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Web Design: Tips & Tricks

Web Design: Tips & Tricks

Web design is an amazing blend of art and science. In fact, for many professionals, a website’s design is the first factor for them to judge any website’s credibility! It is an intimidating process and may take a lot of time to master. A web designer is someone who employs a mix of creativity and technical expertise to help create a website, and the subject may look overwhelming at first, but trust us, it isn’t the case.

Many may not understand how crucial it is, but web design influences almost every other factor of your websites, such as UI/UX, bounce rate, loading speeds, page load times, and many more. No matter whatever the business may be, web design is what will make your website usable and likable.

So without further ado, let’s dive in and check out some of the cool tricks and tips that will go a long way in sprucing up your web design career.

Have a plan

Web Design Tips

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Since you’ve acknowledged that your website needs some design improvement, it is time to get your hands dirty. In addition, this might be the perfect moment to design a plan for the website. Here, all one has to do is map out what needs to be there on the website. For instance, every site has a customer journey that requires improvement and enhancement. So, one needs to focus on that.

Focus on your potential to become a customer. This customer journey will allow you to focus on the pages that need to be converted for client perspective. Understanding such a situation may help design a website that helps nurture and improve leads through several sales funnels.

Reduce friction and remove distractions

Some aspects of a website tend to detract and derail a customer from the message and value your website is trying to convey or demonstrate. Things like long content, complicated animations, and stocky images are a few examples. Remember, an audience only has the attention of eight seconds. Hence, make it all clear what a user can learn from the viewing page. And, while they adhere to such an activity, ensure that they do not get distracted.

Add social proof

Web Development Design Tips

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Social proof is all about how much you emphasize the reviews on sites like Amazon. It’s human psychology to check reviews of a specific product before purchasing. We often check the stars a product has received and then kick our decisions in its favor. By adhering to such activity, we trust a product by believing that it promises to deliver.

Consider applying the same effect to your product. Think about how you can deliver these products or services to potential customers or existing clients without hassle. One of the studies also demonstrates that prospects are likely to buy products with positive testimonials.

Implement calls-to-action

Once you already have visitors on the website through your blog or homepage, it is time to guide them to specific pages that may convert them or nurture their interests. Do not forget; people are passive when it comes to going around a particular website. One needs to point people in the correct direction, disallowing them to struggle.

So, when you get the website designed, place effective and strategic CTAs. It does not have to follow a set parameter. Just decide on places where these buttons can be developed.

Use proper stock images.

Stock Images

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Some people struggle with images placed on the website. Suppose you have a blog that focuses on travel journeys or journals. What would you want your viewers or readers to check on the website? Content and images, right? Well, what if the pictures are misleading? This can be a sudden turn-off since people look to visualize travel activities and journeys. So, whenever you go with a visual-centric design, pick the correct stock photo or upload yours for a personalized experience. Website users will subconsciously negate and drift away, adding to the exit analytics of the website.

Conclusion

So these were a few tips and tricks that you can employ to be a better and cooler web designer. Whether it is the format or aesthetics, or testing or screen ratios, always remember that your work will only come out at its best if you test and review it. Eventually, you will get better and learn to implement your ideas on projects. Speaking of which, there are various levels in design, and hence, one fantastic tip is that it is always best to take the step-by-step learning approach for clarity and developing your skillset.

It is one thing to read and try such tips and tricks, but it is another to adapt to the project needs and improvise changes on the spot. And such adaptability is what makes a good web designer, and the fact that they understand principles and are open to experimenting for great results.


Featured Image Credits: Pixabay

Python vs. Java: Uses, Performance, Learning

Python vs. Java: Uses, Performance, Learning

In the world of computer science, there are many programming languages, and no single language is superior to another. In other words, each language is best suited to solve certain problems, and in fact, there is often no one best language to choose for a given programming project. For this reason, it is important for students who wish to develop software or to solve interesting problems through code to have strong computer science fundamentals that will apply across any programming language like Python.

Programming languages tend to share certain characteristics in how they function, for example in the way they deal with memory usage or how heavily they use objects. Students will start seeing these patterns as they are exposed to more languages. This article will focus primarily on Python versus Java, which is two of the most widely used programming languages in the world. While it is hard to measure exactly the rate at which each programming language is growing, these are two of the most popular programming languages used in the industry today.

One major difference between these two programming languages is that the first is dynamically typed, while Java is statically typed. Loosely, this means that Java is much more strict about how variables are defined and used in code. As a result, Java tends to be more verbose in its syntax, which is one of the reasons we recommend learning Python before Java for beginners. For example, here is how you would create a variable named numbers that holds the numbers 0 through 9 in Python:

numbers = []

for i in range(10):

 

numbers.append(i)

Here’s how you would do the same thing in Java:

ArrayList numbers = new ArrayList();

for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {

numbers.add(i);

 

}

Another major difference is that Java generally runs programs more quickly than Python, as it is a compiled language. This means that before a program is actually run, the compiler translates the Java code into machine-level code. By contrast, Python is an interpreted language, meaning there is no compile step.

Usage and Practicality

Historically, Java has been the more popular language in part due to its long legacy. However, Python is rapidly gaining ground. According to Github’s State of the Octoverse Report, it has recently surpassed Java as the most widely used programming language. As per the 2018 developer survey, Python is now the fastest-growing computer programming language.

Both Python and Java have large communities of developers to answer questions on websites like Stack Overflow. As you can see from Stack Overflow trendsPython surpassed Java in terms of the percentage of questions asked about it on Stack Overflow in 2017. At the time of writing, about 13% of the questions on Stack Overflow are tagged with Python, while about 8% are tagged with Java!

Web Development

Python and Java can both be used for backend web development. Typically developers will use the Django and Flask frameworks for Python and Spring for Java. Python is known for its code readability, meaning Python code is clean, readable, and concise. Python also has a large, comprehensive set of modules, packages, and libraries that exist beyond its standard library, developed by the community of Python enthusiasts. Java has a similar ecosystem, although perhaps to a lesser extent.

Mobile App Development

In terms of mobile app development, Java dominates the field, as it is the primary language used for building Android apps and games. Thanks to the aforementioned tailored libraries, developers have the option to write Android apps by leveraging robust frameworks and development tools built specifically for the operating system. Currently, Python is not used commonly for mobile development, although there are tools like Kivy and BeeWare that allow you to write code once and deploy apps across Windows, OS X, iOS, and Android.

Machine Learning and Big Data

Conversely, in the world of machine learning and data science, Python is the most popular language. Python is often used for big data, scientific computing, and artificial intelligence (A.I.) projects. The vast majority of data scientists and machine learning programmers opt for Python over Java while working on projects that involve sentiment analysis. At the same time, it is important to note that many machine learning programmers may choose to use Java while they work on projects related to network security, cyber attack prevention, and fraud detection.

Where to Start

When it comes to learning the foundations of programming, many studies have concluded that it is easier to learn Python over Java, due to Python’s simple and intuitive syntax, as seen in the earlier example. Java programs often have more boilerplate code – sections of code that have to be included in many places with little or no alteration – than Python. That being said, there are some notable advantages to Java, in particular, its speed as a compiled language. Learning both languages will give students exposure to two languages that lay their foundation on similar computer science concepts, yet differ in educational ways.

Overall, it is clear that both Python and Java are powerful programming languages in practice, and it would be advisable for any aspiring software developer to learn both languages proficiently. Programmers should compare Python and Java-based on the specific needs of each software development project, as opposed to simply learning the one language that they prefer. In short, neither language is superior to another, and programmers should aim to have both in their coding experience.

  Python Java
Runtime Performance   Winner
Ease of Learning Winner  
Practical Agility Tie Tie
Mobile App Development   Winner
Big Data Winner  

The original article by Andrea Domiter was published at junilearning.com

About the Author:

Andrea Domiter is pursuing a B.A. in Computer Science and Economics with a specialization in Data Science at the University of Chicago. She is currently an instructor at Juni Learning, teaching Python, Scratch, Java, and Pre-Algebra. Last summer, Andrea worked at RCP Advisors, a private equity firm based in Chicago, as a Research Analyst focusing on automating several processes. Andrea also loves to cook, hike, and read.


Featured Image Credits: Pixabay

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