Friday 31 October 2014

How To Develop A Successful eCommerce Project ?

E-commerce development is a demanding process that comprises of many standalone processes and activities. E-commerce designers and developers need to see every aspect of e-commerce solutions in order to make them successful. That is why it is really important to select a good web development company working specifically for UAE market.

They consider a long chain of factors, address them and find the best possible solution. However, the whole process can be simplified by applying a few tactics. In this article, we are covering the top-rated e-commerce tactics to simplify the development process.

 

CMS selection:


Right selection of the content management system/ framework for e-commerce website development is an important point and it is vital to choose an appropriate one. Its selection may depend on the size and scale of your e-commerce website.
In general, small e-Commerce website can be developed on Word Press (a well-known CM usually used for blogs).

In the case of large websites, a CMS scales better under heavy traffic and product base is required while Word Press cannot stand strong and fulfill such requirements. In order to do better, developers are using Magento which is a popular highly scalable framework.
Build for redundancy

Use CDNs to host images and videos or host database and website on different servers – it will help you in developing an e-commerce solution that will receive thousands of users on a regular basis. Separate hosting will provide secure and fast browsing and enhance the shopping experience.

 

SEO-friendly URL structure:


A successful e-commerce website is all about being friendly for the users and search engines. Long time ago, a website URL was mostly represented by unique numbers, representing product pages, but now there is no question of such things. Now days Search engine optimization becomes very advanced by focusing on URL structure (using targeted keywords in URLs). For optimal SEO, e-commerce solution providers are using targeted keywords, such as the product’s name or its core feature in URLs (for instance check Amazon and Zappos sub pages). Strong on-site SEO practices are optimal for a successful e-commerce website. In fact, these days e-commerce is all about being search engine friendly and a good e-commerce solution provider understands this.

 

Plan everything:


E-commerce development is usually a time-consuming process and needs extensive planning. A complete e-commerce website development usually includes product-related sales copy and detailed descriptions of products. To handle each issue, it is really important to plan every development and deployment activity. Project management practices may help in visualizing a bigger picture of e-commerce website and help the development team to predict better solutions. During planning, every possible issue will be addressed. Timeline is also planned during a planning phase because by the end of the day you have to deliver a complete product to your client.

A complete e-commerce web development process may need your sweat of hard work and for the completion of a big project you may need lot of time.

Monday 20 October 2014

Some Important Design Trends To Boost Your Website Appearance

After spending hours on surfing the leading websites, I have gathered facts about recent trends in design. Over the years, I am involved in writing about changes in designing of web pages and its layouts. Advancing W3C specifications coupled with modern browsers have actually opened doors of opportunity.

Here, in this article I am sharing some trends, many are still neglecting but they are as important as the coloring and UX designs.

 

Dropping sidebars:


Imagine a website, where you are reading an article and there are lots of things that are flashing time to time, nothing but buying your attention from reading. UAE website designer’s community now realizes these distractions and working on this issue to make your reading more pleasant and distraction less. They are also working on expanding the content in a smooth way so that the reader can enjoy the reading better.

Now more blog or magazine-type sites are becoming popular, but many of these sites are experimenting with dropping sidebars – this will allow them to enhance the visibility of content.

 

Manipulated imagery:


Images, an ultimate source of grabbing your visitors attention, however, it is very easy to put any old photo on the website, but it is really difficult to manipulate it and make it a unique and different image. Moreover, in 2014 we will see more images that are manipulated with colors and different effects to give them a unique and interesting look. There are many websites that are using custom images in their hero areas but just any photo or image they have picked from a search engine.

 

Add cool stuff:


The trend of adding more and more images in a website will grow not only in 2014 but in coming years too. The website industry is growingand emerging as one of the leading industry in coming years pushing designers to think out of the box and develop some other interesting things that can be added to a website.

For instance, people who think that parallax scrolling techniques were cool they need to wait for a little to think about it. With the use of HTML 5, we are expecting lots of good things that are coming to entertain our visitors soon.

 

Grid style layouts:


The year 2014, has observed, especially in websites like Pinterest where a handy application of a grid layout can be seen. How can we forget the news feed design of Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter; where several updates are made within a second and become visible for the reader with a blink of eyes. This is something no one can see in old traditional websites.

The user experience is something getting great in new and modern websites, where users are allowed to see, comment and even edit their content (texts, images and videos) without being interrupted.

Thursday 16 October 2014

What Web Design Companies Must Follow In 2014


Website design trends change every year to facilitate the visitor and to offer them a complete experience of being on the internet. The good thing is Abu Dhabi web design company is following all trends to produce highly competent website trends.
Here are some great website design trends 2014 which must be followed to design effectively.

Add Videos:


“Why read when you can watch it” is the new hot trend in web design, in 2014 videos will be added to a website, especially in hero areas (header) to attract the visitor attention. Moreover, now web surfers prefer to watch than to read that is why adding a video will continue even in proceeding years. Videos are becoming easier to make, edit and they are easy to share not only on your website, but also on social media. Videos are considered to be an effective and easy way to communicate with the visitor. Videos can be used to make your message more effective, especially when words cannot describe the actual words.

Videos from YouTube allow you to track how many views your video has got.

Long scrolling:


It is true that we have become of scrolling through websites to find relevant and we are quite comfortable with them now – with the help of new techniques and responsive design long scrolling sites are making their strong comeback. It is true that a few years back websites that are slammed with content are, usually, long scrolling websites – although today the trend is similar, but the content is more organized and easy in access.

Simple colors


Without colors, there is no website that can come alive and obviously 2014 design trends also have some major variation in color scheming. More websites are coming with simple, light color scheming where hardly one or two colors are used. Leading websites such as Twitter and Facebook are using one dominant color which is blue and keeping the rest in white tone. This simple color trend will eventually proceed to the next coming years. White, Black, gray, blue are the new color scheming most websites are coming with – the reason is that these colors do not dominant content and other features of a website instead enhance the readability. That is why more and more websites are coming with light color themes. White is the most adopted background color as it will enhance the value of content, images and videos.

Simple content:


Content is the King, most of us surely heard, but this is not just a statement, it is the new trend in the industry. It is true in 2013 the king was furious and lots of content was seen over the internet while, in 2014, the king is humble. Simplified version of the content is now utilized in websites. Simplified content means small chunks of content such as Twitter is used (120 characters) because, with passing years, our attention spans have become shorter so designers are putting the content bursts small.

The leading Abu Dhabi web design company making you aware of all available options that can easily make room for your web site to the top.

Friday 10 October 2014

What 2014 Brings To The Web Development Industry

We all know December is always great, a month of happiness and some new additions, there were many exciting things that 2014 has brought to us, including some interesting additions to the web development industry (for Dubai and global market).

Honestly, many of 2013 trends will stay in 2014, but there are some modifications watching for, after all they are trends they have to take off, so here is a light discussion on the top 2014 trends.

Interesting Typography:


Typography, an important part of web visuals, it is nice to see that more designers are experimenting with different types of text styles and coming up with some unique ideas too. The year 2014 will bring more personality in fonts as text will be used to describe the brand's individual personality. So, “Fonts with personality” is the new 2014 trend better described as a font style that can stand on their own. Now designers are putting more efforts in designing their unique Font style that have little personality rather than simply adding San-serif or Helvetica.

Many leading websites have developed their own unique font that can help them in maintaining their uniqueness throughout the website, although they could have used an old font, but they opt for a better and unique approach.

Flat Design:


How can we forget the new iOS7 release in which Apple come up with a new design aesthetic better known as “Flat Design”. However, it may seem good to see dropping drop shadows in some cases, but when we talk about Apple, it took it to another level by dropping pretty much a good design element can go. Apple is always a trendsetter and surely the whole world will follow it and obviously they will follow the ‘Flat design’ trend may be till the end of 2014 and the start of the new year.

Covering of ‘Intro’ areas:


Large hero areas or the ‘intro areas’ will be covered with an image with a little amount of text, at the top of the website (usually on the home page of a website). This is one trend that we are seeing going to stay even in 2014, where sliders were used before. It can be a blurred image with a more centric text to elaborate the website theme, or some more creatively designed sliders will take the place.

Mobile Technology:


Mobile technology is going farther than any imagination and in 2014, the ultimate focus will be on mobile technology. With the easy and fast adaptation of responsive design, we can see the website that can dig deeper into our mobile lifestyle. Designers are working on enhancing the design that can fit compact-sized devices, meanwhile developers are working on creating web-based solutions that can serve the increasing number of users accessing a website through different mobile devices.

Wondering still, what things new websites can bring to the user in 2014? Well, the latest 2014 trends for web development UAE would be developing and designing a website that can bring flexibility of use and can integrate well with social media and other communication channels.

Thursday 9 October 2014

Web Development Companies Dubai – Services Offered

Previously, managing a business used to be a simple task. The top priority of businessmen was achieving profits. Nowadays, their priority has shifted towards marketing the product and spreading awareness about the company. The public is also extremely interested in assessing the features of the product before making the final purchase. They use various tools for gathering information related to the product, service or company. One of the most commonly used tools for collecting information is the internet. These days, the corporate world has shifted towards the IT sector. It is impossible for a company to spread awareness amongst its target audience without being active on the internet. Websites need to be created and traffic needs to be attracted towards it. This job is done by web development companies in Dubai.

What do these companies do?


Web development companies Dubai work on creating and managing websites for companies which are unable to do so themselves. Spreading awareness on the web is extremely important these days and many firms hire the services of web development companies. These companies have taken it upon themselves to design websites in accordance with the type of awareness the company wants to spread. A few examples are given below:

  • If a company is selling a product or a brand, a web development company will design a website which might work as an online store, or simply to spread more awareness about the product/brand.
  • If a company is marketing a service to its customers, the web development company will create a website which explains the benefits of the service and ways to contact the firm.

These companies are extremely helpful for those firms which don’t have the experience of running and managing a website. Web development companies are well aware of what strategies must be applied to attract maximum traffic towards the website.

Services offered:


There are a number of various services offered by these companies. A few of them are listed as follows:

1. E-commerce and online stores:


These companies can establish a website which can work as an online store for the company. This is an extremely popular trend followed by various companies all over the world. Customers prefer buying specific products online rather than visiting a store and buying them. This service is very useful for such people.

2. SEO (search engine optimization):


This process refers to making a website appear in a search engine’s search results. The website which appears on the top is more likely to attract the most traffic. Web development companies are well versed on strategies which need to be applied to attract high amounts of traffic towards the website.

3. WordPress:


Usually firms prefer creating blogs on WordPress or blogspot to attract traffic. Web development companies also give guidance on this regard. They help in the creation of these blogs and advise which information should be placed and how to attract the most traffic. These days content is the king therefore many companies prefer creating blogs in which they explain the services offered by their firm.

Friday 3 October 2014

Choose Only Best Website Solutions Provider, Know How?

Websites are considered as one of the most important elements of a successful business, however, there are many who take website solution development a very easy task. Modern corporate websites are a combination of so many elements that they need an expert to develop but how to choose the best website solutions provider in Dubai? Especially when in Dubai there are countless companies offering website development and designing services. It is really difficult to choose between many, especially when you are ‘someone’ with no knowledge of website development.

Although there are many platforms that have made it easy to develop and maintain a website but here we are talking about corporate websites that must offer dynamic brands. We also understand that not every successful entrepreneur has knowledge of websites and other technical aspects.

To beat all these issues it is important to hire someone who can understand your technical need better than you and can develop and design a website your business is in need of. There are people who have years of experience and relevant education and are ready to serve different businesses. They can design websites which are effective and reliable, in fact, it is better to call them your ‘business soul mate’. Here we have gathered some helpful tips that can assist you in finding the best website developer for you.

Go for many:


It is important to know a website designer and developer before choosing, instead going for what you see on your first glance. The reason is that there are countless available on the internet and in the market so the more you consider the more you will get the benefit including low price and quality of work. After selecting at least three of them, kindly list all their names on paper and look for what they are offering in detail. This will help you in identifying who will help you in achieving your business goals using best website solutions. After that, go to the quotation, obviously budget is another very important factor which must be considered before choosing a website solution provider. The higher the competition is, the higher the chances are to get the best price from the market.

Go for a complete discussion and know about backend costs, application costs and everything that is involved in designing a website. After that going for a comprehensive comparison will help you make a better decision. Considering more than three options will bring lots of benefits for you as you can easily identify which one is better.

Look for References:


It is better to ask from your peers, or even colleagues or sometimes your friends about a website development company. However, the good way is the search results of the top ranked websites will gladly bolster you in choosing the desired company. It will ease the selection process but also will help you in knowing about the latest trends in website development and also you can get an idea about the website design.


Thursday 2 October 2014

Web Development Companies – What They Must Offer?

The web development industry is quite famous as ‘dark art room’, where it is really a difficult task to find who can turn your website design and development ideas into reality, how one can find a trustable company?
The purpose of this write-up is to provide some key points on factors that make a good web development company. This is also helping businesses in knowing what web development companies in Dubai must offer. Here is the list of key points that a web development company must have especially to feed compelling needs of Dubai market.
  • The company must be able to provide front-end and back-end development.
  • Must follow the latest trends and practices.
  • Must have an active RnD department.
  • Must have strong knowledge of businesses and their marketing needs.
  • Should be flexible.
  • Must follow automated testing processes
  • Must use source control

 

Front-end and back-end development:


It is difficult to subscribe to the idea of different back-end and front-end developers, it is like a plumber who can only fit pipes, but cannot fix showers, sinks and toilets. Honestly, it is perfectly acceptable that there are different web designers and developers, because of a completely different thought process, but seriously, separation between back-end and front-end is completely wrong. Front-end and back-end development is part of the development cycle and it is essential for a web developer to have a command on them. The Involvement of a web developer in a web project is crucial from the start to finish.

Don’t just stick to one technology:


There are a number of back-end technologies (for instance Ruby on Rails, ASP.Net, PHP and others) that are appropriate for web development. Every technology has specific strength and certain weaknesses which makes them not so perfect, however, to serve a client with the best it is vital for a development company to hold a strong grip on multiple technologies.

The best reason of spending quality time in learning different technology can enable a web development company to pick the bits from different technologies. Over the years, it is observed that league of developers prefers picking up good elements to formulate a unique set of practices and use them across all platforms.

Best practices:


The key to being a great web development company is not the technologies that you use, but it is the practices that you follow. As technologies often change, but those best practices will remain the same and see least changes. So for a good website company it is must develop strong practices that help you survive for the next many years.

Here is a glimpse of those ‘best practices’, such as
  1. Writing semantic HTML
  2. Web standards for all front end coding must be standardized
  3. Completely automated testing of both front-end and back-end code
  4. MVC framework usage

It is true that leading web development companies are following latest trends and are flexible in technologies, but there are many who are still laid back.