Articles

A collection of articles to help inform on a range of subjects from accessibility to SEO.

Payment Processors and the upcoming EU Payments Service Directive

Article updated on 20/09/2019 From 14th September 2019, the European Commission is introducing new requirements to improve the security of online card payments. This directive is known as the...

Free Google tools - could your organisation be eligible?

In July, we wrote to all of our customers to advise that Google were changing the useage terms for their Google Maps feature which essentially means that organisations - regardless of status -...

GDPR: Boxes ticked, but is it really 'job done'?

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) recently conducted voluntary information risk reviews with eight charities, and you can read the ICO's full report here. The ICO noted many examples of...

GDPR: A user guide for the latest CiviCRM extension

As many of you reading this will know, the CiviCRM community has been developing a communications extension to make it easier for users to work towards GDPR compliancy. You can read CiviCRM's blog on...

GDPR: Support for our clients

If you are lucky enough to be one of our hosted clients, Circle is your Data Processor and so when the GDPR comes into force in May 2018 our relationship and in particular, Circle's...

What is our role as your Data Processor under GDPR?

As of May 2018, the Data Protection Act (DPA) will be replaced by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Being a regulation rather than a directive, this means that it becomes part of the law...

How to share content on OwnCloud

  After an account has been created, you will receive an email with access details. You can start the sharing process with uploading a document/file.   In this guide I am going to...

What is Responsive Design?

Responsive web design (RWD) is the design of a web page in a way that creates an uninterrupted user experience across different devices. If you access a website with responsive design, you should be...

Creating Effective Email Campaigns with CiviMail

With the rise of social media and alternative ways of interacting with clients, it would be logical to assume that the use of email should be in decline. But recent statistics from Adobe say...

WordPress: An Introduction

WordPress is a popular, open-source platform for simple websites or blogs, offering a particularly user-friendly experience. This makes it perfect for small businesses and organisations looking to...

Dealing with Major Database Changes

Many people don’t like change. We are creatures of habit and when major disruption comes along at an organisational level, it needs to be treated properly. It requires enthusiasm from the people...

Planning a Successful CRM Project

Possibly the most important step in any major database change is the planning phase. Without effective, strategic planning, a project will often go ‘off the rails’ and end up exceeding both the...

Software Solutions for Third Sector Organisations

Challenges facing the Third Sector today include increasing demands for accountability and ever increasing pressures on funding. Organisations are being asked to do more with less, so professional...

What is SSL?

SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer. This is a small file on your site, known as a ‘cryptographic protocol’, that encrypts any data sent from your visitor's browser to your web server so that only...

What's the Difference Between Corporate and Charity Projects?

We deliver a lot of CRM projects to Corporate and Charity clients and one thing we sometimes get asked about is the difference between the two. Some of the charities we deal with seem to have a...

Software Solutions for Membership Organisations

We work with a growing number of membership organisations and professional associations, implementing and hosting their membership management systems and supporting the teams that use them....

CiviCRM: An Introduction

CiviCRM is a powerful, open-source Contact Relationship Management (CRM) system. This is essentially a tailored database which provides support to the majority of ‘front office’ business tasks, such...

What Can a Website Do for Your Organisation?

In this short article, we look at some of the things you can use a website for beyond simply acting as an 'online brochure' for your business, and we ask ‘could your site could be working harder for...

Drupal: An Introduction

Drupal is an open-source Content Management System (CMS), a software tool which allows the user to quickly add, edit or remove content from their website, such as text, images, events, special offers...

Designing an Accessible Website

The internet has become truly ubiquitous in the developed world and has revolutionised the production and publication of information. In particular it has transformed the level of access to...

Why Open Source?

At Circle Interactive, we prefer to use open-source software as a basis for developing our web applications. ‘Open-source’ means that the software’s source code is open and available to the public,...

Search Engine Optimisation Basics

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a powerful marketing tool that brings a healthy return on investment but, in order for your site to be easily found in the main search engines like Google, a...

Web Design: Principles of Good Practice

This is an outline of our principles – what we consider to be good practice when we design and build websites. This document covers design, accessibility, content and linking strategies, but we also...