4 Key Elements to Developing Modern Web Design

There are numerous plans you can follow when it comes to building a website. However, the basic points remain the same. If you want to generate higher traffic, it is very essential to focus on a few critical factors when developing good looking and effective web design.

You should take in consideration whitespace, great images, clear calls-to-action, search functionality and other elements that can make a lot of difference. Some of these key elements are described below:

Right Use of Spacing

When it comes to an effective web design, it is very important to manage space effectively. It helps in dictating flow, readability and navigation of the page. More designers now use space in an effective manner to increase web traffic and increase user engagement.

The key is to use spacing between lines of text, expanding open space and maintaining spatial relationships. There should be a consistency in spacing and the amount of space between lines should remain the same throughout a page. The right usage of space is also essential in creating a focal point. Any image or text which is surrounded by white space will seem larger and heavier than other material on the page.

Read more

5 Benefits of a User-Friendly Web Design

Considering the fierce competition in the digital market, you can never be too user-friendly for your audience. However, according to digital agencies, it can be very difficult to implement unique marketing strategies to attract your targeted users.

Slinky Digital says that developing an effective web design for your site is one way you can get the attention of your potential buyers. Although there are countless technical and promotional benefits of a good web design, some of the most common web design etiquette include:

1.      Increased Activity on Your Page

You will be able to engage more visitors to stay on your page. Since the basic objective is not only to attract visitors but to turn them into customers, you need someone to go through the different pages of your website, read your content, know about your services and take the necessary actions as suggested on the site.

If your website does not have a strong web design, most people who get to your page will leave immediately. A website needs to be build to create sufficient interest on the user’s part.

Read more

5 Common Mistakes in Web Design That Drive Visitors Away

Website owners do their best to attract, hold and retain the interest of their users. They promote their web pages on various social media platforms, invest in web design and hire the best professionals to generate optimum results. However, more often than not, the website fails to capture enough attention.  In most of the cases, this is due to a simple mistake on the web designer’s part.

Mistakes that seem very small on the surface can significantly impact the appeal of a website. Usually, the fault is so subtle that it is hard to even pinpoint. However, it can drive hundreds of visitors away every day. So, what are some of these understated errors that are doing so much harm? Let’s check them out!

1.     Broken Links on Site

This is one of the strongest reasons for why people usually leave a website. If a visitor wants to reach another page on your site but the link is broken, it can leave a very bad impression. Any bad links, hyperlinks that redirect to the same page, links that do nothing or lead to error pages can be very frustrating for the users. The best way to get rid of such errors is to constantly keep a check on your web pages. It is also important to include a ‘Contact the Webmaster’ option, in case any emergency arises. This way, users will have minimum difficulty in navigating through the pages.

Read more

Are You Getting a New Web Design? 6 Things to Consider

web-design

You have committed your time and money to creating a new website for your business. If you think all you need to do is to choose a web designer you would be wrong. If you want a website that’s highly successful there are plenty of things you need to do. Before you have your web designer builds your website, there is plenty to carefully plan, because if you plan poorly it’s going to cost you time and money, and you’ll be disappointed. Let’s look at 6 things you should consider.

  1. Establish the aim, target and theme of your website –  What will you do on your website? Sell products/services, provide information, etc. You also need to know who your target market is because that will also determine what your theme will look like. If you want a site that’s successful, you need to know your target market.
  1. Know what it will cost – You will want to know how long it will take to launch your website and what the web design is going to cost you. You’ll also want to know what it will cost monthly if the web designer takes care of the monthly maintenance.

Read more

Skills You Need to Become a Successful Web Designer

Web designing has evolved into a competitive market niche and it can be quite difficult to excel in this area. There are a lot of factors that contribute to the success of a website. The designer has to focus on multiple elements while delivering a project on time. If you aim to become an accomplished web designer, some of the most important skills you should acquire are:

Written Communication Is the Key

To be a successful web designer, this is one of the most important skills you need. The success of your website largely depends on the quality of content you use. The best web designer should not only know what banners to put on a web page, but also know the effective use of words to ensure readability of the content.

Read more

4 Top Web Design Trends for 2013

When it comes to affordable web design, it seems 2013 is going to see some changes in the trends. Let’s have a look at 4 top web design trends for this year.

  • Typography – Front & Centre

    Web designers are focused on the weight each component, like JavaScript or images, has on the site they are building. In the last couple of years there have been huge improvements to web type, which means that typography usages is likely to become the central design element. Layouts and typography based on content can be made responsive much easier.

  • Designs That Are More Responsive

    Responsive websites aren’t new, but what is new is the methodology behind the responsive web design. 2012 we saw a focus on responsive designs for new devices like the iPad mini. For 2013, the focus is more likely to be focused around the responsiveness of the website itself rather than the numerous devices on the market.

Read more

Google and Privacy: Much Ado About Nothing

google-privacy-policy

So it turns out that self-confessed Google junkies really don’t give a flip whether Google collects data on them or not. No, in fact, some of them say “yeah, bring it on!” This is the counter-reaction to the reaction to the new Google privacy policy. Another one is this guy, who points out that Google underestimated his age by half.

Look, people, it’s this simple:

  • You can opt out any time.
  • You can get five computers with three web browsers on each and delete cookies and search as 15 different strangers if you’re that paranoid.
  • Google is only collecting data and saving it to target marketing. That’s been the cornerstone of capitalism since the invention of money.
  • All this data will consist of is your interests, and guess at your gender and age. It doesn’t steal your credit card or anything.
  • Some of us (blog writers, for instance) have interests that aren’t going to make sense to a tracking algorithm anyway.

OK? Can everybody quit panicking?

How Could We Lose Dennis Ritchie and John McCarthy In the Same Month?

dennis-ritchie-and-john-mcc

Never heard of those two names? If so, we’re sorry for you. You would have to know that Steve Jobs died. Everybody (at least in the tech blog world) knows that he’s the founder and longtime CEO of Apple Inc. He made the front page of newspapers and the cover of magazines the world over when he passed away this last October.

But two more giants in computing passed away last October also, and they were barely noticed.

Dennis Ritchie founded the C programming language. He was also one of the founding fathers of Unix. He was one half of the partnership of Ken Thompson, with whom he basically invented the modern operating system and the modern programming platform as we know it today.

Read more

What Does Responsive Web Design Mean?

“Responsive” is the new word going around the web design campfire. It was first coined by the web design blog “A List Apart” and has become the term being batted around the meeting table every Monday morning.

OK, but what does responsive web design mean? For a web design to be responsive, that means that it must respond to how it is viewed. In other words, it should serve different content or styling depending on if a visitor is using a mobile phone, a tablet, a laptop, or a full-screen desktop to view it. And these days, you have to throw in people browsing on anything from a gaming console to an Arduino-powered wristwatch.

A side-order of other buzzwords: “Multi-device layout patterns” – the template for a responsive website. “Dynamic CSS” – Cascading Style Sheets that warp to fit whatever screensize you view it on. “Viewport” – the screen space you have available. And you’re likely to see “responsive web design” abbreviated as “RWD.”

Read more

Adobe v HTML5

The story of the Internet has always been a battle between the old guard corporations and the new guard users.

So, Microsoft has had to battle against Free and Open Source software, IBM had to battle against the PC clones, Apple had to battle against the PC, proprietary Unix had to battle against BSDs, and so on. remember DEC? The Digital Equipment Corporation once ruled the computing world with the PDP and the VAX throughout the 1970s. But time goes by and progress marches on.

What’s bizarre is that corporations don’t seem to learn from history. Adobe, which has already had to fight for its survival when the free image-editor Gimp has risen to challenge Adobe’s flagship cash cow Photoshop, now finds itself at odds over its second most-lucrative business, Flash. HTML5 is coming, inevitably, and there’s very little that Adobe’s proprietary Flash platform can do that HTML5’s canvas element can’t.

Read more