Web design is a constantly evolving field in which professionals are constantly looking for new solutions to improve the user experience and increase the competitiveness of their customers. The creation of a unique website is usually done by a whole team, and it often happens that ideas and views collide. Here I will look at four of the issues that are most often creatively debated.

How detailed is the study of consumer behavior

When creating a website, the team aims to create significant and pleasant moments that involve users in the world of the brand, as well as the highest level of accessibility and usability. The question is how to create these moments and a truly unique experience in general. Here it helps to study user expectations and behavior, usually by directly observing how people use the prototype site created in a real or near real environment. This is the key to evaluating the concept and its components. The next logical question is what part of the team’s efforts should be concentrated at this stage of the website development process.

There are experts in web design who say this is not necessary at all. They claim that the developer team can be an accurate measure of what users want and expect. Steve Jobs’ remark that customers don’t know what they want is well known, as is his work, based on his own intuition, in which he and his team have expressed what they think is good product design. Given the revolutionary technology solutions created by Apple’s team, can we say that it’s helpful for website developers not to look at the target audience at all? The answer is no. However, not everyone is a genius in their field.

It turns out that the time and effort invested in studying consumers has increased over the last few years and this is considered an effective direction of development. However, it is observed shifting the focus of the study from the final product to the conceptual design. As already mentioned, testing the prototype of a website with real users is already a widely used practice. Through it, the developer receives valuable information about the attitudes of users even before the actual programming begins, thus making changes faster and cheaper. Also, the flexibility is much higher, which allows to achieve full perfection within the time and budget of the project to create a website.

How minimalist web design should be

The maxim that less is more devoted has become a postulate in the field of web design. Minimalism brings many benefits, including faster page loading, clearer navigation and easier familiarization with the main products, services and features of the brand. How is this achieved? The goal of minimalism is to improve the user experience by eliminating unnecessary details from both the design and the content. The layout of the web pages is such that the user naturally focuses on the message sent by the brand without being distracted.

The main tool in this type of approach is the use of empty spaces which eliminate clutter and make each element stand out. The question is how to use it sparingly so that the website does not become too scarce, as well as “lean” and boring. Balance can be found by looking at the components of good communication with visitors. What does the user want to learn from the website and in what sequence? What information has the greatest value for him? How aggressive should page marketing be? The answers to these questions will lead to the optimal use of empty spaces in the design of the site.

What kind of menu to make

The so-called hamburger menu is becoming increasingly used in adaptive web design (responsive design), due to the small available space on the screens of smartphones and tablets. It is represented by the characteristic icon with three horizontal lines, pressing which opens the vertical menu. It is interesting to note that it is not new – it dates back to the early 80’s. Its qualities are indisputable – clean, elegant, easy to use and well organized. The problem is that when it appears, the burger menu blocks all or part of the screen content.

There are several possible solutions of this case. Perhaps the most commonly used is to keep the traditional menu for desktops and laptops, and to keep the “hamburger” for smartphones and tablets, simplifying its contents as much as possible and making it thinner and more elegant. There are also alternatives to this type of menu, such as the so-called navigation at the bottom of the screen. In it, the menu automatically appears at the bottom when the user starts scrolling up, which is considered an indicator that he has viewed the necessary content on the relevant page of the mobile website.

Pop-ups and their role in the website

Pop-ups are often described as annoying, but still remain widely used for marketing purposes. How to find a balance between the user experience and marketing generally speaking? To begin with, you need to consider exactly what role pop-ups will play. It is best for them to present an offer with specific benefits for the user related to the content of the respective web page.

Second, you need to determine the location of the pop-up window within the screen. The two main options are in the middle and in the lower right corner. In the first, the window is immediately noticeable, but actually blocks the content. The second option is much more elegant, and the chance for the user to pay attention to the proposal is not small, given that this part of the screen traditionally displays notifications from various applications, as well as system ones.

The third important step is to decide when the window will pop up. The most effective in this regard are the windows, the display of which is regulated by the user’s behavior. When he intends to close the page, for example, then in the middle of it can pop up a large window with a tempting offer, which will make him stay.

How to make the right decisions

When designing a website, testing is of paramount importance. Ideas collide at the concept level and are evaluated using prototypes. Thus, in the actual development phase, when the design is done and the code is written, the team works with a clear and detailed concept that is the best possible. This is the way to create working online business solutions.

Do you want a new website that works reliably and tirelessly for your business success? Contact our team with an inquiry now.

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The early stages of a web project are very important. Whether we are dealing with the creation of a new company website, the restyling of an existing website, the development of a new mobile application, or simply the modification of something already existing, it is in the first moments that are defined together with the customer technical-functional requirements of the new project, identified the referents, formalized the functionalities, the management methods, defined the platforms and integrations.

Content index

It is clear how a correct acquisition of all this information is a crucial step for the correct success of a complex project. The creation of a company website often involves a series of very different company figures across the board. The company’s top management is involved in the definition of the strategy, the marketing offices in the definition of the tactical aspects relating to communication, the technical offices (CED / IT) for the requirements of the technical infrastructure or the integration with other platforms, the commercial areas for information on products and services and many other figures.

In order to facilitate the acquisition of all the strategic information necessary for an optimal development of the design part, we have prepared a questionnaire, a sort of preliminary interview to the project, which we regularly use for all new projects that we are going to deal with as web and digital agency.

For the success of a web project, the correct acquisition of preliminary information is essential.

This questionnaire is administered to new customers (and every time you intend to make a change on the communication methods) to facilitate the description of the company and the objectives that are expected from the communication point of view of the material that will be produced.

The exhaustiveness of the answers and providing as many ideas as possible (even outside of the questions we have entered) is fundamental at this moment, because it allows us, as a web agency specialized in company websites, to be in tune with the Customer and its Goals. In fact, it becomes a useful track to follow, in the phase of the creative process, which is integrated with the needs that emerged from the meetings and from what was viewed directly in the company.

The questionnaire is divided into two parts:

1. The first part concerns a general description of the company, its values, its mission and the way it has communicated so far and how it intends to communicate in the future.

2. The second part is more technical and concerns, in particular, the aspects that concern the creation of the website. Finally, if present, examples of past communication (own or of competitors) from which to take a cue or distance themselves substantially are very useful.

Below we list the main points covered in the questionnaire, however we invite you to download the complete pre-project questionnaire for a detailed analysis of the document.

Corporate communication

General information on the company’s core business, products and services, strengths and strategic aspects to convey in communication

Analysis of the current situation

Acquisition of information on the current situation, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses

Analysis of the requirements for the new website

Acquisition of all the relevant information for the design of the new website, from the definition of users to technical and functional requirements

Competition analysis

Collection of data on the reference competition, regarding strengths and weaknesses and reference material (websites, brochures, communication examples)

Use cases / users and functionality.

Discussion of use cases regarding the possibility of interaction of the different users with the new web tools

Integration of multimedia material

Collection of information on multimedia materials (audio, video, photos, documents, etc.) to be integrated on new websites

Integration of external databases / corporate ERPs

If you want to integrate external databases (for example with company ERP) analysis of information requirements, data structure, technological aspects

Security and privacy requirements

Compliance with the laws on privacy and the management of cookies, acquisition of company contacts and procedures related to privacy and security

Production and content management

Who will manage the content and any translations, both regarding the first body of content and subsequent updates

SEO strategies and online visibility on search engines

Analysis of the requirements / objectives in terms of online visibility and availability on search engines. Possibility of access to services dedicated to SEO / online positioning and online campaigns with PPC / AdWords

Social channels

Analysis of the integration of social channels in corporate communication and possible integration on new digital tools and websites

Hosting and technical infrastructure

Acquisition of all necessary information regarding the technical infrastructure that will have to support the online publication of new digital tools and websites

From the above, you see that the information that makes up a structured web project, whether it is the creation of a corporate website or the restyling of an existing corporate website, is many and varied.

Do you have questions and suggestions to improve this document? Leave us an inquiry now!

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E-commerce, ever since it started, proved repeatedly that this is the future of doing business. Even after skeptical and precarious responses from many enterprises, the E-commerce solutions gained trust and popularity as viable, economical, and efficient ways of reaching buyers and increasing sales. Right from its onset till today there have been regular changes in eCommerce website development and even in the future, these changes will keep coming thick and fast. The market is never static the forces that affect the market keep it ever-changing bringing forth new patterns in behavior and trends. The advent of e-commerce is now unanimously heralded as a major turning point that changed the game entirely.

Since the market keeps on changing even if it is an online market, eCommerce website development services need to stay a step ahead to cater to emerging trends. The emerging changes in buyers behavior, taste, and choices eventually demand the development of new features and sharper eCommerce website development services to match the expectations of businesses and customers. Let us have a look at what the new 2020 may bring in eCommerce websites and what their implications would be.

Augmented reality

This should create the biggest wave of change in eCommerce websites in 2020. Right now AR is an important feature of B2C websites of enterprises and companies dealing in certain types of products  the products that can sell easily and better if the website can create a real-like visualization in the buyer’s mind. But AR can be the most efficient tool for increasing sales and convincing buyers online for companies dealing in different types of products as well.

Companies have already sensed the capability of AR and its significance in turning visitors into customers. Companies in large numbers are gearing up with readiness to invest extra which shall see more websites using AR in 2020.

Artificial Intelligence

More use of AI for personalization strategy and identifying market patterns is another trend that will be in the forefront in 2023. Companies are investing in having a well-laid AI strategy for customer segmentation and offering products and services based on customer segment. It is giving more personal feel to buyers and also generates stronger trust over online selling. AI can play a vital role in other areas as well like stronger customer relations and brand identity which were solely dependent on email, text messages, and targeted social media campaigns.

Voice commands

Ecommerce solutions taking instructions through speakers will become more prevalent or rather expected to become essential in 2020. The Voice control feature itself is also expected to become more efficiently capable of handling long narrations accurately. This feature is expected to become more common because people are becoming more habitual of using phones every day. The smaller screen and using the phone on the go can be bothering if they need to type. Hence voice commands are handy if they can search items even approximately correctly. Using any B2C website with voice command feature is far more convenient and it will bring more enhanced versions of the feature in 2020.

Options for social payment gateways

Today social media platforms are coming up with their payment gateways as well. Initially, it was just Paypal that was providing an option to make online payments but now google and Facebook are also providing their payment gateways along with WhatsApp, Apple pay etc. These online payment gateways with better offers and extra offers over transactions will encourage B2C websites to incorporate their APIs of payment gateway to attract more customers. Social media gateways also make the website more popular as the market reach of social media handles also adds up and increase their popularity.

Shipping

Although not every enterprise may start this quickly but this is certainly a trend if not for 2023 exactly than for the future. Amazon is offering shipping products through drones. Drones through google maps can identify the shortest routes and eCommerce companies offering any such or similar shipping options can become the first choice of buyers who value the time of delivery over other factors. However, as mentioned this may not see any substantial growth but is certainly a trend for the future.

Design

Full-stack web development is currently a buzzword for IT companies and professionals. The use of enhanced technologies, software, and tools in designing is emerging strongly and is expected to grow faster in 2023. The use of attractive fonts, illustrations and images, and colors will become the trend in 2020. Better designing tools may improve screen space management and developers can leverage efficient designing for providing more options. Presentation of products will improve substantially, boosting the use of online B2C websites even more. Responsive designs capable of handling foldable screens will be trendy in website design.

Blockchain

Ever since its advent, this technology is no less than the storm, and it’s sure to trend more in 2023. Blockchain provides a free flow of information that has proved bliss for supply chain management. With every participant having access to real-time information on every point this technology will share more responsibilities in eCommerce. Any best web development company would extend its efforts to provide blockchain in its service range for websites dealing with a variety of products. Full-stack development with blockchain and AI in place is a formidable combination for users and the most attractive USP for IT companies.

Online support

Better options like chatbots etc. would surge for providing better online help and support to users. In the case of e-commerce websites, this trend will be on a steep rise to accommodate users from all walks of life with ease. Online support in local languages is also given thought. Our company is working untiringly to bring out an online support system beyond chatbots. The major aspect that may change in near future or in 2020 is making the online support system more effective than just hi-tech. Companies may not get fancied by a real techie solution straightaway but would stress more for a solution that is effective, even if it is with the use of traditional tools.

Along with development, there can be an immense change in design as well. Web apps already in trend since 2015 may see more upward movement in terms of technology and also numbers. These are browser-based hence no downloading and provide the functionality and speed of an app. With more e-commerce sites security features will also trend in 2023 providing secured transactions and safety of information.

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1. Not major but the main key feature of successful website development is captivating design with strong aesthetic appeal and message.

It is the first glance over a website that forms an opinion for more than 80% of users. In such less time what it can be that can compel a user to stay on the website and check it out further? The design and aesthetics of the website are what leave the first impression. In many surveys, it has come out that the first appeal of any website improves or shatters the image of the company. Full stack web development is preferred these days because of the catchy looks of design which captures user attention.

2. Website design that fit different screen sizes and appeals to the user is another key feature of successful web development. Here again, full stack web development is what is preferred to create designs that make a website appear worth surfing.

Most of the users if not all, prefer websites to look good on mobile. More than 60% of retail websites are approached through a handset. This is a massive number that makes responsive design a necessity and its strong appeal as valuable as gold. Responsive design with a modern aspect ratio is a telltale sign of quality website development services.

3. Loading time is vital to sign of quality website development services. A shorter loading time impresses users and prevents a high rate of sudden abandonment.

If images take too long to load, or the website itself takes more than 2 seconds to come on screen it can turn off the visitor. Nearly 45% of total visitors do not turn again to the website after any such bad experience. It is vital to maintain images, loading time, and links for a good user experience. The work of the best web development company would reflect through short loading time and smooth image uploading.

4. Click to action or CTA over the homepage is part of a good design and well-laid-out website that leaves a very positive impression over the user.

Any user would like to get straightforward directions on any website. Searching for what to do in order to use the website can be a big turn-off. One would like to see clear instructions about the next step after landing on the website.

5. Content quality and its presentation.

Approximately 6 seconds is the time that the user gives to content. The best web development company always pays due attention to content and its presentation. Placing content that explains the site content in summary in the most compelling manner at the right place. Supporting content with images and illustrations and the use of sophisticated methods to make site interactive is an extremely important feature of successful website development.

So, if you are looking to hire dedicated and experienced team of web developers, then contact us ExatoSoftware Full-Stack Development Company in USA, UAE, India, UK, and Australia, as we are in the IT Industry from last 25 years, ad delivered projects to clients successfully in the prescribed time.

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