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Design

Responsive Web Design and Code Samples: The Full Beginners Guide

The use of mobile devices to surf the web continues to grow at an astronomical pace, and these devices are often constrained by display size and require a different approach to how content is laid out on the screen.

Responsive web design responds to the needs of the users and the devices they’re using. The layout changes based on the size and capabilities of the device. For example, on a phone users would see content shown in a single-column view; a tablet might show the same content in two columns.

A multitude of various screen sizes exists across phones, “phablets,” tablets, desktops, game consoles, TVs, and even wearables. Screen sizes are always changing, so your site must adapt to any screen size, today or in the future. In addition, different devices have different features with which we interact with them. For example, some of your visitors will be using a touchscreen. The modern responsive design considers all of these things to optimize the experience for everyone.

Almost every new client these days wants a mobile version of their website. It’s practically essential after all: one design for the BlackBerry, another for the iPhone, the iPad, netbook, and Kindle — and all screen resolutions must be compatible, too. In the next five years, we’ll likely need to design some additional inventions. When will the madness stop? It won’t, of course.

In the field of Web design and development, we’re quickly getting to the point of being unable to keep up with the endless new resolutions and devices. For many websites, creating a website version for each resolution and new device would be impossible, or at least impractical. Should we just suffer the consequences of losing visitors from one device, for the benefit of gaining visitors from another? Or is there another option?

What Is Responsive Web Design?

Responsive Web Design

Responsive Web design is the approach that suggests that design and development should respond to the user’s behavior and environment based on screen size, platform, and orientation for mobile friendly experience.

The practice consists of a mix of flexible grids and layouts, images, and intelligent use of CSS media queries. As the user switches from their laptop to an iPad, the website should automatically switch to accommodate resolution, image size, and scripting abilities. One may also have to consider the settings on their devices; if they have a VPN for iOS on their iPad, for example, the website should not block the user’s access to the page. In other words, the website should have the technology to automatically respond to the user’s preferences. This would eliminate the need for a different design and development phase for each new gadget on the market.

Meaning of “Responsive Web Design”

“Form follows function” – with responsive web design, function, design, and content follow the respective screen resolution of the desktop, tablet, or smartphone used.

The term responsive web design means “responsive design” in a figurative sense. Content and navigation elements as well as the structural design of a website adapt to the screen resolution of the mobile device – it reacts to and corresponds to the resolution of the mobile device. The responsive design follows the user and not, as is currently the case, the user follows the most rigidly constructed layouts of conventional websites and online shops.

Benefits of “Mobile Website Optimization”

The advantages of responsive design can be seen in statistics and trends in the use of mobile devices. The increasing market share of smartphones and tablets such as the iPhone and iPad is also forcing a rethink when designing websites. Up until now, the computer desktop was optimized for a screen resolution of a maximum of 1000px wide, but today a large number of different end devices must be taken into account:

Standard resolutions of smartphones and tablets:

smartphone:320px to 480px

Tablets:768px to 1024px

Computer Desktop: 1024px+

If the mobile and desktop versions of the website are strictly separated, i.e. a non-responsive website, there is an increased maintenance effort for editorial content and image material. In addition, the website may require a third or fourth version of the layout for future tablet or smartphone formats.

Responsive Web Design vs Adaptive Design

The difference between responsive design and adaptive design is that responsive design adapts the rendering of a single-page version. In contrast, the adaptive design delivers multiple completely different versions of the same page.

responsive adaptive design

They are both crucial web design trends that help webmasters control how their site looks on different screens, but the approach is different.

With responsive design, users will access the same basic file through their browser, regardless of device, but CSS code will control the layout and render it differently based on screen size. With adaptive design, there is a script that checks for the screen size, and then accesses the template designed for that device.

Why Responsive Design Principles Matters

If you’re new to web design, development, or blogging, you might wonder why responsive design matters in the first place.

The answer is simple. It’s no longer enough to design for a single device. Mobile web traffic has overtaken large desktop and now makes up the majority of website traffic, accounting for more than 51%.

Mobile, tablet, desktop market share

When over half of your potential visitors are using a mobile device to browse the internet, you can’t just serve them a page designed for a desktop. It would be hard to read and use, and lead to a bad user experience.

But that’s not all. Users on mobile devices also make up the majority of search engine visits.

Mobile search traffic

Finally, over the last few years, mobile has become one of the most important advertising channels. Even in a post-pandemic market, mobile ad spending is growing 4.8% to $91.52 billion.

Whether you choose to advertise on social media or use an organic approach, for example; YouTube SEO, the vast majority of your traffic will come from mobile users.

If your landing pages aren’t optimized for mobile and are easy to use, you won’t be able to maximize the ROI of your marketing efforts. Bad conversion rates will lead to fewer leads and wasted ad spending.

Creating Usable Experiences

Because responsive design relies on shuffling elements around the page, design and development need to work closely together to ensure a usable experience across devices. Responsive design often turns into solving a puzzle — how to reorganize elements on larger pages to fit skinnier, longer pages or vice versa. However, ensuring that elements fit within a page is not enough. For a responsive design to be successful, the design must also be usable at all screen resolutions and sizes.

When elements move around the page, the user experience can be completely different from one view of the site to the next. Design and development teams must work together not to just determine how the content should be shuffled around, but to also see what the result of that shift looks like and how it affects the user experience.

Many teams look to popular responsive-design frameworks, such as Bootstrap to help create designs. Such frameworks can be a great help in moving development along. However, carefully consider how the framework will work with the content and functionality of your site, rather than how it works in general.

We always recommend conducting usability testing on designs. For responsive designs, we recommend testing across platforms. It’s tricky enough to design a website that is usable on a desktop. It is even trickier to design a website that is usable in many rearrangements or configurations of its elements, across various screen sizes and orientations. The same design element that may work swimmingly on a desktop may work horribly on a smartphone or vice versa.

Considering Performance

Website Performance

Performance can also be an issue with responsive design. Responsive web design delivers the same code to all devices, regardless if the piece of code applies to that design or not. Changes to the design occur on the client side, meaning each device — the phone, tablet, or computer — receives the full code for all devices and takes what it needs.

A 4-inch smartphone receives the same code as a 24-inch desktop monitor. This can bog down performance on a smartphone, which may be relying on a slower, spottier data connection. (This is why some sites turn to adaptive design, where the server hosting the website detects the device that makes the request and delivers different batches of HTML code based on that device.)

To truly assess the user experience of a responsive design, do not test your responsive designs only in the comfort of your own office, or on your high-speed connection. Venture out into the wild with your smartphone— between tall buildings in a city, in interior conference rooms or basements, in remote areas with spotty connectivity, in known trouble spots for your own cell phone’s network connection — and see how your site performs in varied conditions. The goal of many responsive designs is to give equivalent access to information regardless of device. A smartphone user does not have an equivalent experience to a desktop user if download times are intolerable.

The Building Blocks of Responsive Web Design

Responsive Web Design

In this section, we’ll cover the underlying foundation for responsive website design and its different building blocks.

  • CSS and HTML
  • Media Queries
  • Fluid Layouts
  • Flexbox Layout
  • Responsive Images
  • Speed

CSS and HTML

The foundation of responsive design is the combination of HTML and CSS, two languages that control the content and layout of a page in any given web browser window.

html vs css

HTML mainly controls the structure, elements, and content of a webpage. For example, to add an image to a website, you have to use HTML code like this:

<img src="image.gif" alt="image" class=”full-width-img”>

You can set a “class” or “id” that you can later target with CSS code.

You could also control primary attributes such as height and width within your HTML, but this is no longer considered best practice.

Instead, CSS is used to edit the design and layout of the elements you include on a page with HTML. CSS code can be included in a <style> section of an HTML document, or as a separate stylesheet file.

For example, we could edit the width of all HTML images at the element level like this:

img {
width: 100%;
}

Or we could target the specific class “full-width-img” by adding a period in front.

.full-width-img {
width: 100%;
}

You can also control the design beyond just height, width, and color. Using CSS like this is how you make a design responsive when you combine it with a technique called media query.

Media Queries

A media query is a fundamental part of CSS3 that lets you render content to adapt to different factors like screen size or resolution.

media query - responsive web design

It works similarly to an “if clause” in some programming languages, basically checking if a screen’s viewport is wide enough or too wide before executing the appropriate code.

@media screen and (min-width: 780px) {
.full-width-img {
margin: auto;
width: 90%;
}

If the screen is at least 780 pixels wide, “full-width-img” class images will take up 90% of the screen and be automatically centered by equally wide margins.

Fluid Layouts

A fluid layout is an essential part of modern responsive design. In the good old days, you would set a static value for every HTML element, like 600 pixels.

A fluid layout relies instead on dynamic values like a percentage of the viewport width.

fluid layout - responsive web design

This approach will dynamically increase or decrease the different container element sizes based on the size of the screen.

Flexbox Layout

While a percentage-based layout is fluid, many designers and web developers felt it was not dynamic or flexible enough. Flexbox is a CSS module designed as a more efficient way to lay out multiple elements, even when the size of the contents inside the container is unknown.

A flex container expands items to fill available free space or shrinks them to prevent overflow. These flex containers have several unique properties, like justify-content, that you can’t edit with a regular HTML element.

flexbox justify - screen sizes

It’s a complicated topic, so if you want to use it in your design, you should read CSS Tricks’ flexbox guide.

Responsive Images

The most basic iteration of responsive images follows the same concept as a fluid layout, using a dynamic unit to control the width or height. The sample CSS code we covered earlier already accomplishes this:

img {
width: 100%;
}

The % unit approximates a single percentage of the width or height of the viewport and makes sure the image remains in proportion to the screen.

The problem with this approach is that every user has to download the full-sized image, even on mobile.

To serve different versions scaled for different devices, you need to use the HTML srcset attribute in your img tags, to specify more than one image size to choose from.

<img srcset="large-img.jpg 1024w,
middle-img.jpg 640w,
small-img.jpg  320w"
src="small.jpg"
/>

WordPress automatically uses this functionality for images included in posts or pages.

Speed

When you’re attempting to create a responsive design for your website, the loading speed should be a top priority.

Pages that load in 2 seconds have an average 9% bounce rate, while pages that take 5 seconds lead to a 38% bounce rate.

Your approach to responsiveness must not block or delay your page’s first render any more than it needs to.

There are several ways you could make your pages faster. Optimizing your images, implementing caching, and minification, using a more efficient CSS layout, avoiding render-blocking JS, and improving your critical rendering path are all great ideas you should consider.

You could also try to implement Google AMP for your mobile pages, but in our Google AMP case study, our mobile leads dropped by a whopping 59%.

Mobile First

Mobile version screen sizes

One popular technique for using media query is called mobile first. The mobile-first approach includes using styles targeted at smaller viewports as the default styles for a website, then using media query to add styles as the viewport grows.

The operating belief behind the mobile-first design is that a user on a mobile device, commonly using a smaller viewport, shouldn’t have to load the styles for a desktop computer only to have them overwritten with mobile styles later. Doing so is a waste of bandwidth. Bandwidth is precious to any user looking for a snappy website.

The mobile-first approach also advocates designing with the constraints of a mobile user in mind. Before too long, the majority of Internet consumption will be done on a mobile device. Plan for them accordingly and develop intrinsic mobile experiences.

A breakout of mobile-first media queries might look a bit like the following.

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6/* Default styles first then media queries */
@media screen and (min-width: 400px)  {...}
@media screen and (min-width: 600px)  {...}
@media screen and (min-width: 1000px) {...}
@media screen and (min-width: 1400px) {...}

              

Additionally, downloading unnecessary media assets can be stopped by using media queries. Generally speaking, avoiding CSS3 shadows, gradients, transforms, and animations within mobile styles isn’t a bad idea either. When used excessively, they cause heavy loading and can even reduce a device’s battery life.

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11/* Default media */
body {
  background: #ddd;
}
/* Media for larger devices */
@media screen and (min-width: 800px) {
  body {
    background-image: url("bg.png") 50% 50% no-repeat;
  }
}

              

Mobile First Demo

Adding media queries to our previous example, we overwrote a handful of styles to have a better layout on viewports under 420 pixels wide. Rewriting this code to use the mobile styles first by default then adding media queries to adjust for viewports over 420 pixels wide we build the following:

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18section,
aside {
  margin: 1.858736059%;
}
@media all and (min-width: 420px) {
  .container {
    max-width: 538px;
  }
  section {
    float: left;
    width: 63.197026%;
  }
  aside {
    float: right;
    width: 29.3680297%;
  }
}

              

Mobile First Demo

Notice, this is the same amount of code as before. The only exception here is that mobile devices only have to render only one CSS declaration. All of the other styles are deferred, only loading on larger viewports and done so without overwriting any initial styles.

Viewport

Mobile devices generally do a pretty decent job of displaying websites these days. Sometimes they could use a little assistance though, particularly around identifying the viewport size, scale, and resolution of a website. To remedy this, Apple invented the viewport meta tag.

Website without Viewport Meta Tag

Although this demo has media queries, many mobile devices still do not know the initial width or scale of the website. Therefore, they may not interrupt media queries.

Viewport Height & Width

Using the viewport meta tag with either the height or width values will define the height or width of the viewport respectively. Each value accepts either a positive integer or a keyword. For the height property, the keyword device-height value is accepted, and for the width property, the keyword device-width is accepted. Using these keywords will inherit the device’s default height and width value.

For the best results, and the best-looking website, it is recommended that you use the device defaults by applying the device height and device-width values.

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2<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width">

              
Website with Viewport Meta Tag

Letting devices know the intended width of the website, device-width in this case, allows the website to be sized properly and to pick up any qualifying media queries.

Viewport Scale

To control how a website is scaled on a mobile device, and how users can continue to scale a website, use the minimum-scale, maximum-scale, initial-scale, and user-scalable properties.

The initial scale of a website should be set to 1 as this defines the ratio between the device height, while in a portrait orientation, and the viewport size. Should a device be in landscape mode this would be the ratio between the device width and the viewport size. Values for the initial scale should always be a positive integer between 0 and 10.

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2<meta name="viewport" content="initial-scale=2">

              
Viewport Scale Meta Tag

Using an integer above 1 will zoom the website to be larger than the default scale. Generally speaking, this value will most commonly be set to 1.

The minimum-scale and maximum-scale values determine how small and how large a viewport may be scaled. When using a minimum scale the value should be a positive integer lower than or equal to the initial scale. Using the same reasoning, the maximum-scale value should be a positive integer greater than or equal to the initial scale. Values for both of these must also be between 0 and 10.

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2<meta name="viewport" content="minimum-scale=0">

              

Generally speaking, these values should not be set to the same value as the initial scale. This would disable any zooming, which can be accomplished instead by using the user-scalable value. Setting the user-scalable value to no will disable any zooming. Alternatively, setting the user-scalable value to yes will turn on zooming.

Turning off the ability to scale a website is a bad idea. It harms accessibility and usability, preventing those with disabilities from viewing a website as desired.

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2<meta name="viewport" content="user-scalable=yes">

              

Viewport Resolution

Letting the browser window decide how to scale a website based on any viewport scale values usually does the trick. When more control is needed, specifically over the resolution of a device, the target-density dpi value may be used. The target-density dpi viewport accepts a handful of values including device-dpi, high-dpi, medium-dpi, low-dpi, or an actual DPI number.

Using the target-density dpi viewport value is rare, but extremely helpful when pixel-by-pixel control is needed.

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2<meta name="viewport" content="target-densitydpi=device-dpi">

              

Combining Viewport Values

The viewport meta tag will accept individual values as well as multiple values, allowing multiple viewport properties to be set at once. Setting multiple values requires a comma separating them within the content attribute value. One of the recommended viewport values is outlined below, using both the width and initial-scale properties.

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2<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

              
Website with Viewport Meta Tag

A combination of width=device-width and initial-scale=1 provides the initial size and zoom commonly required.

CSS Viewport Rule

Since the viewport meta tag revolves so heavily around setting the styles of how a website should be rendered it has been recommended to move the viewport from a meta tag with HTML to an @ rule within CSS. This helps keep the style separated from the content, providing a more semantic approach.

Currently, some browsers have already implemented the @viewport rule, however, support isn’t great across the board. The previously recommended viewport meta tag would look like the following @viewport rule in CSS.

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5@viewport {
  width: device-width;
  zoom: 1;
}

                

Flexible Media

Flexible Media - screen sizes

The final, equally important aspect of responsive web design involves flexible media. As viewports begin to change size media doesn’t always follow suit. Images, videos, and other media types need to be scalable, changing their size as the size of the viewport changes.

One quick way to make media scalable is by using the max-width property with a value of 100%. Doing so ensures that as the viewport gets smaller any media will scale down according to the width of its container.

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4img, video, canvas {
  max-width: 100%;
}

              

Flexible Media Demo

Flexible Embedded Media

Embedded Media - screen sizes

Unfortunately, the max-width property doesn’t work well for all instances of media, specifically around iframes and embedded media. When it comes to third-party websites, such as YouTube, which use iframes for embedded media this is a huge disappointment. Fortunately, there is a workaround.

To get embedded media to be fully responsive, the embedded element needs to be positioned within a parent element. The parent element needs to have a width of 100% so that it may scale based on the width of the viewport. The parent element also needs to have a height of 0 to trigger the hasLayout mechanism within Internet Explorer.

Padding is then given to the bottom of the parent element, the value of which is set in the same aspect ratio of the video. This allows the height of the parent element to be proportionate to that of its width. Remember the responsive design formula from before? If a video has an aspect ratio of 16:9, 9 divided by 16 equals .5625, thus requiring a bottom padding of 56.25%. Padding on the bottom and not the top is specifically used to prevent Internet Explorer 5.5 from breaking, and treat the parent element as a positioned element.

HTML
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  <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Sv3xVOs7_No"></iframe>
</figure>

              
CSS
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14figure {
  height: 0;
  padding-bottom: 56.25%; /* 16:9 */
  position: relative;
  width: 100%;
}
iframe {
  height: 100%;
  left: 0;
  position: absolute;
  top: 0;
  width: 100%;
}

              

Flexible Embedded

The future of responsive web design

Responsive web design is not only the future, it has long been the present. But (technical) development never stands still. The upcoming technical innovations are already available and will become established on a larger scale in the coming years.

For example, there are already the so-called container queries as a supplement to the media queries explained above. They can be used to set a separate breakpoint for each element. This reacts when the container exceeds or falls below a certain width.

Responsive Web Design - screen real estate

With the CSS properties min()max(), and clamp() element sizes can be set more dynamically so that transitions between different viewports are smoother.

CSS Multi-Column allows the implementation of multi-column layouts without the typical flexbox, grids, or float statements.

It is important to test the website as regularly as possible during development on all possible devices and to analyze again and again during operation what is going well and what is not.

For this purpose, other websites should be analyzed:
What is the responsive implementation like here, are there particularly successful “role models” here? It doesn’t always have to be the entire website, but can also be individual aspects such as the implementation of the navigation or something similar.

Either way – if you want to be successful as a web designer in the future, you not only have to understand the basics of responsive implementation, but you also have to know the different approaches and find the right way for the individual website project. The content-conceptual aspect will play an increasingly important role in responsive web design in the future. For technology, for example, there are more and more templates, codes, and tutorials that are getting better and better. But presenting the right content in the right places in a way that is easy to use – there will be no sample code for this, that will remain the hard work of the web designer.

Conclusion

We are indeed entering a new age of Web design and development. Far too many options are available now, and there will be far too many in the future to continue adjusting and creating custom solutions for each screen size, device, and advancement in technology. We should rather start a new era today: creating websites that are future-ready right now for mobile friendly experience. Understanding how to make a design responsive to the user doesn’t require too much learning, and it can be a lot less stressful and more productive than learning how to design and code properly for every single device available.

Responsive Web design and the techniques discussed above are not the final answer to the ever-changing mobile world. Responsive Web design is a mere concept that when implemented correctly can improve the user experience, but not completely solve it for every user, device, and platform. We will need to constantly work with new devices, resolutions, and technologies to continually improve the user experience as technology evolves in the coming years.

Besides saving us from frustration, responsive Web design is also best for the user. Every custom solution makes for a better user experience. With responsive Web design, we can create custom solutions for a wider range of mobile users, on a wider range of devices. A website can be tailored as well for someone on an old laptop or device as it can for the vast majority of people on the trendiest gadgets around, and likewise as much for the few mobile users who own the most advanced gadgets now and in the years to come. Responsive Web design creates a great custom experience for everyone. As Web designers, we all strive for that every day on every project anyway, right?

 

 

Categories
Design web design

HTML Basics – 15 Tips to Make Website Design Easy

Web page design plays a crucial role in creating an impactful online presence. In today’s digital age, having a well-designed website is essential for businesses, individuals, and organizations alike. Whether you are a professional web designer or someone looking to create a website on your own, understanding the basics of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is vital. In this article, we will explore five tips to make website design easy, ensuring that your web pages are visually appealing and user-friendly.

1. Master the Fundamentals of HTML:

HTML serves as the backbone of web page design. It provides the structure and formatting for your website’s content. To create effective web designs, it is crucial to have a solid understanding of HTML basics. Familiarize yourself with HTML tags, elements, and attributes. Learn how to structure headings, paragraphs, lists, links, and images using HTML. This knowledge will enable you to build well-organized and semantically correct web pages.

2. Utilize Professional Web Design Tools:

While HTML forms the foundation of web design, utilizing professional web design tools can significantly enhance your efficiency and productivity. Numerous web design software and online platforms provide user-friendly interfaces, drag-and-drop functionality, and pre-designed templates. These tools enable you to create visually appealing websites without extensive coding knowledge. Some popular web design tools include Adobe Dreamweaver, WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace. Explore these tools to find the one that suits your requirements best.

3. Follow Best Practices for Website Design:

To create a visually appealing and user-friendly website, it is crucial to follow best practices for website design. Here are some tips to consider:
  1. Keep it Simple and Intuitive: Avoid cluttered designs and complex navigation. Create a clean and intuitive layout that guides users through your website effortlessly.
  2. Consistency is Key: Maintain consistency in color schemes, fonts, and design elements throughout your website. Consistency creates a cohesive and professional look.
  3. Optimize for Mobile Devices: With the increasing use of smartphones and tablets, it is essential to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly. Optimize your design for different screen sizes and resolutions.
  4. Use High-Quality Images: Images play a significant role in web design. Choose high-quality, relevant images that enhance your content and create visual interest.
  5. Pay Attention to Typography: Select appropriate fonts that are easy to read. Use font sizes and styles that create a pleasing visual hierarchy.

4. Seek Inspiration from Web Designing Sites:

Sometimes, the best way to improve your web design skills is by seeking inspiration from other websites. There are several websites dedicated to showcasing outstanding web designs. Browse through these websites to get ideas and inspiration for your own projects. Analyze how different websites utilize color, layout, typography, and imagery to create visually appealing designs. However, remember to maintain originality and avoid copying designs directly. Instead, use them as a source of inspiration to create unique and captivating web designs.

5. Continuous Learning and Improvement:

Web design is an ever-evolving field, and it is essential to stay updated with the latest trends and technologies. Continuously invest time in learning new web design techniques, HTML updates, and emerging design principles. Stay connected with the web design community through forums, blogs, and social media platforms. Participate in web design courses and workshops to enhance your skills and stay ahead in the rapidly evolving web design landscape.

10 Essential Tips for Best Website Design and Development

Because having good website design tips is crucial for any business or individual looking to establish an online presence. A visually appealing and functional website can attract and engage visitors, ultimately leading to increased conversions and success. Whether you’re a seasoned web designer or just starting out, here are ten essential tips for web design and development that will help you create a website that stands out.

1. Understand Your Target Audience:

Before diving into the design process, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of your target audience. Research their preferences, demographics, and browsing habits. By knowing your audience, you can create a design that resonates with them, tailoring the layout, color scheme, and content to their needs and preferences.

2. Plan Your Website’s Structure:

Website development tips start with careful planning. Create a sitemap that outlines the structure and hierarchy of your website’s pages. This helps visitors navigate seamlessly through your site and ensures that all important content is easily accessible. Consider user flow and prioritize essential information to optimize the user experience.

3. Optimize for Mobile Devices:

With the increasing use of smartphones and tablets, it’s crucial to ensure that your website is mobile-friendly. Responsive design is key, as it allows your site to adapt and display correctly on different screen sizes. Mobile optimization improves user experience and helps your website rank higher in search engine results, as mobile-friendliness is now a ranking factor.

4. Keep the Design Simple and Intuitive:

A clean and minimalist design is not only visually appealing but also improves user experience. Avoid cluttering your website with excessive elements or complicated navigation menus. Embrace negative space, use a consistent layout, and ensure that your design is intuitive and easy to navigate. Users should be able to find what they’re looking for without confusion or frustration.

5. Pay Attention to Visual Hierarchy:

Web designing tips emphasize the importance of visual hierarchy in guiding users’ attention and prioritizing important information. Use size, color, contrast, and typography to create a clear visual hierarchy that highlights key elements, such as headlines, call-to-action buttons, and important content. This helps users quickly grasp the most relevant information on your website.

6. Use High-Quality Images and Videos:

Compelling visuals can significantly enhance your website’s design and engage visitors. Invest in high-quality images and videos that align with your brand and enhance the user experience. Use professional photography or consider utilizing stock images from reputable sources. Ensure that the visuals are optimized for the web, maintaining a balance between quality and file size for faster loading times.

7. Focus on Readability and Typography:

Choosing the right typography and ensuring readability is crucial for effective website design. Select fonts that are easy to read on different devices and screen sizes. Maintain a consistent font hierarchy, using different font weights and sizes to differentiate between headings, subheadings, and body text. Also, consider the line spacing and paragraph length to make reading comfortable.

8. Optimize Page Loading Speed:

In today’s fast-paced world, users expect websites to load quickly. Slow-loading pages can drive visitors away and negatively impact user experience. Website-making tips include optimizing your website’s performance by compressing images, minifying code, and leveraging caching techniques. Regularly monitor your website’s speed using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights and make necessary optimizations.

9. Incorporate Strong Calls-to-Action (CTAs):

A successful website design should guide users towards taking specific actions, such as making a purchase, subscribing to a newsletter, or contacting you. Incorporate clear and compelling calls to action throughout your website. Use contrasting colors, persuasive copy, and strategic placement to make your CTAs stand out and encourage user interaction.

10. Test and Iterate:

Website design is an iterative process. Regularly test your website’s design and functionality to identify areas for improvement. Use A/B testing to compare different variations of design elements or CTAs and analyze the results. Pay attention to user feedback and adapt your design accordingly. Continuously refining your website’s design based on real user data will help you achieve the best results.

By following these ten essential tips for designing websites, you can create a visually appealing, user-friendly, and successful website. Remember to understand your audience, plan your website’s structure, optimize for mobile, keep the design simple, focus on visual hierarchy, use high-quality visuals, prioritize readability, optimize the web page loading speed, incorporate strong CTAs, and continuously test and iterate. With a well-designed website, you’ll be on your way to capturing the attention and trust of your online visitors.

Wrap Up

In conclusion, mastering the basics of HTML is crucial for web page design. By following these five tips, you can make website design easy and create professional-looking websites. Remember to learn and practice HTML fundamentals, utilize professional web design tools, follow best practices for website design, seek inspiration from web designing sites, and continuously learn and improve your skills. With dedication and creativity, you can develop stunning websites that leave a lasting impact on your visitors.
Categories
Design web design

11 Best Forever Free Wireframing Tools for Designers (2022)

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This post was originally published October, 2019. It has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

For UX/UI designers, wireframing a new app or website is the foundation when starting a new project.

Wireframing tools allow designers to mockup professional-level, new product designs and workflows, without the need for high-investment prototypes. They help teams by finding problem areas and user experience issues within a new app before it’s launched, help explain and share with key stakeholders within an organization, and act as a repo for all feedback on a new product.

Best Free Wireframe Tools in 2022

  1. Figma 👈 Clique favorite
  2. InVision 👈 Clique favorite
  3. Draw.io
  4. Pencil Project
  5. Miro 👈 Clique favorite
  6. Wireframe.CC
  7. MockFlow
  8. Jumpchart
  9. Framebox
  10. Mydraft.CC
  11. Wirefy

Wireframing tools have become crucial for those who work in fast-paced development teams and need to have rapid-product iteration. 

However, many of the most-popular wireframing software products – think Axure RP, the Adobe Suite, Marvel, Lucidchart – are expensive and are focused on higher-detailed UX/UI features such as advanced prototyping. 

Luckily there are many free wireframing tools available to UX/UI designers who are freelancing, own their own business, work for a startup, or have little budget available for their tech stack – and for non-designers mapping out workflows for things such as onboarding and training, email lifecycles, and organization charts.

The Best Free Wireframing Software in 2022

Here are the free wireframing software apps that give design and non-design professionals the tools to create free wireframes. 

All the tools in this list have an offering that is free forever, meaning those tools offering free trials were left off the list – although we do mention those wireframing options after our ranking.

These tools are ranked according to user-review ratings on satisfaction from the software-review website G2.com:

1. Figma 👈 Clique favorite

User-review rating: 4.5/5

Type: Web-based, Freemium

Overview: Figma is an all-in-one design platform for UX/UI pros and offers a robust free offering for creating wireframes. It’s starter package is completely free and is one of the most robust free offerings on this list – 3 active projects, 30 day revision history, 2 editors at any time, and unlimited cloud storage.

The first paid tier (which is free for students with a valid school email address) is $12/mo per editor and includes an upgrade to unlimited active projects and version history, custom permissions, private boards, and team collaboration features.

figma-screenshot


invision-logo

2. InVision 👈 Clique favorite

User-review rating: 4.4.5

Type: Web-based, Freemium

Overview: InVision is an all-in-one wireframing, prototyping, and mockup tool for designers and is one of the most well-known brands in all of wireframing software.

Invision came out of applications, specifically Photoshop (at the time) not having screens that could interact with each other (also why many moved to Sketch). It filled the void of

It does require some sort of external application (we like Sketch) to create the screens to be bought into InVision.

InVision’s free wireframing plan gives individual UX/UI designers the tools create one active prototype or wireframe at anytime. It’s a basic plan designed mostly for freelancers and those not working collaboratively.

The next level of pricing for InVision is $15/mo per user and gives design teams the ability to create up to three projects that can remain active at any time – with full feature access to the InVision app.

invision-screenshot


draw-io-logo

3. Draw.io

User-review rating: 4.3/5

Type: Web-based, Open source

Overview: Draw.io is a completely free and open-source wireframing software that feels similar in UI to Google Docs. It’s a simple layout with powerful features. Simply put, it may be the most robust free offering of any of the free wireframing tools on this list.

Users can export designs to their Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, their desktop, or directly supported integrations including Gliffy, Lucidchart and more. An added benefit is it’s active open-source community that works to fix product bugs and issues, and add new features.

drawio-screenshot


pencil-project-logo

4. Pencil Project

User-review rating: 4.1/5

Type: On-premise, Open source

Overview: Project Pencil is a completely open-source and free wireframing and prototyping tool. It has an unlimited amount of designs for UX/UI pros to utilize and all of its features come completely free. 

The open-source community is another perk, meaning developers are constantly keeping the tool updated with new features and security.

pencil-project-screenshot


miro-logo

5. Miro 👈 Clique favorite

User-review rating: 4.7/5

Type: Web-based, Freemium

Overview:  Miro, which previously operated under the name RealTimeBoard, is an online whiteboarding tool for distribution product and UX teams. A nimble tool for fast prototyping, Miro is extremely collaborative and akin to using an extremely light version of figma. 

Miro isn’t as robust as other dedicated prototyping tools, which sounds like a negative, but actually serves as one of its strengths, since its limitations help facilitate faster prototyping, with an experience that feels like sketching on a whiteboard in a virtual room with the rest of your team.   

Miro is free for your first three boards, at which point each board costs $3 per-day-logged-in, or you can build unlimited boards for $15 per month per user.

A screenshot of a wireframe on a miro board


wireframe-cc-logo6. Wireframe.CC

User-review rating: 3.8/5

Type: Web-based, Freemium

Overview: Wireframe.cc is a browser-based free wireframing solution for designers on the go. Accessible anywhere through a browser, it’s a simple and cluster free tool with a sleek UI. The free version allows for users to create one simple wireframe at a time and is equipped with tools to customize the grid layout, typography, canvas size, and more.

The next level for premium pricing is $16/mo per user and allows for unlimited projects and revisions, custom branding, and exporting directly into PNG format.

wireframecc-screenshot


mockflow-logo

7. MockFlow

User-review rating: 3.4/5

Type: Web-based or On-premise, Freemium

Overview: MockFlow is an all-in-one UI tool that offers free mockup and wireframing features in its forever free plan. Its free offering allows for one active UI project at anytime, two reviewers per project for collaboration, feedback, and sharing, and basic wireframing and mockup features.

MockFlow’s entry-level paid package starts at $14/mo per user and includes unlimited projects and reviewers, version history, and MockFlow’s UI asset library.

MockFlow_screenshot


jumpchart-logo

8. Jumpchart

User-review rating: 3.2/5

Type: Web-based, Freemium

Overview: Jumpchart is a browser-based wireframing tool that gives designers the ability to mockup and plan a website wireframe to share with key stakeholders, clients, developers, and more. It includes one active project at a time, 10mb of storage, 10 pages per month, and 2 users per project.

Jumpchart’s first paid tier starts at $5/mo and includes 5 projects, 1 gig of storage, 25 pages per month, and 5 users per project.

jumpchart-screenshot


framebox-logo

9. Framebox

User-review rating: n/a

Type: Web-based, Freemium

Overview: Framebox is the second completely free wireframing tool on this list. With no paid plans, all the features of Framebox are included directly on their website’s easy to use web app. It’s a complete drag-and-drop tool that allows designers to sketch wireframes using UI elements and allows users to sign in to save progress and have revision history. The tool even allows for UX/UI designers to send their work with a custom link to their entire team or key stakeholders for easy online sharing and feedback.

framebox-screenshot


mydraftcc-logo

10. Mydraft.CC

User-review rating: n/a

Type: Web-based, Open source

Overview: Mydraft.cc is a completely open source and free wireframing tool that is accessible anywhere you can use a browser. It has a clean and easy-to-use wireframing canvas and comes packed with hundreds of free shapes and icons that have a simple to use search bar. 

It’s quite a power wireframe editing app that is kept updated by their community of developers, with it being updated recently as two weeks ago as of the publish date of this article.


wirefy-logo

11. Wirefy

User-review rating: n/a

Type: Desktop, Open source

Overview: Wirefy is a completely free wireframing software that is open-source and comes available in a desktop download – in this case, downloading a Git repository. For those who have never done this, Wirefy examples how here.

The platform does require some basic HTML and CSS knowledge, but is a robust UX/UI tool with large collection of atomic elements to create advanced and flexible wireframes.

wirefy-screenshot

Wireframe Apps that Offer Free Trials

Many designers will point out that there are many well-known wireframing tools that are missing on this list. 

Our roundup was exclusively free wireframing tools that have a “forever free” pricing tier, with the exclusion of Miro, which we included because it’s one of our favorites, and there’s no time limit to build your free initial boards. However there are many other wireframe apps that offer a free trial ranging from 7-30 days, including:

  • Axure RP
  • Balsamiq Mockups
  • Canva
  • Cacoo
  • Gliffy
  • Lucidchart
  • Miro
  • Mockplus iDocs
  • UXPin

How to Pick The Best Free Wireframing Tool for You

Now that you’ve compared the best free wireframe software, it’s time for you to make a decision for your design needs. Use the following to create a shortlist:

  • Feature set. Compare free features on the number of users, projects, and collaborators for each of the free wireframing tools.
  • Web-based vs. On-premise. Web-based, also known as browser-based apps, are tools that you login to from a browser. Many SaaS products have moved to this model that is hosted in the cloud and have automatic updates. On-premise solutions are downloaded directly to your system – which adds a higher level of security but requires additional storage and hosting from your system, as well as keeping up to date on upgrades.
  • Freemium vs. Open source. Freemium tools are made by software companies that look to acquire free users and convert those users to their more advanced paid versions later on. Open-source wireframing tools are completely free and created by a community of users who aren’t affiliated with the product itself.
  • Desktop vs. Mobile vs. Android vs. iOS. Be sure to consider what you are creating wireframes websites or apps for. Different wireframe and mockup tools provide design process features specifically for iOS, Android, and desktop environments and experiences.
  • Integrations. Consider your tech stack and what other software you’ll need to integrate with.
  • Paid versions. Understand the cost of upgrading to a paid version and what features premium wireframe software have.
  • Reviews. Read additional reviews and ask your network for testimonials before choosing a product. 

And remember – this is a free tool! The ramifications of selecting the wrong product is lesser than going with a paid version, but you still need to be confident that you’re selecting the right tool for your use case.

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Categories
Content Design

96 Resources for Web Designers, Developers, Project Managers and Marketers

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Clique exists for a simple reason: we want to do work we can be proud of, with people who inspire us. Our values are a reflection of that mission.

Our second value at Clique is: Be a student and a teacher.

There is no such thing as “self-taught.” Directly or indirectly, everyone learns from someone. Recognizing that reality, we resolve to be the best at getting better. Technology, after all, is the most rapidly evolving industry in the world. To stay on top of it, we are committed to learning and improving, and building it into what we do — not as an “add on,” but as part of our daily work. We recognize that any minute spent teaching one another will pay itself off tenfold.

Thus, we wanted to put together a resource hub, not only for internal use, but also to share with the world.

Want to see what we’re reading and learning from right now?

Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Clique’s top resources for designers, devs, project managers, marketers, and digital professionals:

Resources for designers

Professional organizations for designers

Where designers share their work

Designers who do a great job sharing their work

How do these people do that?

  • Instagram posts
  • Go live on Instagram/Facebook or videos showing process – not just the finished product but how they do it (step by step)
  • Live critiques on youtube/FB where people can show their work and get design advice or resources
  • Agencies that get their names out at events / in organizations like AIGA
  • A strong social presence, posting regularly, and consistent series that focuses on the process (and isn’t overly designed)
  • Not being afraid to show unfinished products

Design inspiration resources

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Resources for developers

lines of computer code

Professional organizations for developers

Where developers share their work

What web developers do a great job sharing their work?

Web dev inspiration resources

Want more resources for developers? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Resources for project managers

person talking to group

Professional organizations for project managers

Project management (PM) at Clique is vastly different from a traditional project management role. Our PMs feel we’re more aligned with the people and conversation topics in UX groups and startup groups (multidisciplinary roles that cover operations as well as strategy).  They’re more of digital product strategists than traditional project managers.

If you’re our kind of PM, here’s a few resources that you’ll find helpful:

  • PM Meetups on Meetup.com – groups to be wary of The bad groups are → What enterprise resource management tools are you using? Most PM is herding cats
  • WeWork meetings – There is a Product School that they do along with free presentations by Product Managers
  • Car Building and Motorcycles – On of our PMs likes to see their process of what they’re doing in a waterfall-esque feel
  • Coffee meetups that talk about coding and also have a PM session
  • Chicago Meetups at tech companies

Who inspires our project management team with how they share their work?

Standup comedians – working in small clubs, honing their next big set; then roll out the big product in an album or special. Somewhat how we operate with learning individual components (learning about integrating with a CRM) and what does and doesn’t resonate in how you explain things to a client. Through those conversations, you should hone your way of gathering information and delivering information back to the client.

DJ Premiere collab with berkley symphony orchestra – ReGeneration.. Educating each other is super interesting to me

Issa Rae – Insecure show on HBO – shows that she’s a real person and not just somebody who is on TV

Vlog style videos

Facebook groups for comedians and improvisors

Tim Ferriss

Quincy Larson from FreeCodeCamp

Sara Mei

Project managers’ inspiration resources

As you’d expect, our project managers see inspiration and resources a bit differently that you might think.  Here’s a tip from one of our senior project managers:

“The thing that’s made the biggest connection has been making Product Hunt my homepage. It’s amazing how relevant looking at sites for products and startups is for what we do.” – Kyle Jacobson

Other resources for project managers:

Want more resources for digital project managers? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Resources for copywriters and content creators

person highlighting paper with writing on it

Professional organizations for content creators and copywriters

Coming soon

Where content creators share their work

Content and copywriting inspiration resources

Want more resources for content creators and copywriters? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Resources for marketers

phone with a google search analytics

Professional organizations for marketers

Traffic Think Tank – A premium SEO community

Marketers’ inspiration resources

What I’ve found is that if you’re seeing anybody’s work anywhere, there’s probably a marketer or a smart content creator behind it.  That said, here are a few communities that have helped our marketing team grow and learn alongside some of the world’s best digital marketers:

The “Dream” Link Building Strategy – A smart SEO link building strategy that we implement at Clique to focus only on the most important SEO relationships.

5 Essential Podcast Tips – Article about how to grow your podcast to 200k+ downloads

GrowthLab – If you want long-form articles that actually teach you what the title promises to teach, this is perfect for you. Also, an incredible case study of what type of content performs well in 2018.

The Sunday Dispatches by Paul Jarvis

That Seems Important by Margo Aaron

Tradecraft – A highly-produced publication from Convertkit.  If you’re looking for the signal amongst the marketing noise, this is it.

Want more resources for marketers? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

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Categories
Design

PS Getting Started Basic Tutorial: How does Photoshop create an explosion aperture effect?

Take the special effects of the explosion aperture with the friends.

Attach the effect chart:

1. Open photoshop first and create a new black background document. The size of the document can be set according to your needs, or according to the settings of the lazy designer.

2. Then create a transparent layer using the new layer small icon under the Layers panel.

3. Pull out two horizontal and vertical reference lines in the middle of the canvas.

4. Then use the rectangular marquee tool to make a rectangular selection with the vertical reference line as the center. Note that the selection here should not be too wide.

5. Then set the foreground color to white, and use the shortcut alt+delete to fill the selection with white.

6. Then use the Filter-Twist-Ripple command to make the number adjustment larger and the size larger.

7. Fragment the layer using the Filter – Pixel – Fragment command.

8. Use the Filter-Styled-Win command to set it to wind and then blow it twice from left and right.

9. Use Image – Image Rotation – Clockwise 90 degree command to rotate the canvas.

10. Then use the Filter-Fuzzy-Motion Blur command to set the angle to 90 degrees. The distance is not too large as long as the horizontal white light strip is thinner.

11. Finally, use the Filter-Twist-Polar coordinate command to set the plane coordinate to the polar coordinate.

12, you’re done!

The friends can also try to do more apertures of different sizes, like this.

Categories
Design

Cold knowledge of PHOTOSHOP that you don’t know

1. Adjust the various parameters of the brush in the canvas

Regarding brushes, people who have used PS basically know a few shortcut keys, such as Ctrl+”[“,”] “Adjust the size of the brush, etc. This time, the method I brought is more convenient than that, not only in size. The adjustment, along with the hardness and color, can be adjusted in the canvas.

method:

1 Press Alt + right mouse button on the canvas – a red dot will appear on the canvas. The dot represents the size and hardness of your brush (the harder the harder, the softer and softer), drag the mouse You can adjust the size of the brush by moving left and right, and dragging up and down to adjust the hardness, as shown below.

2 Hold down Alt+Shift+right mouse button – you will find a color marquee next to the mouse, yes! Now you can adjust the color! Hold down the right button and move the mouse to the desired color, as shown below.

2. Combination of small grippers

Holding the space bar to turn the mouse into a small hand and dragging the canvas is quite popular. Almost every PS player has to use it, but its combination of keys is rarely known, this time brings you a small grip. One of the combination levels: global dragging – even zooming in to a large percentage can instantly bring the view to any position on the canvas.

The method is: press the space bar to turn the mouse into a small gripper, then hold down a “Z”, then press the mouse – then you will find that the view instantly returns to the global, the mouse becomes a small box This small box is the area you can currently display. Drag the mouse to move to the place you want to go, then let go and walk you~

3. Additional usage of free transformation

This one is a bit old-fashioned, but it is estimated that there will be some unknown. Here again, after Ctrl+T has been freely transformed once, use Ctrl+Shift+T to repeat the last transformation, using Ctrl+Shift+ Alt+T can copy the ontology and repeat the effect of the last transformation, as shown below.

4. Use Shift to achieve accelerated dragging

5. Pen tool drawing in the conversion point

A small trick, when using the pen tool, press Alt while holding down the mouse to drag the node, you can achieve a turning point to the current node, as shown below.

6. Use Alt to select the lock layer

Locking the layer most of the time is because you don’t want to move it anymore, but sometimes you need to move it, but you may not be able to find it because there are too many layers. Even if you select the layer directly, you can’t select the locked one. Just hold down Alt and click on the locked layer on the canvas to select it. Not only that, but the locked layer can still perform some operations, such as merging, as shown below.

This issue of cold knowledge is introduced here, and an additional summary of the semantics of the three major function keys Shift, Ctrl, and Alt is not completely summarized. In fact, some functions can be guessed based on the semantics of the three function keys. Shortcuts, try a standard ~

Categories
Design Wordpress

7 WordPress Website Design To Inspire You.

Even if you always design websites from scratch, it’s wise to take a look at the many inspirational ways that other designers have made templates their own. For instance, many of the available WordPress templates are impressive, to begin with, but they take on new life with the right touch.

Let’s take a look at a few of the most intriguing examples.

  1. Greenwich Library

 

Most government related websites are flat, boring and stuck in the design trends of at least five years ago. Fortunately, Greenwich Library has broken free of this mold, which makes their offering an inspiration for any designer who is tasked with updating a government run site. The responsive design loads quickly, provides key information in a highly visible location and includes a slick interface that makes navigating the site easy for anyone. It’s also a nice touch that the header photograph changes with the seasons.

  1. Travel Portland

 

Travel sites have to walk a fine line between being visually appealing and helpful. After all, the most beautiful design in the world isn’t going to boost tourism revenue if the site doesn’t provide basic details.

Fortunately, the team behind the custom Travel Portland template was able to capture the city’s unique vibe without making the website difficult for people to use. In fact, this responsive design has a clearly indicated and highly intuitive menu. Tying this into font choices that showcase some of Portland’s personality was a great choice that all travel website designers should take note of.

  1. The Ink Tank

 

This website is flat-out gorgeous! Until The Ink Tank came along, it would have been odd to think it was possible to become totally transfixed by the header of an ink website. This design makes it possible, though, and it’s quite simply entrancing to watch as the purple ink fills the box and then swirls and dances across the screen. As if this wasn’t eye-catching enough, the stunningly crafted “From Quill to Cartridge” page makes it exciting to learn about the history of ink. The Ink Tank is by far one of the inspiring sites to use WordPress, and it makes it clear that the sky is the limit for this popular website and blogging platform.

  1. Mendo

 

What happens when you put together a team of graphic designers who also love high-quality books? A bookstore named Mendo, followed by one of the slickest websites on the Internet. With the tagline of “a candy store for book aficionados,” you know that this isn’t going to be the typical online book buying experience.

Mendo creates their own books, and they also carefully cultivate books from other publishers. This attention to detail and beauty is felt throughout their entire site, which has such a fun transition from page to page that it’s tempting to keep clicking around long after the necessary information has been found.

  1. Epic Adventures

 

Reading may be fundamental, but the allure of technology is definitely stronger for most of today’s youngsters. The good news is that meeting kids at their level has always been a great way to encourage learning and personal growth. Therefore, why not use technology to get them turned on to reading?

This is the concept behind the Epic Adventures digital and print books, and the website is virtually certain to captivate the intended audience. The images look like they come from a book, but there’s an important difference: they move. As kids work their way down the site, they see an octopus with three blinking eyes, a meteorite storm threatening dinosaurs and the promise of Epic Adventures in summer 2017. As an added bonus, this is one of the few sites designed for children that’s impressive enough to catch the eye of adults.

  1. Jess Marks Photography

 

Picking the right wedding photographer requires more than choosing a budget and looking at reviews. You also need to make sure the photographer in question has a personality and style that will mesh well with yours. This is the main focus of the Jess Marks Photography website, and its whimsical build makes it clear right away what personality you can expect.

This particular site eschews the popular responsive style for a quirkier setup that takes advantage of plug-ins. Everything from the colors to the font choices help an engaged couple quickly determine whether or not Jess Marks Photography is a good fit, which makes the fun design a big success!

  1. Ghost Horses

Speaking of personality, it’s hard not to smile while looking through designer Ghost Horses’ WordPress site. Almost everything on the website can be altered by the visitor, including the introductory tagline of “Ghost Horses Makes Really Excellent Websites.” If you click on the arrows, you can get new results that are positive or negative, and you can also change who the tagline is referring to. Unsurprisingly, playing with this feature will teach you a lot about the designer’s personal interests and political beliefs.

As you work your way down the homepage, you’ll be able to interact with almost every feature. This is a fun way to keep people engaged, and it also helps show off what the designer can do with WordPress. This is ultimately what potential clients want to see, and Ghost Horses doesn’t disappoint.

As you can see, there truly is no limit to what you can accomplish with WordPress designs. All of these sites are using the same platform, but their differences make it clear that the designers behind them have gone far beyond the typical WordPress templates.

Done with designing? Optimize!

Now, you have to consider the fact that some of these templates can get pretty bad load times since they have tons of CSS elements and animations. You must make sure that your website is fast enough to handle it and there are a few things you should consider. As we mentioned in this article, you have to optimize web fonts, improve animation performance and most importantly, get a good WP hosting provider.

  1. You should do your research and figure out which provider is the best for you. Start with this WP host comparison.
  2. Don’t forget to make sure your WP site loads fast. Educate yourself on best practices to speed up your WP website. You’re going to lose visitors if your site loads slow!
  3. Finally, beef up your WordPress security through plugins and security measured. Enrolling on a CDN will also provide a layer of defense, whilst boosting the load speed even further.

If you need inspiration for your next project, be sure to look through these websites to get a better feel for the flexibility and versatility of the platform. Anyone who still thinks that WordPress is just for blogging is clearly way behind the times.

 

Categories
Design Featured

Logo Design Rules of Thumb You Shouldn’t Forget

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The logo is that magical symbol that visually represents your company’s brand. As a graphic representation of your company’s main message and values, the logo stands at the core of the brand’s identity, and it is the element that makes a business easily memorable for the public, along with the company’s name. Needless to say, a good logo is essential to a developing business who needs to create awareness and attract new customers.  

An eye-catching logo on advertisements or promotional products will definitely help influence a buyer’s decision when ordering. More often than not, people feel more confident to make a purchase from a brand with a cool logo design that got their attention in the first place. And that’s what a good logo should do: not only attract the consumer’s attention, but also make sure that the business logo is unperceivable imprinted in the consumer’s memory.

Consequently, good designers will opt for a minimal logo design, a simple text, an illustration, a picture, or even a symbol that captures the essence of the brand’s message rather than delivering a message that is too complicated and too hard to remember.

As the logo contributes so much to your company’s visibility and credibility, there are certain rules to swear by and mistakes to avoid when designing it.

Research and Strategy

The first step of any new logo design project is thorough research. Understanding the competition, asking the right questions, respecting brand’s heritage, exploring combinations and looking for inspiration in order to formulate the right strategy are necessary steps towards finding a successful compelling visual solution.

Knowing what styles would work for certain fields of activity/type of business, as well as having the skills to properly use those styles, are the details that will make your designs stand out.

Logo Size

When it comes to size, try not to impress the customer with a big, bold, intricate design that covers more space than the text of the brochure. Logo is important for branding but, remember, sometimes less is more.

Originality

We all know that every logo designer have to align to the latest logo design trends to stay on top. But that doesn’t mean you can’t express your own vision. Always dare to be different. Introduce wit and humor into your designing work. Impress your audience with a unique, easily recognizable logo that will tell the company’s story in the best possible way. 

Placement

The logo can be placed in the right or the left corner (most people say upper left is the best), and never in the middle of the page. Of course, there are exceptions: the logo can be placed in the middle of the page too, provided that the overall layout of the page is centered, and that there are no other elements on the same row to compete with the logo.

Style

To make sure your message gets to the right audience, carefully choose one or two fonts which perfectly match the outlook of the company. Of course, you can go with Comic Sans if you want, but that might make your message seem like a joke and this is not what you are after.

If you want your client to be pleased with the logo you’ve created, always keep in mind their set of tastes, which sometimes can be different from yours. Make sure you have all the data (client’s needs and wishes, company’s background, values and main message) before getting to work because every project requires a different style. A/B testing is an inevitable part of the designing process, but starting on the right foot will help avoid mistakes which often result in extra hours of work.

Color

Colorful designs are attractive but too much color can hurt the eye. To get a meaningful, memorable logo, opt for one color and tone it down to express professionalism, simplicity, and reliability. Colour schemes should be managed carefully, whether you choose a complementary color scheme (think of the Firefox logo) or an analogous color scheme (the BP oil logo is a good example). Color contrast can be used to control mood like McDonald’s did by using analogous warm colors to induce appetite.

Device compatibility

Fresh, minimal designs are preferred today by most big companies: IHOP, Microsoft, Windows, and Netflix went from bold 3D logos in the 2000s to the simple, fresh designs they have today, and not only for style reasons. Flat styles scale better, and that makes them compatible with most browsers and mobile devices. In a mobile world, compatibility with smartphones and tablets is vital. If we think about page load time (on mobile and desktop), minimal logo design is also beneficial due to small file size which doesn’t slow down the website.

 

The Perfect logo

A successful company will have a consistent design that people can easily associate with the brand. We have mentioned numerous examples which prove that a clean branding image is at the core of a successful marketing strategy.

Therefore, whether you go for monolines, a hand drawn logo, a vintage style logo or a dynamic logo, paying attention to the details mentioned above will help you avoid the need of rebranding, which could be a herculean task.




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Design Featured Photo Sponsored

The Mac Photo Editor That Adapts to Your Style and Skill Level

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As an online professional, you no doubt spend a portion of your time working with photo content. Clients may provide some photo material, and some may come from stock photo resources. The quality may vary; but even when it’s good, you often wish it would be better, or have greater eye-catching appeal.

The problem is, using photo editing software to achieve the results you’re want isn’t always easy, and if you’re a web designer or an online marketer, you don’t always have the time to work your way up a steep learning curve. A flexible, versatile application is almost by definition a complex one, and complexity has a habit of becoming an integral part of an application’s UI.

If you’re a Mac user, photo editing just got easier.

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               No matter your skill level, you can edit photos as in this example with Luminar.

  • With Luminar you no longer have to be satisfied with simply using the best image available; creative imagery is the new norm.
  • Professional-looking photographs help brand you as a pro.
  • Online marketer? See the difference eye-catching images can make.

Try Luminar image editor for Mac; and see the difference.

Luminar Adapts to Your Skill Level; It’s the First Photo Editing App to do So

Luminar is a complex tool. That’s necessary if it’s going to be able to test your creativity to the max. That doesn’t mean the UI needs to be complicated. In fact, the exact opposite is true. You can achieve professional-looking results on your first try. In spite Luminar’s versatility, its learning curve is practically non-existent. This photo editor Mac users are so crazy about, really does adjust to your style and your skill level.  Click here to compare Luminar with Lightroom and Aperture.

Examples of how straightforward it can be to edit a photo:

  • Clone an Area of an Image

Luminar’s Clone Stamp tool enables you to select a portion of an image, clone it, and paste the cloned part on another part of the image, using a brush. The process is simple. Select a location, hold the location while clicking on the area to be cloned, select another area, and paint over it to paste the cloned image. Once you’re satisfied with the result, click “Apply”.

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  • Using the Color Splash Tool

The color splash effect can be accomplished several ways, none of which require complex techniques. For example, using the Color Splash tool to add a splash of color to a B&W image involves loading a color image file, selecting the B&W filter, clicking on the brush icon, selecting the Mask Erasing mode, and painting over a part of the monochrome image to restore the color.

 

Get Creative with These Three Luminar Filters

Many of Luminar’s features are designed to help you maximize your creativity. These three filtering techniques are among the most popular. Like most other features that make up this Mac image editor, using each of these is about as simple as it gets.

Creating a Dramatic Effect – Dramatic effects tend to draw visitor attention. This feature is no less popular than adding texture, and possibly more so. It’s one reason why Luminar is the image editor Mac users favor. This video demonstrates how the slider button on the Dramatic filter can give a photo a gritty, urban, finely detailed look.

 

Working with Color Temperature – This video shows you how you can make an image more relaxing by adding a cool bluish hue, or make it more intense by adding a reddish-orange hue. It’s simply a matter of selecting Color Temperature from the filter menu, and adjusting the temperature and tint slider buttons to get the sought-after result.

 

Texture Overlay – Adding texture with the Texture Overlay filter can be fun; and can also produce subtle or powerful, yet attention-getting effects. Texturing is one method of producing uniquely creative images. It’s an easy, 3-step process, as shown in the video. Select the Texture Overlay filter, choose a texture, and adjust the lightness/darkness slider.

 

5 Useful and Exciting Features Unique to Luminar

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Workspaces – Editing an image sometimes necessitates selecting more than one filter. The Workspaces feature enables you to preset and save subsets of filters for use on various types of images; saving you search time. Subsets can be added to, or modified.

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Golden Hour – Golden Hour is a must-have filter if you take a lot of sunrise or sunset shots. All too often, the results are either too dark, there is too much contrast, or subtle tones appear washed out or disappear entirely. You can restore, intensify, or emulate these subtle tones using the Golden Hour slider.

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Split Color Warmth – Photos often contain both warm colors and cool colors. This creative toning tool’s two sliders allow you to adjust either color type to produce added warmth, or to add a cool hue.

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DeHaze – Mist, haze, or fog sometimes add to an image and at other times detracts from one. With the DeHaze single slider button, you can bring out detail that would otherwise be lost.

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Split Toning – With this tool, you can add color to a shadowy area in a photo using the hue and saturation sliders. A highlighted area can also be modified by the same process. An additional slider, “Amount”, can be activated to increase the overall intensity of an image.

Luminar can be used as a standalone application, as an extension for Photos, or as a plugin for Photoshop, Aperture, or Lightroom. This Mac photo editor will also be made available to PC users early in 2017. You’re invited to take Luminar for a test spin to find out more about this powerful, yet easy to use image editor.




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