Though we are not great fans of flash animations — they’re distracting and their novelty effects wear out after a few visits — we decided to spice up St Joseph’s College website. The college is one of the oldest educational institutions in Botswana (it recently celebrated it’s 80th Anniversary) and we wanted the website to stand out. We think the blackboard-themed animation on the home page, interspersed with photographs taken around the school works well for this type of site. You can view the effect by clicking here. We invite you to tell us what you think of the design and animation. Do you think animations are essential to good website design?

The College’s IT department is fully trained on how to upload content and manage the website using our Open Source easy-to-use content management platform. We look forward to seeing this site grow.

At Cyberplex Africa, we try to ensure that every new website we build includes innovative, useful, and practical features. So, in addition to designing beautiful websites, we ensure the site will produce value without imposing an unnecessary burden on webmasters. Fleming Asset Management’s new website is an example. Among the innovative features included:

• Foreign currency exchange rate data: automatically updated daily from the Bank of Botswana,
• Stock trading data: automatically uploaded daily from information provided by the Botswana Stock Exchange, and
• Digital certificate to provide a secure connection to browsers and to assure their clients that the website is authentic.

Stock trading data is presented as a ticker tape and as tables listing the top 5 gainers and losers. In addition to reducing workload for the webmaster, this automation helps eliminate errors commonly perpetrated when data is transcribed manually on a regular basis. You can view the website by clicking here.

Fresh from its successful co-sponsorship of the African Venture Capital Association’s conference in Gaborone in April, VPB recently refurbished its website creating a more crisp, functional and streamlined experience for visitors. Cyberplex Africa reviewed the historical performance of the website, including reviewing visitor data, and then used this analysis to drive the graphical and logical design of the website. The site is now better organized and provides quick access to information and services from VPB. You can review the site by clicking here.