Posts In Web Design & Development

Myths Of The Mobile Web – Demystified

Hi,

The Mobile Web is fast gaining popularity. With the increase in the number of mobile web users, more and more businesses are trying to tap in this audience. The benefits of the mobile web are immense. However, there are even a lot of skeptics who still hesitate to mobilize their website... primely because they are still caught up in some myths and misconceptions.

Here are some of the popular myths doing the rounds and the real facts behind them...

Myth 1: Content on the Mobile Web is not Chargeable

Fact: Wrong! In fact, if you know what to sell, then mobile web can be an excellent place to make some easy money! For example if you have a travel portal or a cinema ticketing service, you will have a lot of mobile users. Its just that you need to know where the demand is and what will sell on the mobile web.

Myth: Mobile websites are just smaller versions of desktop websites

Fact: Not really. Mobile websites shouldn't be mere (small sized) imitations of the desktop versions. Since the area of the mobile screen is limited it wouldn't make sense to transfer all the contents as it is. Instead, you need to feature the elements of your website that will be useful for the mobile web users and discard off the rest. For example, if you have an online store, not many would want to read your company information and stuff. People would rather like to check pricing, compare or make a purchase.

Myth: Extras add to the Visual Appeal

Fact: Nope! They neither contribute to the visual appeal nor do they ease the functionality. Rather, they just serve to distract users from their prime purpose. Instead focus on the basic elements that you need to present in the web design that users require.

So, there you go! I guess you have a much clearer picture of the mobile web now! Just break free off all these misconceptions and get ready to tap the full benefits of the Mobile Web.

Maneet Puri

Professional Web Developer

Building Social Networking Websites Vs. Being On Social Networking Websites - What's More Easier?

Hi,

Social Networking websites have become such a rage. There cannot be an ardent web surfer who doesn't have a profile on communities like Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Be it a high end web professional or an ardent amateur hacker, everyone has a space to claim on these online communities.

Just that.. maintaining my profiles on so many websites becomes a tad tiring. So much so that I guess it's an easier job to build them... or is it? Let me compare the two...

Creation

• Creating a profile on social networking websites is a fairly easy task. Just fill in some details and you are ready to go!

• Creating a social networking website requires a bit more of work. From coding to designing to demarking... its a strenuous procedure! Web site development
  

Daily Management
Being on social networking websites and really having an active presence there means I have to devote a good amount of time for it each day. And then I have to reply to comments, answer questions, post some update and do quite a bit to maintain my profile.

After building a social networking website, future management is near minimum unless you have the moderation duties to perform. Moderation requires you to browse through the happenings of the website and make sure things are in good health. This yeah... is way more difficult that simply maintaining one profile!

Result
Being on social networking websites gets you a lot of friends, connects you with like minded people and if you are serious about your business, it gives you an opportunity to communicate directly with your industry audience. Thats a plentiful!

Building social networking websites gets you a fat paycheque! And gives you an opportunity to tell anyone that “I have build the house of which you occupy a room of!!” now that's a stealer again!

Website Footers – What All Can You Do With Them?

Hi,

Footers have always been a long neglected child of website design. It is only recently that the web community has come to realize the tremendous opportunities that footer designs provide and what all you can do with it.

Not only can you disseminate important information but footers can also acts a great navigational tool. It is best to keep the design simple and light and not to overload it with information. In fact, the secret behind great footer designs is the right balance of useful and interesting information.

Here are some things that you should include:

Contact Us Link
Chances are that if your visitors have liked what they saw while scrolling down the page, they would be interested in contacting you. It could be for some general information or it could even be for requesting a quote for your services. And you sure wouldn't want to miss something like that. So make sure you have a contact us link on your website footer.

Links to Your Other Websites
If you are a business enterprise having many verticals of business, then you can possibly offer links to your other websites in your footer. If your visitors like your website and want to do business with you, they would certainly like to check out your other websites as well.

Blog Link
Another great link that you can provide in your footer is your blog. Your blog is a place where you have an informal discussion about your business and concerned industry. Your visitors would obviously love to check that out.

Sitemap
A sitemap is an instant location tracker of a website. Your visitors can view all the pages of your website in their hierarchical order and decide where to go. This will ease their browsing experience and make it more fruitful. Moreover, this would involve lesser number of clicks.

Mozilla Releases Prism 1.0

Mozilla has just released the beta version of Prism 1.0, an application that enables users to split web applications out of the browser and run then on the desktops.

Even though web applications enjoy immense popularity among the online population, they don't fit well into the interface of web browsers. This is because browser controls like location bars, back/forward buttons etc. interfere with seamless viewing.

Mozilla's Prism is an attempt to bridge the gap between web applications and desktop applications. It allows users to add their favorite web application to their desktops and work from there. The applications open in their own individual window and can be worked upon from there. And the beauty of Prism is its compatibility. Any application that can run in a modern web browser can run seamlessly in Prism. It supports a range of internet technologies like HTML, JavaScript, CSS and runs on all Windows, Mac and Linux.

Some of the sleek features of Prism are...

• New API functionality that gives Prism-enabled websites more desktop-like power
• Ability to adjust fonts, proxy settings, and other application-specific settings
• On demand clearance of private data
• Automatic updates on release of new version of Prism
• Tray icon support in addition to Submenus for dock and system tray menus
• Full OS X 10.4 support
• Support for SSL exceptions.

You can either access Prism as a standalone application or as a Firefox extension. And adding applications to Prism are even easier.

Just go to the website that you want to add.
Click Tools → Convert Website to Application.
A Prism pop-up box will open
Choose between placing the application on the desktop or in an application folder.
Set the Icon image

Happy Browsing with Prism!

Bye

The Silver Web Lining In The Dark Economic Cloud!

Hi,

Businesses across the world are feeling the heat of credit crunch and recession. Companies have stripped down their budgets and are functioning on limited resources. And they are increasingly shifting their focus from traditional media to the World Wide Web.

Of course, there is nothing like the Internet that can act as a cost competitive medium to market your products and services to a global audience. In fact a strong web presence can help businesses to establish their brand on the internet and beat the effects of this grim economic climate. Companies who still don't see the immense potential of the internet be at a great competitive disadvantage against the ones that do. However, success on the internet doesn't come easy as well. With the increase in competition, it has become all the more difficult to get noticed on the internet and make a difference.

Here are some tips to start your online endeavor.

Launch a Professional Company Website
Your company website would be the corporate face of your business on the world wide web. It should establish your brand and act as a communication channel for your niche industry audience. Hire a professional web development company to design the website for you. Don't take any chance with this, because you need to out your best foot forward isn't it? Make sure the web design company understands your business and its core objectives. Only then will they be able to create a website that complements your business and caters to your niche market segments.

Search Engine Optimization
Creating a website is one thing. Making it popular is quite another. For your website to get popular and attract relevant traffic from the internet you need to do some search engine optimization. It the is processes of optimizing your website for specific keywords so that it gets listed on the top slots of search results. When your website is listed on the top, you will get more incoming traffic.

Online Marketing
In addition to search engine optimization, online marketing methods work really well to promote your website. Popular online marketing strategies include email marketing, affiliate marketing, PPC advertisements and so on.

Importance Of Content For An E-Commerce Website

Hi,

Content is a crucial aspect of websites. In fact, it is extremely important for e-commerce website design because online shoppers love customer-oriented content and this further improves the website rank in search results and increase sales.

An effective procedure of search engine optimization is to create convincing content that appeals to the internet population and people automatically link to your website. When more number of quality websites link to your website, its credibility increases and it fares better on the search engine results.

Here are some types of content that you can add to your website.

Demonstrations
You can include demo videos on your website that inform visitors and potential customers about how to use a product. Real-life videos of the products being used attracts millions of views and further boosts the PageRank of the website. This is because people like to see things in action. They want to see for themselves how a product would work and nothing works better than videos for the same.

How To Information
Another useful bit of information that you can include is 'how-to' use the products. Apart from specific details about the products, how-to information tells visitors about how they can use the product. You can use a bullet-pointed list to inform the visitors about the essential steps of using the products.

Blogs
Maintain a blog where you can talk to your audiences informally about what is going on in your industry. You can inform them about the happening within your company and business and also subtly promote your products and services. The idea is to tell the visitors about how the products will benefit them rather than just praising your showcase of products.

Special Landing Pages
For all the coupons and special discounts that you offer, consider adding a landing page where you can talk exclusively about them.

So go ahead.. Start writing!

Colors In Website Design – How Do They Enhance Brand Recognition?

Hi,

Colors are an integral part of the website design . It not only provides an enhanced visual appeal to the website but also defines the user experiences on it. Research has shown that colors in website design have an impact on the psychology of people and would influence their feelings and subsequently, their decisions.

Just as they enhance the user experience of a website, colors also help to build a strong business brand and establish its presence in the market. Different colors have different properties and associations. By using a combination of colors to build your brand, you will actually adopt those properties and exhibit a key message. Colors have the power to evoke certain emotions and feelings in people towards your brand. Therefore, it is very important that you carefully select colors that would represent your brand in the market.

Importance of Color
Colors are extremely powerful mediums of expression. Once you establish a strong brand in the market, people with actually start associating your business with a specific color. This acts a superb identification trait and gives a boost to your market presence. Make sure you are consistent in the use of the color. If you have a established logo or products or marketing materials, your website design should also fall in place with the same.

Selecting Colors for your Website?
It could be a daunting task to check out various color combination and key one specific set to design your website in. Before you start choosing colors for your website, here are some questions that you need to ask yourself.

What is your favorite color?
What colors represent your brand and business?
What colors describe the characteristics of your products or services?

A professional website design company can assist you in the process and advice you on the best colors that should be used for your website. So go ahead... Happy Coloring!