Articles

Poll: Will You Adopt Google’s Material You?

,

This week at I/O, Google unveiled the latest version of its Material Design design system, Material You.

Initially presented as an upgrade for Android 12, Material You is the biggest revision to Material Design since its launch in 2014 and will be rolling out across all Google products in the coming year.

Material You is an adaptable system that takes the building blocks of Material Design — the spacing and component approach — and skins it to allow a more personal design language, albeit a distinctly Google personal design language.

Google isn’t shy about its intention to define what constitutes good UI design, even if its efforts have so far fallen short of its ambition. Material You potentially leads us back to that undesirable state where every new site looks like a Google clone. The more cynical might suggest that Google actually does perceive all websites as Google products — a view that’s not entirely without merit given the source of most web traffic — so a homogenous approach is warranted.

Material You will certainly make its way into web design. Expect a rash of Material You ‘updates’ to popular themes and site builders that will consist mainly of pastel color palettes.

Hopefully, two major benefits of Material You will not be overlooked: firstly, Material You introduces far more emotion than Material Design allowed; secondly, Material You is flexible enough to ensure accessible design is harder to ignore.

Fundamentally, Material You is still Material Design. The basic approach remains, but it’s less rigidly enforced. Think of it less as a rulebook and more as a disapproving parent who, despite their better judgment, is willing to let you make your own mistakes.

Material Design has looked dated for a few years now, and it’s possible that Material You is just Google hoping to nail down a trend that’s escaping them. But it’s equally possible that Material You is a step closer to what Material Design was meant to be: an invisible design system that feels natural to all seven billion individuals on the planet.

Source

The post Poll: Will You Adopt Google’s Material You? first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.


Source de l’article sur Webdesignerdepot

/par

6 Ways Parallax Still Works in 2021 

,

Parallax is a term that is applied loosely and frequently in the world of web design. As a trend, it has been popular and unpopular in equal measures for some time. However, it’s still one of the most valuable tools for animation in the digital world.

Parallax creates an illusion of depth when scrolling, a timeless effect that still has lots of value in the web design world.

Sure, parallax has its issues, from problems with usability, to concerns with mobile responsivity — but it’s also an interesting way to make a website stand out when done correctly.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the ways that parallax scrolling still works in 2021…

1. Parallax Tells A Story

Let’s start simple. 

One of the most effective ways to use parallax scrolling in the modern age is to tell a story. Today’s consumers want to have an emotional connection with the brands they buy from – now more than ever. Five years ago, studies showed that around 80% of customers want brands to tell stories, and that trend remains consistent to this day.

In the age of digital consumerism, where people can’t get to know a company in person through face-to-face interactions with its salespeople, companies need new ways to connect with their clients. Telling brand-driven stories is a way to highlight that your company is more than just a faceless entity – it’s something with real soul. 

Let’s look at the “Recap After Use” website, a portfolio belonging to the innovative Louie Sellers. This website showcases Louie’s skills with attention-grabbing visuals, including a parallax animation that makes it looks like Louie is drawing the page as you scroll through it.

This is the kind of exceptional animation that makes parallax scrolling more compelling. The animation isn’t there to make a visual difference to the page – it tells you something more about the person behind the website and what they can do.

2. Parallax Increases Website Visit Times

If a website effectively tells a story with parallax animation, you can also bet that’s going to keep customers or readers on a page for longer. Reducing bounce rate by increasing engagement is one of the main goals of any web designer. (Bounce rates, of course, refer to the percentage of site visitors that hit the back button after just seeing the first page of your website.)

While some people argue that parallax websites can hurt your SEO rankings if they slow down your site, there’s also the argument that the lack of a visually engaging page can harm SEO. Bounce rates drag down your ranking and make it harder to get audience attention. 

A parallax animation that tells a story and engages your audience through carefully delivered information is a great way to keep people around – even just for a little longer than usual. For instance, if you check out Alex Dram’s portfolio page here, you’ll see several shapes coming together during the parallax scrolling animation.

The shapes merge to tell a story about the visual experiences that Alex can create for customers. It’s a way to draw the eye and connect with the viewer without just writing about what you do through text. 

3. Parallax Develops Credibility

There’s a reason why both examples of parallax scrolling we’ve looked at so far are from creative portfolios. Parallax scrolling, with its excellent storytelling capabilities, is great for demonstrating your credibility as a digital expert. Basically, it’s a version of “showing” and not “telling” customers about your skills. 

You can tell someone that you know how to use tricky techniques like parallax animation correctly, but they’re less likely to believe you that way. If you can show that you have the skills to create something amazing, that’s more engaging. 

The OK Alpha team is a great company to reference when it comes to sensational design. This company seems to always be on the cutting edge of the latest trends, whether it’s bold typography or bright colors. To add to the impact of their website, the company has combined parallax effects into the mix to make everything more immersive as you scroll. 

This is a beautiful example of how companies in the design landscape can use techniques like parallax scrolling to show what they’re capable of. 

4. Parallax Makes Information More Fun

Most of us are naturally visual learners. We like to consume information in a way that’s refreshingly eye-catching and attractive. That’s why visual content generally earns more social shares and attention than written content. With parallax scrolling, companies that want to deliver valuable information and educational content to their audience can do so effectively.

Rather than just scrolling through a page and seeing lots of text, your customers can see images and graphs come to life alongside the blocks of text they’re reading. It’s like adding video demonstrations next to a textbook to help people better understand what they’re reading about. 

Look at the Web Design and Art History microsite from Webflow as an example. The company wants you to understand how web design and art have evolved over the years, but it doesn’t want to deliver that information in a boring format. The bright graphics and parallax animation work together to give you a more contextual, meaningful experience.

5. Parallax Replicates Another Medium

What if you could remind someone of their experience when reading a book or watching a video while telling them about a video or a novel? Parallax scrolling and animation can help with that. It’s a way of making your website feel like a video presentation or slideshow without the added components of implementing video players into your back end. 

Parallax scrolling also has another slight benefit over a standard video-based website. On a website that uses a video for a background, the video often plays automatically. This means that your visitors can’t control how quickly the video plays. 

On the other hand, parallax animations driven by scrolling action allow your customer to collect information at a pace that suits them. Take a look at the Story of the Goonies website, for instance. This stunning parallax site introduces you to the details you need to know about the movie in a way that makes it feel like the intro to a film.

The great thing about the parallax on this site is that the slow video-style design also gives you a dose of nostalgia – which ties in perfectly with the movie. 

6. Parallax Is More Memorable

What’s the main reason any designer does anything special to a website? To make it stand out, of course. Web design is all about conveying the unique essence of a brand, business, or entity in a way that’s going to make that client unforgettable. Although parallax isn’t as novel as it once was, it can still be a way to make your site stand out – if it’s used correctly. 

The key to success with parallax scrolling for memorability is making it smart. The layout needs to feel simple and intuitive. Everything needs to work well together, from the lightly shifting font to the various parallax effects that work together to draw the viewer’s eye (and attention). 

A great example comes from Jomor Design – another designer with a portfolio that really grabs your focus from the first second. The layout is beautifully done, with plenty of mini moments for engagement and interactions throughout. As you scroll through the site, you get a better idea of what the designer is all about. The little moments of animation make the whole experience so much more memorable. 

When your site is more memorable and engaging than that of your competition, you can drive many major benefits for your brand, including an improved bounce rate.

What To Remember When Using Parallax

Parallax is just like any other design technique. There are ways you can do it wonderfully, which engage and delight your audience. However, there are also a lot of areas where you can easily go wrong. When using any design element, the main thing to remember is that the primary focus should always be your users’ experiences. Parallax shouldn’t just be a way to show off your design knowledge. It’s just another feature that you can use to create an amazing website. 

Remember that user experience and visual appeal need to work perfectly together for parallax to work. If scrolling through the page is practically impossible for people on a mobile device, then you’re not going to get the results you want. If it’s difficult to take in the message you’re trying to send because the content is moving too quickly, again, your users will suffer. 

Remember the following tips:

  • Simple is better: Reduce the amount of content and visual elements on your page whenever you can. The less information there is to capture your customer’s attention, the less likely it is that you’re going to end up with a problem. 
  • Compress file sizes: Make sure that you’re not reducing the speed of your website by creating a huge single page with tons of high-quality images. You’re going to need to use the smallest possible file sizes. 
  • Check responsiveness: Make sure that the parallax effect works just as well on your smartphone or tablet as it would on a desktop. As more people move their browsing experiences into their palms, you can’t afford to ignore responsivity. 
  • Find the “wow”: Look at these examples of parallax websites. Every one stands out because it does something special with the scrolling effect. If you’re going to be using this strategy with your website, you need to make sure it’s worth the effort. Don’t just follow the same guidelines as everything else. Find the idea that’s going to make people take notice.

Source

The post 6 Ways Parallax Still Works in 2021  first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.


Source de l’article sur Webdesignerdepot

/par

Rail Logistics Europe (groupe SNCF) rationalise son SI avec SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud et VISEO

, ,

Rail Logistics Europe et VISEO ont mis en œuvre la méthodologie SAP Activate et l’approche Fit-to-Standard afin de créer un core model qui a servi de socle pour déployer SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud sur plus de 50 filiales. Le tout en seulement deux ans et demi.

Au sein du Groupe SNCF, Rail Logistics Europe élabore des solutions de transport de marchandises multimodales et sur-mesure, à travers toute l’Europe.

Rail Logistics Europe, c’est l’expertise de 60 filiales en Europe : commissionnaires de transport, transporteurs ferroviaires, opérateurs de transport combiné et d’autoroutes ferroviaires. Au total, 3 500 personnes pour un chiffre d’affaires de plus de 952 millions d’euros en 2019, dont plus de la moitié est réalisée à l’étranger.

Une volonté d’avoir son propre SI

Afin d’accélérer l’intégration de ces différentes entités au sein du groupe, Rail Logistics Europe a d’abord opté pour différents SI financiers mis à disposition par Geodis. Des outils efficaces, mais vieillissants et imparfaitement alignés avec ses besoins. Certaines filiales de Rail Logistics Europe disposaient par ailleurs de leurs propres SI financiers. À cette hétérogénéité des SI, il fallait également compter avec une hétérogénéité des règles de gestion.

Rail Logistics Europe souhaitait pouvoir disposer de son propre SI. Une solution fiable, performante et harmonisée, qui s’appuierait sur un référentiel commun de règles de gestion. « Pour créer de la valeur et apporter les gains de productivité attendus, Il nous est apparu nécessaire d’apporter une dose d’uniformisation et de rationalisation dans notre paysage applicatif… et d’aller vite », explique Nicolas Bismuth, Responsable MOA Finance chez Rail Logistics Europe. L’entreprise souhaitait en effet déployer le nouvel ERP sur l’ensemble de ses filiales, sur les domaines Finance, Achats et Ventes, dans un délai de seulement deux années et demie.

Après une phase de cadrage, consistant à recueillir les besoins de chaque filiale, Rail Logistics Europe a lancé le projet Opera et interrogé les principaux éditeurs d’ERP en mode SaaS. C’est le binôme SAP / VISEO qui a été retenu, avec la solution SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud. Cette dernière répondant en effet aux critères de périmètre fonctionnel et d’ergonomie exprimés, tout en libérant Rail Logistics Europe de la gestion d’une infrastructure via son approche SaaS. Mais plus que cela, c’est la méthodologie SAP Activate qui a été l’une des raisons clés de ce choix. « Au travers de la méthodologie SAP Activate, nous avions la promesse d’atteindre notre objectif de déploiement rapide de la solution sur le périmètre géographique et fonctionnel fixé », explique Nicolas Bismuth.

Pour sa mise en place sur leurs différents sites, Rail Logistics Europe s’est tourné vers VISEO, et ce pour plusieurs raisons :

  • Sa connaissance de la solution SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud et de la méthodologie SAP Activate
  • L’engagement de ses équipes pour atteindre les objectifs ambitieux de déploiement
  • Ses équipes orientées Cloud incitant à adopter les meilleures pratiques de la solution
  • Sa relation avec l’éditeur SAP, indispensable pour ce type de projet

Coller au plus près des standards

Pour assurer la réussite du projet Opera, Rail Logistics Europe et VISEO ont dû appliquer plusieurs principes clés :

  • Travailler en équipe : avec 50 filiales très indépendantes et autonomes, il est essentiel de réunir consultants, décideurs et utilisateurs clés au sein d’une même équipe. Le tout en faisant preuve de flexibilité, afin de s’adapter aux différentes spécificités de ces filiales.
  • Travailler en collaboration avec SAP : avec le cloud, il faut savoir interagir avec l’éditeur, qui met à la disposition les environnements de développement et de production. Mais aussi un CSM (Customer Success Manager), chargé de suivre le bon déroulement du projet.
  • Respecter la méthodologie Activate : pour réussir le projet, il est indispensable de respecter la méthode fournie, qui permet d’apporter des garanties en termes de rapidité de déploiement, de qualité des délivrables et de revue des différents jalons par le CSM.
  • Coller aux standards : en mode cloud, il est important de s’appuyer sur les bonnes pratiques et d’adhérer aux standards. Pour chaque processus, Rail Logistics Europe s’est appuyé sur le scope item SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud le plus adapté.

Un core model déployé tambour battant

L’enjeu principal de Rail Logistics Europe et de VISEO a été de définir le core model du projet Opera. Entre juin et septembre 2018, une trentaine d’ateliers ont été menés, afin de définir des règles de gestion communes sur le périmètre fonctionnel comptabilité, contrôle de gestion, achats et facturation client.

En seulement six mois, avec l’aide de la méthodologie SAP Activate et de l’approche Fit-to-Standard, ce core model est devenu réalité et a été déployé sur le site pilote de Captrain France. « Cela a été vraiment un acte fondateur du projet, explique Nicolas Bismuth. Nous avons démontré notre capacité à construire un core model et à le déployer au sein d’une filiale sur l’ensemble du périmètre fonctionnel cible en seulement 6 mois. »

Une fois le core model validé, le déploiement de SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud a été lancé site par site. Aujourd’hui, 58 entités légales sont déployées sur Opera et de nouveaux déploiements au sein des filiales Captrain Polska et Fret SNCF sont prévus en 2021. A fin 2021, environ 580 collaborateurs utiliseront l’outil Opera.

« La promesse initiale, qui était d’être capable de déployer rapidement, s’est révélée juste. Le planning que nous suivons aujourd’hui est celui qui avait été validé avec le binôme SAP / VISEO au moment du cahier des charges, » confirme Nicolas Bismuth.

Le début d’une longue aventure

Le programme est encore récent, mais le ressenti global des utilisateurs est d’ores et déjà plutôt positif. Reste que Rail Logistics Europe a dû apprendre à s’adapter au monde du cloud. Ne plus recourir systématiquement à des développements spécifiques pour coller aux standards nécessite de revoir chaque processus, mais également d’assurer l’accompagnement au changement des équipes métiers.

Les montées de version trimestrielles de SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud requièrent également des adaptations. Il lui faut en effet évaluer les nouvelles fonctionnalités apportées par chaque nouvelle version et effectuer des tests avant déploiement, afin de repérer d’éventuelles régressions.

Ces mises à jour trimestrielles se traduisent toutefois par toujours plus de valeur apportée aux utilisateurs. Rail Logistics Europe s’est ainsi déjà penché sur les tableaux de bord et le reporting, au travers de l’utilisation de SAP Analytics Cloud Embedded. L’entreprise envisage maintenant d’augmenter le périmètre fonctionnel de son ERP, notamment en évaluant l’utilisation des innovations mises à disposition. Elle s’est même lancée dans l’adoption d’autres solutions SAP en mode Cloud comme Success Factors

The post Rail Logistics Europe (groupe SNCF) rationalise son SI avec SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud et VISEO appeared first on SAP France News.

Source de l’article sur sap.com

/par

UX Design Doesn’t End With Your Website

,

User experience design is something that most of us associate with websites. But why isn’t it something we extend beyond the website?

Here’s why I ask this:

As a consumer, it’s so rare that your only interaction with a brand is through its website. Take an ecommerce site, for example. You buy a product from it, and then what happens?

  • You get a confirmation email;
  • You get another email when the package ships;
  • You might get another email or SMS notification when the package is delivered;
  • You retrieve the package and open it;
  • You open up your purchase and use it.

These are all an extension of that initial user experience on the site. If there’s just one hiccup along the way, it could easily erode the trust and happiness you felt after quickly finding and buying what you needed on the site.

So, what I’d like to do today is look at 10 areas where UX design should extend beyond the website to ensure that the frictionless experience started there remains untarnished.

Extending UX Design Beyond the Website

As a web designer, you might be thinking that this part of the user experience doesn’t fall under the umbrella of your responsibilities. And you may be right about that.

For brands to truly be successful and profitable, someone needs to carefully examine the bigger picture and ensure that the user experience is flawless no matter how far away from the site it is. At the very least, you should share the UX research and strategy you do for a client’s site so their team can ensure it carries over to other areas of the business.

Here are some things to think about:

1. Mobile App

It’s not uncommon for websites to have mobile app counterparts these days. The layout doesn’t need to be identical since mobile users tend to behave differently than those on desktop.

That said, an app shouldn’t force users accustomed to the desktop experience to re-learn how to navigate or engage with the brand. So, the branding, UI design, speed, security, and navigation all need to be on par with what’s already been established in terms of usability.

2. Email

Most websites have a direct connection to email. For example, blog newsletters, purchase confirmation emails, and lead generation follow-ups all start on the website.

Consumers are well aware that when they hand over their email address, they will receive an email in return. In many cases, those emails are welcomed when they’re done right. But if something feels off, that bridge could easily burn between brand and consumer.

To preserve the UX, emails should come with the following:

  • The same branding and visual style as the website;
  • A personalized subject line, greeting, or offer;
  • Consistent messaging as the site, especially when it comes to the CTA.

Another thing to remember is that email isn’t the time to inject dark patterns into the experience. So, the “Unsubscribe” option should be in an easy-to-spot area and a sharply contrasting font color.

3. Social Media

Social media is another channel that’s commonly connected to a website. While you can’t control the aesthetics of social media websites themselves, the visuals and messaging in posts need to be on-brand.

That means that things like memes and emojis — which are popular means of communication on social — should only be used if they’re normally part of the brand identity. If not, you’ll need to find other ways to communicate engagingly.

Another part of the user experience to think about is customer support. Social media is a lot like going into a store. If someone has an issue with what they bought or the service they received, there will be many people around to witness the complaint. Social media only amplifies that — so the quality of customer care needs to be consistent with how the brand handles it everywhere else.

4. SMS

Not every brand will need to be connected to customers via text messaging. eCommerce companies, news sites, and personal services providers likely will, though.

However a brand uses SMS, the same UX guidelines apply here as they do across all other channels:

  • Keep messages concise;
  • Make sure they’re relevant and valuable;
  • Use branded messaging and design;
  • Don’t abuse the privilege and send too many;
  • Make it easy to opt out.

Basically, if you can’t make it a valuable extension of the brand’s offering, don’t use it.

5. Phone

Any website that publishes its phone number should expect to receive calls from prospects and customers. While there’s nothing to design here visually, the experience of getting on the phone with a company should be consistent with what they experience elsewhere.

One way to do this is to design an easy-to-follow routing system. It should be simple for callers to figure out which number to choose. What’s more, there should be no endless loops. If a caller has exhausted the options, they should be immediately directed to a representative.

Another way to ensure consistency is to adhere to a script — that goes for call centers for enterprises as well as the local lawyer’s office. Every caller should be greeted with the same tone and handled in the same manner (depending on the situation, of course).

6. Ads

There are a lot of places where brands can advertise these days:

  • Google search;
  • Social media;
  • Ad networks;
  • TV;
  • Radio;
  • Podcasts;
  • Blogs;
  • Billboards;
  • Direct mail.

When designing an ad campaign, there should be consistent messaging, aesthetics (when relevant), and CTAs presented. If branding isn’t consistent from ad to ad, there may be a delay in consumers recognizing the brand or its offer. Or, worse, not recognizing it at all.

7. Packaging

For brands that sell products, you have to think about how the packaging will impact the user experience. There are two types of packages to consider, too.

The first is the product’s own packaging. Branding should be clear as day and consistent with the site they bought it from.

It should also be easy to open. There’s nothing more frustrating than finally getting your purchase, only to realize you need tools to get it out of the packaging.

You also have to think about packaging for products that get shipped.

The product should fit well within the packaging. A too-roomy package will feel downright wasteful. So will excessive bubble wrap and paper filler.

Having a shipping label present in the package is also important. If the website makes it easy to make a purchase, the package should offer a convenient way to return the product if they’re not happy.

8. Product

The product itself has to align with the expectations set by the website.

Take the example of a SaaS. You’ve built an awesome landing page and mobile app store page to promote it. It looks great, it loads fast, and it’s easy to get around. But if the SaaS itself is ugly, disorganized, slow, or otherwise just clunky, all of the work you did to market it will end up being just false advertising.

So, make sure the expectations set before and during purchase naturally carry over to the experience with the product.

9. Business Exterior

For brick-and-mortar companies, the business’s exterior matters just as much as what happens inside it.

The most obvious thing to focus on is the aesthetics of the building. Does it look attractive? Is it in a safe area? Is there clear signage around it? Is it easy to find?

But you also have to think about user experiences that take place outside of the building. For example, there’s now a rise in curbside pickup. There are tons of things that can affect how happy the customer is with the experience — like if the pickup area is hard to find, there are never enough spots or the associates who deliver the orders always seem to be in a foul mood.

The business’s exterior should always set a good impression for what takes place inside.

10. Business Interior

Here are some things to think about when it comes to “designing” business interiors for a good UX:

  • Decor;
  • Layout;
  • Signage;
  • Furnishings;
  • Product discoverability;
  • Availability (of products or people);
  • Quality of customer service;
  • Checkout process.

It doesn’t matter what the company does — whether it’s a large retailer like Walmart or your own freelance design business. If a business’s establishment doesn’t look good, operate flawlessly, or provide a good person-to-person experience, it’s going to be very hard to get people to return.

So, all those things you do to design a streamlined website journey should be applied to a bricks-and-mortar business’s interior.

Wrapping Up

Depending on the types of companies you build sites for, some of the channels and suggestions above might not be relevant. Hopefully, this has got you thinking about other ways you (and your clients) can extend the UX design and strategy from the website.

If you can maintain the high-quality user experience from channel to channel, your clients’ brands will get more business, grow their profitability, and see a rise in loyalty, too.

 

Featured image via Pexels.

Source

The post UX Design Doesn’t End With Your Website first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.


Source de l’article sur Webdesignerdepot

/par

Popular Design News of the Week: May 10 2021 – May 16, 2021

,

Each day design fans submit incredible industry stories to our sister-site, Webdesigner News. Our colleagues sift through it, selecting the very best stories from the design, UX, tech, and development worlds and posting them live on the site.

The best way to keep up with the most important stories for web professionals is to subscribe to Webdesigner News or check out the site regularly. However, in case you missed a day this week, here’s a handy compilation of the top curated stories from the last seven days. Enjoy!

Little Smashing Stories

All-In-One Browser Extension For Web Development

26 Exciting New Tools For Designers, May 2021

10+ CSS Wave Animation Examples

Speeding Up Development Process with Bootstrap 5

Desqk: Set Your Creative Life Free

Facebook Cover Maker

Just Use Email

A to Z of Figma: Tips & Tricks!

Free, “Do WTF You Want With” Pixel-Perfect Icons

The Use of Uppercase Sans Serif Typography in Modern Web Design

Yes, You Need A Design Process

CSS Hell

Codewell: Improve Your HTML And CSS Skills

Dashboard for Tailwind CSS

Source

The post Popular Design News of the Week: May 10 2021 – May 16, 2021 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.


Source de l’article sur Webdesignerdepot

/par

Infographic: Squarespace Vs Wix

,

Are you thinking of building a website with a site builder but find yourself confused by the dizzying array of options? Well, puzzle no more because we’ve put together this great infographic to cut to the heart of the question: Which is better for you, Squarespace or Wix?

Each of these site-building giants is ideal for a particular type of person, but which is best suited to your next project? Do you need total creative freedom? How about a large amount of bandwidth to share content? Would you like to rely on AI? Or, is ecommerce the most important thing for you?

Check out our infographic to determine which one of these options is right for you.

Source

The post Infographic: Squarespace Vs Wix first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.


Source de l’article sur Webdesignerdepot

/par

Popular Design News of the Week: May 3 2021 – May 9, 2021

,

Every day design fans submit incredible industry stories to our sister-site, Webdesigner News. Our colleagues sift through it, selecting the very best stories from the design, UX, tech, and development worlds and posting them live on the site.

The best way to keep up with the most important stories for web professionals is to subscribe to Webdesigner News or check out the site regularly. However, in case you missed a day this week, here’s a handy compilation of the top curated stories from the last seven days. Enjoy!

White House Launches AI Website

Become A Better Frontend Developer

Hello Weather

Sprint UI Design System Generator

How Pixar Uses Hyper-Colors to Hack Your Brain

Bootstrap 5

Microsoft’s New Font: Your Work Will Soon Take On A New Character

HTML Tips

Everything You Need to Know About UX Writing In Web Design

3 Essential Design Trends, May 2021

Source

The post Popular Design News of the Week: May 3 2021 – May 9, 2021 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.


Source de l’article sur Webdesignerdepot

/par

Create Beautiful WordPress Pages with Optimized Images Using Elementor and ImageEngine

,

WordPress powers nearly 40% of all websites, thanks to its commitment to making publication possible for everyone, for free. Combined with premium plugins and themes, it’s possibly the ultimate tool for building attractive, unique, and feature-rich websites without any coding or design experience.

However, you do pay the price for this experience, with WordPress and its third-party products not always being built for performance – whether it’s page loading times or SEO.

Image optimization is a particularly big concern. Images are one, if not the largest, contributors to page weight, and it’s growing significantly by the year. So, while images are crucial for beautifying your website pages, they are also one of the biggest factors slowing it down.

In terms of image optimization, WordPress+Elementor brings very little to the table. WordPress core now comes with both responsive syntax and lazy-loading. Elementor itself also only comes with responsive syntax out-of-the-box. However, these are baseline techniques for image optimization that will deliver the bare minimum of improvements.

This means that, while Elementor makes it easy to design sweet-looking WordPress pages (with tonnes of creatively utilized images), you will probably pay the price when it comes to performance. But don’t worry. We will show you how to dramatically improve web performance by over 30 points on scoring tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insight. 

Why Optimize Your Elementor Images with ImageEngine?

In general, image CDNs use various techniques to get image payloads as small as possible and deliver image content faster, all while minimizing the visual impact. ImageEngine is no different in that regard.

Firstly, ImageEngine, when used in auto mode, will apply all of the following optimizations that web performance tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insight recommend. For example:

  • Properly size images – ImageEngine automatically resizes images for optimal size-to-quality ratios depending on the screen size of the user device. ImageEngine supports Retina devices.
  • Efficiently encode images – Applies different rates of compression depending on the PPI of the user devices. For example, ImageEngine adapts and more aggressively compresses on higher PPI devices without losing visual quality.
  • Next-gen format conversion – Automatically converts images to the optimal next-gen format according to the browser, device, or OS. ImageEngine can convert images to WebP or JPEG-2000 as well as GIFs to MP4 or WebP.  AVIF is also available in a manual directive mode.
  • Strip unnecessary metadata

While these features are standard for most image CDNs, ImageEngine is unique for its use of WURFL device detection. This gives ImageEngine much deeper insight into the user device accessing a website page and, by extension, its images. Using the screen size, resolution, PPI, etc., ImageEngine can make more intelligent decisions regarding how to reduce image payloads while maintaining visual quality.

This is why ImageEngine brands itself as an “intelligent, device-aware” image CDN and why it can reduce image payloads by as much as 80% (if not more).

ImageEngine also provides a proprietary CDN service to accelerate image delivery. The CDN consists of 20 globally positioned PoPs with the device-aware logic built-in. This allows you to deliver image content faster in different regions while also serving images straight from the cache with a ~98% hit ratio.

ImageEngine also supports Chrome’s save data setting. If someone has a slow connection or has activated this setting, ImageEngine will automatically compress image payloads even more, to provide a better user experience on slower connections.

How to Use ImageEngine with WordPress and Elementor

If you’re using WordPress and Elementor, then chances are you want to spend as little time on development and other technicalities as possible. Luckily, ImageEngine is a highly streamlined tool that requires little to no effort to integrate or maintain with a WordPress site.

Assuming you already have a WordPress website with Elementor, here are the step-by-step instructions to use ImageEngine:

  1. Go to ImageEngine.io and sign up for a 30-day free trial.
  2. Provide ImageEngine with the URL of the website you want to optimize.
  3. Create an account (or sign up with your existing Google, GitHub, or ScientiaMobile account).
  4. Provide ImageEngine with the current origin where your images are served from. If you upload images to your WordPress website as usual, then that means providing your WordPress website address again.
  5. Finally, ImageEngine will generate an ImageEngine delivery address for you from where your optimized images will be served. This typically takes the form of: {randomstring}.cdn.imgeng.in. You can change the delivery address to something more meaningful from the dashboard, such as myimages.cdn.imgeng.in.

Now, to set up ImageEngine on your WordPress website:

  1. Go to the WordPress dashboard and head to Plugins -> Add New.
  2. Search for the “Image CDN” plugin by ImageEngine. When you find it, install and activate the plugin.

  1. Go to Settings -> Image CDN. OK, so this is the ImageEngine plugin dashboard. To configure it, all you need to do is:

a. Copy the delivery address you got from ImageEngine above and paste it in the “Delivery Address” field.

b. Tick the “Enable ImageEngine” box.

That’s literally it. All images that you use on your WordPress/Elementor pages should now be served via the ImageEngine CDN already optimized. 

ImageEngine is largely a “set-it-and-forget-it” tool. It will provide the best results in auto mode with no user input. However, you can override some of ImageEngine’s settings from the dashboard or by using URL directives to manipulate images.

For example, you can resize an image to 300 px width and convert it to WebP by changing the src attribute like this:

<img src="https://myimages.cdn.imgeng.in/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/banner-logo.png?imgeng=/w_300/f_webp">

However, use this only when necessary, as doing so will limit ImageEngine’s adaptability under different conditions.

What Improvement Can You Expect?

Let’s see what results you can expect from using an image CDN to improve your page loading times.

For this, I created two identical WordPress pages using the Elementor theme. The one page purely relied on WordPress and Elementor, while I installed and set up ImageEngine for the other. The page had some galleries as well as full-size images:

The pages used many high-quality images, as you might expect to find on a professional photography gallery, photography blog, stock photo website, large e-commerce site, etc. I then ran page performance tests using Chrome’s built-in Lighthouse audit tool, choosing scores representing the average results I got for each page.

For thoroughness, I tested both the mobile and desktop performance. However, I focused on the mobile results as these showcase more of the image CDN’s responsive capabilities. Mobile traffic also accounts for the majority share of internet traffic and seems to be the focus for search engines going forward.

So, first of all, let’s see the mobile score for the page without ImageEngine:

As you can see, there was definitely a struggle to deliver the huge amount of image content. Google has shown that 53% of mobile users abandon a page that takes more than 3s to load. So, clearly, this page has major concerns when it comes to user experience and retaining traffic.

The desktop version fared much better, although it still left much to be desired:

When digging into the reasons behind the slowdown, we can identify the following problems:

Most of the issues related somehow to the size and weight of the images. As you can see, Lighthouse identified a 3.8 MB payload while the total image payload of the entire page was close to 40 MB.

Now, let’s see what kind of improvement ImageEngine can make to these issues by looking at the mobile score first:

So, as you can see, a major improvement of 30 points over the standard WordPress/Elementor page. The time to load images was cut down by roughly 80% across the key core web vital metrics, such as FCP, LCP, and the overall Speed Index.

In fact, we just reached that critical 3s milestone for the FCP (the largest element on the visible area of the page when it initially loads), which creates the impression that the page has finished loading and will help you retain a lot of mobile traffic.

The desktop score was also much higher, and there was further improvement across the key performance metrics.

If we look at the performance problems still present, we see that images are almost completely removed as a concern. We also managed to bring down the initial 3.8 MB payload to around 1.46 MB, which is a ~62% reduction:

An unfortunate side effect of using WordPress and WordPress plugins is that you will almost inevitably face a performance hit due to all the additional JavaScript and CSS. This is part of the reason why we didn’t see even larger improvements. That’s the price you pay for the convenience of using these tools.

That being said, the more images you have on your pages, and the larger their sizes, the more significant the improvement will be.

It’s also worth noting that lazy-loaded images were loaded markedly faster with ImageEngine if you quickly scroll down the page, again making for an improved user experience.

Thanks to its intelligent image compression, there was also no visible loss in image quality, as you can see from this comparison:

Conclusion

So, as you can see, we can achieve significant performance improvements on image-heavy websites by using the ImageEngine image CDN, despite inherent performance issues using a CMS. This will translate to happier users, better search engine rankings, and an overall more successful website.

The best part is that ImageEngine stays true to the key principles of WordPress. You don’t have to worry about any of the nuts and bolts on the inside. And, ImageEngine will automatically adjust automation strategies as needed, future-proofing you against having to occasionally rework images for optimization.

Source

The post Create Beautiful WordPress Pages with Optimized Images Using Elementor and ImageEngine first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.


Source de l’article sur Webdesignerdepot

/par

Intermarché choisit les solutions SAP Ariba pour optimiser sa chaîne de valeur et répondre aux attentes des consommateurs

, ,

Intermarché, enseigne alimentaire du Groupement Les Mousquetaires s’appuie sur les solutions de procurement Ariba de SAP pour assurer la fluidité et l’efficacité de sa chaine d’approvisionnement et de distribution, afin de répondre au mieux aux enjeux contemporains et aux attentes toujours grandissantes des consommateurs. Grâce à un outil intégré, les différents corps de métiers peuvent collaborer via une seule interface et selon des processus communs, ce qui permet une vision globale sur l’ensemble des flux et un suivi de tous les indicateurs de performance, favorisant la prise de décision et une réponse rapide et fiable aux besoins de l’entreprise et de ses clients.

Le contexte de crise sanitaire et les différentes formes de restrictions de mobilité qui ont traversé le territoire cette dernière année ont montré combien il était important pour une entreprise d’assurer la solidité et la fiabilité de sa chaîne d’approvisionnement.

L’épidémie de la Covid-19 a également accéléré les évolutions des comportements des consommateurs, et il tient à cœur à Intermarché de répondre présent face à ces nouveaux enjeux, c’est pourquoi le groupe a opéré sa transformation. La digitalisation de la vie professionnelle s’accompagne aussi de la digitalisation des modes de consommation, avec un recours plus fréquent au e-commerce. Les enjeux sociétaux et environnementaux font désormais partie intégrante de l’équation lors des choix de consommation des clients. L’hygiène et les impératifs sanitaires ont été exacerbés par la crise. Suite à la crise économique qui résulte de l’épidémie, les consommateurs sont plus que jamais à la recherche de prix très attractifs.

Une solution pour assurer la bonne traçabilité des produits marques de distributeurs et répondre mieux aux attentes des consommateurs.

La stratégie d’Intermarché repose sur six piliers. Le relai « Producteurs & Commerçants », qui est l’ADN d’Intermarché, implique de disposer d’un outil industriel efficient et réactif. Le retravail constant et l’optimisation des recettes, afin de répondre aux attentes des consommateurs désireux de manger mieux. Communiquer sur les avantages des produits Intermarché pour les consommateurs, et leur apporter toutes les informations qu’ils recherchent. Des activations promotionnelles pour répondre aux attentes des clients sur les prix des produits. Des prix bas toute l’année et une forte compétitivité prix, surtout au regard de la crise économique que nous traversons. Une transformation pour plus d’agilité, afin de s’adapter au monde en constante évolution.

La qualité de l’alimentation est plus que jamais au cœur des préoccupations des consommateurs, notamment via les gammes de produits bio. Les solutions Procurement SAP Ariba permettent à Intermarché d’assurer la bonne traçabilité de ses produits, et de répondre aux attentes des clients désireux d’en savoir plus sur la qualité et l’origine des produits qu’ils consomment. Pour assurer cette traçabilité, Intermarché peut s’appuyer sur la méthode et l’efficacité de l’outil Ariba. Celui-ci permet de suivre et analyser les données, afin de piloter et optimiser la chaine d’approvisionnement en fonction des demandes des consommateurs. Enfin, la fluidité des informations entre les collaborateurs et les fournisseurs de production est assurée par l’intégration à cet outil unique.

Une transformation engagée grâce à un outil unique adapté à l’ensemble des profils et corps de métier.

Pour faire face à la croissance du nombre d’appels d’offre et du nombre de fournisseurs, la complexité grandissante des références et l’impératif de toujours réduire le time to market pour répondre aux attentes des consommateurs, il était crucial pour Intermarché de pouvoir s’appuyer sur un outil intégré de pilotage, c’est pourquoi le groupe a choisi les solutions Achats SAP Ariba.

Le programme de transformation d’Intermarché se base sur cinq objectifs :

  1. Améliorer la qualité et l’échange de l’information entre les services et avec le fournisseur.
  2. Disposer de l’agilité nécessaire pour anticiper les événements et problématiques, tels que les renouvellements d’appels d’offres etc.
  3. Homogénéiser les processus d’approvisionnement.
  4. Piloter tous les services et processus, et mettre en place des KPIs.
  5. Améliorer le time to market; les distributeurs producteurs se doivent d’être rapides pour répondre immédiatement aux demandes des consommateurs.

Proposant une vaste variété de produits en marques de distributeurs (frais, épicerie, alimentaire hors import), les 59 usines intégrées au Groupement Les Mousquetaires et les 600 fournisseurs d’Intermarché collaborent au travers d’un outil unique, pour gérer les achats, identifier et anticiper les besoins, suivre l’historique, simplifier les appels d’offre, piloter l’entreprise via des processus homogènes et des indicateurs de performance communs.

Aujourd’hui, les collaborateurs Intermarché se sont approprié l’outil, et l’implantation d’Ariba est une réussite. La collaboration est facilitée par l’intégration sur un outil unique des différents profils et corps de métier qui interviennent tout au long de la chaine de valeurs. Le time to market a été multiplié par 2,25, avec un time to market moyen passé de 18 mois à 8 mois pour les marques de distributeurs. Le groupe ne cache pas ses ambitions de l’abaisser à 6 voire 3 mois en profitant pleinement des capacités proposées par les solutions SAP Ariba.

« La réussite de notre programme de transformation repose sur trois facteurs majeurs. D’abord, mettre les équipes au cœur du projet, les questionner sur les besoins et défis, pour les intégrer à la mise en place de la solution. Ensuite, rester simples et pragmatiques, et ne pas perdre de vue les objectifs de départ. Enfin, anticiper et accompagner le changement, en parallèle de l’élaboration de l’outil, est une clé de réussite. Les collaborateurs et les fournisseurs ont pris en main cet outil, ce qui est un très bon indicateur du succès du projet. Il y a énormément de positif dans ce qui est en train de se passer. » témoignent Matthieu Bidan, chef d’entreprise Intermarché à Gratentour (31) et  Guillaume Delpech, en charge de la direction des Achats Marques Propres Intermarché – Netto.

À propos de SAP

La stratégie de SAP vise à aider chaque organisation à fonctionner en “entreprise intelligente”. En tant que leader du marché des logiciels d’application d’entreprise, nous aidons les entreprises de toutes tailles et de tous secteurs à opérer au mieux : 77 % des transactions commerciales mondiales entrent en contact avec un système SAP®. Nos technologies de Machine Learning, d’Internet des objets (IoT) et d’analytique avancées aident nos clients à transformer leurs activités en “entreprises intelligentes”. SAP permet aux personnes et aux organisations d’avoir une vision approfondie de leur business et favorise la collaboration afin qu’elles puissent garder une longueur d’avance sur leurs concurrents. Nous simplifions la technologie afin que les entreprises puissent utiliser nos logiciels comme elles le souhaitent – sans interruption. Notre suite d’applications et de services de bout en bout permet aux clients privés et publics de 25 secteurs d’activité dans le monde de fonctionner de manière rentable, de s’adapter en permanence et de faire la différence. Avec son réseau mondial de clients, partenaires, employés et leaders d’opinion, SAP aide le monde à mieux fonctionner et à améliorer la vie de chacun.

Pour plus d’informations, visitez le site www.sap.com .

Contacts presse SAP
Daniel Margato, Directeur Communication : 06 64 25 38 08 – daniel.margato@sap.com
Pauline Barriere : 06.13.73.93.11 – presse-sap@publicisconsultants.com
SAP News Center. Suivez SAP sur Twitter : @SAPNews.

 

The post Intermarché choisit les solutions SAP Ariba pour optimiser sa chaîne de valeur et répondre aux attentes des consommateurs appeared first on SAP France News.

Source de l’article sur sap.com

/par