Design & Development Digest

Crowdfunding Advice From a Pro

2013-05-21T10:00:00Z

Entrepreneurs turn to crowdfunding for a variety of reasons, but turning concept into reality certainly tops the list. But where does a company start? At the beginning, of course. When introducing a project, clearly explaining the "what" and "why" is an imperative step in the launching process, according to c rowdfunding expert Kendall Almerico, CEO of ClickStartMe . "Give supporters a reason to keep reading," said Almerico. " The initial paragraph is not a place...(read more)

Websites for Restaurants with GoDaddy & Locu

2013-05-20T14:50:00Z

GoDaddy's Website Builder, which provides ready-made designs for those looking to establish a Web presence, has formed an alliance with Locu - a technology solution that enables restaurant owners to update manage their menu's and publish that information onto sites including Citysearch, Yelp, Foursquare, Facebook, TripAdvisor and OpenTable. Locu specializes in easy menu-management and has hundreds of thousands of menus from all over the U.S. pre-loaded into their database, waiting for a restaurant...(read more)

Passing Go with Optimized Landing Pages for Gamers

2013-05-17T18:30:00Z

:: Maximilian Beer, Senior Online Marketing Manager at TrafficCaptain :: Spurred by the increasing popularity of online games, the computer and video games market has in recent years seen rapid growth and today constitutes an important element in performance marketing. All major performance networks have added online games to their portfolios. More and more gamers are drawn to online games, using their browsers as a quick and convenient way to play against hundreds of thousands of real adversaries...(read more)

Easy Web Overlays with Chardin

2013-05-16T19:15:00Z

One of the most popular posts in April 2013 here at Website Magazine was about the Intro.JS jQuery plugin which enables users to create guided virtual introductions on their website. But Intro.js isn't the only available option; you might also want to consider Chardin - a jQuery plugin that creates an attractive and very intuitive overlay for users visiting a website that can be used to display instructions or guidance to users on any predefined, existing element on a web page. Users of Chardin...(read more)

Tubular: Use YouTube Videos as Website Backgrounds

2013-05-16T18:42:00Z

Delete that tired old static website background - and get Tubular ! The jquery plugin lets designers/developers use a YouTube video as a Webpage background - how cool is that? Now, I don't have any idea at all how or when this should be used (or if it should be used at all), but you have to admit it's pretty creative and the possibilities are pretty endless if you can find the right situation to use it in. Check out the demo of Tubular, created by Sean McCambridge, here. Users of Tubular...(read more)

Barriers to Engaging Web Design

2013-05-16T18:30:00Z

For all intents and purposes, design is the most important part of a website when it comes to getting users to convert, and what matters more than that, right? Unfortunately, even on the most thoughtfully designed websites, there can be extraneous circumstances that make the whole site, or just specific pages, less engaging for users than they ought to be, which can ultimately hurt the site’s overall ability to convert. Certainly, the bleakest of realities for Web professionals is to realize...(read more)

Simpler Checkout for Single Page Websites

2013-05-16T17:40:00Z

Single-page site design is a popular Web trend, but it's not typically a good fit for those actually selling products. There are plenty of good examples where this style of design is used, but it's mainly for information publishers and digital brands looking to raise awareness, not neccessarily conversions. For the most part, the actual checkout process is left for another page and a far more robust (and often expensive to maintain) e-commerce platform. But does it need to be that way? Fortunately...(read more)

Supersize Image-Based Websites

2013-05-09T19:00:00Z

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so imagine how much you could convey on your website with an attractive, full-screen background slideshow. Well, you no longer just have to imagine it, thanks to the Supersized jQuery plugin that does just that. This advanced full-screen background plugin allows designers to display a photo or set of photos as a slideshow that takes up the full width and height of a Web page. And although this may not be ideal for all websites, it can be incredibly beneficial...(read more)

Lettering.js Ensures Truly Fontastic Web Designs

2013-05-09T18:45:00Z

A good font can make all of the difference between an attractive website that effectively communicates its message to visitors and one that, well, doesn’t do that. Unfortunately, at present, CSS doesn’t offer a complete down-to-the-letter control option that allows designers to tweak individual aspects And that’s why a jQuery plugin like Lettering.js can go a long way in improving the look, feel and, most importantly, readability of your website. Lettering.js works by splitting...(read more)

Parallax Scrolling, Responsive Design Make Nice

2013-05-09T18:40:00Z

Responsive design is top-of-mind these days for website owners and designers, alike. Plenty of developers are also talking about another hot new trend sweeping the Web known as parallax scrolling. If you haven’t heard, parallax scrolling is where different layers of a Web page move across the screen at different speeds as the user scrolls up or down, allowing for a site contained entirely in a single page with sectional transitions taking place through the act of scrolling. And if you’re...(read more)

Extend Image Value by Tagging with Rich Content

2013-05-09T18:11:00Z

Image tagging is a popular new way to make pictures on a website more informative and engaging for users. Now, website owners and designers can bring that engagement to their own images with the iPicture jQuery plugin that allows users to create interactive image walkthroughs that use the pictures already one their websites. iPicture makes it incredibly easy to overlay little tooltips and hints on top of the image, which will appear to viewers as small circles with a + sign in the middle (see image...(read more)

Designing Websites for Multivariate Testing, Key Considerations

2013-05-09T16:45:00Z

:: By Kim Ann King, Chief Marketing Officer, SiteSpect :: If you are like most digital marketers, you are doing everything you can to optimize your website. One of the best ways to optimize your site is through multivariate testing, which is a technique that enables your visitors to tell you what’s working on your site and what isn’t. In a multivariate test, variations of your site’s content are presented to visitors. As visitors navigate through the site, their behavior is tracked...(read more)

The Web's Most Gorgeously Designed Websites

2013-05-09T15:20:00Z

:: By DJ Miller :: Stagnant websites simply can't keep up in the continually evolving online world. Those that update often and experiment bravely with an eye to gorgeous, yet functional design are sure to grab visitors' attention. These top sites feature striking design elements that help them stand out at the head of the pack. BBC – Design Across Platforms Image via BBC.com BBC's most recent page design features a look that's strikingly similar to what you expect in a mobile...(read more)

6 Super Call-to-Actions (Plus Tips)

2013-05-02T18:20:00Z

Whether it’s completing a project or taking an action, people will take as long as you give them to do it. This is why in business, deadlines (enforceable ones) work and why, on the Web, call-to-actions (good ones) are integral to a website’s success. IaaS and Web hosting provider SingleHop recently released an infographic ( click here ) that details five tips for a more successful call-to-action (CTA). In it, the company details that, unsurprisingly, the click-through rates (CTRs) of...(read more)

Award-Winning Websites That Inspire Us

2013-04-25T18:20:00Z

There are millions of websites on the ’Net, so how do you get yours to stand out from the competition? While the answer to this question depends a great deal on the type of site you run, implementing a combination of design best practices and popular trends will typically put your site on the right track. That said, sometimes we need a little inspiration. One way to get inspired is to research the sites of some of your business’s biggest competitors, as this will provide you with some...(read more)