Last orders for Christmas 2020

It's been a crazy year for the world, but we've been very fortunate at 18a that we've kept busy. As it's been such a busy time, we're all looking forward to a well earned rest over Christmas! We'll be closing at 5:30pm on Wednesday 23rd December, and re-opening at 9am on…

Cannot contact ReCaptcha: an intermittent issue

We recently came up against a very annoying intermittent issue with Google recaptcha but hope we have found a fix.

How to add support for next generation file formats: HEIF and WEBP

HEIC is the name chosen by Apple for the new HEIF file format. HEIF stands for High Efficiency Image Format. It allows for images to maintain the same quality as .jpgs but at a fraction of th

New brand and new website for Beyond The Bean

We were flattered to be amongst the very few who got a sneaky peak at Beyond The Bean's exciting new branding earlier this year so that we could design and build their new website around it. Our friends at Carruthers Tanner transformed their brand, which as well as featuring a very clever…

How a Bake Off led to .HEIC and .WEBP support

This week we had an 18a Bake Off! We can't have our usual Christmas Party so we're going to try to do a few Christmassy things via Zoom - and we started with everyone needing to bake something on the theme of a "Snowman". My son was our judge -…

You can’t please all of the people all of the time (Instagram doesn’t)

Don't fall into the trap of spending more than you need to on development.

Is Google Flutter a viable replacement to Adobe PhoneGap to non-native app developers?

There are a number of reasons why Flutter could be your preferred choice for cross-platform development moving forward.

New UCN security features for Bank Security Printing

Our long standing client Bank Security Printing came to us recently for assistance with implementing a UCN (Unique Coded Number) system for their cheque printing procedures. A UCN is an ISF (Image Survivable Feature) which adds a powerful layer of fraud prevention to cheques, which may not be used by as…

COVID-19 Cyber Security Threats

Lately attackers have taken to abusing the Coronavirus Pandemic to trick you online.

3 things you might not need in your MVP (although you’ll probably disagree)

When you're planning a start up and need to stick to a budget you need to be ruthless with what features you include.

The other reason you need a MVP

There are lots of reasons you need to start with a MVP - but one is less well known

Web Design: Figma vs Photoshop

Figma is the new kid on the block of design tools and is fast making a name for itself. Here's how we think it compares to Adobe's Photoshop for webdesign.