Posts In Web Design & Development

Website Improvement – Design & Development

Hi,

I was supposed to get you information about SEO yeah… But I’ll just push it off for next week. Before that there are certain website design and development considerations that I think I should discuss first.

After all SEO comes only after… doesn’t it?

So while designing… let the creativity flow. But be a little sane too. Here is how.

Images Illusions
What is a website without images? But then what images if they cannot work for your website? Make sure you optimize all the images of your website and keep them relevant to what is written.

Design from the Scratch
Before you start on with your graphic editor, wait a minute. Get hold of a pencil and paper and start scribbling. Think about the design that you want and try sketching various layouts and wireframes. This will give you a much better picture about what you want where!

Clear the Visibility
When you work hard to get that website, you sure want people to see it. and ‘see’ it well enough! Make sure that the page elements (and that includes the text) contrasts well with the background and is clearly visible. Maintain a decent enough text size. Not everyone has a 6/6 vision!

Consistent Layout
If each page of your website looks like someplace else from the previous ones, then no one will remember where from they started and where are they headed. Keep the layout of your website consistent so that visitors identify and navigate easily!

Testing
Now this is a limitless possibility. Check, check and re-check! Just make sure your website performs well in all scenarios. Across different platforms, different browsers and so on…
Just take care of these points and you can have a smooth ride up search engine charts later. Next week it is all about SEO

Website Improvement - Accessibility & Usability

Hi,

With the number of websites populating the World Wide Web by the second, it’s astounding to note how many of them score badly on the design part. Here is a quick refresher course to improve your website that I’ll be discussing in 5 parts

In the first part, let me tell you some usability and accessibility issues:

If people can’t access your website, they can’t stay. Likewise if they can’t use your website, they won’t stay! Accessibility and usability go together. Here are some things you can take care of to make them as smooth as can be.

Navigation
Make sure the navigation pathway of your website is as smooth and flawless as can be. An easy and consistent navigation throughout the website makes for a rich user experience.

Just a bit of advice: Think not how easily you can browse through, but think how easy a newcomer will be able to get through the website!

Search
There is absolutely no excuse for not having a search box on your website. No matter the nature or complexity of the website, a search box cuts down a 15 minute task to 15 second job! Its like giving your visitors what they need in a fraction of what they would have taken to search it.

A quick note: Though it’s best to have a custom search facility, a third party search like Google can be added in a jiffy!

Click ‘Some’where
‘Click Here!’ Now does that mean anything at face value? Make sure you specify to your visitors what you want them to click on. Replace all the ‘click here’ signs on your website with ‘click to __’ ones.

Tag the Titles and Alts
Title tags and Alt tags are not without reason. If you haven’t already, specify them clearly on the navigation elements on all the pages of your website.

Note: Search engine crawlers place increased weight on the title tags. Including your prime keywords in them can double up y6our chances of getting top the top slots of search engine results!

Cleanse
Banish all sorts of useless code snippets from the website. Don’t take over your visitors’ desktop. Let them browse as they want and don’t make decisions for them like resizing browser windows and opening them in new windows altogether.

So, that was about the usability and accessibility part. Wait till next week when I get you more on SEO

A quick fix way to get thigs right is to hire profeesional web design services.

Yahoo Changing – Inch By Inch!

Those of you who have been regular (read daily) visitors on the Yahoo homepage might not have noticed it but someone who made a visit after a month is welcomed by a new homepage design!

It’s no magic. It’s just one of Yahoo’s super-brain tactics. Yeah… Yahoo is introducing a new revamped homepage design but so subtly that there is hardly any room left for shocked visitors.

Redesigning a hugely popular portal page is not without risk. A slight change that doesn’t go well with audiences may translate into huge losses for the company in advertising revenue. This is the reason Yahoo is incorporating bit by bit changes to small segments of audiences at a time at the same time gathering all the feedback from users.

Redesigned parts of the homepage was introduced to selected segment of audiences in US, UK, France and India and comments were closely reviewed to analyze what exactly worked right or wrong.  After a whole deal of permutations and combinations, new design changes were incorporated and layout was altered to suit audience preferences.

And this by far is working wonderfully for the company whose goal is to attain a completely revamped homepage design without losing any of its audience traffic.

Internet users are an impatient lot, spoilt to the core. They get used to a certain layout and way things are done on a web page and don’t really appreciate abrupt changes. However, loyalty being a least practiced term, websites can’t risk their audiences by following their desire to innovate. In such a scenario, Yahoo’s approach is a real maestro!

Yahoo aims to create a homepage that will act as a dashboard for the web. Users will be able to customize the home page as per their needs and can include more content from other websites, add applications that can track their activities across the web and other social networking features.

This is how website redesigning should be like!

As Tapan Bhat, Yahoo executive puts it… Switching on a 100 watt bulb in a dark room might be a little too heavy for your eyes. It’s best to light with a dimmer!

 Till next time… Byeee!

CSS- The Best Bet For Your Website!

CSS or Cascading Style Sheets is a form of mark up language that controls the layout of the pages of your website.

What was all about HTML earlier has now been taken oven by CSS and taken well for that matter. It has been around for quite some years now and is supported by all major browsers be it IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera etc.

Here are some benefits of CSS that makes it the best choice for your site!

Snappier Web Pages

You can decrease the ‘render time’ of your web pages. This means faster page downloads and happy users! Moreover, with CSS and the correctly specified Doc Type, the browser guesses the upcoming code displays the content more quickly.

Quick Updates

No more do you have to slog to make corrections in each and every page of your website to give the website an image makeover. CSS makes it possible to do it in a jiffy. That is you juts have to make the desired change in one file and the effect will be spread out to the whole website!

Having a red tint for Christmas cannot get easier than this!

Optimization for Search Engines

CSS eliminates a lot of HTML code off your pages and clears the air for content there making it all the more prominent for search engines. Less work for search engine crawlers to locate your text means better indexing!

Multi Device Browsing

CSS makes your website easily and efficiently accessible through a variety of browsing devices like mobile phones, PDAs, screen readers and so on. This means increased audience to your website.

With so many benefits to its credit, it is no surprise that CSS is taken as a rule rather than an option in website designing. And you know about a professional web development company when you know how it uses CSS!

Score A Home Run With Your Home Page!

Hi,

The homepage of your website… The page that greets your visitors when they type out your URL! It is not to say that it should be designed well and good.

But then the homepage is not restricted to offering a visual elegance to your website. It can be made to work for your business too.

To start with, your homepage is the most unique page of your website.

Why?

Because it is something you can use at your will.

How is that?

Because all the other pages are user requested. Like if your visitors want to know more about your company and business they will go to the ‘About Us’ page and if they need information about your offerings, they’ll visit your ‘Services’ page and you will have to cater them with appropriate information.

But the homepage is a default area where you are free to tell your visitors what YOU want!

Now how do you make your homepage interesting and work to boost your business? Here are a few clues….

Offer More than What They Seek

Visitors come for information. And by all means give them clear instructions where they can find what they need. But then telling them about some things more would do no harm. The home page is a place where you can showcase all that you want to (without creating a mess though)

Offer them things that they might be interested in and would be likely to respond positively. However, do take care not to mess it up!

Change the Look Now and Then

Who wants to walk into a store that hasn’t changed face since last season? Now website redesigns are not a feasible thing to go every new season. But that doesn’t mean you can’t play with the look of your homepage!

Trust me, you’ll get more visits it people feel you have something new to offer every new season. Highlight new offers, put on seasonal discounts, add small festival graphics… There is so much you can do with it!

New! Fresh! Latest!

These are the words that draw crowd. Make good use of them. But don’t let it be blatant claims. Rather back the talk with fresh new offerings on regular basis. Be it fresh content, latest information about your industry, new developments at your end…. Just make sure you have a link on the homepage.

So go ahead! If you think your homepage is just a part of welcome staff, it's time to score the home run and make it work for you! Consult a professional web design company to get ideas for the same.

Apple.com- Simple Sophistication

Hi,

It had been quite some time since I went into Apple store. And when I did just now because I had to check out i-pods… I was in for a treat!

I have always loved the Apple site for its professional website design. Simple and sophisticated! And its sheer ease of usability and accessibility. So let me just honor it!

Great Use of Colors

Well the Apple site is always in shades of black, white and grey with loads of whitespace around. This makes for a better way of presenting its extensive range of products without giving out an appearance of mess. The feeling of space lets visitors relax and spend more time on the website.

The best thing I like about the site is the way it highlights its products with vibrant colors while the subtle background colors let it have all the attention. There is no distraction whatsoever and visitors pay attention to stuff that they want them to.

This is what I rate as an example of color management. Where every shade serves a purpose!

Excellent Navigation

The navigation bar of the website may not seem very unique or different. You might not even realize but the fact is it is on of the smoothest navigation pathways

One measure of a good navigation system I consider is that visitors should not even realize that they are making an effort to navigate. It should be all served upfront and pose no hindrance.

Clean Layout

The layout is as clean as can be. With absolute no mess, it looks like the high end boutique stores that are miles ahead of clumsy departmental stores.

Other Score Points

• Fonts are clear and crisp

• Image quality is excellent

• Cool icons!

I can only applaud! Didn’t fins absolutely anything to criticize. Tell me if you have something…

To Chrome Or Not?

hi,

Google chrome has finally arrived and like any other product from Google, this has created ripples too.

It’s good... Yeah it is. And here are some reasons why it is!

It doesn’t crash!

Yeah… Its true. Chrome has a multi process architecture that prevents any bad web page from affecting your browser. All the tabs and windows have their own environment and anything happening on one would not affect others. Moreover it doubles up the security level as all the websites function in different environments.

Its super duper fast!

You have to try it to believe the speed of the browser. And again because of the multi process architecture, one slow site wouldn’t pull down the speed of other websites that are open.

Hardly noticeable

For all those who have marked off the toolbar options, Chrome is the place to be. The browser in itself is hardly noticeable as it devotes maximum space for the website display.

Simpler searches

There is one Omnibox and that is about it. it is a multipurpose tab at the top of the browser where you can type in the website address, a search query or both of them and the browser presents you the best relevant results.

Traveling tabs

Chrome has redefined the tab functionality altogether. You can pull out a tab from an existing window and open it in another window. And you can even move tabs across windows. That is the whole deal about traveling tabs ;-)

Dynamic homepage

Chrome has a dynamic homepage that lists your favorite search engines and bookmarks along with the last 9 websites visited. But yes… you have full freedom to set up any different home page.

So much for the goodies! I have listed some drawbacks too which I will present in the next post.

Web Content Stolen- Help!!

Hi,

I have received so many mails over the week from people who were and perhaps are… poor victims of website content theft.

So here are some ways to fight against the theft:

Find out the Culprit

Content theft not only steals content and images from your website but it also washes of your search engine ranking owing to duplicity issues. And that would be a major blow of your business, especially so if it is an online one.

Keep a track of all the duplicate content that you manage to find and search on ‘Whois.com’ for the domain owner and company name.

Send a Cease-and-Desist letter

Though sending a polite and firm mail demanding removal of all plagiarized content to the website owner may well suffice in most cases, you will have to take more stringent measures if no action is taken.

Hire a lawyer so as to make you accusation more strong and add clout to your letter. Moreover, she/he can also guide you through the proceedings if required.

Contact the Web Hosting Company

If there is no response even after two warning letters, then its about time you complained to the hosting company of the offending website. Most hosting companies have strict guidelines for any cases od copyright infringement. A threat from the hosting company or the web development company themselves to remove the website from the server may trigger off appropriate reaction.

File a Lawsuit

Going to the courts is generally kept as the last option because of the costs and risks involved. Most cases are lucky enough to get sorted out before that but you sure can scare the offending website!

There you are... You can breathe easy now! Content theft is dangerous but avoidance and setting it right are not too much burden!

The Changing Face Of E-Commerce!

Hi,

So, what’s with the British report that proclaims that sales on the World Wide Web are going to account for more than half the retail growth by 2012?

Yeah … It’s true. And, all because of the growing number of e-commerce websites on the internet and the increasing trust factor among online shoppers. The concept of online shopping is soaring and that probably has to do with the fact that consumers are under tremendous time pressure and prefer an easy way to shop!

So what makes the e-commerce websites so appealing that they score over the malls and shops? Let’s have a look what makes for a great e-commerce website design

Quick and Easy Access
Shoppers should be able to find what they want easily and quickly. So design your website with a structured approach.

• Identify important products on your site, like something exclusive or something that you are selling in cheaper rates than your competitors.
• Spot your keywords and optimize your site around them
• Feature these products on your homepage

Consumer Confidence
Gaining customer confidence works two ways:

• One, you need to convince them to buy the products on sale
• Second, you need to convince them to buy it from YOU and no        where else
And to achieve both these objectives you need to take care of some key points:
• Use good quality images to display the products, both thumbnail and large
• Include an informative description piece
• Break the text into readable chunks and use paragraphs, headings bullet points etc.
• Mention guarantee and return policies
• Showcase discount options and special offers

Delivery Guidelines
The most important part of online shopping is ‘delivery.’ One of the primary reasons for people to shop online is that they get access to their goods faster and much quicker.

• Display delivery charges and duration clearly on the site before the check-out level
• Provide many delivery options like same day delivery, next day delivery etc.

Search & Navigation
A Search Box is absolutely essential on your e-commerce website. That’s ‘cause not everyone comes to buy the products feature on the homepage. Your visitors should be able to find and locate the products they desire easily rather than scanning all the pages of the site. Also make sure the navigation pathway of the site is clear and well organized.

Building Blocks Of Website Design

Hi,

If you have just got your website design project completed, here is a 10 point checklist that you should refer to…

Web Analytics
Make sure your website has a good analytics solution. It is very important to have a baseline to measure the performance of the website in future. I use Google Analytics for my projects and it is well enough.

Cross Browser Compatibility
Not making sure that your website is accessible to all internet users may limit your possibilities to reach worldwide. It is very important to make your website function well on all the popular browsers and even not-so-popular ones like Opera, Safari etc.

Title Tags
Google loves title tags and that’s what it indexes the most. So make sure you specify appropriate title tags to all the pages of your website and especially so for the home page.

Ranking well on Google will just be a step nearer! Trust me.. you will see your traffic soar.

Custom 404 Page
No one likes to see a 404 Error Page on the visiting site. It might as well be the reason to make them leave and never come back. So, make sure the 404 error page gets tracked back to your web analytics tool. Identify broken links and get ready to correct them.

If there is too much of traffic on the 404 error page then set up a 301 redirect in order to guide the traffic to the right place.

Broken Links
Fixing up broken links is not a very fun process but then it is of utmost important if you want to have a smooth user experience.

Canonical Redirects
Always use 301 redirects to redirect your website to one consistent URL. For example if you have your site without the ‘www’ then make sure you redirect it to the “www’ URL.

Sitemap
All websites should have sitemaps. Not only does it make it easy for the search engines to index all the pages of your website but also helps estranged visitors on your website to figure out where they want to go.

Do make sure to update it as and when you add pages!

That’s about it! The next time you get your website designed from a professional web development company, you know what to check!

Till next time… Byeee