Author: Comunicació

Web3: What is it and what uses has it got?

Posted on by Comunicació

In recent years we’ve seen technology develop very fast, revolutionising the way we interact and share information via the internet. One new trend is the Web3 concept, an evolution of the current website which introduces a new paradigm based around decentralisation.

Web3, or the decentralised website, seeks to overcome the limitations of the current website, known as Web2. While Web2 is based on centralised architecture where data and control are mainly in the hands of companies and organisations, Web3 has the goal of decentralising this infrastructure and handing control to users through technologies such as blockchain and other distributed registry systems.

Web3 structure is conceived for uses such as:

1. Digital identity: With Web3, users can have greater control over their digital identity. Cryptographic systems mean each individual can have a unique identifier and verify their data without depending on a central authority. This can improve online security and privacy, as well as avoid fraud and identity supplantation.

2. Decentralised markets: The arrival of Web3 brings decentralised markets which allow users to exchange assets and services without the need for a central intermediary. These markets work through smart contracts, which are programmable agreements executed automatically when the established conditions are met. 

3. Internet of Things (IoT): Web3 may also have a significant impact on the Internet of Things. With decentralised infrastructure, connected devices can communicate directly without depending on central servers. This can improve the security and privacy of the data generated by IoT devices, reducing vulnerability to central attacks and minimising the dependency of companies on service providers.

4. Decentralised finance (DeFi): One of the most notable applications of Web3 is the development of DeFi platforms. These decentralised finance platforms enable users to conduct transactions, loans and other financial operations without the need for traditional intermediaries such as banks or finance institutions. 

5. Decentralised governance: Another important area of application for Web3 is decentralised governance, With the use of blockchain and decentralised voting systems it’s possible to foster citizen participation for collective decision-making.

With technologies such as blockchain and other distributed registry systems becoming more broadly adopted, Web3 is likely to continue to expand and open up new opportunities for collaboration, security and participation for all internet users.

The .barcelona domain is ‘Orgullosa’

Posted on by Comunicació

Barcelona is a place for celebrating and asserting LGBTI rights and freedoms in June, as the city marks International Pride Day. You’ll find full details about the programme on the website orgullosa.barcelona.

“Orgull de barri” (neighbourhood pride) fills the city with over a hundred intergenerational, transfeminist and intersectional activities. The city’s museums are also joining in, as “Orgull de museus” (museum pride) sees them reinterpret their spaces and collections from an LGBTI perspective through exhibitions, guided tours and workshops.

The celebrations culminate on 28 June with the second Orgullosa concert, to be held this year at the Moll de la Fusta wharf, celebrating diversity, love, dissidence, bodily diversity and LGBTI pride.

Don’t miss a thing at orgullosa.barcelona!

Automatisation tools: simplifying content dissemination for small businesses

Posted on by Comunicació

Disseminating content is a fundamental process nowadays for all businesses, big and small. Yet for small companies, managing content dissemination can be a challenge as there is often a lack of time or resources for doing so effectively. This is where automatisation tools can play an important role. These tools offer simplified solutions for automating various tasks and optimising content dissemination. 

Tools we can use for this include:

  • IFTTT (If This, Then That) is a popular tool combining free plans and others with tariffs, allowing users to create automatic processes based on a structure of “if A happens, we generate B”. With IFTTT, small businesses can integrate their social media platforms and other online services so that they are activated automatically when certain things happen. For instance, if the business publishes a new blog article, IFTTT can automatically share it on social media.
  • Make is a free tool similar to IFTTT, combining free plans and others with tariffs, but with greater flexibility and personalisation. This tool enables users to create personalised workflows which are triggered according to various sequences and actions. Make allows small businesses to automatise tasks such as sending welcome emails to new subscribers or automatically updating content on different platforms.
  • Zapier is another popular automatisation tool combining free and chargeable plans. It connects various applications and services to transfer data automatically. For small businesses, Zapier offers the possibility of automatising tasks such as sending auto-reply messages to clients, synchronising data between project management tools and automatic follow-up of potential clients.
  • Microsoft Power Automate (previously Microsoft Flow) is an automatisation tool which users can integrate into the Microsoft environment (charges apply). Power Automate enables small businesses to connect and automate various Microsoft applications and services such as SharePoint, Teams, Outlook and many more. This means tailored workflows can be created to simplify tasks such as document approvals, scheduling meetings and sending notifications.
  • Leadsbridge is a specialist tool for the integration and synchronisation of data between marketing platforms, combining free plans with chargeable ones. For small businesses, Leadsbridge offers functions such as the automatic collation of data for potential clients from website forms and synchronisation with client relationship management tools (CRM) and email platforms. This helps small businesses automatise the process to attract new clients and efficiently keep a database up to date.

The main advantages offered by these automatisation tools are:

  • Time saving: content dissemination tasks tend to be repetitive and time consuming. These tools mean small businesses can schedule and automatise them, allowing staff to devote more time to other aspects of the business.
  • Coherence and consistency: automatisation ensures that content is published more consistently and at the most appropriate time. This helps maintain an active and cohesive online presence.
  • Broader reach: automatisation allows small businesses to disseminate content on various platforms and social media channels simultaneously. This broadens the reach and visibility of messages and helps attract new sectors of the public.
  • Personalisation: despite automatisation, these tools allow small businesses to personalise messages and adapt them for different platforms and specific audiences. This helps create a more personal and relevant experience for clients.
  • Integration with other tools: automatisation tools can be integrated with other tools and management platforms, such as web analytics, CRM and email platforms. This also allows for more efficient management and thorough follow-up of content dissemination.

In short, automatisation tools such as IFTTT, Make, Zapier, Microsoft Power Automate and Leadsbridge offer small businesses an efficient and simplified way of disseminating content. Automatisation means businesses can save time, maintain a consistent online presence and reach a broader audience. In the long run, it can help them improve their visibility, attract new clients and grow in today’s increasingly competitive digital environment.

WordCamp: connecting with the WordPress community

Posted on by Comunicació

WordCamp Barcelona, the event bringing together professionals and fans of WordPress – the most widely used open-source content management platform in the world–, was held in the city on 5 and 6 May. The team from the .barcelona domain had the chance to take part, connecting the WordPress community with our city.

We had plenty of visitors to our stand in the exhibition space at the fair, where we were able to share detailed information on the singularities and unique advantages of the .barcelona domain and resolve doubts on how to register a .barcelona domain, personalise it and take advantage of it to increase the online visibility of projects linked to the city.

We also spoke to various .barcelona users, who highlighted how a domain linked to the city has helped them to position their business or organisation on the internet. Among those attending, we met the team from Web Empresa, who talked to us about the solidarity project glaucomacongenito-luah.barcelona to help Luah, a girl with a degenerative visual illness who has had an operation in the city.

We also had the chance to attend various talks and sessions where digital marketing experts and local web developers shared their experiences, offering the chance to get to know the local WordPress community close-up.

Taking part in WordCamp Barcelona was a great opportunity to get to know the local WordPress community and connect individuals and companies with the digital identity and values of Barcelona. See you at the next WordCamp!

City markets closer to hand

Posted on by Comunicació

Barcelona’s markets form an important part of neighbourhood life and provide a harmonious experience. Besides being a role-model for commerce in each neighbourhood, they head the urban market model at an international level. Now they’re the latest to have a .barcelona domain with mercats.barcelona, where you’ll find all the details.

In addition to basic information on each food market and non-food market in the city, such as addresses and opening times, you can check how busy they are in real time, discover the Quiet Hours, when light and noise are less intense, make online purchases for home delivery and discover where collection points are located for you to pick up your shopping swiftly and securely from refrigerated lockers. You can also check the activity agenda so you don’t miss the upcoming workshops and displays or read the latest news on markets.

But the website mercats.barcelona offers so much more! Do you know how to make cherry gazpacho or romesco sauce? Check out the markets blog to find dozens of recipes, tips from grandma, information on what’s in season and more.

Barcelona’s markets are also a place for learning. Through this domain you can discover how markets help people acquire knowledge linked to healthy and sustainable food and products.

.barcelona to take part in the upcoming WordCamp Barcelona

Posted on by Comunicació

WordCamp Barcelona is back on 5 and 6 May after nearly five years. The event focuses on WordPress, which turns twenty as the most widely used open-source content management system in the world.

WordCamp Barcelona is organised for members of the various active WordPress communities in Catalonia and we will be there with the .barcelona domain.

The event is divided into two parts. Community Day is being held in the auditorium at the Cotxeres de Sants community centre on Friday, 5 May, while a day of talks is being held at the Ciutadella Campus of the UPF on Saturday, 6 May.The event offers the chance to meet other professionals and members of the WordPress community and attend talks, lectures and workshops on a wide array of topics for users of all levels. More information and tickets here.

How to reduce your website’s bounce rate

Posted on by Comunicació

Reducing the bounce rate for your website or blog is a key factor in improving its health. The bounce rate measures the percentage of visitors to the site who then leave without visiting more pages or engaging with it. There may be various reasons for this, including technical issues, UX issues, poor content or a poor content structure etc.

Calculating a bounce rate is easy and is done with website statistics tools such as Google Analytics or Matomo. However, it’s important to bear in mind that there’s no such thing as a good or bad bounce rate, as it depends on what type of site is being measured. For instance, a landing page or a final content page can have a high bounce rate, but this is not necessarily a bad thing if the page requires no additional engagement.

The following tips can help reduce the bounce rate for a website or blog:

  • Check the speed of the website and optimise its images, as a slow-loading page can turn visitors away before they engage with the content.
  • Improve the structure of content and the user experience: make the content more interesting and relevant, improve the accessibility of the site through responsive design,enabling users to view it from their mobile or tablet.
  • Guarantee the security of the website, through an SSL security certificate or by including legal texts (privacy policy, legal notice, cookie notice and contractual conditions where applicable).
  • Including internal links on pages can be a good way of reducing the bounce rate for your website or blog. This way users will engage with the different sections, pushing up the time spent on the website.

In summary, it’s important to keep an eye on the bounce rate for your website or blog, as this is an indicator of its health and will help you understand what changes you can make to improve user experience.

Return of the Model Barcelona Architectures Festival

Posted on by Comunicació

Architecture’s got the dot again at model.barcelona from 20 to 30 April, with the second edition of the Model Barcelona Architectures Festival set to turn the area around the Parc de les Glòries into a lab for architectural experimentation.

The main concept for this year’s festival is “Radical empathy” in design, architecture and the city, based on spaces for research, dissemination, experimentation and celebration. The areas for this edition of the festival are:

  • Between species: cities are an ecosystem with a balance between multiple species, not just humans.
  • Between cultures: the city must be a place where each new inhabitant and their stories and traditions can fit in while maintaining a shared identity and memory.
  • Between classes: the architecture and urban planning of cities must balance out the class divide.
  • Between generations: a city for all is only possible if it includes all sorts of people.
  • Between materials: cities must be rebuilt using sustainable materials and methodologies which reduce the material footprint.

At the model.barcelona domain you’ll find the full programme for this citizen celebration: workshops, debates, exhibitions, literature and more. Come along and have your say!

Barcelona’s young people have got the dot

Posted on by Comunicació

If you’re aged between 12 and 35, you’ll find all the free resources on everything of interest to you at the website joves.barcelona, with information on studies, work, housing, emotional well-being and more. You also have access to 18 points for young people located all around Barcelona.

What content does this .barcelona domain offer?

  • Studies and training: discover the full range of education options available and which ones are best for you. You’ll also find information on study rooms, official language schools, grants and much more.
  • Work: whether you’re looking for your first job, out of work, looking to change sector or start your own project, you’ll find personalised advice on how to do it. 
  • Housing: advice on looking for a flat or a room, what support is available to help you pay the rent, information on saving energy at home and all things related to housing. 
  • Well-being: discover the municipal services and resources for emotional and psychological support, sexual and reproductive health, physical activity and sport.
  • Activities: get the most out of your free time with all the cultural and recreational options available to young people.

And if you want to keep up with what’s going on at joves.barcelona, you can keep up to date with everything via Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and the newsletter.

How to optimise images for your website

Posted on by Comunicació

When it comes to designing and developing a website, images play a key part in attracting and maintaining visitors. Yet heavy images can make your site slower to load. That’s why it’s essential to optimise images, to ensure users have a good experience.

Here are some practical tips on optimising images for your website:

1. Reduce file sizes
The size of image files directly influences the time it takes the page to load. It’s important to reduce the size of image files without losing quality. You can do this byusing image compression tools such as TinyPNG and Compressor.io.

2. Optimise the image format
The most common formats for images are JPG, PNG and GIF. Each format has its own characteristics and advantages. JPG files are suitable for photos and images with complex colours, while PNG files are the best for images with transparent parts. GIFfiles are a good option for animations and images with few colours.

3. Use descriptive file names
The names of image files are also important for SEO purposes. Use descriptive file names that include keywords linked to the image to help search engines index the image and show it in search results.

4. Include alt text and a title
Alt text and titles are important elements for accessibility and SEO. Alt text describes the image for users with screen readers or who have visual impairment, while titles appear when the mouse moves over them. Include descriptive keywords in the alt texts and title to help search engines index the image.

5. Avoid images in Flash
Images in Flash are less accessible for users and incompatible with many devices. Avoid using images in Flash and go for more accessible image formats such as JPG and PNG.

6. Reduce the number of images
Having too many images on a page can mean the page takes longer to load and have a negative effect on SEO. Just use the images you need for the page and optimise them to reduce their size.

We encourage you to follow these simple tips and you’ll improve the loading speed of your website while improving your position in the result of image searches.