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• 6 Tools for Rapid Cross-Device Website Testing

  Posted:Thu, 14 Jan 2021 10:45:51 +0000

  When creating a website, it’s vital to remember that not only does it need to work and look great on the device you are creating it on, but on all the other devices, it might be used on too.

  Mobile and tablet optimization is important not only for the user journey but from an SEO point of view too, and badly created mobile sites just don’t cut it anymore.

  With more and more devices entering the market, you need to check any website you create is compatible across the board. One bad experience and users are likely to leave and not come back again, which can be catastrophic for a business, particularly if it is just starting out.

  It’s vital to check how a site looks and behaves when browsed differently from how you would use it. A common mistake is to assume users only browse websites on mobile devices in portrait mode; they don’t; landscape browsing is common, especially if the user is used to watching video.

  Here are some of our top tools for testing websites on devices without the need for an entire device library:

  1. Multi-Screen Test

  WhatIsMyScreenResolution offers a great little tool to test how your site will look on different devices easily, and it costs absolutely nothing. You put the URL and choose between desktop, mobile, tablet, and television and then the orientation. Each device can also be broken down into different sizes and resolutions (or you can enter your own), making it easier than ever to test what a site will look like on different devices.

  

  2. Responsinator

  Responsinator is another great tool to test how a site looks on other devices without dipping into your wallet. Put your URL in the top bar, and it will instantly show you what it looks like on generic devices. This is a great, easy to use tool, and you can click through any links on your site to check the usability of multiple pages. This site is free, but if you want to “create your own” template, you need to sign up.

  

  3. Google Dev Tools

  Google Dev Tools is one of the most commonly used free tools. Add it to Chrome, and you can see how your site looks in a multitude of different screen sizes and resolutions. You can simulate touch inputs, device orientation, and geolocation to test how they work. It’s great to easily spot problems using their remote debugging tool to view, change, debug and profile a page’s code directly from your laptop or computer while viewing it on your mobile device.

  

  4. Browser Stack

  Browser Stack allows you to test your site on over 2,000 real devices and browsers, enabling you to see in real-time how your site looks. It is no hassle to set up, and it can be seamlessly integrated into your setup. As it tests on real browsers on real machines, you know the results are more reliable and accurate. It also enables you to debug in real-time using their pre-installed developer tools for ease of editing. The tests are all run securely on tamper-proof physical devices and are wiped clean of all data after each session, so you don’t need to worry about security being compromised.

  

  5. TestComplete Mobile

  TestComplete Mobile allows you to create and run UI tests across real mobile devices, virtual machines, and emulators. You can test both mobile device layouts and apps with script-free record and replay actions. This can help you to edit and fix any potential issues that may arise during the tests. Due to them being conducted on real devices, you know it is less likely to have errors in the system than a simulated device. This is free for 30 days then can get pricier, so make sure you take advantage of the trial and try the service before committing to it.

  

  6. Sizzy

  Sizzy is a great tool for checking sites, and it has a host of features to assist you. You can rotate the screen between portrait and landscape, filter by OS and device type, switch themes, and take screenshots. These little things mean it’s a super easy to use and convenient tool. It claims to simulate each device’s viewport and user agent, meaning the results are the same as what you would actually see on that phone/ tablet, etc. It can’t simulate different browser rendering engines however, so there’s a chance there might be some minor differences compared to the actual thing. Sizzy offers a free trial or has different price packages starting at $5 per month.

  

   

  Featured image via Unsplash

  Source

  The post 6 Tools for Rapid Cross-Device Website Testing first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

  

• What’s New in Ecommerce, January 2021

  Posted:Wed, 13 Jan 2021 10:45:52 +0000

  Ecommerce design may seem fairly straight-forward; you build an online store that showcases a company’s products or services and gives customers a quick and pain-free way to purchase them.

  While that formula will always hold true, ecommerce is undergoing some big changes, and web designers need to be prepared to keep up with them. This monthly ecommerce trends roundup will explore these new and evolving design, sales, and marketing trends.

  1. Calmer Color Palettes

  Although we’re not likely to see this trend go near the sites for big box stores, it’s something smaller ecommerce companies are adopting. And with good reason.

  As consumers become wary about how much money they’re spending, they don’t need to feel pressured or rushed into a purchase. And ecommerce sites that employ calmer color palettes — like pastels and earth tones — will do a better job of putting their customers at ease.

  Bicycle saddle manufacture Brooks England shows how this trend plays out in ecommerce design:

  

  It’s not just outdoors or sporting goods companies that can use more natural-looking colors, either. CBD product vendor Cannaray is another company that uses a more subdued color palette:

  

  Really, any store that wants to do a better job creating satisfying experiences for customers and gaining their long-time loyalty should consider toning things down with color.

  2. No-rush Shipping Rewards

  For years, we’ve seen consumers go crazy for brands that offer free and fast shipping. But thanks to the surge in online shopping in 2020, ecommerce companies, their shipping partners, and delivery service providers just haven’t been able to keep up with the pace.

  When customers are unhappy with slow deliveries, they’re going to go to social media and review sites to bombard brands with complaints, as has been happening with Loft since November:

  

  Although many ecommerce stores still don’t inform customers ahead of time about these delays, we’re starting to see a new checkout trend.

  Here’s how Gap is encouraging and rewarding customers for choosing no-rush shipping:

  

  Amazon is another ecommerce site that encourages no-rush shipping at checkout with a reward:

  

  Not only does this set better expectations for customers before they finish their purchases, but it encourages everyone to slow down a bit so that ecommerce companies and their shipping/delivery partners can keep up.

  3. More Human and Empathetic Assistance

  Each year, design trend roundups suggest that AI will play a greater role in web design.

  While that may be true for things like the search bar or personalized recommendations, ecommerce sites are pulling back the reins on automated support and assistance.

  Best Buy, for instance, offers customers the option to “Shop with an Expert”:

  

  After shoppers go through a quick survey, they’re given a variety of options — based on their own level of comfort and convenience — to work with the expert:

  

  Something that might’ve been left in the hands of a self-service quiz or automated chatbot is being given the human touch once more.

  We’re seeing a similar trend with retailers like Warby Parker. While it still offers a virtual AR try-on, the main navigation actually emphasizes the home try-on option:

  

  Again, this is another example of ecommerce companies becoming less reliant on automated support to give their customers a better and more confident shopping experience.

  Wrap-Up

  Ecommerce trends are always evolving. Sometimes it’s due to new technologies. Other times it has to do with what’s happening in the world around us. And sometimes it’s simply to keep up with changing consumer expectations.

  Stay tuned as we explore new and emerging ecommerce trends in the coming months…

  Source

  The post What’s New in Ecommerce, January 2021 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

  

• Poll: Is Burger King Rebrand a Taste of the Future?

  Posted:Tue, 12 Jan 2021 14:45:03 +0000

  Burger King, the globally recognized food chain with 19,000 restaurants worldwide, has unveiled a redesigned set of brand assets.

  Since the late 1960s, the company has used a logotype sandwiched between two buns. In 1999 the design was updated to add a blue swoosh and some plastic highlights to the bun; Jones Knowles Ritchie’s new design reverts to the classic 1969 approach, with some modern refinements.

  

  Left: The 1999 design, Right: JKR’s redesign

  The lettering has been plumped up and resized, giving the impression of a sandwich bursting with filling. The sports-bar primary colors have been replaced with a warm, nostalgic, red and orange combination.

  Alongside the logo, macro photography has been introduced to focus on food, and 70s-style illustration has been designed to allow for more creative storytelling. There’s a delicious custom typeface called Flame Sans designed to mimic the organic shape of food.

  

  The rebrand is distinctly retro Americana, reminiscent of the work of Milton Glaser.

  Design is one of the most essential tools we have for communicating who we are and what we value

  — Raphael Abreu, head of design at Burger King owner Restaurant Brands International

  With the trauma of recent events, it’s unsurprising that brands seek to transport us to a time that, with the benefit of rose-tinted spectacles, was simpler and more welcoming.

  Burger King’s branding will take several years to roll out worldwide, by which time the style could be a popular trend.

  

   

  Source

  The post Poll: Is Burger King Rebrand a Taste of the Future? first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

  

• 4 Predictions for the Web in 2021

  Posted:Mon, 11 Jan 2021 10:45:54 +0000

  The start of the year is always a good time to reassess priorities and consider new approaches, but 2021 is more of a reset than we expected this time last year. 2020 is unlikely to go down in anyone’s autobiography as the best year of their life, but it has done something positive: it’s prepared the ground for rapid change in the next 12 months.

  More than any other year in our lifetimes, 2021 is set to be revolutionary, with emerging trends that will last well into the new decade. Here’s what we think you can look forward to around the next corner.

  1. The End of Minimalism

  Minimalism has been the de facto approach to web design for the last decade because it works.

  But design reflects the zeitgeist. Where minimalism once felt clean and fresh, it’s starting to feel dull and uninspired. There have been a few false-starts breaking out of the long-term trend, but thanks to the pandemic, 2021 will be the year minimalism finally folds — at least for a while.

  Prior to coronavirus-mandated lockdowns worldwide, there were already signs of a more vibrant, more decorative, more joyful approach to design. Simple typefaces have been replaced with more decorative examples — faces that use ink-traps to fake 3D effects are surprisingly popular.

  trends are cyclical, and the wheel always turns

  One of the biggest aspects of this blossoming trend is the move away from Material Design-style flat color not just to gradients but to multi-color gradients and even animated gradients. Even Apple, the last bastion of the clean white-box approach, jumped on the gradient bandwagon with its Big Sur branding.

  One of the few things COVID-19 hasn’t slowed is the adoption of new web technology, and CSS, in particular, has had some major developments in the last year. CSS Grid is now a practical technology, and our ability to code standards-compliant designs that aren’t dependent on hierarchical boxes is greatly enhanced.

  After more than a year of pretty grim news for most people, much of the world will be vaccinated over the next twelve months, and life will rapidly return to normal. The last global crisis on this scale was the 1918 influenza pandemic, and it led directly to the decade known as the Roaring Twenties.

  Minimalism was already dipping in popularity — trends are cyclical, and the wheel always turns — but lockdown, or perhaps more precisely the end of lockdown, is the catalyst for significant change.

  2. The Decline of WordPress

  In Autumn 2020, something entirely unexpected happened: The W3C announced the platform its new web presence would be built on, and WordPress — the previous choice of the web’s steering committee — didn’t even make the list of finalists.

  Due to accessibility concerns, the W3C development team opted to migrate away from WordPress to Craft CMS. The decision was met with a mixture of glee and outrage. But whether you agree with the decision or not, it’s hard to see it as anything other than yet another symptom of WordPress’ decline.

  WordPress faces a triple threat: there are web builders that do an adequate job for low-end web projects; there are newer rivals like Craft that outperform WordPress as a CMS; there’s a growing interest in alternate approaches, like Jamstack.

  So will it all be over for WordPress in 2021? Not even close. There are myriad reasons WordPress will continue to be the choice of designers and developers for years to come. Tens of thousands of professionals worldwide have invested their whole careers in WordPress; there are millions of themes, plugins, templates, and build processes that are tightly woven into the WordPress ecosystem. What’s more, there are millions of sites with substantial content archives powered by WordPress [WebDesignerDepot is one such site].

  WordPress reportedly powers approximately 37% of the web, and it will still be the dominant CMS in 2022. But it’s unlikely to grow beyond that 37%, and by 2030 its market share will be in rapid contraction.

  2020 was the high-tide mark for WordPress

  But for all its faults — and it’s undeniable that WordPress is full of faults — WordPress is the best of the web; it has given a voice to millions of people, launched countless careers, and empowered entrepreneurship worldwide.

  2020 was the high-tide mark for WordPress, but it’s not an extinction-level event — even the much-maligned Flash, which was killed dead in a matter of months by the first generation iPhone, limped on until a few weeks ago.

  WordPress will have to find a niche and accept a smaller market share; in doing so, it will address the single biggest complaint that anyone has about WordPress: that it’s trying to do too much.

  WordPress is one of the great success stories of the web. In a decade, it may have to settle for powering just 10% of the web — a level of failure most of its rivals can only dream of.

  3. The Digital Currency Explosion

  2021 is undoubtedly the year that cryptocurrency goes mainstream. In 2020 Bitcoin grew by almost 400%; currently valued at around $35k, conservative predictions for a December 2021 valuation are $100k, with five-year predictions as high as $1m. And Bitcoin isn’t the only cryptocurrency; the value of developer-friendly Ether has jumped by more than 50% in the first few weeks of 2021.

  In the US, the incoming Biden administration is preparing a multi-trillion dollar relief package, which many believe young Americans will invest in cryptocurrency. Perhaps more importantly, large investment banks are now pumping hundreds of millions in digital currencies. PayPal and Visa are both in the advanced stages of adopting blockchain technology.

  The biggest threat to the new digital economy is the volatility of cryptocurrency. You cannot price services in XRP if XRP’s dollar price could crash at any time — as it did a few weeks ago.

  And so there are two routes in which this trend will unfold for ecommerce. Either pricing will remain in dollars, and the equivalent price in various cryptocurrencies will be calculated in real-time. Or, transactions will make use of stablecoins like Tether that are tied to the value of the US dollar.

  Cryptocurrency is the latest gold-rush, and whether you think it’s the chance of a lifetime or yet another Ponzi scheme, it will become increasingly high-profile in ecommerce throughout 2021.

  4. No More Video Calls and also More Video Calls

  2020 was the year of Zoom. Its growth from bit-player to overtaking Skype is a material lesson for entrepreneurs that every obstacle is an opportunity.

  every obstacle is an opportunity

  Over the last year, we’ve discovered two things: meetings are more creative in person, and office costs are significantly reduced when staff work remotely.

  There’s going to be a shift in the business landscape this year. Remote working will continue to be normal for years to come as businesses enjoy rent savings. Video calls will still be common for quick update meetings. But expect to travel to physical meeting places periodically for in-depth strategic planning.

  Expect to see major cities with deserted office buildings and a rapid expansion of co-working spaces, especially those with meeting spaces — if WeWork can hold on a little longer, there may be light at the end of the tunnel.

  As a web professional, you’re in a unique position to thrive in the new business world, even more so if you’re a freelancer. Remember, if you’re working onsite, be mindful of your physical health, and if you’re working remotely, be mindful of your mental health.

  What Do You Think?

  No one saw 2020 coming. Sometimes world events are outwith our control, and we have to hang on and hope it gets better. It’s been a tough 12 months, and the truth is we’re not through it yet.

  But the 2020 coronavirus pandemic is the first pandemic in human history that we’ve had the technology to shorten.

  2021 offers the opportunity for enormous change. Will designers look for new, more decorative approaches? Will we replace our technology stack? Will you be billing clients in Ether this year? Will you suffer the misery of a packed evening commute ever again?

   

   

  Featured image via Unsplash

  Source

  The post 4 Predictions for the Web in 2021 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

  

• Popular Design News of the Week: January 4, 2021 – January 10, 2021

  Posted:Sun, 10 Jan 2021 10:45:31 +0000

  Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers.

  The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News site, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the most popular designer news that we curated from the past week.

  The Future of Web Design

  

   

  Everyday 2.0 – Simple & Beautiful Habit Tracker

  

   

  Validated Ideas 2.0 – 9,000 Popular but Poorly Executed Apps

  

   

  SidePage – A Free Documentation Tool

  

   

  UI Designers, do You Need to Shift Focus in 2021?

  

   

  The Rise and Fall of Invision

  

   

  Stylebot – Change the Appearance of the Web Instantly

  

   

  Front-end Predictions for 2021 and Beyond

  

   

  Sketch Alternatives: Tools to Replace Sketch for your Design Needs

  

   

  Instagram’s New Redesign has a Dark Side

  

   

  What are the Top Languages for New Developers?

  

   

  How to Make a Hero Image Website Design for your Main Page

  

   

  Loop Design UI Kit – A Free UI Kit for Busy Designers and Startup Owners

  

   

  The Job of a Graphic Designer in 2021

  

   

  The 30 Best Google Fonts for your Website

  

   

  7 Projects You Need in your UI/UX Portfolio to Gain New Clients Quickly

  

   

  Superpage – A Contact Page for Influencers

  

   

  Email Design Trends for 2021

  

   

  The Devil’s Albatross – An Algorithmic Layout Technique

  

   

  47 Calligraphy Fonts for Adding Style and Interest to your Site

  

   

  The CIA has a Trendy New Logo

  

   

  Graphic Design Trends 2021 Inspired by What We all Experienced This Year

  

   

  What I Use Now Instead of Google

  

   

  Top 49 Must Have DevOps Tools for 2021

  

   

  6 Tips for Choosing the Right Typography for your Logo Design

  

   

  Want more? No problem! Keep track of top design news from around the web with Webdesigner News.

  Source

  The post Popular Design News of the Week: January 4, 2021 – January 10, 2021 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

  

• How CentOS Became 2020’s Final Victim

  Posted:Fri, 08 Jan 2021 10:45:27 +0000

  If you were paying close attention to your IT department around the 8th of December, you might have heard some quiet sobbing and the occasional wail of, “Why? Why?! WHY?!” Now, it was the year 2020, so this might have seemed normal to you, but it’s actually something of a problem that could affect your business: CentOS is pretty much dead.

  For the non-total-nerds among us, here’s the skinny: CentOS is a Linux-based operating system, typically used on servers. CentOS has been incredibly popular, and quite a few businesses run on it. But now, that’s changing.

  CentOS is a Linux-based operating system, typically used on servers…But now, that’s changing

  CentOS used to be released in thoroughly tested versions, the latest being CentOS 8. CentOS 8 was released in September of 2019 and was supposed to be supported for ten years. Now, it’s been decided that CentOS will no longer have versioned releases, opting for a rolling-release style of updates. That means there’ll be one version that constantly gets new software.

  That’s cool in theory, but it means the operating system will be less stable overall. Essentially, it’s going to be used as a development branch of / testing ground for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and is no longer its own OS. If you have CentOS-based servers, you should migrate to another OS sooner rather than later.

  And I just got my own CentOS-based VPS set up the way I wanted it.

  Wait, What Does Red Hat Have To Do With This?

  Here’s the short, short version of the history of CentOS: Red Hat (an OS developer) has two Linux distributions of its own and has had for a long time. There’s the free and community-focused Fedora and the business-focused highly expensive Red Hat Enterprise Linux (AKA RHEL).

  Funny story: RHEL, despite its expensive licenses, is still mostly made from open source code, which anyone can access and use. And it’s a good OS, particularly for people who like stability.

  In 2004, some smart people took all the open-source parts of RHEL and made a brand new, nearly identical operating system with it: the Community Enterprise Operating System, or CentOS. Basically, people could download and use an enterprise-level server OS for free. All the documentation for RHEL was compatible, and you could get support from the community.

  It was the perfect alternative for anyone who didn’t have the budget for expensive software licenses.

  In 2014, Red Hat offered to partner with the CentOS community. The idea was basically this: “It’s pretty much the same software. If our company and your community work together, both our products will be better! We make our money from enterprise customers, anyway.”

  Most importantly, with Red Hat doing a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of updates and support, the CentOS community could focus on growing in other ways.

  Red Hat pinky swore [citation needed] that they were in this for the long haul, and CentOS did continue to flourish. You know, until 2020.

  Well, So Much For Pinky Swearing

  Red Hat must have eventually decided that having a popular free version of its own enterprise software and managing it themselves no less — wasn’t that good for business. So they all but shut the project down.

  Well, technically, they just changed how it operated. Instead of producing tested, production-ready versions, CentOS is merely a testing ground for RHEL. It is no longer, in my opinion, a good option for anyone who wants to run a stable server.

  Current and Future CentOS Alternatives

  So if you jumped on the CentOS 8 bandwagon, what should you put on your physical and virtual servers now? Well, you’ve got options.

  Debian / Ubuntu

  For those who don’t mind going to a very different kind of Linux, Debian has been the picture of OS stability and sysadmin-friendliness for a long time. If you want more frequent software updates, the Debian-based Ubuntu Server is popular and pretty good.

  Oracle Linux

  Yes, that Oracle has a RHEL-compatible Linux distribution of its own. But it’s not a clone, exactly. I mean, this is Oracle. It’s set up to use their tools and ecosystem, so I hope you like Oracle products. But hey, the OS itself is free!

  ClearOS

  ClearOS is another RHEL-compatible OS that’s mostly doing its own thing, though I’m not entirely sure what that thing is. Does the company have some deal with Hewlett-Packard? Anyway, they do have a free community edition and paid editions for home and business use.

  The CloudLinux RHEL Fork

  This is an upcoming release from the makers of CloudLinuxOS. It looks like they intend to load the new RHEL-based OS with some of their own tools, such as reboot-less server update tech. The first release is intended to be a more or less drop-in replacement for CentOS 8.

  Rocky Linux

  So the community that made and loved CentOS in the first place is, to say the least, ticked. They are so ticked that Greg Kurtzer (a co-founder of CentOS) has decided to do it all over again by making Rocky Linux and keep it in the community this time.

  Again, the goal is to make a re-build of RHEL, a drop-in replacement for CentOS (at least for now). Eventually, the goal is to migrate from CentOS to Rocky Linux as easy as using a single, one-line command. The ETA for initial release isn’t quite set in stone, but I can personally vouch for how hard the community is working.

  [See, full disclosure here… after writing this article, I joined the Rocky Linux documentation team.]

  So Yeah, You Have Options

  Some are out now, and others will be soon. Again, CentOS 8 will be supported until the end of 2021. CentOS 7, weirdly, will be supported until June 2024.

  Migration shouldn’t be too complicated. Still, a pain in the rear that we have to do this at all, though.

  Source

  The post How CentOS Became 2020’s Final Victim first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

  

• How to Choose a Bare Metal Server From OVHcloud

  Posted:Wed, 06 Jan 2021 14:45:00 +0000

  There are dozens of factors that influence the UX of your site, app, or game. Most of them are beyond your control; user connection speed, end-system resources, even browser technology is all out of your hands. So when you do have the opportunity to influence your project’s infrastructure, you should seize it.

  The world’s fastest muscle car can’t perform at its best when traffic is gridlocked bumper to bumper; likewise, the most finely tuned website can’t meet its potential running on shared hosting.

  If you want your website, application, or service to run quickly and securely, maximizing both UX and SEO, then you need to look at the bare metal servers from OVHcloud.

  Bare Metal Performance

  Bare metal (or dedicated) servers aren’t uncommon. Still, most hosts only offer a single type of server, expecting small startups to pay for resources at the same rate as global giants, which can make dedicated hosting prohibitively expensive.

  OVHcloud is different; it offers a range of bare metal server products optimized for a wide variety of challenges. That means small startups can invest in fast, easily scalable solutions that meet the most demanding security requirements without breaking the bank.

  Whatever your aims, there’s a different OVHcloud solution configured for you:

  OVHcloud Rise

  Rise is the perfect option for a website, or web app hosting. With its low entry-cost, Intel-powered performance, bundled DDoS protection, and simplified administration, Rise is the natural choice for your first step into bare metal servers.

  OVHcloud Advance

  To meet SMEs’ need for reliable infrastructure to run mission-critical applications, OVHcloud configured Advance. From in-house CRMs to web-facing SaaS products, Advance is a solid foundation upon which to build your business.

  OVHcloud Storage

  Storage is ideal for storing large amounts of data securely. Hosting data on standard servers is a colossal waste of resources; with OVHcloud’s Storage product you can host up to 504TB and seamlessly access it via a performance-tuned server.

  OVHcloud Infrastructure

  For large companies with thousands of employees, global non-profits, colleges, and even local governments, OVHcloud Infrastructure offers scalability and flexibility beyond the average dedicated server.

  OVHcloud High-End

  For web apps that are leveraging cutting edge technology like machine learning and big data, OVHcloud’s High-End product is a no-compromise custom solution, the humdinger of bare metal servers, with every conceivable option available.

  OVHcloud Game

  If you’re developing video games, then lightning-quick, reliable streaming servers are essential. OVHcloud’s Game product delivers the type of speed your customers demand, with massive performance gains over comparable bare metal servers.

  How to Choose a Bare Metal Server

  It’s easy to get bogged down in detail, especially if this is your first foray into bare metal servers.

  But here’s the good news: every OVHcloud bare metal server is a massive boost in performance over shared web hosting. That’s because, with a dedicated server, all of the server’s resources are…dedicated; that is, you don’t have to share with anyone. Shared hosting is pot-luck: You might wind up on a server with thoughtful users who don’t eat up all the resources, and you might end up on a server with one selfish user who hogs the processes and compromises the security. With a bare metal server, that’s not an issue.

  Choosing a bare metal server is a two-step process. The first step is to think about what you intend to use it for:

  Are you going to store a lot of data? If so, think about OVHcloud’s Storage product. But a lot of data doesn’t mean a WordPress blog. Let’s say you’re a polling company, collating millions of records that you hope to analyze to predict political movement; that requires a lot of storage. On the other hand, all servers have some storage. OVHcloud’s Rise product comes with 500Gb and can be configured with more. So if you’re planning to host something the size of a blog, then OVHcloud’s Storage might be using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

  The second step is to ask how complex the operations you’re going to ask the server to perform will be:

  Hitting up a database to retrieve some data is not a complex operation. Even something like a complex search isn’t too taxing. If that’s the kind of process you expect to perform, OVHcloud’s Rise is more than adequate. But if you’re manipulating large amounts of data, like resizing hundreds of raster images dynamically; or using facial recognition to search through millions of biometric data records; or even managing your advertising application serving millions of ads to sites across the web; in those cases, you need the sort of performance OVHcloud’s Infrastructure product delivers.

  OVHcloud’s products are all scaleable. Its High-End bare metal server product is entirely customizable. Whatever you choose, and however your needs change over time, you can be confident you’re running the optimum server for your project.

  Why Choose OVHcloud

  There are a mind-boggling array of processors, and OS, and a seemingly infinite — and increasingly expensive — amount of hardware on offer on the web. OVHcloud radically simplifies running a bare metal server by delivering a range of popular packages, tailored for everyday uses, that are both customizable and scaleable.

  What OVHcloud delivers is a clear choice, letting you choose the right server for your product.

  Whether you need lighting fast response times to maximize your SEO or the space to store a digital archive of the world’s most important art, for reliability and choice, opt for server hosting on OVHcloud bare metal servers.

  Source

  The post How to Choose a Bare Metal Server From OVHcloud first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

  

• 3 Essential Design Trends, January 2021

  Posted:Mon, 04 Jan 2021 10:45:50 +0000

  Don’t drop the ball on these website design trends for the new year. All of the trends featured here this month are visual in nature – not as many user interface elements as previous months, but all just as stunning and usable.

  Here’s what’s trending in design this month.

  1. 3D Scenes on White (Light)

  Three-dimensional scenes are not just a trend this month but are likely to be one of the biggest website design trends that you see all year.

  They offer a great way to show off product imagery, design something with illustrations or animation for visual impact, and provide usability and understandability cues for users.

  It’s a versatile technique that can work with real or created images and are also “COVID-friendly,” something designers have had to think a lot about in the past few months. (Appropriate imagery in design is a real concern, as is trying to design projects without the ability to produce traditional photoshoots.)

  What’s neat about all of these projects – and plenty of others – is that they root the design in white or light backgrounds. The light effect creates an easier visual mood that’s clean and emphasizes the imagery.

  This website design trend solves a lot of those problems and looks good doing it.

  Google’s Cloud design uses 3D illustrated animation on a white background with plenty of depth elements. The primary color palette of illustrated objects pulls it all together and guides the eye through each of the callout labels.

  

  The red words on the screen Crystal Pure fit perfectly with the white-on-white 3D imagery of this design. Red accents pull you into different places on the screen, and it all has a clean feel.

  

  Hofmann & Hofmann uses the same concept with a slightly different approach. The background is still light with a realistic feel and 3D objects, but it is a lot less stark and white. The feel is a little warmer and more inviting than a flat white aesthetic.

   

   

  

  2. So Many Stacked Capitals

  If you don’t have great artwork or imagery, make your own with typography.

  This trend seems like it might be yelling at you just a little, but it still works for the most part — well, as long as you don’t land on too many of these website designs in a row!

  What’s interesting about this trend is that many of the designs feature all caps type and serifs. These styles have been making a bit of a comeback, but this use is interesting for many reasons.

  The hardest part when using all caps is maintaining readability. That’s why you see some variances in regular, italics, and bold weights, as well as the use of multiple typefaces. The goal is to create a good reading flow with a stunning visual presence.

  This trend works best when you have “easy” words on the screen to facilitate scanning. Too many long or complicated letter combinations can get challenging quickly.

  Make sure to look for the Easter eggs in each of these projects:

  Emotion Agency has tiny “waving” illustrations next to each word (which doubles as the navigation) when you hover over them.

  

  Mill3 Studio has a few animations, from the text flying in and out on load and scroll to subtle movements in the emojis.

  

  Bizarro has this fun little cat video with a tiny warning not to hover over it, but you definitely should.

   

   

  

  3. Empty Places

  The final trend in this roundup is a stark reminder of current times. Each of the website design features empty places or locations.

  This style of imagery would have been avoided pre-pandemic because tourism locations would want visitors to feel like a part of a bustling environment. Not today. If you travel, chances are you may feel safer or want to be in a more secluded environment.

  All of the images and videos from these locations show just that.

  Designers are doing this with new stark imagery that stands alone for the design or inserting a few empty place frames into video clips or among images that show more populated times. Even scenes that contain people show very few people and focus on more solitary activities.

  Paragon Oak does this by showing a beautifully lit location at night. Note that using a nighttime photo eliminates questions about where the people are or what they are doing. (This is a clever option when showing imagery of an empty place.)

  

  Vienne to Paris shows boats on the water with a beautiful background. While you assume there are people on the water vessels; you don’t see them and get the feeling that everyone is separated in their own “pod,” a pandemic-friendly option for travel.

  

  The Maryculter House shows various images without people – the resort’s location on beautiful grounds; empty, but immaculate rooms, and a few images of a person alone on the grounds. Again, the empty nature of the place feels more appropriately welcome for the time we live in.

  

   

   

   

  Conclusion

  One of the things that we’ve seen with design trends in the past year is pandemic-related. The composition of images to the way elements are arranged on the screen influences every aspect of our lives.

  While the empty place image and video trend is big now, it may fade post-pandemic. Although, it could still be relevant for quite some time. It will be interesting to see what happens as the year progresses with this trend – will it hold on or fade away?

  These trends might continue to hold well into 2021.

  Source

  The post 3 Essential Design Trends, January 2021 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

  

• Popular Design News of the Week: December 28, 2020 – January 3, 2021

  Posted:Sun, 03 Jan 2021 10:45:58 +0000

  Every week users submit a lot of interesting stuff on our sister site Webdesigner News, highlighting great content from around the web that can be of interest to web designers.

  The best way to keep track of all the great stories and news being posted is simply to check out the Webdesigner News site, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the most popular designer news that we curated from the past week.

  10 Free Calendar 2021 Vectors

  

   

  Free HTML/CSS Landing Page Templates Without JavaScript

  

   

  Botsman – Free Platform to Develop, Test and Monitor Telegram Bots

  

   

  Typography Principles

  

   

  Top 10 Web Development Trends to Look Out for in 2021

  

   

  Parametric Color Mixer

  

   

  Add to Calendar Generator – Generate ‘Add to Calendar’ Buttons for your Website

  

   

  What Designers Need to Know About Copyright Infringement

  

   

  Lose the Very – “Very Good English” is not Very Good English. Lose the Very.

  

   

  Linkish – All-in-one Bookmark Manager

  

   

  Life of a Designer Through Funny Memes

  

   

  APIs all the Way Down

  

   

  Got Milk Font

  

   

  14 Bootstrap Profiles

  

   

  Big Review of Major UI Design Trends for Web and Mobile in 2020

  

   

  How to Use Figma’s Inspect Panel

  

   

  Reducing Motion in Animations

  

   

  Dopely Colors – Free Color Palette Generator

  

   

  How to Upload an HTML File to WordPress

  

   

  Using Math in Photoshop

  

   

  How to Set up your WFH Space for Creative Success in 2021

  

   

  StackWhats – Add the WhatsApp Live Chat to your Website

  

   

  How to Export a WordPress Site (Beginner’s Guide)

  

   

  Podpage – Build a Podcast Website in Less than 5 Minutes

  

   

  How to Paginate Data with PHP

  

   

  Want more? No problem! Keep track of top design news from around the web with Webdesigner News.

  Source

  The post Popular Design News of the Week: December 28, 2020 – January 3, 2021 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

  

• The Potential of AR in Web Design

  Posted:Thu, 31 Dec 2020 10:45:30 +0000

  Over the years, experts have repeatedly discussed the possible impact of mixed realities on web design. Concepts like AR and VR are expected to have the potential to change the way that we interact with websites on a fundamental level.

  Now that we’re in the year 2021, however, discussions about AR aren’t just observational anymore. The age of mixed-reality interfaces is here, in everything from Pokémon Go, to Snapchat filters.

  The question is, how do web designers create incredible user experiences in a world where there are now multiple digital realities to consider?

  The Benefits of Experimenting with AR

  Before we look at some of the steps that web designers can take to enhance their projects with AR, it’s worth examining the benefits of interacting with augmented reality in the first place. 

  While virtual reality replaces the typical world around us completely with digital components, AR augments it. This means that developers and designers need to learn how to thrive in an environment where the real world and the digital one work together. 

  The most common AR application for website owners is to provide a solution for real-time and remote product visualization. Imagine being able to try on a pair of shoes before you buy them online. That’s a service that the Vyking brand can deliver by creating technology that “reinvents” the digital shopping experience. 

  

  This test functionality plays a massive role in purchasing decisions. In a world where people can’t see a shade of make-up in person when they’re shopping online, or check how an item of furniture looks in their home, AR has a crucial role to play. 

  In simple terms, AR helps shoppers to make more informed purchases. 

  Here’s how you can use augmented reality to deliver incredible UX. 

  1. Focus on Real-Time Feedback

  Augmented reality is all about connecting the real world to the virtual world. 

  Doing this provides users a unique experience – one that’s filled with real-time feedback that can deliver crucial and insightful information. For instance, an augmented reality system in a GPS app can calculate the average time before reaching a destination based on previous trips.

  Another option is for an augmented reality to use solutions like face-mapping to help customers determine how a certain makeup product will look before they buy it. For instance, that’s the case for the Mary Kay Mirror Me app, which simplifies the process of shopping for make-up. 

  

  When designing for AR, experts need to consider how they can provide customers with real-time information that they can use to make better purchasing decisions. 

  2. Define input and output

  Although you’ve probably performed similar exercises when designing for traditional websites and applications in the past, defining inputs and outputs of UX in AR environments can be tough.

  Defining inputs and outputs allows you to determine which elements of an interface your user can actually interact with, in your interface. This gives you a better idea of what to “augment.” For instance, you might decide that physical gestures like a swipe of the hand will be essential for AR inputs. However, you’ll also need to consider how each mobile device offers different input possibilities. 

  Outputs are a little simpler. For instance, you could offer a three-dimensional model of a product that your customers are interested in. Once you have that output, you can think about how the customer will interact with it by changing colors or position.

  3. Embrace Customer-Friendly Performance

  Another feature at the heart of AR applications is interactivity. 

  Good designs in the augmented reality world need to be simple to access and use, otherwise customers will end up avoiding them. For instance, 60% of customers say they want to use AR when they’re shopping for furniture. However, they’re only going to use your app if it actually works. 

  The Décor Matters website and app mix gamification with home decorating features that help customers get a better view of the home goods they’re planning on buying. The website even has inspiration pages available to help users find and try new design options with their AR technology. 

  

  When designing for AR, think about how you can make your applications or technology as simple to use as possible, so customers actually want to interact with it. 

  4. Address the Environment

  In augmented and virtual reality applications, it’s important to remember that interfaces aren’t bound by physical screens. The viewport will move with the user, shifting perspectives in response. Most AR designers will use four different signifiers to describe AR environments:

  • Public environment: The entire body of the user is involved as a controller, like with the Xbox Kinect or Nintendo Wii;
  • Intimate environment: Where a user can be seated – often in a desktop environment;
  • Personal environment: AR on smartphones, mobile devices, and tablets, like Pokémon Go;
  • Private environments: Completely private spaces, such as with wearable technology like the Google Glass solution.

  The environment that you’re designing for will be crucial for your project outcomes. Remember, spatial considerations need to be carefully considered when accounting for how users will interact with objects in a frame. 

  5. Remember User Fatigue

  Another thing to keep in mind when designing for AR technology is that user fatigue is likely to be a much more significant consideration. After all, people interact with websites and applications in a much more intimate and in-depth way when AR is involved. 

  AR applications can often use the entire body of a customer as a controller. Because of this, designers need to be careful about exhausting interactions. High-effort and repetitive interactions could tire the user out mentally and physically, causing them to give up on the interaction. 

  When designing, you’ll need to consider how you might over-stimulate the user with too many interaction-focused elements at once. Keep it simple.

  6. Remember the Essential Principles of UX Design

  Remember, just because you’re tapping into a relatively new technology doesn’t mean that you should abandon all the basic tenets of user experience design that you’ve come to understand over the years. Although UX is constantly evolving and changing, it’s always going to keep a few fundamental principles in mind. 

  For instance, you’ll always strive to give users the best digital experience in exchange for the lowest amount of effort on their part. Additionally, you’ll need to think about how you can make end-users as comfortable as possible when they’re interacting with new types of technology on websites and apps. 

  For instance, since AR is most commonly associated with gaming in the current environment, it might be a good idea to implement gamification concepts into your AR design. What can you do to make sure your customers are having fun?

  For instance, Inkhunter is an app that allows users to try on tattoos just like using a filter on Snapchat. The experience feels familiar, comfortable, and exciting.

  

  Unlocking the Potential of AR Web Design

  Augmented Reality technology has come a long way over the years. Today, developers and designers can access simple plug-in tools like WordPress VR, allowing designers to upload 360-degree videos into WordPress sites and other unique web extensions. 

  Augmented reality is becoming much more readily available on sites and apps of all shapes and sizes. Additionally, customers are accessing more ways to unlock AR’s power through everything from headsets to mobile interfaces. 

  However, just like any new technology in the web design world, designers need to think carefully about how they will overcome the challenges in user experience that AR can present. For instance, though AR can offer more information for a customer and help them make purchasing decisions faster, there are also risks. For instance, add too many interactive features to a single website or application, and you could scare users off with too much information. 

  In the short-term, web designers need to explore the new tools that are available to them and think about the customers they’re designing for. Only this way will we be able to make any considerable advances in the possibilities of AR. 

  Are You Ready to Embrace AR?

  Designing for augmented reality applications and websites can be an intimidating concept – even for seasoned designers. However, this is just another technology that creatives can use to drive better experiences for end-users. 

  Learn how the latest technology works and get an insight into your customers’ needs, and you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish in the AR world.

  Source

  The post The Potential of AR in Web Design first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

  

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