Established in 2001, our mission was to provide cost-effective, customised web design services primarily to nonprofit organisations, charities, and small businesses in and around London.
Today, we're based near the historic city of Salisbury, Wiltshire, and our services extend far beyond our original London centric scope. We now proudly offer website development services to a diverse clientele, including charities, businesses, and individuals across the UK.
Who do we work with?
We are lucky to work with some fantastic clients ranging from family run businesses needing a simple brochure website presence right through to large international charitable organisations requiring comprehensive website solutions.
We're careful about the projects we accept and only take on those we know we can absolutely deliver. And because we operate efficiently and have lower overheads, we always offer great value.
Let's take a trip into the past ...
1999-2024 - our timeline How we work today
Timeline
A brief overview of our history, scroll down to learn more.
Metacosm Limited, London 1999
In 1999 Jason Lennick and Leeroy Lugg set up Metacosm Ltd, it's the 'wild-west days' of the Internet. Tables and Framesets are used for page layout. Macromedia Flash appears to be the future and CSS is rarly used and still in its infancy. The dominant browsers of the day are clunky, early versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape. Web development tools available are Homesite, Fireworks and Dreamweaver.
Suspire Media
In 2001 Leeroy and Jason amicably part ways. Jason stays with Metacosm, Leeroy sets up Suspire Media.
Accessibility and Usability
Inspired by 'Building accessible websites' by Jo Clark and 'Don't Make Me Think' by Steve Krug, Suspire Media starts to concentrate on developing websites using techniques that improve usability and accessibility.
Designing with Web Standards
In 2003 Jeffery Zeldman pens 'Designing with Web Standards' and everything changes. Suspire Media throws out tables, framesets and messy tag soup in favour of CSS3. IE6 is now on the way to becoming the dominant browser.
The early days of CMS
Suspire Media starts to evaluate some of the emerging open source Content Management Systems. We experiment with Grey Matter, TextPattern and WordPress. We adopt TextPattern and use it with a number of clients websites.
CMSMS and Modx
In 2006 we start to use CMS Made Simple and later Modx as our primary CMS of choice.
Tiny Websites?
The first-generation iPhone is announced by Steve Jobs. It's the beginning of a new technological era and heralds another change in web development.
Responsive Design
In 2010 Ethan Marcotte writes an article in A List Apart and coins the phrase 'responsive web design' (RWD). Again, everything changes, we start to experiment with RWD and build all new websites using device friendly design techniques.
The rise of CSS frameworks
During 2011 the first of many CSS frameworks emerge, we trial a few and settle with Zurb's 'Foundation'. HTML5 has evolved and we start to code with it.
Goodbye London
In 2016 Suspire Media relocates. We leave the bright lights of London in favour of the dark skies of rural Wiltshire.
ProcessWire CMS
In 2017 we start to use ProcessWire as a primary CMS and discontinue use of CMSMS and Modx. We also drop Foundation in favour of our own lightweight CSS framework.
Pandemic
The world seems to shut down, businesses and charities have to rapidly adapt. With the help of video conferencing software, remote working becomes normalised. Hybrid, flexible working practice is accepted by many as the new way of working.
UIKIT
In late 2022 we drop our own tired framework and start to use UIKIT as a primary CSS/JavaScript framework.
Suspire Media (v17)
In early 2023 we redevelop suspiremedia.co.uk - it's now version v17 of the website.
In late 2023 we develop three budget-friendly packages tailored to meet specific needs. 'Cartera', designed for creatives and businesses; 'Novus', catering to photographers and artists; and 'Kolur', ideal for small businesses and charities.
