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In the world of web design, color is one of the most powerful communication tools. Colors change our moods, inspire specific behaviors, provoke various emotions or cause physiological reactions – for instance, increasing our heart rate. Picking the color palette for a website is essential. It's color that will sell your product, pass your brand message and impact consumers' perception of your company. Here are some hacks on how to make the most from color in web design. Know your target audience Before choosing a color palette, make sure to first analyze your audience. Knowing the general demographic is crucial because colors mean different things to different cultures. Take white, for instance – while in India it's associated with death, a typical Englishman will think about innocence or cleanliness. But geographical location is not everything. Think about age as well. Young audiences love saturated and lively colors and will be attracted to such an extravagant website. Mature audiences might find the same colors annoying and leave your website. Match colors to your product Graphics, borders, headline types, buttons, backgrounds and pop-ups should all be coordinated in their look. All this will create a balanced and harmonious environment, but also reinforce your...

With the advent of smartphones and tablets and with their tight integration into our (online) lives, a natural need arose to optimize the content on the internet in such way that it is more easily and elegantly presentable on handheld devices. The idea of responsive design came fairly quickly, as one of the most logical solutions to the problem of adapting website content to look good on all screen sizes. However, synchronously with this change in web design paradigm, another idea gathered a lot of attention from design professionals. Existent for quite some time (after all, the whole concept is not truly original) but first brought into the spotlight by Google’s information hub, Google Now, the idea of cards which stand for chunks of information which are easily digestible and just sufficiently informative spread like wildfire in the world of web and mobile app design.   It would not be fair to call Google Now a new idea, either. After all, information hubs are a pretty old thing on the internet, and Apple’s Siri, a hugely popular (albeit often disputed) iOS virtual personal assistant does almost exactly the same thing: informs the user about weather, traffic and provides them with quick...

In the early days of the web, design was completely different. Function took place over style because of the limited resources we all had at the time. Plus, we were working with languages that were barely being developed. HTML, Flash and other programming languages were in a very primitive state. These days, we have a plethora of tools that give us liberty to create whatever kind of site we want. This means that the website you’ve always wanted is really just a few clicks away. Your first tool for building a website is the most basic of them all. Get a sketchbook. Before worrying too much about coding or colours, sketch out the layout you want for your site. This allows you to start working with a clear vision of what you want, and how it’s going to work. Otherwise, you run the risk of making multiple prototypes that are not quite up to snuff. The next step should be informing and educating yourself. CSS, HTML5, Javascript; there are many ways to build a website. Check out some tutorials, visit web design blogs and see which tools work better for your ideas for the website. If you’re not a designer or...

Whether you’re a gamer yourself or you’re thinking about starting your own gaming site, it’s important to know about aesthetic best practices for web design. Understanding what’s painful to the senses (such as the eyes and ears) can help you choose the best site to play, or lure in more customers if you’re running it. There are a lot of outdated practices and elementary errors when people choose themes and add on a little pomp and circumstance. Are you in danger of committing one of these taste crimes? It starts with understanding your target demographics and working the design around them. For instance, if you operate an online casino with table games, that’s going to draw a different crowd from the one you’ll attract if you offer fun, light, Angry Bird-esque games geared to all ages. Some ages and communities enjoy movement, flash, and music more than others, but it’s always a good idea to play it safe. Here’s how. Keep it simple This principle is true for every type of website. Game websites have a tendency to overwhelm. Your target market might be skilled at seeing through the noise, but that doesn’t mean they want to be attacked as soon...

Over the past few years, the conundrum posed by Adobe Flash and HTML5 has continued to spark an unending debate in the IT industry. Both are scripting languages used to perform similar functions in developing websites. However, with a few features of one better than the other they are standing against each other. As a user you may not feel the difference but it’s a developer’s dilemma to choose between the two. You’ll often find articles swarming with conflicting advice on which technology is providing better solution and usability. With this heated discussion surrounding the subject, it becomes very difficult to make a choice. Keeping this in mind, I have penned down my take on the matter with a hope to clear the cloud around it.   Let’s start by discussing both the technologies along with their pros and cons. We’ll discuss Flash first since it’s been with us for a longer time. What is Flash? Adobe Flash, commonly referred to as Flash, is a multimedia system generally accessed in a website. It’s also used to create compelling interfaces and menus on some mobile phone software. Flash is the system that is used to support streaming of videos on sites like...

There are various trends to follow for your website designs and these can make a big difference in the success of your site. There are few things that can give your visitors that extra interest for your site. These are as follows: A Polished Logo – You must find a professional logo for your site so that it becomes easier for your visitors to recognize and adhere to the different write-ups from your site. Navigation Options – Easy navigation is a part of the web design. The main menu in horizontal position and the submenus underneath each main menu can give an adequate idea of the navigational options. No Clutter – You must keep an eye for unnecessary clutter. There should not be an overload of the links and images on your site pages. There should not be any competing images or videos that can draw attention away from the main topic and write up on the page. Strategically Placing Color – You can bring in an elegant and fresh appearance of your pages by using neutral colors on them. Use colors wisely and small dashes of different colors for headings and the important links or keywords will help the visitors....

Going back to the early noughties, Jacob Nielson, well known and respected author and researcher on all things to do with the visual web, declared that people do not actually read websites in a standard linear fashion. He speculated that people tend to skim the page, picking out the bits that resonate with their search. As you might expect, content creators were then handed a brief to put together their articles which were easy on the eye, and prevented that ever so well used ‘back’ button being utilised. The idea was to use bullet points wherever possible, creating headings and subheadings, and highlighting important phrases and passages in bold. Web Design Is 95% Typography Only a few years later, another well known web designer penned an article extolling the importance of an almost innate understanding of typography, on the basis that ‘web design is 95% typography’. Reichenstein went on to say that “A great web designer knows how to work with the text not just as content, he treats text as a user interface.” It was an important statement at the time, but fast forward a few years from that statement, and we have to question to validity of the statement...

Web design is more than just using web builders to build your website. It also includes maintaining and updating the website during its existence. With the internet at the center of today’s social and economic society, it’s important that a company have an online presence. A website is the ultimate tool companies use to showcase their products, skills and services online. The use and functionality of a website dictates its layout; websites cannot be generalized and different industries would require different web designs. Selecting a good and reputable web design company goes a long way in getting your company’s message across effectively. The internet is not limited to one specific area. Having a website opens the company’s customer base to the entire world. Therefore, having a good website will enhance the reputation of your company and open it to limitless possibilities.   The importance of having aesthetic and functioning web pages that are easily understood and navigated cannot be overstated. The message of the website must not be lost and the graphicsand a color palette selected can hold or lose the viewer’s interest. Search engine optimization (SEO) is important, and when done correctly increases website visits. In turn, the website’s...

The people who are at the beginning of their great web design adventure will likely be reluctant to trying out all sorts of methods and will see it as an ordeal. Everyone looks around and sees people who do just great with this aspect and they believe that they will never pull it together. However, there is no need to panic around because everyone is capable of designing their own website as long as they follow these five simple steps so that the looks will be great. 1. Get web design software It is important to have the right tools to work with and if someone does not have them then everything will be too hard. It is true that some of this software might be a little bit expensive, but in the end, they will definitely work the cost. Some software to consider for web design are Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Photohshop, Fireworks, Coreldraw. 2. Learn Basic HTML Unfortunately without some basic knowledge of HTML it is impossible to build up the website that you want. It is not as difficult as it looks and a little code is something that has not killed anyone. There are some code snippets available...

With the growth and development of Internet, the importance of websites for running a business has increased substantially. In today’s world of cut throat competition, every business must have an online presence and a website is the best way to do it. A website is actually a multiple resource to run a business in present times. Even a small organization can easily create a website and sell their products or services globally to a wide audience. People from all around the world have access to the Internet, and therefore to your website. In order to have a global presence, you do not have to be physically located somewhere. You can simply create a website and sell your products or services all around the world. In order to enjoy all these benefits, it is important that you hire a professional web design company like Snapshot Media web design Leeds. Such companies have skilled professionals who are experienced in various fields and can take care of every different aspect of your website. In this article, we will tell you about some of the benefits associated with hiring a professional web design company. Benefits of Hiring A Professional Web Design Company 1) Professional design...

There are many people who try to design their own websites in order to save money. However, most of these people end up regretting this decision once it does not turn out to be as they expected. There are also chances that the cost of rectifying errors may turn out to be even more expensive than what you would have spent on a professional web design company. If you are serious about getting a website to represent your business on the Internet, it is always better to hire a professional web design company. Professional web design companies provide many different services to their clients. However, there are certain things you should keep in mind when you hire a web design company. Hiring a professional web design company can be a difficult process as there are a lot of companies in the market these days. In this article, we will tell you what you should look for while hiring a web design company. Things To Consider While Looking For A Web Design Company 1) Price - The cost of your website completely depends on your needs and requirements. It is not necessary that a high priced website will be better than a...

We have come to a certain period where everything is done in the world wide web. Getting a new pair of shoes is done through the internet, purchasing your very first car can now be done through the use of the internet, and even hooking up and getting married can now be finally reached through the internet. It may sound very new to some traditional aficionados, but we cannot deny the fact that online marketing is here to stay, bringing products and services to the world since the 1990s, faster, time-efficient and more effective. And so outsource web development is the new champion of online businesses. Why? We shall find out more as we go through with this article. The most basic definition of web development is the process of developing a website for the internet. Who does the job? Web developers. In order for you to see good results, you must be a good web developer. But knowing all businesses-minded enthusiasts, time is as important as money. They no longer have the luxury of time to create a website. And so some resort to outsource web development, ending up to hiring a web developer. With this comes the increased pace...

Those who are proficient at web design can make a pretty good living for themselves by designing websites for businesses. Even the most stubborn small-business men and women have realized that they need to be represented on the Internet and that their websites need to come across as professional, though they may have differing opinions on what a professional site should look like. Web design clients come in all different sizes and shapes as well as from a variety of backgrounds. Unfortunately, there is one thing that all web design clients have in common, however, and that is bad taste. Click Thumbnail to Enlarge Web design clients believe that the more ostentatious their web pages are, the more business they will attract. They want the designer to create the equivalent of loud, flashing neon signs, which they believe will drawn customers to their businesses in droves. While a patient web designer can try to explain that this is not the case, the horrible web design client will already have his or her mind set on a hideous design and will demand that it be created for...

A person that is new in web designing may have difficulty in making a small business website design. If you are interested in making a small business website design, you should follow the steps as under that will lead you towards success. Start making your website gradually and do not try to compete with large websites such as Google, the BBC, CNN, and CNET, etc. Take help from someone who knows about web designing. Professional help is quite good to take for the success of a website. Avoid using graphics and make use of text mostly. Quality content is quite helpful for the success of a website. Avoid doing changes in your website quickly. Small business website design takes time in becoming familiar ad famous among audiences. Website design must show your business and its purpose. It adds the value to your business; otherwise, there is no use of a web design. Keep on updating a website after a particular time so that user could recognize your site along with getting new updates. Make changes carefully so that your website could retain its originality. People often think that acquiring the services of web designers will be costly. However, if you look...

One of the most important things about website designing is that it is an ever-changing environment. A website might be designers’ envy at one age, will be a laughing stock in the next. It is best to keep moving with the time and evolve with the changing dynamics of web designing world. This is a sign of capable professional website designers, they never stay still, and they keep evolving with the time. Below are some best web design practices that should be avoided: The website title should not be one word; the worst is leaving it as untitled. It should be catchy, attention grabbing and something that develops curiosity in the visitors to read the whole content. The websites that feature over-stretched and over-optimized images inform the visitors of their old-fashioned style, which also makes it unfriendly towards search engines. SEO says that high-res images should not be used, as it increases the loading time of the website. This not only makes search engines unhappy, but the visitors also get annoyed by the long time the website takes to load. Having a website hit counter will be a big turn-off for most visitors, as it reminds them of a by-gone era...

Facebook plays a big role on social networking. For the last couple of years, it established a lot of users that made its growth very visible. Most people use it to communicate with their friends and relatives populating all over the globe while for others; it’s simply for entertainment or even to advocate their business across the countries. But what you can notice for most Facebook profiles is, the layout or the design used is just the plain blue and white layout, which you know is the standard or default for every profile once you signed up or created your own page. I bet some are beginning to get bored with that design as it goes very simple and not catchy with other people’s eyes. But what you don’t know is that, Facebook is possible to personalize or customize using various templates that will suit your own personal style. This will definitely make your Facebook profile something that is uniquely yours. If you haven’t heard about the Facebook layout browser, then it’s time for you to explore and start thinking out of the box to customize your page. This will not just promote your page but it will also provide enjoyment...

If you are thinking to expand your business and promote it, then you must think about having such a website which can help you expand your business. You must have a sound knowledge of all these web design stages, if you want to communicate your web designs to your audience, the way you want them to be, and then you must have a sound knowledge of your web design stages. Requirements Gathering: The first process in any software development is requirement gathering from your client. He must be clear what he wants you to design. It must offer great functionality and its purpose must be well defined, before proceeding to the development stage. Design Stage: Here you must define all the designing and color schemes. Your navigation and all the services that it must provide should be well defined in this stage. Web design firm can give all the recommendations at this stage. Development: Here you must know how your back end would be developed. You must know what would be the added features of your web site and how you will control your web site. Testing: After your back end is developed it must be tested that how it is...

With high quality web design not only being the focus of common web surfers, but contemporary search engines also giving it a lot of weight-age, it has become the current talk of the town. This has definitely taken the attention of masses at large, not only offering the market some really competitive professionals, but also a lot of fakers who can harm you more than anything else. Under such circumstances, finding the most feasible web designer is no longer an easy task. Since majority of people are really very much unaware of the technical details of web designing in the very first place, there are high chances of fakers taking advantage of innocence of common people. Described below are some of the aspects, knowing which can definitely help you find the best web designer according to your business needs and requirements. Usability of the Website Under current circumstance, usability of a website is one of the most prime concerns of a website. Usability of a website refers to the ease and convenience offered by a website to their visitors in doing whatever they feel like doing. If the company or the designer you are looking for, does not share a couple...