Category Archives: Design

9 Design Tools for 2021

If you are looking for the best software for professional web design, let us assure, you have come to the right place. Web design software’s enable you to create web templates & designs in a very short span of time. In the olden days, people would spend hours writing codes to create basic templates but now, with advanced web creation software’s available in the market, one can get designs made easily & quickly. In the following article, we will take you through some of the best design software’s you can use to create templates that come with full-fledged websites. 

So go ahead, give it a good read & make sure to share your thoughts below. 

  1. Dreamweaver

Available on both Windows & MAC, Adobe Dreamweaver is a commercial application used for app developments. The designing tool is packed with features & options that include code hinting, project management, FTP client, syntax highlighting, etc. It also includes workflow options such as Live View that shows you a preview of the code. Dreamweaver also works well with other Adobe products like Photoshop that allows you to share smart objects for easy & quick updating. It also helps in editing components. 

  1. Canva

Canva is quite a straightforward tool & deemed useful for all web designers. It is straightforward, easy to use, offers multiple benefits & makes design creation very easy. Canva is also free. It has a variety of graphics, fonts that don’t cost much. You could easily make accounts & not pay for the subscription. Canva also has templates, preset sizes that you can use for social media posts, cards, flyers, postcards, etc.  Apart from that, it is also easy to share designs with many people without making you pay for them. You could upload images & logos to your template as well. So, if you are looking for something that offers multiple features like this, try Canva. 

  1. GIMP

GIMP, better known as Graphical Image Manipulation Program, is a freemium tool that adds an inventory of web design tools. It is quite useful if you need to retouch images on your blog post or need to improve your presentation. Compared to other tools & softwares, it is quite user-friendly, beneficial for photo editing, and comes with various features & functions & photographs that you don’t want or need. It is customizable, flexible, and doesn’t take much space on your computer. Even if the GIMP wasn’t small already, a portable version is easy to download on your USB & you can edit it almost anywhere.

  1. Novaa

Nova is a web development application used for MAC operating systems. It is also known as the improved version of Panic & is loved by several users. The tool helps you reduce the number of applications you find such as CSS editors, version control systems etc. Nova’s one window development philosophy uses a whole tabbed interface required for text editing, SVN, CSS & even other books that embed web books you can easily search whenever you want!

  1. Weebly

Weebly is quite popular when it comes to web building & designing new software. It can easily be used to create web designs for websites as well as online stores. Several users on the internet trust them. It also has an interesting drag & drop interface that lets you create designs only within a few minutes. Weebly definitely makes life a lot simpler as it lets you build your website design without even writing any code. How cool is that? Even the best website design tips online couldn’t beat that! Although the free version comes with all cool features, you should consider checking out the paid plan for more options & features.

  1. Bubble

Bubble helps you create data-driven & functional web applications. It comes with an editor that lets you build, customize, design & create applications depending on your requirements. Even if you need to build a website like Airbnb or Facebook, Bubble lets you do all of that. It helps you create multi-user apps that can be used on mobile as well as desktop. Also, the best part about this is that it helps you take care of small issues related to infrastructure, maintenance & operations. Bubble also handles hosting & deployment. It does not have hard limits on its users, data storage, traffic, or even the volume.

  1. Figma

Figma is a popular web design software that lets you connect with different teams while working on the same template. It is a smart tool that lets you share projects with your own clients & make live changes on your template design. Figma also takes web designing to a different level. It comes with colors, fonts & settings needed for its editing panel. The options & tools are amazing when needed to create icons or even complete web templates. Figma is available on both premium as well as free plans. 

  1. Bootstrap

Bootstrap is a great framework that lets you create websites as well as web designs. It is made for technical users so that they can create great designs seamlessly. Bootstrap comes with advanced development features, including powerful frameworks that can be used to create interesting web designs like JS, CSS, HTML, etc. if you wish to work using pre-built templates, make sure to try Bootstrap. You will like it indeed. 

  1. Google Web Designers

If you are looking for something that’s free of cost, try Google Web Designer. This is an excellent tool that makes web design easy, especially if they are based on something like HTML 5. The tool makes sure your designs will run on any device, whether it is a smartphone or even desktops. You could also edit CSS, JavaScript, HTML directly with the help of the Google Web Designer.

So here’s a list of some of the best design tools that are used by both experts & professionals. All of them have great reviews & have been liked by business software’s as well. Most of the tools come in handy & can be used for wireframing, debugging, coding & collaboration. In case you feel like we have missed out on a few good tools, do mention them down below. Your suggestions do matter to us!

Are Chatbots Right for Your eCommerce Site?

Odds are you’ve already interacted with a chatbot without realizing you’ve done so. If you have an iPhone, Siri is essentially a voice-activated chatbot. Another example is Amazon’s Alexa. According to Amazon, Alexa provides capabilities that enable customers to interact with devices in a more intuitive way using voice. One of the capabilities of Alexa is reminding Amazon customers of purchases they need to make. So far, it’s working pretty well for Amazon and Siri is an unquestionable hit too. But are chatbots right for your ecommerce site?

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Precisely put, Siri and Alexa, while sterling examples of chatbot platforms, are more properly considered virtual assistants. The type of chatbot with which you’re more likely to come into contact in an ecommerce situation is primarily found in messaging apps. These are capable of providing basic communication, such as responding to FAQ queries and ordering products and services.

These chatbots have gone a long way toward improving consumer acceptance over their earliest deployments. We’ve all called banks, the local utility, or other large institutions that routinely field thousands of calls a day for repetitive requests. That voice you get saying something to the effect of; “If you’re about lose your mind because you really want to talk to a live human being, press 0 for the operator,” is also a chatbot.

When viewed in those terms, they don’t have the best reputation. But the fact remains, if they are implemented strategically and programmed to respond as organically as possible, chatbots can be of tremendous service to an ecommerce enterprise.

Uber employs chatbots for scheduling rides, fast food restaurants have incorporated them for placing orders and some airlines are using chatbots to schedule and book flights. Any situation in which there are a finite number of closed-end responses to a specific set of questions can usually be handled by a chatbot. With the potential to considerably lighten the customer service load of an ecommerce enterprise, chatbots can be very useful when you create an ecommerce website, You just have to be sure the ‘bot you deploy is the same one with which your customers interact.

And this brings us to the cautionary tale that is Microsoft’s Tay. Rolled out for Twitter users in March of 2016, within 24 hours, Tay had taken on all of the worst traits of the Twitter-verse.

Designed to think and talk like a millennial, while learning from Twitter content, Tay began issuing racist, misogynistic and anti-Semitic Tweets, as well as bragging about Marijuana consumption to police officers. One of her more benign Tweets, “Chill, I’m a nice person! I just hate everybody…”

The lesson here is to make sure your chatbots are never subjected to undue influences. Counter to the basic rule of commerce, the customer isn’t always right. Sometimes the customer is absolutely vicious. When you’re considering deploying a learning chatbot, you have to make sure its responses are carefully scripted and not open to outside influence.

Check it regularly to ensure it is functioning properly. Update it continually as new functionalities, concepts, situations and opportunities emerge. Used well, chatbots can be a significant asset, saving you both time and money.

Just know, if left totally unattended, they have the potential to go off the rails.

Responsive web design – three mistakes to avoid

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There is no doubt about it, if you have a web presence; you need to make sure it’s accessible from as many different devices as possible. If you do not do this you stand to lose out on a significant potential audience. If you speak to a specialist in ecommerce website design, they will tell you how important responsive website design is, in order for your business to be as accessible as possible.

As important as responsive web design has become; it still has to be done well to be successful. Just using a responsive web design solution is not enough to ensure an effective web presence. We are going to take a look at three of the most common mistakes that are made which can potentially reduce the effectiveness of responsive web design.

Thinking desktop not mobile

There are many web designers out there who are still in the mindset of thinking about designing for desktop first. The whole concept of responsive web design is that the content fits to the screen on which it is being viewed.  The problem is that content which reads well on desktop does not necessarily always read well when using a mobile device.

If you automatically consider desktop first when designing a website you run the risk of adopting a design that causes mobile uses to disengage. It’s generally a good idea to start with the mobile device user in mind when designing a responsive website.  Of course, now that Google’s mobile-first indexing is officially being tested you have another good reason for putting mobile first. Pretty soon your search engine rankings may depend on the effectiveness of your mobile website.

Not creating the simple navigation required

Problems with creating a navigation system for a responsive website often stem from thinking desktop first. If you adopt a rigid navigation system that is best suited to the desktop experience it may not translate very well to being used on a mobile device. The only way to avoid doing this is to experience your website using a mobile device. You need to make sure that your website is designed from the mobile experience point of view.

It’s important to remember that ease of navigation is very important when it comes to attracting visitors to your website, and keeping them engaged. If people access your website using a mobile device, and then struggle to find their way around the pages, they are unlikely to want to visit the site again.

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Neglecting the touchscreen experience

The touchscreen experience is no longer just restricted to mobile device usage; many laptops now use touchscreen technology. The fact is that a large proportion of people who access the Internet now use their fingertips to do so. These people want to be able to just touch the screen, and swipe, to access everything they want to see.

One of the most common mistakes that designers make is to not take into account the touchscreen experience. If a user is touching the screen they need to be able to touch an individual element without interfering with other elements on the screen. You should always bear this in mind with your online content. Remember, you do not want people to have to zoom in in order to easily access your content by touch. All users need to be able to read your online content easily so you need to pay attention to font size when designing your website.

Using responsive web design is an excellent way of enabling people to view your content using different devices. That being said, you still need to bear in mind the end user experience for each type of device. The fact that you decide to adopt a responsive web design solution when creating your website does not automatically mean that your site is optimised for viewing across all devices.

Hopefully, we have shown you how important design is when it comes to making the most of responsive web design. You need to ensure that the design of your website is geared to mobile first as this means that the viewing experience should end up being of a high quality no matter what type of device is used for viewing.

 

Why Businesses Are Opting for Responsive Web Designs for their Website

If you are running a business, you must be hearing a lot about responsive web designs lately. But what is a responsive web design and why is it so important for businesses online?

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With technological advancements, and through the introduction of smartphones and tablets, more and more audiences prefer browsing from their handy devices. These devices make checking emails and performing searches convenient and easier, compared to laptops and PCs. According to a survey in the UK by Ofcom, tablet was the most popular device used by people to surf on the internet and around 30% of the people voted for tablet as their ideal device for online shopping.

 

What does Responsive web design do?

Responsive web design helps in making your website easily accessible through cellphones and multiple screens. With such a designing strategy in place, websites easily adjust to the size of the screen of the user and make it more user-friendly. According to the report released by Smart Insights, around 50% of the people make use of tablets and smartphones for the purpose of searching; whereas in the UK, 57% of the people daily use the internet from their cellphones.

From April 2015 onwards, Google has also started ranking websites on the basis of their mobile-friendliness. This addition has drastically impacted online businesses and their ranking on search results. Here is how your business can benefit from a responsive web design:

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Greater Audiences

The surveys mentioned above show that a lot people use a lot of different devices to access the internet. However, as the number of tablets and cellphone users are increasing worldwide, the importance of responsive web design is also increasing. It will facilitate in reaching out to wider audiences which will eventually work in favor of your business and elevate sales.

Increase in Conversion Rates

Conversion rates get a boost when the visitors of your website become buyers. When the user gets an outclass experience and consistency while surfing on your website, it will have a useful impact on the conversion rates. As they get familiar with the working of the website, they will visit more often and eventually buy something too. Difficulties in functioning, consistency, and performance are often eradicated with the use of a responsive design.

Search Engine Visibility

Websites that have responsive designs can easily and efficiently be managed with one set of hypertext link. This means that you don’t need to manage separate SEO strategies for all the devices such as; desktops, laptops, tablets, or cellphones. This will also save your time and money as all of them require a single SEO strategy. A responsive design will enhance your ranking on search engines with fewer resources by applying the strategies on just a single site.

With all these added benefits, responsive designing saves cost for maintenance and development. It is the demand of the time, as the future predicts an increase in the use of mobile devices and tablets. Companies such as WSI are hired by businesses to make responsive web designs for their websites, as it helps businesses prosper by reaching out to potential customers in a better manner.

3 Ways Responsive Design Makes a WordPress Theme More SEO-Friendly

One of the most beloved aspects of WordPress as a content management system is that it makes SEO easier to manage and improve on a site-wide basis, mainly due to the extensive library of SEO plugins and add-ons that the CMS has become famous for. However, in addition to providing a simple way to install and utilize powerful extensions, WordPress also allows for the quick and easy installation of themes that incorporate responsive design elements, which make it possible for your pages to be viewed ideally on any display size, browser type, operating system, or device. You probably know that responsive design can make a site more user-friendly, but did you know that it can work wonders for SEO as well?

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1. Decreasing Bounce Rate

Bounce rate is a metric used to determine the percentage of visitors who leave your site after only visiting a single page. Obviously, if your site isn’t set up to look good on every mobile device, then there’s a good chance that a significant majority of your mobile visitors will be bouncing off the site after seeing that the first page looks horrible on their device. On the other hand, when a mobile user notices that pages are loading fast and look great on their device, there’s a great chance they’ll want to keep browsing the site, especially if the site easy to navigate due to effective mobile menus and interlinking.

2. Increasing Page Visit Time

According to Sioux Falls SEO specialists, the amount of time a visitor spends on a page is one of the most important metrics to consider, as it directly indicates how engaging and useful your site is. Search engines know this all too well, which is why page visit times can have a huge impact on whether a page is able to rank highly in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Themes that include responsive design features are able to keep more visitors on the site longer because there are no display compatibility issues that would otherwise cause them to leave prematurely.

3. Promoting Return Visits

Finally, themes that include responsive design improve SEO and overall site traffic by motivating visitors to return for repeat visits to the site. Of course, a site that doesn’t have responsive design will find it more difficult to retain an audience of mobile users, and being that mobile browsing has exceeded desktop browsing as of 2014, non-responsive sites are losing a huge chunk of their potential visitors.

Not All Responsive Design Themes Are Created Equal

Before you go rushing to install just any theme that includes responsive design as a feature, keep in mind that each theme will “respond” to a device in a different way, so preference and experimentation still plays a huge role here. Thus, whenever you’ve installed a theme that supposedly includes responsive design elements, be sure to test all of the pages on your site from every device you can get your hands on to ensure the utmost visibility and compatibility.

6 Tips for Faster, More Efficient Websites

According to studies done on web browsing habits, the average user looks at a website for less than four seconds. This means that your blog, social media account or e-commerce store has less than four seconds to capture the attention of your audience.

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Via commons.wikimedia.org

What kind of impression are you leaving in four seconds?

Here are just a few tips for improving both the speed and the efficiency of your website. Even with a limited time span, there are steps you can take to ensure that you grab your customers from their very first look.

1. Don’t Use Flash

It’s a flashy element of web design, so it’s appropriately named. But it also takes time and the right plug-ins to load. Even if your visitors already have the software, something that isn’t guaranteed, they’ll still have to wait around for your Flash elements to load. How many customers will click away? How many customers might you lose because of a silly Flash fade effect?

2. Load Your Pages Top-to-Bottom

Instead of letting your webpages load haphazardly, insert a script that forces them to start from the top and work their way down. Not only will this bring a streamlined appeal to your site aesthetic, but it will also give your users something to look at while the rest of the page loads below it. If your content is engaging enough, they might not even notice.

3. Use Thumbnails

This is especially useful for online stores or any other website that uses a large amount of images. Instead of forcing your customers to load full-scale graphics all at once, give them small thumbnails that they can click and enlarge if they’re interested in the product. You’ll save on loading time and increase your number of unique clicks.

4. Compress Your Images

High-quality images are essential for professional website design. That said, you don’t have to let their file sizes run rampant. There are special compression techniques you can use to reduce their megabytes and therefore their loading times, and you can also specify things like size and width allowances in your coding so they’ll never exceed those parameters.

5. Throw Out the Table

While table layouts still have their uses, many businesses have switched over to Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for faster loading times and more efficient site-to-user downloads. You don’t have to be an expert in programming languages to use it, either; CSS is a common skill among many web designers, so you can outsource the job for all of the benefits and none of the personal stress.

6. Reduce Server Requests

HTTP requests are made every single time your webpage loads external content. This includes ads, links, graphics, videos and audio clips. To cut down on HTTP requests, you’ll need to start storing things internally, and this may mean upgrading your servers or increasing your bandwidth. It isn’t cheap, but it will translate directly into faster loading times, so it’s up to you whether or not the benefit outweighs the cost.

These are just a few tips for improving the load time of your website. If you’re serious about capturing the attention of your audience, you have less than four seconds to do it, so every moment counts. Consult experts in things like Sydney website design,  to learn more.

How to impress your clients with a grunge design

If you think of creating a grunge design, then it means that you are a fan of those elements that really impress and wow the audience. In fact, grunge designs are quite popular these days, precisely because of these elements which not only amaze people but also manage to bring a sense of reality to the entire project. In what is to come, designers will get to know more about this trend, in order to succeed in coming up with an impressive piece of work.

The elements of a great grunge design

Before enumerating the things you require in order to create a wonderful grunge design, let’s talk a little bit about the “dirty look”. One should understand that a grunge design does not need to look dirty, in order to “do its job”. To be more precise it is not mandatory for this layout to be full of grunge features and as a matter of fact it would have an equally impressive touch if it would be cleaner and more realistic. Now that this matter is clear, let’s talk about the grunge features. As far as this matter is concerned, everything is really simple. One could include broken icons, dirty images, hand drawn images or whatever the designer pleases, as long as his or her creation will look unique and it will reveal its personality. Anyway, you should know that dirty textures (which usually represent objects from our lives) are used as background images devoid of any unnecessary glossy and shiny touch.

Things one should know when creating such a design

The first thing you need to take in consideration is that you should be careful not to create a crowded design. In other words, although you may love the grunge elements, you should not fill your creation with them otherwise you will come up with something dirty that will bother your audience. As far as the typography is concerned you should make use of a handwritten style. However, you should know that this particular typography would work better on your headings and not on your body text. The reason why you should take care of these things is due to the fact that if you will use something like this for the entire text, the readability will have a lot to suffer. Therefore, make sure that your customers actually understand your texts, but still impress them with a big handwritten heading. Your clients will love this impressive style and will certainly continue enjoying your content.
As it was mentioned in one of the previous paragraphs, the secret behind a wonderful grunge design lies in the simplicity of elements that you add. These being said, you should know that sometimes it is enough to just add a few hand drawn doddles or a dirty background, in order to get a more realistic touch.

The colors used in a grunge design

It goes without saying that you need to learn one thing or two about the colors of this design style in order to do your job right. Well, as far as this matter goes, you should know that the color palette of a grunge design contains dirty and dull colors. The most important colors are brown beige, grey and black, while the vivid shades sometimes disappear, being replaced with something more natural and subtle. However, one should know that although the choice of colors may seem a bit dull, actually the web page does not appear boring at all. On the contrary, if the designer will pick interesting and impressive elements, such as handwritten items, then the design will attract the visitors. But, there are situations in grunge design, when the creator uses vivid colors, such as dark green, blue and red, which are devoid of their power, so that they will seem more realistic.

Learn more about the messy edges

I bet you all have seen those websites with those messy edges. The truth is that these attract the audience, but at the same time, the designer should not use this style excessively. In other words, messy, jagged, ripped or rough edges are great, but only if they are mixed with some clean ones. The result of this mixture will give you a simple and beautiful design that you will surely be proud of.

Don’t forget about the contrast

Every designer desires to offer his or her visitors a great user experience. However, dark and moody colors might not have this purpose, precisely because people would have to read a light text against a dark background, which may cause them eye strain. As a result, you will have to think about the contrast, too. So, if you are determined to use a dark background, then you will have to emphasize your texts and to make them easy to read. You could do this by using a lighter background for your blocks of texts or by shedding some light over the entire design. Anyway, no matter the colors you will use, you will have to make sure that your texts are easy to read and that there is enough contrast between them and your background.

Grunge trends you should know about

Because you desire to create something fashionable you should know more about the trends of this designing style. To begin with, it is important for you to use a dirty texture or a dirty background image, so that you will expose the nature of the grunge style. Also, irregular line frames or yellowed scotch tape might bring that rough style to your page. Web designers will definitely manage to create something impressive if they will use paper and photo clips, needles, pins, coffee rings, spilled out liquids and dirty stains. Not to mention that if you will attach some dog-ears, hand written elements or torn paper to your design, you will totally grasp your visitors’ attention.

Conclusion
These being said, you can go ahead and start creating a grunge design that will impress all your clients, customers and visitors. You will see that you will manage to come up with something really amazing that people will definitely appreciate.

20 amazing creative Muse templates

Adobe Muse is one of the latest products released by Adobe. The main aim of Muse is to allow full liberty to the designers. The coding part of a website works as a huge obstacle for the most creative designers. Also, a lot of time and resources are wasted in creating the code and correct the inevitable mistakes. The Internet is full of website builders and the teams behind these firmly state that these are able to replace the work of a designer. Unfortunately, the reality is crueler and at the moment, no website builder can substitute the imagination of a web designer. It shouldn’t disappoint the fans of website builders, sooner or later the technology will evolve and some future tools will simplify the job of a web designer. The website builders and Adobe Muse have the potential to make way simpler the website creation.
We treat extremely serious the Adobe Muse evolution and we gladly announce you that it’s on a very positive trend. The Adobe experts are constantly bringing improvements and the web design community pays closer attention to each new edition. As a result, the Muse templates became more and more attractive and it’s matter of time until the clients together with the designers will intensively use Muse templates for new websites. In the past, we exhibited showcases of Muse templates; now it’s time for a new set of fresh and creative templates. All of hand-picked and no doubt this collection will convince even the most reticent ones about the Adobe Muse potential. Enjoy them and don’t forget to let us know which your favorite is!

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Booker

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Creando

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Mansur

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Flatline

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Photography

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Instrumental

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Raaga

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Trance

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Mercury

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Saturn

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Fairview

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Sevon One

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Over the Clouds

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Shift

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Movement

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Andromeda

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Football

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Vintage

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Levity

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How to create the focal points of your layouts

Every web designer is aware that each work created must have some focal points- the places that should attract the eyes of the viewer. This article comes at your rescue and it offers you a few pieces of advice that will help you figure out which are the things you should do when creating something like this. However, before actually creating the focal points, one should take his/her time in order to analyze the project and realize what matters the most, where should these be placed or what is the color that would make this grab the attention.
Anyway, I will cut it to the chase and in the following lines I will present the most important factors that one should take into consideration when creating these important features. If you will follow these steps and if you will be serious about creating something really helpful for your users, then you will definitely be successful in this task.

Illustration

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The graphics of your website are important, especially because they will make your audience notice the most important points. Not to mention that these are very entertaining and relaxing, and at the same time they offer your webpage an appealing and interesting look. Besides being attention grabbers, the illustrations also have the purpose of explaining the users the steps of various processes, and therefore you should not miss the great opportunity of including these “multi-tasking” features.

Another thing you should take into consideration is the fact that in case you must create a hierarchy of focal points, then illustrations will definitely help you achieve this goal. When creating this hierarchy the web designer should arrange the points of interest, depending on their importance. Therefore, a bigger illustration should be used for the most important matter, while some little ones should be saved for the other points that follow in rank.

Buttons

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The most popular attention grabbers nowadays are the call to action buttons. People love these and they usually love to click them, just because they are curious to see certain photo galleries, restaurant menus, store offers, and so on. Besides that, they are very easy to spot: they are big, and they often come in red. So, placing buttons on your website will definitely catch the eye of your audience, who will become intrigued and curios. Just remember that famous line that Dee Dee (Dexter’s Laboratory) used to say: “What does this button do?”

Long story short, it would be a shame not to include buttons on your website because they are very effective: they are visible, people are accustomed to them and also, they offer valuable info to the visitors. However, web designers should be careful. It is not a secret that once people find that something is effective they tend to overuse that certain item. As a result, less is better in this case, otherwise your buttons will no longer be effective and useful.

Simple decoration

It goes without saying that simple decorative elements will help you put the emphasis on the most important points of your webpage. And, especially that these days people love minimalist and clear websites, you will have the chance to make your projects modern and useful at the same time. Everybody knows that the best way of creating great effects and of drawing the attention towards the most significant issues could be made through the use of colors and positioning. Certain techniques you could use in your advantage would be: the color contrast, the arrangement of the focal points, depending on their size or the utilization of various minimalist features.

Therefore, you should definitely think about the simple decoration, because your users love it (it is simple yet appealing), it is not time consuming (it helps the website load fast) and it will definitely play an important role at accentuating the most important and significant items of your website.

The whitespace

If you want to use as little effects and features as possible, and if you want to rely on the power of the whitespace, then you will definitely manage to draw the attention of your readers towards the focal points. Actually, it is important to realize that the whitespace has quite numerous advantages and that it represents a great manner of creating your focal points. In case you wonder why, then you should know that a white and clean space will make it possible for the visitors to notice and observe the features that are crucial for your website and that will help them achieve their tasks faster.

At the same time, if your website has plenty of white space, it means that there are fewer elements. As a result your readers won’t have to go through exhausting searches, in order to get the things they need. Obviously that this also means that you will gain loyal visitors, because usually people are more satisfied with a website that emphasizes the most important factors, without causing them too much stress.

The typography

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Of course that, certain parts of the text of your website must be accentuated and thus become focal points. This is possible, by using a special typeface and by playing with the font size, the text color or the spaces between characters and lines. Ways of transforming your typography into a focal point would be, for example: using red (which is definitely an attention grabber), increasing the font size when necessary, even to certain extents of adopting a huge typography, or simply writing in bold or italic.

Anyway, one should not forget about this important manner of creating a focal point, because texts and their typography could really add a nice effect to your website and they could represent important attention grabbers.

In the end, it is important for web designers to think about this matter deeply, because people need to be guided when coming across new websites that might entertain or inform them. So, create focal points for your website and you will benefit from numerous advantages.

Six Things to Keep In Mind When Developing a Website

Much goes into developing a website on the technical side of things but an area of discussion that isn’t so frequent is all the other little things that need to be in place in order for you to finish. This article is going to list six of those things you should keep in mind throughout the development process.

Documenting the Process

You never quite know what you may learn or discover when you’re working which is why it’s good practice to keep a journal of notes and ideas as they come to you. One or two of these ideas could become your next project or it could be something you need to recall. A simple pen & paper will work fine for the most part but you may want to go the extra mile by using something like Evernote so you can access these at any time from anywhere.

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Performing Regular Backups

Remember to do regular backups of your work files as you progress through the development to avoid any setbacks if you lose these files due to user error or a technical problem. You can use services like Dropbox, for free, to automatically back up these files.

Doing an “Average Joe” Test

Design is based around principles and creativity but even our best intentions and ideas sometimes fall flat when it reaches the end user. Sometime throughout the process, try getting someone that’s completely random to look over your work. This set of fresh eyes can identify problems with the work you may not see because you’re too involved and greatly aid with the usability of the site.

Protecting that Computer

When working with a mass of files, resources, and communications somewhere along the line you could end up clicking on something that is malicious. Being attacked by a hacker or falling victim to malware can ruin all of your hard work if it’s severe. Make sure you’re protected. There’s no excuse, especially with so many programs out there offering free antivirus for malware protection.

antivirus.com

Getting Enough Rest

Development work can require you to spend a great deal of time in front of the computer to meet deadlines which often leads to plenty of late nights into the wee hours of the morning. However, when you’re tired you begin to make mistakes and these mistakes simply set you further and further back because you have to do the revisions. Make sure you’re getting an ample amount of sleep so you’re working to the best of your ability.

Balancing Out Your Schedule

High profile clients may demand a great deal of your time and of course you’ll bend over backwards for them because it’s such a lucrative contract. Don’t forget about the little guys. Blowing off the smaller clients to work on the big project can really do a number to your profits because you never know if these small clients are the type to keep coming back time and time again. Make sure you’re balancing your schedule so you’re not putting your eggs in one basket, basically.

Developing a website is really quite exciting whether it’s for your projects or for a client. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the coding and design process and then completely forget about all the other factors that go into being able to complete the work. Check to make sure you’re keeping these things covered next time you’re working and you’ll definitely be a rock star at your work.