responsive design

Responsive Design & Why it is Important

Responsive design is a very important aspect of web design and web development. In this day and age, with as many smartphones there are out there, mobile website traffic is roughly equal to desktop browser based web traffic. With so many people using their phones to view websites it's critically important to have a website that looks good on any screen size, to make sure that your content is easily view able without any issues and that your visitors can navigate your website and get the information they need or become your customer or loyal fan easily.

 

The goal of responsive web design is to ensure that your users have a good experience on your website. The best system in place at the moment, and the one that you will find on nearly every website that takes advantage of responsiveness, is the grid system. Grid-based systems usually work by making use of media queries like the one below:

 

/** This is an example of a media query that will activate if your screen has a width of up to 680px; It will then (and only then!) apply the contained CSS. */
@media screen only and (max-width: 680px) {
    .someGridElement { max-width:50%; }
}
/** The below media query only applies to view sizes above or equal to 680px width.* Setting it to 681 is so that we don’t have overlapping rules.*/
@media screen only and (min-width: 681px) {
    .someGridElement { max-width:25%; }
}

 

If you have been using CSS for a while, this shouldn’t be too big of a step up from what you are used to, but a nice part about responsive design being so prominent is that there are frameworks built already that will make development times a lot shorter!

 

A few examples of these frameworks are below. Please keep in mind that there are a very wide variety of web design frameworks out there that can be built on and used to construct a myriad of different websites. What's most important is that you know the benefits and disadvantages of each yourself before investing in any one framework very deeply. Many frameworks are also compatible with existing tools and Content Management Systems, for instance Bootstrap can be installed on an instance of a WordPress website and can be expanded upon, but doing so has its own separate set of advantages and disadvantages. We recommend you look further into any software set before launching your next project.

 

The standard for grid-based, responsive design. It is built on both LESS and SASS, but also has a pre-compiled version in case you don’t feel like being pre-processy. It also comes bundled with a redesigned version of basically all of the default html elements such as check boxes, input fields, buttons, and also has a few that aren’t default, like hover tooltips and an icon font. You can also view everything on GitHub if you feel like making your own fork of it or contributing to the base project. Bootstrap 4 is in the making, and it even has an alpha version available for those who want to give it a test run and give feedback to the developers.

 

This is another grid-based responsive system that is pretty common around the internet. It is maintained, also on Github, by Yahoo, and is frequently updated. There is also a feature-selector and custom package builder available so that you can choose the breakpoints for the responsiveness. It is also built upon Normalize.css, which is a css file that was created to keep the browser styles between browsers unified instead of having differences in crucial attributes like padding and margins.

 

For something that focuses on looks right off the bat, there is foundation. Foundation is another responsive framework that is built on SASS. Its modular design can be expanded upon easily with pre-built, aptly-named, "Building Blocks" that add new functionality to the framework without cluttering the default installation. Things like carousels, overlays, sticky sidebars, and even an effects library, can be added in minutes.

 

Overall, these are a very few of the total number of responsive frameworks. There are dozens to choose from, but these are three that you might run into contact when looking around. Generally the larger the number of people using a specific framework the more likely it is that you will be able to find resources and updated versions of the software as time goes on. Almost all software solutions today will require ongoing maintenance and upgrades to handle new security threats that emerge over time.

by Owen Carver

Creating a Good User Experience

User Experience, abbreviated as "UX", in web design and web development is not a new thing by any means. Ensuring that your user has an easy, attractive, and intuitive way to interact with your website and all of its functions is everything. UX encapsulates form interaction, information display, menus, and any other element that you can add to a website. The goal of having good UX is to give the user a pleasant and useful flow of interaction that is helpful and absent of any inconveniences or wasted moments or actions during their visit on your website.
Improving usability, accessibility (screen readers, and the like), and creating a pleasurable experience for users interacting with your product is what good UX is all about. Things like stunning visuals, tasteful animations, and even elegant error messages can contribute to creating an overall positive user experience.
However, it is often difficult for web and graphic designers to put themselves in the users' shoes, but luckily there is an easy way to get around that, using feedback and testing. When you are working on a project, don’t rely purely on what you think looks or "flows" nicely. Have a friend or relative try it out and see what they think. Having a fresh set of eyes on your work can help immensely with finding the points in your work that would otherwise be very difficult or impossible for you to find on your own.
There is no rule-of-thumb for getting good UX, but there are a few good practices:
  • Get feedback from friends, family, A/B testing, page analysis tools, and anything else you can get your hands on. These are crucial for any high-end or high traffic web design project.
  • Keep your design consistent. Reuse design elements to give a sense of unity. This means, stick to your colors and light/darkness percentages.
  • Make tasteful use of animation. Tasteful is hard to define, and it is ultimately left up to you, but find an animation that works for you and the functions that your application performs. Smooth movement is great eye-candy, and will reinforce the feeling of completed an action or creating a sense of progress as users navigate through your site.
  • Make use of load times, but keep them short. Having an animation or smooth transitions will reduce the perceived load time, and making things load quickly will help retain users and make sure that they do not get bored or impatient.
Overall, making good decisions for your website's UX from the very start will make the rest of the process much smoother and easier for you as the designer and/or developer. Knowing how you want to notify users of actions, how you will apply changes to information dynamically, and how things like navigation are going to be laid out are really large steps that can help ensure your users have the best possible experience while interacting with the product and brand.

by Owen Carver

How Responsive Web Design Can Benefit Your Business

What is Responsive Web Design

Responsive web design is more than just the latest trend in web design. If you live in the digital world, you’ve probably already heard of it and may have seen it used on many of your favorite websites in the last few years. If you haven’t, responsive web design is the approach to designing websites in which the content automatically self-adjusts to your screen or device size for optimal view.

This allows the website to adapt its contents to your screen or device, positioning the content in the best possible way, changing the size, shape, and relationship between the various elements on a webpage. Responsive web design is also sometimes referred to as “mobile-friendly”, or “mobile-ready” web design. There are a variety of ways for a website to be responsive from a technical coding perspective, but the end result is that you the webpage you look at will change as you adjust the width of your web browser screen either by changing the orientation of your mobile device from horizontal to vertical, or by dragging the edge of your desktop browser sideways to make your browser window more narrow horizontally. (Hint: Try it with this webpage and see if you can find everything that changes.)

Before Responsive Design

In the past, businesses would need to hire a designer to make different versions of their website if they wanted it to be usable on mobile devices. These would usually include a version for desktop users, mobile phones and maybe even a tablet version. However, with a growing plethora of devices users were able to browse the internet on, this quickly became a difficult strategy to implement. With responsive design, you have only a single website that automatically adjusts its contents and layout to fit whatever screen size or “viewport” it’s being viewed on.

How Can Responsive Design Help Me?

Now that we understand what responsive design is, the next question might be how can responsive design benefit your business? One of the biggest ways responsive web design can benefit your business is improving your ability to reach the large audience of mobile device users in search engines. Over 80% of adults in the United States own a smartphone with internet access, and reports show that mobile devices accounted for over 60% of website traffic in 2014. The mobile device market is growing every day and as more people adopt these devices we will only see these numbers grow.

Responsive Design Improves User Experience

If you sell businesses products or services online, you should be concerned about how you can increase your sales or increase the conversion rates of your website. Responsive web design will also make your website look better, be more user-friendly across different devices and provide a consistent user experience. In turn, this will help drive sales and have a positive impact on your conversion rates. In short, having a responsive web design can actually help you sell more of your products or services and make more money as well as make your website easier to use.

Google Demotes Non-Mobile-Friendly Websites

Google also has stated that they are going to begin demoting websites that are not deemed “mobile-friendly” in its search results for people searching on mobile devices. You can test whether your website is “mobile-friendly” according to Google by visiting Google’s Mobile Friendly Test page and submitting your website address there.

Streamlining Web Design Updates and Maintenance

Another important benefit of responsive design is that it can actually save you time and money. Designing a responsive website is faster than creating separate stand-alone websites for mobile viewing and will save you money when it comes to your development, support and maintenance overhead over time. The good news is that most website themes built today are responsive by default, and is now considered the norm in website development.

About All in Web Pro

All in Web Pro is a leading Las Vegas’ web design company. We understand that your business depends on staying connected to your clients, and we’ll ensure that you’re delivered a professionally designed website that will engage your audience, showcase the best you have to offer, and deliver results for years to come.

by Owen Carver

How Mobilegeddon Affects Your Website & Business

What is Mobilegeddon?

Google’s new mobile update, dubbed “Mobilegeddon” by internet marketers, has far-reaching implications for both your website’s SEO (search engine optimization) and your business. Mobilegeddon’s affects, which began in April of 2015, had a negative impact on the search result rankings of websites that are not mobile-friendly. However, for the long term, Google is making a clear statement that mobile devices and mobile search are becoming a critically important aspect of digital commerce and internet use in general.

Mobile Use is Sky-Rocketing

In the last few years, mobile device and tablet use has been skyrocketing to record numbers year over year. In 2014, statistics showed that the use of non-desktop devices, such as tablets and mobile phones, outnumber PC’s online. Although mobile devices have not yet surpassed desktops in the amount of searches on Google, smartphones are quickly approaching desktops in search. These days, nearly 90% of purchases for local goods and services are first researched online through search engines and more than 70% of business traffic is driven by search.

Search is extremely important and valuable to businesses, and trends are moving towards mobile search as the primary digital mode of the future as more people use their phones and tablets to search for products, solutions, content and more. Consider how many times you’ve used your iPhone or Android device to search for a local restaurant or business in your city, or perhaps while you were in a store and searched for reviews or prices of a product you were thinking about buying.

Google is Constantly Updating

Google is highly aware of these trends and is constantly testing and analyzing user behavior to deliver higher quality results and a more user-friendly experience to Google searchers. They are always looking for ways to connect users with the most relevant search results possible while also providing a improved user experience across all devices.

Responsive & Mobile-Friendly Web Design

Responsive web design refers to websites that respond dynamically to the size of the web browser that they are displayed in. Websites that are responsive can change in a variety of ways by adjusting their visual elements including font, images, layout positioning, and relationships between elements in different ways on the fly without requiring the web browser to be refreshed. This can be easily be observed by adjusting the width of the browser window you are viewing. Common elemental changes in a website that is responsive include the morphing of menus into a button with 3 horizontal lines, the vertical stacking of images and layout elements that were previously in rows, and the adjustment or removal of large elements in order for them to still fit on the webpage.

Responsive Web Designers

All in Web Pro is a leader in Las Vegas web design, graphic design, and custom web development that is focused on building mobile-friendly websites & web applications. We can update your website to make sure it is Mobilegeddon compatible so that your search engine rankings and business achieve the best results possible. Our web design services utilize responsive web designs that are mobile-friendly and will optimize your website across any mobile device and browser viewport on phone or tablet.

As the web has evolved, so has All in Web Pro. Our role in helping businesses increase their search engine visibility and provide excellent user experiences to their customers through the most modern web design practices, has helped make Las Vegas based All in Web Pro a leading provider of web design, graphic design, and online brand consulting & marketing.

by Owen Carver

5 Design Tips for Building Your Website

Successful Web Design

The aesthetics of a website have never been as vital as they are today. Whether you’re building your website for yourself or a client, it has become crucial that you stay updated with current web design trends and market demands. However, it’s undoubtedly difficult to keep up with the pace of the internet and the ever-changing trends in web design. Web designers know that the key to a successful web design is understanding the principles of design in addition to the expectations of your target audience and leveraging them towards your specific online conversion goals while balancing these needs with your unique budget and timeline.

If you take these things into consideration, you'll be able to influence your visitor’s behavior and drive traffic to your website. In this article, we’ll outline 5 design tips for building your website.

1. Explore and Research Websites in Your Target Market

Researching other websites in your target market will help you guarantee your design is up to date on current trends and that it's in a style that your visitors will relate to. Analyze your competitor’s websites and take notes on their features that interest you in addition to those that don’t. Using these notes while designing your site will help you deliver a captivating and effective design that’s current to your industry.

2. Keep it Simple and Familiar

It’s a good idea to make use of design elements that your visitors will recognize, the most obvious are a navigation bar, header, footer, etc. This will help make certain your users can navigate your website without getting confused and will help build trust and reliability into your website. Using unfamiliar user interface elements might frustrate your users and cause them to leave your site. After all, the goal of your site is to drive your users towards a specific action, and you want it to be easy for them to quickly perform that action.

3. Use Great Fonts

Choosing a great font is a vital step in designing a captivating website. Make sure you select a font that's legible enough to make your content very easy to read while matching the style and feeling you want your brand to convey.

4. Make it Mobile-Friendly and Responsive

Mobile users are ever increasing and make up a large portion of internet traffic. Moreover, search engine giant Google has announced they're giving precedence to mobile-friendly websites when performing searches from a mobile device. This makes it very important for websites to embrace a mobile-friendly design so that they're accessible to the largest audience possible. You can test to see if your website is mobile friendly according to Google using their Mobile Friendly Test page.

5. Use Color Effectively

Color is an important aspect to any web design. Effective use of color will help you engage your visitors and encourage them to interact with your site. Because of this, it’s essential to choose your colors carefully and ensure they're appropriate to your website. Each color has a deep meaning behind it and conveys an emotion to the viewer. Although individuals may differ in their perceptions of color, you must understand what message you wish to convey with your website before you start selecting colors. For example, all colors convey meaning. And having an overall black theme and background to your website may subconsciously convey a feeling of mystery or danger that might not align with a company that wants users to feel they are open, safe, and transparent.

Staying Current is Essential

Web design is constantly changing and new fads and trends will continue to pop up and fade out. Yet it’s essential to stay up to date with current trends to avoid having an outdated website, especially if there are opportunities to improve the experience of your users and take advantage of opportunities to gain more visibility in search engines. The tips we’ve covered in this article will help you think about things to consider when envisioning a new a captivating web design for your brand.

About All in Web Pro

If you’re looking to have a website professionally designed by web designers who understand current web design trends, look no further than All in Web Pro. We are a leading Las Vegas web design company, and we’ll make sure that you’re delivered a professional web design solution that will engage your audience, showcase the best you have to offer, and drive your visitors to take the actions you desire to convert to sales and growth.

Call us today for a free web development consultation to get a free estimate for your next custom website or web application. 702-331-0650

by Owen Carver