Our first web dev resources collection for 2019 comes packed with awesome JS libraries, cool productivity tools, and lots of design freebies.
Continue reading on Tutorialzine.The questions almost sound a bit silly. But, when you book a new project, who exactly are you designing for? Are you looking to satisfy your client or add another notch to your portfolio?
You’d like to think that most designers are ethical enough to keep their focus entirely on client needs. But, we’re all human. And sometimes we add bells and whistles to a project for the wrong reasons – often without being consciously aware.
It comes down to those little decisions we make during the course of a build. They can enhance our portfolios, but still have virtually no positive impact for our clients.
If you will, allow me to pull out one of the many foibles from my past design adventures. I’m often fascinated by all the cool trends sweeping the web. And, when I see a feature that I think is really exciting, I simply can’t wait to use it in a project.
For example, lots of websites out there are still using parallax scrolling techniques. But nothing I had done to date used this shining example of “look what I can do”.
I found myself working on a project where I felt that I could add the feature. And I did. The end result was that, sure, it worked well enough. But the client wasn’t so thrilled and correctly pointed out that the effect was more of a distraction than anything else.
The result was that I had implemented something that didn’t make the site easier to use. It didn’t help users find what they were looking for any faster. Looking back, it was more of an avenue for me to show the world that I could execute some fancy code on a page.
This is the web designer’s equivalent of a child doing all sorts of mischief in order to get a parent’s attention. It may work in the end, but not without annoying someone along the way.
This doesn’t mean, however, that we can’t still add some slick effects to a client’s site. The key is ensuring that whatever we implement either solves a problem or improves the user experience in some way.
Microinteractions, for instance, can be a great way to help guide users along in completing desired tasks. Or, the use of animation can help call attention to an important piece of information. It’s all about picking the right time and place for their use.
The problem is when we add all sorts of extras without giving thought to what we want them to accomplish. Web design is nothing if not a “me too” industry, where we use these elements to prop up our ego and even our income.
But when we take the time to consider what a project really needs, it’s likely that many (if not all) of these extras can be left out. A good rule of thumb: If it doesn’t add anything useful to the final product, it doesn’t belong.
Great design is there to make things better. However, getting there takes a lot of thought and even some occasional soul searching.
In the end, it’s about finding the right solutions for the task at hand. And while having a killer portfolio means a lot to our own success, so does doing right by our clients.
With that in mind, it’s okay if your portfolio is missing an example of some fancy special effect. There may very well be an opportunity to implement it down the road.
Of more importance is that you can demonstrate how you helped a client solve problems and achieve their goals. That will mean more to your chances of future success than anything else.
The post Balancing Client Needs vs. Your Portfolio appeared first on Speckyboy Web Design Magazine.
Among the most important questions your online business must answer is: How are users viewing my website? Because, in order to design the best possible user experience, you need the data to back it up. Otherwise, you’re stuck playing guessing games.
Having ready access to information such as a user’s web browser, OS and device are critical to making the right design decisions. And when you can detect these items in real-time, you can serve up a fully customized experience. The result is higher conversion rates, along with more high-fives from your team.
Gaining access to this data is as easy as implementing userstack. They’ll provide you with instant, secure user-agent string lookup over their JSON API. It’s accurate, powerful, scalable and will fit seamlessly into your existing setup.
Let’s take a look at what userstack does and how it can benefit your business.
The right data can help you ensure that visitors to your website will see the most relevant information. Plus, they’ll see it in the perfect format for their screen and device. What’s more, browser detection provides the ability to deliver compatible code. That means users of legacy browsers won’t have to deal with a broken layout.
userstack gives you more control over the user experience:
Display Custom Content
Tailor your site’s content based on a visitor’s device. An online store, for instance, might feature specific products for mobile or desktop users. Or, a news site could customize the number of articles shown on small screens to reduce scrolling.
Native App Downloads
Promote your app to users with userstack’s OS detection. This allows you to provide download links that correspond with the user’s system. For example, visitors using Android can be served up a link to your mobile app in Google Play. This reduces the required steps for the user and increases your odds of making a conversion.
Show Relevant Ads
Boost your advertising revenue by displaying ads that target specific operating systems or devices. userstack’s API delivers highly accurate and reliable data, so you can be confident that ads will be shown to the right users.
Detect Bots and Crawlers
Is your site getting slammed with spam bots? userstack puts you on the offensive, with the ability to detect these nuisances before they post spam. Likewise, crawler detection allows you to optimize your site for the best possible SEO outcomes.
userstack not only provides you with critical data, it’s also backed by a powerful infrastructure. The service can grow along with you and handle projects of any size. Whether it’s a few hundred or a few million requests – they can get it done quickly and efficiently.
It’s also built with accuracy and stability in mind. So, you can be sure that the service will be there when you need it. In fact, it’s trusted by some of the most recognizable brands worldwide.
Along with its rock-solid core, userstack is also incredibly easy to implement. You can be up and running in under 10 minutes! And, best of all, you won’t have to learn a new language to set things up. The REST API can be accessed through any major programming language, including PHP, Python, Node.js and Ruby.
You’ll also be thrilled to know that choosing userstack won’t cost you an arm and a leg. The service offers a very cost-effective way to detect user-agent string data in real-time, starting with up to 10,000 monthly lookups for FREE. Need more? There are premium plans available to fit every budget and use case.
Better design produces better results. But you need the right data in order to make informed decisions. That’s why userstack’s API can become a critical component to the success of your business.
Their proprietary user-agent string database is refreshed several times a week in order to provide you with the most accurate information. You can place your trust in them to offer secure, reliable data for any sized project. And, it’s all backed by user-friendly documentation and support.
Sign up for your free API key today and start improving your site’s user experience immediately.
The post Perfect the User Experience with userstack appeared first on Speckyboy Web Design Magazine.
Latest PECL Releases:
If a client is too slow to send a full HTTP request, a server can send back a
408 Request Timeout error response.
A request coming in too slow can happen for a variety of reasons, including slow internet connections, completely lost internet connections or bad actors.
When a server sends back the 408, it no longer wants to wait for the request
and kills the connection.
A robust client might try to repeat the request as soon as they receive this response.
HTTP/1.1 408 Request Timeout
Connection: close
Content-Type: text/plain
Too slow! Try again
A new PDF editor and printer driver combo has been added to the Free PDF Converters, Editors and Printer Drivers. The driver lets you create PDF files from any application that can print (eg, Word), and the editor lets you do things like insert and delete pages, etc.
WordPress 5.1 Beta 2 is now available!
This software is still in development, so we don’t recommend you run it on a production site. Consider setting up a test site to play with the new version.
There are two ways to test the WordPress 5.1 beta: try the WordPress Beta Tester plugin (you’ll want to select the “bleeding edge nightlies” option), or you can download the beta here (zip).
WordPress 5.1 is slated for release on February 21, and we need your help to get there!
Over 110 tickets have been closed since beta 1, many of which are documentation and testing suite improvements. Here are the major changes and bug fixes:
pre_render_block and render_block_data filters have been introduced allowing plugins to override block attribute values (#45451, dev note coming soon).get_template_part() will now return a value indicating whether a template file was found and loaded (#40969).orderby values for post__in, post_parent__in, and post_name__in has been standardized (#38034).WordPress 5.1 has many changes aimed at polishing the developer experience. To keep you informed, we publish developers notes on the Make WordPress Core blog throughout the release cycle. Subscribe to the Make WordPress Core blog for updates over the coming weeks, detailing other changes in 5.1 that you should be aware of.
Do you speak a language other than English? Help us translate WordPress into more than 100 languages! The beta 2 release als marks the soft string freeze point of the 5.1 release schedule.
If you think you’ve found a bug, you can post to the Alpha/Beta area in the support forums. We’d love to hear from you! If you’re comfortable writing a reproducible bug report, file one on WordPress Trac, where you can also find a list of known bugs.
Do you enjoy bugs?
I don’t. So, we fixed them all.
Well, not all. But close.