There’s a risk in frequent redesign, however. They become willy-nilly and lack strategic end-goals. Whether you work with an agency or revamp the site in-house, it’s crucial to make your website a revenue-driving channel and not just another pretty, shiny homepage.

Do Your Research

Before investing time and resources into revamping your website, map out what you want to change and ask yourself why these need to be made. Be careful with redesigns that happen because “I just want it to look more modern” or “I just felt like a change.”

A website should not only look better, but work better as well. Before doing anything, open up your analytics and record your starting position (also known as benchmark) for visits, search rank, conversion rate and other key website metrics. Create a goal and a strategy for how each of these metrics should change as a result of the redesign.

Having clear growth goals will give you an objective framework to measure the effectiveness of the redesign and process for future improvements moving forward.

Get Personal

Another change in buyer behavior over the last two years is the growing expectation of a personalized experience. 74% of online consumers get frustrated with websites when content that has nothing to do with their interest appears.

Groomed by websites such as Netflix, Amazon, and other adaptive websites, visitors seek out content that is specific and relevant to them. Even YouTube can recommend videos that it thinks you may enjoy. A Monetate/Econsultancy Study found that in-house marketers who personalize Web experiences see on the average, a 19% rise in sales.

Adding a personalization engine and strategy to your next redesign can help address weak conversion rates. Say you run a clothing business and a visitor recently purchased a shirt on your website.

If they visit your website again and see a promotion for the same shirt design, there’s a chance they’ll just ignore it. To attract and keep their attention, you could display related products, like pants or a bag that matches the shirt, to that specific visitor.

The companies that cut through marketing clutter today aren’t the ones with the flashiest ads, but the ones creating a unique and personalized experience.

Be Responsive

As noted above, buyers are increasingly using smartphones and tablets to find information online, and companies that don’t optimize their website from screen to screen are losing out.

According to a study conducted by Google, 79% of users who don’t like what they find on a mobile site will go and look for the information they need on another site. This shouldn’t be a surprise; if you walked into a store that was messy, unorganized, and had unhelpful salespeople, you’d probably leave immediately to shop somewhere else that was easier to navigate.

Use responsive design to create a site that adapts to fit a variety of screen sizes and be sure to incorporate behavior patterns of mobile users into your redesign strategy.

As part of your redesign, look to lighten the load on your site and ensure it appears properly on a variety of devices and browsers. In addition to load time, look at the structure of your website. Is it easy to navigate? Is there a clear route from research to purchase?

Mobile visitors in particular are action-oriented and need a clear route between point A and B. Use this redesign as a chance to make your site easier for visitors to move around throughout the sales cycle, instead of making them jump through hoops to become a customer.

Visual design choices are often the first to cross your mind (or your boss’s mind) when it comes to website redesigns, and for good reason: the visual experience of a website is significant.

In addition to that, however, make sure that your next website redesign incorporates functional improvements that reflect the way today’s viewers use your website. The improvements may not be as flashy or noticeable as new images or banding, but they can signify the difference between a good-looking website, versus a high-impact one.

Whether it’s the result of new SEO requirements or shifting brand values, you may have to redesign your site sooner rather than later. But how do you approach this monumental change? Well, it takes a mixture of caution and creativity.

Unleash Your Creativity

Once you’ve verified that you’re pursuing a website redesign for the right reasons, feel free to unleash your creativity and try something new. However, it’s also important that you take a calculated approach to your creativity.

Don’t be afraid to consult with other people and accept constructive criticism. By combining creativity and caution, you can increase your chances of redesigning an effective, high-converting website that attracts and converts leads.

Tips and Tricks for an Effective, High-Returning Redesign

If after reading through these points you believe a redesign is the right solution for your website, you’ll want to proceed with a careful strategy. Here are some specific tips to help you maximize your efforts.

• Gather Lots of Feedback: Next, you need to work on gathering feedback. This includes insights from those within and outside your company. Those within will the company will give you a good idea of what is and isn’t working below the surface, while customers and focus groups can provide feedback regarding visual appearance and functionality.
• Develop a Budget From the Start: You don’t want to get too far along in the process without developing a budget. This allows you to realistically see which issues you’ll be able to tackle, as well as which ones aren’t feasible.

Focus on UX and Functionality

Approximately 40% of all visitors will abandon your website if a page takes more than 3 seconds to load. That’s why it’s crucial to put user experience (UX) and functionality as your top priority.

If it doesn’t work to enhance the average user’s interaction with your company, then it shouldn’t exist. Use Google’s PageSpeed tool so you can analyze the site speed and optimize for best results. It’s not to late to prevent people from leaving too soon.

The post UX Tips for Mastering Your Next Web Redesign appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

However, designing accessible websites is more than knowing how to edit a mobile version of a WordPress website. This article has gathered the best tools and resources that will help you design accessible websites.

WCAG Guidelines

Let’s start this off with a list of Web Accessibility Guidelines. After all, if you want to make sure your websites are accessible, knowing what makes a website accessible is a must.

WAVE – Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool

This tool lets you test your website for accessibility. It will scan your site, highlight potential accessibility issues, and show you where your website does well in terms of being accessible to everyone.

WebAIM Quick Reference

This reference list is a collection of checks and tests that you can use to test a website for accessibility without relying on third-party tools. It also includes a list of tools to help you test website accessibility.

Colour Contrast Check

Use this tool to check the contrast between two colors. This tool is useful to ensure your text is legible against the background color. The tool is geared towards helping you make sure a website is legible for both visually impaired and color-blind users.

Usable Websites for People with Dyslexia

Thanks to this tutorial, you’ll learn how to make websites more accessible for people who have dyslexia. The tutorial covers five simple tweaks that you can apply to any website design that makes your website easier to understand and read.

Stark – Sketch & Adobe XD Plugin

Stark is a plugin for Sketch App and Adobe XD that ensures your projects are accessible from the get-go. The plugin comes with a built-in contrast checker and color blindness simulation, with color suggestions next to the product roadmap.

Accessible Color Palette Generator

This online tool will help you choose colors for your design project with enough contrast and meet accessibility guidelines. The tool also lets you see how your chosen colors appear to people who suffer from color blindness.

Contrast

Contrast is a Mac-only app that lets you check your user interface to ensure it has enough contrast. The app sits in your menu bar and is easy to use in any design application.

Accessibility Checklist

It goes without saying that you should know accessibility rules if you want to make sure your website or app designs are accessible. However, memorizing the rules can be time-consuming. With this handy checklist, you can easily ensure your project follows the accessibility guidelines.

Axe Chrome Extension

This extension makes it easy to check any website and see if it meets accessibility guidelines. The extension claims to return zero false positives and only tests for accessibility issues accurately detected via automation.

The A11y Machine

The A11y Machine can be downloaded from GitHub and serves as an automated accessibility testing tool. The tool crawls and tests pages of any web application to produce detailed accessibility reports, which you can then use to improve the accessibility of your website or web app.

An accessible website provides a great user experience for all Internet users, whether they have a disability or not.

It’s also a great way to improve your SEO since most accessibility requirements coincide with SEO best practices in user experience. Use these tools and resources to make every website you design from now on more accessible.

The post 10 Best Tools & Resources for Helping You Design Accessible Websites appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

This holds true for web design resources as well. The goal here is to cut through the noise, directing your attention towards a curated collection of tools and resources. The big-name options already have plenty of exposure and are easily found, so they were intentionally excluded from this list.

Instead, we focus on showcasing 15 outstanding web design tools and resources that fly under the radar. These free and premium picks are less commonly discussed, offering fresh perspectives and solutions in the already crowded web design landscape.

1. Website and page building tools that include a very promising free AI website builder together with some popular free and premium WordPress themes.
2. Tools for building high-converting eCommerce stores – Shopify is gaining more followers every day. It made sense to include a first-rate Shopify theme. And you’re in luck if WooCommerce is your thing. We’ve included top WordPress themes in this list that have been developed specifically for WooCommerce and are top sellers.
3. Tools for adding animation & special effects – Static and motionless pages are page-loading performance-friendly but seldom do a decent job of engaging visitors. We’ve picked tools that will sacrifice a little performance in exchange for impressing visitors with amazing animations and SFX.
4. Tools that add popular website functionalities – One of the most popular post-2020 functionalities is tools that give your website the ability to take bookings, are easy to use, will do an excellent job, and can save time and money. These tools tick all those boxes and have been included.
5. Resources for visually improving your website – The best way to differentiate between related products or services is through visual elements. We have included unique illustrations and icons to help you address that issue.

Best of all, at least half of the following 15 web design tools and resources are free for you to use.

Three important things many of these web design tools and resources have in common:

• They are free. Many are either free or have a free version that will help you save money.
• They are of high-quality. Free does not imply substandard quality. They are aesthetically and functionally top tier web design tools and resources.
• Your website projects will look better. These tools and resources will turn a bland website or page into one that is appealing and exciting.

1. Trafft – Booking Solution with White Label Option

In Short: Trafft is a booking software solution with a great white label option.

Click the video above to see Trafft in action.

Trafft can make your day if you own or represent almost any type of service-oriented business and need to upgrade a manual or semi-automated booking operation or one that simply does not get the job done. In addition to booking, Trafft will help you automate requests for appointments, send reminders, and give your clients the option to pay online.

If you are a developer/agency, the Trafft booking software’s White Label Option is one you can use for your clients. In short, the White Label feature will give you the opportunity to sell Trafft to your clients as if it was developed by you, with your own name and branding replacing Trafft’s.

As a user, you will quickly become familiar with Trafft’s ease of navigation, the depth this software solution’s customization options, and its extensive collection of prebuilt booking pages. The Career Mastery Coaching prebuilt booking page, illustrates how to manage bookings for a range of different services and can be put to good use by a wide range of different enterprises.

Client Average Rating: 5 stars on Capterra, 4.7 (Excellent) on Trustpilot.

Client Insight:“I give Trafft a 10/10. It’s so easy to use and customize to your business needs. The best part is Trafft is always adding new features. Don’t walk, RUN!”

Help on the Spot Materials: Support Manual, social networks, and YouTube videos.

Explore Trafft

2. wpDataTables – Table & Chart Builder & Data Management Plugin

In Short: wpDataTables simplifies your data management tasks including data that is complex or coming from multiple sources.

Click the video above to see wpDataTables in action.

wpDataTables is best known for its ability to enable its users to easily create tables/charts when confronted with vast amounts of data or data from several diverse sources. This plugin’s top feature, Multiple Database Connections, is relatively new and adds a significant amount of data management power to an already powerful plugin. With Multiple Database Connections, any table you create can establish an independent connection to MySQL, MS SQL, or PostgreSQL databases.

Soon after you use wpDataTables you’ll realize how easy it is to work with and how its intuitive user interface serves to streamline your workflow.

Timesaving wpDataTables templates can also be put to effective use. The Responsive and Sortable Cryptocurrencies Rank Table example can easily be applied to a wide range of uses.

Client Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (WordPress.org).

Client Insight: “I don’t write reviews very often but when I do it must be something special. And so it is in this case. The product is perfect for my needs. A lot of interesting solutions that save a lot of time. A very developed plugin and simple, intuitive to use – very helpful.Support should be 6/5 stars.”

Help on the Spot Materials: Support manual, YouTube videos, and the Facebook community.

Explore wpDataTables

3. Amelia – Automated Booking Solution for Appointments & Events

In Short: Amelia is an automated appointment booking solution for your service-oriented agency or business.

Click the video to see Amelia in action.

According to 70%+ of Amelia’s users its Multilingual Notifications System is an outstanding feature. Why? The multilingual notifications system keeps all parties up to date on appointments/events status and fosters effective communication between your clients and your employees.

Templates can make it easy for you to set up a booking page with great UX for your clients that will also help you get new ones. Doctors You Can Trust is one of the more frequently used templates as it can be applied to a wide variety of healthcare service types.

Once you start using Amelia, you will appreciate its user friendliness, customization option, clean interface and straightforward pricing plans.

Client Average Rating: 4.8 on Capterra.

Client Insight: “The Amelia plugin is awesome! I have been using it on many of my client’s websites and the experience could not be better. It’s very easy for any customer to book an appointment, pay and have the details of the meeting right on their google calendar. Also, amelia offers a ton of integrations such as with google meets, zoom and WhatsApp. The plugin is incredible and the team behind it is very friendly and always ready to help you out. Thank you!”

Help on the Spot Materials: Support manual, Discord Group, and YouTube videos.

Explore Amelia

4. Mobirise AI Prompt Website Builder

In Short: Use the Mobirise AI website builder to create your pages/websites using prompt commands.

Click the video above to see Mobirise AI in action.

It can be a genuine time saver whenever you are able to accomplish a lot by doing a little. Mobirise AI Website Builder’s top feature is its ability to create anything from a landing page to a simple or one-page website from a single prompt or a series of prompts.

Upload what you want, prompt Mobirise AI, and it will take that prompt and return a content-rich page or website. You will still have to do a little fine tuning to attain perfection.

Customizing a Mobirise AI’s template, through the use of prompts, is another approach. You will appreciate the builder’s ability to respond to prompts typed in any language and to edit content without any need for code.

Client Insight:“WOW, this is not the first AI website builder that I have tried to claim to be AI… It is definitely the best! The others I have tried that I have tried have not seemed like AI at all – and more like the old generic template-building frameworks like Drupal and WordPress – with the same completely irrelevant stock images… and completely unrelated to the topic/input that was given including the completely irrelevant stock images!!Your team has done VERY well here!”

Help on the Spot Materials: Support manual, YouTube videos and forums.

Generate & Download Your Website for Free

5. LayerSlider – Versatile WordPress Slider Plugin

In Short: LayerSlider is the ultimate solution for creating beautifully designed and animated web content.

Click the video above to see LayerSlider in action.

What is there to like about LayerSlider? Quite a lot, in fact. You can use this WordPress slider plugin on any website to create richly animated sliders, slideshows, popups, or other engaging content.

The most important of LayerSlider’s features is the way it enables you to seamlessly integrate stunning animations, effects, and graphics into a website to create a strong connection between your page and its visitors.

LayerSlider offers a variety of prebuilt, easily downloadable, and aesthetically pleasing templates. They give you an added website-building advantage in that you can easily customize and fill them with your own content. The DJ Service Hero template illustrates how effortless it can be to engage your website audience with energy-filled immersive visuals.

Is there anything else that you will love? Yes – LayerSlider’s Project Editor. It makes it ever so easy for you to design and create as the mood strikes you, and don’t forget the popups and banners you can use for promotional purposes.

Client Insight:“A fantastic slider plugin with regular updates to make sure compatibility is never a problem. Keep up the amazing work!”

Help on the Spot Materials: Ticket system with direct support, plus built-in help and a walkthrough of the Project Editor.

Explore Layer Slider

6. Uncode – Creative & Multipurpose WooCommerce Theme

In Short: Uncode offers you an all-in-one web-building solution.

Click the video above to see Uncode in action.

This multipurpose WooCommerce theme’s users consistently point to its WooCommerce demo library when they are asked what they consider its most important feature to be. They will mention the strict attention to detail that is evident in their designs and the inspirational qualities of the demos as the rationale behind their choice.

Which demo would be the best for you? That will be entirely up to you, as your choice will be dependent on your needs and desires. The Creative Studio demo is one of the five most widely used. Its layout and creative and somewhat unusual scroll effect will give you plenty to love.

As an Uncode buyer, you’ll will enjoy its in-depth customization options, and its clean and modern demos. Finally, outstanding support will be there when you need it.

Client Average Rating: 4.89/5

Client Insight: “We bought the first Uncode license for a customer project in 2016, and since then – we have bought another 20 Uncode licenses. Although we use a few other themes as frameworks for our customers’ web projects, Uncode has become an indispensable multi-tool for solving most types of large and small web projects for our customers”.

Help on the Spot Materials: Support manual, Facebook Group, and YouTube videos.

Explore Uncode

7. Essential Grid – WordPress Gallery Plugin

In Short: Essential Grid is the perfect WordPress Gallery Plugin for creating captivating online galleries.

Click the video to see Essential Grid in action.

Essential Grid’s standout feature is its extensive library of over 50 unique grid skins, which is a key reason for its popularity among WordPress users. These skins are central to the plugin’s purpose, providing a variety of grid formats that are both innovative and beyond what many users have previously encountered.

Exploring this collection, users will discover grid layouts that are new and unexpected, such as the Grant Fuhr Blog Grid. This particular example showcases a minimal, image-focused blog grid layout enhanced by an eye-catching circular mask animation effect. Its simplicity and visual appeal make it versatile for a range of applications.

Beyond its aesthetic capabilities, Essential Grid proves to be a practical tool for efficiently organizing content streams. It is an excellent option for any website project needing a system that allows images or other content to be sorted, filtered, and searched with ease, saving time and enhancing the user experience.

Client Average Rating: 4.7/5 on Trustpilot.

Client Insight:“It’s rare in today’s world to find support that is competent and responsive, but Theme Punch’s Essential Grid support is AMAZING!!! It’s visually flawless and easy to set up. The few times I’ve needed help with the plugin over the last year, I could always count on the prompt service of the support team.”

Help on the Spot Materials: Support manual and YouTube videos.

Explore Essential Grid

8. Blocksy – Premium WordPress Theme

In Short: You will find Blocksy’s free WordPress theme ideal for building lightweight websites.

Click the video to see Blocksy in action.

Blocksy’s standout feature is hard to pin down due to its wide array of capabilities that attract a diverse fan base. Key highlights include the Custom Blocks Module, beloved for its versatility; support for Custom Post Types and Dynamic Data, which wins plenty of praise; and its Advanced WooCommerce integration, crucial for online store functionality.

Developers, in particular, may be drawn to Blocksy’s White Label Module, which allows for customization without Blocksy branding.

This theme is appreciated for being fast, easy to use, and offering detailed control over page design, all at no cost. Additionally, Blocksy boasts an impressive collection of demos, including the popular Floreo demo. Designed for eco-friendly online shops, Floreo is easily adaptable for virtually any business, making it one of the top five most utilized demos.

Client Average Rating: 5/5 on WordPress.org

Client Insight:“Blocksy is among the finest themes available. Its support team is exceptional as well: they have been providing us with assistance for many years, consistently demonstrating responsiveness and effectiveness.”

Help on the Spot Materials: Support Manual and detailed documentation.

Download Blocksy for Free

9. Slider Revolution – a WordPress Slider with a Kick

In Short: Slider Revolution is not your run-of-the-mill slider plugin.

Click the video above to see this dynamic plugin in action.

Slider Revolution stands out for making it simple to design captivating content sections, whether for a homepage, highlighting special products, or other purposes. This tool not only aids in crafting original designs but also allows users to incorporate elements from preferred content sources or inventories.

Gone are the days when Slider Revolution was just a tool for creating basic sliders. It has evolved, offering a broad range of design possibilities that go beyond the conventional, enabling users to create dynamic, engaging content easily. With Slider Revolution you can:

• Build exciting multi-page websites.
• Build portfolios that will get you hired.
• Create page sections that stun.

You don’t have to be in the clothing or suit-selling business to put the Suits Product Showcase slider template to effective use. This and other Slider Revolution demos can easily be customized by individual web designers, web shops, and small agencies.

Client Average Rating: 4.65/5 on Trustpilot.

Client Insight: “The plugin is loaded with features and tools to create captivating content. I’m using it to create a presentation, sort of like PowerPoint. I am finding that every now and then it seems to get bogged down and things go wonky in the editor, but after saving, closing, and reopening the project, everything resets to normal. It takes a while to learn how to use it, but worth the effort. There are lots of tutorials, including videos, to help you if you get stuck. I really like this plugin”

Help on the spot materials Support manual and YouTube videos.

Explore Slider Revolution

10. WhatFontis

In Short: WhatFontis is the most accurate free font identifier on the market.

Click the video above to see WhatFontis in action.

WhatFontis shines as a valuable tool for anyone looking to pinpoint a “must-have” font quickly and easily, making it a standout addition to any design toolkit. Its primary strength lies in its core function: accurately identifying fonts from images submitted by users. For free.

What sets WhatFontis apart is its impressive accuracy rate of over 90% in identifying fonts, regardless of whether they are free or commercial. This high success rate is unmatched, with the few instances of misidentification typically due to the submission of low-quality images.

• WhatFontis searches your font through its approx. one million free or commercial fonts (that’s five times more fonts than the database of its competitors).
• You will get a rapid answer, thanks to is AI-powered search engine.
• And you will get 50+ close alternatives for the font you identified.

Client Insight: “I came across this website courtesy Google search, used their services successfully; and today I found out it’s on product hunt! If you are ‘driven’ by the need to discover what font ‘that person/ company’ uses, then this should be your go-to solution site. For most of us it would be a once in a blue moon need, except for the professionals.”

WhatFontIs – Identify Any Font for Free

11. XStore – Best WordPress Theme for WooCommerce

In Short: XStore is the best WooCommerce theme for building attractive and engaging online stores.

Click the video above to see XStore in action.

XStore is well known for its classic selection of pre-built online stores. However, a relatively new feature, a selection of Sales Booster Features, has replaced the impressive online store selection as XStore’s favorite feature.

The booster features are designed to make shopping quicker and easier for customers and consequently increase a store’s conversion rate. They include Frequently Bought Together, a Free Shipping progress bar, a sticky ad-to-cart bar, cross-sells after “Add to Cart,” and more.

XStore also features a Single Product Builder, an Archive Products Builder, a Checkout Builder, and a Cart Builder for shop owners.

The online stores (demos) are designed to get your project off to a rapid start. The XStore Elementor Yoga Accessories pre-built store is one of the most widely used, and one of the most effective at engaging visitors with its attractive layout.

Client Average Rating: 4.88/5

Client Insight:“I have been using the XStore theme from ThemeForest for a while now, and this is my third purchase of the same theme. XStore has been extremely helpful in customizing websites for my clients, saving me a lot of time and effort that would have gone into coding. The built-in plugins also help in reducing costs for developers like me. I must say the team behind XStore has done a great job, and I hope they will continue to do so.”

Help on the Spot Materials: YouTube videos and support manual.

Explore XStore

12. WoodMart – WordPress WooCommerce Theme with a Message

In Short: WoodMart should be your WooCommerce theme of choice for engaging niche eCommerce website designs.

Click the video above to see WoodMart in action.

The moment you see the WoodMart website, the unique custom layouts instantly stand out. With WoodMart’s standout feature, the Custom Layouts Builder, your online store can achieve the same striking appearance. The ease of customizing layouts is just the beginning; you’ll also appreciate WoodMart’s customer-focused features, like “Frequently Bought Together” and “Dynamic Discounts.”

Additional notable features include the Theme Settings’ Search and Performance Optimization. These tools not only enhance the shopping experience for customers with sales-boosting options like “Frequently Bought Together” and “Dynamic Discounts” but also provide benefits for store owners. For developers, WoodMart’s White Label option offers the chance to customize the theme for client projects.

No matter what your business niche may be, WoodMart provides a demo to kick-start your project. If setting up an electronics store is your goal, the Electronics 2 demo is worth exploring for a comprehensive look at what WoodMart can do for your online presence.

Client Average Rating: 4.93/5.

Client Insight: “This theme has a variety of customization options and the support is just amazing – they have wonderful people to support you. Really happy and satisfied choosing woodmart.”

Help on the Spot Materials: Support manual and YouTube videos.

Explore WoodMart

13. Hongo – Multipurpose Shopify Theme

In Short: Hongo is an optimized Shopify theme with unique customer-friendly demos.

Click the video above to see the Hongo Shopify theme in action.

Hongo stands out for its exceptional design quality, which shines through in the Shopify-like websites you can create with it. This high level of design not only enhances the aesthetic appeal of your site but also saves you money. By utilizing Hongo’s custom eCommerce features, you can avoid the extra costs of Shopify apps. Additionally, Hongo offers extensive customization options for building your store, providing both financial and creative benefits.

The development team behind Hongo has focused on optimizing for speed, ensuring fast loading times on both desktops and mobile devices, enhancing user experience, and potentially boosting your site’s search engine rankings.

With Hongo, you have access to 19 pre-built eStores, covering a wide range of popular eCommerce niches. These are supported by over 150 sections and 100 pre-built pages, offering a robust foundation for your site. Hongo’s Modern Furniture Shopify theme is an excellent starting point for those looking to launch a new site. Plus, you have the flexibility to mix and match demos to create a unique online store that meets your specific needs.

Client Average Rating: 4.87/5.

Client Insight: “In my honest opinion from the quality of the theme to the customer support that stands behind Hongo this is a steal. You will not go wrong when purchasing any theme from them and I would strongly suggest purchasing the extension support because its beyond worth it.”

Help on the Spot Materials: Support manual, 150+ online articles, and YouTube videos.

Explore Hongo

14. Litho Elementor WordPress Theme

In Short: Litho enables you to take full advantage of Elementor’s popular page building features.

Click the video above to see the Litho Elementor theme in action.

Litho’s standout feature is its strong integration with Elementor, which enhances its page-building options and capabilities. It attracts a wide audience, including freelancers, artists, shop owners, digital agencies, bloggers, and writers, and is likely to impress you, too.

For startup companies, using Litho can be beneficial. You can take advantage of its importable demos, which can be used individually or collectively, allowing for a variety of combinations. The SEO Agency layout, one of its most popular, is particularly suited for startup company websites.

Furthermore, with Elementor, you can customize various page elements, including the header, footer, mini header, archive pages or post templates, page titles, and promo popups, allowing for a tailored user experience.

Client Average Rating: 4.94/5.

Client Insight:“Customer support for the Litho theme has been fantastic. Very helpful, friendly and fast. The theme is full of features and design options that are modern, setting the look and feel of this theme apart from many of the older & more established themes. The design has a fresh and professional look.”

Help on the Spot Materials: Support manual, support portal, and YouTube videos.

Explore Litho

15. Get Illustrations – Creative Stock Illustrations Collections

In Short: The number one resource for top-quality stock illustrations.

Click the video to see these illustrations in action.

GetIllustrations stocks a library of more than 21,000 ready-to-use illustrations in various categories. This resource’s top feature consists of:

• 21,500+ vector illustrations to download.
• Free updates for one year.
• New illustrations added every week.

These illustrations offer entertainment, knowledge, engagement, and much more. With over 40 carefully organized categories to choose from, many have hundreds of illustrations, while some boast over 1,000. Exclusive to Getillustrations, these illustrations give you an advantage over users of other stock illustration sources.

The Leap Illustrations pack includes 70 dual-toned illustrations tailored to complement your brand’s unique personality and style, helping you stand out from competitors. This pack is ideal for organizational employees, educational materials, and similar needs.

Client Insight:“Great product and I like the alternative as opposed to just using adobe stock for illustrations for my app. Really like the illustrations you have to offer!”

Help on the Spot Materials: Vector stock illustrations are in AI, SVG, PNG, and Figma formats.

Explore Get Illustrations

With this collection of lesser-known but high-quality web design resources and tools, you will be able to use them to better deliver:

• Website projects that persuade visitors through aesthetically better designs and visuals.
• High-converting eCommerce stores that utilize back-end theme features developed specifically for that purpose.
• High-demand website functionalities, such as booking forms.

Below, you will find the key information for each resource, which will help you make an informed decision about whether to try them or skip them.

The following brief recap will tell you what each tool or resource excels in and highlights their standout features:

The post 15 Free & Premium Resources & Tools for Designers in 2024 <span class="sponsored_text">Sponsored</span> appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

I’ve been a user since 1999. I had a contracting gig. The client insisted that I use Dreamweaver. I wasn’t thrilled about this as I had come to despise WYSIWYG editors. The apps I tried wrote sloppy code. They weren’t for me.

But this software left a positive impression. Dreamweaver produced clean code and made my job easier. I found it to be miles ahead of my text editor. And I remained a fan as Adobe acquired the app in 2005.

Now, I’m a bit concerned about the future. As of this writing, Dreamweaver hasn’t released an update since June 2022. And even that was a security fix.

The competition isn’t standing still. Other code editors have long since surpassed Dreamweaver. They do a better job of integrating with modern frameworks. And they are typically more flexible.

With that, it’s worth asking where Dreamweaver fits in. Does it still have a place in web design? Or has it become irrelevant?

Dreamweaver Was Ahead of Its Time and Built for Longevity

The late 1990s saw an explosion of web design tools. Independent developers rushed to release WYSIWYG editors. And a few big players like Microsoft (FrontPage) and Adobe (PageMill) also jumped on the bandwagon.

As you might expect, many of these tools were rudimentary. Some were a little overambitious. The result was often a design that didn’t hold up in the browser.

Dreamweaver was like a breath of fresh air in this landscape. It was stable and didn’t try to do too much. It didn’t force proprietary or non-compliant code on us. It was an app that HTML purists could accept.

Plus, it kept up with a rapidly changing industry. Dreamweaver openly embraced languages like CSS, JavaScript, and PHP.

The app was a well-established favorite by the time Adobe acquired it. And the company continued to add bells and whistles to keep users happy.

And we can’t forget about the community. Dreamweaver had a thriving plugin directory. These extensions helped developers work more efficiently. And they tied in with burgeoning content management systems (CMS) like WordPress.

But Dreamweaver’s evolution has slowed to a crawl recently. Why is that?

An early version of Dreamweaver. Image courtesy of the Web Design Museum.

The Way We Design Websites Has Changed

Dreamweaver was initially a layout tool. Writing code was also part of the deal. Yet designing websites with a point-and-click UI was the software’s calling card.

That’s how I used to do things. I cobbled together layouts and then styled them using CSS. But this was during a time when websites were static. That’s generally no longer the case.

My workflow has changed. I use Figma to create a design mockup. From there, I build custom WordPress themes.

I still use Dreamweaver. But it’s primarily a code editor these days. I test my work in a web browser. That leaves the app’s WYSIWYG out of the picture – most of the time.

The feature still comes in handy for one-off HTML projects like this article. I use Dreamweaver to convert my word-processing documents to code. It’s a little taste of what once was.

Yes, it’s possible to connect the app to a WordPress website. But I’ve found the process to be clunky – and perhaps unnecessary.

As such, Dreamweaver’s core feature isn’t as relevant. I suspect that’s the case for many web designers.

Websites have become dynamic. Designers have found more efficient methods of building them.

Where Things Could Improve

The software still works as a passable code editor. You’ll find expected features like syntax highlighting and code hinting.

Things could certainly be better, though. There’s no built-in code hinting for WordPress, for example. A few outdated plugins are available. But native support could attract more users.

To that point, the plugin library has also become stale. It’s similar to the sunsetted Adobe XD. The remaining options tend to be from many years ago.

Community involvement has slowed. Thus, adding features relevant to modern web development should be a priority. Modernizing Dreamweaver might entice more developers to extend the software.

And there’s great potential in adding artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. Adobe is already doing this with Photoshop. Generating code seems to be a natural fit.

Dreamweaver Hangs On, but for How Long?

I still open my copy of Dreamweaver daily. I use it to write CSS and PHP. It gets the job done. But I’m also stubborn when it comes to change.

I have a few other code editors installed. But I haven’t taken the time to explore them. Maybe I’m afraid that I’ll fall in love?

Regardless, I’d like to see Dreamweaver evolve. The app is iconic and a link to the early web. And it could be part of the future, too.

Here’s hoping it doesn’t go the way of web rings and MySpace.

The post Where Does Dreamweaver Fit in Modern Web Design? appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Either way, you’re not likely to keep your clients satisfied with boring web layouts, graphics, or poor functionality. This is why helpful web design resources and tools can add an edge and enhance your web design process and projects.

Given the number of tools and web design resources available, finding new, useful, and interesting ones can be difficult.

The following collection of 19 web design tools and resources for 2023 that will help you build better and faster websites and add surprisingly useful functionalities to them.

1. Trafft – Booking Software

One thing many of the top tools have in common is they have much to offer for a relatively small investment. That is certainly the case with Trafft, where you can automate your bookings, maintain your calendar, and manage your services, employees, and customers in one location and all within one powerful tool.

Traff is also perfect for agencies and web designers looking to offer their clients a white-labeled booking solution customized to match their agency’s branding. Trafft’s features and integrations have been designed to keep your business running smoothly 24/7. Features include:

• Custom domains, fields, and the ability to manage bookings at multiple locations.
• Managing recurring appointments, group bookings, and sending appointment reminders.
• Tracking and managing taxes, invoices, and deposit payments.

The integrations include:

• Outlook Calendar, Google Calendar, and Google Meet
• Zoom for virtual meetings, Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager,
• Mailchimp, SendFox, and Zapier
• Online payments via PayPal, Stripe, Mollie, and Authorize.net

Click on the banner above to learn more about what Trafft could do for your business and clients.

2. wpDataTables – Tables & Charts WordPress Table Plugin

wpDataTables is a feature-rich WordPress plugin designed to simplify data management and visualization. Its intuitive interface allows you to effortlessly create interactive and responsive tables, charts, and graphs from various data sources.

Whether you’re a data analyst, business owner, or web developer, wpDataTables empowers you to make data-driven decisions with ease.

Embrace the simplicity of wpDataTables to unlock the true potential of your data with the following at your fingertips:

• Responsive, interactive, and editable data tables and charts.
• Front-end table editing and sorting, advanced table filtering, and conditional formatting to display key information.
• Multiple data source management, acceptance of all widely used data formats, pagination, and more.

Don’t miss the summer sale and grab UP TO 50% OFF on licenses or Add-ons.

Click on the banner above to learn more about how wpDataTables can simplify data management and presentation.

3. Amelia – Appointment & Event WordPress Booking Plugin

Amelia is a WordPress booking plugin for service-oriented businesses such as beauty parlors, health and fitness clubs, educational and training enterprises, and more.

With Amelia, you can automate your bookings, manage your schedules, streamline customer interactions, track your payments, and monitor your KPIs.

Amelia is easy to set up and use and is packed with features and integrations that make your work more efficient. Features include:

• Packages of services, resource bookings, event tickets and bookings, and event calendar view.
• Real-time notifications and appointment and payment reminders.
• Group bookings and recurrent appointment bookings.
• Custom fields to match your needs and brand.

Integrations include:

• Google Calendar, Google Meet, and Outlook Calendar
• Zoom for classes or virtual meetings.
• Elementor, Divi, and Lessonspace.
• Amelia also supports WooCommerce, PayPal, Stripe, Mollie, and Razorpay.

Click on the banner above and grab this all-in-one WordPress booking plugin now – up to 40% off for a limited time only.

4. Uncode – Creative & WooCommerce WordPress Theme

Uncode is a pixel-perfect and creative WordPress theme. Its attention to flexibility and performance and focus on WooCommerce has made it an Envato top seller with 100,000+ sales to date.

With Uncode, it is remarkably easy to provide website visitors with the ultimate WooCommerce shop experience.

• Create custom single-product designs with the drag-and-drop Product Builder.
• Enable users to filter products on the fly with Ajax filters, and implement product variations, quick view, and other special features.

Uncode’s Wireframes plugin allows you to import 70+ premade designs and 500+ section templates for creating landing pages or complete websites.

5. Brizy – White Label Website Builder

The Brizy White Label Website Builder offers a scalable solution for agencies and freelancers looking for a turnkey website builder solution capable of unlocking more revenue. With Brizy, you can:

• Avoid the time and effort required to create your own website building platform.
• Present the Brizy platform as your own, with your own branding, custom domain, logo, support link, and About link.

Brizy will continue to manage platform updates, hosting, SSL certificates, and CDN networks. And Brizy’s scalable infrastructure can serve 100 clients or 10,000. Click the banner above to learn more about Brizy’s white label advantages.

6. TheDock – Craft Visions & Forge Realities

TheDock is a WordPress editor designed for fast website building. TheDock-built sites look sharp, perform great, and are easily maintained through a well-organized backend using Custom Post Types and Custom Fields. TheDock features:

• Really fast page loads with new theme files with every build.
• A grid-based layout system that offers excellent flexibility together with auto-adjusting layouts for all screen types.
• A white label builder; share access to TheDock’s theme builder only if you want to.
• High security and easy maintenance.

Other features include global components and colors with tints, shades, and gradients.

7. What Font Is

At first glance, all font identifiers seem to work the same way: upload an image and get a list of similar fonts or kind of similar.

WhatFontIs is the only system that can identify fonts with an accuracy of 90% or more for both free and commercial fonts. The 10% misses are primarily due to the submission of low-quality images.

The WhatFontIs 840K+ font database and AI-powered font finder can search almost all fonts ever published, plus offer information on where they can be purchased or downloaded.

8. Getillustrations – Commercial Stock Illustrations Library Ready to Use in Your Designs

Illustrations in UI are here to stay. They have become an increasingly popular method of helping brands stand out. Digital designs are often the go-to choice, but hand-drawn illustrations can be equally effective.

Reasons for making Getillustrations your go-to source:

• You have access to more than 17,500 ready-to-use illustrations.
• Fresh illustrations are added every week.
• Download an illustration, and it’s yours to use forever.
• Choose from a range of formats: PNG, SVG, AI, Figma, and Sketch.

Use coupon code ULTIMATE30 and get a 30% discount off Getillustrations.

9. Slider Revolution – WordPress Slider Plugin

Slider Revolution has been updated and transformed into a video slider plugin that enables you to create incredible full-page video slideshows for your WordPress website without having to rely on professional coding or video editing skills.

You can build incredible full-page video slideshows for your WordPress website with Slider Revolution. However, it is more than a video editor or embedder as it comes with more than 250 pre-built templates that can make any site look like it took months and thousands of dollars to design.

Slider Revolution has been trusted by over 9 million users around the world.

10. Mobirise Website Builder Software

Mobirise is an offline downloadable app for Windows and Mac that you can use to create awesome websites, landing pages, and simple web stores in minutes. You can earn money with Mobirise as it is free for commercial and personal use.

• You get 7600+ fantastic blocks and templates to help you get started.
• You will own your site. You can edit it locally and upload it wherever.
• Since Mobirise is downloadable, you can use it offline as a Windows, Mac, or Linux desktop application.
• Mobirise also excels as a fast-prototyping tool.

11. Essential Grid – WordPress Grid Plugin

Essential Grid is considered by many web designers to be the best WordPress grid plugin on the market. Created by the developers of Slider Revolution (see above), Essential Grid can claim an impressive user base of 400,000 happy customers. Essential Grid’s remarkable features include:

• 50+ exceptional and customizable grid templates.
• A range of stunning grid layout options, including boxed and full-width, full-screen layouts, and even masonry and cobble grid items.
• Grid designs are fast, responsive, fully customizable, and include rows, columns, spacings, etc.
• Grid galleries can be loaded with social media content from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and Vimeo.

12. Total WordPress Theme

This aptly named multipurpose WordPress theme is a complete toolbox neatly wrapped in a single package with enough aids and options to create websites fast and test your creativity to the limit. Total‘s key features include:

• An advanced and extended version of the WPBakery page builder.
• Impressive selections of easy to work with demos and section templates.
• Custom page builder settings, live Customizer options, typography manager, unlimited colors, and more.
• Total integrates seamlessly with Elementor, WooCommerce, WPML, bbPress, and most other popular WordPress plugins.

13. Pulsetic – Free Website Uptime Monitoring

Pulsetic is a free website uptime monitoring tool with Status badges that show the up and downtime status of your site without changing pages. You will receive an alert when your website goes down. With Pulsetic, you can:

• Create a status page for your site, like the example displayed in the banner above.
• Receive instant alerts via phone call, SMS, email, or Slack whenever your website experiences downtime.
• Create visually appealing status pages and incident management reports that will keep your visitors up-to-date and informed.

14. Static.app – One-Click Hosting Solution for Your Static Website

Static.app is a one-click hosting solution for your static website with a drag-and-drop approach that offers the easiest way to get things done. Drag-and-drop an archive with your page or entire website, and Static.app will take care of the rest. With Static.app, you can:

• Overwrite existing website files if you want to make changes, and new website pages will appear online.
• With their online file management, you can edit and delete files and copy and clone them without leaving your browser tab.
• Everything is included, including SSL certificates, media storage, forms, and code editor, all in one place.

15. Microanalytics.io – Free Privacy-Focused Alternative to Google Analytics

Microanalytics.io is an easy to use, privacy-focused alternative to the big analytics platforms that preserves anonymity and puts you in complete charge. Created and hosted in the EU, Microanalytics.io is powered by renewable energy. Its key features include:

• A free privacy-focused alternative to Google Analytics that does not track you or your site’s visitors.
• You have complete control over everything. Your data is not shared with anyone else.
• Microanalytics.io easily integrates with WordPress and is fully compliant with GDPR, PECR, and CCPA.

16. Siter.io – No Code Website Builder, Web Design Tool for Designers

Siter.io is a no-code website builder and web design tool for designersthat allows you to create and publish websites without coding. The platform operates by designing directly in the browser.

Siter.io offers a Figma plugin that enables you to convert Figma designs into live websites without any coding skills, and you can even insert HTML directly into the editor. Some of Siter.io’s features include:

• Thousands of free icons are available, as are links to your social media pages.
• You can insert videos directly on a page as an embed, a popup, or a background.
• You can use your own domain or Siter.io’s domain.

17. Unspam.email – Email Tester, Spam Checker & Deliverability Test

Unspam.email is an online email tester, spam checker, and delivery test tool. Email testing is free and provides an excellent way to improve deliverability. With Unspam.email, you can:

• Analyze your email and return a spam score so you will instantly know when your IP address name or domain name has been blacklisted, and can fix the problem quickly.
• Ensures everyone can read your emails with full accessibility checks.
• Instantly check for broken or bad links to avoid being caught in spam filters.

18. Absurd Design – Free Surrealist Illustrations & Vector Art

Absurd Design introduces a new way and visual perception for websites, presentations, apps, articles, and much more! Download and use the free illustrations and vector art for your own landing pages or presentations.

• Absurd Design artworks combine absurdity and childishness that make their illustrations nearly irresistible.
• Imperfection has its own drawing power, and something that has been created by hand is often all it takes to engage a visitor.
• Let your site guide visitors through fantasy worlds created by Absurd Design drawings that are anything but absurd.

19. Postcards – No-Code Email Builder, Edit HTML Email Template

With Postcards, you can create email templates 20x faster, with no design limitations or need for coding skills. Postcards provide all of the necessary tools to build and customize your email template in just a few minutes. With Postcards, you can:

• Customize content with ease with their intuitive no-code editor.
• Customize a mobile version of your content.
• One-click export your template to Mailchimp, HubSpot, or as a plain HTML file to upload anywhere.
• Give your team easy access to your projects to get the best ideas from everyone.

Fortunately, there isn’t a shortage of resources available to help designers stay on top of the latest web design tool trends.

Having a well-stocked designer’s toolkit can be the key to your success. But discovering and learning about the best web design resources can be like finding a diamond in the rough..

Whether you need a tool to help you create a full-blown website, to give you a little design inspiration, or to help spark an idea, consider this collection of top tools and resources for 2023 as an opportunity to level up your web design skills.

The post 19 Web Design Resources and Tools for Designers and Agencies (2023 Updated) <span class="sponsored_text">Sponsored</span> appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

Perhaps artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming mainstream at just the right time. It’s poised to bring new levels of power and convenience to web design.

We’re already starting to see the changes. Tools like GitHub’s Copilot can turn user prompts into fully-functioning code. And generative AI has even made its way into Adobe’s Photoshop.

Yet this is only the beginning. Imagine how AI could change web design tools in the future. How might it look? Here are a few (thoroughly-unscientific) guesses.

Providing a Better Starting Point for Design

The first step is often the hardest. That truism applies to many aspects of life – including web design.

Sometimes creative block stands in the way. Thus, you might spend hours tinkering with layout ideas. That’s time you could have spent being productive.

The conversational nature of AI tools seems like the perfect antidote. You might write a prompt asking for a “magazine layout“. Or request a home page that’s similar to the New York Times.

Like magic, a basic layout appears. From there, you can personalize the design to match your needs.

A particularly astute tool could adjust based on your platform. If you’re using WordPress, perhaps it offers up a block theme. If you plan on using static HTML, then that’s the output you receive.

True, this may take some of the originality out of the process. However, it might open the door to more possibilities as well. The power is in the hands of the user.

Making Websites Accessible in Real Time

The need to build accessible websites isn’t going away. There are both moral and legal obligations for doing so. Thus, it’s a subject that every web designer should master.

But ensuring accessibility requires testing. That’s a resource-intensive task. These days, it consists of both automated and manual methods.

Automated tools like WAVE are helpful. They can scan a page and provide a laundry list of issues to investigate. But they also return a lot of false-positive results. In short: they lack context. That’s why we still need manual testing.

AI may never perfect accessibility testing. But it does have the potential to improve accuracy. Imagine a testing suite that can read your code and interpret how each feature works. From there, it determines whether they follow best practices.

And what if a design tool could give us this information from the start? It might prevent us from creating an inaccessible feature in the first place.

For example, the ability to analyze a background image and determine whether it would accommodate layered text. If the text is illegible, a warning would be displayed. And it might offer to adjust the image for us.

This technology could keep accessibility in the front of our minds. If it’s not already there, that is.

Improving Responsive Design

Tools like Figma help with responsive design. They allow us to test our prototypes on multiple viewports and make necessary adjustments.

It’s a trial-and-error process, though. Particularly when testing in a web browser. It seems like there are always a few devices that don’t cooperate with a given layout.

But this is an area where large language models (LLMs) can help. These tools have ingested untold amounts of code. Someday they should be “smart” enough to take a desktop layout and adapt it for smaller screens.

They may even suggest items to leave out on mobile devices. For instance, bandwidth-hogging sliders or video backgrounds. In addition, truly responsive type scaling will be easier to implement.

Again, the idea here isn’t perfection. But if an AI-powered tool could get us 75% of the way to a great responsive experience, it could save significant time.

Seeing Potential Issues Before Launch

Launching a website is always challenging. It’s always a good idea to keep a checklist handy. But something could still slip past us.

Perhaps design tools of the not-too-distant future will be an extra set of eyes. They might spot impactful issues in our code.

Browser compatibility is a great place to start. Let’s say a code editor finds a feature that doesn’t work on a recent version of Chrome. It advises us that our site is going to be harder to navigate for x percent of users.

But why stop at browsers? There’s potential to report back on all manner of relevant information. Things like privacy concerns, broken links, or page load times are all possible areas of focus.

This tool has an internet’s worth of data at its disposal. As such, it can predict the potential impact of our design decisions. It may even prevent a major blunder. That could make it a designer’s best friend.

Like Having a Trusted Assistant at Your Side

Maybe some of these predictions are far-fetched. But from what we’ve already seen, it doesn’t feel like science fiction, either.

AI is just beginning to be integrated into web design tools. It’s only a matter of time before the technology expands its capabilities. They’ll keep us focused on important aspects of a project. And they’ll double-check our work.

In all, it will be like having a virtual assistant working beside you. There will likely be some growing pains along the way. But it’s fun to imagine the possibilities.

The post How Could AI Change Web Design Tools? appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.

But did you ever ask yourself how others know it?

Do you know what grabs most attention on your website according to its users? Do you know which part makes your visitors trust you? Do you know where they click to find the information they’re looking for?

If the answer is no, then you are in trouble. After all, it is impossible to improve your website and make it open and attractive for others if you have no idea how people perceive it. But the solution for this problem is basically one click away. It is an affordable and quick method to evaluate data about your users’ experience: I hereby present you screenshot click testing.

It is very simple to understand: users’ clicks on the website are being recorded, and later they are presented as a convenient heat map, available for further analysis. Based on the data you can basically check what works, and what fails.

The sooner you do the tests, the better – you can start optimizing your website right away. Screenshot click testing is an ideal solution to evaluate concepts at an early stage, after all you do not need to have a working website to verify your ideas. You can test prototypes, wireframes or even rough paper sketches.

The sketch and the wireframe from Balsamiq.

First of All: Prepare Yourself

Have a clear understanding of what you what to accomplish. You need to put yourself in a potential visitor’s shoes and think about why they visit your page. Do they look for information? Do they want to see the potential benefits of using your product? What are they looking for? These are the basic questions you need to find an answer for.

The following step is to think about your goals from a business perspective. You want to create particular quick user paths to give your potential customers what they look for as fast as possible, leaving customers satisfied with their decisions. You also want to maximize conversion rate at the same time.

According to a study by WebUsability, you should “work hard to ensure that the first click is a correct click”. They found a direct correlation between the success rate and the item the visitors clicked first. 36% of the users abandoned tasks if they chose the wrong item. What does that mean for your business? Well, if your potential customer doesn’t find the info they are looking for fast, they will leave and your business suffers.

Form Your Hypothesis

Once you are prepared, you need to form a list of hypotheses about your website. You, as an owner or creator, have a very good idea of your webpages inner workings because you’ve invested time and money to make it perfect. By forming a hypothesis you can narrow down the possible issues that you need to cover. Your hypothesis can be in a form of a short statement such as:

• Important information is easy to find for the user
• It’s clear for the visitor where should they click to buy the products
• The calls to actions are visible and direct

These are just examples to get you on the right track of thinking about hypotheses. After forming them it’s high time for you to test if your potential clients think the same (and chances are they don’t!)

Not all hypotheses are easy to test.

Screenshot Testing Tasks – Short and Snappy

Once you have the theories formed, you have to think about possible tasks for participants of your study. Your key goal is to make them short, snappy and to the point. No long descriptions. Be like Hemingway.

If you need to provide some background, put your user in a hypothetical situation: “You are waiting for your pizza, but it is taking too much time. Where would you click to check how long it takes for your order to arrive?” Don’t overdo it, though. Try to achieve the perfect balance between being informative, yet concise. If you need inspiration, here are some tasks which proved to be very effective over the years:

• Click on the first thing you noticed on this page
• Click on the element that you like the most
• Click on the most important element of this page
• Click on the element that you would remove from this page
• Where would you click to do X?

If you need more, check out a sample list here.

UsabilityHub’s quick study.

Choose Your Weapon

The next step in the process is to choose the right screenshot testing tool. You are lucky, because there are many useful solutions available on the market, and they will surely make your testing easier.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, as there are many other available tools – do your research and find out which one of them suits your needs best.

Once you’ve chosen your tool, it would be good to know how they work. Basically, the logic behind the tools and their steps is pretty clear:

• Upload the screenshots
• Set up tasks (that is why the list of tasks comes in handy, as you can simply start setting them up instead of figuring them out at this stage)
• Share a link to your test
• Analyze the full online report once you are satisfied with the number of answers

What you should focus on during the search for your perfect tool is the report part – that’s where the meat is. If you are new to the testing world, you should look for a tool which provides you not only with raw data but also with a coherent visualization to give you better understanding of how people handle the tasks.

A sample visualization from Optimal Workshop:

So much data you could go bananas.

You should brace yourself for the fact that each test will most probably reveal issues you didn’t expect. There is a possibility that you’ll learn that your hypotheses are true or that your assumptions and expectations are totally different from the ones your website visitors have. And that is completely normal – this is why tests are conducted, so you can learn about the users’ behavior, and you can decide what to do in order to improve the website.

Testing is not hard, but actual data interpretation and finding out what to do is. Your solutions could be ineffective, and will require even more testing. That is completely fine. You want to achieve the perfect design and solve the problems. You can be lucky and nail it at the first test or you can struggle for a while until you have that a-ha moment – you never know. But don’t worry, as you can ask specialists for help with interpreting the results. So, test away – the browser window is the limit.

Screenshot Click Testing – Wrap Up

1. Form hypotheses about your website
2. Create a list of short task for your users based on your hypotheses
3. Choose a right tool
4. Start testing:
   • Measure how long it takes to complete the task
   • Measure how many users finished the task
   • Ask how difficult or easy it was for the user to complete the task
   • Ask how confident the users felt when they were completing the task
5. Draw conclusions from the results and adjust your design accordingly
6. Test again!

…and finally…

See how click tests look in real time and help SpeckyBoy Design Magazine!

Now that you are acquainted with the idea of Screenshot Click Testing, it is time for you to see it for yourself. We’ve set up a short test on SpeckyBoy Design Magazine for you to try. Take part in it and see how it works, and how it feels to be a tested user! Start the test.

If you want the see how the results look like, click here.

The post Tips, Tricks and Tools of Screenshot Click Testing appeared first on Speckyboy Design Magazine.