property News
• Skunk
• The Ulster Orchestra

If you know any good iPhone apps from Northern Ireland or have developed one yourself, leave a comment below with the link and I’ll add it here.

View the results here.

What is Lookaly?

Lookaly is an online business directory that lets you rate and review businesses. The objective is to allow you to find the best businesses and services in your area based on ‘the wisdom of crowds’ i.e. feedback from others.

What’s in it for businesses?

Businesses can add themselves for free. Yes, free! If you own a business or are associated with a business, by adding yours you will get a:

• Free directory listing
• Free web page
• Free link to your website

What makes Lookaly so special?

Apart from being beautifully crafted and really easy to use ;) Lookaly is all about helping to promote the best businesses and services in your area. By allowing anyone to signup and review, you can make informed decisions about what restaurant serves good steak or what cinema has comfortable seats.

You can also follow and share reviews with family and friends. Lookaly has a social networking platform so you can setup your own profile and follow your friends, keeping you up-to-date with their latest reviews.

Background

Lookaly was developed by James Gallagher and myself (Lee Munroe). There are a lot of business directories out there but we found them really awkward or depressing to use. Trying to find a list of good recommendations for sandwich bars or coffee shops in Belfast, for example, didn’t seem to be possible. So we made it possible.

Most people now look up businesses online these days but because other directories charge upwards of £120/yr to get listed, there are tens of thousands of businesses missing out. So by offering a free listing service, we’re allowing every business from self employed tradesmen to global Hotel franchises to get listed and found online.

What now?

Check out Lookaly, signup and start reviewing.

For the month of February we’re putting an iPod up for grabs. For a chance to win the iPod, all you need to do is review a business and you’ll be entered into the draw.

We’re currently targeting Northern Ireland businesses but if you’re based in Ireland, England, Scotland, USA or anywhere else feel free to add your business and try it out. You still get your own webpage and link to your website.

Any feedback you want to provide please do.

Thanks

Thanks to everyone who helped test out the app; Paddy, Kyle, Chris, Nick, Andy, Marty, Barry, Andrew, Brian, Liam, Jonny, James Boyce and other family and friends who helped out.

I’m sure there are more useful resources that I’ve missed so if you think you can recommend anything else, leave me a comment and I’ll update accordingly.

Web/Techy blogs and meetups

Belfast Open Coffee Club

BOCC is an informal tech meeting that happens once or twice per month. Chat about web apps and iPhones over coffee and cake.

Digital Circle

Digital Circle is an association of digital media businesses that help to develop, connect and promote the industry.

NI Creatives

Great resource to keep you informed about what’s happening in NI.

MobileMonday Belfast

MobileMonday brings together industry professionals interested in mobile.

Northern Ireland Mac User Group

NiMUG provides support to Apple users and have monthly meetings.

Digital Media Island

Digital Media Island is an enterprise network that develops and administers enterprise resources for companies in the digital media industry in Ireland.

Crea8ivity

Northern Ireland’s creative digital hub.

Web Designire

Showcase of creative web designs coming from Ireland and Northern Ireland.

NI Tech Blog

The latest tech news from Northern Ireland.

Events to keep an eye on

BarCamp

An open techy/web event where anyone is welcome to present.

CreativeCamp

A similar event to BarCamp but with a broader creative reach i.e. you don’t have to be ‘tech savvy’.

Build

Coming to Belfast later this year, Build is an exciting new web conference.

FOWA Dublin

The Future of Web Apps is coming to Dublin in March 2009. Keep track of Carsonifed for future events.

Business meetups

NISP Connect

Northern Ireland Science Park have a variety of events and competitions, including monthly frameworks classes that are free to attend (and often include bacon buddies).

Creative Entrepreneurs Club

CECNI brings creative entrepreneurs together at various networking events.

Free Wi-Fi hotspots in Belfast

Free Wi-Fi spots include;

• Sinnamon, Stranmillis
• Charlies, Bradbury Place
• The Limelight, Ormeau Avenue
• Ground, Fountain Avenue
• Roast, Royal Avenue
• Roast, Lisburn Road
• Bookfinders, University Road

What else is happening?

Feel free to leave a comment below with more suggestions.