New Zealand website company, Zeald, received the Best Web Developer award for the third year in a row at the ESET NetGuide Web Awards 2013.

The awards were held last evening at the Hilton Hotel in Auckland, and were presented by popular comedian Urzila Carlson (7 Days), who kept the crowd entertained with her laugh-out-loud humour and quick wit.

Following on from their win in 2011 and 2012, the team at Zeald couldn’t be happier to be publicly voted the best web developer again for 2013.

“A HUGE thank you to everyone who got behind Zeald in the NetGuide awards! Last night we won the NetGuide Best Web Developer and we couldn't be happier. Thanks again!”

Now in its 15th ceremony, the NetGuide Web Awards involves 27 categories in which you can vote for New Zealand’s best website. This year NetGuide received over 290,000 public votes.

The 27 categories range from Best Social Networking Page to Best PC Manufacturer, catering for all and covering a wide spectrum of Kiwi talent online.

The winners in all categories were:

Overall: Grabone.co.nz
Best Real Estate Site: Trademe.co.nz
Best Financial Site: kiwibank.co.nz
Best Entertainment Site: tvnz.co.nz/video
Best Employment Site:Seek.co.nz
Best Blog: Whaleoil.co.nz
Best Mobile App: BNZ Mobile App
Best News Site: Stuff.co.nz
Best Site for Gamers: Mightyape.co.nz
Best Web Developers: Zeald
NZ's Favourite Social Networking Page: GayNZ
Best Online Forum: Geekzone.co.nz
Best Site for Small Business: Xero.com
Best Trading Site: Trademe.co.nz
Best Sports & Recreation Site: AllBlacks.com
Best ISP: Vodafone
Best Lifestyle site: NZDating.com
Best Shopping Site: Grabone.co.nz
Best Online Fundraising Initiative: givealittle.co.nz
Best Mobile Network: 2Degrees
Best PC Manufacturer: HP
Best Site for Students: studyit.org.nz
Best New Launch, Relaunch or Innovation: GoBook.co.nz
Best Site for Families: WhatNow.tv
Best Government Site: ird.govt.nz
Best Site for Travellers: Grabone.co.nz
Best Homepage: google.co.nz

The utilisation of beautiful imagery can really bring the wow factor to any website. Images are being used more and more as a communication tool to the audience. Instead of using a lot of text which the reader may glaze over, the use of images helps to break up the text. Not only that but images can be used to bring across a strong message which may be difficult to communicate with just text. For example, what better way to show you have unique, beautiful wedding dresses, then to show it? 

Our web designers have commented that 2014 is the year that big, stunning images will be favoured over text as the preferred choice of content. So we have put together a few examples of websites that use stunning imagery. 


Jessica Bridal shows us the impact of a truly beautiful image. This understated look communicates the effortless elegance every woman wants to feel on her big day. 



This look from Herbsonline is spectacular. Food is an experience for the senses, these images feed the reader the idea that what looks great will taste amazing. 



Zlato Jewellers is another great example of a website that communicates its excellence in design and beauty, by showing instead of telling. Buying an expensive piece is an experience, and that experience needs to be there from the start.  



Ecochic lets the customer envisage the products in their own home. By showing good quality, beautiful images, the customer gets a good feel for the potential new look their own home could have.

Imagine a world of websites, online articles and other tidbits that it tailored to what you want to read, free of other clutter and distractions such as banner ads. You don’t have to imagine it, there’s an app for it!

Pocket (formerly Read It Later) lets you bookmark websites, article, twitter posts and even videos, so you can read or watch it later at your leisure.  Great for when you a researching a blog article! You no longer have to clutter your bookmarks tab or try to remember where you saw that product you want to buy.

There are other apps on the market that provide a similar service to Pocket; Instapaper was one of the first to do this. Where Pocket excels is the design and layout of the articles; clean and simple with eye-catching images to identify your article. Think of it more like your own curated magazine, rather than a newspaper.

Content you “put in your pocket” is available on your phone, tablet or computer. Plus, once saved to Pocket, you don’t even need an internet connection to catch up the latest news.

Download it free from iTunes or Google Play.