Web Design Glossary Part 1

It is common case where clients aren’t aware of certain terms you may use in presentation of company as custom web design service provider. Sometimes it is necessary for you to use certain technical terms in content of your web page which are little difficult for readers to understand hence have significant meaning on their use. Explaining all those terms in glossary is a good option where readers can have detail explanation on each technical word used in content. This post is the fist in sequence which we would post in future to include all possible important terms for our clients at web design Chicago Company.

SEO Friendly Web Design: it is the most common term used by web design service provider. As important of search engine optimization has been growing for website promotion, a website must get designed with keep in mind the design rules specified by major search engine. Building design with following those rules called SEO friendly website design.

Browser Compatibility:  Testing design of website in different web browsers and implementing changes to deliver the same experience is called developing browser compatible website. As different browsers have different rules, designers have to keep in mind those rules for creating same visual appearance in different browsers.

Mobile Friendly Website: As Smartphone has also become the medium of accessing web, it is good practice to design website by keep in mind the attributes of mobile browser and device like screen size of the mobile and mobile browser used and implementing changes in design which delivers good visual experience to mobile users instead of displaying the same website in mobile phone. Designing a separate layout especially for mobile device is primary requirement for creating mobile friendly website.

W3C Validation: Each thing you see on internet must follow the ideal web standard specified by World Wide Web for publishing on the web. Your website should also follow the same HTML document standard. Validating your website with these CSS and HTML standard called W3C validation. It helps in evaluating possible errors in your coding and search engine also gives more priority to websites which are W3C validated.

Custom Web Design or Web Template: There are main two ways to implement design, either designer design the website or layout form base and create entire layout on your own or he may make modification in design created by another person which is called web design template. It is easier to modify web design template and use the same structure in design compare to creating custom website design where designer has to brainstorm on each and every small to big elements in design.

Above are some basic terms in web design. In next part we would start with more technical terms which are difficult to understand.

Most Searched keywords in Web Development Industry

When it comes to website development, new software or tools for website development goes introduced and tools get forgotten if they fail to provide up to date functionality as new one. Introduction of other supported tools also depends on how specific software get quick popularity.  Paid extensions for Magneto , Joomla Extension and WordPress Plug-ins are three ideal examples to explain the situation. As platform for web development get changed, trends about specific software also get changed and people prefer to search with name of that specific platform rather than searching in general. This article is the outcome of research conducted by our online marketers at Chicago web development firm to know the industry trends in web development which help us acquiring more clients through different online promotional activities. Here we would discuss about few popular keywords or key phrase relevant to this niche. If you are web development firm, student looking for good carrier in the industry or person looking for website development, below explanation would give you ongoing trends In the industry so you can take correct decision and not miss to take advantage of some of the popular software or platforms.

Disclosure: A digits specified here for each key phrase is take from Google adword tool with country set to USA keyword match set to exact. Read detail guideline at Adword help center on how it collects data.

Mobile Development Related Phrases

In the last two years, we have seen excessive purchase of smart phones globally and to target this smart audience with quick internet access, website and application related to it also become popular one. Android has preserved its position on top being most popular mobile operating system. The phrase “android development” has been searched 60,500 globally and 18,100 locally in US market. “android application development” and “android apps development”  are similar key phrase. The key phrase “ Iphone development” appeared to be on second with local exact search of 4,400. Some general key phrase like “mobile development”, “ mobile application development” and “mobile website” are similar one which are more general. From above specified digit one can understand how important is to have mobile website or application and percentage of audience looking for similar service.

Open Source CMS Related Phrases

In the last couple of years, open source technology has entirely changed the picture of development industry and the way websites were being developed. As it is available free to all, many good platforms got success in establishing its root in the industry.  As being on top, “wordpress” has been searched 368,000 times locally in US.  Keywords like “Wordpress Themes”, “free WordPress themes” and “wordpress templates” are similar key phrase with exact search of 74,000, 18,100 and 5,400. Joomla and Drupal are second most popular open source content management system with exact searches of 90,500 and 60,500.

Ecommerce Related Key Phrase

It is one of the most growing industries on the net. Online shopping provide good flexibility to users to have a look at all available products online and making purchase at more affordable rate compare to window shopping. Certain products of which there is no need to be physical present or personal examination, we have seen continuous improvement in sale through online media. Even with popular sites like eBay, Amazon, Nextag, Shopzilla and other third party merchant sites where we can list our own products along with listing them on online store, one can get excessive benefits of online marketing with lower investment. Magento is one of the ecommerce software which is being circulating continuously for ecommerce development. An easy inbuilt functionality of Magento provides advance control and simplicity in developing complex ecommerce websites. 33,100 of total exact search has been conducted by US audience in recent month for word “Magento” and “Magento Themes”, “Magento Development” and “Magento Extensions” are some of the less popular phrases. Bigcommerce and Oscommerce are on the second no. with exact searched equal to 8,100.

Don’t Irritate Visitors With Unprofessional Website Design

As being most important factor for making impression on visitors or creating brand reorganization, there are certain points which make your web design unprofessional and create negative impact on your visitors regardless of quality of products you sell or service you offer. These are the points which must get evaluated in your website and you should take all possible actions to remove them from design of your website. Lack of improvement in these points can be seems frustrating to your visitors and may not visit your website again.   Web design professionals at web design Chicago firm explain those points in detail.

Due to no. of browsers available, their different version and computer, laptops and device likes tablets from various brand, it became necessary to create central based layout design. Design based on central layout proved to be providing good user experience in screen with different resolution and size compare to left or right column based layout. A main benefit of central based layout is position of different elements is more robust and well managed.

On the web, there is large no. of websites which have design built with free web templates or themes. At initially for private or personal purpose, use of free templates can be good option to same design cost but for business website, one must prefer to have custom website design which reflects theme of business efficiently. A problem with free template, it is available for everyone and integrating the same structure in your website makes your website seems common one built with free resource which may create negative impact. Even if you are fighting over budget, you must ask your designer to create modification in template to make it distinguish.

In any website, there are specific elements like header, footer and side navigation which are fixed and common in all pages. Whether you hire web designer or work with prebuilt template, it should follow the same structure of having common files for fixed elements. Website developed with free website builder which provides Editor for creating web page may doesn’t follow the structure. If yours is the one falls in this category, you need to change it immediately which makes maintenance and management of website easier.

With introduction to CSS3 media queries, HTML5 media & canvas elements, flash and various JQuery plug-in, in modern websites use of media elements are seen very frequent to create interactive website design. In case of low internet speed and fluctuating server connectivity, use of these elements may stops user viewing your website quickly. In kind of situation, either you should avoid to use too much media elements or should optimize it with help of professional along with testing in different environment. Flash header, speaking character, video introduction are some common components seen in modern websites.

At last, small things like use of colors which shouldn’t be more than two, selecting back ground images or components, lack of use of white space, displaying too much content or stuffing elements together, using fancy fonts which all browsers may not support, opening link in new window, too much use of pop up windows, excessive amount of advertising block in middle of web page, low website speed and lack of good navigation are some things which must be takes care of.

Top countable Features of ASP.NET

Due to open source development or open source framework, popularity and likeliness of ASP.NET have been affected negatively for development of medium size website or web application due to need of having license version of software and SQL server for database. Hence, for complex web & Windows application, it kept its importance intact due to high end robust architecture and security. Below is the quick introduction of important features of ASP.net.

To use ASP.NET, you need to download Microsoft visual studio which supported variety of language like Visual C++, Visual J#, Visual C# and Visual Basic. It means, you get the flexibility in developing website in one of the supported language with which you are familiar and comfortable.

It comes with inbuilt library for web components which you may use in your website and application. It provides drag and drop functionality to create user interface or front end. You can also use third party components like DevExpress which provides advance functions than that of by default.

When you drag any components to user interface page, it automatically generates the code for those components at back end which you can see double clicking any components. It also allows you to create event, set style property with easy to use component property window.

The most important thing any website or web apps is the client and server side validation to ensure proper process flow. As it provides large group of validation control which you can use with association of any components used in your website and don’t require to write even single line of code for validation.

For application or certain functions, where it is require keeping connection live to server and needing to check updates in database in seconds of time, it provides group of Ajax Controls which you can use to implement JavaScript based functions easily.

As programming for various database functions, it has separate module named ADO.NET which simplify the complexity in developing custom database and its related requirement.

Integration of third party web services is easier in ASP.Net compare to other platform available.

Just like other programming language and solution, there is framework and CMS available which one can integrate to reduce the amount of repetitive code require writing manually.

Above are the key features of which you should aware of whenever you need to make decision on selection of web development technology. As it is not available as an open source, for implementing complex requirement you need to hire Chicago web development firm with core knowledge and experience of developing complex apps.

What Kind of Work You Can Outsource & Things to Take Care Of?

Efficient workforce, better productivity, quick talent acquisition and low investment are some major benefits of outsourcing your work. But before making decision on outsourcing, you should have ability to evaluate whether you would be able to get the benefits from the kind of work you want to outsource. IT requirement like hosting, designing and developing websites are common among all companies. Having your own IT department or outsourcing complete IT job can be beneficial in terms of advantaged described above. Below we pointed out certain tasks for which you can prefer outsourcing.

When you have business which sells products for different types of audience, too much customization and changes needed frequently in website design as per current ongoing marketing campaign or event in the country. To create advertising banners, change the header of the website to reflect the event, designing theme of email template as per products types and designing banner for different websites where you give advertisement. All these design related stuff require good no. of skilled designer to do the job perfectly. Outsourcing web design requirement which rise continuously would be considered as smart option as project manager which can save your lots of money which you can spend after marketing of your business. If you have one time need of designing website, you can hire local Chicago web design firm which can serve you with personal presence and good quality.

For the last decade of time, outsourcing development and management of ecommerce website also seems to be good work. As in ecommerce website there are hundreds of management tasks require even after completing the development like creating product images, uploading new inventory and deleting old one, processing orders and other shipping related tasks, customer support for solving their issues processing any request on site after and before sale and other management related tasks. You can outsource your entire ecommerce department which takes care of things which are must for success of any ecommerce store.

If you are local Chicago web development company and fighting over resources to fulfill the needs of your current clients and to manage the tasks efficiently with purpose of acquiring new clients, you can conduct controlled outsource in which you hire most qualified professional only which can work individually and can deliver the same quality as yours. In this kind of situation, you need to select the person and need to check their technical capabilities to select most qualified individual instead of relying on some kind of staffing solution.

At last, bigger companies with millions of customer trail, outsourcing customer support team or marketing various website through SEO and other online media are widely seen common. You can save cost for infrastructure, maintenance and can improve your customer support better with hiring more resources at affordable rate which will turn into unexpected ROI to achieve long term goals of the business.

Three Things You Must Develop as Freelance Web Designer

Many enthusiastic and eager to earn designer with limited experience and knowledge try to start freelancing work for sake earning higher income. Not all freelance web designers can get success at they deserve. As along with being your own boss, you have to deal with other responsibilities which are related to management and self updating. One has to know the right time at which he should start freelancing work with security of future growth with prospect to knowledge and income. If you are one of those, consider the below discussed points and evaluate your strength.

Good Professional Experience  

Working in professional Chicago web design firm, you have a certain kind of environment which forces you to grow eventually with improving your skills along with completing the project in desire deadline. You may learn proper way of communication with clients, project presentation, team handling and executing work by combining output from different people. You can learn all these tasks working in web Design Company which provide you platform where you can get lots of opportunities and challenges. When it comes to designing a website, there are hundreds of components, design and things available, you would be able to learn those things when you would have requirement of designing specific thing recommended by clients. Working in firm, you can get better learning exposure and if you get stuck at certain difficulties, there are other professionals who would help you to overcome that difficulty which is not possible in freelancing.

Time Management

As I have said, as freelancer web designer, you would make communication with your clients, you would create invoice, you would report about the progress and you would write coding for design. Before starting carrier as freelancer, you should know how to manage the time for all these activities. You would also face challenges of designing specific thing which you don’t have experience before. In this case, you need to spend extra time on research or learning as well. Evaluate whether you have kind of management skills, if yes move to the next point if not you should try all possible ways to improve it.

Marketing Yourself

It is true that web design is one of the highly demandable services around the world but it’s also true that the competition among service provider also grows eventually. To survive with ever growing competition, you need to market your skills and present it to people with right tools. You should know where to invest money in marketing your skills which result into positive ROI. Along with branding yourself, you also need to improve certain unique technical skill which differentiates you from other web designer. A marketing of portfolio website or starting web design blog where you transform your experience and knowledge in form of content can be considered as good step. You also need to find specific platforms where you can get work if needed.

Guideline for Implementing Design, Content and Maintenance of Your Website

In the world of internet, your competitors are just few clicks away from your and visitors on your site can leave and reach to them at anytime due to certain problems they may face viewing your website or inefficient brand presentation through your website. When any visitors come to your website, there are certain quality you should maintain throughout all pages he views in terms of design, data presentation and functional facilities.

Visit you own website as normal users and ignore that you are aware of your website or business and evaluate whether content present on your website efficient enough to know all information users may need to make decision which adds value in business profit. Do you have detail “Company Info” pages which described the history and current situation of the company? Is it easier to get contact info and phone no. in your site? Do you provide any facility to solve instant queries of users? Do you integrate any elements which try to get user trust? Do you have content which enforce users to visit again? Asking these kinds of questions would give you ideas about the basic content you should have in your website. You should know what to present through your content at which pages. You can also visit some top business websites in your industry and get ideas how they have developed the content.

Does your website load quickly on request? Are you able to navigate to different sections of website easily? What happens if you use old browser or different browser to view your website? Does your website provide same functionality in browser without flash or JavaScript enabled? Is your design suitable to all different types of people visit from different location? Does your website give priorities in presenting your featured products or services? Is your website able to drive user’s attentions at certain section when it is needed? Finding solutions to above questions would give you ideas on what things you need to integrate in your website design and how to give priorities to different components in your website in terms of presenting it to your visitors.

In last, maintaining the certain standards it is must to keep your website updated and continuous watch on its performance. If there is a special festival or ongoing event, you must take benefits of that time and update the website accordingly. You should set alert when something goes wrong with your website related to server problems or website statistics. You must focus on creating content on regular base which provide benefits to users who visit again and would also considered as positive sign by search engine for ranking your website.

When improving the quality of our client’s website, we ask our web professional to evaluate above explained things at Chicago web design & development firm.