5 Tips to Make Web Designing Smooth and Hassle Free

Websites cater to varied needs, that of businesses they represent, users who find them after online searches, potential and existing customers, employees, and many others who stumble upon them unknowingly.

Great websites are built around a target audience and a market niche. There is no ambiguity about a strong website. It is easy for the visitor to understand what the site is about and find what he is looking for. This is one of the hallmarks of a successful website.

Ease of use, simplicity and clean layout, though they sound simple, are not easy to achieve. As soon as you create the framework, design the layout, and keep adding the absolutely necessary components, the simple design becomes complex in no time. And to make something that is complex appear beautiful, simple and uncluttered, you need to employ the best designing tactics.

Here are a few web designing tips to help you design a beautiful and useful website, without headaches and heartburns.

Web Designing: Be Organized and Structured

Organization and structure are of vital importance when designing a website.

Organization will help a user navigate his way easily without getting confused. A cleanly-organized site will follow web designing conventions that a user will be familiar with.

Hierarchy will help a user spot the main and important sections, and navigate to relevant content. Readability becomes even more important when we consider that a majority of Internet users just scan a website to determine whether it is useful to them or not.

A smart web design will break up content into bold headlines and small chunks of content that are informative and concise.

Quality websites use contrast between text and background color to improve readability. A dark background with dull color text will only drive away visitors or give them a headache.

Web Designing: Pick Correct Color Scheme

Websites need to be visually appealing and a great color scheme will help with that.

When designing websites for companies, many designers choose to stick to the color scheme of the brand logo. It helps in maintaining brand identity and appeal, and makes it easy to build and execute brand promotion campaigns.

If there is no existing color scheme to build on, browse the Web and study sites that catch your fancy. Appealing sites have great color combinations that gel well, spark chemistry and speak to one another.

Avoid garish color combinations and colors that blend into each other.

Choose a limited set of colors for the general UI, text and backgrounds. It is best if you maintain uniformity and consistency with the color scheme used in the user interface. Look up quality sites like Facebook, Google or Airbnb and you will see that there is continuity or predictability across the UI. But graphics, illustrations, videos and photographs are not bound by any color restrictions, and you can let your creative juices flow.

Web Designing: Devote Time for Planning

Most designers work in agencies where there are too many deadlines and time schedules to adhere to. It may become impossible to spend more time than absolutely necessary on planning.

Great designers say that they put in plenty of work hours into planning the basic essentials of a website. This is necessary to design a clutter-free and simple user experience.

The core content or the very essential message that a website needs to convey should be uncovered and written down for reference. Everything else you do should do justice to this core idea and help communicate it well and in the most appealing manner to the user.

Also, map out user flow in the beginning and plan the website to maximize it. If a designer keeps user flow in mind, it will be far easier to focus on the right points and design the project effectively.

Web Designing: Ensure the Client Is on the Same Page as You

Web designers either passionately agree or strongly disagree on this point. We at web designing Utah agree on this point.

Many a time, clients are clueless about how web design differs from web development, and give wrong inputs and have misplaced expectations.

It is not necessary that you involve your client in every step of designing a website, but ensure that he/she is happy with your core concept or idea, and green lights the prototype.

In web designing, time is money and you cannot spend a lot of it educating your client. You must collaborate with your client and understand what the business and marketing requirements are. There is no doubt that he/she understands the business the best and can help you get to know the target audience better.

Mood boards help you convey your visual thoughts in the best possible manner to the client. They help convey the intended look and feel of a website to a client, and help in planning the designing process better. Crafting mood boards also help you put down what you have in mind and assess whether your visual thinking is in line with the business’ needs.

Designers vouch by the fact that mood boards help win pitches and get quick sign-offs.

Build the style or mood around a main/central image. The central image is also the core theme or the mood of the website, and it should be supported by smaller supporting images, illustrations or graphics. If clients are not able to understand the meaning of an image or why it is there, you need to replace it with something more meaningful and achieve a character and style that is in sync with the business.

Web Designing: Be Friends with Web Developers

Your job does not end after you furnish the style sheets to the web development team. Ensure that you collaborate and communicate, and see to it that your designs are developed, implemented and supported properly.

Many a time, developers will have valuable inputs to provide on designing. So if possible, check with them in the initial stages and validate your vision and ideas. This will also help in better implementation.

Clean codes, a fabulous user interface and good backend programming are necessary for a fast-loading and user-friendly website. And it is the web developer who is usually responsible for these. So, be passionate about your design and team up with the developer for the best execution.

Conclusion

There are several things that go into building a mind-blowing website, and creative vision and innovative designing ability are just a couple of them. Ensure that you follow all aspects of designing and development, and collaborate and communicate with your team and all stakeholders effectively to get the best results.

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[Event] New Dublin WooCommerce Meetup to Bring Woo-Entrepreneurs Together

Wikipedia states “WooCommerce is an open source e-commerce plugin for WordPress. [..]  Launched on September 27, 2011,[3] the plugin quickly became famous for its simplicity to install and customisation and being free in nature. [..] In May 2015, WooThemes and WooCommerce were acquired by Automattic, operator of WordPress.com and core contributor to the WordPress software. [..] For the 2nd week of March 2015, Trends indicated that WooCommerce ran on 24% of e-commerce sites online with total downloads reaching 6.7 million.”

But as a Woo-lover and Woo-developer, numbers don’t really mean much. The more entrepreneurs I meet in town, the more website owners I speak to, the more social media addicts I “talk” to, WooCommerce is sure to become the biggest provider of Ecommerce functionalities in the next few months.

Automattic, the company behind WordPress, has just acquired WooCommerce, included its worldwide staff of 50+ people, for an amount that is close to $30,000,000. Now, that is what you call an investment!

With 7million downloads worldwide, we’ve decided to start a Dublin WooCommerce Meetup.

Upcoming WooCommerce Meetup: 12 August

 

The first event saw approximately 25 entrepreneurs attending, all from different backgrounds (web designers, developers, ecommerce entrepreneurs, WordPress enthusiasts). Realex Payments kindly sponsored venue and….. drum roll… free drinks!

Good news is – we’re running our WooCommerce Meetups every 2nd Wednesday of the month, in Dublin 2 (and specifically in the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, 7 Clare Street).

Or next appointment is on Aug 12th (RSVP here by Aug 11). We’ll discuss:

  • best practices for WooCommerce/WordPress website hosting
  • hosting platforms: who is using what, for how much, and what the feedback is
  • website speed: hosting and caching plugin recommendations
  • backing up and security: tips and suggestions to keep our websites secure and 99% hack-proof

Why is this WooCommerce Meetup important to me?

The main obstacle being faced by web developers, graphic designers and website owners is… TIME.

You would agree with me if I said WooCommerce is easy and fast, however this only applies to basic ecommerce functionalities. There are hundreds of free and premium plugins, thousands of themes, millions of PHP snippets available to accomplish advanced tasks.

So, TIME is money and we wish we had some extra hours a day to run the whole process smoothly!

This month, we’ll discuss openly about hosting providers, hosting plans, website speed, backup and restore planning and whatever is related to the best practices of “starting with the right foot“.

If you charge a considerable amount of money to develop WooCommerce websites, or if you’re investing in your next WooCommerce website, it’s extremely important to select the best hosting options before starting with the development.

When is the next Dublin WooCommerce Meetup on?

Happy Woo-Entrepreneurs of Dublin while enjoying their Free Drinks On July 8th

Happy Woo-Entrepreneurs of Dublin while enjoying their Free Drinks On July 8th

As already mentioned, we’ll be meeting in the Dublin Chamber of Commerce at 8pm on August 12th.

We asked Blacknight, Letshost, SpiralHost, Digiweb and other companies to attend so we’ll see if they’re brave enough to attend and answer our questions!

For sure, there will be myself, recently appointed WooCommerce Meetup Organiser by WooThemes/Automattic, and several other entrepreneurs such as website owners, designers and developers. In the first event, 2 great guys drove down from Cork to attend – so there is really no excuse if you live in Dublin!

To register (it’s free of course, plus Realex Payments will get you a free drink afterwards!), visit http://www.meetup.com/Dublin-WooCommerce-Meetup/events/223649210 now.

Hope to see you there!

 

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Choosing a Web Designer: 10 Things to Keep in Mind

If you want to get a website designed for your business, you must identify a web design company that has the ability to satisfy your needs and requirements. Let’s look at 10 things you must keep in mind when choosing a web designer.

1. Background of the company

It’s really important to get the details of the people who will be working for you on the website and know how they started off. Most of this information is available on the ‘About Us’ page of their site. But you could tap into other sources of information as well, for e.g. business directories, discussion forums etc. This information should be enough to get a feel of the kind of services they can provide and whether they have the expertise needed to take care of your web design project.

2. Track record of the company

A track record is built by consistently doing good work over a period of time and as such any company which has a good track record can be entrusted with the job of designing your website; you are assured that it will maintain a certain level of quality vis-à-vis its work.

So how do you get an idea about its track record? Go through its portfolio page. Take a look at the web design projects it’s handled till date. Also, ask for client references and get in touch with them. Ask them whether they were happy with the work done by the firm. The answers you get will give a clear idea about the firm’s track record.

3. Core competency

Web design is a vast field and there are plenty of different activities that are a part the web design umbrella. Aspects like user experience design (consisting of interaction design, information architecture), usability engineering, front-end development, back-end development, content strategy, and visual design are just few of the things which make up the overall web design package. As a client, you need to be well aware of the core competencies of a company and whether these are aligned with your requirements.

4. Operations knowledge

The modus operandi of the company you are considering to hire for your work should be something you must consider as well.

Will they deliver the website on time? Have they been able to submit work within deadlines? The answers will be crucial in taking a decision about hiring the company.

Also, the staff strength, the number of clients handled at a given time and overall work load they have will affect the quality of work they will deliver. This is why you need operations knowledge.

5. Use of Web Design Standards

The W3C has a handy write up explaining why design standards are important and how they can affect the overall usability and experience of the website. The company you are choosing should ensure your website adheres to all standards underlined by W3C.

So ask whether their web design process sticks to W3C standards. If the answer is yes make sure that the contract you sign with this company, underlines this fact in some detail.

6. The team

The quality of website design is a reflection of the ability of the team in charge of the project. Every work we produce has a certain element of our personality and skill sets attached to it and this gets reflected in the end result. So it is really important to meet the real people who will be working on your website’s design and get a feel of their personalities or the kind of work they have produced in the last few years.

7. The strategy behind the design

Make sure the company you are working with, has a habit of clearly defining a web design strategy that is client specific. This strategy needs to keep the following questions in mind:

What is the goal to be achieved with the website?
Is it only giving information about the business or also selling products/services?
Who is the target audience of the website?
How can the website help accomplish the organization’s objectives?

8. The fees charged by the web designing company

You must have set aside a specific budget for website design. The right web design company is somebody who can deliver on your expectations within your budget. So, if you think you have identified a company that you believe can handle your web design project, get a quote. If the quote for your project is way off your budget, you can start looking for some other company.

It is important that the discussion regarding web designing fees is held at an early stage and finalized well in advance to save any disappointments later on.

9. Updating content and support

Website design is just the beginning because a business might need to update its website frequently with new content or redesign it to be in sync with the times and latest trends. It is always better to discuss these terms earlier on to avoid any confusions or issues later with the web design firm.

Who will be responsible for the updates? Will the website design be easier to self-update later on? What are the support terms available? These aspects need to be considered before you hire a web design company.

10. Hidden or additional charge

There are always some hidden charges which are not disclosed by the “too good to be true” offers or advertising gimmicks listed on the designing company’s website. Make sure you are very clear about the bifurcation of recurring and non-recurring charges and have no doubts about the costing of your web design project; this helps avoid any shock when the time comes to pay the bill.

These are not the only things to keep in mind while finding a web designing company perfectly suited for taking care of your requirements; but keeping this checklist in mind will set you in the right direction and help you zero in on a company that will design a profitable online presence.

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