Month: August 2022

August 25, 2022

5 Factors Web Developers Must Consider to Make a Website Responsive

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Responsive web design ensures building websites that adapt to and function well on mobile, desktops, laptops, and tablet devices. It reduces the chances of users abandoning the site and improves search engine rankings. Also, the user experience improves. Thus, resulting in higher conversions and business growth.

The website developers and designers emphasize incorporating user-facing features for the best possible performance and high-level functionality. Also, they make sure the site design is user-friendly and appealing. They oversee all areas of the website, such as coding and modification. Thus, keeping an eye on and contributing to its responsiveness and expected functionality. Once it is launched, they ensure the site content fits appropriately and is compatible with distinct devices of different screen sizes.

But the question is how web developers make a website responsive. In this article, we’ll go through the vital measures to take to carry out the objectives of the website design and evaluate its responsiveness.

Importance of Responsive Web Design

Building a website for a single device is not sufficient and optimizing it for multiple screens is essential. The reason is there are more mobile users than desktop users.

Around 57% of users do not suggest businesses with websites with poor design. Even the statistics for 2021 help to clarify the claim because they reveal that mobile devices accounted for 54.8% of all internet traffic in that year.

Hence, creating responsive websites adapting to several devices is the key. Let us discover what factors web developers implement to accomplish this.

How Web Developers Can Make a Website Responsive?

Specify the Suitable Responsive Breakpoints

What are the breakpoints? These are the points at which the website’s design and text adapt in a specific manner to deliver an outstanding user experience.

The websites are accessed by varying devices having different resolutions and screen sizes. Hence, enabling it for easy rendering across each of the devices is essential. So, images or content is not unnoticeable or seems misinterpreted.

Here, using the breakpoints or sometimes known as media query breakpoints is necessary. These are defined in the coding. The different breakpoints used for varying device resolution include:

  • Desktop or laptop with high-resolution: 1920 x 1080
  • Laptop: 1366 x 768
  • Tablet: 768 x 1024
  • Pixel 2: 411x 731
  • Mobile: 360 x 640

There is no need to implement breakpoints if the website design is covered with the use of small font size and a single column.

Utilize Fluid Grid

Earlier, the appearance and navigation of websites were dependent on pixel measurements. It means the size for HTML elements was set to static pixels. However, the fluid layout is the dynamic approach to building websites that easily resize the elements depending on the screen size. It does not work on fixing the static dimensions.

The web developers work on the source code of the website to implement the fluid grid rules. Thus, ensuring the site appears consistent across several devices. Moreover, the fluid grid offers control over the alignment.

Consider the Touchscreen Functionality

Considering touchscreens is essential. After all, most of the devices these days including laptops come with both keyboard functionalities and touchscreens. For instance, the menus will appear bigger on desktops so pressing them using fingertips would be easier. On the other hand, mobile screens will display a small element size. Hence, using the CTAs and images will make it easier for the elements to easily render according to devices and screen sizes.

Images and videos also need to display seamlessly across different screen sizes. To do this, you can code the rules that determine how images should be displayed on the website.

For this, use the code rules shared below.

In this syntax, the role of:

  • Max-width is to enable the image to adjust its size on the varying devices depending on the container width.
  • Using source, image, and picture tags is to ensure one image is generated.
  • srcset attribute informs the browser about the picture to display according to the device’s type and screen resolution.
  • Using source tag means supporting the lossy compression of images required to make the website load faster.
  • Lazy loading is only implemented using the loading lazy property.

Define Responsive Typography

Usually, the responsive web design’s focus is on the flexibility of media, layout, and other elements. However, web developers must focus on defining the text font sizes and pixels. It will ensure the content is easily readable and adjusts to the device’s screen size.

Here, use the following code to reset the HTML element’s font size:

Now, define multiple text elements and their font sizes:

Test Website Responsiveness on Multiple Devices

The testing phase requires considering the following queries.

  • See if the layout adapts to the appropriate number of columns.
  • Does the font size fit the screen sizes of varying devices?
  • See if the content fits properly in the screen’s containers and the layout elements.

Besides, use the mobile-friendly test feature of Google to test responsiveness. How to use it?

Enter the website URL and hit the button “test URL” to obtain the outcomes.

In addition, you can utilize tools such as Chrome developer tools. It helps in the website testing on various screen sizes. For this, use the shortcut “CTRL+SHIFT+I” on your Windows desktop. On the other hand, for testing site responsiveness on Mac, press the “Command+Option+I” shortcut. Now, you can pick the device type to experiment with the website responsiveness.  

Conclusion

Considering all these factors above and implementing them step-by-step will help in achieving a responsive website. After all, the website’s responsiveness directly enhances the user experience. Remember internet users expect the websites to function ideally on their devices, be it the desktop, laptop, or mobile. If it fails, the chances of the website losing on potential audience increase. So, simply invest your efforts into following all these tips.

Thanks for Reading!!

 

August 12, 2022

Best Practices to Boost Your WordPress Website Development

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WordPress is a frequently used and reliable open source CMS. It enables experienced developers and designers to create unique websites with straightforward user interfaces and engaging content. As a result, the company can attract, engage, and inform its current and potential customers.

Developing business websites is the priority of every business these days. After all, it is the source of boosting the overall firm’s online exposure. Furthermore, WordPress powering more than 40% of websites on the internet makes it a viable platform for development.

But there are times when both the novices and experienced professionals get stuck with the coding hassles. Thus, facing issues in building functional and responsive websites.

You can easily find multiple WordPress development guides or tutorials. However, our write-up will cover in-depth ins and outs with actionable insights to impress customers with your website and strengthen the business.

Let’s begin then!!

WordPress Website Development Best Practices

Adhere to WordPress Coding Norms

The WordPress platform has coding standards in place and for some reason. It helps the experts begin working with other professionals from different parts of the community like web designers and more. Most of the areas it covers include themes, plugins, and coding. Following the standards ensure that code is easily readable, coding mistakes are minimal, and modifications are simple. In addition, they are well-known for optimized business growth and security.

JS, PHP, CSS, and HTML are the four primary code languages used by the WordPress platform. You need to simply understand the coding standards and use the right language and you will be on the right track.

Ensure Website Security

Securing the website with a username and password is obvious. However, avoid using easy-to-guess passwords. Create one using the combination of special characters, alphabets, numbers, etc.

Additionally, WordPress also offers multiple security plugins. These include Firewall, WPScan, Sucuri, etc. All these capabilities help monitor unauthorized login tries, and user activities, block spammers and ensure data protection.

You can even utilize the forms’ filtering approaches or a captcha system. It ensures the bots or spammers will not be able to send repeated requests to the forms.

Choose WordPress Website Themes and Plugins Wisely

WordPress plugins help create reliable websites. For instance, add-ons have an impact on security and slow down website speed. Therefore, it’s crucial to constantly update third-party plugins that guarantee website security.

Also, the chances of compatibility hassles of WordPress sites with updated platform versions reduces. Ensure the development expert you employ performs an audit on WordPress plugins. In addition, they must be kept upgraded, and their performance must be monitored.

Utilize Cache

It is the approach that contributes to boosting the site’s performance as a whole. This further helps in lowering the bounce rate. You can either use a plugin like Google PageSpeed as the caching solution. On the other hand, you can work with CDN, Cloudflare, and other caching services.

Make Sure to Write Readable Coding

Every developer must go above and beyond to meet the requirements for website development and to create readable and trustworthy codes. Usually, it begins with organizing the files, images, folders, and more. It ensures writing codes that are reusable and easily adjusted to cross-platforms.

The writing of readable code needs to follow the below-given principles.

  • Ensure reliability as it is vital that code performs the repetitive tasks hassle-free and utilizes WordPress APIs.
  • Follow the above shared coding standards to achieve optimal readability.
  • Use filter hooks and actions for enhanced extensibility.
  • When possible, use relative URL routes to make sure they are easy modifications when necessary.
  • Use abstract coding rather than just copying and pasting the snippets.

Use Custom Plug-Ins and Child Site Themes

You can add new features and functionalities to a theme but create a duplicate child theme for it. Never touch the coding of any third-party plugins. Otherwise, you may need to overwrite the code manually if there occurs any need for upgrades in the future.

Additionally, installing unique plugins is the best approach to provide the website with the functionality you want. The primary purpose of adding plugins is to make it easier to move between themes without hindering the functionality of the entire site.

Follow Code Spacing Rules

Correct spacing is essential to ensure easy code readability. Thinking about how to use it as the coding standard?

  • Make sure there are enough spaces between the opening and closing parenthesis.
  • After commas and on either side of assignments, string operators, comparisons, etc., add the appropriate amount of space.
  • Do prefer not to use a PHP closing tag.
  • Avoid using whitespace at the coding’s end.

Your codes will be reliable and easier to read if you adhere to these coding best practices. Isn’t it great!!

Perform Thorough Code Testing

One common mistake that many developers make is they do not test the code or find it significant to perform debugging. Besides, there are approaches like quality assurance and A/B unit testing to consider. This helps in testing the coding and identifying errors or mistakes early. Moreover, quality assurance ensures the proper functioning of coding in terms of WordPress development. Also, it sees if the user interface is friendly and easily navigable on the browsers.

Conclusion

To conclude, website building requires knowledge and expertise in both design and development. Only then the goals of enhanced user experience with the website can be achieved. So, being a developer, ensure you adhere to coding standards, follow the coding spaces appropriately, and keep up with the upgrades and development trends.

All in all, these best techniques will provide a solid base for understanding the way WordPress works in website development.

So, what are you waiting for? Hire the WordPress website development agency that assures the building of appealing, responsive, and sales-driven websites.

Stellen Infotech is a well-known WordPress website development company with great experts to meet development needs. They make sure to include fantastic features and functionality so that the customers have total control over how the website operates. Thus, assisting them in providing clients with great digital experiences.

Hope you find this write-up helpful.

Thanks for Reading!!

August 3, 2022

Essential Skills Every Web Designer Should Have

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Demand for web design is increasing daily as more firms move their business online. After all, online storefronts these days contribute a lot to the business’s bottom line. 

Are you looking to employ a web designer for your in-house or client project fulfillment?

Being a business owner, having a web designer who masters multiple languages, coding skills, digital strategies, and other technical knowledge is vital. Furthermore, a skilled web designer must be creative enough to introduce varying ideas for different project needs. After all, the website design is something that communicates with the customers and ensures that user expectations are met.

In this write-up, we have come up with the must-have and the right skill set to look for in a website designer before employing them. 

What is the Role of a Web Designer?

The role of a web designer is to create compelling websites ensuring higher customer engagement and business ROI. These include correct text placement, easy loading images, creative layout, etc. Also, it involves utilizing the style, font, and color preferences depending on the business objectives and needs. All it requires is coding skills and knowledge of HTML, CSS, etc. 

Overall, a website designer employs the workplace and technical skills to build a website design that looks and functions on multiple devices. They make a website not only focusing on a good appeal but optimizing it to deliver better UX. 

Must-Have Skills For a Web Designer

Technical Skills

Website designing depends on site usability and programming knowledge. Some essential technical web designer skills are given below: 

HTML, JS, and CSS Knowledge

HTML: HyperText Markup Language is the essential skill to meet any website design needs. Ensure the web designer you hire not only uses CMS or WYSIWYG but has the knowledge of HTML. After all, it is what helps to manage the workflow even when these editors are not efficient. 

JavaScript: JS is the skill usually owned by web developers that helps manipulate website components in real-time. However, web designers must know JS. 

CSS: HTML alone handles the website’s layout. The knowledge of Cascading Style Sheets is necessary to define the elegance and website’s visual appeal.

Visual Elements

Web designers use software such as Photoshop, Figma, Illustrator, and more. These assist in streamlining menu display and navigation and make visual elements appealing. The components involve icons, product pages, logos, banners, etc. But you need to look for web design experts who are also well-versed with the best design practices focusing on organized website information flow. These things include design theory, color theory, typography, and more. 

User Experience Knowledge

Every web designer’s skill set must understand the importance of user experience and how design impacts it. Hiring a UX expert can be the solution for large website designing projects. However, for small or medium design needs, web designers can provide a fine-tuned experience to the users. They will know every tip and practice to make each web page easy to navigate and use. Their efforts to enhance user experience will involve designing tailored to the target audience. 

Responsive Design

A business website must be optimized for mobile-friendliness and easy accessibility. Hence, the website designer you hire must adjust a layout compatible with multiple resolutions and screen sizes. They should make the CTAs, text, images, and other media understandable. Only then visitors will spend more time on site and perform necessary actions. 

Basics of Online Marketing

No web designer is an online marketing expert. But they must possess an understanding of how the visual representation of a website influences the marketing aspects. Digital marketers may ask for social media images, infographics, and more to support paid ads or write-ups. Hence, if the designer knows what visual can outperform the competitor’s efforts, it will benefit your business.

Web Designer’s Soft Skills

These skills ensure the successful completion and delivery of the design project. 

Communication Skills

Communication is the key to successful business-client relationships. When it comes to web designing, it is again significant. How? A designer who does not understand the business objectives will fail to communicate the business message to the clients. Also, remote work requires teams to efficiently communicate with each. 

Therefore, the designing expert you employ must possess collaboration and communication skills. It will include the knowledge of multiple technologies and platforms to facilitate better interactions. 

Creative Thinking

Website designing is challenging for any designer with a lack of creative thinking. Every designer must understand design issues from many perspectives and find solutions. Thus, making the design more enjoyable. Also, creative thinking skills are those that increase any designer’s value. 

Project Management

Professional website designing is a time-consuming process. Many web designing experts struggle with deadlines, handling projects, lack specific skills, etc. Hence, look for those familiar with the tricks to manage the project needs and deadlines. Thus, keeping the complexities at bay and not compromising the business goals throughout the procedure. 

Interpersonal Skills

Web designing includes the efforts of not only the designers but other business departments as well. For example, they may need to connect with the marketing experts and ITes to understand the client’s needs and who the target audience is. So, the web designer must have the skills and capabilities to connect politely with others and know how to optimize the site for increased conversions. 

Final Thoughts

Web designing skills are not sufficient in this everyday evolving digital world. The designers must hold expertise or at least basic knowledge of every field, especially everything related to online marketing and websites. 

Hence, when searching for a web designer for your next project, ensure you choose the one with an understanding of the bigger picture. It must include the creativity aspects to well-versed knowledge and implementation of digital strategies. Regardless of whether you want to hire a freelance designer or an in-house expert, considering these skills will help you make the right pick. 

In addition, keep the skill requirements clear and pick talented experts. After all, only they can make the visions transform into existence. 

You can hire the web design experts of Stellen Infotech. Our trusted website designers experts deliver creative services for multiple industry types. Thus, helping firms promote their brands, connect with the customers, and build a strong brand presence. 

Thanks for Reading!!