Original Source: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2020/05/building-brand-trust-with-transparency-what-web-designers-can-do/

The web has made it all too easy for consumers to look up anything and everything they’re interested in or have questions about. “Pet stores near me.” “Best web hosting 2020.” “Tom Brady net worth.”

And it’s with this easy access to data that consumers have grown pickier about who they do business with. Because if they can get answers to all the other questions in their lives, why can’t they find out everything there is to know about a company they intend to buy from?

As such, we’re going to see more companies lean more towards honest and straightforward approaches than they have in previous years… And that means web designers need to be ready to help clients communicate that transparency through their websites.

What Web Designers Can Do to Help Brands Build Trust

Transparency and trust go hand-in-hand in the minds of consumers. A report from SproutSocial provides additional insight into why it’s so important to them.

Although the report focuses on transparency in social media, at its core it’s looking at how brand transparency translates into consumer trust.

Here is one of the key takeaways:

When brands are honest with consumers about things like their internal workings, pricing, values, and so on, their customers become more loyal. And, not only that, they become active advocates for the brand.

As for what your visitors and prospects consider as “transparency”, here are the most common things they look for:

We can use this information to better present information on clients’ websites. Here’s how:

1. Be Clear About the Solution First Thing

53% of consumers define brand transparency as clarity. And what better way to be clear than to address their pain and provide your solution right away?

In fact, you could take a page out of RE/MAX’s book and take all other distractions out of the way:

There is no navigation for the RE/MAX website save for the customer portal link. While you might not be able to get away with that exact design choice on your website, you could tuck your navigation under a hamburger menu to make sure the main thing in view is the call-to-action.

By removing other options from view, and painting a very strong argument for why your solution works (e.g. “Each year, our agents help hundreds of thousands of families buy or sell a home”), there’s no reason for visitors to get right to it. You’ve created the shortest, easiest, and clearest pathway to their pain relief.

2. Openly Display Customer and Client Reviews

One of the problems with displaying testimonials on a website is that the clients’ words are filtered through the company before they reach prospective clients’ eyes. In addition, brands obviously only want to share the most flattering of reviews, which can lead to some deception (whether intentional or not).

More than anything, consumers want brands to be open (59% of those surveyed defined transparency as openness). So, we need to do away with these overly flattering portraits of brands and start being more honest with prospects.

For service-based businesses, the solution is simple:

Encourage clients to leave reviews on the company’s Google or Facebook business page. You can put a link to those pages on the website so visitors see that honest reviews are welcome.
Use a reviews widget to display your online reviews — the good and the bad — on your website.

For ecommerce businesses, this is a little easier to implement as product reviews are commonplace. So long as there’s no manipulation of the data and visitors are able to see true reviews, there’s not much else to do than to configure a product reviews and ratings system like the one Olay has:

When you include reviews on your website, make sure a ratings sorting feature is included. That way, if customers want to see what all the bad reviews are saying, they can quickly get to them.

3. Maintain Integrity When It Comes to Data Collection

Privacy has been a major concern for consumers for years. But companies (and their web developers) found a solution amidst the release of GDPR: the cookie consent bar.

The only problem is that the cookies consent request was everywhere. And as tends to happen with consumers, banner blindness has led to more and more visitors ignoring those requests and clicking “OK” or “Allow” simply to get them out of the way.

Blind acceptance of a website’s privacy policies is not good for the brand nor the consumer. So, what some websites do now to appeal to the 23% of people who consider integrity the most important part of transparency is this:

Use just-in-time privacy notices that display only when visitors are about to share their information.
Include a “Do Not Sell My Personal Data” link at the bottom of websites as Tide does.

With the passing of the California Consumer Privacy Act, these statements enable California residents to indicate which tracking cookies they want to enable:

There are some cookie consent tools that provided for this level of user control, but not all — which is why this CCPA statement is a big step in the right direction.

4. Be 100% Honest About Pricing and Other Fees

It’s not always easy for consumers to decide what they’re going to spend their money on, what with the variety of options and distractions suggesting it might be better spent elsewhere. So, when your website provides pricing that seems too good to be true, don’t be surprised when they abandon the purchase when they discover it really is.

With 49% of consumers equating transparency with honesty, you can expect unexplained discrepancies between the ticket price and the price at checkout to cause issues for your brand.

When designing product-related pages on an ecommerce site, consider the best way to inform your shoppers without compromising the on-page experience.

Ticketmaster, for instance, does an amazing job of this.

For starters, this pop-up is what visitors see before they ever get a chance to look at ticket prices for upcoming NFL playoff games:

It’s just one way the website prepares them for any surprises.

Another way the site handles this well is with this well-placed reference to ticket fees:

The word “Fees” is a hyperlink that takes customers to the FAQs — one of many places they can go on the site for pricing-related questions:

Then there’s this accordion dropdown before checkout that details the fees that bring the total from $360 to $424:

This way, Ticketmaster customers are 100% prepared for what they’re about to find when they pull out their credit card to pay.

If your website has a high cart abandonment rate, there’s a good chance the issue has to do with the final costs. So, if your website hasn’t gently reminded them along the way of what they’ll pay, it’s time to build in more of that along the journey.

Transparency and Trust: Making the Connection for Your Clients

It’s understandable why consumers want to give their money to trustworthy brands. There are just too many options out there today. Why should a purchase ever require a deep-dive analysis into every company, every option, every product or service? By finding brands they can trust, their lives become much easier.

As a web designer, you have an important role to play in bringing prospective customers or clients to that conclusion.

 

Featured image via Unsplash.

Source

p img {display:inline-block; margin-right:10px;}
.alignleft {float:left;}
p.showcase {clear:both;}
body#browserfriendly p, body#podcast p, div#emailbody p{margin:0;}

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/1stwebdesigner/~3/I74DPI7gSEk/

When creating a business website, it’s vital to have a design and layout that serves your content well. But this can feel like a monumental task if you don’t have design skills yourself. That’s why minimal HTML templates are so useful, of course. They save you time, and for just a small upfront investment, you can get a fantastic-looking site that suits your company for years to come.

Today, we’ve compiled twenty minimal HTML templates for creating effective business websites. The minimal design is key here: it means your content stands out and won’t be lost in a sea of clutter.

UNLIMITED DOWNLOADS: Email, admin, landing page & website templates

Starting at only $16.50 per month!

DOWNLOAD NOW

Ocularus

The Ocularus HTML template is easy on the eyes, mostly because there isn’t a whole lot to look at. And that’s a good thing. Its minimal design allows your content to shine.

Blossom

Another option is the Blossom template. This one offers a simple layout that you can use to create any type of company website you can imagine. Add images, add text with ease here.

Sora

The Sora template is aimed at photographers and but could be used for any type of business with a graphical focus.

Krome

Krome is a fantastic template that is suitable for portfolios, agency websites, and more. It uses a grid-based layout for showcasing images in an eye-catching way.

Leto

Leto is another minimal template that can be used for portfolios. Its grid-based design makes it easy to display graphics and images succinctly.

Minel

The Minel template could be customized for a wide range of businesses. It offers an interesting menu layout, call-to-action buttons, and compelling graphics.

Opium

Opium is another HTML template that uses a minimal design to great effect. Enjoy the grid layout, and timeline page option to make for a unique “about us” page, and that’s just for starters.

Minimalize

Minimalize is a lovely-to-look at HTML template that utilizes the one-page motif to create an engaging scrolling experience for your visitors.

Vinero

Vinero is another minimal theme, this time using a monochromatic color scheme, a grid-based layout, and an overall clean look that complements your content well.

Pisend

Another option is the Pisend HTML template. This one offers a minimal design, this time for blogs. It comes with 10 demos, too, so you can opt for one and get started with inserting your content immediately.

Origin

If you’re looking for a portfolio HTML template, this minimal option is a good fit. Origin offers large text, large images, and easily identifiable call-to-action buttons that leave your visitors guided through an intuitive browsing experience.

Pekko

Pekko is another HTML template that is sure to catch the eye. Its monochrome design allows you to feature your best work front and center with zero distractions getting in the way.

Jestem

Jestem is a lovely minimal HTML template that can be used in a wide variety of ways from website to vCard to online resume. It’s easy to set up for presenting your contact info, at the very least.

T-ONE

T-ONE offers a minimal design that gives you plenty of opportunity to showcase full-width images, compelling overlaid text, graphics, and CTAs.

Omnia

Omnia is a minimal HTML template that prioritizes whitespace above all else. And to dramatic effect, I might add. Customize with your own photography and you’ll be impressed with the results.

Laboq

Another option is the Laboq template. This one could be customized to support a grid-based portfolio or even an online store.

Aether

Or you may wish to consider Aether. This minimal HTML template is multipurpose and can be used for any type of site. However, it does have a penchant for agency and portfolio company websites.

Mimilism

Mimilism offers a cohesive, grid-based design that makes it easy to display your best work or examples of your service in an appealing way. Customize, add buttons, and flavor text however you see fit. The fact remains, this template provides flexibility for creating the look you want.

Nubia

The Nubia HTML template really embraces minimalism in an eye-catching way. It has all the hallmarks: whitespace, grid-based layout, and a simple color scheme. But it presents content in such an appealing way that it looks like your site could be a magazine.

Keepsake

Last on our list is the Keepsake template. This one offers a minimal design with a grid layout that could serve a blog, portfolio, or service agency site well.

Set Up a Minimal HTML Template for Your Business

Now that you have twenty minimal HTML templates to choose from, you can hopefully get started with setting up your own business website quickly. So many of these offer demos as well, so you can import that data, add your own images and content and get rolling with launching your new site in a matter of hours. Which is pretty great if you ask us.

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreativeBloq/~3/syAPJhNoqZw/tokyo-2020-parody-magazine-cover

It's been a tough year for the Olympic Games, with Tokyo 2020 becoming the first in history to be postponed. And now adding insult to injury is a magazine cover which, with a few minor tweaks, has turned the Tokyo 2020 emblem into the structure of coronavirus. 

The image appears on the cover of the April edition of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan's (FCCP) magazine, Number 1 Shimbun. And while subversive images are mainstay of magazine covers (many of our best print ads will make you double take), the Tokyo 2020 team believe the FCCP has gone too far.

The offending design

"It is very disappointing to see the games emblem being distorted and associated with the novel coronavirus," Tokyo 2020, spokesman Masa Takaya told insidethegames, "The design is clearly using the design of the Olympic emblem."

The cover is the work of British designer Andrew Pothecary, the magazine's art director. According to The Asahi Shimbun, Pothecary refers to the design as a parody, which was intended "to make a powerful statement about the situation in Japan in light of the fact information related to the coronavirus pandemic keeps changing daily."

If you ask us, Pothecary's "powerful statement" isn't particularly apparent in the design, which leaves it looking rather crass. We're no strangers to controversial magazine covers, but the most successful efforts tend to get away with said controversy by balancing it with a clear message. Without one, Number 1 Shimbun's cover seems a little flippant – not a great look during a global pandemic.

The official Tokyo 2020 emblems were chosen from thousands of submissions

Tokyo 2020 has called the cover an infringement on its "legally secured copyright to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic emblem," although it isn't clear whether it is seeking legal action. Interestingly, it seems the FCCP will be addressing the controversy in an online press conference tomorrow. Perhaps we'll even hear an apology then. 

As well as the unenviable organisational headache caused by the postponement of the games, the marketing and design repercussions have led to some confusing messaging, such as the decision not to design a new logo despite the new 2021 date. NBC then decided to update its own, turning it into a real head-scratcher. Hopefully the games will go ahead as planned next year, putting an end to Tokyo 2020's woes.

Read more:

New Olympic museum logo is pure design goldTokyo 2020 Olympic posters are a delightfully eclectic mixWhere to find logo design inspiration

Original Source: https://www.sitepoint.com/use-jquerys-ajax-function/?utm_source=rss

Nowadays, developers tend to move away from jQuery and its handy methods for DOM manipulation and Ajax requests that made it hugely popular. Regarding the Ajax requests, the Fetch API, or alternatively, the Axios library, are now more popular tools for performing asynchronous operations. That said, jQuery is still very much alive and powers almost 70,000 websites worldwide. This means that knowing how to use jQuery is still valuable in the day-to-day work of developers, like supporting legacy codebases or maintaining projects that use jQuery as an important dependency.

Ajax is a technology that allows developers to make asynchronous HTTP requests without the need for a full page refresh. To make the process less cumbersome than it would be in pure JavaScript, devs have been using the jQuery library for years. In my article An Introduction to jQuery’s Shorthand Ajax Methods, I discussed some of jQuery’s most-used Ajax shorthand methods: $.get(), $.post(), and $.load(). They are convenient methods for making Ajax requests in a few lines of code.

Sometimes, we need more control over the Ajax calls we want to make. For example, we want to specify what should happen in case an Ajax call fails or we need to perform an Ajax request but its result is only needed if retrieved within a certain amount of time. In such situations, we can rely on another function provided by jQuery, called $.ajax(), that is the topic of this tutorial.

The $.ajax() Function

The jQuery $.ajax() function is used to perform an asynchronous HTTP request. It was added to the library a long time ago, existing since version 1.0. The $.ajax() function is what every function discussed in the previously mentioned article calls behind the scene using a preset configuration. The signatures of this function are shown below:

$.ajax(url[, settings])
$.ajax([settings])

The url parameter is a string containing the URL you want to reach with the Ajax call, while settings is an object literal containing the configuration for the Ajax request.

In its first form, this function performs an Ajax request using the url parameter and the options specified in settings. In the second form, the URL is specified in the settings parameter, or can be omitted, in which case the request is made to the current page.

The list of the options accepted by this function, described in the next section, is very long, so I’ll keep their description short. In case you want to study their meaning in depth, you can refer to the official documentation of $.ajax().

The settings Parameter

There are a lot of different options you can specify to bend $.ajax() to your needs. In the list below you can find their names and their description sorted in alphabetic order:

accepts: The content type sent in the request header that tells the server what kind of response it will accept in return.
async: Set this option to false to perform a synchronous request.
beforeSend: A pre-request callback function that can be used to modify the jqXHR object before it is sent.
cache: Set this option to false to force requested pages not to be cached by the browser.
complete: A function to be called when the request finishes (after success and error callbacks are executed).
contents: An object that determines how the library will parse the response.
contentType: The content type of the data sent to the server.
context: An object to use as the context (this) of all Ajax-related callbacks.
converters: An object containing dataType-to-dataType converters.
crossDomain: Set this property to true to force a cross-domain request (such as JSONP) on the same domain.
data: The data to send to the server when performing the Ajax request.
dataFilter: A function to be used to handle the raw response data of XMLHttpRequest.
dataType: The type of data expected back from the server.
error: A function to be called if the request fails.
global: Whether to trigger global Ajax event handlers for this request.
headers: An object of additional headers to send to the server.
ifModified: Set this option to true if you want to force the request to be successful only if the response has changed since the last request.
isLocal: Set this option to true if you want to force jQuery to recognize the current environment as “local”.
jsonp: A string to override the callback function name in a JSONP request.
jsonpCallback: Specifies the callback function name for a JSONP request.
mimeType: A string that specifies the mime type to override the XHR mime type.
password: A password to be used with XMLHttpRequest in response to an HTTP access authentication request.
processData: Set this option to false if you don’t want the data passed in to the data option (if not a string already) to be processed and transformed into a query string.
scriptAttrs: Defines an object with additional attributes to be used in a “script” or “jsonp” request.
scriptCharset: Sets the charset attribute on the script tag used in the request but only applies when the “script” transport is used.
statusCode: An object of numeric HTTP codes and functions to be called when the response has the corresponding code.
success: A function to be called if the request succeeds.
timeout: A number that specifies a timeout (in milliseconds) for the request.
traditional: Set this to true if you wish to use the traditional style of param serialization.
type: The type of request to make, which can be either “POST” or “GET”.
url: A string containing the URL to which the request is sent.
username: A username to be used with XMLHttpRequest in response to an HTTP access authentication request.
xhr: A callback for creating the XMLHttpRequest object.
xhrFields: An object to set on the native XHR object.

That’s a pretty long list, isn’t it? Well, as a developer, you probably stopped reading this list at the fifth or sixth element I guess, but that’s fine. The next section will be more exciting, because we’ll put the $.ajax() function and some of these options into action.

Continue reading
How to Use jQuery’s $.ajax() for Asynchronous HTTP Requests
on SitePoint.