IT matters
Organisations
Business Link — a comprehensive guide to IT, suppliers, systems, software and eCommerce.
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) — provides guidelines to how to manage your business software. You can download from their website a guide to software management and free software audit tools.
www.bsa.orgContent Accessibility Guidelines — guidelines are relevant to usability as well as accessibility, and are the standards recommended by UK government.
www.w3.org/WAIData Protection — Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) — their online Health Check will give you an insight into what is needed to achieve Information Security best practice in your business.
www.dti-bestpractice-tools.org/healthcheck/Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) — their ‘technology route map’ will help you implement the right technology for your business. They also have an e-business planner to help you develop strategy related to your business needs.
www.dti.gov.uk/bestpractice/routemap/Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) — advice to help you negotiate your way through the maze of information about security threats.
www.dti.gov.uk/bestpractice/technology/security.htmDirect Marketing Association — Europe's largest trade association in the marketing and communications sector.
www.dma.org.ukDirect Selling Association — information and advice on direct selling in the UK.
www.dsa.org.ukFraud Advisory Panel — Free guide: Cybercrime – What every SME should know
www.fraudadvisorypanel.orgHealth and safety — free health and safety leaflets, including Working with VDUs
www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/index.htmIBM Ease of Use Group - Guidelines on using a user-centered design process so that businesses can retain current customers and attract new ones. Follow the links to the Design area.
www-306.ibm.com/ibm/easy/Jakob Nielsen’s website — information and links from ‘the king of usability’.
www.useit.comOffice of the Information Commissioner — promoting public access to official information and protecting your personal information
www.dataprotection.gov.ukQuality Framework for UK Government Website Design — This document is for government web managers, but it is useful for other web managers, too. It pulls together advice from a wide range of web publishers, usability experts, designers, web managers and academics to clarify what relevant usability and design criteria should be used when planning a government website or judging how good it is.
www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/e-government/resources/quality-framework.aspRoyal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) — A free online resource for web designers called the Web access centre provides help on making your site accessible to people with disabilities.
www.rnib.org.ukScottish Information Commissioner - The main role of the Commissioner is to promote observance by public authorities of the Act, by which "a person who requests information from a Scottish public authority is entitled to be given it by the authority
www.itspublicknowledge.infoStanford Persuasive Technology Lab — 10 easy-to-follow guidelines, based on research, for building the credibility of a website.
www.webcredibility.org/guidelines/Sun Microsystems — Sun’s Writing for the Web guidelines can be used to help make sites easy to read and navigate webwriting.
www.sun.comDomain names
Nominet— The organisation that looks after UK internet (.co.uk) addresses.
UKReg.com — one of the many sites in which you can register all types of domain names
