When clients hire a website designer for a web development project, they expect that the designer will create a memorable experience for the end users and position their brand ahead of the competitors. So, how can a designer make a site memorable?

As a web designer, you should think from the viewers’ perspective and plan a layout that is enjoyable. A fun experience is always memorable. It grabs web users’ attention and they also ask their friends to visit that site. Let’s see how you can add fun to web design and make a web design project successful.

Before I start explaining, let me clarify that adding “fun” to a site does not mean you should design a whimsical layout. Your design should offer an enjoyable user experience, without looking unprofessional.

• Improve the Ordinary – There are some common pages in every website, such as, “about us” page and “contact us” page. Both these pages look very boring and you should try to add personality to them. For instance, in the “about us” page, you can show the images of key people in your client’s company and write below the image, “Why these people look so serious?” Similarly, in the “contact us” page, you can add some cartoons and greet the visitors cheerfully.

• Make the Frustrating Pages Funny - 404 error pages annoy web users the most. Hence, find a way to make it interesting. Instead of showing “page not found message”, you can show archived posts and write, “something bad has happened, would you like to try other articles?”

• Searching Should Be Fun - Try learning from Google how online searching can be fun. Design the search tool in your site like Google. You can design a doodle and offer interactive games in the “search” logo to make even the smallest part of a site interesting.

• You Can Go over the Top, but Maintain Clarity - Too much fun elements can create a negative impact if you don’t use them intelligently. Graphic and video should not confuse the viewers. Tell the customers clearly what products/services you client offers.

• Make the Message Memorable - The design should support the website’s overall message to create a memorable experience. So, for instance, if you are designing a dog website, make sure there are enough paw prints and doggy pictures all around.

Every web designer should try to develop unforgettable user interfaces and user experiences. If you want to design a “fun” website, contact an offshore staffing company and hire a programmer for your web development project.

Smartphones introduced the concept of mobile browsing few years ago. With the launch of iPad in 2010, mobile browsing became a popular and common concept. Popularity of tablet phones also brought many changes in the web designing industry.

Even few years ago, a website designer had to consider few browser features, while developing a site. However, with the popularity of mobile browsing and tablet phones, designers now have to consider various issues. In fact, most of them find the task of creating an attractive website that is simple to use on a small-sized screen as well as a larger one quite challenging.

Today, we will offer few strategies that will help you to develop tablet-friendly website design. Read on to know more.

• Pay Attention to ‘The Fold’

In traditional web designing, fold played a crucial role. Fold refers to the point, which marks the observable content from the content that can be seen, only after scrolling the page. It was popularly believed that visitors initially scan information placed in the zone ‘above the fold’. For this reason, crucial information and striking graphics were placed above the fold.

The introduction of smartphones and tablets, however, interfered with the concept of ‘above the fold’. Now, people explore sites from screens available in different sizes and shapes. This means that a defined height where crucial information must be placed, no longer exists.

This in turn, has prompted designers to raise the fold further. By implementing this strategy, designers make sure that visitors scan the important content, even while surfing from a phone with a small screen size.

• Offer Users a Hassle-Free Experience

While developing a site that will cater preferences of tablet users, remember that they will be using fingers for exploring your site. As compared to a mouse, fingers can perform limited actions. To enhance user experience, ensure that they do not need to zoom in crucial areas of your site.

• Stick to Simplicity

If you aim to display your site on a wide range of platforms, opt for standards-compliant CSS and HTML. Avoid technologies that will ask people to download browser plugins or extra software.

• Testing the Form yourself is Crucial

Signing up forms is a critical part of user experience, especially for ecommerce sites. If users face difficulties, while filling up a contact form or newsletter subscription, chances are high that they will leave the site immediately. This in turn, will have a negative impact on sales rate of your company.

The simplest way to evaluate performance of your forms is by testing them on your own. Use any tablet phone and check issues, such as processing speed, useless fields, and clear rendering. In general, check anything that may interfere with overall user experience.

• Finally, do not forget to Check

Once you have finished designing, visit your site from a tablet phone. Check issues, such as navigation and display of design. Furthermore, ensure that information is displayed above the fold.

Many designers may feel that modifying a site, to suit preferences of tablet users is a waste of time. However, this is not true. Web designing is a constantly changing industry and you have to keep up with the latest trends. Furthermore, evaluating your site is a good way to improve its overall performance.

There are various options available for website design professionals these days. Veterans may still prefer hand-coding for ultimate flexibility. However, newbie web developers resort to frameworks based on specific scripting language and platforms.

Website designing firms that work within tight deadlines for their projects will usually resort to feature rich web development tools like Adobe Dreamweaver. However, Dreamweaver does not come cheap. A web design company with modest resources therefore, can select the Xara Web Designer Premium 7 to create professional websites.

Xara is from Magix, a company known for few innovative multimedia apps that are ideal for web and print media publishing. This app is user-friendly and not very demanding on system resources.

Xara’s interface is quite intuitive; however, a new user may need some time in getting used to the toolset.

• The benefit of using this app is that its interface is devoid of rigidity. Designers, who need to make modifications in the website structure during the development phase, will love this app. The elements that were inserted earlier in the interface auto adjust their positions when designers insert new elements.
• Text and images can be used in various positions and alignment combinations within its interface with ease. Its automatic spell checker takes care of the accidental spelling and grammatical errors of text in the website. It is time saving too.
• Xara’s unique navigation assistant makes using navigation in websites easier for designers. Media elements like video players and Interactive photo galleries can also be used without any issue in its interface. It offers simple drag and drop support for videos and images. The videos dropped in the site pages get published without any hassles.
• When it comes to creating animations and editing images for web use, Xara comes in handy. A web designer need not invest in standalone image editing application. But, Xara’s image editing tools is good for web graphics only and not for other purposes.

• Xara also offers a number of options for making compelling ecommerce websites. Web designers can easily create elements like email newsletters, ads, perform SEO, PayPal account setting up, etc.

Xara’s website offers extensive tutorials and help files for users. However, it does not provide any telephonic support. The price is justified for intermediate to advanced designers.