Published on: 10 March 2016
Last Updated on: 29 May 2021
I’ve been a web developer for 5 years now. There’s quite the learning curve with web design, even AFTER school. You have to deal with customers, you have to manage expectations and deadlines, you have to manage your billing and finances, all of which were not included in the code and design classes that I took. This is just the business side of things, as you can probably tell I’m a little taken aback by it all. But then there’s the coding aspect of the business.
The coding side of things is where I really excel. I love being a web designer. Making websites look and perform great has really turned into a passion of mine. But I’ve noticed that a lot of developers out there struggle with a lot of aspects of being a professional web designer. Let’s face it, a lot of developers produce work that is not up to par. Either they have designs that are super basic and lame, or the websites are not made to meet your goals and help your business. any of these issues could be bad for a new business that will be relying on their website for leads or a professional presence.
I’ve outlined the following questions to help you better understand what you should be looking for when you are going to work with a web development company or freelancer. As a business owner, It is important that you ask these questions before you pay someone for their services.
1. Do you have live examples I can see?
I am amazed at how most people either have a problem they need solved or they have an expectation or design in mind, but they never ask to see examples. Everyone’s idea of “great” is different. It’s important to see examples of their work and judge if they would be a good fit for you. If there are concerns, asking the developer questions is a good way to address them.
2. Do you have a degree in web development? When? How do you stay up to date
This is an important question, and just as important is asking them when they did if they did. There are a few great selves taught web developers out there, who learned from non-traditional means. The most important information that this question will give you is in the third part. Web development is not a static skill set. It changes fast and often, and someone who has incorporated constant learning about their field into their work or life routine will improve your odds of getting some of the best developers.
3. What kind of web development do you focus on?
This can mean a ton of things. But, if you explain your needs, like a high converting website, for example, the right developer for you will already have a few live examples to show you. “yea, I can do that” is not the right answer, the process and skill set for focusing on conversions need to be already developed, as well as deployed, tested, and documented.
I hope this will help when you’re choosing a web design and development professional to work with. This is a great start towards making sure you get the quality of work you desire and need, as well as getting your website and business goals met.
Lucia Patterson is the woman behind TheLegalGuides, a blog solely focused on legal guides, tips, and advice. Lucia loves essay writing and blogs at EssayWritingGuides from her college days.
Art belongs on the wall, but sometimes circumstances will force you to move them. For example, if you’re temporarily moving away from your home or relocating to a home with less space to hang your artworks, you may have to store some of them. Additionally, if you’re a painter who doesn’t sell their art the minute it’s complete, you are likely going to have to store those artworks in your home or specialized storage facilities like Museo Vault.
Art is delicate, and one innocent mistake could end up costing you dearly. That is why it’s important to know the basics of how to handle, clean and store your paintings. Everyone knows that paintings should be kept in a dark room, but choosing which one could play a huge role in their perseverance.
In this article, we are going to walk you through the basics of properly handling, cleaning and storing your art in order to avoid causing them permanent damage. These tips will prevent various damage types like mold, scratches, cracks, and flaking.
How to Properly Handle Your Art
Art is so delicate that it can even get damaged as you’re taking the picture off the wall or dusting the frame off. That is why you need to be extra careful what you wear around art, how you pick it up and hang it back.
Handle One at a Time :
Even if you’re in a hurry, never carry a stack of paintings, no matter if they are large or small. They could get scratched or dented if carried in bulks. When handling art, make sure to do it one painting at a time. If a painting is large, have two people handle it simultaneously.
Wash Your Hands before Handling :
Your hands need to be completely clean if you plan on handling art. Additionally, consider buying cotton gloves if you frequently have to handle art. Make sure the gloves are always washed. This precaution will help avoid leaving fingerprints both on the painting and the frame.
Remove Any Jewelry :
Rings and watches can scratch and damage your painting as you’re carrying it or taking it down from the wall. That’s why you need to remember to always remove any jewelry that could damage the painting before handling it.
How to Properly Clean Your Art
Like we mentioned, paintings are delicate so you have to take special care when cleaning them. Knowing which products to use to clean and dust the paintings in keeping them pristine for years to come.
Dusting Your Paintings :
Paintings hung on the walls are a dust magnet, and have to be cleaned regularly. But you can’t just use any old duster to do it. In order to avoid serious damage, use a soft artists’ brush made from natural hair. Keep the painting on a soft surface leaned down so the dust is pulled down as you brush it.
Move the brush carefully and slowly in a single direction and make sure you’re not applying any pressure to it. When you’ve dusted off the entire picture, change the direction and go for a second pass. Never use stiff brushes, moist cloths or feather dusters when cleaning art.
Cleaning Your Paintings :
This should be common sense, but never ever use household cleaners or similar products on paintings. The chemicals in these products can completely ruin the painting. If there’s a need to clean the painting, consider hiring an expert.
How to Properly Store Your Art
Finally, proper art storage is the key to its preservation. This is also where art collectors are most likely to make a mistake due to the numerous factors that determine whether a location is suitable for art storage or not.
Avoid Damp Rooms :
Never store your art pieces in the basement, the attic or any room with an outside wall. These rooms are usually either too dry or too damp. Either of those could affect your paintings. However, if you’re out of options to make sure to invest in a good humidifier and an AC unit to keep the room temperature constant and humidity levels acceptable.
Never Stack Paintings :
If you don’t have enough space and have to stack the painting one over the other or against each other, make sure you use appropriate protection like padding. Painting racks are ideal if you need to store multiple paintings.
Beyond the aesthetics of modern web design lies a realm of functionalities designed to entice, intrigue, and encourage action. It's not just about displaying information anymore; it's about creating a dynamic dialogue between the site and its visitors. From clever countdown widgets that build anticipation to popups that capture attention at just the right moment, interactive tools are redefining the digital journey.
As you embark on this exploration, you'll discover how these tools can be the key to not only attracting eyeballs but also driving tangible results. So, are you ready to unlock the next level of online engagement and conversion? Let's dive deeper.
Interactive Tools For Websites: Why It Is Crucial
In the vast universe of the Internet, websites often face the challenging task of standing out amidst a sea of competitors. It's no longer enough to simply be online; success hinges on how well a website can interact with its users. This is where interactive tools make a monumental difference.
The Link Between Engagement And Conversion
Every click, scroll, or hover on a website tells a story — a story of a user's journey from a curious visitor to a potential customer. Engagement is the first step in forging a connection. When visitors are actively interacting, they're investing their time and emotion into what the site has to offer. This active participation paves the way for conversions, whether it's signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, or any other desired action. Simply put, higher engagement can often translate into higher conversion rates.
Benefits Of Interactive Features For Visitors And Businesses
For visitors, interactive features offer a personalized, immersive experience. Instead of passively consuming content, they're invited to participate, making their online journey more memorable and impactful. Whether it's a quiz that offers tailored product recommendations or a chatbot providing instant support, these features make the user feel valued and understood.
For businesses, the advantages are manifold. Interactive tools can lead to increased dwell time, providing more opportunities for branding and message reinforcement. They offer valuable insights into user behavior, preferences, and pain points, allowing businesses to fine-tune their strategies.
Pioneering Engagement Tools: A Closer Look
Delving into the world of pioneering engagement tools reveals a medley of innovative strategies designed to enthrall users and drive conversions. Here's a closer look at some game-changing tools that have redefined the way we interact online.
Countdown Widgets
How They Work:
At its core, countdown widgets for websites are digital timers, ticking away the seconds and minutes of a particular event or deadline. Be it heralding the launch of a new product, highlighting the end of a sale, or marking the start of a webinar, these widgets play on human psychology. The ticking clock creates a palpable sense of urgency and anticipation, compelling users to act before time runs out.
To maximize the effectiveness of countdown widgets, it's crucial to employ them judiciously. Overuse can desensitize users to a sense of urgency. Moreover, always ensure that the event or deadline you're counting down to holds genuine value for the user. Pairing the widget with compelling visuals and concise, action-driven text can further amplify its impact.
Popups
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Different Types Of Popups:
Popups are versatile tools that can serve various functions.
Informational popups. These are designed to update users about essential website changes or privacy policies. They're typically concise and straightforward, ensuring users are informed without overwhelming them.
Promotional popups. They are the digital equivalents of storefront sale signs. These might advertise a limited-time offer or discount.
Feedback popups. They might ask for star ratings, brief comments, or even detailed reviews, helping businesses understand their strengths and areas of potential enhancement.
Email subscription popups. These popups invite users to stay connected by subscribing to newsletters, updates, or exclusive offers.
Exit-intent popups. Triggered when the system detects a user is about to close the tab or navigate away, exit-intent popups present a final, compelling offer or message.
The key to popups is moderation. Bombarding users with incessant popup messages can swiftly turn intrigue into irritation. Timing is crucial. For instance, an exit-intent popup can be a last-ditch effort to retain their attention. Similarly, understanding the user's journey can help in strategically placing popups for maximum effectiveness without being intrusive.
Interactive Surveys And Quizzes
Surveys and quizzes engage users actively, making them feel part of a two-way conversation. When a user takes a quiz, they're not just absorbing information; they're sharing insights about their preferences and needs. This enables websites to tailor content and offers precisely to the user, enhancing relevancy and driving engagement.
Beyond personalization, these interactive tools are goldmines of data. By analyzing responses, businesses can pinpoint audience segments, refine product offerings, and sharpen their marketing tactics. In essence, every user interaction becomes an opportunity for businesses to learn, adapt, and evolve.
Live Chat Features
Live chat serves as a digital concierge, connecting users with businesses in real time. No more waiting on hold or navigating through tedious email threads. With just a click, users can pose questions, raise concerns, or simply chat, fostering a sense of immediacy and personalized attention.
Gamification Elements
Games aren't just for fun; they're powerful engagement drivers. By incorporating gamification elements like points, badges, or leaderboards, websites transform mundane tasks into exciting challenges. Whether it's completing a profile, sharing content, or making a purchase, gamification rewards users for their actions, making their digital journey feel more like an adventure than a chore.
User Testimonials And Reviews
Nothing vouches for a brand like the voice of its customers. User testimonials and reviews provide an unfiltered glimpse into real experiences, offering prospects both validation and reassurance. These authentic narratives, beaming with praise or constructively critical, solidify a brand's credibility, paving the way for trust and long-term loyalty.
Avoiding Overwhelm: Less Can Be More
In the intricate dance of digital engagement, it's not always about having more tools, but about wielding them wisely. While it might be tempting to incorporate every interactive feature available, bombarding users with too many stimuli can lead to cognitive overload. It's like walking into a room with blaring music, flashing lights, and a crowd vying for your attention all at once.
The key is to curate and prioritize. A well-placed popup can be effective, but combine it with constant notifications, quizzes, and live chat prompts, and you risk alienating the user. Remember, the goal is to guide and engage, not to overwhelm. By being discerning in our choice of interactive elements, we can ensure that users not only stay but also enjoy their digital journey.
Video content is more popular than ever before. Netflix has popularised the idea of binge-watching our favorite TV shows while video-sharing social platforms like YouTube and TikTok have seen the format reach new heights.
While more people are watching videos today, we’re also seeing more people creating them. This is due to both the availability and accessibility of modern video editing platforms and the ease at which they can be uploaded online and shared with the world. If you want to start making your own videos, making use of motion graphics can be a fantastic way to stand out from the crowd.
Let’s take a look at some of the best special stock motion graphics effects and discuss how they can be used in your videos.
1. Lower thirds
As the name suggests, lower thirds of motion graphics appear in the lower third section of your video. These play an important role; they can be used to convey key information without distracting the viewer from what’s happening in the center of the screen.
We see lower thirds of graphics all the time, often far more regularly than we realize. For example, when watching a news bulletin, the lower thirds of graphics are used for things like naming an on-screen speaker, summarising a current news story, or providing breaking updates from across the world. In the news, these lower-thirds graphics are referred to as chyrons.
If you’re an amateur video maker, chances are you’re not going to be tasked with editing news shows for terrestrial television. So, what else can lower thirds be used for?
On platforms like YouTube, growing a following of subscribers is important, and generating lots of comments and likes on your videos can help it perform better in search results and in recommended content. Lower thirds of graphics can be used as calls-to-action, encouraging viewers to subscribe to your channel, to like the video, or to comment and start a discussion among other viewers.
Lower-thirds graphics can also be useful if you’re making informative content like tutorials. They can be used to convey further information to your viewers and to deliver tips, tricks, and reminders, without obscuring the primary focus of the video itself.
2. Overlays
Motion graphics effects come in a huge variety of different styles, whether you’re looking for CapCut effects or Premiere Pro effects.
One type of motion graphic effect you’re going to come across is the overlay effect. As the name suggests, overlay effects are placed over the main section of the screen, unlike lower-thirds effects which are localized to the bottom of the screen.
What are overlay effects used for? This is a broad question, there is such a range of overlay effects out there, and each can be utilized to serve a different purpose.
Text overlays are among the most common types. These place text directly in the center of the screen and can be used for transitioning between scenes or to deliver vital information to the viewer.
Overlay effects can also include things like graphs, charts, and infographics. These are particularly common in corporate videos and in marketing material, they can be used to clearly and concisely convey complicated information in an engaging and informative way.
Using an overlay effect can also be an artistic choice. They can filter footage to make it look more cinematic, with added depth and grain, or to change the color balance to suit the mood and atmosphere of your video.
3. CapCut
CapCut is a video editing app made by TikTok parent company ByteDance. With over 200 million monthly users, it’s one of the fastest-growing apps in the world and is taking full advantage of the booming video creator marketplace.
CapCut offers deep editing functionality, but the focus is on encouraging users to edit fun, engaging videos quickly and to share these across social media. One of the best ways to make your videos more engaging and to help them stand out in an increasingly oversaturated digital landscape is to use CapCut motion graphics.
These can come in the form of small, animated figures that dance and move around, giving your content a playful, casual feel that will make your viewers feel happy and comfortable.
CapCut motion graphics can also include things like arrows and pointers. These can be particularly useful for information tutorial videos, where certain elements might need to be highlighted to help viewers follow the tutorial correctly.
4. Slideshows
Slideshows are perhaps the most basic form of motion graphics, but they still have a place in today’s world.
Slideshows are simple sequences of images. They can be used to tell a story, convey a message, or simply show off some exciting, eye-catching images. Much of the creativity in slideshows comes from the transition effects used as one slide moves to the next. However, be careful not to overdo it with these transitions, as this can detract from the content of your slideshow.
Conclusion
Motion graphics are an incredibly important part of video editing. Use this guide to learn all about the different types and how they can be used in your videos.
Read Also:
Movavi Video Suite Review: A Comprehensive Tool to Create Videos
Ways To Fix YouTube “Something Went Wrong” Prompt!
The Ultimate Streaming Guide to Watch TV Online
