The BBC has launched a beta version of its new homepage, and we at FoxLand Towers are quite excited about it. We love how you can customise the information it displays and then move your “info widgets” around the page. Some of us aren’t so sure about the use of a large Verdana font and the buttons may be a bit too Web 2.0, but the general concensus is that it looks great. And those of us who are old enough to remember get a twinge of nostalgia from the retro clock. Shame they couldn’t find room for the noughts and crosses playing test card girl…

This week saw the launch of the CIH Conference and Housing Exhibition site we created for the Chartered Institute of Housing. The event - taking place in Harrogate next June - boasts a strong line-up of speakers, including Rt. Hon. Michael Portillo, Diane Abbott MP, David Smith – Economics Editor of the Sunday Times and leading US Economist David Shepherdson.

The CIH is the professional body for people working in housing across the UK and its conference and exhibition is the UK’s ultimate housing event. With Gordon Brown announcing an £8bn investment in housing in his first spending review, the conference will look at how the sector can deliver the government’s objective of decent and affordable housing for all.

Working closely with our partners at Zebra Crossing, the site was built using WordPress and includes online booking functionality. More exciting functionality will be added to the site as the event draws closer - so watch this space!

We are pleased to announce that the updated Dragon Brands website we have been working on recently has now gone live. While we worked on their last version, it was hamstrung by legacy systems and databases. Working closely with the design team at Dragon we have developed a flexible, but simple, content-managed system that kept the distinctive ‘letterbox’ design.

For those of you who may be interested in such things, here’s a sneak peak of what the BBC may (or may not) be doing with their homepage. Personally, I like the retro clock. (Found via Plasticbag).

NHS Alchemy now features the short film Last Tuesday Night which highlights the work of the NHS across London, finding out what they do, why they enjoy their work and some of the things you should think about if considering a career in health and social care. The film was made by Zebra Crossing Creative Media.

The journal has been very quiet of late, as we’ve been extraordinarily busy with our clients. That said, we have now released a small update to the Olivant website. This is the last update to this particular version of the site. The next version will be a major overhaul, including a new content management system and significant design evolution.