1. BeTheme

The post 12 Best WordPress Themes for 2021 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

20 janvier 2021/par Service comm.

6 Tools for Rapid Cross-Device Website Testing

Actualités, Actualités

When creating a website, it’s vital to remember that not only does it need to work and look great on the device you are creating it on, but on all the other devices, it might be used on too.

Mobile and tablet optimization is important not only for the user journey but from an SEO point of view too, and badly created mobile sites just don’t cut it anymore.

With more and more devices entering the market, you need to check any website you create is compatible across the board. One bad experience and users are likely to leave and not come back again, which can be catastrophic for a business, particularly if it is just starting out.

It’s vital to check how a site looks and behaves when browsed differently from how you would use it. A common mistake is to assume users only browse websites on mobile devices in portrait mode; they don’t; landscape browsing is common, especially if the user is used to watching video.

Here are some of our top tools for testing websites on devices without the need for an entire device library:

1. Multi-Screen Test

WhatIsMyScreenResolution offers a great little tool to test how your site will look on different devices easily, and it costs absolutely nothing. You put the URL and choose between desktop, mobile, tablet, and television and then the orientation. Each device can also be broken down into different sizes and resolutions (or you can enter your own), making it easier than ever to test what a site will look like on different devices.

2. Responsinator

Responsinator is another great tool to test how a site looks on other devices without dipping into your wallet. Put your URL in the top bar, and it will instantly show you what it looks like on generic devices. This is a great, easy to use tool, and you can click through any links on your site to check the usability of multiple pages. This site is free, but if you want to “create your own” template, you need to sign up.

3. Google Dev Tools

Google Dev Tools is one of the most commonly used free tools. Add it to Chrome, and you can see how your site looks in a multitude of different screen sizes and resolutions. You can simulate touch inputs, device orientation, and geolocation to test how they work. It’s great to easily spot problems using their remote debugging tool to view, change, debug and profile a page’s code directly from your laptop or computer while viewing it on your mobile device.

4. Browser Stack

Browser Stack allows you to test your site on over 2,000 real devices and browsers, enabling you to see in real-time how your site looks. It is no hassle to set up, and it can be seamlessly integrated into your setup. As it tests on real browsers on real machines, you know the results are more reliable and accurate. It also enables you to debug in real-time using their pre-installed developer tools for ease of editing. The tests are all run securely on tamper-proof physical devices and are wiped clean of all data after each session, so you don’t need to worry about security being compromised.

5. TestComplete Mobile

TestComplete Mobile allows you to create and run UI tests across real mobile devices, virtual machines, and emulators. You can test both mobile device layouts and apps with script-free record and replay actions. This can help you to edit and fix any potential issues that may arise during the tests. Due to them being conducted on real devices, you know it is less likely to have errors in the system than a simulated device. This is free for 30 days then can get pricier, so make sure you take advantage of the trial and try the service before committing to it.

6. Sizzy

Sizzy is a great tool for checking sites, and it has a host of features to assist you. You can rotate the screen between portrait and landscape, filter by OS and device type, switch themes, and take screenshots. These little things mean it’s a super easy to use and convenient tool. It claims to simulate each device’s viewport and user agent, meaning the results are the same as what you would actually see on that phone/ tablet, etc. It can’t simulate different browser rendering engines however, so there’s a chance there might be some minor differences compared to the actual thing. Sizzy offers a free trial or has different price packages starting at $5 per month.

Featured image via Unsplash

The post 6 Tools for Rapid Cross-Device Website Testing first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

14 janvier 2021/par Service comm.

4 Predictions for the Web in 2021

Actualités, Actualités

The start of the year is always a good time to reassess priorities and consider new approaches, but 2021 is more of a reset than we expected this time last year. 2020 is unlikely to go down in anyone’s autobiography as the best year of their life, but it has done something positive: it’s prepared the ground for rapid change in the next 12 months.

More than any other year in our lifetimes, 2021 is set to be revolutionary, with emerging trends that will last well into the new decade. Here’s what we think you can look forward to around the next corner.

1. The End of Minimalism

Minimalism has been the de facto approach to web design for the last decade because it works.

But design reflects the zeitgeist. Where minimalism once felt clean and fresh, it’s starting to feel dull and uninspired. There have been a few false-starts breaking out of the long-term trend, but thanks to the pandemic, 2021 will be the year minimalism finally folds — at least for a while.

Prior to coronavirus-mandated lockdowns worldwide, there were already signs of a more vibrant, more decorative, more joyful approach to design. Simple typefaces have been replaced with more decorative examples — faces that use ink-traps to fake 3D effects are surprisingly popular.

trends are cyclical, and the wheel always turns

One of the biggest aspects of this blossoming trend is the move away from Material Design-style flat color not just to gradients but to multi-color gradients and even animated gradients. Even Apple, the last bastion of the clean white-box approach, jumped on the gradient bandwagon with its Big Sur branding.

One of the few things COVID-19 hasn’t slowed is the adoption of new web technology, and CSS, in particular, has had some major developments in the last year. CSS Grid is now a practical technology, and our ability to code standards-compliant designs that aren’t dependent on hierarchical boxes is greatly enhanced.

After more than a year of pretty grim news for most people, much of the world will be vaccinated over the next twelve months, and life will rapidly return to normal. The last global crisis on this scale was the 1918 influenza pandemic, and it led directly to the decade known as the Roaring Twenties.

Minimalism was already dipping in popularity — trends are cyclical, and the wheel always turns — but lockdown, or perhaps more precisely the end of lockdown, is the catalyst for significant change.

2. The Decline of WordPress

In Autumn 2020, something entirely unexpected happened: The W3C announced the platform its new web presence would be built on, and WordPress — the previous choice of the web’s steering committee — didn’t even make the list of finalists.

Due to accessibility concerns, the W3C development team opted to migrate away from WordPress to Craft CMS. The decision was met with a mixture of glee and outrage. But whether you agree with the decision or not, it’s hard to see it as anything other than yet another symptom of WordPress’ decline.

WordPress faces a triple threat: there are web builders that do an adequate job for low-end web projects; there are newer rivals like Craft that outperform WordPress as a CMS; there’s a growing interest in alternate approaches, like Jamstack.

So will it all be over for WordPress in 2021? Not even close. There are myriad reasons WordPress will continue to be the choice of designers and developers for years to come. Tens of thousands of professionals worldwide have invested their whole careers in WordPress; there are millions of themes, plugins, templates, and build processes that are tightly woven into the WordPress ecosystem. What’s more, there are millions of sites with substantial content archives powered by WordPress [WebDesignerDepot is one such site].

WordPress reportedly powers approximately 37% of the web, and it will still be the dominant CMS in 2022. But it’s unlikely to grow beyond that 37%, and by 2030 its market share will be in rapid contraction.

2020 was the high-tide mark for WordPress

But for all its faults — and it’s undeniable that WordPress is full of faults — WordPress is the best of the web; it has given a voice to millions of people, launched countless careers, and empowered entrepreneurship worldwide.

2020 was the high-tide mark for WordPress, but it’s not an extinction-level event — even the much-maligned Flash, which was killed dead in a matter of months by the first generation iPhone, limped on until a few weeks ago.

WordPress will have to find a niche and accept a smaller market share; in doing so, it will address the single biggest complaint that anyone has about WordPress: that it’s trying to do too much.

WordPress is one of the great success stories of the web. In a decade, it may have to settle for powering just 10% of the web — a level of failure most of its rivals can only dream of.

3. The Digital Currency Explosion

2021 is undoubtedly the year that cryptocurrency goes mainstream. In 2020 Bitcoin grew by almost 400%; currently valued at around $35k, conservative predictions for a December 2021 valuation are $100k, with five-year predictions as high as $1m. And Bitcoin isn’t the only cryptocurrency; the value of developer-friendly Ether has jumped by more than 50% in the first few weeks of 2021.

In the US, the incoming Biden administration is preparing a multi-trillion dollar relief package, which many believe young Americans will invest in cryptocurrency. Perhaps more importantly, large investment banks are now pumping hundreds of millions in digital currencies. PayPal and Visa are both in the advanced stages of adopting blockchain technology.

The biggest threat to the new digital economy is the volatility of cryptocurrency. You cannot price services in XRP if XRP’s dollar price could crash at any time — as it did a few weeks ago.

And so there are two routes in which this trend will unfold for ecommerce. Either pricing will remain in dollars, and the equivalent price in various cryptocurrencies will be calculated in real-time. Or, transactions will make use of stablecoins like Tether that are tied to the value of the US dollar.

Cryptocurrency is the latest gold-rush, and whether you think it’s the chance of a lifetime or yet another Ponzi scheme, it will become increasingly high-profile in ecommerce throughout 2021.

4. No More Video Calls and also More Video Calls

2020 was the year of Zoom. Its growth from bit-player to overtaking Skype is a material lesson for entrepreneurs that every obstacle is an opportunity.

every obstacle is an opportunity

Over the last year, we’ve discovered two things: meetings are more creative in person, and office costs are significantly reduced when staff work remotely.

There’s going to be a shift in the business landscape this year. Remote working will continue to be normal for years to come as businesses enjoy rent savings. Video calls will still be common for quick update meetings. But expect to travel to physical meeting places periodically for in-depth strategic planning.

Expect to see major cities with deserted office buildings and a rapid expansion of co-working spaces, especially those with meeting spaces — if WeWork can hold on a little longer, there may be light at the end of the tunnel.

As a web professional, you’re in a unique position to thrive in the new business world, even more so if you’re a freelancer. Remember, if you’re working onsite, be mindful of your physical health, and if you’re working remotely, be mindful of your mental health.

What Do You Think?

No one saw 2020 coming. Sometimes world events are outwith our control, and we have to hang on and hope it gets better. It’s been a tough 12 months, and the truth is we’re not through it yet.

But the 2020 coronavirus pandemic is the first pandemic in human history that we’ve had the technology to shorten.

2021 offers the opportunity for enormous change. Will designers look for new, more decorative approaches? Will we replace our technology stack? Will you be billing clients in Ether this year? Will you suffer the misery of a packed evening commute ever again?

Featured image via Unsplash

The post 4 Predictions for the Web in 2021 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

Actualités, Méthodes et organisation des process IT

11 janvier 2021/par Service comm.

Big / Bug Data: Analyzing the Apache Flink Source Code

Applications used in the field of Big Data process huge amounts of information, and this often happens in real time. Naturally, such applications must be highly reliable so that no error in the code can interfere with data processing. To achieve high reliability, one needs to keep a wary eye on the code quality of projects developed for this area. The PVS-Studio static analyzer is one of the solutions to this problem. Today, the Apache Flink project developed by the Apache Software Foundation, one of the leaders in the Big Data software market, was chosen as a test subject for the analyzer.

So, what is Apache Flink? It is an open-source framework for distributed processing of large amounts of data. It was developed as an alternative to Hadoop MapReduce in 2010 at the Technical University of Berlin. The framework is based on the distributed execution engine for batch and streaming data processing applications. This engine is written in Java and Scala. Today, Apache Flink can be used in projects written using Java, Scala, Python, and even SQL.

Actualités, Méthodes et organisation des process IT

22 décembre 2020/par Service comm.

Twilio Vs. MirrorFly: Who Is the Future of Real-Time Communication?

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the corporate business world to network with associates and communicate with potential clients using online communication tools. Hence, given the current market conditions – having a functional and efficient communication system has become the need of the hour. Due to which platforms offering text, voice, and video chat features must ensure they offer enterprise-level models. These platforms must be customizable and scalable. It is also important for the communication platform to be of a certain standard that supports a huge number of users with minimal latency rates. Nevertheless, with multiple options in the market, it can be difficult to choose the right real-time communication platform.

Twilio

So, what is Twilio? Twilio is one of the top-rated cloud communication platforms in the market that uses a PaaS model. Twilio offers developers tools or software-based platforms to integrate voice, video, or messaging into any mobile app. Twilio is basically a developer’s platform, which means that this platform cannot be used by a marketer or a non-developer. Twilio as a communication platform provides a powerful API system for phone services offering companies to make and receive phone calls and send and receive text messages instantly.

20 décembre 2020/par Service comm.

5 Ways to Boost Engagement With Animation

Actualités, Actualités

Animation is a fun and interesting way to bring life to a website. Used correctly, it can capture audience attention, make your website more engaging, and even improve your chances of delivering conversions for your clients.

Unfortunately, like many things in the web design world, it’s also easy to get too carried away with animation. As professional designers and developers, it’s up to us to find the line between making the most of animation on our website projects and creating a site that’s overwhelmed with too much activity.

Fortunately, by the time you’ve finished reading this article, you’ll have a deeper insight into how you can use animation in web design, without going too over the top.

Introducing Animation in Web Design

Animations are virtually everywhere on the web today.

In the past, when designers first discovered that they could embed movement into their websites, the amount of animation we saw was often higher than it needed to be. It wasn’t uncommon to find some websites running entirely on Flash, where every element could be animated.

Fortunately, the trends of modern web design have left those practices behind. These days, it’s a lot more common to make animation a part of the overall user experience, rather than focusing on them as a centerpiece attraction. For instance, you’ve probably noticed plenty of animated sliders showing off pictures in a gallery, or transition animations when people hover over a button.

Since it’s entirely possible to construct an entire website with no animations at all, the key to creating an engaging website today is making sure that every animation you use serves a specific purpose. Your animations should make a website more attractive, easier to use, and better for navigation. Add too many, and you could even risk slowing down a site.

So, where does it make sense to use animation for web design?

1. Loading Animations

One of the best ways to use animations in a website is to distract and delight users as a page loads. You can use the animation to deliver a unique experience, or even just highlight the playful nature of your brand. For instance, just check out this classic load animation called “Tightrope.”

You can also use things like particle animations to capture a customer’s attention and help your visitors relax when they visit a website. Particle animations can be interactive or non-interactive, and they’re a great way to stop visitors from feeling frustrated when a page takes too long to load.

A website by Edan Kwan called “Particle Love” shows you exactly what kind of experience you can create with real-time animations.

The more you can delight visitors with experiences that keep them engaged while the information they need is loading, the less likely people will be to hit the “back” button.

2. Microinteraction Animations

Microinteractions are quick and simple animations that come with specific use cases. Usually, this animation works to provide visual feedback and information when you interact with a specific element.

For instance, this microinteraction design from Colin Garven encourages users to enter their email address and password into a login field:

Ideally, the best way to use microinteractions is to make them as subtle as possible. These tools aren’t here to steal the spotlight from other information on the page. However, they can sometimes encourage your viewers to take the next stage in their conversion journey.

Animated microinteractions can be as complex or as basic as you choose. For instance, you could use them when:

Highlighting if a feature is switched on or off;
Letting users know when actions were successful (like sending a message in a contact form);
Showcasing important information, like prices on a table;
Animating icons on your site to encourage action;
Depending on your experience with animations, you can even find themes and plugins that come with options already built-in.

3. Dynamic Backgrounds

An animated background can be an excellent way to make your website stand out from the crowd. However, it’s important to remember that excessive animation has a habit of making your site slower and more clunky than it needs to be.

The animated background on the mystaticself.com website is fantastic for introducing customers to new information with a handy dynamic menu.

Often, the only reason that you should create your own dynamic background for a website, is if it’s going to improve your customer’s experience in some way.

Remember, ensure that the animations that you’re using on your website aren’t going to make any aspect of your site more difficult to use. Animated backgrounds need to offer a compliment to your existing website, rather than distracting customers from what they want to do.

Before you go all-in with your background animations, focus on animating small sections of an image, one piece at a time. You can also animate components with very small motions too.

4. Reveal Hidden Messages

Another excellent way to use animation in web design is to harness it for showcasing important information. For instance, a navigation menu is an important component in your website design, but it can also take up a lot of valuable space.

In some cases, a hidden menu that appears when a customer scrolls over a small box or icon could make a lot of sense. You can also think about animated drop-down menus if you’re working with a website that has a large number of pages.

Check out this fun example of an animated CSS3 menu:

The sections change color and move as you hover over them, making it easier to see exactly where you’re clicking.

It’s up to you exactly how creative you want to be when you’re playing with animated menus. The easiest option is often just to have a component that changes color or shape with a hover effect. However, you can also expose hidden menus and extra information too.

For instance, with some websites, you can create pictures that turn over to show information on the other side. That means that you could create an about page with pictures of team members, which flip to show biography information.

Just make sure that everything works smoothly, both on desktop and mobile.

5. Try Carousels

Finally, we come to perhaps the simplest and most popular way of using animation in web design. Carousels are a common component of almost every theme on the web today. They’re great for showing off useful information, such as what a website has to offer, or which deals are available.

When creating a carousel, you can either give your users control over how quickly an image transitions, or you can implement automatic movement. On the heathfield.co.uk website, the designer has added buttons to let you flip backwards and forwards between photos, while also ensuring that the animation is automatic.

Without the animation to show you the pictures sliding into space, the transitions between each picture would be instant – which is a little more jarring for viewers.

Sliders are such a common component of web design today that customers almost expect to see them on many websites. That means that you can enjoy a very effective experience if you want to avoid doing anything too dramatic with your websites.

You can use sliders for everything from showing off products, to displaying testimonials from customers and more. It’s a great way to compress a lot of useful information into one small space on a site.

Use Website Animation Carefully

The most important thing for most designers to remember with animation and web design is that it’s entirely possible to have too much of a good thing. When it comes to creating amazing designs for your clients, you can take advantage of animation to encourage more engagement and a unique experience. However, you shouldn’t allow yourself to go too over the top.

Rather than animating every aspect of a page to constantly grab visitor attention, think about how you can make the visitor experience more compelling with the right animation choices. If an entire page of animation on the background isn’t right for your target audience, perhaps custom animations on a navigation bar or a slider would be a good option instead.

At the same time, remember to make the most of the latest technologies on the market for adding animation to web design. A good combination of CSS3, JavaScript, and HTML5 often makes it easier to create more immersive, high-quality animations that users can interact with on desktop and mobile alike.

En savoir plus sur les solutions SAP pour l’industrie 4.0

18 décembre 2020/par Service comm.

Le jumeau numérique, facteur d’optimisation du cycle de vie des produits

Actualités, ERP & Applications, SAP

De la conception à l’utilisation, le numérique permet de suivre l’ensemble du cycle de vie d’un produit. Mais aussi de transformer la relation entre le fournisseur et ses clients, en proposant des innovations comme le Product as a Service.

Le jumeau numérique est une réplique numérique d’un objet, processus ou système. Alimenté en temps réel par des données venant de son jumeau physique, le jumeau numérique permet de disposer d’informations clés sur le dispositif ou service simulé. L’apport de techniques de Machine Learning ouvre même les portes du prédictif.

De la simulation classique au jumeau numérique

L’utilisation de la simulation numérique et de modèles 3D n’est pas nouvelle, mais cet usage était auparavant limité aux bureaux d’études.

« Le jumeau numérique existe dans l’ingénierie depuis une bonne vingtaine d’années », confirme Denis Goudstikker, en charge du Business Development du PLM et du SLM chez Siemens Digital Industries Software. « Dans l’industrie automobile, la simulation numérique a permis de raccourcir le temps de mise sur le marché d’un nouveau véhicule. Il y a trente ans, on jetait 100 véhicules contre un mur pour pouvoir assurer un certain niveau de sécurité. Il y a vingt ans, on n’en jetait plus que 5, après en avoir jeté 5000 dans un autre mur… virtuel. » Une avancée qui s’est traduite par un meilleur niveau de sécurité et une accélération du processus de conception des voitures.

Avec le jumeau numérique, les barrières sont éliminées entre l’ingénierie, la production et la maintenance. Et même au-delà, puisque cette continuité numérique peut se prolonger hors des murs de l’entreprise.

« Le constructeur nous fournit des définitions numériques de son produit », témoigne Eric Miralles, CIO de SNOP, équipementier automobile de premier plan. « À partir de cette définition, nous fabriquons les outils qui vont nous permettre d’emboutir les tôles suivant ce cahier des charges. Il faut pour cela que la chaîne allant de la conception à la production soit numérisée. La modélisation numérique de l’ensemble de la chaîne permet d’avoir une maîtrise globale des processus. »

Le jumeau numérique offre également des opportunités après la phase de fabrication.

« Si le jumeau numérique est né dans le milieu industriel, la capacité de connecter de façon massive des objets distribués aux clients, au travers de l’IoT, permet de développer de nouveaux services, mais aussi de redéfinir la relation entre client et fournisseur », analyse Luca Ammassari, Group Deputy Chief Information Officer in charge of Applications chez Engie.

Quels usages clés pour les jumeaux numériques ?

De la conception d’un produit à son utilisation, en passant par la production, le jumeau numérique permet de suivre l’ensemble du cycle de vie d’un produit. Mais également de réduire le time to market de nouvelles offres, la simulation numérique permettant d’accélérer la conception, le test et l’industrialisation des produits.

« Le jumeau numérique permet de répondre à des enjeux économiques et de recherche d’efficacité dans la production, analyse Eric Miralles. Sa mise en place nécessite toutefois une transformation numérique, mais aussi une transformation des organisations et des hommes. Il faut savoir saisir cette nouvelle opportunité par étapes et accompagner les équipes dans ce changement. »

« Le jumeau numérique est également important pour identifier et comprendre le comportement du matériel, poursuit Denis Goudstikker. Et ainsi optimiser son design et sa maintenance. Analyser le comportement acoustique d’une turbine permet par exemple de détecter tout changement dans son fonctionnement. Des modèles prédictifs vont alors déterminer si et quand elle tombera en panne. »

Les usages dans le secteur de la maintenance commencent à devenir communs, « mais il y a une chose à laquelle on s’attendait moins : le packaging d’objets et de services, explique Luca Ammassari. Le constructeur d’une turbine va proposer avec son équipement des services prédictifs basés sur l’utilisation d’un jumeau numérique. Il va s’appuyer sur les informations issues de turbines installées dans le monde entier qui seront comparées en temps réel au comportement de votre turbine, pour vous donner des probabilités de défaillance ou de perte de performance. »

Oser le passage au jumeau numérique

Construire le jumeau numérique de l’ensemble d’une ligne de production n’est pas toujours possible. Certains équipements anciens, amortis sur des dizaines d’années, ne sont en effet pas équipés de capteurs et ne peuvent parfois pas l’être.

La bonne pratique consiste à avancer par étapes, sur des projets ciblés, au fort ROI. « Il faut mener ses projets selon une approche agile, par petits pas et construire ainsi progressivement de la compétence en interne, explique Luca Ammassari. Certains projets auront des résultats décevants, mais cela ne doit pas remettre en cause la démarche. »

Difficile de savoir de quoi demain sera fait en matière d’innovation, constate Luca Ammassari, « c’est pourquoi notre objectif est d’accompagner les entreprises en leur fournissant des fondations capables d’intégrer ces innovations. Notre but n’est pas de proposer des offres clé en mains, mais une plate-forme permettant de sortir de la supply chain classique pour créer un nouvel écosystème. »

Une logique de partenaires qui est essentielle pour Eric Miralles. « C’est cet assemblage de partenaires qui nous permettra de digitaliser l’ensemble de notre supply chain », confirme-t-il. Et de conclure : « La crise que nous traversons aujourd’hui est un accélérateur et il y a beaucoup d’opportunités, très positives, qui nous permettent d’accéder à ces innovations. »

The post Le jumeau numérique, facteur d’optimisation du cycle de vie des produits appeared first on SAP France News.

Source de l’article sur sap.com

16 décembre 2020/par Service comm.

How to Make Hyper-Personalization in Web Design Work For You

Actualités

Personalization; it’s probably one of the most important design trends to emerge in recent years.

As consumers in all industries become more demanding, they’re increasingly searching for online experiences that are customized to suit their individual needs and expectations.

Today, personalization exists in virtually every digital interaction, from adverts on social media to PPC campaigns and email marketing efforts.

Used correctly, the manipulation of demographic, behavioral, and other in-depth user-data can help designers to create dynamic, highly customized content for each website user. At the same time, these unique websites ensure that designers really make an impact on behalf of their clients, outshining the competition and driving amazing results.

What is Hyper-Personalization?

Basic personalization in web design involves making changes to a design based on what you know about your client’s target audience.

For instance, if you knew that you were designing for an audience that spends more time on their smartphone than their computer, you’d concentrate on building hyper-responsive experiences for small screens. For instance, the Canals-Amsterdam.nl website is specifically designed to support people using smartphones to swipe, tap, and scroll.

If you’re aware that your customer’s target market is other businesses, you might put more testimonials, free demo CTAs and other enticing components on the website to encourage investment.

Hyper-Personalization is an emerging trend for 2020 that focuses on going beyond the basic understanding of a target audience, to look at genuine customer data. Hyper-personalization is all about leveraging in-depth omnichannel data to drive more advanced customer experiences on every page of a website.

For hyper-personalization to be genuinely effective, designers need access to virtually unlimited data, from CMS systems, sales teams, marketing experts, and more. When you have that data handy, you can use it to:

Design websites that showcase dynamic CTAs, featuring content relevant to each user;
Implement sign-in screens for customers vs. demo requests for new leads on home pages;
Showcase products similar to past pages when repeat customers return to a site.

Why is Hyper-Personalization Important?

Personalized experiences have always been important to the sales journey.

However, in an era where companies are constantly competing to grab user attention, you can’t just cater to your site designs to a group of people anymore. Increasingly, users are expecting specific interactive moments on websites, made just for them.

Amazon is an obvious example to consider here. As one of the world’s leading online shopping sites, Amazon’s efforts with website personalization are incredible. The Amazon website uses tools integrated into the back-end of the marketplace to watch everything a customer does on its platform.

As users browse through the website, the site jots down each category that you look at, and which items interest you. Thanks to this, Amazon can suggest which products you may be most interested in.

Websites like Madebyhusk also offer an incredible insight into hyper-personalization, allowing users to browse for the products that appeal to them based on in-depth filters like edging and color.

The result is a higher chance of conversion.

When customers feel as though they have complete control over their buyer journey, and that each step on that journey is tailored to them, they’re more likely to buy.

Better Converting CTAs

A call to action is an excellent way to move things along when you’re encouraging the buying process with your target audience.

Used correctly, your CTAs can encourage more than just cart conversions. They can also convince people to sign up for your newsletter via a subscription form, take a survey, or begin a free demo.

Regardless of the CTAs that you choose to implement, personalization will quickly make your requests more effective. According to studies, CTAs that are personalized are 202% more effective than generic alternatives.

For instance, Byhumankind.com uses a crucial statement: “Great personal care products don’t have to come at earth’s expense.” Followed by an engaging CTA to drive positive action from their audience. The company knows that they’re appealing to a customer interested in saving the planet, so they make the benefits of “Getting Started” obvious immediately.

Using data provided by clients, designers can figure out exactly how to position CTAs and offers for customers. For instance, notice that Humankind has a green colored CTA button.

Most buttons take advantage of bold colors like red and orange, but the green shade for Humankind further highlights the nature-driven personality of the brand.

Relevant Product Recommendations

Repeat customers are infinitely more valuable than people who purchase just one item from your site.

However, convincing a standard customer to become a repeat client isn’t easy. Sometimes, clients need a push to determine what they want to buy next.

Fortunately, as a website designer, you can help with that. Using dynamic modules in the product pages of your customer’s website, you can show individual end-users what they might want to purchase next from a specific brand.

These dynamic modules can use information about what each customer has purchased in the past, to suggest a new product or service. Amazon do particularly well in this regard, leveraging a vast marketplace and treasure trove of information to make quality recommendations. But you don’t need to be designing a considerable website for a global business like Amazon to take advantage of dynamic suggestions. Any business with a focus on hyper-personalization can benefit from this strategy.

Increased Time on Site

Any form of personalization on a website can significantly improve the amount of time a customer spends in that digital environment.

Imagine walking into a restaurant that seems as though it was designed specifically for you. The décor, the seating arrangements, and even the menu are customized to your taste. You’re more likely to spend your time and money there than on any generic food place you find on the street.

The same rules apply to website design. The more hyper-personalized you can get with your client’s design, based on what you know about their customers, the easier it will be to keep customers engaged.

For instance, the WarnerMusic.no website entices visitors with various high-quality images of popular bands and artists, before providing them with endless information about the brand and what it does. The designer of this site knew that it needed to appeal to the visual demands of the audience first, before offering useful information like featured artist lists, News, and blog posts to keep the users on site.

Hyper personalization is all about figuring out what kind of end-user you’re designing for, so you can build the digital environment that’s more engaging and compelling to them. Some designers even create dynamic pages that change depending on whether a customer is a repeat client or a new visitor.

Improved Loyalty and Affinity

Finally, it’s human nature that we all want to spend time with the people that treat us best.

We all value excellent customer service, which is why customer experience is the most significant differentiating factor for any organization today.

Web-based personalization works in a similar way. When you use your design tools to make the site experience that you give to each visitor warm, individualized, and welcoming, then your clients are sure to see a boost in customer loyalty.

Around 89% of consumers say that they’ll only consider buying from brands that care about them. As a designer, you can convince every website visitor that they’re going to get the experience they deserve. Just look at how TheHappyHero.com instantly lets clients know that they can expect a fun and friendly interaction on every page.

Accessing useful data from the companies that you’re working with before you begin developing and designing a website could be the key to creating happier customers and higher conversions.

The more delighted end-users are with the experience that a website gives them, the happier that your client will be with you – increasing the impact of your design portfolio.

If you can create customer loyalty and affinity for your client, then you will be able to develop the same feelings between yourself and your client. This could mean that you earn more recommendations as a designer and build your position as a leader in the industry.

Hyper-Personalization is Crucial for 2021

As companies continue to worry about how they can safely use data without crossing the line when it comes to customer privacy, hyper-personalization has stayed just out of the mainstream. While it may be a while before we see every website designer starting their process with piles of in-depth data, it seems that we are heading in that direction.

Customers in 2021 and beyond will undoubtedly want a more advanced and customized experience from the brands that they interact with – particularly in an era where it’s becoming much easier to deliver meaningful moments online.

Autre source / On the same theme

18 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

Serverless vs. Microservices Architecture: Is this the Future of Business Computing?

Actualités, Méthodes et organisation des process IT

Serverless computing, which is commonly referred to as just Serverless, is a promising cloud-based technology model that has emerged on the app development and software architecture horizon in recent years. Trying to avail themselves of the huge serverless framework potential, many big-time market players have been quick to jump on the cloud services bandwagon. Such software giants like Google, Microsoft, IBM, and Amazon already offer the customers to migrate all the local business operational efficiencies to be hosted on their flagship serverless platforms like AWS Lambda and Azure Functions.

Simply put, serverless architecture is an event- and request-driven tech solution allowing application developers to create actionable working environments in the cloud that have all the necessary computational resources needed for a smooth coding flow. This framework comes in handy especially when time is an issue and the tasks assigned are quite resource-intensive.

Actualités, Méthodes et organisation des process IT

18 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

6 of the Best API Testing Tools in the Market

API test is a significant part of a successful Continuous Integration/ DevOps practice. As per Google Trends, the interest in Web/ API services tests has been progressively growing over the few decades. According to SmartBear research over 3,372 software professionals in API test over 2019, 91 percent of participants either presently have, or thinking to have a formal API test procedure in place in the coming future. Around 45 percent of API testers reported that their company already automated 50% or more of test projects. Moreover, by more than 75 percent of companies across industries, API quality is considered a top priority.

With APIs more and more becoming crucial elements for software development, it has become critically essential for programmers and developers to carry out API testing. API test is a procedure that concentrates on identifying whether an API that has been developed meets up the expected threshold concerning security, reliability, performance, and functionality. As these tests are crucially vital, you need to make use of the top API testing tools out there.