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Ghost 4.0 Released

We’ve been big fans of Ghost since it first launched via a Kickstarter campaign way back in 2013. Ghost 4.0 has just been released, and the host of new features is another giant leap forward for the popular blogging platform.

The content management space is one of the most crowded for startups; there are traditional CMS, headless CMS, site builders, and the omnipresent WordPress, which, if current trends persist, will power 729% of the web by next Thursday.

Ghost is a blog-focused CMS, as WordPress is. Unlike WordPress, it’s minimal, fast, and a pleasure to use.

To survive in the competitive space, Ghost has niched-down to specializing in monetized content — charging membership for sites to bring in revenue for the site owner (Ghost doesn’t charge any commission on this income). As part of that effort, Ghost 4.0’s new engagement-centered dashboard is designed to help you fine-tune your content for profitability.

For any release right now, a dark mode is almost mandatory, and Ghost 4.0 includes it. It may sound like a vanity feature, but once you find yourself working late writing and editing content, your battery and your eyes will thank you for it.

Other notable features include a brand new theme store with professional templates that install with a single click and built-in email newsletters to help foster a sense of site-loyalty among your fanbase.

Ghost is one of the best writing experiences in its class and one of the best publishing experiences for individual creators. If you like publishing on Medium, but wish you had more ownership of your content, then you should give Ghost a try.

You can trial Ghost 4.0 free for 14 days; after that, plans start at $9/month.

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16 mars 2021/par Service comm.

Getting Started With Inclusive Web Design

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A key part of designing successful websites for clients is making sure that as many end-users as possible can access and enjoy that site.

So, what if you discovered that around 1 billion people couldn’t enjoy your designs? Even if those people manage to click on a link and visit the website that you create, they might not be able to understand what’s being sold or navigate to the checkout page.

According to statistics from the World Bank, there are 1 billion people with disabilities worldwide. That’s 15% of the total population of the globe.

Despite this, many designers fail to consider customers with differing abilities when creating an engaging app or website. Unless your client explicitly tells you that they’re supporting customers with disabilities, you might even not think about those users at all.

Learning how to embrace the concept of inclusive web design means that you deliver better results to your clients; the more customers your clients can reach, the more praise and positive reviews your designs will get.

So, how do you introduce accessibility in your design choices?

What Is Website Accessibility?

In broad terms, inclusivity refers to activities or behaviors that empower marginalized people in society. Designing for inclusivity means making your content more accessible to anyone dealing with a mental or physical issue that may make it harder for them to use a traditional site.

Ultimately, accessibility is one of the main goals of an inclusive design strategy. When you make websites or applications more accessible, you tweak aspects of your UI and code to make the site as approachable and usable as possible to people with certain limitations.

According to the Web Accessibility Initiative, many modern sites and web tools are designed without the needs of those with disabilities in mind. This creates accessibility barriers that make websites almost impossible for some people to use.

Here are just some of the different types of disability that can affect the way end-users interact with a website or app:

Cognitive issues: Affecting understanding and making it harder to navigate sites;
Auditory issues: Preventing customers from listening to videos and audio content;
Neurological issues: Making certain terms and actions more difficult on your site;
Physical issues: Making it hard to swipe or tap certain tools;
Speech problems: A common issue with voice UI designs;
Visual issues: Preventing a positive experience on highly visual sites.

Web accessibility can also be about making life easier for people who encounter problems in particular situations. For instance, those with muscular problems might have a harder time using buttons and links on a small screen.

So, how do you make your designs more accessible?

Know Your Audience

There’s more to inclusive web design than making your fonts a little bigger and hoping for the best. To deliver a truly accessible experience, you need to know the people and groups that your client is targeting. Spending some time going through your customer’s user personas and asking them questions about those with a disability can help you make informed decisions.

For instance, the Microsoft Inclusive Design toolkit asks designers to recognize exclusion, examining the parts of their website that might be inaccessible, and learn from diversity.

Before designing anything, ask yourself whether you can:

Address any unique needs, like sight issues or hearing problems;
Replace traditional solutions with something more unique. For instance, rather than relying on colors to highlight a portion of text, could you use font-weight instead? This might be ideal for someone with color blindness;
Create something that appeals to both customers with and without disabilities.

Design a Clean and Clear Layout

Any website design should be focused on clarity first.

Whether you’re designing for inclusivity or not, the aim should be to deliver as much of a simple and straightforward experience as possible, avoiding any web design sins along the way.

For instance, no-one likes a messy design full of unreasonable navigational signs. You need a site full of understandable links, buttons that are easy to click on any screen, and large fonts that are easy to read.

Whenever you’re creating a new element for a website or app, ask yourself how you can make life easier for customers from all backgrounds. For instance, Parramatta park uses excellent contrast, clear fonts, and ideal element sizing to ensure that its website feels as easy to use as possible for customers.

Notice how the buttons are clear and easy to press. The colors are bright and engaging on any screen, and the navigation is simple to follow too. Remember, when you’re designing an inclusive prototype:

Test navigation options and ensure they’re easy to use;
Don’t overcrowd the screen, remember that less is more when reducing cognitive load;
Make sure that your design remains easy to use on any screen.

Simplify Language

The visual elements on an inclusive website need to be as simple and easy to understand as possible. However, it’s important not to forget about the way that you handle the written word too.

Using simple terms instead of complex industry jargon can make a massive difference to those with reading issues. There’s also typography to think about, from the color and contrast of your words against your chosen background to the font’s clarity.

Remember, suboptimal design with both imagery and language affects those without disabilities too. Following basic rules for simplicity delivers a better experience for anyone that visits your site.

Make sure you:

Underline, bold, or re-size links for visual contrast;
Enforce proper line spacing with around 1.5x the font size;
Enable consistent paragraph spacing;
Use simple language to reduce cognitive load;
Describe abbreviations when using them;
Use clearly-worded headings to structure content logically;

Look at the design choices for text on the Nomensa website, for instance. Plenty of white space makes content easier to read. Simple words are understandable and engaging. Even the font choice mimics the logo while offering readability.

Optimize Web Design Colors

Inclusive web design trends will come and go. However, color and contrast will always be essential to your decisions.

By making sure that your design elements meet the minimum color contrast ratios defined by the WCAG means that you’re supporting readability for visually-impaired users and improving experiences for customers that aren’t visually impaired as well.

For designers who need extra help in this area, tools like Stark help measure color contrast. This tool also offers a range of other tools intended to support accessibility too.

Remember, the minimum ratio you need to access will depend on the element that you’re designing. The WCAG recommends the following guidelines:

3:1 ratio for graphical objects (charts);
3:1 ratio for focus, active states, and hover;
3:1 ratio for clickable items and form components.

While you’re working on your color contrast strategies with apps like Stark, make sure that you consider the needs of users with color blindness too. 4.5% of the world doesn’t see color the same way as everyone else. If you’re finding it difficult to achieve the right contrast while sticking to your customer’s brand guidelines, try underlining and bolding elements too.

Consider Video and Audio Elements

Finally, these days, more companies are opting to embed video and audio content into their sites. These visual and auditory tools can offer useful information about a brand and what it does. However, you could struggle to deliver vital information to some customers through video and audio alone.

Captions for video content could be essential for those with hearing loss. You may need to think about adding transcripts to pre-recorded videos that people with hearing impairments can access. These transcripts and captions are also helpful for anyone who doesn’t have access to audio on smartphones or computers.

Transcripts can also help those with visual impairments by giving a text-to-speech tool something to describe to your user. That way, everyone gains useful information. Look at this captioned video from the University of Washington, for instance. It ensures that everyone can understand what’s going on in the content. If you add transcripts to your website pages for clients, you could also help them benefit from improved SEO too. Transcripts deliver more keyword-ranking opportunities than videos and podcasts on their own.

Design for Accessibility First

For designers to excel at delivering truly inclusive UI environments, they need to become as good at creating websites for people with disabilities as they are at creating interfaces for people like themselves. As designers, we try to be as inclusive as possible, but it’s easy to get caught up thinking about making a website easier to use for us.

If you can step into the shoes of someone that isn’t like you, and think about uncommon needs first, then you may find that you deliver a stronger, more engaging experience for every user.

For instance, rather than designing a website for someone with the same visual needs as you, then thinking about making tweaks for those with color blindness or vision issues, think about the needs of those with disabilities first.

You can learn more about putting uncommon needs first by checking out Vasilis Van Gemert’s blog post on the “Method of Crisis.”

Accessibility is Good for Business

Inclusive web design, or designing for accessibility, is all about maximizing the potential audience that your clients can earn. Whatever situation end-users find themselves in, you should ensure that you’re taking advantage of inclusive design.

If you can prove to your clients that you can deliver for all customers’ needs, you can unlock a much larger audience and many more opportunities.

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15 mars 2021/par Service comm.

8 Best Premium Stock Image Sites for 2021

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Stock images are an essential tool for anyone working with clients who can’t afford to hire a photographer for a bespoke shoot, and with the cost of photography shoots running into thousands of dollars, that’s most clients.

Last month we looked at the 10 Best Free Stock Image Sites for 2021, and this month we’re focusing on the premium end of the market.

Paying for stock doesn’t guarantee that you’re getting a higher quality product than the free alternative, but the higher quality product is rarely free.

Ultimately, the right image is the right image, regardless of price. These are the best places to start your search in 2021.

1. Stocksy

Stocksy is a tremendous site with a slight edge to its imagery. There’s a certain cool vibe to the images featured on Stocksy. If you’re looking for a stock image that doesn’t look like a stock image, this is a great place to begin. Its prices range from around $15 for a small web image to $1000s for the image’s exclusive use.

2. EyeEm

EyeEm is a great source of editorial-style images. It has some excellent categories that are geared towards finding images instead of categorizing the collection. Pricing starts at $35 per image, with discounts for image packs. EyeEm has recently introduced the option to book a photoshoot — for clients ready to pay for custom images.

3. Getty Images

It’s impossible to make a list of stock image sites without including Getty Images. The stock behemoth not only has one of the largest collections of stock images but owns several subsidiaries. Loved by news media for its comprehensive coverage, if you’re looking for a particular stock image, try Getty. Getty’s a mid-price supplier with prices for small images starting at around $75.

4. Death to Stock

Death to Stock is all about leveraging the stock industry to fund photographers. These are photographs that photography professionals admire; there’s no filler whatsoever. Subscriptions for creative professionals start from $33/month. There are 100+ new images added to the collection monthly, meaning it’s still small, but if you want something truly authentic, consider Death to Stock.

5. Cavan Images

Cavan’s focus is on building a broad range of photographers, which has produced an outstanding set of diverse images. The curated collections, which are more editorial than commercial, are powerful. Cavan also offers a great support service in case you need help tracking down a particular image. Prices vary but start from $50.

6. Offset & Shutterstock

Shutterstock is one of the best-known stock collections on the web, with over 300 million images. Offset is a subsidiary of the much larger Shutterstock; it’s a high-end version of Shutterstock, with slightly elevated prices to reflect the higher quality. Shutterstock prices start around $2.50/image, Offset’s start around $300; that’s the price you pay for having someone pre-vet your options.

7. Westend61

Westend61 has a smaller collection, but its images are all consistently high quality. Westend61 is particularly useful for designing banner images because the images are very commercial, with authentic-looking people and lots of eye contact. Prices per image start at approximately $25.

8. iStock

iStock was originally independent but was bought by Getty. iStock offers both credit, and subscription options starting around $2.50/image. Although you won’t find everything you’ll find on the larger Getty site, it’s worth checking to see if the image you want is here.

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3 mars 2021/par Service comm.

Popular Design News of the Week: February 22, 2021 – February 28, 2021

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Everyday 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!

The Application of Augmented Reality in Web Design

15 Funny Web Design Memes Only Web Designers Will Get

Tauri: Build Desktop Applications with a Web Frontend

20 Best New Websites, February 2021

Spotify is Testing a Redesigned (and Much-Improved) Library UI

Boardly – A Minimalistic Planning Board for Your Projects

A Big List of Must-Bookmark Sites for Digital Designers

10+ HTML CSS Marquee Examples

7 JavaScript ES2020 Features You Should Try

16 Office Pranks For When Life Goes Back To Normal

What Is the Best Ecommerce Platform?

Choosing New Tools and Technology for Your Web Projects

Getting Deep into Shadows

Bablab – Portfolio Websites for Photographers and Artists

7 Essential WordPress Plugins for a New Client’s Website

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28 février 2021/par Service comm.

12 Tips to Improve Your Web Design Skills in 2021

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There are many reasons you might be wanting to improve your design skills this year. Perhaps you have extra time on your hands and want to put it to good use. Or maybe you’re new to web design and finding that there’s a lot you still don’t know how to do. It could also be that you recognize that the web is changing, and your skills could use some refreshing to keep up.

Whatever the reason, there are many ways to level up your web design skills in 2021. Here are 12 ideas to get you started:

Tip 1: Niche Down If You Haven’t Already

Jack-of-all-trades designers might be able to say “yes” to everyone. However, they’re going to be stretched very thin as they attempt to strengthen every skill needed to keep up with demand.

It’s much easier to become a trusted designer and to improve your skills if you have a smaller and more specific skill set to develop.

Just keep in mind that niching down doesn’t necessarily mean focusing on a particular industry. For instance, you might choose to be a UX designer instead of a web designer. Or you might specialize in designing ecommerce websites instead of monetized blogs. Just find something that you’re passionate about and will be good at doing, and zero-in on the skills needed for it.

Tip 2: Play Around in the Sandbox

Local development environments are useful for staging websites, doing redesigns, and testing updates safely away from live sites. But you can also use them for experimenting with new design techniques, trends, templates, plugins, and more.

Local by Flywheel is the one I prefer to use:

Here’s a good exercise to start with:

Take a website you like — something you’ve looked at in awe and couldn’t imagine ever building on your own. Then, put yourself to the test. See if you can recreate it in your sandbox.

Don’t be hard on yourself if you don’t figure it out right away. Consult your resources and give yourself time to make sense of what’s going on and implement it with the available skills and tools.

Tip 3: Redesign One of Your First Projects

There’s always a clear evolution in a designer’s skill set, from the day they begin designing to the present day. And that’s a good thing. If your work doesn’t improve or change with time, then you’re going to have a lot of catching up to do when the stagnation begins to hurt your business.

Want to see how much progress you’ve made so far? Revisit one of your first projects and look at it with fresh eyes. I bet you’ll see a big change in how you design today from how you designed that site then.

Now, ask yourself what you would do differently. And then, go to your sandbox and do the redesign.

Tip 4: Work on a Passion Project

A friend of mine is taking a UX design course and needed some users to run through a prototype he created for the class. He could create anything he wanted, so he designed an app related to his other love: Music.

While he could’ve easily thrown together some carbon copy of Spotify or SoundCloud, he came up with a completely new concept. And it was really impressive, to the point where I urged him to put it into production and see if he could list it in the app stores.

I think it’s when we’re really passionate about something that we’re willing to push past our limits. So, carve out some time to tackle that passion project you’ve been toying around with and see where it takes you.

Tip 5: Share Your Designs on Dribbble and Ask for Feedback

One of the reasons UX designers do user testing is how valuable users’ raw input is. While it would be nice to think that design is a completely subjective matter, that isn’t really the case when usability becomes compromised due to design choices.

Understanding what users like and dislike is an important part of taking your design skills to the next level. And a good way to do that is to share your designs on Dribbble.

Here’s an example of UI8 asking for feedback:

Tip 6: Create a Design Toolbox

I’m a huge fan of automation and shortcuts powering things behind the scenes in business.

After all, one of the reasons you become a web designer is so you can design, right? When you’re bogged down with administrative and logistical tasks, that’s time spent away from doing what you enjoy.

One way in which you can streamline your backend processes is by putting together a design toolbox. Your preferred CMS. Flexible templates or apps you use from project to project. Website testing tools. And so on.

As you do this, it’ll force you to examine how you build websites. Are you really working as efficiently as possible? Are there newer apps or systems that’ll help you design better sites? And as you improve your design toolbox, you’ll improve your design skills.

Tip 7: Subscribe to Your Favorite Blogs

I have a hard time recommending this one, only because I’m reluctant to sign up for yet another newsletter. That said, I do see the value in subscribing to some blog newsletters as I don’t always remember to revisit their websites and check out the latest content.

What I’d suggest you do is pick one or two design blogs that have a good variety of content and publish regularly. And then pick one small business or freelance blog.

WebdesignerDepot, of course, is a good one to start with as it comes at a good frequency, recommends great reads from all around the web, and is fluff-free:

I’d also recommend signing up for one that’s focused on your niche as well as one for business.

As a freelancer, I’d vote for the Freelancers’ Union newsletter. There’s always something timely and useful in there.

Tip 8: Listen to a Podcast

I just adopted a second dog, so I’ve spent a lot more time on walks while house-training her. At first, I was stressed about it because it was time spent away from work. However, I started to fill that time with podcasts and found that it helped me work better for the rest of the day.

One reason is that I’ve been listening to work-related podcasts, which are always chock full of helpful tips. Another reason is that it gives my eyes a rest from looking at the screen so that when I come back 15 or so minutes later, I feel refreshed and ready to go.

Rebekah Carter has a good set of web design podcast recommendations to get you started.

Tip 9: Take a Free Online Design Course

There’s an overabundance of information online. If you want to brush up on CSS, there are hundreds of YouTube courses that cover it. If you want to learn how to use a new WordPress plugin, you’ll find dozens of great tutorials across various online course platforms, YouTube channels, and even people’s blogs.

There’s no need to go back to school to become a better designer. Here are five places where you’re bound to find free courses for web designers.

Tip 10: Read a Book on Design Principles or Theory

It’s easy to lose sight of design principles when your clients are clamoring for a website that will make them a lot of money, get them a lot of readers, and so on. Sure, you can design a UI and UX that works, but do you remember why the design choices you made are effective?

Choose a book — just one to start — that’ll help you reconnect with the roots of good web design. Not only will you get a good refresher on web design principles or design theory, but you might learn something brand new.

Here are some of my favorite books for web designers:

Tip 11: Find Your People

Now more than ever, finding a community of like-minded web designers, developers, or freelancers is important. It’s not just about having a group of people to vent to when clients drive you nuts (though that’s great, too).

It’s about finding a group that brings something new to the table and enriches your understanding of web design and what it means to be a web designer.

If you’re on Facebook or LinkedIn, start there. There are tons of web design and freelance groups that have productive discussions every day. If you prefer to meet up with local designers and developers, check out Meetup.

You may be surprised by how many groups there are and the kinds of meetups they have planned.

Tip 12: Attend a Virtual Conference

Did any of you attend a design conference last year? I did. I virtually attended Adobe MAX — from the comfort of my home, in my pajamas, for three days.

I scheduled my assignments around the sessions I wanted to attend and didn’t have to pick one over the other (i.e., “Do I make money or do I learn something new?”).

Some of the sessions showed us how to do more with Adobe’s tools, while some of them featured design and business leaders who shared personal insights on how to work more effectively. It was a great way to shake up my normal routine and to get a ton of information about the future of web design in a short period of time.

Which of These Tips Will You Use to Improve Your Design Skills?

Like I said before, there’s a lot you can do to improve your design skills. Just be careful not to overdo it.

Pick one or two things on this list to start with. If you have more time in your schedule and you’re excited about what you’ve learned so far, add a couple more.

Just take it slowly. Your brain will only be able to absorb so much at once. Plus, the last thing you want is to burn yourself out on skills training and not have the energy to complete your work.

Featured image via Unsplash.

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24 février 2021/par Service comm.

Quiz: How Well Do You Know UX Principles?

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UX principles guide many of our decisions when we design and build sites and apps. Understanding UX principles doesn’t mean you can dodge your own testing, but they do give you a head start.

Often named for the researcher who identified a particular truth, or pattern, these laws are the product of hundreds, and sometimes thousands of hours of lab and field-based research.

How well do you know these UX laws? We’ll start you off with an easy one…

Featured Image via Pexels.

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19 février 2021/par Service comm.

10 Best Free Stock Image Sites For 2021

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When photographers take images to sell commercially, like every other business, they want to maximize their returns, so they adapt their ideas to meet commercial trends. As a result, stock always looks like stock, and that minor deception introduces a small amount of doubt in users.

But the rise of camera phones, and the increasing affordability of DSLRs, has led to a growth in people who aren’t monetizing every shot. What that means is if you know where to look, you can find images that are less posed, more natural, less clichéd, and far more diverse.

Here are ten places to look for engaging, and trust-building stock images, all free to use…

1. Pexels

Pexels has a huge collection of high-quality images that would not feel out of place on a ‘premium’ site. You’ll also find a ton of free videos. Pexels’ search feature is particularly well-tuned. Pexels also runs regular challenges, with cash prizes for photographers; reviewing the past competitions is a great shortcut to finding original images.

2. Reshot

Reshot is one of the better stock sites on the web, with a wide selection of curated images. There’s a distinctly Instagram feel to the images on Reshot; they don’t feel staged, in many cases, they don’t look like stock at all. That gives them an authentic feel that many ‘premium’ stock sites fail to deliver.

3. Unsplash

Unsplash is one of the largest collections of free images on the web. It has a good collection of standard stock and a growing collection of more creative, experimental images. Its free-forever approach is backed by product placement instead of adverts or premium sections, which means you may find the more marketable images include easily identifiable brands.

4. Life of Pix

Life of Pix highlights one photographer per week to feature ten images; that adds a competitive angle to the site as photographers submit premium shots to get noticed. Unless you’re very fortunate, the ideal shot for you isn’t going to be found in the current set, but click the ‘Gallery’ link, and you’ll have access to all the shots that have previously been uploaded.

5. Nappy

Unlike ‘premium’ sites that are set up to turn a profit, free stock sites often set out to address a hole in the market. Nappy was set up to redress the underrepresentation of black and brown people on many stock sites. At least some of your users fall into this demographic, and it’s a great idea to show them they’re valued by using images like these.

6. Burst

Burst is a stock site provided by Shopify to help new entrepreneurs find stock to help them sell products. Anyone can use the shots, but there is a natural inclination towards commercial rather than editorial images. There’s a good mix that rivals many paid sites and some less obvious shots.

7. Picography

If quirky and offbeat isn’t right for your project — and it may very well not be — then check out Picography for a more middle-of-the-road collection of free stock images. There’s a wide selection, but they do tend to feel more stock-like than many other collections.

8. ISO Republic

ISO Republic has a broad range of images and videos to choose from. Again, the images tend to be more stock-like than some other options, and you do have to dig around to find the best. ISO Republic is a good place to search when you want to swap like-for-like with a ‘premium’ stock source.

9. Kaboompics

Kaboompics specializes in lifestyle images. If you’re hoping for a woman sipping a frappuccino while making commanding business decisions, you’re in the right place. Kaboompics is a one-woman show, so the perspective is a little narrower than the ideal, but the free images are consistently high-quality.

10. StockSnap

StockSnap has a good balance of images. Many professional photographers use sites like StockSnap to upload the images they choose not post to ‘premium’ sites for one reason or another, so you’ll often find premium-quality shots for absolutely nothing.

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17 février 2021/par Service comm.

What’s New in Ecommerce, February 2021

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There are some interesting shake-ups on the horizon for ecommerce: Experiential shopping, Virt-ical worlds, Au naturale models.

We’re starting to see signs of them already — many of them spurred on thanks to the events of 2020. Below, we’re going to explore what’s going on with these new ecommerce trends and technologies and take a look at a bunch of sites that are setting really cool examples for each.

1. Experiential Shopping

With many stores, either closed to in-person shopping during the pandemic or their capacities severely limited, online shopping and BOPIS became much more attractive options for consumers.

That said, buying something like a pair of jeans or a new pair of glasses is much different than the pack of toilet paper someone’s bought for years. There are just some things you have to try to know if you’re going to like it and make sure it fits.

Augmented reality and other immersive shopping tools are bringing those “try-on” capabilities to people’s homes.

There are a number of technologies built specifically for this purpose:

Obsess is a particularly noteworthy one. It’s an ecommerce platform that enables retailers to build virtually immersive shopping experiences. Charlotte Tilbury is one such retailer that is taking advantage of it.

At the end of 2020, Obsess announced that it had received $3.4 million in seed funding, so expect to see more Obsess-powered ecommerce sites and apps.

ByondXR is another platform that empowers brands to design immersive experiences for online shoppers:

Retailers like Lancome, Procter & Gamble, and Calvin Klein have used ByondXR’s immersive commerce technology.

Another option is offered by Matterport:

This technology is interesting as you’re not just creating a virtual store. You can also design a 3D model of a brick-and-mortar shop that in-store shoppers can use to get in and out quickly.

2. Virt-ical Worlds

There’s a new trend brewing, and we see it most commonly on websites for fresh and youthful brands. I wouldn’t say it’s nostalgic design, per se, though there are certainly some elements reminiscent of the bold, in-your-face style of the web in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s.

No, I think what we see here is a creative reimagining of our world.

With so many people having spent time in their homes and with their faces glued to screens, there’s been a blurring between our VIRTual and physICAL worlds. This new web design trend is one I’m going to call the Virt-ical World. While parts of these sites look like the websites we’ve designed in years past, there are motion, color, and sizing elements that feel more like a trippy virtual simulation.

Let’s look at some examples.

Starface is a company that creates acne-fighting products.

This is one of the more experimental designs in this set of examples. Still, it’s one that shows us how far the boundaries can be pushed without totally compromising the online shopping experience.

Billie is another company having fun with this trend. I’d say this is on the opposite end of the spectrum.

For the most part, this ecommerce site looks similar to other small retailer sites. However, the fun, candy-colored palette, the bobbing products, and the color shifts add a somewhat surreal element to the design.

Catching THEO is another ecommerce brand playing around with this Virt-ical World.

See what I mean by this style feeling somewhat nostalgic? Thankfully, this site commits to today’s good, clean, responsive design while only using some of the more fun and quirky elements from the past.

Au Naturale Models

When I talk about au naturale models, I’m really referring to the makeup-less faces, relaxed hairstyles, and casual apparel that we’re seeing ecommerce models don these days.

I think it’s safe to say we have the pandemic to thank for this. And it’s not just because many of us took a more casual approach to getting dressed during the week. It’s also because the pandemic wiped away the glitz and glamour from many of our lives.

I don’t know about you, but it was kind of nice seeing fewer Instagram influencers flaunting their luxurious lifestyles and more real people rocking their matching pajama sets. I think brands have sensed this change in mood over the last year, and they’re now putting forward their own simple and casual styles for us to connect to.

There are tons of ecommerce websites we’re seeing this on in 2021.

Here’s Dove’s homepage, where they specifically call attention to the lack of digital distortion in the photo:

Thinx also uses more natural and realistic-looking models to show off its undergarment products:

Madison Reed takes a unique approach with this trend:

While the hair color brand does a great job of using diverse models around the site, it also has this scrolling bar showing off its customers’ very natural and real faces.

Wrap-Up

It feels like ecommerce trends and technologies are changing at a rapid pace these days. To help you stay on top of what’s new in ecommerce, stay tuned to this blog for more interesting news and changes to the landscape.

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Source de l’article sur Webdesignerdepot

15 février 2021/par Service comm.

Exclusive Infographic: WordPress by the Numbers

Actualités, Actualités

What is WordPress? It began as a simple CMS for building a blog, and it has evolved over the years into a complex ecosystem of tools and resources.

WordPress can power ecommerce sites, interactive courses, art projects, and of course, it powers one or two blogs. Depending on who you ask, WordPress powers between 35% and 40% of the entire web; that makes it one of the most important technologies of the web era. Best of all, it’s free and open-source, so if you’re new to web design, WordPress is a great place to get started.

We’ve put together this simple infographic with all the facts you need to know about WordPress in 2021.

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Source de l’article sur Webdesignerdepot

12 février 2021/par Service comm.

Comment les technologies de formation et les LMS supportent l’upskilling

Actualités, ERP & Applications, Ressources Humaines, SAP

L’upskilling des effectifs est depuis longtemps une priorité pour les organisations. Aujourd’hui, alors que les dirigeants réagissent aux perturbations mondiales, avec pour beaucoup un personnel en télétravail, ils s’appuient plus que jamais sur les technologies et les systèmes de gestion de la formation (LMS).

La crise mondiale du COVID-19 et l’instabilité économique obligent de nombreuses entreprises à « faire plus avec moins » en matière de reskilling et d’upskilling. Heureusement, les technologies de formation sont suffisamment matures pour que les entreprises puissent choisir parmi une gamme de fonctionnalités adaptées à leurs besoins et à leur budget.

Lorsque Discovery, compagnie d’assurance multinationale est passée au travail à distance, les RH ont identifié qu’environ 500 de ses collaborateurs n’étaient pas productifs. Plutôt que de chercher des solutions de court terme pour améliorer la productivité, la compagnie s’est focalisée sur la préparation du personnel aux métiers de l’avenir, par le reskilling. La priorité de l’entreprise reste ses salariés – et cela inclut de les équiper pour demain.

En période de croissance comme de crise les dirigeants s’efforcent de trouver les meilleures solutions pour leurs collaborateurs. Par exemple, les hôpitaux, les instituts de recherche et les organismes de santé répondent aux besoins du personnel de première ligne en créant des technologies de formation et des ressources éducatives visant à prévenir et limiter l’exposition au COVID-19.

Bien que les dernières avancées changent la donne pour les LMS, tous les investissements technologiques ne conviennent pas nécessairement à toutes les entreprises. Voici les éléments que les entreprises peuvent considérer lorsqu’elles investissent dans une nouvelle solution.

1. Des fonctionnalités liées à vos objectifs

Lorsqu’on choisit parmi toutes les options proposées par les technologies de formation, la première chose à vérifier est que les fonctionnalités répondent aux besoins, aux objectifs et à la stratégie des effectifs de l’entreprise. Pour beaucoup d’organisations, des plates-formes flexibles et ouvertes peuvent être nécessaires pour prendre en charge les nombreux éléments critiques.

Par exemple, une entreprise énergétique pourrait limiter l’accès à une zone particulière d’une installation nucléaire aux employés ayant complété une formation obligatoire et certifiante. L’entreprise aurait alors besoin d’un système de gestion de la formation (LMS) capable d’intégrer la certification des employés à ses formations et opérations sensibles.

De même, une entreprise pharmaceutique pourrait avoir besoin de valider l’apprentissage pour se conformer aux réglementations nationales sur les médicaments. Une solution qui offre de l’innovation au niveau de l’écosystème, y compris des applications partenaires, peut fournir des fonctionnalités supplémentaires et flexibles tout au long du cycle de vie des collaborateurs (y compris lors du recrutement, de l’onboarding, du développement et de la gestion de la succession). Si certaines grandes entreprises peuvent avoir besoin de solutions ouvertes qui prennent en charge divers cas d’utilisation, d’autres peuvent vouloir une solution adaptée à un secteur spécifique, comme l’éducation ou la santé. Quoi qu’il en soit, les entreprises devrait prendre le temps de rechercher la technologie pouvant soutenir au mieux leurs objectifs.

2. Flexibilité

De nombreuses entreprises ayant des sites multiples ou un important personnel auront besoin d’un LMS orienté entreprise si elles s’engagent dans le reskilling de centaines voire de centaines de milliers d’employés.

Avec la généralisation du télétravail, les PME/ETI peuvent également avoir besoin d’un LMS qui puisse être étendu au domicile de leurs employés de manière sûre et efficace. Les technologies d’apprentissage mobiles accessibles en déplacement, y compris sur smartphones, pourraient améliorer l’adoption par les télétravailleurs et les employés qui manquent de temps de formation dédié, comme les commerciaux terrain.

Si les outils qui intègrent des formations en réalité virtuelle (VR) ou en réalité augmentée (AR) ne sont peut-être pas adaptés à toutes les situations, ils peuvent être utiles pour préparer les collaborateurs à des situations d’urgence ou à des scénarios uniques. Ces technologies émergentes sont un excellent exemple de la manière dont les outils de formation modernes peuvent aider les entreprises à relever de nouveaux défis et aider les collaborateurs à se perfectionner et se requalifier.

Walmart, par exemple, a formé plus d’un million d’employés en 2019 à la réalité virtuelle afin de proposer un apprentissage immersif. L’entreprise a également envoyé des casques VR dans les magasins pour entraîner les employés à la mise en place d’une machine qui récupère les commandes passées en ligne. Se libérant ainsi de la nécessité d’envoyer plusieurs personnes pour l’assembler, l’entretenir et dispenser une formation.

Qu’ils travaillent dans le retail, sur des plateformes pétrolières ou dans des exploitations agricoles, de nombreux employés pourraient atteindre de nouveaux niveaux de productivité et d’engagement grâce à des solutions personnalisables et flexibles.

3. Collaboration entre les employés – et les employeurs

Dans de nombreux cas, permettre aux collaborateurs de piloter leur apprentissage peut améliorer l’adoption des programmes, l’engagement et la culture de l’apprentissage. De nombreux employés réagiront positivement à l’upskilling itératif. Lequel leur apporte un sentiment d’appartenance et de fierté. Cet upskilling itératif peut par exemple prendre la forme de vidéos produites par les collaborateurs et partagées avec leurs collègues.

L’apprentissage social peut apporter des avantages à un personnel en télétravail. En atténuant l’isolement, l’anxiété et le manque de motivation auxquels les équipes peuvent être confrontées. Les social boards, chats et « missions » gamifiées sont quelques-unes des caractéristiques des LMS qui peuvent améliorer la collaboration tout en maintenant la distanciation physique. Les managers peuvent également utiliser ces fonctionnalités pour cibler les compétences qui correspondent aux nouvelles priorités et encourager les équipes à atteindre leurs objectifs.

4. La gestion du changement en support

Intégrer un programme d’upskilling dans toute l’entreprise est une initiative majeure qui relève de la gestion du changement. L’alignement des valeurs, des personnes et de la culture d’entreprise pour atteindre un résultat souhaité ne viendra pas uniquement de l’adoption d’une nouvelle technologie. La gestion du changement occupe une place essentielle dans les discussions relatives à l’expérience de formation. Et ce pour au moins trois raisons.

Premièrement, s’assurer que la technologie est adaptée à l’organisation et au personnel permet d’augmenter son taux d’adoption et d’en tirer meilleur parti.
Deuxièmement, une gestion du changement réactive et basée sur les données permet de prolonger la durée de vie de la technologie.
Troisièmement, l’intégration d’une technologie de formation dans une organisation requiert une gouvernance. Elle nécessite notamment d’affecter la responsabilité sur les rôles et les données segmentées que vous pouvez collecter. De nombreux experts du reskilling vous diront que la gouvernance est toute aussi importante, si ce n’est plus, que la technologie de formation elle-même.

Les RH ne sont pas les seuls à investir dans ces solutions. La majorité des utilisateurs sont rattachés à la sécurité, conformité et formation à la vente. Alors que les budgets restent serrés et que des tensions peuvent surgir entre les services pour savoir qui doit avoir le contrôle des priorités en matière de reskilling et d’upskilling, les fonctionnalités des LMS devraient fournir un vrai retour sur investissement (ROI). Les bénéfices peuvent inclure le gain de temps lié à la recherche et au partage d’informations ; ou l’augmentation des revenus (ou réduction des coûts) résultant de la normalisation des technologies et du soutien à la formation. Par exemple, une étude indépendante sur SAP Jam, réalisée par Forrester Consulting, a révélé que le ROI moyen a augmenté de 18,5 % entre 2016 et 2018, les clients ayant trouvé davantage de façons d’utiliser la plateforme de collaboration.

Pour soutenir la gestion du changement qui accompagne l’introduction d’une nouvelle technologie, les entreprises doivent chercher des solutions qui offrent la possibilité de bêta-tester, d’itérer et d’adapter cette technologie aux besoins des collaborateurs. Les logiciels d’entreprise doivent offrir un support client aux dirigeants et aux employés pour une expérience d’apprentissage sans faille.

« De nombreux experts du reskilling vous diront que la gouvernance est toute aussi importante, si ce n’est plus, que la technologie de formation elle-même »

5. Méfiez-vous des mots à la mode et restez concentré sur vos collaborateurs

Les LMS d’aujourd’hui peuvent utiliser des technologies de pointe comme l’intelligence artificielle (IA) et le machine learning pour fournir tout ce qui est nécessaire, du coaching aux plans de développement des collaborateurs. Et ce à une échelle jamais atteinte auparavant. Mais alors que les dirigeants évaluent les options de LMS qui offrent ces nouvelles technologies et ces mots à la mode, il est important qu’ils restent d’abord engagés dans une stratégie des effectifs axée sur les objectifs de l’entreprise.

Si des fonctions comme la gamification et l’apprentissage social peuvent avoir un impact majeur pour certaines organisations, elles peuvent manquer de pertinence pour d’autres. Pour de nombreuses organisations, l’apprentissage classique en salle avec un formateur pourrait encore avoir toute sa place à l’avenir. L’écoute continue des collaborateurs fournira des informations utiles pour répondre à leurs besoins et concevoir une expérience d’apprentissage efficace.

De nombreux experts de l’upskilling conviendront que la formation et l’upskilling est un défi pour les employés et les employeurs. Alors que les entreprises investissent massivement dans les nouvelles technologies, l’objectif premier est d’investir efficacement dans le personnel.

La stratégie à long terme d’une entreprise en matière d’effectifs ne se limite pas au système de gestion de la formation (LMS) qu’elle a choisi. La gestion de l’expérience de formation inclut les nouvelles compétences et connaissances que les personnes vont acquérir ainsi qu’une méthode de travail efficace et agile. Un excellent programme d’upskilling aidera les collaborateurs à pivoter vers les nouveaux rôles qu’ils devront occuper demain et à soutenir l’innovation de rupture dans toute l’entreprise.

Publié en anglais sur insights.sap.com

The post Comment les technologies de formation et les LMS supportent l’upskilling appeared first on SAP France News.

Source de l’article sur sap.com

11 février 2021/par Service comm.