1. An Insecure Web Host

13 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

So, You’Ve Won An Exciting Redesign…What Now?

The transitioning of power is fraught with difficulties. Different teams have different values, different experience, different expertise, different priorities, and that leads to different tooling, and different methodologies.

It’s tempting to think of web design as an end-to-end process, starting with research and concluding with metrics. The reality is that most designers and developers join projects part-way through an ongoing process.

That leaves us with a difficult choice: do we try and meet the client’s expectations with our own toolset, or adapt to the tools and processes that are already in place?

For anyone who’s taking over a web project from a different designer/developer/agency (D/D/A), here’s a practical guide to help you make a success of the transition.

Step 1: Find Out What Went Wrong

99.99% of the time, something broke down in the previous client-D/D/A relationship.

In my experience it’s almost never about money. Most clients are willing to pay above the basic market rate if they believe they’re receiving a good return on their investment. A client that tells you the previous D/D/A is simply too expensive is anticipating negotiating your fees.

happy clients don’t shop around

Occasionally you’ll find that a freelance designer has been headhunted by an agency, and is no longer available. Occasionally the company outgrows a D/D/A, moving into areas that the D/D/A doesn’t support. But these situations are rare, happy clients — even moderately content clients — don’t shop around. If they’re speaking to you, something motivated them to do so.

It is alarmingly common that a D/D/A simply goes AWOL. It’s most common at the lower end of the market where the sums of money involved are less likely to prompt a legal dispute. Frequently, an unreputable D/D/A will ghost a client in favour of a better, newer opportunity.

Sometimes the client hires a new manager, and the new manager ushers in revised expectations that the previous D/D/A can’t meet.

Most commonly, the previous D/D/A has dropped the ball one too many times — mistakes happen, and reasonable clients will tolerate them provided they are rectified promptly, but everyone has their limits.

Most clients will be more than happy to explain what went wrong in the previous relationship; it will inevitably be a one-sided explanation, but it will help you to understand the client’s expectations.

Be extremely wary of a client who doesn’t know what went wrong. Be even more wary of a client who talks about “upgrading” their outsourcing — they’re trying to flatter you. In these cases the client may well be hiding something — like their failure to pay invoices.

Remember: at some point the previous D/D/A was new, and excited about having a new client, was optimistic about the project, and it didn’t end well. The best way to not repeat mistakes is to learn from them, and to do that you need to know what they were.

Step 2: Carry Out a Comprehensive Audit

We’re often so eager to secure new work, that we rush to have the client sign on the dotted line, expecting to be able to tackle any problems later.

It is imperative that as a professional, you keep your promises. Before you make those promises, take your time to understand the project and related business. If a client is invested enough to sign a contract with you they won’t mind you doing due diligence first.

Is There Still a Relationship With the Previous Designer/Developer/Agency?

Clients rarely have a full picture of their project — they’re not web professionals, if they were they’d be building their own sites. Your best source of information is the previous D/D/A.

Before you contact the previous D/D/A check with your client; it’s possible they don’t know they’re being replaced yet. If your client is fine with it, then reach out.

When you speak to the previous D/D/A be sensitive to the fact that you’re taking money out of their pocket. Certainly the previous D/D/A may tell you where to go, they may ignore you altogether, but most will be pragmatic about handing over a project if only to ensure their final invoice to their now ex-client is paid promptly.

Every site has its idiosyncrasies, if you can establish a friendly rapport with the previous D/D/A then the transition will be considerably less bumpy.

Who Controls the Domain Name(s)?

In my opinion a company’s domain name(s) should always be held by the company; it’s such an essential business asset that it should be guarded as jealously as the company’s bank accounts.

Unfortunately there are businesses that outsource everything to do with the web. If the break with the previous D/D/A is acrimonious then securing the domain name could be problematic.

It’s not your job to secure the domain name — you have no leverage, the client does. It is your job to impress upon the client how mission-critical the domain name(s) is.

Who Controls the Hosting?

Hosting arrangements vary from project to project. It’s not uncommon, nor unreasonable, for the previous D/D/A to be hosting the client’s site on their own space. If that is the case, be prepared to migrate it quickly either to your own server, or a dedicated space.

If you’re migrating onto a new space pay particular attention to the email provision. Taking over a project usually means taking over a live project, and that usually means email accounts.

In any case, you need full access to the hosting space. You certainly need FTP access, you probably need SSH access.

In addition to hosting, check if your client’s site uses a CDN, and if it does, who has control of it.

Backend Source Code

Once you have FTP access to the hosting server you can probably grab all backend code from the server.

The benefit of grabbing the code from the server — as opposed to accepting files from the previous D/D/A — is that you can be absolutely certain you’re getting the current (working) code.

If the client has broken with the previous D/D/A because they were unable to deliver on a particular task, you do not want to be working with files that have been partially modified.

Fresh Installs

If you’re working with something like a CMS, it’s often a good idea to run a fresh install on your server, and then copy across any templates, plugins, and migrate the database.

Frontend Source Code

When it comes to acquiring source code, frontend code is far more problematic than backend.

frontend code is far more problematic than backend

If the previous D/D/A is even part-way competent then the CSS and JavaScript on the web space is minified. Minified CSS is not too problematic and can be unminified fairly easily, but you do not want to be unpicking a minified JavaScript file — I once had a project in which a developer had minified his own code in the same file with all of his dependencies, including both Vue and jQuery [yes, I know].

Dealing with frontend source code can take on an additional dimension if you discover that the previous D/D/A used techniques you don’t — using Less instead of Sass, or writing scripts in TypeScript.

Unminifying CSS & JavaScript

Unminifying (or beautifying, or prettifying) code is reasonably easy. There are tools online that will help, including Unminify, Online CSS Unminifier, FreeFormatter, JS Minify Unminify, and more. You’ll also find plenty of extensions for code editors including HTML-CSS-JS Prettify for Sublime Text, and Atom-Beautify for Atom. You’ll find that some editors have the functionality built in.

A word of warning: code beautification does not restore comments, and in the case of JavaScript, does not unobfuscate variable names. Beautifying code is no substitute for a copy of the original, unminified source code.

Emergency Measures

If unminifying the source code isn’t possible for any reason, or more likely, the unminified JavaScript still looks like minified code — albeit nicely formatted minified code — then your last resort is to import the code and override it where necessary.

The first thing to do in this case is to explain the situation to your client. Make sure they understand this is a temporary patch that you’ll iron-out as you rebuild parts of the project.

Then, copy and paste the old minified code into a fresh project setup. For CSS that probably means creating a legacy.scss file, including the old CSS, and importing it into your own Sass. For JavaScript, create a legacy.js file, add all the old JS, and import that.

This will result in a much bigger set of files than necessary, you may end up using !important in your style declarations [yuck], and you’ll trigger lots of Lighthouse warnings about surplus code.

However, in the likely event that your client has a long list of changes they wanted live yesterday, this dirty hack will give you a working site that you can then rebuild piece by piece over time.

Assets

Assets normally means images, and images can normally be grabbed via FTP.

Occasionally — although less occasionally now image files rarely contain text — you’ll need the source files to make changes to images.

Whether or not the client has them, or if the previous D/D/A will hand them over, depends largely on the agreement between the client and the previous D/D/A.

Most businesses are reasonably aware of the importance of brand assets, so you’ll probably find they at least have a copy of their logo; whether it’s an SVG or a JPG is another matter entirely. Impress upon them the importance of locating those files for you.

Third Party Code

It is rare to receive a project that doesn’t rely on third party code. That third party code is probably entwined in the custom source code, and unpicking it is a time-consuming job.

It is very likely the previous D/D/A used a library or framework, and given the increasing number of them, it’s even more likely that the library or framework they used is not the one you prefer.

Whether you choose to unpick the code and swap out the previous D/D/A’s dependencies for your own preferences (usually faster in the long term), or whether you choose to work with what you’re given (usually faster in the short term) is entirely up to you.

In my experience it’s no hardship to pick up another CSS library; switching from one JavaScript framework to another is a substantially bigger job involving not just syntax but core concepts.

Beware Build Environments

Everyone has their own way of doing things. Some D/D/As embrace build environments, some do not. Some build environments are simple to use, some are not. Some build environments are adaptable to your process, some are not.

Unlike adopting a library, or even a framework, adopting a new build process is rarely a good idea

Build environments are numerous — Gulp, Grunt, and Webpack are all popular — and D/D/As are almost as opinionated about them as they are about CMS.

In lieu of raw files, it’s not uncommon for the previous D/D/A to tell you to “just run such-and-such CLI” command, to match up your local environment to theirs. Unlike adopting a library, or even a framework, adopting a new build process is rarely a good idea because you’re relegating yourself from expert to novice at a time when you’ve yet to earn your new client’s trust.

Stand your ground. Their approach failed, that’s why you’ve been brought in. You do you.

Who is Licensed?

Any third part code that has been paid for is licensed. Always check who holds these licenses. As well as being legally required, valid licenses are normally required for updates, bug fixes, and in some cases support.

Common pitfalls include: font licenses (which may be licensed under the previous D/D/A’s Creative Cloud, Fontstand, Monotype, etc. account); stock image licenses (which may be licensed for use by the previous D/D/A alone); and plugins (which are frequently bulk-licensed to D/D/As in bundles).

It’s depressingly common to find clients using unlicensed assets. On more than one occasion I’ve had to explain to a client the potential consequences of using pirated fonts.

Fortunately it’s increasingly common for third party providers to attach a licence to a specified domain, which means you may be able to claim the licence on behalf of your client. Major suppliers like CMS and ecommerce solutions frequently have an option for the previous developer to release a licence and allow you to claim it.

In the case of licensing, if you’re unsure, do not be afraid to reach out to the third party provider and check with them if your client is licensed once they break ties with their previous D/D/A.

The only thing that sours a client relationship faster than telling them they need to buy a license they thought they’d already paid for, is telling them they’re being sued for copyright infringement.

Protect your client, and protect yourself, by making sure everything is licensed properly. If you can get something in writing to that effect from the previous D/D/A, do.

Who Has the Research and Analytics?

One of the major benefits of taking over a site, as opposed to building from scratch, is that you have a measurable set of site-specific data to guide your decision making.

This only applies if you have the data, so ask to be added to the client’s analytics account.

There’s a strong chance that the design research carried out by the previous D/D/A is considered an internal document, not a deliverable, by the previous D/D/A. Check with your client: if they paid for the research (is it specified on an invoice?) then they’re entitled to a copy.

We Have a Blog Too…

Clients have a tendency to use the term “website” as a catch-all term for everything digital.

When you take responsibility for a website, you’re almost always expected to take responsibility for any digital service the client uses. That means, newsletter services like Mailchimp, customer service accounts like Intercom, and 227,000 page WordPress blogs that they forgot to mention in the initial brief.

Repeat the whole of Step 2 for every additional app, micro-site, blog, and anything else the client has, unless you are expressly told by the client not to.

Step 3: The Point of No Return

Up until now, you haven’t asked the client to sign on the dotted line. This whole process is part of your due diligence.

By checking these things you can identify unforeseen problems, and potential costs. Are you tied to an obscure build process? Do you need to relicense the CMS? Do you need to recreate all of the site assets?

Some of these conversations are hard to have, but the time to have them is now

If there is any question of the project being more complex than anticipated, have an honest conversation with your client — they will appreciate your transparency, and they’ll appreciate being kept informed. Any client who doesn’t value a clear picture of what they’re paying you for, isn’t a client you want.

Some of these conversations are hard to have, but the time to have them is now, not three months down the line.

This is the point of no return. From this point on, any problems aren’t the previous D/D/A’s, they’re yours.

Change the Passwords

For every service you have, from the newsletter login, to the CMS login, to the FTP details, change the password. (Make sure you notify the client.)

Set Up a Staging Site

You’re going to need a staging site so your new client can preview the work you’ve done for them.

Set the staging site up immediately, before you’ve made any changes to the code. In doing so you’ll discover early on if there are files missing, or issues with the files you do have.

Successfully Transitioning a Project

When a client commissions a site from scratch they are filled with expectation. The fact that they are leaving their previous D/D/A and seeking you out demonstrates that their experience fell short of their hopes.

You now have a client with realistic — perhaps even pessimistic — expectations. You have a benchmark against which your work can be objectively measured.

When problems arise, as they invariably will, never try to blame the previous D/D/A; it was your job to assess the state of play before you started work. If there is an issue with legacy assets, you should have brought it to your client’s attention early on.

If you learn from the previous D/D/A’s mistakes, you won’t be handing the project on to someone else any time soon.

Featured image via Unsplash.

Actualités, Méthodes et organisation des process IT

9 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

IoT for Around the House: Sensors, MongoDB, and REST API on Onesait Platform (Part 3)

And so we arrive to the third and -for now- last entry in our adventure about connecting a sensor at home and sending the measurements to the Onesait Platform.

In the first entry, we saw how to choose the working environment and set up both the ontology and the API service to ingest the data. In the second part, I told you how to hook the cables between the boards, how to configure the Arduino IDE to work, how to write the code that collects and sends the measurements to the Platform, and how to see that it was indeed received correctly.

Source de l’article sur DZONE

6 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

9 Ways To Boost Your Domain Authority

Domain Authority (DA) is a ranking metric that predicts how well a site will rank online. It goes by a scale of 1 to 100 — the closer you are to 100, the better your odds of ranking in search engine result pages (SERPs), thus giving you more clicks.

To see how your site currently ranks, visit Moz’s free Link Explorer to test your DA. Just type your website URL in the search bar and click “Analyze”. Just remember: don’t kick yourself if your DA is smaller than 30 to 50. If you follow these 9 tips today, you’ll most definitely see your DA score improve.

1. Domain Name Age

You know that old saying, right? Wisdom comes with age. Well, guess what? The same is true for your domain name. If your domain name doesn’t have an ‘old’ age, then it’ll rank lower, and users online might not see your site as legitimate.

But with an older domain name, not only will users see your site as more legitimate, but it’ll also have a much higher DA score than younger domain names. In other words, every time you change your domain, you might be doing more harm than good to it, since you’re actually knocking down the credibility you’ve built up over the years by starting from scratch.

Therefore, pick an easy-to-remember domain name that’s not only relevant to your niche, but it’s also something that you’re willing to keep for a very long time.

2. On-Page Optimization

Then, it’s time to optimize all the following on your pages:

Code;
Content;
Site structure;
Metatags;
Other on-page elements (H1, Title tags, Image alt tag, Site architecture, etc.).

Improving your DA with optimization can make your site be more search-engine-friendly.

3. Create Great Content

Want to attract high-quality links from multiple domains in your niche? Good news! More attraction to your site comes from creating high-quality content that appeals to your target audience. Otherwise, poor-quality content will only scare people away.

So, in providing the best content possible, that will definitely help you improve your DA score (and even give you many additional SEO benefits).

4. Internal Link Improvement

Why worry about earning external links when your internal links need the most attention? Yes, focusing too much on external links can make you lose sight of linking internally.

So, why internal links? These links help nudge visitors to what they’re trying to look for on your website. In that way, visitors are getting the best user experience, while you reap the rewards of having an increased DA score.

5. Link Profile Clean-Up

Having a clean link profile is essential, since it helps you obtain and maintain a great DA score. So, to clean up your link profile, you must remove the bad links from it.

In this process, you can use tools like:

These tools help you figure out any inappropriate or unwanted links.

After the link audit is complete, contact the website owners to have them either delete the link or add the “nofollow tag” (devalues the link). If this doesn’t work, use the Google Disavow tool to remove said links from your profile.

6. Know Your Niche

When running a site, it’s important for you to be the expert in what you have to offer online – and your DA is no exception to this. Becoming an authoritative figure in your niche allows you to gain the confidence of readers, while providing expert advice to the community.

If you have amazing content (i.e. guest blogs on industry-related forums) and clever ways to engage your target audience, then people will see you as an authority to your niche. This not only enhances your brand, but also increases your DA score.

7. Be Mobile-Friendly

Nowadays, people are on their phones, tablets, etc. Whatever device that they can use on the go, they’ll use. In other words, mobile isn’t just the way of the future – it’s happening right now, outpacing laptops since 2014. So, if your website isn’t mobile-friendly yet, then now is the time to fix that!

If your website hasn’t been optimized for mobile use yet, not only will it hurt your search rankings (since Google favors mobile-friendly sites), but you’ll also lose out on users visiting your site to begin with.

So, go to Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test, and then run a test for your domain. Afterwards, Google will give you a detailed report of how mobile-friendly your site is, and what you can do to improve it.

8. Improve Page Speed

Let’s face it: No one likes to wait for a webpage to load; they want quick results. So, if your site isn’t loading fast enough, then users will get frustrated and most likely go to another site. So, why not improve your page speed?

First, find the cause of your website running slower than it should. You can do this by running your website through Google’s PageSpeed Insights; it’ll analyze the speed of your site. And then, it will identify some effective ways for you to make your site faster and consequently improve your DA score.

9. Utilize Social Media

Finally, it’s important to increase your social signals, when it comes to gaining more authority with your domain. While search engines like Google won’t insist that sites make social signals a priority to increase their rankings, site runners must still take advantage of social media to do the following:

Promote their sites;
Promote their products and services;
Tell people about any events and contests.

As a result, sites are more likely to get likes, shares, and tweets through social media, versus going solo in search engines.

Conclusion

Domain authority is extremely important for your site. First, DA allows you to analyze how well your website does in the search space. Plus, it allows you to compare the performance of your website with that of your rival sites, thus showing you where you stand in search engine results.

So, why not get your site thriving today by improving and maintaining your DA score today? Your site will thank you for it!

Featured image via Unsplash.

Source de l’article sur sap.com

6 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

SAP France nomme Stéphanie Perchet au poste de Directrice des Opérations

Actualités, ERP & Applications, Innovation, SAP

Levallois-Perret, le 5 novembre 2020 – SAP France, 5ème filiale du Groupe SAP, leader du marché des logiciels d’application d’entreprise, nomme Stéphanie Perchet au poste de Directrice des Opérations. Membre du Comité de direction, Stéphanie Perchet a pour mission principale de renforcer l’organisation des opérations et d’optimiser les processus de l’entreprise pour répondre aux enjeux de SAP France liés au développement de son Business sur le Cloud, à l’adoption de sa solution phare S/4HANA par le marché français et à l’accompagnement des entreprises sur leurs priorités économiques et environnementales.

Pour se faire, l’expérience client, l’excellence opérationnelle et l’accélération de la dynamique sur les thématiques « Future of Work », « Business for Good » et « Data et Culture » sont au cœur de sa stratégie.

Stéphanie, 41 ans, est titulaire d’un Master en relations internationales de l’Université Panthéon Sorbonne. Elle a rejoint SAP en 2004 et a occupé différents rôles à un niveau régional EMEA et global avant d’être nommée directrice des opérations. Elle a notamment déployé le programme de business indirect avec l’écosystème Partenaires, a contribué au développement de l’organisation Commercial Sales à Barcelone et a collaboré avec le bureau du président EMEA. Ces différentes expériences lui confèrent une parfaite connaissance de l’organisation et de ses processus internes ainsi que des problématiques clients, de véritables points forts dans son nouveau rôle.

« Le succès client est une priorité absolue. Au cours des derniers mois, nous avons fait évoluer notre organisation et revu le parcours client pour répondre à la demande d’un accompagnement encore plus personnalisé pour, ensemble, créer encore plus de valeur. Stéphanie Perchet joue un rôle clé dans le développement de cette expérience client et dans la mise en place de notre stratégie visant à accompagner nos clients dans l’élargissement de leur revenu, le suivi de leur profitabilité mais aussi autour de sujets liés à l’attractivité de leurs talents et à l’amélioration de leur impact social et environnemental » explique Frédéric Chauviré, Directeur Général de SAP France.

The post SAP France nomme Stéphanie Perchet au poste de Directrice des Opérations appeared first on SAP France News.

5 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

Branding 101: Creating the Visual Identity for Your Business

There are so many things to think about when first starting a business. What will your business offer? How will this differ from existing solutions? Who will benefit most from your offering? And why are you so passionate about this?

If you haven’t done so yet, work through this exercise to come up with your brand identity and business name.

Once you’ve figured out your brand identity, you have to create a visual identity — also referred to as brand imagery — to go along with it.

While you could easily throw together visual elements that speak to you, your goal should be to choose visuals that resonate with your audience. So, building your visual identity is going to require some work.

In the following post, we’re going to look at how your brand’s visual style can give off certain signals to those who encounter it (and how to use those to your advantage). We’ll also break down what you need, to piece together your visual identity.

The Power of Visual Identity

Each of the design choices you make that website visitors, social media followers, and customers can see will impact how they approach your brand. Are you a fun-loving company that caters to a younger crowd? Do you create high-tech products that solve serious global problems? Are you a successful entrepreneur who’s reshaping the way we talk to one another?

When done right, our brand visuals convey our brand’s personality, values, and mission without having to use any words.

Think about your favorite clothing brand. What do you picture? Let’s use Athleta as an example.

The logo is probably the first visual element that comes to my mind:

The grey radial shape is one I’m very familiar with. It’s on their website, their social media, and it’s usually imprinted somewhere on their clothing.

The second thing I think about when I think of Athleta is its physical imagery:

Rather than include images of the clothing on its own, there’s often someone wearing Athleta clothes while hiking along a trail, walking on a beach, or working out in a studio.

There’s so much that just these two visual elements tell us about this brand:

Athleta targets active female consumers; we see this in its images and CTAs. The fine touches and shape of the logo may suggest this as well.
Athleta creates understated but highly functional clothing; we see this in the product photos as well as in the brand’s use of neutral colors and fonts across its designs.
Athleta’s mission is to help customers have a healthier and more balanced life; we see this in its product photos, but we also get a sense of this from the simple symmetric structure of the logo.

There are overt ways to use visuals in your branding (usually through your choice of photos or illustrations). But there are also ways to subtly convey more about your company, what it does, and for whom you work through your choice of colors, fonts, structure, and more.

How to Create a Visual Identity for Your Brand

Let’s walk through each of the elements you need to pull together to create your visual identity:

The Color Palette

Like with everything else in business, you’re here to give your audience something they need, so they have to be at the forefront of your decisions — including which colors you put into your brand’s palette.

So, where do you start in choosing a color palette for your site and other marketing channels?

Let’s take a systematic approach.

1. Choose a Primary Color

Go to the Canva color meanings and symbolism tool.

Have a look through the colors and find one that feels good to you. Open up the page and read more about what the color means:

You’ll find the following on each page:

A brief history on the color;
How it’s been used by people over the years;
What it’s symbolized over the years and around the world;
How to use the psychology of the color to affect people (i.e. your audience);
Alternate shades and colors if this particular one doesn’t send the right signals;
Colors that pair nicely with this one.

While it’s important to consider how colors evoke different emotions, it shouldn’t be the only driving force. Your primary focus should be to choose colors that positively affect the user experience. In other words, you don’t want them to get in the way or distract prospects from getting to know your brand and eventually converting.

2. Create a Full Color Palette

Once you’ve picked a primary color, you need to come up with a color palette. You’ll want one or two colors to use in your logo and a full color palette for your website and other branded channels.

You can use Canva’s palette suggestions (in the top-right corner of the color page) to create a basic color palette.

For something a little more robust, use Material Design Palette:

Color options are a bit limited, but it does a good job of spelling out where you should use each color. You can then adjust the color palette as you see fit.

Typography

The design and pairing of your fonts can greatly impact the way people respond to your brand and the words you’ve written about it.

So, the goal with typography is to make your words easy to read while also giving hints about your company’s personality and style.

1. Understand Font Styles

Figure out what style of font goes best with your brand identity.

This is the simplest way to categorize fonts:

Sans serif: These are simple fonts without any “feet” (lines at the ends of letters).
Serif: These are more traditional-looking fonts (the kinds you see in literature and newspapers) with feet.
Script: These are cursive and curly fonts that mimic handwriting.
Display: These are fonts designed specifically to appear in logos, hero images, and advertising because of their large, bold styling.
Monospaced: These are fonts with characters that comprise the same amount of horizontal space, often resembling typewritten text.

You can break these down even further and really get to the root of the style. Fonts.com has a great explainer page on each of these classifications:

Here are some sources to help you find fonts for your brand:

2. Settle on Two or Three Fonts

Choose two or three fonts for your brand. Max. Anything more than that will create a distracting and overwhelming interface for your audience.

You’ll need:

A font for your header text. It needs to look good in big sizes, be easy to read, and easy to identify from other text when scanning through a page or document.
A font for your body text. It needs to look good in small sizes (16 pixels and up) and be highly legible.
Optional: A font for your logo and hero images. It wouldn’t stray too far from the style of your headers, but if you need something a bit more decorative or unique, you can use a different font family for this.

If you find that you need more variety in your fonts to create a clearer hierarchy on the page or to call out certain elements, use superfamilies with dozens or even over a hundred different styles. That way, your users’ eyes won’t get fatigued from having to switch between too many font types.

3. Learn Font Pairing Rules

To pair fonts, use styles that contrast yet complement one another. Ultimately, you want the pairing of your fonts to send a cohesive message to your audience.

For example, a sans serif header and serif body are a common way to combine fonts. Like this pairing of Fira Sans and Merriweather from the FontPair website:

This modern-looking duo sends the message that: “Your comfort is priority #1 for us. Take your time reading and enjoy.”

There are tons of ways to make varying styles play off one another while sending the right signals to your audience: A safe serif with a retro cursive header font to come off as a playful, yet professional brand; a futuristic header and a neutral sans serif body font to give your product pages a very techy feel; and so on…

Once you have one or two fonts you like the vibe of, use FontPair to track down a good complement to the one you want to use.

Imagery

We can use this as a blanket category for any visual content you might use in your branding:

Photos
Videos
Illustrations
Icons
Backgrounds
Textures
Animations or GIFs

But just because there’s all this content to use, that doesn’t mean it should all appear on the same site to represent the same brand. You’ll want to narrow it down based on your company’s personality and how the style of imagery fits with it.

1. Photos vs. Illustrations

You can alter your brand’s voice and style based on the kind of imagery you use.

For instance, tech companies like Stripe often use illustration in their brand designs:

Even though SaaS companies sell one type of product, their audiences are usually quite vast, so it would be hard to find photos that represent everyone. And it’s not like users are focused on their relationships with the people behind the scenes. These companies put technology into the hands of their users, so it’s best to let the product shine and not the people. This opens up the door for some fun and creative possibilities with illustrations.

That said, choosing photos over illustrations doesn’t completely bar you from using vector graphics and icons. You can mix-and-match those visuals so long as they blend well with one another. What you don’t want to do is to mix two very different styles that say different things about your brand at once.

To decide what’s best for your brand, approach this from your users’ point-of-view. What kind of visuals will help them connect to your brand and what you sell?

2. Style

It’s not just the type of image you use that impacts your brand identity. It’s the style you apply to those visuals that can transform your visuals, putting visitors in a different time, place, or headspace.

Will you apply a filter to give your photos a similar look and feel?

Will you place each of your product photos against the same backdrop for a uniform look?

Will you use a completely new style of imagery for one of your product lines the way Apple has done for the iPhone 12?

There’s nothing wrong with using out-of-the-box imagery. However, if they don’t give off quite the right tone, don’t be afraid to use your design skills to make adjustments and cater them to your own style.

Logo

Your logo is the last of the visual elements you’ll need to invest some time in. The good news is that you’ve already done most of the legwork:

You’ve defined your brand’s identity.
You’ve given your business a name.
You’ve selected the main visual components that will represent your brand: colors, fonts, and images.

That’s really all you need to create a logo that is relevant, unique, attractive, potent, and memorable.

That and a way to bring it all together. You have a few options.

Option #1: If you’re a graphic designer, you can create your own from-scratch.

Option #2: If you want help getting started, you can use a tool like Wix Logo Maker:

You’ll fill out a short questionnaire and then receive dozens of pre-made logos to start with. You’ll later have the chance to customize the design to your liking.

Option #3: You can hire someone to design a totally custom logo.

Wrapping Up

In the next post in this three-part series, we’re going to look at the next step:

Getting your business online.

We’ll take everything you’ve done so far in coming up with a business name, brand identity, and now visual identity, and put it towards your website and the marketing channels that are best for your business.

Actualités, Méthodes et organisation des process IT

4 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

Mule 4 HTTP Connector — Listener Configuration Explained

In this article, we will set up an HTTP connector and will work with the listener configurations to build a simple HTTP service to return a static message as the response. The Anypoint studio version used will be version 7.6 and the mule run time version will be 4.3 for this demonstration and better to use the same version of Anypoint studio and mule run time if in case you are planning to try out to build the project.

Setting up a simple HTTP service:

Source de l’article sur DZONE

2 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

3 Essential Design Trends, November 2020

As we turn the corner into the final part of the year, many of the new websites and redesigns that we see during much of the rest of the year tend to slow down. Many businesses are focusing on fourth quarter and holiday sales.

With that being said, there are plenty of holiday flourishes already showing up on many websites. But there are still a few trends that don’t have a holiday theme.

Here’s what’s trending in design this month.

1. Beautiful Connectivity

Web elements that merge and flow into one another can be difficult to design but the payoff is totally worthwhile. This website design trend exemplifies connected elements in a way that’s beautiful and mesmerizing.

You can accomplish it with static elements or interactivity; the common theme is that design parts enter the space of one another and merge in ways that are seamless and visually interesting.

The thing that makes it exceptionally tricky is responsiveness. To ensure that pieces work well at all sizes when they overlap or encroach on the space of one another takes a lot of planning and testing.

Here are a few examples of projects that do it well – and each one does it in a different way.

Kirk Whayman’s website uses a floating ice cube over simple lettering. The interactivity is spot on here with hover actions that allow you to move the block with the letters refracting in an expected manner. (It would be easy to play with it all day.) But the coolest interaction happens when you “break it” (click on the cube). The elements continue to merge and interact in a new and different way.

Kikk Festival uses animations and giant scrollable illustrations and plenty of elements that overlap within the space. What’s neat is that everything on this canvas seems to touch everything else. The staircase design encourages scrolling and lettering and smaller animated elements all connect to the steps in the sky motif.

Multi Options Nursing takes a totally different approach. It uses a static split screen with a photo on the right side that merges into a round graphic element. It takes two not-s-interesting images and makes something out of them. The design carries this theme below the scroll as well and this style of image presentation carries a nice visual weight without feeling heavy.

2. Almost Brutalism

Brutalism just seems to keep coming back around. For those that love this trend, it keeps evolving as well.

The latest styles of brutalism are a little less mono but still pretty sharp with harsh lines, questionable type readability, and a lot going on in a compressed space. These projects also seem to be embracing color and alternative font choices more readily.

Fledge uses a split screen – still a dominant trend two years running – with a blue that’s almost too bright with an almost white offset color. The text is big and smooshed into the space tightly. Depending on the breakpoint, you might not even get the whole phrase on the left side. The design challenge is what are you supposed to do here? There are some hover animation cues, but they aren’t very direct.

Loeven Morcel’s design has hints of brutalism and elements of elegance. What makes this design skew toward the brutal side is use of space and typography. Like the previous example, it falls into the territory of “what should I do here” with some concerns about readability. Most of these issues are resolved on the scroll if you move beyond the homepage.

Szymon Michalczyl’s site is another that is close to brutal in style but has an element of sleekness that doesn’t quite carry it over the edge. The simple framework has that brutalist feel but the use of simple, clean fonts with plenty of space pulls it back into a more mainstream design scheme.

3. Beige Everything

Is a shade of beige the color of the year for 2020? Or is it just how we all feel?

Beige backgrounds are everywhere, making this one of those design trends that you can’t miss. The good news is that designers are playing with different shades of beige as well as warm and cool variations. Beige on its own can take on some of the color from accent hues and imagery, so that’s important to keep in mind when using this in the background.

The other variable is how saturated to make beige coloring. Most designs are using some of the more muted options while mostly playing with the levels of green and red. But darker beiges are also an option.

Simon Daufresne uses a beige that is the color that comes to mind when you think beige. It’s simple, a hint reddish, and is used with black only to maintain true color.

Discovered Wildfoods uses a more neutral feeling beige with a more green undertone (or is that color feel coming from other design elements). The neutral and natural color fits the brand and association this website is trying to create.

Aebele Interiors also uses a more traditional beige but with a bold mustard accent that makes the color feel exceptionally warm. What’s nice about this color combination is that in small sizes the mustard colored-type almost falls into the beige background, but at larger sizes seems to almost jump off the screen. It’s an interesting color juxtaposition.

Conclusion

Personally, this month’s trends are a mixed bag. I love the lines and interactivity of the beautifully connected examples. It shows that elements can cross and work together well.

On the flip side, brutalism and beige just aren’t my style. But apparently, they appeal to a lot of people based on the number of projects using these styles. What do you think? I’d love to know how you feel about these trends. Let me know on Twitter.

2 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

Everything You Need to Know About Websites And Privacy Laws

When it comes to compliance, website developers need to keep their eyes on more than just ADA regulations and Section 508. Privacy laws are a big consideration and decisions on how to build privacy into a website start with architects.

And that’s exactly what website developers (and designers!) are. They build up attractive, functional websites and apps for their clients. Yes, they work closely with clients, copywriters, vendors, and other professionals to get the job done, but the developers are the ones who put it all together.

That’s why it’s critical that website developers are well-versed in marketing privacy laws — these regulations directly impact the end results of their work. But how does a website architect create a digital platform that honors both user privacy and the needs of their clients?

What Privacy Laws Are Important For Web Developers?

The two biggest privacy laws that web developers need to keep tabs on are the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Each law has its own unique scope and provisions, but they both shifted the landscape in defining an individual’s rights to their personal data and set mechanisms for how these rights would be protected and enforced.

Each regulation also carries with it fines, fees, and legal measures for non-compliance. These can be substantial. And if that’s not enough, there’s an ever-increasing consumer demand for websites that prioritize privacy and security. Consider these statistics:

82% of Americans surveyed say they are concerned about the security of their online data
79% of adults claim they are very or somewhat worried about how companies use the data they collect about them
63% of Americans believe they understand very little or nothing at all about privacy laws and regulations that are intended to protect their data

How Can Developers Implement These Laws?

Privacy by Design is Critical for Websites

Under GDPR, web developers are required to adopt the Privacy by Design framework, which is a multi-point methodology intended to standardize data protection measures.

Building privacy into websites shouldn’t happen at the end stages. It should start with how the websites are conceptualized in the first place. Here are points to prioritize:

Minimize that data you’re collecting and pseudonymize it to protect data privacy
Are you capturing consent? How? Where?
Integrating security measures to protect data — anytime you capture data or implement a third party product, a security risk is born.
Knowing where you’re introducing privacy and data sharing notices
Implement just-in-time notices to provide consumers transparency and build trust
Giving your users the opportunity to manage their personal data

Let’s look at these a little more closely…

Data Minimization is the Goal

Data minimization is an important principle embedded in GDPR. Data minimization itself is a pretty straightforward concept: organizations should limit how much personal data they collect and only process the information necessary to accomplish their business purposes. Once the data is no longer useful, it should be deleted.

For web developers, this means several things. When it comes to building websites, forms, cookies, and other methods should only ask for essential information. For example, if you are creating a pop-up to collect email addresses, don’t ask for their location unless it’s relevant to the email list and better serving their needs.

How and Where Do You Introduce Privacy Policies and Notices?

Let’s say you take data minimization seriously. That’s great! Now you need to put those data collection practices into words and share them with your customers.

Privacy policies and notices are a big part of both GDPR and CCPA. Both the CCPA and the GDPR mandate that your privacy policy detail why you’re collecting information and how it will be used, as well as what the individual’s rights are and how they can exercise them.

CCPA takes a slightly different angle, requiring privacy policies to disclose if the business sells personal data and what third parties have access to the data. CCPA also dictates that privacy policies and notices are current, updated at least annually. (Nota bene: GDPR also asks for updated privacy documents, but doesn’t specify frequency.)

How does this translate from policy into web development?

If you’re collecting data to improve user experience, allow for targeted ads, or sharing information with third-parties, this information will need to be included in a privacy notice. Remember, CCPA works with a broad definition of selling data, so you may need to account for a “Do Not Sell” link on your home page.
Considering using data beyond these purposes? Plan to obtain explicit user consent for each additional purpose.
What’s your plan for the data after the user gives it to you? Where is it stored? Who has access to it? How long are you keeping it? These are all questions that a website developer should consider, and that needs to go into a privacy notice.

Just-in-Time Notices for Transparency and Trust

Part of Privacy by Design is the use of individual components of your website to create transparency and support compliance. From a development and design perspective, this means you should always be looking for ways to communicate the hows and whys of data collection.

Yes, your privacy policies and notices aid in this, but going beyond these pieces is important. Customers recognize when businesses go the extra mile for them, after all.

So consider implementing just-in-time notices at points where users enter their information. These notices are a chance to share your data collection practices with your users. It’s transparent! It’s open! It aids in consumer awareness!

Keep Users in the Loop

Want to win over your customers? Make it as easy as possible for them to manage their personal data and how it’s being used. This starts with making sure they are aware of why you’re requesting their information and how you’re planning on using it for the website. You should also:

Get user consent — clear and unambiguous user consent — prior to gathering any data at all. This includes cookies.
Don’t pre-tick boxes for consent. Just don’t. (It’s bad practice AND it’s against GDPR.)
Link to all legal documents on the site. Users should be required to agree to them before using the service.
Want to send marketing communications like email newsletters to your customers? Make sure they agree to this. Expressly.

One helpful tool for keeping users in the loop is a marketing preference center. A marketing preference center allows users easy access to their information. From there, they can manage, edit, and delete their information at their discretion.

Bonus? A marketing preference center is an excellent point at which to communicate a business’ commitment to privacy. While users will pick up this through all the discrete elements of privacy on your website, putting it all into one hub that also allows users control over their data really reinforces this message.

Remember, it’s not just on the consumer to manage their data. Web developers should commit to managing the data in their systems. This means they should:

Maintain accurate and clean records of users’ data consent preferences
Send regular reminders to users to update their personal information in your system
If a user deletes their account, promptly delete all of their personal information
If your client goes out of business or is sold, they should delete all personal information in their system

Make it User Friendly

A final point: making your websites user friendly is important regardless of privacy compliance. Users expect websites that don’t make them think deeply about, or worry about, their privacy. Make it accessible and easy. Don’t make people figure it out on their own.

Give them value for sharing their data

Your users don’t have to share their data. They’re choosing to. So in exchange for their personal information, make sure you’re using it to provide a user-friendly website. Offer them a secure, enjoyable experience.

But don’t ask for more than you need

Let’s loop back around to this point again. While consumer data can help you build a better website, don’t plan your websites around it and don’t demand data to create a good experience.

Usability, web design, and website security; all of these things benefit from consumer data. But privacy laws should always guide how any personal data is collected and used, and respect for consumers’ individual rights, and honoring their privacy should be top-of-mind for web developers.

Featured image via Pexels.