Web Design Trends Are Changing. Is Your Designer Keeping Pace?

Web design trends change at the drop of a hat, no doubt. While solid icons were all over the place till a few months back, they have now been replaced by their hollow counterparts. In fact, hollow icons are a hot favourite among web designers right now, because it enables them to add versatility to the menu tabs, and also make it easier for them to come up with a flat web design. But the question is: does your designer use these icons? More importantly, are they aware of the other ongoing trends, or have they been following the age-old conventions, depriving you of the opportunity to compete?

Here’s how you can find out: 

• To begin with, gone are the days of 200ppi. Retina displays have taken over, forcing every web designer out there to take the resolution of their design(s) a notch higher. Unless those working on your web design are doing pretty much the same, you must hire some fresh talent ASAP.
  
  
  
  
  

• Also, mobile versions of websites have now made way for responsive design, and that’s what the users prefer, especially for its ability to provide them with a contextually optimised experience, irrespective of the gadget type.

Questions that follow:

• Have you been told that you need two different sites (and designs), one for the desktop users, and another for those with handheld devices?
• Would the second one also serve the interests of users who prefer tablets?
• Are your users comfortable with the idea of switching between sites?

      Responsiveness does seem like a better choice, right? Moving on, side bars, though not completely out of the picture, are no longer as popular as they used to be.  The users now consider these bars as mere distractions, which prevent them focusing on the content of your website. And if you don’t want them to lose focus, you must invest in a full page layout, and give the left and right side bars a miss, if possible. Can your designer do that for you? If not, it’s high time you look for a better web designer in Sydney, or wherever you are.

Look Beyond Contextual Advertising for an Effective Pay Per Click Campaign

The goal of a typical Pay per Click (PPC) campaign is to get you the maximum number of clicks. However, these clicks are only beneficial if they are from people who are actually interested in your products and services. People who just click on your ads out of curiosity may not bring you more business. This is what happens when you rely on contextual advertising. This advertising model may get you several clicks, but most of them are likely to be “curiosity clicks”. To get business, you need qualified clicks from people who are looking for whatever it is that you offer.

You can get these clicks by:

• Creating a landing page – if the page addresses the specific needs of the searchers, it can fetch quite a few clicks. Just make sure you keep your keywords in mind while designing the page. These should preferably be the same keywords that you need to bid on as a part of your Pay per Click campaign.
• Targeting specific ad groups – if your audience comprises several small groups, you can get them to click on your ads by acknowledging their existence. For example, people who are looking for “messenger bags for women” may be different from those who need “messenger bags for men”. If you only offer messenger bags for the ladies, there is no point in targeting the latter.
• Investing in location-specific campaigns: if your business is based out of multiple locations, you should preferably have a different campaign for each of them. Otherwise, you may unknowingly compete against yourself.

A good Pay per Click agency in Sydney (or wherever you are based) can also help you in increasing the number of qualified links by making the necessary changes to your existing campaign.

Here’s Why Just About Any Node Js Developer Won’t Do (and Why You Should Look for a Fast Learner)

Node.js development is undertaken for the creation of scalable server-side and networking applications. However, if your developer doesn’t keep track of the changes that the node.js libraries go through, almost every month, and is unable to address the version issues, if any, can he/she still develop the desired apps for you? The answer is no. For better results, you must hire someone who knows that node.js libraries have an active development cycle. It is also important for the developer to ascertain the platform’s feasibility so that you can take a look at other options, if the need be.

For instance, if you need to get some CRUD (create, read, update and delete) applications developed, he/she should be quick enough to tell you that node js development is perhaps not one of the best options for you in this case and that you should rather consider Ruby on Rails. But what if the node js developer is not willing to accept the platform’s limitations readily? Now, that can cost you a fortune, in terms of money as well as time. So it’s better to avoid hiring any such developer.

That being said, you may also want to look for another node js developer in Sydney, or wherever your business is based, if the one available for hiring is yet to learn the event-driven, functional programming aspects of the platform. He/she must move up the learning curve really fast.

I Am A Website Designer. Let Me Talk You through the Design Process.

For a good web designer, it always starts with the planning. After all, not much can be done before your requirements are analysed, your ideas are heard, a project charter is put in place and the resources are determined (and more importantly, arranged for). Once the planning is taken care of, it’s more about bringing the ideas to life. It is now that your website begins to take shape. A layout is designed first, which is then turned into a mock-up or a prototype. And once you approve of the prototype, it’s coding time. However, changes, if any, are made before the code is written – that’s when it is the easiest to tweak the design as per your liking.

That being said, coding also calls for the involvement of a developer, who needs to perform some key tasks:

• Ensuring that only the most suitable framework is chosen for your website
• Working with you to zero in on the pages to be created
• Introducing special features, if possible, and testing the site for interactivity 
• Taking care of the content part; paying attention to typography and other important details

Once the developer does what he/she is supposed to do, I take over and prepare for the launch of your site. It is my responsibility to fine-tune the design and then transfer it to a live server. However, before transferring the design, I need to make sure that the site has been checked for broken links and other errors. For this, I use various tools, including code validators. And yes, I also check the site for cross-browser compatibility.

 

The Big Day 

Finally, the website is launched. But that doesn’t mean that my role is over.  In fact, being the website designer, I now have a more important role to play. After the site has been launched, you must be provided with proper documentation and the source files so that you can easily make changes later on, if the need be. I hand over these files to you and also ensure that the requirements specified in the charter have been fulfilled.