Milan Aryal's Blog: 2014

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

How photography actually works

This infographic goes into detail about how photography actually works.

Further published by Milan Aryal, here.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Business forecast 2020, how digital risk is the way forward [INFOGRAPHIC]

Cyber monday – infographic study

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Integrating social meta tags into WordPress, Tumblr and Blogger

Social media meta tags make your content look better on social media. You can control how your post or update shows up in news feeds. And handsome social media updates make your content more appealing.

Meta data allows you to tell social media platforms how titles, images, and more should show up in the newsfeeds on those sites. The rel=publisher and rel=author also are on this list because those two tell Google+ to link your site to your company page and your posts to your profile, respectively. Using meta data on social media (which also shows up in searches) shows potential readers more information such as author byline, description, and images so they are more apt to click on your content.

You may have heard about the Open Graph protocol which enables any web page to become a rich object in a social graph. Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+, and most social websites use these Open Graph meta tags. Twitter has its own Twitter card property to get rich snippet. Google+ and Pinterest also support Schema.org meta tags but Open Graph is fine.

Following tips will help you for integrating social meta tags into popular CMS systems like WordPress, Tumblr and Blogger.

WordPress site, self-hosted or third-party hosted

The WordPress publishing platform is one of the most popular and widely used CMS systems in the world. It provides rich plugin support for additional functionality, including various plugins for social media.

Popular plugins in particular like Jetpack and WordPress SEO by Yoast make it easy to integrate your WordPress site with social meta tags.

Install WordPress SEO by Yoast, this plugin made everything easier:

Go to the left navigation and click on SEO and then Social under that.
In the Facebook tab, check the checkbox “Add Open Graph meta data.”
Select Save Changes.
Now move on to the Twitter tab and check the checkbox “Add Twitter card meta data” and save changes.
Similarly add meta data for other social media.

WordPress site, hosted on WordPress.com

Automattic/WordPress supports hosting of WordPress sites on their WordPress.com domain, with over 72M sites and counting.

By default, WordPress-hosted blogs are enabled with social meta tags. WordPress automatically scans the contents of your post and determines the best meta data. Additionally, WordPress allows for easy-posting of your blog entries directly to social media via the “New Post” interface.

Tumblr

Tumblr has quickly become one of the most popular blogging platforms for content and photos, with nearly 145M sites and counting.

By default, Tumblr has social meta tags enabled, and “smart suggests” the meta data based on your post type. However, if you want to further customize the social meta tags, you can follow following process.

First add following code in the <head> tag:

<head prefix="og: http://ogp.me/ns# fb: http://ogp.me/ns/fb# blog: http://ogp.me/ns/blog#">

And place the following code before </head> section:

<!-- BEGIN TUMBLR FACEBOOK OPENGRAPH TAGS -->
        
<meta name="text:Facebook ID" content="YOUR_FB_ID_HERE">
{block:IfFacebookID}
<meta property="fb:admins" content="{text:Facebook ID}">
        
    <meta property="og:site_name" content="{Title}"/>

{block:PermalinkPage}

    <meta property="og:url" content="{Permalink}"/>
    <meta property="og:type" content="article"/>

        {block:Posts}
            {block:Text}
                {block:Title}<meta property="og:title" content="{PlaintextTitle}"/>{/block:Title}
                <meta property="og:description" content="{PlaintextBody}"/>
            {/block:Text}

            {block:Photo}
                <meta property="og:image" content="{PhotoURL-500}"/>
                {block:Caption}<meta property="og:description" content="{PlaintextCaption}"/>{/block:Caption}
            {/block:Photo}

            {block:Photoset}
                {block:Photos}
                <meta property="og:image" content="{PhotoURL-500}"/>
                {/block:Photos}
                {block:Caption}<meta property="og:description" content="{PlaintextCaption}"/>{/block:Caption}
            {/block:Photoset}

            {block:Quote}
                <meta property="og:title" content="{PlaintextQuote}"/>
                <meta property="og:description" content="{PlaintextSource}"/>
                <meta property="og:image" content="{PortraitURL-64}"/>
            {/block:Quote}

            {block:Link}
                <meta property="og:title" content="{PlaintextName}"/>
                <meta property="og:description" content="{PlaintextDescription}"/>
                <meta property="og:image" content="{PortraitURL-64}"/>
            {/block:Link}

            {block:Chat}
                <meta property="og:title" content="{PlaintextTitle}"/>
                <meta property="og:description" content="{block:Lines}{block:Label}{Label}: {/block:Label}{Line} • {/block:Lines}"/>
                <meta property="og:image" content="{PortraitURL-64}"/>
            {/block:Chat}

            {block:Audio}
                <meta property="og:title" content="{block:Artist}{Artist} - {/block:Artist}{block:TrackName}{TrackName}{/block:TrackName}"/>
                <meta property="og:description" content="{PlaintextCaption}"/>
                {block:AlbumArt}<meta property="og:image" content="{AlbumArtURL}"/>{/block:AlbumArt}
            {/block:Audio}

            {block:Video}
                {block:Caption}<meta property="og:description" content="{PlaintextCaption}"/>{/block:Caption}
            {/block:Video}

            {block:Answer}
                <meta property="og:title" content="{PlaintextQuestion}"/>
                <meta property="og:description" content="{PlaintextAnswer}"/>
                <meta property="og:image" content="{PortraitURL-64}"/>
            {/block:Answer}

        {/block:Posts}

{/block:PermalinkPage}

{block:IndexPage}
        <meta property="og:title" content="{Title}"/>
        <meta property="og:type" content="blog"/>
        <meta property="og:description" content="{MetaDescription}"/>
        <meta property="og:image" content="{PortraitURL-64}"/>
{/block:IndexPage}
        <!-- END TUMBLR FACEBOOK OPENGRAPH TAGS -->

For Twitter card property also place the following code before </head> section:

<!-- BEGIN TWITTER TAGS -->
        {block:PermalinkPage}

<meta name="twitter:url" content="{Permalink}"/>
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@YOUR_BLOG_TWITTER_USERNAME_HERE">
<meta name="twitter:creator" content="@YOUR_TWITTER_USERNAME_HERE">

        {block:Posts}
            {block:Text}
                <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary">
                {block:Title}<meta name="twitter:title" content="{PlaintextTitle}"/>{/block:Title}
                <meta name="twitter:description" content="{PlaintextBody}"/>
                <meta name="twitter:image" content="{PortraitURL-64}"/>
            {/block:Text}

            {block:Photo}
                <meta name="twitter:card" content="photo">
                <meta name="twitter:image" content="{PhotoURL-500}"/>
                {block:Caption}<meta name="twitter:description" content="{PlaintextCaption}"/>{/block:Caption}
            {/block:Photo}

            {block:Photoset}
                <meta name="twitter:card" content="photo">
                {block:Photos}<meta name="twitter:image" content="{PhotoURL-500}"/>{/block:Photos}
                {block:Caption}<meta name="twitter:description" content="{PlaintextCaption}"/>{/block:Caption}
            {/block:Photoset}

            {block:Quote}
                <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary">
                <meta name="twitter:title" content="{PlaintextQuote}"/>
                <meta name="twitter:description" content="{PlaintextSource}"/>
                <meta name="twitter:image" content="{PortraitURL-64}"/>
            {/block:Quote}

            {block:Link}
                <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary">
                <meta name="twitter:title" content="{PlaintextName}"/>
                <meta name="twitter:description" content="{PlaintextDescription}"/>
                <meta name="twitter:image" content="{PortraitURL-64}"/>
            {/block:Link}

            {block:Chat}
                <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary">
                <meta name="twitter:title" content="{PlaintextTitle}"/>
                <meta name="twitter:description" content="{block:Lines}{block:Label}{Label}: {/block:Label}{Line} • {/block:Lines}"/>
                <meta name="twitter:image" content="{PortraitURL-64}"/>
            {/block:Chat}

            {block:Audio}
                <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary">
                <meta name="twitter:title" content="{block:Artist}{Artist} - {/block:Artist}{block:TrackName}{TrackName}{/block:TrackName}"/>
                <meta name="twitter:description" content="{PlaintextCaption}"/>
                {block:AlbumArt}<meta name="twitter:image" content="{AlbumArtURL}"/>{/block:AlbumArt}
            {/block:Audio}

            {block:Video}
                <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary">
                <meta name="twitter:title" content="{PlaintextTitle}"/>
                {block:Caption}<meta name="twitter:description" content="{PlaintextCaption}"/>{/block:Caption}
            {/block:Video}

            {block:Answer}
                <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary">
                <meta name="twitter:title" content="{PlaintextQuestion}"/>
                <meta name="twitter:description" content="{PlaintextAnswer}"/>
                <meta name="twitter:image" content="{PortraitURL-64}"/>
            {/block:Answer}

        {/block:Posts}

{/block:PermalinkPage}
        <!-- END TWITTER TAGS -->

Blogger

Google’s Blogger is a great platform for publishing rich content. To add some social meta tags follow the following process.

First add xmlns:og='http://ogp.me/ns#' in the <HTML> tag. Note that there may already exist some code.

<HTML xmlns:og='http://ogp.me/ns#'>

And place the following code before </head> section:

<!-- Open Graph metatags -->
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<meta content='article' property='og:type'/>
<meta content='YOUR_NAME_HERE' name='author' property='article:author'/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.title' property='og:site_name'/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.pageName' name='title' property='og:title'/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.canonicalUrl' property='og:url'/>

 <b:if cond='data:blog.postImageUrl'>
     <meta expr:content='data:blog.postImageUrl' property='og:image'/>
     <b:else/>
     <meta content='YOUR_LOGO_URL_HERE' property='og:image'/>
 </b:if>
 <b:if cond='data:blog.metaDescription'>
     <meta expr:content='data:blog.metaDescription' name='description' property='og:description'/>
     <b:else/>
     <meta expr:content='data:blog.pageTitle' name='description' property='og:description'/>
 </b:if> 

<b:else/>
<meta content='blog' property='og:type'/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.title' property='og:site_name'/>
<meta expr:content='data:blog.canonicalHomepageUrl' property='og:url'/>
<meta content='YOUR_LOGO_URL_HERE' property='og:image'/>

 <b:if cond='data:blog.metaDescription'>
  <meta content='data:blog.metaDescription' name='description' property='og:description'/>
  <meta content='YOUR_BLOG_KERYWORDS_HERE' name='keywords'/>
 </b:if>
 </b:if>

<!-- You can replace following locale “British English” (en_GB) or Nepali (ne_NP) alternative with your own --> 
<meta content='en_US' property='og:locale'/>
<meta content='en_GB' property='og:locale:alternate'/>
<meta content='ne_NP' property='og:locale:alternate'/>
<!-- /Open Graph metatags -->

For Twitter card property also place the following before </head> section:

<!-- Twitter card metatags -->
 <meta content='@YOUR_BLOG_TWITTER_USERNAME_HERE' name='twitter:site'/>

 <b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
 <meta content='@YOUR_TWITTER_USERNAME_HERE' name='twitter:creator'/>
 <meta expr:content='data:blog.pageName' name='twitter:title'/>
 <meta expr:content='data:blog.canonicalUrl' name='twitter:url'/>
  <b:if cond='data:blog.postImageUrl'>
   <meta content='summary_large_image' name='twitter:card'/>
      <meta expr:content='data:blog.postImageUrl' name='twitter:image:src'/>
   <meta content='560' name='twitter:image:width'/>
   <meta content='750' name='twitter:image:height'/>
      <b:else/>
   <meta content='summary' name='twitter:card'/>
      <meta content='YOUR_LOGO_URL_HERE' name='twitter:image'/>
  </b:if>
  <b:if cond='data:blog.metaDescription'>
      <meta expr:content='data:blog.metaDescription' name='twitter:description'/>
      <b:else/>
      <meta expr:content='data:blog.pageTitle' name='twitter:description'/>
  </b:if> 

 <b:else/>
 <meta content='summary' name='twitter:card'/>
 <meta expr:content='data:blog.title' name='twitter:title'/>
 <meta expr:content='data:blog.canonicalHomepageUrl' name='twitter:url'/>
 <meta content='YOUR_LOGO_URL_HERE' name='twitter:image'/>
 <meta expr:content='data:blog.metaDescription' name='twitter:description'/>
 </b:if>

For Google+ and Facebook authorship include the following code before </head> section:

<!-- Facebook admins and app ID -->
<meta content='YOUR_FB_ID_HERE' property='fb:admins'/>
<meta content='YOUR_FB_APP_ID_HERE' property='fb:app_id'/>

<!-- Google authorship and publisher markup -->
<link href='https://plus.google.com/YOUR_PAGE_ID_HERE/posts' rel='author'/>
<link href='https://plus.google.com/YOUR_PAGE_ID_HERE' rel='publisher'/>

Validating

Be sure to check one of your example posts via the different social media metadata validator.

For Facebook, test using the Facebook debugger
For Twitter, submit one of your example posts via the Twitter card validator.
For Google+, test with the rich snippets tester.
If you use Pinterest a lot, you need to validate your rich pins by going to the rich pin validator page.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Making fluid and responsive embedded videos

A few HTML elements don’t play nice with responsive layouts. One of these is the good ol’ iframe, which you may need to use when embedding content from external sources such as YouTube and Vimeo videos.

iFrames, contain external content which cannot really be measured from the parent page. The width and height settings are necessary to define the size of the iframe, as the content inside will not help shape it (like an image would). But setting a static width and height on an element poses a problem for any type of fluid/flexible design. If the parent area shrinks in width to be narrower than the video, the video will break out, not shrink to fit.

In this post, I’ll show you making embedded video responsive using CSS, so that content such as YouTube or Vimeo video resize with the browser’s viewport. For those occasions when non-coders will be embedding video on your website and you don’t want to rely on them adding extra markup, we’ll also look at a solution that uses JavaScript instead of CSS.

The markup for embedded video

Services such as YouTube provide code that you can copy and paste into your own website to embed content. When you embed content from an external source, the code will include an iframe:

<!-- Copy & Pasted from YouTube -->
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Y1xs_xPb46M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This iframe enables external content to be displayed on your website, because it includes a URL that points to the source of the streamed content.

However, you’ll notice that our iframe includes width and height attributes. Remove these and the iframe will disappear because it would have no dimensions. And you can’t fix this in your style sheet, unfortunately. The width attribute means that, on a screen narrower than 560 pixels, the embedded content will protrude outside of its containing element, breaking the layout.

Fortunately there are a couple of possible solutions here.

Responsive video with CSS

With Thierry Koblenz’s excellent technique, you wrap the video in another element which has an intrinsic aspect ratio, then absolute position the video within that. That gives us fluid width with a reasonable height we can count on.

<div class="video-wrapper">
  <!-- Copy & Pasted from YouTube -->
  <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Y1xs_xPb46M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div>

.video-wrapper {
    position: relative;
    padding-bottom: 56.25%; /* 16:9 */
    padding-top: 25px;
    height: 0;
}
.video-wrapper iframe {
    position: absolute;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
}

Whatever YouTube iframe embed code you paste within the .video-wrapper, you’ll see it presented in a fluid 16:9 box.

We can again look to Thierry’s solution for adding additional CSS and imposing aspect ratio.

.video-wrapper {
    position: relative;
    padding-bottom: 56.25%; /* 16:9 */
    padding-top: 25px;
    height: 0;
}
.video-wrapper object,
.video-wrapper embed,  {
    position: absolute;
    top: 0;
    left: 0;
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
}

Responsive video with JavaScript

The above technique is awesome, but it has several possible limitations:

It requires wrapper element, so just straight up copy-and-pasting code from YouTube is out. Users will need to be a bit more saavy.
If you have legacy content and are redesigning to be fluid, all old videos need HTML adjustments.
All videos need to be the same aspect ratio. Otherwise they’ll be forced into a different aspect ratio and you’ll get the “bars”. Or, you’ll need a toolbox of class names you can apply to adjust it which is an additional complication.

If either of these limitations apply to you, you might consider a JavaScript solution. Imagine this: when the page loads all videos are looked at and their aspect ratio is saved. Once right away, and whenever the window is resized, all the videos are resized to fill the available width and maintain their aspect ratio.

FitVids.js

Until recently, most solutions were plugins, which are OK to an extent but can have performance issues. A popular plugin is FitVids.js, developed by Chris Coyier and Paravel.

FluidVids.js

A more current solution is to use just a script — such as FluidVids.js, developed by Todd Motto. FluidVids.js is simple to use and load faster:

Download the script (ZIP) from GitHub and upload it to your server with the same folder structure that the downloaded files come in. This will place the script itself in a folder named dist.
Ensure you place the script before the closing <body> tag.

<body>
  <!-- html above -->
  <script src="dist/fluidvids.js"></script>
  <script>
  // fluidvids module available
  </script>
</body>

Pass in your configuration.

// fluidvids module available
<script>
  fluidvids.init({
    selector: ['iframe', 'object'], // runs querySelectorAll()
    players: ['www.youtube.com', 'player.vimeo.com'] // players to support
  });
</script>

To add other services like SlideShare to FluidVids:

players: ['www.youtube.com', 'player.vimeo.com', 'www.slideshare.net'] // players to support

That’s all you need to do to make videos resize on all devices that support JavaScript. It works not only for YouTube, but for Vimeo and even SlideShare too. The problem, however, is that if you users don’t have JavaScript support or the JavaScript hasn’t loaded yet or JavaScript hasn’t loaded correctly, the only fallback you can use is to add the following to your style sheet:

iframe {
    max-width: 100%; 
}

This will ensure that video resizes to the width of the browser’s window. But it won’t resize the video’s height; unfortunately, iframe just doesn’t work this way. So, the video won’t break your layout, but it won’t look very good either. This is not really a good option, so if you can avoid using JavaScript for videos, it’s a good idea to do so.

Other alternative EmbedResponsively.com

If you’re developing a responsive website using a content management system, then one or more of the website’s editors will probably have to embed video at some point. You can point your editors to EmbedResponsively.com which generates responsive <embed> codes for embedding rich third-party media with one click, with CSS alone. Alternatively, you could use a JavaScript solution, to relieve nervous editors from having to add extra CSS and markup. However, as long as you can avoid this path, the better, of course.

We can just use EmbedResponsively to generate the copy-paste-code with one click.

.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; padding-top: 30px; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; height: auto; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }

<div class="embed-container"> <!-- Your iframe content here --> </div>

Putting it all together

With the help of this tutorial not only YouTube or Vimeo iframe videos but you can even make other embed iframe content like SlideShare or Google Maps responsive. So let’s say we are in the position where we have lots of legacy content, which includes videos of all makes and models, and we’re redesigning our site to be fluid. The most efficient route is going to be combine everything we’ve learned in this article and put it together.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Growth of Online Shopping in Last Decade

It is extremely easy to find and buy anything and everything online. The diversity of the online shopping marketplace is amazing because of its global aspect. You have endless possibilities. For the convenience of online shoppers, the number of discounts in internet stores have also been growing continuously.

As the industry of online stores continues to boom, the level of competition among the retailers also keeps getting higher. This competition makes the online shops to be very alert and updated on what the other stores are selling to make sure that it would be their prices that would be most appealing for online consumers.

There are literally thousands and thousands of online stores that continue to thrive and they all provide businesses and individuals with an electronic method of buying services and products. They provide the access to the widest variety of merchandise in the comfort of their offices or homes.

Here is an infographic by Snap Parcel explores the whole area of online retail and focuses on the growth of it worldwide and also studies possible future trends in online retail worldwide.

Friday, November 14, 2014

Protect Yourself Before Being a Identity Theft Victim

If you have missed a chance to delete any valuable information before selling your old computer or laptop, anyone could use your information to steal your identity. Hundreds of hackers are sitting on the other side of your computer table and keep waiting for your one wrong move. The more aware you are, the less are the chances of being victim of identity theft.

Here is the infographic that lets you know about the ways of preventing yourself from identity theft.

Top Ten Celebrities With the Most Expensive Watches

Celebrities are pretty fond of setting trends, from the color of their cars, their hairstyles, outfits, and even how they tie their shoelaces! However, the trends they set do not end there. They also love wearing different kinds of luxury watches. What others may not realize is that the watches these celebrities wear may even cost more then their cars.

So, here are the top ten celebrities who wear the most expensive watches.

Celebrities with the Most Expensive Watches — Image: Give and Take

Thursday, November 13, 2014

The Best Mobile Business Apps to Make Your Job Easier

Scaling up is integral to every business, a high number of whom now hang on mobile apps for the purpose. The big impetus is a lucrative apps market driving a $19 billion apps economy and causing a radical shift in consumer engagement.

Today, more than 30% of US consumers own tablets even as overall Smartphone usage has crossed 130 million. That means multifold opportunities of engagement as a business. However, along with the opportunities comes the challenging proposition of a glutted apps world where standing out — matters.

To talk numbers, there are over 750,000 apps sitting on each of the two major apps stores — Apple Apps Store and Google Play. The other two subsidiary stores, Blackberry and Windows App Store have come off in a way that only adds to the competitive streak.

As a business seeking a mobile app, it is crucial that success essentials are charted upfront. With that in mind, Enda O’Reilly of Needa.ie shares the best mobile business apps to make your job easier.

The 10 Most Amazing Watches of the World

The fundamental need of the day, watch has now a day’s added a perfect style to match up your ultimate unique personality. The several different brands are being working really hard to come up the customer’s demands to manufacture a watch with a difference. What is more surprising is that they are manufacturing their exclusive collection in their own terms making some of the most amazing watches in the world that will surely allow you stand out among the crowd of thousands.

Here’s an infographic by Give and Take will be highlighting some of the most amazing watches made till date.

The 10 Most Amazing Watches of the World

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Inspiring Design Quotes – Wisdom from Design Legends

We all need a bit of design inspiration from time to time. If you’re stuck in a creative cul de sac, take a read through these inspiring design quotes. Real wisdom, from some of the worlds greatest designers. Enjoy, then go and create great work!

People ignore design that ignores people.
Frank Chimero

Design is what you do when you don’t yet know what you are doing.
George Stiny

The perfect time to start something never arrives.
Anonymous

Don’t just follow your dreams; chase them down, grab hold and don’t let go.
Kellie Elmore

If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.
Albert Einstein

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.
Vincent Van Gogh

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle

Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.
Miyamoto Musashi

If you believe you can do it go out there and do it because that’s the only way you’re gonna get it.
Harry Main

It’s not where you take things from – it’s where you take things to.
Jean-Luc Godard

We tend to forget there’s more to design than designing.
Justin Ahrens

The greatest results in life are usually attained by common sense and perseverance.
Owen Feltham

Computers are to design as microwaves are to cooking.
Milton Glaser

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good design is all about making other designers feel like idiots because that idea wasn’t theirs.
Frank Chimero

Design is thinking made visual.
Saul Bass

Design is what you do when you want to express yourself.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
Leonardo da Vinci

Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.
Wayne Dyer

The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.
Steve Jobs

It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.
Vince Lombardi

Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.
Albert Einstein

The moment you declare a set of ideas to be immune from criticism, satire, derision, or contempt, {your} freedom of thought becomes impossible.
Salman Rushdie

Everything is designed. Few things are designed well.
Brian Reed

Designers are meant to be loved, not to be understood.
Fabien Barral

Design is in everything we make, but it’s also between those things. It’s a mix of craft, science, storytelling, propaganda, and philosophy.
Erik Adigard

If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.
Woody Allen

A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

It doesn’t matter how many times I have to click, as long as each click is a mindless, unambiguous choice.
Steve Krug

Practice safe design: Use a concept.
Petrula Vrontikis

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.
Pablo Picasso

What separates design from art is that design is meant to be... functional.
Cameron Moll

If you can dream it, you can do it.
Walt Disney

To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.
Joseph Chilton Pearce

You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.
Walt Disney

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.
Steve Jobs

Fashion fades, only style remains the same.
Coco Chanel

A shoe is not only a design, but it’s a part of your body language, the way you walk. The way you’re going to move is quite dictated by your shoes.
Christian Louboutin

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
Douglas Adams

Good design is making something intelligible and memorable. Great design is making something memorable and meaningful.
Dieter Rams

Eventually everything connects – people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se.
Charles Eames

Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler.
Albert Einstein

There are three responses to a piece of design – yes, no, and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for.
Milton Glaser

The public is more familiar with bad design than good design. It is, in effect, conditioned to prefer bad design, because that is what it lives with. The new becomes threatening, the old reassuring.
Paul Rand

You can have an art experience in front of a Rembrandt… or in front of a piece of graphic design.
Stefan Sagmeister

Graphic design will save the world right after rock and roll does.
David Carson

I’ve never had a problem with a dumb client. There is no such thing as a bad client. Part of our job is to do good work and get the client to accept it.
Bob Gill

It’s through mistakes that you actually can grow. You have to get bad in order to get good.
Paula Scher

If you do good work for good clients, it will lead to other good work for other good clients. If you do bad work for bad clients, it will lead to other bad work for other bad clients.
Michael Bierut

A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Never fall in love with an idea. They’re whores. If the one you’re with isn’t doing the job, there’s always, always, always another.
Chip Kidd

But I find that for myself, without exception, the more I deal with the work as something that is my own, as something that is personal, the more successful it is.
Marian Bantjes

Digital design is like painting, except the paint never dries.
Neville Brody

Socrates said, “Know thyself.” I say, “Know thy users.” And guess what? They don’t think like you do.
Joshua Brewer

I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares, as opposed to ugly things. That’s my intent.
Saul Bass

Good design is all about making other designers feel like idiots because that idea wasn’t theirs.
Frank Chimero

I strive for two things in design: simplicity and clarity. Great design is born of those two things.
Lindon Leader

Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration.
Jeffrey Zeldman

The life of a designer is a life of fight. Fight against the ugliness. Just like a doctor fights against disease. For us, the visual disease is what we have around, and what we try to do is cure it somehow with design.
Massimo Vignelli

Think more, design less.
Ellen Lupton

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Delete Your Oldest Tweets Using Twitter Archive Eraser

Looking for the awesome Twitter Archive Eraser?

Twitter Archive Eraser allows you to automatically delete tweets in bulk from your timeline, or erase your whole twitter archive if you would like so.

Several tools exist to help you delete your old tweets but, most of them do not work properly, if at all, due to Twitter API’s limitations. Twitter imposes a limit of 3200 tweets (the more recent ones that is) that an application can access.

Twitter enabled the option for users to download their whole archive of tweets, which contains among other things the IDs of all the tweets of a user: the exact piece of information that can be used to erase tweet.

Thus, a simple application called “Twitter Archive Eraser” developed by Martani Fakhrou that helps you delete the oldest tweets from your timeline, or erase the whole archive too if you would like so.

Download and setup the Twitter Archive Eraser app by visiting the link given below:

http://martani.github.io/Twitter-Archive-Eraser/

There is two kinds of download app available:

Standalone (portable) version: This version requires no installation and can be run directly.
Installer version: The installer takes care of downloading the required libraries (.NET framework etc.), and installs the application to the start menu.

How to use “Twitter Archive Eraser”

The application is the simplest possible, it works in 3 steps: authenticate Twitter; select which tweets you want to delete; erase them.

Step 1

In this step, you give Twitter Archive Eraser access to your twitter account so that it can delete the tweets you select. This works by providing a PIN number that twitter provides after the authentication.

Note: You need to accept sharing several statistics to use Twitter Archive Eraser.

Step 2

After you download your Twitter archive (from https://twitter.com/settings/account) and you can load it directly as a zip file into Twitter Archive Eraser.

You can select which period of time you want to delete tweets from (grouped by month).

Step 3

Once you have selected the months, you are now presented with all the tweets in this period of time. By default, all the tweets are marked for deletion, if you want to keep any specific tweets, just uncheck them as shown in the following picture.

You can use regular expressions to filter specific tweets to check/uncheck them (you can click the “Erase?” checkbox on top to check uncheck all the filtered tweets).

You can also choose the degree of parallelism you want: that is how many tweets Twitter Archive Eraser deletes at a time: the more the better. Notice however that this parameter is limited by your network speed.

You can pause/resume the deletion process and check/uncheck tweets in between.

Common filtering expressions

Use the following filtering expressions (without quotes “”) to search for:

Retweets: “^RT”
Replies: “^@\w+”
Reply to user martani_net: “^@martani_net”
Mentions: “@\w+”
Mentions of user martnai_net: “@martani_net”
This will possibly return Retweets also
Tweets containing a number with 4 digits or more: “\d{4}”
Tweets containing the word ‘hello’: “hello”

You can find the code of the application on github: https://github.com/martani/Twitter-Archive-Eraser. Developer mentions that all the Twitter logic is done using the excellent LinqToTwitter library.

Sadly, this app works only with Windows OS and yet developer is not further planning to develop this app for any other OS like Mac or linux. But don’t worry you can use apps like VMware or VirtualBox to switch to Windows and use the Windows apps.

Video explaining how to use “Twitter Archive Eraser”

Video: Martani Fakhrou

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

An Insider’s Guide to Lifestyle Blogging

All over the internet there are thousands of blogs devoted to fashion, beauty, lifestyle and everything in between. The message is clear — there’s never been a better time to be a blogger.

But what makes a blog stand out from the pack? We have the inside scoop to help take your blog to the next level, from the people who know the best — other bloggers.

Be consistent. A posting schedule will help your readers know when to check your blog. More than half of bloggers [surveyed] post on a weekly basis, 10.3 hours per week average time spent blogging.

Choose quality over quantity

One post you’re passionate about is worth a dozen that don’t matter. Your content is the heart of what you do so take the time to make it special — even simple ideas can be memorable when you add your own perspective. Remember: inspiration is everywhere when you know where to look. In the world of blogging 64% are inspired by daily life, 16% are inspired by magazines/websites and 20% are inspired by seasonal trends.

Create don’t curate

Instead of just reviewing a new trend, show how you would wear it. Putting your own spin on something can help your content stand out — especially when other blogger cover the same thing.

Keep a journal of ideas

Inspiration can strike anywhere. Carry a notebook with you on the go to write down any ideas that come to you — perfect for dry spells!

Visuals bring your blog to life

Use pictures to help tell your story. Got a smartphone? 60% of bloggers use their smartphone cameras to take photos.

Taking great pictures is not all about fancy equipment. Smart editing, thoughtful composition and good old fashioned daylight can help make your photos look more professional when you’re first starting out.

Build a community

Getting to know your readers and other like-minded bloggers will help your blog start to grow.

Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there — connecting with others makes the process all the more rewarding.

Best social network to connect with blog readers..... Twitter 43%, Facebook 30%, Instagram 23% and Google+ 3%.

Host a giveway

A fun way to drum up interest or thank your readers is by hosting a giveaway of some of your favourite things.

Ask for opinions

Chances are your readers are just as savvy as you are. Why not let them help you decide how to wear a trend or offer ideas for new posts?

Plan a meet up

A causal meet up is a great to meet readers and other bloggers. Plan something around an industry event or better yet, host a picnic in the park!

Based on an independent survey of fashion, beauty and lifestyle bloggers.

Monday, October 13, 2014

What You Ought To Know to Choose the Perfect WordPress Hosting

One of the best ways to set up a professional looking blog is through the use of WordPress. The hosting of WordPress is essentially a great platform for publishing which is chosen through the most of people because it provides a publishing knowledge that is satisfying, interesting, and simple. It is mainly frequently utilized as an application of blog publishing that is powered via PHP and MySQL. Appropriate to its user responsive benefits, WordPress has developed into very well liked with webmasters and bloggers. Nowadays, it is the very popular System for the Content Management (CMS).

To get started with a WordPress website, you will need a domain name and a web hosting service first. After those are set up, there are various guides that can take you through the process of getting WordPress set up through your hosting service. The most important aspect of using WordPress is finding the right hosting service. Here are some things to keep in mind as you seek the best one for your website.

The first thing you should be thinking about is the uptime. More uptime means that more people are able to view your website, increasing your popularity or making you more money if that is your main goal. Most cheap web hosting services offer poor uptime, and your website can even be down for extended periods of time. This spells out certain death in the online world, and you want to prevent this from happening at all costs. Look for hosting services that offer at least 99% uptime, and 100% uptime if you can find one that offers it.

Next, you want to ensure that the hosting service is compatible with WordPress, because not all of them are. It is one of the largest platforms for blogging in the world, but it requires a lot of memory to operate efficiently. Make sure you ask if it is supported before you choose to go with a certain service.

Try to find a server that offers live chat support for any issues you may have. WordPress is very prone to bad script and frequent downtime, so a server with live chat support will be able to give you the quickest answers and get you back up and running again in no time.

Buying a Facts When Choosing WordPress Hosting

Typically, people who create blogs and straightforward websites are not very familiar with the technical elements of running an internet site .. Consequently, these persons are more inclined to start using a CMS or website CMS in order to maintain their internet presence. WordPress can be a first-rate CMS platform. It can be database-driven and includes a large range of extensions, plugins, and internet applications. It is also exceptionally interactive and provides for customization which responds to client requirements for example domain specs, bandwidth needs, and privacy and security.

Given it has numerous uncomplicated functions, WordPress makes making a web or blogsite so much easier for your one that isn’t a web expert. With countless exciting improvements, a WordPress product demands hosting which is powerful and dependable. It takes exactly the best, top-notch WordPress hosting. Accordingly, a hosting arrangement with WordPress is ideal for anyone that desires to run a blog or website with no worries. To ensure you hold the best hosting for your WordPress site, there are many stuff you should know.

Precisely What are Your Preferences?

Before you even begin to consider hosting with WordPress, you have to know what your hosting requirements are. In case you are unsure regarding your own personal technical needs, it’s going to be most challenging that you should find out the best host. Some of the aspects of concern range from the quantity of bandwidth your internet site will require, the available storage room, the server specifications, and the average yearly downtime. These are just some of the requirements that might affect the selection of WordPress hosting. When you have designed a thorough report on all of your needs, then you can certainly begin the quest for your ideal host.

Would be the Newest Versions of WordPress On the market?

In an ideal world, the WordPress service provider you choose is going to be providing you the latest versions of WordPress. In the world of software, the modern versions are always better simply because they contain product enrichments which enhance faults, strengthen old features, and release new tools. As such, the WordPress upgrades make sure your web or blogsite is definitely capable of at its peak general performance while remaining appealing.

Have You Tested the Hosting Reviews?

Reviews are getting to be extremely important within the everyday life of all people. They normally use these phones decide what cars to acquire and what places to visit. These days where it seems like like you will find there’s new web hosting service sprouting up every 5 minutes, comments are crucial in distinguishing between those that are sub-par the ones which exceed expectations. Familiarizing yourself with hosting reviews could make it much easier that you should get the WordPress hosting service that may meet all your requirements.

Don’t Neglect the Attributes of Hosting with WordPress

The most important benefit of hosting with WordPress will be the convenience you obtain from knowing your blog or website is protected and fully functioning twenty-four hours per day, seven days a week. Because WordPress hosting works along with cloud servers, you’ll always have speedy use of your sites. Just as importantly, the gigantic storage space you are allotted with this particular hosting ensures you can store the maximum amount of content and knowledge as you wish.

There has never been an issue as to whether or otherwise not you should host your site with WordPress. Hardly any other hosting will be as uncomplicated and efficient simply because this CMS. In case you sleep better in the evening knowing your website is always accessible and working correctly, what you need to do might be select the best WordPress hosting.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

32-bit [x86] and 64-bit [x64] Windows: Everything You Need to Know

Mostly, all the PC users are aware of the 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) operating system (OS) architecture versions of existence, but they hardly pay attention towards the difference between the two. Keeping the bigger-is-better philosophy aside, sometimes you might consider that which OS version you should actually install and how it will be affecting the performance of your PC? Some tech geeks may recommend that you should you use a 64-bit version of Windows, but here comes a big question — why? According to some researchers and PC experts, the 64-bit version is more efficient and rates higher on performance over than the less capable 32-bit version.

The terms 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) refer to the way a computer’s processor (also called a CPU), handles information. The 64-bit version of Windows handles large amounts of random access memory (RAM) more effectively than a 32-bit system.

In this article, you’ll read about various aspects of 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) versions of Windows with a conclusion to draw a clear picture about which one you should install and why?

How to check which OS architecture version do you have?

To check out that which version of Windows you are currently running on, all you need to do is reach the ‘System Properties’ in ‘Control Panel.’ You can also right-click on ‘My Computer’ icon, and choose ‘Properties’ from the drop-down menu. Always remember that in order to make your system run on a 64-bit OS version, your CPU must support the same. PCs running on a modern CPU should be fine, but some of the budget PCs don’t include/support for a 64-bit processor.

Do 32-bit PCs really have a memory limit?

Since the 32-bit operating system doesn’t support more than 4096 MB of RAM, the memory is limited to that value only. If you’re running on a 32-bit system, each running process will be given not more than 4 GB of virtual memory to play with, out of which 2 GB of user space is already fixed. Apart from this, your video card and motherboard BIOS will also take some place in that same 4 GB space, which makes your system slow and lagging. According to tech experts, the modern chips support PAE, a processor technology to permit OS to use a little bit more memory. But, it also requires special application support that needs to be installed on the system.

It’s a myth that only Windows-specific users will face this issue however, the fact is 32-bit Linux and Mac OS X users also have the same limitations and the same workarounds. To prove the same, experts tested the 32-bit Linux that comes with a facility of mapping table to access the extra memory. Apple’s OS X Snow Leopard is shipped with a 32-bit kernel, by default, and can’t access all the memory.

What’s different in 64-bit and why is it better?

Packed with super-performance features, a 64-bit OS version provides access to 17.2 billion GB of the system’s memory. This clearly means no matter how heavy your video cards and other devices will be, it will neither steal the usable memory space not it will impact the performance of the device. Windows 64-bit Home editions can only have up to 16 GB of RAM, but the Professional and Ultimate editions enjoy the liberty to use up to 192 GB of RAM.

Giving importance to the per-process limit, Windows 64-bit version has offered each application the ability to access up to 8 TB of virtual memory without adding any special API or installing any software. Therefore, users can easily choose this OS architecture version for performing various heavy tasks such as video editing, running heavy application with graphics, or creating systems into virtual machines.

Windows 64-bit versions are more secure and user-protected as they come with a technology that restricts hijacking the kernel, and provides support for data execution protection (hardware-enabled).

Do 32-bit applications work on 64-Bit?

Fortunately, you will find that all your 32-bit applications work just fine on 64-bit Windows version. Since, 64-bit version includes WoW64 compatibility layer, the entire system switches the processor back and forth between 32-bit and 64-bit modes to access the thread that requires to be executed. This back and forth switching of the processor makes a 32-bit software run smoothly on the 64-bit environment. Nothing comes without exceptions in this world and so does the OS architectural versions. The 32-bit device drivers and low-level system applications may not work without a 64-bit equivalent.

The verdict: Which one should you actually use?

If your budget is not a concern and you’re ordering a new PC with more than 4 GB of RAM, then you should go for a 64-bit version of Windows. Since the version supports a lot of features and performance enhancements, opting for 32-bit version will be a biggest mistake that you can ever make. Buying a 64-bit version will make you use all of the available memory and let you install large video cards and other devices without impacting the performance of the device. You should always remember that Windows Home editions can only support RAM up to 16 GB hence, if you wish to go for more then buy Professional or Ultimate Windows editions.

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Why Sadness Might Be Advantageous for Humans

Video: YouTube, Ted-Ed

Our theories of sadness have evolved significantly over the past few thousand years. Ancient Greek doctors believed that sadness was a black liquid coursing through the body. In fact, the word “melancholy” stems from the words “melaina kole,” Greek for “black bile.”

Though scientists now know more about how our bodies process emotions, we still don’t know exactly why we feel sadness. In this TED-Ed lesson, Courtney Stephens examines the history of sadness and offers a few explanations for why it might be a more useful emotion than we’d expect.

Monday, September 22, 2014

The Anatomy of a Successful Responsive Website

A proficient and compelling website is the frontal of your online business. Having a website for your business is best method for your users and visitors to find you. With a website, business owners can generate direct and viral traffic from visitors and customers who want to know more about their products and services. As having a good looking and professional website is necessary for your business, at the same time you need to be sure that your website is responsive too. Responsive web design is the primary source of ultimate success of your online business.

Responsive design: getting it right

A website with a responsive web design is a website which is visible properly on all kind of mobile devices regardless of its screen size. In today’s tech era, when every day you wake up in the morning, you came to know about the new and latest trend in the web market, it becomes very challenging for every web developers and web designers to stay updated with those trends to survive in IT market with ease. One of the emerging and growing web trend in IT industry is the Responsive web design that is continuously gaining serious attention with the skyrocketing popularity of smartphones and tablets among large number of users especially youngsters and business owners.

In designer’s word, responsive web design is a specific type of web development and design that utilizes CSS3 with fluid proportion-based grids to adapt the layout of a design to viewing environment. Simply put this means that a website designer creates a site or a page that responds to the device a user is viewing the site on. So a user visiting a website on, say, their mobile phone, will see roughly the same website a person viewing from a PC or laptop. That said, more and more designers are changing the layouts so that instead of simply scaling up or down depending on what device you are using, you may see a different site completely from one device to another.

Every web designers and web developers has to take into attention the fact that users can now access internet anywhere and at any time. They are not limited to access internet from monitor or desktop only. So with the speedy and agile change from personal PCs to smartphones and tablets, it has become not only important but also necessary for any website page to resize itself in any screen shape. There has been a lot of buzz about the term ‘Responsive’. Responsive web design allow the visitors to navigate through different section of website from their handheld device with ease. Responsive web design is the concept that will let any website to embrace, resize and fit itself to cater for various screen sizes like desktop, smartphones, tablets etc., and also on the same time making sure that clients and customers can easily navigate your website.

Responsive web design will allow your target visitors to access your service and products you are offering to them from any king of device they have. Therefore we need to provide our users the best means of displaying the information on different screen sizes. Every business owner at the time of analyzing their web traffic will surely understand that about 50 percent of total web traffic to their business comes from small mobile devices. So, it becomes the single most important reason to give your website a responsive layout.

Responsive Web Design Trend

Web design encompasses many different skills and disciplines in the production and maintenance of websites. Areas of web design are graphic design (eg: logo, icons), interface (layout) design, proprietary software.

Click to Enlarge+

Responsive Web Design Trend — Image: InfoBizzs

Why is responsive design so important?

Responsive web design came about as a response to the growing popularity of portable Internet devices like mobile phones and tablets. An already fairly common and growing complaint from users of such devices was the “web’s” inability to adapt properly giving users a less-than favorable experience.

Now thanks to CSS3 and other developments users are able to enjoy their favorite websites and have access to their content on the go as well as at home. Websites are also able to serve their customers content where and when they need it, increasing ad revenue and traffic. In an increasingly mobile world you can expect to see more and more responsive web designs and, eventually, the difference between developing these and regular site will be no different.

Now let’s have a look on the several benefits of Responsive web design for your business.

Drive traffic to your business from all kind of users using desktop, personal computer or any kind of mobile devices. It will increase the total percent of your business traffic by mobile audiences.
Responsive web design for your business allow you to manage the complete website with one set of links which will as a result will increase your website visibility in all major kind of search engines including Google, yahoo and Bing.
Improve in sales and conversion rates of your business — Responsive web design boost conversion rates which is the ultimate requirement of any kind of online business. Responsive Web design is also user and search engine friendly.
Save time and money which is required on mobile website development.
Responsive web design will attract more number of customers to your site and this will take your business to next level of success.

To make the responsive design for your business you need to choose a good and professional web design company that will promise to complete your project on time with reasonable budget.

The anatomy of a responsive site

This infographic features Responsive Web Design Best Practices for both web designers and web developers, including a brief history of responsive web design and some facts/figures on media consumption and mobile usage.

Click to Enlarge+ OR Download as PDF

How To Make a Responsive Website

In this world where the use of mobile devices is outgrowing the use of desktops and laptops most of us need to make sure that our websites and web products work on most mobile devices. That is to say that we need to make our websites responsive. This video is a quick primer on how to make your website responsive.

This video is made by the talented faculty and instructors at Fresh Tilled Soil Labs where they teach and give people the practical hands on design and development core skills and expertise they’ll need in the future.

Why Responsive Website is Necessary?

Responsive design is a website that is designed to ensure that the images, structure and content remain as usual in any device. The design ensures that users get full access to the site when using their phones or tablets smaller screen. This means that a person does not have to worry about having various websites, but to ensure that the sites functions effectively on the mobile device. Majority of the people in the world conduct Google searches on their phones. This means that one can get a good experience regardless of the device sizes and make.

According to Google analytics more that 30% of the website traffic is brought about by tablets and mobile devices. Additionally, 69% of the people that own tablets conduct their shopping on their devices every month. The trend is attracting many people and there is a likely hood that by 2015 web browsing will be conducted on the mobile devices as opposed to desktops.

Responsive design also gives users better and effective experiences. For instance users don’t have to keep zooming the images and the texts on their screens but instead the images in the screen are able to adjust automatically the device’s screen. This ensures that the users can navigate and the site easily. According to research people are likely to move to other websites if the site does not open completely.

However, when a person has a good experience on a specific website with their mobile websites they are likely to use the site effectively to buy products and services from it. An effective user experience further makes communication and feedback to be efficient. It is always important to ensure that the content is accessible in an easy way and it engages the users. A fully responsive website ensures this is achieved by making sure that the users view the site in the best appropriate format for any device being used.

A responsive website is easier to manage and very cost effective when conducting SEO campaigns as you only campaign for one website unlike in a situation where you would have to conduct separate campaigns for the desktop website and the mobile devices. It also ensures that you always stay ahead in the business as many users use mobile devices to search for commodities as well as make purchases. Time is also an important aspect that is saved because there is only one website to update, maintain and market.

This ensures time is saved and money. Responsive design increases the conversion rates, therefore, making the users happy. This is because if a website does not work on the mobile devices the users will not convert. Since a responsive design can easily adapt to any screen the developers have adequate control of all the elements that get displayed on the tablet and the phone. A responsive design also ensures that everything on the website has logical places that help visitors to find what they are looking for easily. In addition it makes sure that the main content on the page is visible without causing any strain. The site is unique and provides a visual sparkle to ensure that the customer enjoys reading the content.

Responsive design also ensures that you can carry out some high end A/B and heat mapping testing. This testing’s can be done easily by the use of software’s such as Optimizely and Clicktale. This ensures that segments user gain good idea of how the users are interacting on the website design services. This makes you to know the marketing strategies and the sales tactic that are effective and the once that are not effective. Responsive design has also been recommended by Google and actually Google prefers the design. The reasons that make Google to prefer responsive design is because it is very efficient for it to craw the site, index and then organize all its contents online.

This is because all websites have only one URL and they share the same HTML on all the devices. However, when a business has both the desktop site and a mobile site it will need to have different URL and different HTML for each. This in return forces Google to index different versions of the exact site. Moreover, Google prefers the responsive design because the content that is in only one URL and website is easier for the users to interact with, link to and share as opposed to content that is on a separate site. Optimizing segments for the mobile devices is very important as it plays a vital role in capturing conversions and visitors. This design is an effective cost effective way of optimizing sites as compared to creating separate sites for tablets, mobile and computer desktops.

Responsive design also plays an important role in helping combat the bounce rate that may be higher. Whether the website is better in search results or not the users are likely to bounce off it does not work efficiently on tablets and the mobiles. Website operators are likely to suffer from high bounce rates if they offer information that varies on their desktops and their mobile devices. A responsive design ensures that this problem is avoided by presenting the same content found on the desktop but in a more advanced functional way. This makes sure that the customers get the information they are looking for and keeps them on the page.

Responsive design websites are the best for users who traverse the internet by the use of their phones and expect to have a smooth desktop experience as well. Going responsive is the best way to ensure that visitors have the best experience on your site as well as make the most of tablet and mobile traffic. While going responsive comes with its challenges on the marketers as well as the website owners it is important to know that the future is on the mobile devices. In case you do not provide a mobiles– friendly environment for your esteemed customers they are likely to move to the competitors that own websites that are easy to operate and manage.

Responsive Web Design

Your website is no longer just viewed on a desktop anymore. It’s out there on a wide range of devices and users on these different devices all have different needs and intentions.

Ryan, from MODassic, showcases their new responsive website and the many advantages of responsive web design and shows how responsive website design can meet the needs of those different users.

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Why You Should Have Interactive Website Design?

Interactivity means the degree of interaction between objects. In web design these objects are a client and a website. The reaction of the visual website elements on the mouse cursor moving can also be called interactivity. For example, have you ever seen a horizontal photo strip that moves right or left depending on your mouse position, or corners of the page that rise up encouraging you to turn it?

With the majority of the websites and applications being interactive, modern web designers are called upon to make a number of considerations which are drastically different from traditional graphic designers. To bridge the gap, designers called upon the discipline of interaction design. Interaction design just like user experience design has evolved to facilitate the interaction between the environment and its people. However, there is a slight difference between user experience and interactive design- interaction designers are typically concerned with the interaction between the users and the computer.

Mobile browsing has been on the increase as more consumers own smart phones and tablets, which offer convenient access to the internet. These devices have doubled the amount of time that people spend accessing the internet. As of 2013, worldwide mobile phone internet user penetration was 73.4 percent. In 2017, figures suggest that more than 90 percent of internet users will access online content through their phones.

Online retail businesses report that a third of their visitors use mobile devices. Mobile browsing has been growing rapidly and this has forced website owners to rethink their design approach. Website owners are shifting toward responsive designs to accommodate mobile browsing. Static designs are no longer effective because online users are looking for interactive websites. There are various reasons why you should have an interactive website design.

Designers Work Hard, So Users Don’t Have To

Designing (and programming, implementing, and especially testing), is a tough job as it requires mastery of a slew of technical skills. Building a super user experience may be quite difficult, and building it correctly may be too difficult for mere words to describe, but — hey — without a positive user experience your users will click away, never to return. Users should not have to spend much time learning a new system, a new lexicon, a new set of patterns and rules and iconographies, just to buy something on the web.

Establish Long-term Relationships

An interactive website design allows you to establish long-term relationships with your online users. Long-term relationships are important for a business. It is easy to sell your products and services to an online user you have engaged with on your site. Interactive designs make it easy to start conversations with potential clients and this helps to develop mutually beneficial relationships.

Wider Reach

Interactivity is one of the most significant attributes of an effective website. An interactive website design allows online visitors to participate. Websites have become more sophisticated over the years and users now expect meaningful interaction with the sites they visit. When a visitor finds what they are looking for on a site, they are more likely to stay longer and visit it frequently. If a site is interactive and offers valuable content, visitors will share the information with their networks on other sites. This is a significant advantage to a business because it gives you a wider reach.

Boost Conversion Rates

When the internet was introduced, online users browsed the web to see other people’s creations. This has changed over the years and users now want to be part of the site. They want to generate content and participate in online communities. There is a shift towards user generated content such as links, music, videos, pictures, and ratings. Online users want to feel like they are part of the website and they are making a valuable contribution. This keeps them coming back to your site and boosts conversion rates.

Better Search Engine Rankings

A mobile friendly website design makes it easy for online visitors to access information from any location. They can use their mobile devices when they are on the move. If your site allows interactivity, you are more likely to get more online visitors and this has a positive impact on your search engine rankings. People tend to visit sites that they find on the search engines. When you integrate some meaningful interactive elements into your website, this helps to excite online users. If people find valuable content on your site and they enjoy navigating through the pages, they will use it for a longer period and even include your link on other sites. You build back links naturally when online users share your links. This increases your popularity and increases your search engine ranking.

Friday, September 12, 2014

The Elements of a Creative Logo Design

Any business logo design will be the visual reflection of its brand. Basically, it’s a graphical representation to show the particular selection of activities that will incorporate your opinion in the minds of your customers whilst coming across the organization. If a company is at its starting phase, the logo will highlight the types of products and services a customer should be expecting from them.

A variety of factors help with the efficiency required for your logo design, including, design, formats, and color. However today let’s talk over some definitely key elements affecting logo design of your brand.

Logo Dimension

Logo designs generally go on a two-dimensional type but a majority of logos merely pleads to be developed in three-dimensions. A two-dimensional logo makes up involving color, design, contrast, and so forth; the three-dimensional could rather be seen as sophisticated plus unexpected.

Logo Design Tips for Dummies: What your Logo Should be?

Here are the 6 qualities that every good logo should possess...

Image: Designmantic

Contrast

The design of a logo is not effective unless of course it incorporates outstanding contrast amongst a variety of factors including picture and text size, distinct colors and fonts, etc. It’s a no doubt a strong tool to design a defined and state of the art piece of work. Other than scale and color, increasing or decreasing backlighting, translucency, consistency and interaction can also create contrast in a logo.

Color Emotion Guide

Scientists have been studying the way we react to colors for many years. Certain colors make us feel a certain way about something. As long as the designer knows what these colors and emotions are, the designer can use that information to help present the business in the right way. These are not hard and fast rules but smart designers use the information to their clients advantage.

This fun infographic lays out the emotions and qualities that well known brands like to be known for. The color psychology is only one part of the puzzle but I think you will agree it is a very important part of it. The Logo Company put together this amazing graphic on the color emotion guide and it is fantastic!

Color Emotion Guide — Image: The Logo Company

Icons

Creative Logo designers generally apply the concept of symbology provide a feeling of belonging. By using it continuously, your consumers will start to see your brand name in the reflection of symbols used in the logo. It will position your brand well in the customer’s mind and they will be able to recall it increasingly. Accumulation of constantly applied designs can serve as a familiar plus unique brand’s artwork expressions. This can be an incontrovertible fact that brands which has been doing great to create a sense belonging are related to buying develop the maximum value above time.

7 Deadly Sins of Logo Design

Ever wondered what you should not be doing to your brand’s logo? Here are the 7 big no-nos of logo design that are a MUST to avoid...

Image: Designmantic

Typography

Typography used in a graphical representation in all kinds, types and appearance are embedded with amazing features among all of them. This contributes to develop grace when used in advertising as this feature favor some logos and people who consider it a pain have never come out from the old age trend of using Times New Roman. When you require a straightforward, and clean mark, go for the typeface which suits your organization the best. It should go with the company or brand image; otherwise it would be a disaster.

7 Deadly Sins of Typography

Study the infographic that follows and seek refuge from these 7 deadly sins in the name of all that is pure and holy! All be warned!

Customization

In the current fast-paced world, customization is now a fundamental portion of virtually any intellectual and creative venture. Throughout the year a company is involved in denoting brand name individuality, and this idea remains to be while on an experimental level. Brand names usually are repairing their own logo designs to evolve to the new idea. Various brands using the same logo tend to personalize it in their own way to stand out from other house of brands. A logo design can be customized by means of symbology or color depending on the requirement of each brand. It feels like a latest concept surfing in the design market, plus terrifying the old ones using the same logo for all brands.

A Successful Logo Design Is…

An infographic outlining the most important elements of a successful logo design. Memorable, Adaptable, Social & Descriptive

Image: Boutique By Design

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Friday, September 12, 2014

Logo Dimension

Logo Design Tips for Dummies: What your Logo Should be?

Contrast

Color Emotion Guide

Icons

7 Deadly Sins of Logo Design

Typography

7 Deadly Sins of Typography

Customization

A Successful Logo Design Is…