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    • Posts Tagged ‘web development’

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    The CSS3 Text-Effect in Web Design

    Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

    Conducting your website design processes does not only pertain on using the lingua franca of the web which is HTML but it entails the use of the different scripting languages involved in the different layers of the website. There are several layers of a website and each layer is controlled by a specific scripting language. This is done in order to make sure that every layer of a website design would function properly according to the needs and wants of the website designer.

    What Are the Layers and Web Design Scripting Languages?

    The different website layers are the following:

    1. Structural Layer – this layer is where the structure of the website is developed. It is associated with the use of the lingua franca of the internet and this is the Hypertext markup language. This is where the framework of the website is going to be developed.

    2. Presentation Layer – it is through this layer where the designs of the website are incorporated. Designing the website is made possible by using the Cascading Style Sheet scripting language. The latest version of CSS is version 3.

    3. Behavioural Layer- this layer is in-charge of the different actions and interactions of the website interface to the website user. This is manipulated by using the JavaScript scripting language.

    The New CSS3

    It is in the presentation layer that the web design is manipulated and through the Cascading Style Sheet the design is controlled. In CSS 3 or the latest version of the Cascading Style Sheet text decorations or designs are now made possible, especially that of adding shadows. This new text design manipulation can be done using the text-shadow CSS property.

    Conclusion

    The text shadow CSS property is compatible if viewed using Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari and Google Chrome. Through the text-shadow property you can increase the presentation of the text without having to resort to graphic design.

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    Posted in Web Design Work |

    The Basic Units of a Web Design Team

    Monday, May 21st, 2012

    Web design can be very effective if it is done by a dedicated team, this is because of the fact that there are different aspects in web design that a generalist may do but could be efficiently done by a specialist, which means that for every aspect of website design there is a specialist who is in-charge of such specific task. Although generalist web designers can also do the job of every team member in a website design team, quality or time may be sacrificed especially if the website would require a specific deadline. For website design companies it would be a wise choice to have a team of specialists that would be in-charge of every specific aspect of a website.

    The Basic Units

    First, let us clarify what basic unit means, for purposes of this post basic unit falls under the meaning or is synonymous to specialists of individual specialist members of a web design team, these are the following:

    1. The Coder – this member of the team is in-charge of transforming the design into codes or into something that could be interpreted by web browsers. The coder may be the generalist in the group or team because he or she should understand the basic languages of web development like HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP.

    2. The Designer – the designer is the creative member of the group, this is because of the fact that conceptualisation of the website is done by the designer. He or she is in-charge of creating a graphic design for the website, basically he or she will set how the website is going to look like, including the different color combinations.

    3. The Content Developer – every website must have its own content. Developing website content is not an easy task because the content that will be developed should not only be informative but it must also be SEO-friendly. Content could come in different forms it could either be a text, a video, an audio or an image. This is why a content developer must be skilled in creating all four types of contents.

    Conclusion on Website Design Team

    Again having a specialist rather than a generalist to make your website would ensure that every part of the website that you are trying to develop whether be it a content, the code or the website design you will be guaranteed of a quality output since every member of the team has its on specialisation and could focus his or her time and effort in the conduct of his or her work.

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    Posted in Web Design Work |

    Video Editing For Web Design

    Thursday, May 17th, 2012

    The incorporation of the new elements in HTML 5 makes it possible for every website owner to incorporate video in their web design. Using a video in your website to augment not only your web design but most of all your content would greatly help increase not only your website traffic but it would also help your users maintain attention into your website. Video is a popular content of choice nowadays for a website design because of the different benefits that it could give to your website design and to your website traffic.

    Benefits of Video

    Using videos in your website design gives several benefits and these are the following:

    1. Visual Content – videos are considered to be better than text content as based on the point of view of a website visitor. Although text content is better for SEO the incorporation of videos as your website content could help your website viewers to understand better the message which you are trying to convey.

    2. Lesser Bounce Rate – since videos can make your users or website users to stay focused on your video, provided you have made it interesting, you websites’ bounce rate is going to be greatly reduced. Bounce rate is the total number of website visitors who have not stayed longer than thirty seconds in your website and have already clicked away from your website. Reducing your bounce rate would not only increase your sites’ potential return of investment but also increases the reliability of your website.

    3. Captures Attention – site visitors can always click away from your website, but having a video incorporated in your website design will increase the possibility of capturing the attention of your website visitors and once captured other benefits would follow such as lesser bounce rate and improved visual content.

    Conclusion

    Using videos in your web design does not only allow you to add beauty to your website but rather it also adds traffic benefits to your website. Indeed video is already made essential to website design as it can be an alternative to your text content.

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    Posted in Web Design Work |

    Graphic Design Software For Web Design

    Monday, May 14th, 2012

    As what was previously discussed in this blog a website designer does not only need to know how to code or to write web design scripts. There is also a need for the website designer to know how to utilise the different multimedia editing software. Multimedia such as graphics, video and audio are now easily incorporated to a web page design thanks to HTML 5 elements. The problem however is that a website designer must be ready and be knowledgeable in editing such multimedia interfaces such as video, audio and graphics. One of the first thing that a web designer must know is how to create graphic designs that would be incorporated into the website. There are several software applications that may be used for graphic design which could produce great images that could be used for website design.

    The Software Applications

    There are three common names which we always hear when it comes to Graphic design, they are popular because of the power and flexibility which the application can give to a graphic designer and these software applications are:

    1. Photoshop – developed by Adobe systems, this graphic design software is considered as one of the most powerful and versatile graphic design application. This is because it does not only allow the design for a specific platform but rather it gives you the choice on how to design the image based on the purpose to which you intend to use it. If you intend to do it for video purposes then you will have to utilise the presets made available in photoshop. Furthermore, its compositing capability makes it more flexible through the different options available to edit different layers of the composited image.

    2. Corel Draw – also known as an alternative to Photoshop because of the fact that it has the same power and flexibility in terms of graphic design. Compositing is also possible and its features and functionality are almost the same as that of Photoshop.

    3. GIMP – again another graphic design software that offers almost similar features with that of Photoshop. Its third party support however is not as vast as that of Corel and Photoshop. It’s upside however is the fact that GIMP is actually a free software.

    Conclusion

    Knowledge is power as they say, knowing your different options in terms of graphic design which you could use to create and edit images to be used in your web design will give you an idea on what software will best fit your needs. Choose one software and become a master graphic designer using such software, we guarantee that you will be able to create great designs.

     

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    Posted in Web Design Work |

    What You Should Know Aside From HTML

    Sunday, May 13th, 2012

    If you are trying to start out as a web designer trying to create your own web design you have to learn the different tenets or foundation of web design such as the different scripting languages like the hypertext markup language or HTML, Cascading Stylesheets or CSS, JavaScript, Hypertext Preprocessor or PHP among others. However, your learning curve must not stop with those scripting languages because along with the different processes in web design comes the need to incorporate multimedia to your website, therefore as the website designer you should also know how to create multimedia presentations in the field of audio, video and graphics.

    What Should You Learn?

    As stated above you should also learn how to create website design processes that involved multimedia. The following are the different multimedia that are commonly used in website design:

    1. Graphics – no website would be complete if there are no images incorporated. There are times when photos are too large or too small for your overall website design where instead of complimenting the web design as a whole it causes distortion to the general design. This is why it is very important to learn how to adjust or readjust images through the different image editing software. There will also be some instances where you need to incorporate drawings or cartoon images into your web design this is where you knowledge in graphic design would come in handy, thus it is important for you to learn graphic design.

    2. Audio – There are times when you need to incorporate audio to your website like music or a narration. Of course not all narrations or music would easily be incorporated into your website, in the latest HTML 5 version there are only some file formats that are recognised by browsers thus it is handy to learn how to convert your audio file in to a web friendly audio file. There will also be instances that noise in the background of your audio may be evident, this is where your knowledge of audio editing would come in handy.

    3. Video – perhaps one of the multimedia that revolutionised the development of websites is the video. This is because of the fact that it can combine graphics and audio into one. Enabling website visitors to watch video makes the user stay at a website longer. In order to make a presentable video you have to know how to edit videos as well as to add those necessary captions and graphics to help users in viewing your video.

    Conclusion Multimedia Web Design

    Graphic, Video and Audio and their processes of editing should be included in your learning curve because the future of web design does not only rest in texts and codes but also in multimedia.

     

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    Posted in Web Design Work |

    Is Your Web Designer Legit?

    Friday, May 11th, 2012

    It is fascinating how the internet has revolutionised the world of business. Transactions have been facilitated and made easy with just a click of a button. Through web design, business owners can actually create a website that will help them inform their target clients about their products and services. With the advancement of internet technology web designers can also make websites which could handle online transactions such as shopping carts and payment interfaces. Managing finances online is also made possible through web design and web development.

    The Need For Web Design and Web Designers

    It is because of these vast benefits from the internet that having a website has become imperative for business owners. This makes web designers to be an indispensable part of business. Many Website Designers have been offering their services to those who would require it. Anyone with the proper knowledge in website design could offer their services as website designers and with the use of the internet web designers could actually get clients coming from different parts of the world.

    The Danger

    It is because of the fact that website designers could be hired from anywhere in the world there are some attached risks for those hiring their services. Many web design service clients have fallen prey to some unscrupulous website designers who would just take the money from the client without delivering the correct or expected output. The web design clients is opening themselves to the said risks when they hire a web designer, this is why it is very important for every business owner seeking to have their website built to be vigilant in the characteristics of a legitimate web designers. Such characteristics are the following:

    1. Provides Portfolio – a website designer should be able to present a portfolio of his works; he or she must be able to showcase his or her capabilities as the web designer. A portfolio must be readily presented as you ask for them.

    2. Have their own website – website designers offering their services must have their own website, not only to show their portfolio but to also show that they do have the knowledge in the field of web design.

    3. Makes Contact Details Available – a website designer must always make their contact details available from their website URL to their own mobile number. This is important to show would be clients that they can be contacted anytime regarding issues about their web design work.

    Conclusion

    So if you have already entered into contract with a web designers, maybe you should ask yourself, is your website designer legit? Do they have the different characteristics of a legitimate web designer as stated above?

     

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    Posted in Web Design Work |

    Reasons Why Your Web Design Should Be in HTML 5

    Thursday, May 10th, 2012

    HTML is known as the lingua franca of the internet and it is because of this such language is developed from time to time, in fact the latest version being used is HTML 5 or the Hypertext Markup Language 5. The change in the version or the update in the version of the Hypertext Markup Language is because of the fact that web design must also conform with the latest internet technology especially those affecting the structure of a website. Since the version updates are due to the fact that it has to conform to the latest technology website designers must also adapt in using the latest version of the web scripting language. Just like any other human nature,  some website designers are afraid of change, this is why the news of the HTML 5 version made some website designers cringe especially so that most of the elements that they became familiar with in the previous versions of HTML is now considered as deprecated or already not a standard.

    So Why Use HTML 5 For Web Design?

    Using HTML 5 is very important especially for website designers because there are several benefits such as:

    1. HTML 5 allows for development of games – through the canvas elments web designers can develop mobile and interactive games. This elements allows you to embed other codes that will be enable you to create web based games.

    2. Cross Browser Compatibility –  HTML 5 document type definition was already made simple and compatible with all types of modern web browsers.

    3. Mobile Compatibility – since the future in technology is through mobile browsing and the use of smartphones, HTML 5 is being designed for website designers to create a responsive website allowing every web page to be compatible with different screen sizes, since we know that tablet PC ‘s and smartphones have varying screen sizes.

    Conclusion

    The future of HTML or website design structure is through HTML 5 this is why it is imperative for every website designers to start learning and mastering HTML 5 before the language is fully released and made the industry standard.

     

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    Posted in Web Design Work |

    Security Tips to Remember When Using WordPress

    Monday, May 7th, 2012

    Security is still the number one factor when it comes to creating a site. When blogging using WordPress, other than having the best website design, you also need to be certain of its security features. Securing your website should also become one of your priorities. It is one way of having a successful blog or website.

    Let us check out some of the best security tips that you can keep in mind in order to secure your WordPress blog site.

    1. Protect you Administrator Account – Many online hackers are capable of trying out several admin passwords until they will able to get the right one. Using the AskApache password protects plugin will help you. It creates a second level of security for your WordPress blog site. In which it requires a username and a password to access any file from the /wp-admin/folder. There are still other plugins you can use to protect your admin account completely from any attacker.
    2. Make sure to install updates – It is always important that you update WordPress to the latest version. This is important because you need to update the security bugs you have and make your site truly protected. Many WordPress updates will even give you more chances of getting new ways for great web design.
    3. Avoid showing up the WordPress version on your site – It is important that in creating a website design. For online attackers to know your WordPress version, it gives them more opportunity in finding ways on how to break in your account. The security bugs used in some previous released are already known to the public, making it a bad idea to put your version number on your site.
    4. Backup your site and its database regularly – This is quite obvious, no need to stress it out. Creating and making regular backups of your important files is always important.
    5. Finally, use a strong password – This is your first defense in making your WordPress blog site protected. Make sure to create a solid and unique password.

    Conclusion

    It is more than just an outstanding web design if you want to be successful with your blog site. You also have to be certain with the security and protection of the contents of your site. Online threats are just around the corner. Attackers are even working hard these days. Therefore, you also have to make sure that you do your best in securing the site completely.

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    Posted in Wordpress |

    Things to Ponder Upon When Hiring a Web Designer

    Sunday, April 15th, 2012

    Hiring a web designer or looking for a reliable web designer could be a very daunting task. This is because of the fact that there is a lot of Web designers offering their services, however, the fact remains that there are a lot of web designers who are of different caliber and there is a distortion in terms of the price of web designers services with that of the skills of the web designers. This is the reason why looking for the right website designer to work on your web design needs you have to really have to “shop” around and make an effort to really compare the different services offered by different competing website design companies.

    Things to Ponder Upon before Choosing

    In order for you to be able to make an informed decision when choosing a web designer, taking the following into consideration would make a difference:

    1. Ask around – firs thing that you have to do is to ask around, you might have friends or acquaintances that may have an experience on hiring the services of web designers, ask them on the pros and cons of their hired web designers and what they might have missed when they were choosing their web designer, this way you will be able to learn from their mistakes.

    2. Do a little online espionage – obviously you might not be the first to have their business put online, some may have already doing business online. This should prompt you to visit such websites and look for the strengths and weaknesses of their websites,  and if you are lucky you might also see the name of the web design company who developed their website, such information is commonly placed in the footer section of the website.

    3. Web Designers Reputation in Focus – now that you may have already have an idea on where to find web designers it is time to scrutinise them further. This can be done by checking the reputation of such web design company. This can be done through researching the web design company name via different review websites.

    4. Previous Work done – nothing could give the best impression to a potential client except by the output of the web design company. Look for websites that were claimed to be developed by your potential web designer and determine whether such output is according to what you are looking for.

    Conclusion:

    Looking for the best web designer that will have the necessary skills and offers the prices that is within your budget can be possible if you know how to look for them, with the thousands of freelancers and web design companies offering their services it would be best to have the knowledge on locating the ones that will suit your website design needs.

     

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    Posted in Web Design Work |

    Font Tips for Web Design

    Sunday, April 1st, 2012

    Incorporating text in a website as part of the website content is an indispensable requirement in a website. For a creative or professionally made web design therefore, the use of proper fonts and typography in designing the website is also an absolute requirement. It is important to note that the first method used to convey information through the website is by using text content, images comes in close second. Since text content is a primary mode of sharing information, proper font or typography use should be incorporated or taken into consideration when creating such text content.

    The Need For Proper Use of Font Type

    There are however some website designers that forget about the fact that text content is indeed very important, which in result might compromise the entire website design. This is why these font use tips for web design must always be taken into consideration when developing a website:
    1. Use a limited number of font types – there are a lot of font-types which are regularly updated or regularly made available for download everyday. There are a lot of creative persons out there who could develop new fonts for everybody to use. However, in web design it is important that you do not use to much of the different font types. If possible use only one font-type for your website, if it could not be helped however limit yourself in using only around two to three different types of font.
    2. Use Readable Fonts for Headings – headings would capture the initial attention of your site visitors, this is why it is important that your headings would use an easily readable type of font. Do not use script or fantasy type of fonts in your website headings because these are not easily readable and it might require some deciphering on the part of the visitor especially if his or her eyes are not clear enough to read the text.
    3. Use Web Standard Fonts – although there are thousands of fonts made available online it is important to take into consideration the fact that browsers are limited in interpreting the type of font in the web page. This is why it is important that you only use web-safe or web standard fonts in order to make sure that your website design will be cross-browser compatible.

    Conclusion:

    Proper use of font is important in developing a website, because of the fact that the text content is the primary content used to convey information to your website apart from being augmented by image content of course.

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    Posted in Web Design Work |

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