Tuesday, 8 September 2015

How to Be a Good Web Design Client

Everyone is looking for a good web designer but do you ever wonder if you are a good client? Apparently not,given the number of designer blogs telling stories about frustrating clients.Why is it important to be a good client (and I do not mean simply paying you bills on-time)? Well,it is not simply about preventing yourself from getting on someone’s Worst Clients list,it is also about getting the best website you can.


There is no question about it,if you want to have a great looking website,you need to communicate with your web designer efficiently and clearly,to offer feedback,to provide the content (text and photos),and so on.Today’s article will focus on how to be a good client.It will help you build and nurture a good relationship with your web designer and get the best website from your designer.

#1. Be Clear And Specific in What You Want

There are a variety of clients that only a vague description of what it includes on its website,and want what they want to do. Some just do not know what they want and look at your web design company that is thinking for them.Others,believe that if they leave out specific details of the designer to make you to be free Super creative and something extraordinary,about their expectations.

This is not how a good customer relationship designer works.They are for the help, your designer clear guidelines on what you're looking for do the website for you to enter responsibility.The designer will guide you through your experience,but can not read your mind.If you have specific brand colors,for example,you have a sample of the exact color to be used.

#2. Provide The Content The Designer Needs

Web designers can only move so far through the website creation process using just sample content.Text,photos,audio and video materials must be provided by the client.The more organized you are with your content,the better the designer will be able to lay it out for you (and deliver it on-time).Attention: you must own the copyright for all of your content! You cannot take photos from Google Images, this can lead to legal issues and it’s a huge headache.

#3. Provide Helpful Feedback When Requested

Web designers often give their customers access to the Work in Progress website on their own servers.This makes it easy for you to track the progress of your website at any time.Feedback should be evaluated during the siege very important process,but interrupting the progress of your web designer to prevent,to give feedback only when requests (or when it comes something new ) .Remember that you have a designer,not an automated machine design that works at your service in question.You pay for talent,ideas and execution.You can send a color change or the elimination of a graphic element that is not proposed,but look to them to provide information when they should.

#4. Trust And Respect Your Designer

A web designer is not a dreamer artist,but a professional.Trust your judgment and decisions in design and respect as a professional.Would you go to your dentist and say that the teeth should be removed, or go to an auto mechanic and tell you how to replace the brakes? Probably not.So why do you do this with your web designer?

#5. Remember,You Get What You Pay For

There are reasons why web designers working for $10 an hour and another $100 per hour.For skill and quality,you must be willing to pay for it.If you choose a designer in the price range of low-end, have realistic expectations about the final product.They are probably not as experienced as an expensive web designer which means they could not accompany can also use your website and is not,how could it possibly.

Apply the common commercial judgment with the appreciation of the work you can expect for every price range and no disappointments.The core of every good relationship is the customer design communication and respect.Make your expectations clear from the start and have had problems undisputed murky.Each project successful web design requires teamwork, and who have contributed a major role in the success of the project of a good customer.

Wednesday, 5 August 2015

Be Sure To Balance SEO And User Experience In Your Web Page Design

In the list of the philosophies of Google, first of all is to "focus on the user and all else will follow." But in the past, many SEO professionals have ignored this advice, the development of web pages designed primarily for web crawlers and full of keywords.


As one of only Pass4sure 810-403 SEO strategy worked well 10 years ago, Google and other search engines have already come a long way. In particular, the sophistication of Google is such that the design of UX (user experience) is much more valuable than just design for SEO (search engine optimization).

That said, abandon SEO entirely in favor of a UX-focused approach is a mistake. While it is true that the SEO and UX have become more and more complementary - and UX design often does result in improved SEO - UX are some elements that affect Google's ability to track a website and some areas that benefit each other.

Web designers would be desirable to design for, and take both, mind, but focus on the user above all.
Going Mobile

In April 2015, Google released an update to Mobile easy to increase the ranking of websites to be readable and, above all, functional, on mobile devices. Now it is absolutely necessary to ensure that a website is designed not only for desktop but for phone screens, too.

In fact, the search engine said on his blog Inside Ad Words "More Google searches occur on mobile devices that teams from 10 countries, including the US"

There are three recognized-Google ways to design mobile devices: responsive design, dynamic portion and separated URLs. Of these three, responsive design is the best choice for both SEO and UX. With responsive design, the site is essentially the same, only serves different screens depending on the device. Separate URLs is the least favorable option as mobile, then you must qualify for himself.

UX and SEO go hand in hand when it comes to mobile sites. Not only is it sensible to use easy web design: users are not redirected to a different site with which they must meet. And the mobile update makes easy newly launched SEO-friendly, too.

If you must use infinite scroll, use it wisely

Infinite scroll, which continues to load more content as the user scrolls to the bottom of the page, has been thought to be a pleasant and elegant design for UX. Many popular web site uses this feature:
options and Buzz Feed are examples.

However, web crawlers cannot mimic user behavior in this way and the content that would be visible to users remains invisible to Google. If infinite scroll is a design element rather not lose, Google recommends creating a paginated series (content pages) with infinite scroll, ensuring fast load times and allowing users to easily find the content they wanted in the first place.

Moreover, there is a misconception that the design is best served content "above the fold", ie, the content that can be viewed without the user having to scroll. In fact, research shows that users move. And besides, with so variable screens these days, it's hard to know what will be visible without scrolling.

Avoid click-to-enlarge


along the lines of infinite displacement it is click-to-expand or tabbed content. This design uses links or tabs, clicking, more content "open". Although Google has not definitely known whether this hidden content is ignored, there has been much discussion about it: that is, that Google does not index it.

The safest practice is to use sparingly. Click-to-enlarge certainly appeal to minimalist web design content, but appealing to UX in this case could be detrimental to SEO.

Do not go (too) heavy Image


Images are a great way to transmit information at the same time attractive to users. However, in a video "Slate Friday", founder and CEO of Moz Rand Fishkin explains that only text pages perform better than pages of heavy images, especially if the images are photographs of generic stock or design elements poorly executed . UX design makes images for it, but only if they are well made.

Google can read images - and can appear in Google image searches and provide SEO value - as long as you:
  •     Give descriptive images filenames.
  •     Include appropriate alternative text.
  •     Surrounds the image with the corresponding text.
  •     Do not hide important text within the image.

The key text in the balance against the images of a web page is to use your best judgment: Are these attractive images? Earn users to move beyond a lot of unspeakable images to get the text? Is sufficient information transmitted verbatim in the page is valuable?

Thursday, 2 July 2015

Cracking Social Media: How Facebook Decides What Is On Your NEWS Feed.

We all know the power of social networks, how can We not when we spend much of our lives flicking through countless pages of content. Some of the worth, but most tenuous part at best.

Marketing your business on social networks seems simple enough; create a presence, publish relevant content, likes and get critical mass to do the rest.

Just looking at the number of monthly unique visitors on active social media gives us all hope:

    Facebook:   1440000000
    Instagram:  300 000 000
    Twitter:       236 million
    LinkedIn:   187 000 000

Ironically, overcrowding of the contents will be one of the biggest obstacles will be overcome. There are more than 18 million business pages on Facebook alone. Users are much more stimulated and plenty of choice.

Having a basic understanding of how the media, manages content could give you an edge.

Many of us pretend to understand the algorithms they use Facebook to calculate what appears on your news, but as Google’s, no one has any clue.

Lars Backstory, Facebook engineer says that there ae more than 100,000 individual weighting parameters which determine what the content of their food is.

However, there are some elements that are common knowledge:
  •     Types of emails that receive the most user interaction; photo, text or video.
  •     What messages a user hides.
  •     How a user does interacts with paid advertisements.
  •     And finally, the device and the internet speed.

The three pillars of Edge Rank also play a key role in determining whether to show on a news service:
  •     Affinity, or the amount of a user interacts with your page.
  •     Weight, Facebook priority in videos and photos.
  •     Decay, the older you publish less likely it will be shown in news channels.

When you thought it could not be more complicated, Facebook also monitors user behavior to determine the visibility of news:
  •     How does a user interacts with the page authors and post.
  •     The types of message to a user interacts.
  •     How users interact with a pole.
  •     And the most obvious, the number of complaints or negative comments received.

There are some key strategies that can help gain maximum exposure:
  •     I post-peak: the less content that is shared, the more they stand.
  •     Share photos of you and your team: people can relate to real experiences.
  •     Participate with your followers with questions: do not try to connect your product, just listen.
  •     Share valuable information; Facebook loves pictures, so try to graphics or pictographic.

Succeeding 400-101 Pass4sure online is always a battle of numbers. Not implement any strategy without understanding how you will measure your success.

Make informed hypotheses and validate analysis and conversion metrics. As a start-up would the life cycle model MVP; build, measure, learn.

His strategy will be developed alike to discover what works versus what does not.

Sunday, 21 June 2015

How To Overcome Creative Stalemates

Any time you've been looking through directories of design or other publications, keep up on what's happening in the industry, when it happens to a working group of the most creative and technically competent strides than anything I've done so far?

I do not mean a little better - I'm talking about working in a completely different stratosphere well.

I know I have. More times than I'd care to admit now. But stop for a minute to consider why this happens. You're a creative person. It creates for a living - so why your work is seems to hit a 'glass ceiling' creative occasionally, and his colleagues think you are surpassing light years?

I will explore some of the reasons that designers can knock creative stagnation and what you can do to get beyond its limited design.

You keep looking at the same subject

This happens in all creative disciplines, from design to the fine art of writing music. Creative people tend to see a lot of creative work they like, and tend to avoid work they do not like or understand very well.

While this is normal, it has the unfortunate side effect of making your job boring and generic. As a command input into a computer, which is what comes out. So if you only eat a certain type of work, that's all you're going to have to base their creativity.



Expand your horizons design. Read new things and see new genres of art and design that normally you would not mind. You never know where you'll find inspiration. Even something as strange as natural phenomena or Sky Mall catalogs, you can unleash a creative storm in his brain.

Bad Design Makes You Sad


It's true: glaring design work is depressing. And when you're sad, it is less likely to produce good work. A few years ago, I went through a period of wondering if I still wanted to be a designer more as my job and all the work I was seeing seemed to be stuck in mediocrity.

It was not until I stumbled upon a treasure of incredible work being put out by my colleagues that my enthusiasm for the design came back, and plunged headlong into a new creative project.



We humans, being social animals, we tend to imitate everything we see our fellow humans do. If people around you are doing wrong, boring, boring work, which not only will begin to adopt the mindset that the design is boring, you will also begin to imitate that kind of work. Do not get caught in that trap. Look great job and be inspired by it.

You have bad taste

Ira Glass famously that "taste is why your work disappoints." I would say it's worse if your job did not disappoint him because that would mean that the taste is not good enough to know when your job is bad.

This is another reason why it is so important to get out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself to look at new CAS-002 dumps and different work.

This applies even if what is next is worse than what you've been looking for. It can actually be a good thing, because at least you know that there is something worse than no. Crappier only to find work, your taste and ability to separate right from wrong have improved.

The secret to truly original designs

Good. Now that we have reviewed some of the reasons why people run into brick walls of inspiration, I'll just come out and tell you how to create more original designs. Ready?

The secret of originality is to do things that are completely unrelated to the design. When you travel, read a book, painting, cooking, playing an instrument, learning a language, write a short story, or play a sport that is doing more to enhance their quality of life in general. You're actually giving your brain a much needed creative thinking about their problems rest.



Many people think that simply can "break through" through a challenging design problem, but this is especially true. All you'll end up doing is wearing yourself out, and so-called "creative block" will be closer to being solved. Often, a simple break from the workstation will fire these creative neurons and give an avalanche of new ideas.

When you're busy doing something else, it does not mean your brain has stopped thinking about the creative challenge. By contrast, still chewing back - only now you're dealing with something else and leaving her to really think.

Upon return to it, like a download runs in the background on your computer, your brain has worked its way through the maze and reach a new solution.

Tuesday, 16 June 2015

Freebie: Responsive Sports Icon Set (40×4 Icons, AI, CSH, PNG, PSD, Sketch, SVG)

Free icons are always great to liven up our work with minimal effort. Today, we are delighted to launch a free set of 40 sports icons in four styles and six formats. Each icon in this set comes in four styles: flat color, glyph palette Google materials, and the dashed line. In addition, icons are transformed line of response in four sizes, comprising a single icon on each breakpoint. Thus, details are adjusted according to the size, preserving the style and identity of the icons.

All icons are included in six formats: AI, PSD, SVG, PNG, CSH and Sketch. We have optimized the SVG format, producing very light and small files to improve their websites and applications' performance. It also facilitates the creation of web fonts much easier. The set is still in its infancy with a lot more icons currently in production. It is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International.



Each icon in the set is called and is filed in the appropriate folder, making the search for icons very easy.

Monday, 8 June 2015

Web Design: The Fast Track To Optimizing User Experience And Visibility

Graphic design once existed as a single entity for commercial activity, a form of static visual communication through the use of typography, space and imagery.


While the role of graphic design not initially changed with the advent of the Internet and website development, graphic design soon evolved to meet the demands of screen-based applications, and this progress continues in order to meet the changing demands.

Design-driven user experience

Graphic design can see that they have really evolved, and is now integrated into the infrastructure of the very modern, skillfully constructed websites. Now not only simple static graphics or brand identity is offered, but in the heart of the great user experience and visibility of the site itself.

Today and in expert hands, web design really offer facilities like web browsing, based on actions to design web response (RWD) or high performance search engine optimization (SEO) networks.

It's intuitive, stupid

High quality, well designed graphical navigation involves not only intuitive navigation panel or button design, and therefore a good user experience, and it also impacts on other grounds.

These include SEO, graphic design, where the navigation button, your naming convention over the fate of the button, we all know that the search bots to crawl your website. For example, if the button is embedded in an image, the robots do not drag most images, making navigation appointment carefully crafted will be invisible.

What will be swept under these circumstances is the alternative label (alt tag) and this could easily reduce their search rankings and website visibility.

Now you see ...

But the issue is not limited visibility to the naming conventions navigation and alt tag. Some search engines now occupy more compatible websites to mobile search rankings than conventional desktop sites.

This means that you need to design using RWD design techniques and technologies. RWD Web design techniques to create websites designed to provide optimal user experience in a wide range of devices, from desktops through tablets, to mobile phones.

RWD websites are designed to fit graphics to a display device using determined based on the proportion and flexible images to provide a simple and very visible navigation content easy to read, and with minimal scrolling, panning and networks size switching.
Words and pictures

While web design technologies and design techniques discussed here will deliver a great user experience, they cannot save you from other issues that revolve around the visibility of the site.

While on-page SEO relates to the content of text instead of web design, content that is shown through graphic design can be critical to the aesthetics of web design, but is also key to the visibility of the site.

Wordless

As most marketers know, techniques are known in the SEO pages for maximum visibility, and these include securing key phrases appear in areas such as headlines and the first parts of paragraph and sentence.

However, this key should be embedded SEO content critical in an image for aesthetic effect, the words become invisible to the search engine robots and die, which significantly reduces the search rankings of your website.

Therefore, a good web design is much deeper than purely aesthetic. While still a graphic medium, web design can make or break your website in terms of user experience and search visibility.

A good web design begins with a graphical input, but to be truly successful, web design reaches virtually all areas of marketing communication.

Thursday, 21 May 2015

How We Redesigned Yelp’s UX With Remote Usability Testing

Usability testing with real users, is one of the key areas that many web designers skip. Often, there is little money in the budget for testing, but usability testing distance can be relatively inexpensive to implement, and the results can make a big difference to a site conversions.

To demonstrate the power of usability testing in the design, we partner with User Testing and optimal Workshop to run some tests on Yelp as part of a redesign exercise.

Specifically we chose remote usability testing because they are quite fast and quite affordable to run, compared with focus groups and other testing laboratory based design. These tests were all unmoderated so users can interact with the Yelp website in the comfort of your own home for the most natural results. Encouraged to think aloud and then recorded their reactions.


User research is not writing complex reports - it is asking the right questions and use evidence to support design decisions. In this piece, we'll see how we elect our users, how we set the tasks and what were the results ...

Selecting Users:

One of the first steps is to find out who is testing their designs. In our experience, we have found that demographics are not as important as the behavior and familiarity with technology. How often they do use similar platforms, and how comfortable they are?

Yelp has a base of large users (138 million unique monthly visitors, according to the Q2 of Yelp 2,014 numbers) to our redesigned site still it had to be familiar to the average current user - no sense to alienate power users for there to woo first-time users.

We do not focus on age, sex, income level, or experience in the use of the Web, because Yelp users come from all backgrounds. Because we are handling qualitative data, no need to worry about statistical significance. We follow the best practices in the industry and we ran our study with a total of 5 users who help reveal about 85% of the usability problems (good enough for exercise).

One task required users to log into an account. This meant we had to create two segments of our test base: one with accounts Yelp (3 users) and one without (2 users). For Yelp segment accounts only selected participants who were users Yelp for less than 6 months to clear even more likely to be power users.

Finally, for the sake of simplicity, we only tried the website Coffee in desktop, not mobile devices. (If this was more than just an exercise, we would have tried the experience on as many devices as possible.)


Creating tasks for our users

Each usability test should start with the question: "What do we learn?"

For us, we wanted to learn Yelp semi-frequent users complete common tasks (to identify what features were most important) task and at least one less common (to test the intuitiveness of advanced features).

We gave all users of such common tasks:

  •     Focused task - Find a very specific parameters based on business
  •     Open-ended task - Find a business without giving many guidelines
  •     Very specific task - Find a specific place to learn a specific piece of information

We wanted to learn when both groups of users chose to look in front of sail, how they interacted with filters, and how the decision about which business to visit was taken.

As for less common tasks, we provide a different task for each user group.

As we had heard several complaints from users about Yelp registered Bookmark and lists features, we ask the registered users (Group 1) to save companies for later reference. For unregistered users (Group 2), we ask them to find an event.

Then all the tasks we have assigned to both groups are presented. After each test, we ask users if they were able to complete the task successfully and the level of ease or difficulty (known as the question Ease Individual).

    Imagine you need to book a private dining room for a group of 15 people. Are you looking for an Italian restaurant with an elegant atmosphere? Its budget is about $ 20 per person. Try to find a restaurant near you that matches all these requirements.

    Imagine you are driving through Boise, Idaho, and your car starts making a strange sound right when you're about to stop for the night. His companion recommended 27th St Automotive. Use Yelp to find out if they are open at 8:00 pm Tuesday.

Task Group 1 (account holders Yelp)

    Imagine that your best friend is having a birthday soon, and you be planning a party. Find 10 bars or lounges near where you live would be interesting to study later for the party. Save them so that you can easily find it again on Yelp.

    Go to the place where you saved the 10 bars for the party of his best friend. Keep your tastes in mind, choose one that would be a good match.

Task Group 2 (non-account holders)

    Use Yelp to find a new restaurant near you that you have not been to yet. Do not spend more than five minutes looking for.

    Imagine you are looking for something fun and unique to do in your neighborhood this weekend. Try to find a concert, play, or other event using Yelp.

Once this was done, it was time to begin the Pass4sure SY0-401 test. It took about an hour to get the results before we could see the reactions of users and analyze data.


The breakdown of data usability

To compare qualitative data we had now, we have a quantitative test with 35 users with a closed-type card and proof of first click. You can learn more about quantitative user tasks, but we'll just summarize the main points of view:

    The search bar was the starting point for almost all tasks. It was also the option preferred backup when users were unsure of how to interact with the site user interface (for example, search for "Bars" instead of clicking on the category). Our new design definitely need to prioritize the search bar.

    The Events tab not noticeable. When asked to find an interesting activity, a user was to search bar, while the other sailed through the top section of Yelp. If we wanted users to interact effectively with the events told in Yelp, we need to make it easier to find.

    Price categories were unclear. When a budget is administered find a restaurant, some Users were not sure what they meant dollar signs. In our new design, we have added price ranges to symbols.

    Filters are not prioritized correctly. People are not used 7 Coffee filters 47, and the most popular filters that emerged in the tests (eg, "accept credit cards" and "Open Now") take multiple clicks to access. Our redesign reorganized in groups of 4 filters for easier access.

    The photos are a key part of the experience. When asked to find restaurants with a certain environment, users relied on photos. Our new design makes more visual Yelp.

    Markers need be simpler. Currently, you cannot just keep a restaurant or business directly from the search results - you need to visit each individual page marker. Our new design allows you to save a company with a single click on the search results page.

Wednesday, 6 May 2015

2015 Guide To Responsive Web Design

Responsive design is fast becoming part of the essential elements in web design 2015. A technique of web design that offers users an intuitive and functional web version for all mobile devices. The reliance on mobile phones and tablets in addition to laptops and desktop screens larger, is increasing exponentially. Web users are beginning to expect websites to suit the login screen and, if not, the result is often a very frustrated user. The good news is that responsive design is not as complicated as it seems and can be implemented in a number of ways. We have prepared a quick cheat sheet to help you on your way to success responsive design.

The easiest way Responsive web design is a website that changes its format to match the screen of the device which is accessed from. However, the tool can also provide the opportunity for web designers to tailor content to different users; for example, by accessing the user's location of a web site you can tailor information to them on a geographical basis.

If you need convincing of the year to make design a priority response is 2015, the use of Google Analytics can be very persuasive. After submitting your website to the analysis, you can see directly how many users are accessing your site through mobile phones by selecting 'Public' and then 'Mobile'. More iPhones sold babies born in New Zealand, we can almost guarantee that it will be more than you can imagine.

To make the design change response there are two main ways you can go down; creating an adaptive website with various designs fixed width set for common devices, or using various designs of fluid grid for truly responsive user experience. There are positives and negatives to both what is important for weighing up before making a start. The positive aspect of various designs of fixed width is that you can have more control over the web aesthetics on every screen size. However, the use of fixed-width designs your website does not have the ability to respond to changes in the size of the browser. If you have ever had to have two windows open simultaneously, you will understand the struggle that leads us to the most complete version of responsive design; using various fluids grid designs. Fluid grid work distributions based on the ratios rather than the more traditional pixels, which allow to change the content browser according to size and fit mobile devices. This web content is given a percentage of the browser or screen to take and as the size changes the window view, content is taking up his percentage allocated browser. The percentages can be calculated with a simple algorithm: white / context = result, in whole or pixels / pixel = percentage content.



As the browser size is an issue that arises mainly with desktop and laptop screens, a smart way to implement the design of response may be having fluid grid layouts designed for computers and fixed width designs for mobile devices. While saying this, there are a variety of devices currently on the market, with more and more coming all the time. It becomes almost impossible to keep up, so it may be best to let your website do the work for you, respond to new devices through the use of multiple fluid grid layouts.

To ensure all your website is sensitive, it is important to think about their images. Fluid imaging, image resizing within the confines of a grid of fluid. This is easily implemented through the CSS: img {max-width: 100 %;}. This single line of CSS code will ensure that the images on your website will never appear stretched or pixelated, giving a clean and professional printing.

2015 A first approach 'mobile' is what is recommended. As the title suggests, it is an approach in which the web designers focus on the production of a smartphone experience and then move up the ladder of devices, from intelligent desktop to mobile screens. This is because the mobile web browsing is likely to eclipse the desktop navigation if they have not, therefore, is your target demographic. Smartphones have more capabilities than their predecessor’s desktop, so they can design for the likes of a touch screen, in the first instance, rather than as an afterthought. Screens smartphones are only able to display the core of your website, no sidebars, advertisements or social media buttons. It's much easier to start simple and work up.

You may wonder if we are starting with a focus on "mobile first" then maybe we should be creating an application in place, and this is indeed something to consider. Our advice would be that a Web site response may be the best option. In terms of universal compatibility this application is because the world is fickle; With Apple and Android in a head to head competition, some applications may be exclusive to either iOS or Android Having a website response ensures that all devices Internet access to your site may be used without further fuss about which brand to side.

If you're thinking this is all just a little too much work and algorithms are not your thing, then do not worry. There are some excellent front frames (Foundation and Bootstrap are good) that can be used to create a sensitive site. Their networks have incorporated responsive design and have done the work for you. The result is a sensitive web site immediately.

We hope this has been helpful for web designers out there looking to 2015 as a year of change. We believe that progress towards a website that answers will surely benefit both the user and recipients.

Wednesday, 15 April 2015

7 Web Design Trends You'll See in 2015

Whether you are a web designer by trade or were forced to work as part of a new society that is short of resources, you find that you have to be in touch with the trends of the year industry .this a number of new styles and designs are trend. Your ability to keep that in mind when working on your site (s) will be tactically useful.


1. Long Travel Sites

Perhaps the most popular trend in the first half of this year has been extended travel sites. Apple on the head with his iPhone on page 6, which showed how it is possible to include a lot of information on a single page of an elegant and convincing manner.The reason for this trend is so popular - and will probably endurance - has to do with the way people access the Internet today. As users of the Internet have fundamentally changed the use of desktop computers to smartphones and tablets, or by adding at least the latter to its arsenal, has become easier to move, instead of clicking small links to navigate to one page to another.

2. Split Screens

One of the most interesting design trends is the design of the split screen in which a kind of vertical shear, divided parts of the page into two or more parts. This design is ideal for businesses that have two valuable products, services or angles that want to promote.You may highlight several elements, instead of having to arrange them in a certain order. EightandFour.com mastered to perfection the design of the split screen. On the left side of the company explains its services, while the right side connecting visitors to the company's work samples.

A large sign in the middle did a good job of spicing the vertical division of another symmetrically. Although this design is probably not suitable for everyone, has its place and is growing in popularity among web designers and businesses.

3. Parallax Scrolling

New technologies such as HTML5 and CSS3 designers have very sophisticated capabilities. Not a few of them choose to push the boundaries.At present, one of the biggest trends is parallax scrolling. This is to make the bottom of the Web page to move more slowly than the foreground. As a result, the user undergoes an intriguing 3D effect adds depth and seems strong enough.

While this is not a standard parallax scrolling design, Sony website shows that it is possible to combine the features parallax with other design elements to create a unique design. It will be interesting to see how long the parallax trend and where you can go one day, but for now this is a particularly interesting design option for creative companies.

4. Responsive Web Design

As we move through 2015, it became clear that the design of sensitive sites is less of a trend and more imperative. This allows your website design To change the perfection sizes without compromising quality or UX, regardless of screen size is available in hers.According to this blog Hostgator, "Using models and liquid CSS network systems, as well as media inquiries, your code can facilitate change with surprising ease. The key is to remember that each device has specific capabilities, your website should reflect that. "

5. Visual Large Headers

Although not necessarily a new trend, large video heads remain a preferred choice for many designers. What is contained in these headers may be changing, however.Websites like Airbnb and Paypal deviated typical static and moving images are now using - even outside - videos to evoke new responses of visitors.When a video is deployed, you must walk a fine line. The movement of the content should be smooth, quiet, and relatively slow movement. All too quickly or make your chaotic and overwhelming unnecessary startup page.The goal is not to surprise people, but to make them think, "Oh, wow At first glance, not even realizing that it was a movie."

6. Storytelling

Many companies, brands and organizations have realized that your site is your number one tool for telling stories. They must commit to stories about not only the content but also by specific web design elements, design and navigation.If what you want is a good example of visual storytelling in web design, UltraLinx has an excellent article that lists 10 examples of law. The common denominator is that each site gives users the ability to interact with various visual elements ... usually by passing the mouse over an icon.

7. Hidden Menus

For years, menu bars have been a staple in the industry of web design. Nobody really tried to contest the inclusion of a menu on the home page. It just does not make sense to anyone.However, the trend towards greater simplicity has inspired many designers to hide their menus Site behind the buttons and tabs. The menu is only revealed when the mouse over the icon in the design of the narrative.

Stay on Top of Trends:

Although certainly not just to imitate what others are doing, it is useful to be aware of what the designers are successful and learn from their techniques and strategies.These seven trends in web design are very popular right now and certainly worth thinking about future design tasks.

Monday, 9 March 2015

EVENT: Newcastle University - What Is Great Website Design?

I was asked to give a talk to some 90 students from the University of Newcastle yesterday.

The talk was meant to be about the processes that underlie many website development. This is something that I was involved with some 15 years as CEO of onebestway, winning a few awards - worldwide - on the road.


I found that when I was writing the content of the talk, all I really wanted to talk about the content, messages or brand.

I think I've become bored with unnecessarily overly complicated and grandiose development of interfaces for websites too ostentatious with an overemphasis on the nuances of what-goes-where approaches.

Having developed websites professionally since 1999, I would suggest that - these days - the vast majority of the guidance needed for website design that is already out there. It's been done. Just what you want to model what category leaders are doing and then add their own touch.

Oasis did with Beatles songs. It worked for them.

But I've come up with the 13 best things I think anyone designing or implementing a website should think. And here they are:

1. Design. Clear, simple, neat, less is definitely more
2. Position of the brand. What do you stand for? Why you? Again, and again, and again, and again.
3. Well brand. I can say that your website is when the logo is not present?
4. Home. What? For whom? Why you? Now what?
5. Social media icons built in - not an afterthought
6. Written copy. Jargon-free, concise sentences, subheadings, short and long, proper tone, setting priorities, "history", character, nice interesting ‘rhythm’, right ...
7. Quality Photography is beyond important. Size of image files consistent and crops considered
8. Accumulation Responsive
9. Data ubiquitous Contact
10. Content Management System (CMS)
11. Who is the owner (if someone has developed for you)
12. Reliable web services support (hosting, domains, emails)
13. Integration with third party software account




Wednesday, 11 February 2015

Understanding The Full Impact Of Web Design On SEO, Branding, And More

Are you under the impression that the web design should be an isolated part of your marketing efforts? This is a myth that many businesses believe, and could be preparing your business back in more ways than one. Web design, although they are important from an aesthetic point of view, encompasses much more. Since SEO and traffic rates and conversion branding, web design of your site affects your entire web presence.



in a blog post web designer, Joseph Putnam discussed the importance of a good website. Many companies and professionals understand that web design is important, but do you really know why? Putnam found challenged when asked by a customer of why this element was so important. He shared that definitely cared, but could not give a solid answer why.

From there, Putnam did what any person should do if faced with a question you do not know the answer. He went out and did a little research, and although the results were not anything innovative, he was able to provide customers with answers in the future.

It's time to stop settling for superficial answers and begin to analyze the facts. Web design issues - but why? And what kind of impact it has on other aspects of your business?

The importance of a good web design

Search Putnam took him to a research study entitled Trust and mistrust of online health sites. The aim of the study was to determine whether different design elements and content factors influence trust between users who visit health websites.

The most surprising revelation was that the design elements are exponentially more powerful than the content, in terms of mistrust. When asked to describe why distrusted a website, 94 percent of the comments were directly related to web design elements, while only 6 percent referenced specific content. Although the study was directed towards health sites, it seems practical that the same basic principles could reach other industries. Specifically, here are some of the elements involved in the study pointed to distrust when a website:

Sunday, 11 January 2015

MIT Unifies Web Development In A Single, Speedy New Language

Creating a moderately complex Web page requires understanding a whole stack of technologies, HTML JavaScript. Now a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has wrapped these technologies in a single language that could accelerate the development, accelerate performance and safer Web sites.

The language, called Ur / Web, provides a way for developers to write pages as separate programs. It incorporates many of the most widely used web technologies, freeing the programmer to work with each language separately.

"I think this is a language with broad potential to reduce the cost of Web development in many different environments applicability," said the author Ur / Web, Adam Chlipała a computer science assistant professor at MIT. "Bring some well-understood advantages ad software engineering aspects of the Web have been handled in more ways ad hoc".

Chlipała present their work next month at the Association for Computing Machinery Symposium on Principles of programming languages.

Developing a Web site requires the understanding of a range of different languages and how they interact.

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) provides the basic format for the website, but there are a range of adjacent web technologies normally deployed with: Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) provides a way to change the appearance of a Web page, and Extensible Markup Language (XML) data structures for processing and further classification. JavaScript provides the basis for writing the business logic for user interactions. And if the data is stored in a database, a developer needs to know SQL (Structured Query Language) too.

Ur / Web encapsulates the full capabilities of this type of web development tools in one language, which is compiled into executable machine code.

Because the code is compiled Ur / Web, can be much more efficient to run the code of web development languages commonly used, said Chlipała.

"In Ur / Web, everything is based on transactions in which one client request is handled by what appears to be an uninterrupted execution of a single function," Chlipała said. "The implementation of language has optimizations in it to support running many requests in parallel, the real servers. But the programmer can pretend everything is a transaction and think of a simple competition model".

In addition to potentially reduce the cognitive burden on developers, the top-down approach Ur / Web offers some security mechanisms that could make safer Web sites.

The language prohibits unwanted between different elements of the page interactions. With this boundary in place, embedded for ads that supply could not interfere with a calendar widget in another part of the page, for example code.

Also, like traditional programming languages such as C and Java and web languages like JavaScript unlike-Ur / Web is strongly typed. This means that all variables and functions must be set to a default data type, limiting the ability of an attacker to send data maliciously formatted via a web form. Ur / Web also supports variable scope, or the ability to limit a variable can be called from a program.

The language has a potential disadvantage. For the average Web developer, Ur / Web may require a learning curve "steep" Chlipała admitted. It is what is known as a functional programming language, a style of programming that treats programs as a series of functions, which can be computationally more efficient, but harder to learn for a skilled programmer procedural object-oriented languages or most widely used.

Chlipała compared Ur / Web for Haskell functional programming language esoteric considered by many programmers still loved by a dedicated community that praises its computational functionality.

Chlipała is one of a number of researchers from MIT who have been pushing the frontiers of software programming languages afternoon. Another MIT researcher is designing a language called Sketch that can automatically complete sections of code for a program that is being written. Another effort MIT, called Pila, is designed to identify the parts of code that ignores compilers routine, but nevertheless might be helpful.

Monday, 8 December 2014

Why Poor Web Design Should Be One Bugbear That Your Business Resolves

Web Design Ineffective

According to a recent survey, ineffective web design could be one of the main reasons that your customer base is not growing as it should be! The lack of cell phone use, in particular, has proven to be an important tool for those looking to expand their reach online fall.


In 2013 the mobile data traffic grew by only 81% confirming that as a nation of online browsers tablets and smartphones certainly reign! Prospects Think of Google also backs up the smartphone and tablet acquisition of reports landing pages that are not compatible phone have up bounce rate of 61%, which means that you could be driving potential customers to the arms of their competitors.

Our specialist Newcastle web design team in creating mobile compatible sites that users want, here we share the tips that have new and existing customers coming back for more, any device they choose to use ...

Put First Mobile Design

By putting the mobile design first and doing desktop view a high priority, you can ensure that the site you create is consistent from the beginning. There are many mobile compatibility priorities that will influence the design and development phases, for example when it comes to issues of time loading pages. The development of a fast and agile mobile site will be in the lower dropout rate data, which of course leads to more personalized.

Keep Concise Content

The design work around the limitations that go hand in hand with mobile sites is a challenge that our professional designers have mastered. Content is just one aspect that needs a bit of chop and change mobile view. Make your most important content a priority in your mobile site and let the longest for desktop viewing roll.

Man Needs Tools!

There are a variety of tools that can be accepted to improve the compatibility of your mobile site. Bootstrap is more mobile popular first frame of the globe, and its many features can be used to refine the front aspect and components for a smarter, more intuitive and ultimately more powerful mobile site ready instance.

Hug Media Inquiries Response

There is a wide range of media inquiries that can be applied to improve the ease of moving your site and improve the user experience to keep potential customers browsing your website. Questions Responsive media are essentially filters that can be incorporated to change the style of the page and adapt the features to work on various devices. Display types, widths, heights, guidance and even resolution can be controlled and made sensible.

Thursday, 13 November 2014

9 Basic Principles Of Responsive Web Design

Responsive web design is a great solution for our multi-screen problem, but go into it from the perspective of print is difficult. No fixed page size, no inches or millimeters, there are no physical limitations to fight. Pixel Design for Desktop and Mobile is also only the past, as more and more gadgets can open a web page. Therefore, we will clarify some of the basic principles of responsive web design web here to embrace the fluid, rather than fight it. To keep it simple we will focus on the design (yes, sensitive goes far deeper than that and if you want to learn more this is a good start).
Adaptive vs. Responsive Web Design

It may look the same, but it is not. Both approaches complement each other, so there is no right or wrong way to do it. Allow the contents to decide.



Flow:

as screen sizes get smaller, the content begins to play a more vertical space and anything less will be pushed down, it is called the flow. That can be hard to understand if you are used to designing with pixels and points, but it makes perfect sense once you get used to it.



Relative Units:

the canvas can be a desktop, mobile screen or anything else. Pixel density can also vary, so we need units that are flexible and work everywhere. That's where relative units as percentages are useful. So do something 50% width means you always have half of the screen (or window, which is the size of the browser window open).



Breakpoints:

The break points allow the arrangement to change at predefined points, that is, which has 3 columns on a desk, but only one column on a mobile device. Most CSS properties can change from one breakpoint to another. Usually, when you place one depends on the content. If a judgment of bankruptcy, you may have to add a breakpoint. But use with caution - it can cause problems quickly when it is difficult to understand what is influencing what.







Max And Min Values:

Sometimes it's great that the content fills the entire width of the screen, like on a mobile device, but have the same content that extends the entire width of the TV screen often makes less sense. This is why Min / Max values help. For example having a width of 100% and the maximum width of 1000px mean that the content will fill the screen, but do not go over 1000px.






Nested Objects:
remember the relative position? Having a lot of elements based on whether it would be difficult to control, therefore, packaging elements in a container that holds more understandable, clean and tidy manner. This is where the static units as pixels can help. They are useful for content that you do not want to scale, such as logos and buttons.








Mobile Or Desktop First:

technically there is not much of a difference if a project starts from a smaller to a larger (mobile first) or vice versa (first desktop) screen. However, adding additional constraints and helps to decide if you start with mobile first. Often, people start from both ends at once, so really, go and see what works best for you.




Web Fonts’ vs System Fonts:

you want to look attractive or Didot Futura for your site? Use Webfonts! Although it will be awesome, remember that everyone is unloaded, and the more you will have, the longer it takes to load the page. System fonts, on the other hand are lightning fast, except when the user is not local, it will use a default font.




Raster Images vs. Vectors:

Do you have a lot of details and some fancy effects applied its icon? If so, use a bitmap. If not, consider using a vector image. For bitmaps use a jpg, png or gif to vector the best option would be a SVG or source icon. Each has some advantages and some disadvantages. However, keep in mind the size - no pictures should go online without optimization. Vectors on the other hand are often small, but some older browsers do not support it. Also, if you have a lot of curves, which could be heavier than a bitmap, so choose wisely.






Monday, 10 November 2014

What Makes A Good Website?

With now over 600 million websites in the world, I think it would be fair to say that it is now essential to most businesses today have a website. Having an online presence is not just letting people know you are out there, but are also reaching new and potential customers.

Today it is very important that you make a lasting impression with your clients and if you like technology or no escaping the fact that your company will be judged on their website.

As your page is the page that your viewers will land on its important that you have a clear and simple message of what you do and the services offered. This will also help the search engines to rank your website for keywords and phrases appropriate.

Many websites fail to get the message, make sure that your visitors have a complete understanding of what your website is about and remember one thing. Your website is often the first impression that potential customers have of your business to ensure that the first impression is good.
Navigation and User Experience



good navigation Even though you may be familiar with the place where your pages on your website that you should keep in mind that other users viewing your site is not known, so it is important to keep your simple and structured navigation, many users who view your website may not be internet savvy so make sure you have an easy to use navigation bar. The most used navigation bars are on the top (header) of the website and the many cases the addition of sub-pages to your top navigation is the best way to organize information into categories, the menu system is also known as a drop down menu.

By keeping its structured and using clear, easy to use navigation is providing a better experience for the user pages and therefore increase the chances that the user is interested enough to read the contents of your site.


content Your good content is one of the most important elements of your website and increase your customer base. Use the content to sell to your potential customers well and content clearly describe their services and how their services can benefit the client. Use good grammar and make sure that your content is error-free, spell checkers are free, so I really do not think anyone should have the excuse to put a website live misspelled. It is always a good idea to have someone proof read your content, in the business of the difference between good and bad grammar errors / spelling could cost this important contract, so make sure you take the time and people you will realize this.

It is very important that you include relevant keywords in your content that are relevant to your business industry, as this will help the search engines to rank your website. In addition to the content of these keywords should also be present in their headers, page titles and meta tags. This tactic is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO), but I will cover this topic in more detail in another article.

Wednesday, 29 October 2014

Why Responsive Web Design Is The Cornerstone To Any Mobile Strategy

In 2010, Chris Anderson of Wired magazine and Michael Wolfe said in an article: The web is dead. Long live the Internet.

Now his words are finally coming to pass. CNN reported earlier this year that the use of mobile Internet has finally taken on PC and browser use in the United States. This means that more people are accessing the Internet via their phones and tablets instead of using their laptops and desktops. The total Internet usage on mobile devices browsers hit before, but this was the first time he had taken applications browsers.

So what does this mean for websites? Basically, more people have access to the web on their phones and tablets, these little screens that can not be compared to a monitor. Therefore, sites must be equipped to shrink and grow depending on where the user is.

So far, designers have taken two approaches to this problem. Some are doing the sensible website design, which uses the same location on all devices. Other designers are turning to two sites: one for a browser and one for a mobile site.



Our Lord's way Decrees Google

Google has a lot of influence when it comes to search marketing strategies. The company has a market share of 67 percent of search, more than half of all traffic from search engines via the web. When our Lord Google speaks, everyone listens and obeys.

Google has advocated for sensible web design and recommended configuration for mobile application (app). The company also says that the sensitive web design is, in fact, the best industry practice.

So why is Google so strongly advocate for responsive web design? It is because these types of sites are one and the same HTML URL, none of which changes regardless of the device used. This makes Google work much easier, and crawling, indexing and organizing information and content. If sites have different URLs and HTML browsers and applications to coding directions, Google has to crawl and index them as different versions, but all are still the same place.

Multiple sites also reduce your SEO. Imagine a user shares a link to your site in the Facebook application. A browser user then clicks on the link. The link will be the site of application, not the browser site fully flushed out, it can be very different from the browser page. Users may strongly prefer one over the other. As Google now has the user experience when ranking sites, this could seriously harm your SEO.



One for all and all for one

Having the same design on all types of computers, phones and tablets means that users will be able to rely on access, quality consistent regardless of the type of device they are using.

This is especially useful for you customers using multiple devices throughout the day. If your site looks different on phones and computers, the user may become frustrated or angry when they can not find what you need or where they were before.

This also prepares you for the future. Apple releases new versions of iPods, iPhones and iPads almost every year, which means screen sizes can shrink or grow. Phone popular Samsung Galaxy has also grown in size of the screen on the latest models. If you have a sensitive design websites, you will not have to worry about matching these screen sizes, maintaining the quality of your site.
Less time spent managing

If you have multiple sites, you'll have to have separate SEO campaigns. It's hard enough managing a site, but can you imagine customizing two sites and two seasons? What works in a web browser could not work on a mobile site, especially if it is long-form content.

This is easily the biggest advantage of designing websites that answers across multiple sites, but you should have a mobile SEO strategy that adapts to the keywords most likely to be searched for in a smartphone. Think "on the fly" kind words.

It is clear now that has two sites is holding you back and injure your SEO so the best thing to do is to create the web site design response, but this requires some extra programming and coding work. Read on to learn our top tips for creating the best design for your company.



Show the Best, the Rest Hide

We talked about how important it is to design your website in the form of multiple screens. It also helps to hide the irrelevant content and to highlight the most important aspects of your site. Now let's talk about how to achieve this.

You can easily hide the content by adding the contents of the CSS property. This will allow conceal a block of content by narrowing down the view according to given width.
Collapse Your Content

You can also narrow down your content to best fit the screen. Rather than hide the content, you can collapse into place.

To do this, you can hide the content, apart from the header. Then allow the user to have the freedom to tap or click in the header to display any of the content that was hidden. They can click again, and the content is hidden again.

You need both CSS and JavaScript to make it happen.

Wednesday, 22 October 2014

The Grid Website Platform Automatically Adapts Design To Make Your Content Shine

Are electrical designers dream websites? Web contents You can know itself? The grid, a startup in San Francisco, they are changing the way websites are designed fundamentally changing the role of the designer. This new platform uses machine learning is combined with design and flow based on constraint-based scheduling to dynamically adapt the form to content. To understand how this revolutionary technology is, you have to compare with how most websites today are made.

Barriers to entry for web design keep getting lower. From WordPress to Squarespace to "no code" website builders drag and drop designer's life seems to be getting easier. Only it is not.

By simplifying all the tools, the complexity of the web environment is growing like kudzu. Desktop, laptop, tablet, phone, clock and eventually 4K TV screens-the number of destination is dizzying. The most common way to deal with this mess of pixels practice is to use templates and design response for the same flow of content (many) different size containers.

This is an effective strategy compared with building websites tailored for each target device. Ethan Marcotte (the designer who invented the term "responsive web design") and Karen McGrange (content strategist who has championed the concept of "adaptive content" to flow sensitive designs) well packaged this concept for the enterprise market . What has always attracted me for the approach response (or RWD) is trying to reduce its assumptions about the user of your site. Like the movement of web accessibility and web standards (led by Jeffrey Zeldman) from which it evolved, RWD implies a Zen detachment pixel perfectionism.

The problem with these approaches is that there are only so many pixels to perfect! It involves a lot of work to conceptualize and test every possible permutation. This sounds like a job for computers!

Dan Tocchini, CEO and co-founder of the network, has a high level of design and code. His team includes Brian Axe, a former product manager of Google AdSense, Henri Bergius, a pioneer in the engineering of open content management code and Leigh Taylor, former lead designer on Medium. In the new platform used responsiveness own code to simulate real process designer. The results as you can see in the picture below, they are very sophisticated.

the_grid-designs_tiled_logo

As with responsive web design, this is the code in service design. Unlike RWD, The Grid figures things difficult for you.



Most of the network coverage so far focuses on the tactic of using artificial intelligence (AI) to create the company web sites. I think this may be only half true, but does not diminish the importance of what is building this team. To be technical, I think that the grid uses a lot of machine learning (ML) for users to perceive the process of design and artificial intelligence.

This difference may seem subtle, but important. The true AI is emerging. A contemporary artificial intelligence system not only perform sophisticated combinations of rules-invents new rules. I have not yet seen any evidence that the "filter design" (as The Red calls its version of content management "themes") are fully capable of spawning new filters. To see what these filters are capable of (which is considerable) we will see for the first time in color.

One of the interesting things you can do with the network is to create a restriction that will generate the color of a text box to go with each photo you upload. On the inside, the grid measures the color data of image and calculates the values for a perfectly tuned panel. The effect is that the photo is combined with a pleasantly box in color with no two being exactly the same. The role of the designer is to establish the restriction. One would choose the average color of the image, or a shadow 50% of that color or a complementary shade of whole color.

This is just one way that the data on the content of the reports that display the content. Another related feature scans the color of an image to identify areas of low contrast. The software can then use this geometry suggest optimal position for the text boxes color-keyed on top of the photo itself. Again, the designer creates the filter and specify what type of data can be controlled display settings. But for the non-technical user, everything is magic.

Take another example that solves one of the most pressing problems and time-consuming for contemporary web designers. For each of these different screens for design, images need different sizes and shapes. And 2x and retinal images 3x now, the image stack gets pretty deep for every bit of content. Finally, there is some commonality in terms of the new html image element, but that only defines what image is loaded in the format of the screen, not what those images are.

The grid solves this problem with some sophisticated algorithms. The not only to crops and resizes all necessary images, solution also recognizes features in an image (eg a face) and these features properly positioned within the frame of each image on the screen. For a simple example, imagine you have an image with a figure standing places a third of the distance from the right edge. A simple linear function would be to keep that proportion in all sizes and shapes of the images. (You might consider this AI rule-based rather than ML because there is no mechanism for adaptation.)

But what if the designer of a page filter observes their behavior and realize they do not always follow strict linear consistency when re-crop images from the web? Instead of a linear rule, the designer could provide some sample image sets as learning training data and the use of teaching machine to make the filter more nuanced adjustments to each image.

When the simulation of the human may be more critical is the own choice of content. If the software can automatically tune the shape with the content, then it is the choice of the content itself that becomes the only generator design. The grid has some automation features in this area also. Press release from the company says that users can "Collect pictures and text throughout the internet through a browser or a mobile extension to incorporate into your site." This is very convenient and will further reduce production time.

There is a possibly harmful content with this automation aspect, however. Part of the pleasure of looking at Tumblr, for example, is trying to imagine the person who posted this very particular content. What if that "person" is an algorithm? By combining web scraping tools and scripts, it is certainly possible to create "content filters" that analyze large amounts of data and select the output highly particularized. This may be where the promise of the Ritual of artificial intelligence kicks in-but also it could be derailed. It will be interesting to see how the balance of ease of flow against identity assurance platform evolves over time.

Thursday, 7 August 2014

How To Create A Successful Website That Keeps Customers Returning

For SMEs, effective online presence is more influential in social media. Natalie Laurence asks the experts for their advice


an elegant accumulation: Websites SMEs should be eye-catching and easy to use. Photograph: Barry Lewis / Corbis

We are all aware of the virtues of social media and how a successful Twitter account or Facebook page can increase sales, build contacts and driving in traffic. However, if these tweets and carefully crafted statements lead to a confusing customers poorly designed website and then all the effort put into the promotion will be fruitless.

Without sounding too obvious, a great website is essential for a successful business. A functional website that reflects his entrepreneurial spirit is your best sales tool and a bad web site may harm the reputation and sales.

"With around 36 million Britons are online every day and 48% of people starting some kind of search for a product or service online, it is almost at a stage that cannot afford to not be in line, "says CEO of SocialB Sweales Lynsey, a marketing company online and social media.
Where to start?

Before you start building your web site you should have a clear idea of what you want and how you want to create. Vanessa Austin Locke, a partner at Austin & Locke, just go through the process of creating a website. The company specializes in creating brand association strategies and come up with ideas to boost reputation, influence decision makers and generates content.

Austin Locke chose to use a designer and said it was seeking "a combination of technical expertise and creative vision." "A strong sense of aesthetics it was more important for us," he added. He aimed for simplicity with impact when designing your website. "Simple and easy to use and still participate in a funny way, it's not intrusive. Everyone is constantly advertised to, and it's irritating. We designed with customer convenience in mind."

Designer or web hosting platform?

Creating a website does not have to exhaust their savings; there are plenty of hosting platforms, such as WordPress, allowing you to develop functional and aesthetic web sites. "If you know how to use WordPress and then not do the hardest and most expensive things by yourself by using a new designer or building a CMS," says Austin Locke.

She continues: "If not, invest in a web designer, but be careful, there are a lot of cowboys out there we were quoted some absurd prices and had a bad first experience with a 'designer' with a lot of ability. Technique to build a website, but no aptitude for aesthetics or design. "

When deciding how to build your website, believes Sweales not have to cost a fortune.”With the likes of WordPress there are some great templates you can use, but if you want something a little more as then look for a website designer. But stress that you want to be able to update the website once it's up and running, to keep that flexibility. "
Design

The creative aspect of designing your website can be the most enjoyable part, but it is essential to do well and their appearance in line reflects the essence of your business.

Digital Designer Maria Withers, who designed the website Austin & Locke, believes that design trends are temporary but Keeping up with them when designing a website is essential.

"Your design should focus around the needs of its user, if a website is not aesthetically pleasing or intuitive to your website can become redundant and users bounce from their website.

"Content is key to your website. Heaviness of the images on a website totally depends on what message you want your website to convey. Images must be relevant to your product or company in order not to confuse a user. "

When images are supplied SMEs can test libraries of images, such as signelements.com or ingimage.com - or team up with students and Austin Locke made by website Austin & Locke.

"We shot our own and my advice is to be creative, almost always, it's fun and learns new skills while creative control is maintained. Find some up and coming photography or videography students or young professionals, and might be able to give it you a good price on some the original images as well as some ideas of incalculable value. "

Some strong, key images that succinctly express the nature of their business are more effective than many bad source images."Attention spans are short online and an image can communicate 1,000 words," says Austin Locke.