Archive for month: August, 2017

Original Source: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2017/08/web-development-reading-list-announcing-changes/

 

 

You might have noticed it already: in the past few weeks you might have missed Anselm’s Web Development Reading List issues here on SmashingMag. No worries, from now on, we’ll switch to collecting the most important news of each month in one handy, monthly summary for you. If you’d like to continue reading Anselm’s weekly reading list (and we encourage you to!), you can still do so via email, on wdrl.info or via RSS. — Editorial Team

Hello again! I’ll continue publishing this resource and am grateful for everyone who supports my ongoing work. And to celebrate the last weekly edition, I found a lot of great articles for you: Biohacking news that sound like science fiction, advances in deep learning with JavaScript, and a lot more. Happy reading!

The post Web Development Reading List: Announcing Changes, A Design Kit, DNA Malware, And Why Meaning Is An Advantage appeared first on Smashing Magazine.

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/abduzeedo/~3/Mx2xv8YmaKI/daily-design-inspiration-311

Daily Design Inspiration

AoiroStudio
Aug 18, 2017

Part of the Daily Design Inspiration series that started it all on Abduzeedo. This is where you’ll find the most interesting things/finds/work curated by one of us to simply inspire your day. Furthermore, it’s an opportunity to feature work from more designers, photographers, and artists in general that we haven’t had the chance to write or feature about in the past.

For this Daily we are selecting illustration, photography, branding and more. Our goal is to diversify the types of work and in the future we can perhaps categorize them in different sections. For now we are going to stick to the simple format of images and links. I hope you enjoy and share with use via Twitter or our Tumblr.

Until further notice, we’ll display the images and the titles added to them. Because of little issues we had in the past, the images are still linked to their authors, we just won’t mentioned who shared them like we used to.

Daily Design Inspiration

daily inspiration

Original Source: https://www.sitepoint.com/master-api-workflow-postman/

Building good APIs is hard, and anyone who had the chance to do so can relate to this. A project can easily grow to become a mess. One can keep trying to adopt an approach to make it more enjoyable, like trying a documentation-first workflow, but something always feels clumsy.

I was trying out Postman lately, a tool we’ve briefly covered before, and I discovered that they’re doing a great job by providing an integrated environment for different components of an API, like authorization, testing, documentation, versioning, etc.

In this article, we’re going to walk through the different features that Postman provides and how we can organize them to make our API workflow less painful.

Making Requests

The first step to discovering Postman is making a simple API request and seeing the response.

From the screenshot above we can see that the view incorporates different elements. The top bar contains the request method (in this case GET), and right next to it we specify the endpoint to make the request to. If the request has some params we can specify them by clicking the Params button, which will open a table for entering them. When ready, we can click the send button to initiate the request.

The next section contains five tabs:

Authorization: Specifies how to authorize the request. Like Basic Auth, OAuth2, etc.
Headers: Any header that should be sent with the request. Like content-type, Authorization, etc.
Body: Request body for request types like Post, PUT, etc.
Pre-request Script: JS code to be executed before performing the request. (More about this later)
Tests: JS code to validate the response payload.

The bottom section contains all the details about the response (status, time and size). The four tabs are self explanatory, except for Tests which contains the tests result if we have any (more about this later).

Authorization

Postman supports all types of authorization, as we saw above. We’re going to focus on token authorization set via header. You can read more about authorization here.

The header format that Postman will use is:

Authorization: Bearer <TOKEN>

Now, we’ll go ahead and get a token we can use for our future requests. I’m testing on an in-development application of mine, but you can use any application you have lying around, or set one up quickly with Laravel as described here.

Not familiar with Laravel? Try our premium course – it’s a comprehensive introduction, and you’ll get the upcoming newer version of it automatically if you grab it in its current iteration!

At this point, we have a token to be used for querying data from the API as an authenticated user. However, copying and pasting the token for every request is tedious!

Environment Variables

This nice feature alleviates the pain of copy/paste and groups our variables in one place. An environment is an execution context: we may have a local environment, testing, staging, etc.

Postman has different scopes for variables:

Global
Environment
Local
Data

The global variables are available everywhere, separately from the selected environment. You can read more in the documentation.

We need at least three variables for now:

domain: current active subdomain company1, company2, etc.
url: our app URL.
token: Token for future authentication.

Now we can update our login endpoint to use our new environment, but first we need to select our environment from the top right selection box.

We can use our variables inside the URL, parameters, tests, etc. But how are we going to use our token now?

Well, we have two choices. The first is to copy the token and paste it as a value for the token variable (this is what we’re trying to avoid).

The second method is to set this via code executed after the request is done. This is where tests come into play, let’s find out what they are!

Continue reading %How to Master Your API Workflow with Postman%

Original Source: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/drive-recurring-ecommerce-sales/

I often see businesses more concerned about getting new customers instead of retaining the existing ones. But, do you know that it costs five times as much to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one!

Considering how important it is to retain your old e-commerce customers to drive repeated sales, I have written this article touching all the key points. I will discuss different tips to help you in creating a better e-commerce experience for your customers so they keep coming back to your site for more.

Identify the reasons why customers leave

Firstly, you need to identify all the possible reasons of customers leaving your site. These can be any of the following:

The customer has left the market.
Your competitor has persuaded the customer to join their service.
Dissatisfied with your service.
Customer believes you do not care for them.

Once you pinpoint the reason why your existing customer has decided to take a u-turn, it automatically becomes easy for you to work on that particular segment of your e-commerce business.

Calculate CLV (Customer Lifetime Value)

In order to assess the value of net profit an existing customer (if retained) may provide to your business, we calculate the Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). It is a predictive analytics technique that can help you forecast the entire future relationship of the customer with your enterprise.

The easiest way to calculate CLV is by using the below formula:

CLV = CV x t

(Legend)

CLV = Customer Lifetime Value
CV = Customer Value
t = Store’s Average Lifespan

Where:

CV = AOV x f

(Legend)

AOV = Average Order Value
f = Purchase Frequency

AOV can be calculated by the formula:

AOV = Total revenue (365 days) / Total number of orders (365 days)

And f can be calculated by the formula:

f = Number of Orders (365 days) / Unique customers (365 days)

And

t (stores lifespan) is usually 1 to 3 years.

This is a basic calculation that shows as how many months or years the customer stays with the company before going dormant.

Strategies to retain customers

It is critical for an e-commerce business to drive more online revenue by generating repeated e-commerce sales. Here are some of the ways to enable customers to spend more without becoming dormant:

1. Simplify the checkout process

Customers are more likely to purchase repeatedly at your website if the checkout process is simple and convenient. Do not make the customer fill the details every time they purchase, rather provide auto-filling of the fields that remain same like the name, address, and card details. Your focus should be to save your customer’s time and add convenience to the process.

Here are some ways to simplify the checkout process:

Use AJAX to dynamically update the page without the need to refresh it.
Remove distractions (like the main menu) and keep only the essential fields (payment details and delivery details) in the checkout page. Tools like Usersnap can help you track bugs on your site easily.
If there is an error on the customer’s part then highlight the error by using a message popup and instruct the customer what to do next.
Once the order is placed, clearly state the date and time of the delivery.
Send emails and messages confirming the order placement.
Ensure, the checkout works smoothly on all devices.

Have a look at the below one-step checkout process for Magento:

2. Reward your customers

Customers love to be rewarded. It can be in the form of inviting your loyal customers to company events or sending them customized messages or gifts on their birthdays or anniversaries. Tools like LoyaltyBox are a great help in automating the process of rewarding your customers.

Here are some more ways you can apply to reward your customers:

Give cashback or loyalty points to the customers once they complete their first purchase which can be redeemed at their next purchase.
Charge upfront fee and provide VIP benefits. A great example is of Amazon Prime which charges $99 annually and the users get free shipping with no minimum purchase.
Partner with other companies to provide the customers with all inclusive offers. For example, you can tie up with a spa company and offer free spa services to customers when they reach a particular level.
3. Ask for constructive feedback

Customers look for a platform where they can share their voice. Feedback is an important medium to optimize the customer purchase journey. You can ask for user feedback through the following ways:

Send emails to customers after they make a purchase asking them about their experience like “Did you find the checkout process easy?” OR “What would you like to change in the checkout process in order to make it easier?”
Similarly, you can ask them about their experience with the particular product that they purchased.
You can also provide pro-active live chat support to gather real time feedback and minimize the friction to the purchase.
Gather data using customer surveys. Move forward with a shorter, “slider” survey that appears onscreen as a customer browses your site.
4. Offer regular discounts

Who doesn’t like discounts? Rewarding your loyal customers by sending them discount coupons is a great way to enhance customer retention.

Shopify is one of the most reliable platforms when it comes to generating extra online sales. You can take advantage of Shopify’s coupon and discount feature. Create coupons and assign discount codes to generate more business.

You can create discounts on the basis of:

Percentage – 10% off on your overall purchase.
Shipping costs – offer customers free shipping.
5. Provide efficient customer service

You should always be supportive towards your customers and help them with whatever issues they might be facing. A bad and inefficient customer service is often one of the common reasons why customers fail to repeat purchase. Here are some tips for providing better customer service:

The customer service executives should be courteous and respectful.
They must listen to what the customer is saying. A good support agent has to be a good listener.
Response should be given in real time and all the queries should be fixed at the earliest. Support agents often try to neglect the customer queries and do not provide an immediate solution.
Consistently check with your customers whether they are happy with the products and services. Proper feedback is crucial for the success of the business. You can check out the customer service feedback templates provided by SurveyMonkey.
6. “Open a Relationship” instead of “Closing a Sale”

The growth of an e-commerce business is dependant on sales, however, the sales are eventually generated by customers. Therefore, if you try to close sales instead of opening relationship with the customers, it will only benefit you in short-term.

Instead, it is important to open up a relationship with your customer and focus on long-term benefits for your e-commerce business.

In conclusion

It is important for you to maintain the right attitude with your customers at each point during the customer lifecycle. You must exceed the expectations of the customers and always remain available. Remember that a happy customer is a loyal customer.

How do you keep the customers happy? Do let me know in the comments below.

5 Ways Customer Service Can Yield Better Search Results

.no-js #ref-block-post-28028 .ref-block__thumbnail { background-image: url(“http://media02.hongkiat.com/thumbs/250×160/how-to-earn-higher-online-revenue.jpg”); }

5 Ways Customer Service Can Yield Better Search Results

Nowadays search engine optimization is more focused towards search experience optimization – also known as “the other SEO”…Read more

Original Source: http://inspiredm.com/making-better-html-tables/

Inspired Magazine
Inspired Magazine – creativity & inspiration daily

Strangely enough, one of the most difficult web technologies to master is one of the earliest ones to be available for the browser after plain text and images. The problem is even greater today with so many different device types that need to be thought about.

Perfect tables are nearly impossible to create unless they contain so few items that no problems are likely to be triggered. The kinds of errors that can arise include:

Text wrapping incorrectly
Justification errors
Table rendering off screen
Scroll problems
Row height errors
Column width errors
General ugliness or untidiness

In this article we’ll take a look at how to avoid problems like that, so your tables have the best chance of creating a good impression.

Avoidance strategies to avoid

Because tables are so difficult to get right, some people try to avoid using them. Some common strategies are using CSS to create a fake table, and using an image of the data table without implementing it in code.

Both of these avoidance strategies have flaws and should be avoided. Using CSS to imitate a table lacks the semantic structure inherent in a table, which can create usability and accessibility problems.

An image of a table won’t suffer the problems that are listed in the introduction, but degrades your SEO potential and can’t be easily modified if your data needs updating. It also introduces usability and accessibility problems.

Frameworks are your friends

Common frameworks such as Bootstrap and Foundation contain many time-saving tools, and tables are no exception. Building a classy looking table in Bootstrap is not difficult, but does come with some limitations if you just build off the rack without adding some bespoke tailoring to your efforts.

Looks aren’t everything

Because content and style should always be independent, it can make sense to build your table in plain HTML first just to make sure it will look good before any special table styling is applied.

This can also be helpful in reminding you that good table construction requires more than just making the table look good. It should also be a useful information delivery system. If the goal of the table is not to convey information, then you shouldn’t be using a table for whatever it is you are doing.

Aim for accessibility

Some people have difficulty seeing and reading printed text, so it’s a good idea to make tables accessible for them. You can find out everything you need to know about making your tables more accessible from WebAIM.

Consider giving ID values to table components

For maximum control over each part of the table (rows, cells), you can consider giving them individual ID values. Adding class values as well will give you even more flexibility.

Doing these things creates a lot more work for you, so it’s only practical when you need to be able to fine tune any item by reference. If you do decide to do this, you will be able to directly manipulate any table item using JavaScript and CSS.

One of the complexities of table making is that we declare rows but not columns. The columns are created dynamically, calculated according to how many data items you place on each row. This is why tables add to your page loading time.

Effectively it means columns exist only in an abstract sense before the page is rendered, so you can’t give them any kind of reference. By giving the first TD item on a row a class of, for example, “firstCol”, you provide a way to directly reference a column.

Compact tables are best

It has become fashionable to build everything with big, high visibility components. From an accessibility point-of-view, this is wonderful. In terms of usability, however, it isn’t always the best way, because it can lead to problems.

The developers of Bootstrap experimented with responsive tables, but tables and responsiveness don’t go well together. Designing your tables from the start so they’ll fit on a mobile screen in portrait mode is a smart move.

Tables should always be scrollable

It’s a good practice to always set the overflow value of a table to auto, but not on the table itself. Instead, wrap the table inside a div, something like this:

Then there’s a lot of PHP code that constructs the table body, closing with this:

The part that does the work of making the table scrollable is on the first line, where the table-wrap div is given a fixed height and has its overflow value set to auto. If you do this to the table itself, instead of to a wrapper around the table, it can have unintended effects.

Call in the heavy hitters if you need to

For simple tables, this is overkill, but when you have a table that really needs advantages like adjustable column widths and column sorting, there are some powerful jQuery applications that have been built to help with the task of constructing complex tables.

The biggest and most likely best is Flexigrid. This has a similar look to a Java Swing table, and works in a similar way.

The features of Flexigrid may even be too much for what you need, so in this case you could consider TableSorter, which is quite a bit simpler.

While the features of these kinds of tools can be exciting, it’s important to that they’re going to add even more to your page loading time. It’s best to save this kind of thing for when you really must have it.

Automated conversion tools won’t normally give best results

There are CMS plug-ins available that allow you to convert document tables to HTML tables. These are not anywhere near as good as building the table yourself manually, so if you want superior results, automation of this kind is not the way to go.

Your own home-grown automation is fine, however

Using PHP to construct your tables from database information is always a good idea, and definitely preferable to typing everything manually. The difference here is you have full control over how the automation works.

When you use third party automation, the third party author has to make assumptions about your table. This means you’ll end up with a generic table that may lack many features compared to creating the table yourself.

Use tables appropriately and they will reward you

Good tables are designed, they don’t just happen. When you design an information delivery system, you want it to be efficient and effective. Make sure your tables are designed to be just that, and your site will achieve maximum benefit from their inclusion.

header image courtesy of Maggie Appleton

This post Making Better HTML Tables was written by Inspired Mag Team and first appearedon Inspired Magazine.