Blog Archives
Posted on February 16, 2014 at 4:32 pm
Do looks matter always? That’s a debatable question. Historically good-looking people have always had it easy. This is applicable to websites too; a minimum of it did for some time. Until, it didn’t.
While most designers deal with building websites for the sake of designing websites. The norm is to handover the finished website to businesses. Once a project is done, it’s as much as the business to determine learn how to make the web site work. That’s really not doing justice to businesses that pay top dollar for web site design. If “awesome design” was almost about visuals, web site design would had been art. It isn’t.
Website design is 1/3rd art, 1/3rd science, and 1/3rd business — the demands for websites that work stretch into the entire three components and that makes it really challenging to develop effective, result-oriented, and profitable websites.
Image via Shutterstock
That’s to not say that appears don’t matter. Web design remains to be 1/3rds art and Roger Black – the man behind the designs of Rolling Stone, Newsweek, and Esquire – does admit that websites that look great work for businesses. He shares some rules on Website design for speedy Company. He insists that “larger is better”, “use colors judiciously”, and “build ridiculous fast websites”. He adds that content still reigns supreme but it surely is smart to feed content in little doses and eventually, make all of it one big positive impression.
So, why isn’t web site design all about just how it looks? What’s missing? Here’s what’s missing:
It always was, is, and may be about money
The traditional business rule goes: “if I put X money into this, how much do I earn out of it?”
So, when you were to spend $3000 on an internet site design, do you get to make greater than that? In the event you needed to pin point and ask this tough question after splurging on an internet design, you’d either ought to bite your tongue with buyers guilt or search for methods to make sure your website works in fact (so one can cost you much more).
That’s why, it’s not always concerning the looks; it’s about business. Ranging from ground up, your website has to get to work. It has making sure that it feeds your objectives. The web site you’d like may be to speak brand stories, to generate leads, or for a cause. Whatever it’s, your online assets (all of it starts with the web site) must work.
Image via Shutterstock
It’s never an analogous, ever.
What’s beautiful today is usual, trite, and mundane tomorrow. The internet design industry is filled with stories that flash, crash, and burn. You’d only should sit at the WayBackMachine and consider a number of the most pretty websites within the 90s and beauty if they’d ever work today. Now, you don’t actually have to attend for a decade. a couple of months will do.
Sliders was cool; now they aren’t. Sidebars on blogs were considered utilitarian, now they appear to squat on precious real estate. Stock photos were a blessing then, but they appear too cheesy now.
CSS3 can almost do half the job that required graphic designers earlier. DIY website design tools now exist that may spew out better looking websites than what amateur designers can ever provide you with. Technology almost threatens the very existence of the internet design industry.
Web design industry suffers from the “too much, too soon, too fast” syndrome and nothing that seems to work now will work tomorrow.
If it’s nearly looks, website sure age fast. You’ll want a lot greater than just “design skills” to exist.
Existence was utility. Then came UX/UI/user experience
If visuals were considered important, there has been a very long time in passing when utility was considered crucial. The early websites had nothing going for them when it came to visuals (really, who considered it then? The truth that there has been a web site was exciting enough).
Then came the desire for navigational ease, utility, and practicality. Today, all of that’s already taken with no consideration. What most websites wish to worry about is user experience and results. Further, websites even have to render across multiple devices and still do the job well.
That would make you’re thinking that things are better today. Unfortunately, it isn’t. Landing pages suck and mobile pages don’t work in addition they need to.
Ruben D’Oliveira of 1stWebDesigner points to at the very least 20 explanation why you website sucks quickly. He includes reasons similar to balance; distracting backgrounds; loss of detail; white space (or the inability of it); anything that remotely resembles flash; auto playing podcasts, music, or videos; colors; and overflow.
There are a number of other things which you thought were cool but can completely ruin user experience: animations; confusing navigation; an excessive amount of or too little information; and pictures that aren’t optimized to devices.
The loss of testing culture hurts
Image via Shutterstock
For businesses that pay and for designers who deliver, the shortage of testing culture – you understand, the feverish have to test everything that goes live to tell the tale the net – sometimes hurts businesses. Sure, you’ll need an acceptable sample size to check your marketing assets which include websites, emails, and landing pages. You’ll also have to expend resources to try this on a consistent basis.
Yet, not doing testing isn’t an excuse anymore when conversions mean loads for businesses. There’s just no approach to understand how a page performs unless you test it.
If you don’t test, any page will perform (just lower than your expectations). Success comes with measurements, and testing websites for conversions is a good approach to measure effectiveness of website design.
We do need great looking websites but we don’t need websites that look so good that they can’t deliver on business results. Businesses don’t have anything to do with a designers’ trophy website; they’ve everything to do with a domain that converts.
What do you watched is the worst obsession designers have about their designs? Do you believe you studied looks are all that matter in relation to website design? Does your website look awesome or does it get you results you would like or both?
Show your designs. Share what you watched of them.
Here’s another articles that you’ll definitely find useful.
How to enhance Your Website design Workflow
How find the most efficient valuable Design Deals at the Web
Top Gadgets for Designers
Not Using CSS Preprocessors? Try to be.
Should an internet Designer Know the way to Code?
Posted in Web Design
Posted on February 14, 2014 at 10:49 am
It’s easy to look that more an more designers are embracing the minimalistic method of website design. Now there are websites that eliminate unnecessary elements and keep only what really matters, designs which are clean and intuitive, just like the ones we will be able to show here today. We’ve got different examples of fresh and minimal sites with beautiful navigation, neat menus and nice type to keep you inspired, have a look.
About the Author
I love communication, technology, web, design, movies, gastronomy and creativity. Web writer, portuguese/english translator and co founding father of @refilmagem & @mentaway
Twitter: @gismullr
Here’s any other articles that you’ll definitely find useful.
Posted in Web Design
Posted on February 12, 2014 at 11:18 am
Over at ThemeTrust, we just released a new WordPress theme called Port. It’s an exquisite and fashionable agency theme that includes multiple parallax sections at the home page, and a graceful slide-out main navigation. Take a look at ThemeTrust for a live demo.
At Theme Trust whenever you buy one theme, you get another free. Just add any two themes on your shopping cart after which enter the code “1free“.
Theme Features
Here’s a run down of the most important features included in Port:
- Responsive Layout
- Parallax Home Page
- Slideshow Shortcode
- Custom Widgets
- Localization Support
- Logo Upload
- Filterable Portfolio Template
- Google Web Font Integration
- Custom Options Panel
- Browser Compatibility
- Testimonials
- Video Support
- Button Shortcodes
- Column Shortcodes
Posted in Web Design
Posted on February 4, 2014 at 2:17 pm
Internet commerce is emerging in a short time and helps people to avoid wasting extra money. In step with eMarketer eCommerce sales will grow from $225.5 billion in 2012 to $434.billion in 2017. As the various products being sold online are digital it’s really easy to get decent discounts and save up some cash. The following article I’ll share among the hacks for purchasing best design deals on the net.
Cheap domain names
Every website, wouldn’t it be a blog, shop, app page or social network needs a website name. The so called “dot com boom” is greater than ever however the problem is that the majority of definitely the right .com names are taken and to be able to re-buy them from owners for you or your startup it may cost from $100 to $1 million (fb.com domain name was sold for $8.5 million).
Use Domai.nr to hack domain name and notice which of them are available in.
Get a cost-effective .co domain name that is getting an increasing number of accepted by the realm as .com domains are taken.
Check for discount codes for GoDaddy and you’ll get a site for as low as $0.99/year.
You’ll surely want a hosting to host your website so check for hosting that gives free domain name. To call a number of: Bluehost, WPWebhost, Squarespace.
Join an associates program of GoDaddy or alternative company to get special discounts and use them for yourself or your clients.
Join programs for startups
As startups have become more popular globally there are a lot websites providing special discounts or perhaps free services for startups. To use for these programs you will have to purchase a site or prove that you’re working in a startup area.
F6S Deals
Rewardli
Go.CO
Special design deals for designers & developers
There are numerous of deal websites specifically created for designers and developers. Get new software, design templates, learning resources and a whole lot design resources like brushes, fonts, mockups, textures, stock photos and more. Prices vary from as low as $1 to $97 however the value you get is fantastic money and time saver ultimately.
BundleHunt
Software, tools and design resources.
Dealotto
Get discounted software, learning materials and design resources with a gamble to win everything at no cost.
My Design Deals
Generally design resources including fonts, textures, stock photos and able to use templates.
Mighty Deals
Courses, ebooks, design resources, software and templates.
Design TNT
Design resources including vector graphics, templates, Photoshop brushes and tutorials.
InkyDeals
Templates, ebooks and design resources like mockups, vector graphics and icons.
DealFuel
Design resources, WordPress theme, software and learning materials.
Design Cuts
0
Design resources including textures, fonts, templates, mockups, icons and more.
Summary
As you will see now, it’s possible to save lots of handsome profit as much as 95% of the cost in case you spend a while for research. Hopefully these resources in this article can assist you save money and time engaged on your projects whether for yourself or your clients. Happy shopping.
Here’s another articles that you’ll definitely find useful.
Top Gadgets for Designers
1
Not Using CSS Preprocessors? You have to be.
2
Should an internet Designer Understand how to Code?
3
How to stroll At the Road Towards Website design Excellence
4
How to apply Keywords for SEO and Web Sustainability
5
Posted in Web Design
Posted on February 2, 2014 at 8:38 am
Designers are very creative people and always strive for unique experiences, products and services that deliver high-quality and noteworthy experience. There are dozens of gadgets available on the earth but only the perfect ones come to be at the desks or pockets of creatives.
I have collected some top-notch gadgets which can be delivering extreme quality, solving problems, entertaining you and easily making your more efficient. Try these outstanding gadgets to yourself or get one to your friend or colleague.
Draw iPhone Case & Stand
Classy looking leather case for your iPhone from Hard Graft. This iPhone case also transforms into an appropriate stand so that you can use your iPhone as a bedside alarm clock, music or movie player.
Wellograph
Wellograph is an exceedingly beautifully designed activity tracker, a heart rate monitor and a running watch in a single that delivers live, insightful information regarding the wearer’s activity through simple infographic interface.
Coin
Coin simplifies your life by solving an extremely common problem – bulky wallet stuffed with too many mastercards. Using Coin you’ll be capable of put your whole cards into one.
Canon Lens Mug
Most of designers like photography and low. This creative cup design is a 1:1 simulation to the Canon Lens. For those who get this creative cup, you will adore it such a lot.
Intuos Pro
Intuos Pro Large Professional Pen Tablet is a top-clas “toy” for any digital designer. This innovative pen tablet combines Wacom’s finest pen capabilities with intuitive multi-touch gestures and far more.
Nexus 7
Mobile devices are becoming better, faster and more powerful. Nexus 7 tablet is crucial tablet which lets you enjoy full HD movies, read books and even design.
Beloit 12 Speakers
Beloit 12 Speakers from Bang & Olufsen is wireless and conveyable music system on your digital devices. Timeless design and amazing features.
Pebble Smartwatch
Wearable tech is this type of words you’re hearing more often nowadays. Pebble smartwatch is among the preferred gadgets with smart apps, personal customization and more.
Transporter Sync Private Cloud
Your own private cloud. Identical to Dropbox but 100%. Automatically sync all of the files you decide between your computers.
Fitbit
Flex wireless activity & sleep wristband is another great gadget that allows you to improve the standard of your life. Designers are likely to work so much in front of a pc what’s not very healthy. Fitbit can assist you exercise by making it a gamified process.
Cable Fondler
0
Very simple and gorgeous solution for managing your cables easily and effectively. Keep the cables you need in your desk perpetually. Suits many common cable types.
iPad Air
1
Apple iPad Air is likely one of the most advanced tablets on this planet. Extremely powerful entertainment and work gadget with and skill to increase its features by millions of apps.
Digital stylus for Paper iPad app
2
Elegant digital stylus pen with a natural look exclusively designed for an award-winning iPad App Paper will provide you with freedom for expressing yourself on digital screens. Compatible with other tablets too.
iBamboo
3
iBamboo is an electricity-free speaker constituted of a single piece of bamboo. The natural resonance of the bamboo amplifies the sound produced by the built-in speaker inside the iPhone 4/4S and the iPhone 5.
Slate Mobile AirDesk
4
Slate Mobile AirDesk is cut from a block of pure, premium bamboo. Simply create your portable work desk by putting a laptop, mouse, cellphone or tablet in this ultra lightweight, super strong desk.
Here’s any other articles that you’ll definitely find useful.
Not Using CSS Preprocessors? You ought to be.
5
Apple Dictates the World’s Visual Design
6
Should an internet Designer Know the way to Code?
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Posted in Web Design
Posted on January 31, 2014 at 3:42 pm
Illustrations and hand drawn elements can add personality to an internet site while grabbing the user’s attention. And provided that you don’t turn your page into a demonstration frenzy, there are several how one can incorporate these elements on your project. You’re able to add subtle illustrated icons, hand draw type, or big and ambitious illustrated backgrounds. It’s as much as you. To indicate you that once properly used, illustrations could be very effective, we’ve gathered a couple of inspiring examples. Try it out.
About the Author
I love communication, technology, web, design, movies, gastronomy and creativity. Web writer, portuguese/english translator and co founding father of @refilmagem & @mentaway
Twitter: @gismullr
Here’s another articles that you’re going to definitely find useful.
Posted in Web Design
Posted on January 29, 2014 at 8:51 am
Since web designer don’t have time to create everything themselves, it’s important to find new files which might be utilized in design projects. That’s why we search the internet to locate new and useful stuff so you might download at no cost. Today we now have several different free PSDs here for you, from iPhone mockups to UIs and more. We’re certain you’ll discover a use for them in a single of your upcoming projects.
About the Author
I love communication, technology, web, design, movies, gastronomy and creativity. Web writer, portuguese/english translator and co founding father of @refilmagem & @mentaway
Twitter: @gismullr
Here’s any other articles that you’re going to definitely find useful.
Posted in Web Design
Posted on January 27, 2014 at 7:28 am
CSS was both a superb innovation and a missed opportunity. Having the ability to separate the shape and the content of a webpage massively improves the method of website design. But, CSS has a few limitations. As anyone who has ever written CSS knows, for all however the most basic of web sites, the CSS can become a tangled mess of repetitions, overrides of previous CSS, and overrides of overrides. CSS doesn’t agree to coding best practices, and its simplicity steps over the road from simple to simplistic, frequently hindering the design and development process.
Thankfully, CSS preprocessors provide us the various features that might ideally were included in CSS from the start. There are a range of alternative CSS preprocessors, with the most well liked being SASS and no more. There are significant differences between both, but in place of looking closely at particular preprocessors, we’re going to take a look at how CSS preprocessors as a matter of fact can change how you have faith in writing CSS.
Image by Naiara Abaroa
What Is A CSS Preprocessor?
Put simply, CSS preprocessor languages are more feature-rich than CSS alone and may be processed into CSS that works as normal.
As the name suggests, CSS preprocessors take a text file, process it, and output correct CSS. Exactly what that text file contains depends upon the person preprocessor, but both SASS and fewer are a superset of CSS. They include everything already inside the CSS specification plus additional features. a first-rate advantage of that’s that in case you know CSS, you could already write valid LESS and SASS, and just ought to learn some extra tricks.
Variables, Mixins, and Functions
CSS doesn’t include variables. Anyone accustomed to coding understands how useful variables may be. Variables allow web developers to assign a price to a reputation, that can then be used during the stylesheet. If you want to modify the price, you simply ought to change it in a single place, as opposed to hunting through the entire CSS files for each instance.
Image by Chris Michel
Mixins are slightly more complex. They permit for the properties of a category to be embedded in another class, that may then be used within the stylesheet, in much an analogous way as a variable. Functions are much as you may anticipate finding in every other programming language, although with some limitations.
It Will Make Your CSS DRY
“Don’t Repeat Yourself” is without doubt one of the foundational best practices of recent coding. With CSS alone it’s almost impossible to stick to, but with SASS, LESS and the others, variables, mixins, and functions allow developers to write down their styles in a single place, and use them throughout their stylesheets.
CSS Preprocessors Will Prevent Time
Image by Mario Bieh
All of the inefficiencies within the way CSS is written and maintained soak up loads of developer time. Using a CSS preprocessor drastically simplifies the duty of writing readable, maintainable CSS, which means that developers and architects have more time to work at the really important stuff, like making the positioning look good.
If you’ve been avoiding CSS preprocessors, perhaps it’s time you gave them a glance. They’ll prevent time and they’re really easy to benefit for anyone already acquainted with CSS.
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Posted in Web Design
Posted on January 25, 2014 at 9:01 am
A lot of trends come and go in website design, but textures and patterns are always around. an excellent use of textures and patterns can add personality, depth and interest to an internet site. That is probably explanation why these are still popular among designers. Today, to prove that textures are still around, we’ve got some inspiring examples of sites using them. From super subtle textures, to special colorful patterned backgrounds, there are some beautiful examples here.
The Conference
Cirq
RSQ
Shiner
Lemonade
Tradestone Confections
Designeat
Names for Change
Sputnik Creative
Switch
Tiny Footprint Coffee
0
Circles Conference
1
The Tea Factory
2
About the Author
3
I love communication, technology, web, design, movies, gastronomy and creativity. Web writer, portuguese/english translator and co founding father of @refilmagem & @mentaway
Twitter: @gismullr
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Posted in Web Design
Posted on January 24, 2014 at 3:16 pm
The importance of having a good website is imperative. Any business that wants to generate leads for increase in sales should have an appealing website that can grasp the attention of the web surfers. Most website owners only care about the look and user interface of their websites and very few of them are interested to know what goes behind them. The fact is that there are various programs and codes that make a website run effectively. In order to make the websites work efficiently and ensure compatibility of different website functions web programming languages are used. The programmers work hard in order to make the structure of a good website and often their efforts are overlooked.
It is very important to develop an attractive website that is also rich in features. In order to have a highly responsive and attractive website the need of a web programmer is imperative. Therefore, one should choose a programmer that would make a website that functions well. There are various factors that one should consider before choosing a web programmer for his website.
1. Knowledge – The first factor that needs to be considered is the knowledge of the programmer. He should have extensive knowledge of web programming, which is a vast field, and can work out the programs well. There are different languages that the programmers use for building up websites like HTML, PHP, JavaScript, XML, ASP.Net, Perl and MY-SQL among others. One should consider asking him the language he will use for developing the website and the applications. It is also a good idea to check the certificates of his academic qualifications that would serve as a proof of his knowledge.
2. Experience – The experience of the web programmer is also of utmost importance when it comes to programming. If a programmer has enough knowledge in his field of work but has no prior experience then he might not be able to create a good website. A web programmer that has been working for years gains a lot of experiences to deal with different problems that might come up while developing websites and applications. He also develops the ability to solve the technical issues easily.
3. Portfolio – The portfolio of the web programmer is also a great way to judge his abilities to make websites. The past projects will give an insight about the kind of work he has done for his previous clients. It will also make it easier to judge whether one wants to move forward with him or not.
4. Communication Skill – The ability to effectively communicate with his clients is one of the most important factors to consider while choosing to hire a web programmer. As a businessman and layman it is difficult to understand web programming, so the programmer should be able to explain the terms to the clients in a simple language.
5. Technical Support – Finally, technical support is very important and unavoidable. Websites crash and virus attacks are also predictable, so one should choose a programmer that will continue to provide technical support even after the work of website development is complete.
Posted in Website Development
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