Original Source: https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/hiring-awesome-team/
At some point in your design career, you’ll likely be placed in charge of other people. These might include writers, marketers, programmers, engineers, and other corporate employees. This can…
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Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreativeBloq/~3/_uUVs4PgW3c/apple-sale-may-2020
What with Apple's new 13-inch MacBook Pro 2020 released earlier this month, we're now seeing some great deals on last year's version of the awesome laptop. The best deal right now is from B&H Photo, where it has the 256GB 13-inch MacBook Pro reduced to $1,199 – an impressive $300 off.
A slightly lower priced deal is on 2019's 128GB model of the 13-inch MacBook Pro on sale for $1,149. That's an impressive $150 saving, and currently the lowest price around.
The MacBook Pro is one of the most powerful laptops, something that makes it a favourite for creatives. It's 13.3-inch Retina display allows you to see and show off design work in all its glory, and the 8th Gen Intel Core processor can handle even the most complex of creative tasks.
Over at B&H Photo there are also some great discounts on iPads. The best deal sees a late 2018 11-inch iPad Pro on sale for just $799 (a $150 saving). These deals are only on until stocks lasts, so don't delay. Also, if you love a good deal, be sure to bookmark our Amazon Prime Day 2020 hub, where we hope to see even more great Apple offers.
Browse MacBooks and iPads at Apple.com
MacBook deals:
iPad deal:
Outside the US? Here are the best offers on these and similar devices in your area:
Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Designrfix/~3/vcznuGc6ZAg/passive-income-methods-for-designers
Image source: Pixabay.com If you are a designer who is looking to increase his or her revenue, finding extra work or creating a project of your own should not be that big of a problem. It all comes down to your experience and willingness to learn new things, but you already have a big advantage […]
The post Passive Income Methods for Designers appeared first on designrfix.com.
Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreativeBloq/~3/nAqhbJibgSE/foldable-iphone-flip
An avalanche of iPhone 12 leaks has got everyone talking this week, and the specs for the new models are pretty exciting, to say the least. But one noticeable omission from Apple's proposed plans is the intention to follow in the footsteps of its rivals and release a foldable phone.
YouTube account iOS beta news wondered what that might look like, and created a sleek concept video to give us an idea of a foldable iPhone 12 design. Enter, the iPhone Flip. The concept applies the leaked iPhone 12 design specs (including that super-charged new camera that will definitely make this phone one of the best camera phones) to the real-life Samsung Galaxy Z flip or the rebooted Motorola Razr. Check out the video below.
iOS beta news' video shows the handset closing into a tidy little square, with the hinge sitting on the horizontal, just like the Samsung Galaxy Z. But unlike the Z, there is no crease present on the screen. We're not quite sure how that would work, to be honest, but we're happy to glide over it in much the same way the video glides over showing us the screen in a half-folded state.
A new camera is on the back of the handset, with a pin-hole mounted lens rather than the usual notch, and below it (or on the front when the phone is folded) is a secondary screen – for notifications, the time and so forth. This means you wouldn't have to flip open your iPhone to find out if you had a new message, for example.
The concept iPhone Flip (left) next to the Samsung Galaxy Z (right)
Samsung, Motorola and Nokia are a few of the brands that have already brought the flip phone out of the vault. In fact, YouTube user SkullCandy091 points out that Apple is often somewhat late to the party with certain new features, and "it'll take three years before they catch up and make a folding phone. The same thing happened with Face ID and swipe keyboard."
But are foldable smartphones here to stay? Some commenters on the video seem to think they're a novelty that don't stand up to current user needs, which may be why Apple hasn't leapt at the idea. It is true that they aren't all that convenient – now that we perform most of our daily tasks on our phones, do we really want to be opening and closing them all the time?
And, although the best flip phones certainly have their uses, and do have good capability – especially as a second phone – they come with some inherent design flaws (namely, fragile hinges) that mean the handsets can't yet house all the high-tech features users want from their phones nowadays. Perhaps Apple is waiting for the technology to create something as truly special as this concept model, or maybe it predicts the new rise of the flip phone will swiftly, well, flip away.
Read more:
Is this skateboard with Apple's Mac Pro wheels as ridiculous as it sounds?The best Apple Watch apps in 2020The 14 best iPad apps for designers
Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreativeBloq/~3/llbqTvTwSYk/hand-exercises
Hand exercises often get overlooked. We're all used to the idea that other parts of our body need regular movement to keep them nice and healthy, but we often forget our wrists, hands and fingers when designing exercise routines.
But hands that spend all day doing repetitive movements such as typing or drawing can benefit from just a few hand exercises, which only take a few minutes. Just make sure that you wash your hands before and afterwards.
For other exercises for those sitting all day, see our desk exercises, and avoid back problems by making sure you've got the best office chair you can afford.
To help keep your paws in tip-top shape, comic artist Kaitlin Bruder has put together the infographic below, detailing a number of hand and wrist stretches that she does regularly, especially when she's drawing or has been on her phone of computer for a while.
Click the infographic to enlarge it
Kaitlin recommends these exercises for before and after heavy or repetitive hand, wrist or arm activity; "As a baseline i usually do ‘em when I wake up and before I sleep and then as needed through the day," she explains.
If you find these exercises useful and need a more permanent reminder of them, Kaitlin has put them on Redbubble for you to buy them as a poster or a T-shirt, so there's no excuse for having ruined hands.
If this has inspired you to put together your own data visualisation, take a look at our roundup of the best infographic makers around.
Related articles:
The best desks available nowThe best mindfulness appsHow to make a face mask
Original Source: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2020/05/20-unmissable-websites-may-2020/
The world is a strange place at the moment, but design moves on apace, and sites are still being launched.
Every month we post a roundup of the freshest sites we’ve come across in the previous four weeks. This month we’ve included some exciting portfolio sites, a strong selection of health and beauty sites, and some fabulous new takes on technology. Enjoy!
Lynn Fisher
We love the homepage illustration on Lynn Fisher’s website. It’s pretty cool right? Now try resizing your browser window and see what happens. Hats off to her, it’s not often we find such a knowing, humorous, responsive site.
Sonantic
We’ve seen a few sites in the last few months that have tried to present sound visually. Sonantic does a great job of doing exactly that, with an awesome animated logo, gradients, and random texture.
Zand Harirchi Architects
Based in Tehran, Iran, Zand Harirchi is a modern architecture firm with a confidently modern website to match. We can’t get enough of its thumbnails, which as well as piquing interest, are reminiscent of small windows.
Amino Mason
If you’re designing for a health & beauty product, the obvious route is clean and minimal. Amino Mason has gone the other route, producing a site that screams energy. It’s the epitome of modern Japanese design.
Cone
How many sites have you seen for apps that feature a small demo of the app inside a hastily debranded iPhone window? Now look at how expansive, and how filled with potential Cone feels precisely because it isn’t confined.
Queen Garnet
There are two things that make Queen Garnet stand out in its market. The first thing is the excellent brand typography that is completely different to the usual choice of sans-serif. The second thing is the beautiful product photography.
Mike John Otto
Mike John Otto is a designer, creative director, and artist. His portfolio leans towards high-end sound clients, which helps to explain the hypnotic wave form that fluctuates behind the content of this beautifully designed site.
Ester
We love the hand-drawn quality of the illustrations and animations on Ester’s site. The color scheme feels modern and suitably unisex, and we like the way its portfolio is presented in a straightforward, no-nonsense manner.
Goodfish
Crispy fish skins don’t leap to mind when we’re planning which chips to buy, but that’s what Goodfish is selling. The lettering, artwork, and copy are all enough to make us at least try it. Who knows, perhaps the taste matches the health benefits.
Limnia
Limnia is a making a name for itself in fashion circles for its modular jewellery. Its site does a great job of showcasing its product range with fullscreen video, and we love the way the content is divided up with a strong grid to mimic the product’s modularity.
Outer Reach
Stretching is so important for our physical, and mental health, but so many of us get it wrong, or don’t bother at all. Outer Reach is aiming to change that, and we love the way its hero video rotates through perspectives, as if we were already stretching.
Forward
Forward Journal is an online magazine dedicated to creativity. Unlike most blogs out there, it publishes rarely, and in editions, giving it the feel of a traditional print magazine and heightening the sense of occasion by limiting availability.
Minervo
There’s a distinctly latin feel to the Minervo website from Ecuador. The hot pinks and the sun-blasted desaturation of the color scheme feels suitably South American. We love the cropping on the custom typeface.
Helo
If there’s one thing we hate more than coding for IE, it’s coding for email. Helo is an email testing and debugging tool. Its site is an excellent example of how to do responsive design right.
Midi Fighter
Midi Fighter make a range of physical inputs for DJs and musicians who need reliable, and fun equipment for performing. The colorful site uses subtle illustration to expertly add dynamism to otherwise static product shots.
Future London Academy
There’s a long-standing, and highly respected tradition in this blog series that anyone who makes good use of yellow gets in. Future London Academy certainly does that, but what we really love here is the depth created by the typography.
Abbotsford Convent
Abbotsford Convent is a creative arts venue in Melbourne, Australia, situated in a former convent building. To honor the heritage the shapes employed in the UI blend creative motion, with architectural forms.
Lucky Beard
Lucky Beard has a surprisingly restrained color palette considering its penchant for bold statements. It’s hard to go wrong with animated geometry, and we really like the fact that the navigation has been relocated to the right.
USSR Design Almanac
The Soviet Union was, for a brief period — before Stalin denounced modernism as decadent — the world’s first design super-power. The USSR Design Almanac is a fascinating overview of this extraordinary, and often overlooked history.
East Fork
Okay we admit it, when we first came across East Fork’s website we thought it was about chocolate. Look closer and you’ll see these guys offer some really high-class home products, not least their unique pottery.
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Original Source: https://www.sitepoint.com/top-wordpress-multipurpose-themes/?utm_source=rss
This sponsored article was created by our content partner, BAW Media. Thank you for supporting the partners who make SitePoint possible.
Some look upon multipurpose WordPress themes as website building tools that can accomplish a lot but that also have their limitations.
Their argument is that multipurpose themes spread themselves too thin. It’s like saying that if you can do one thing very well, you can do two things only half as well.
That simply doesn’t hold water. Today’s multipurpose themes — especially the top-tier themes like those described below — can manage virtually any website building challenge you throw at them and meet your grandest expectations — every time.
Since doing is believing, we suggest you give the following themes a closer look and give one or two a try!
You won’t be disappointed.
1. BeTheme – Responsive Multi-Purpose WordPress Theme
We’ll start with the biggest WordPress theme of them all. Any of BeTheme’s library of 500+ websites can get a website building project off the ground in nothing flat. They are customizable, so once you’ve substituted your own content the website-building job is nearly done.
These pre-built websites
are customizable
cover 30+ industry sectors, a host of business niches, and every website type
are attractive and feature professionally designed layouts
have built-in UX functionality that subscribes to the latest UX trends
The pre-built website collection is only one of BeTheme’s 40+ core features that give users a power-packed design toolbox to work with, which includes:
the Layout Generating tool for creating a layout of your own design
the powerful drag and drop Muffin Builder/editor
an Admin/Options panel that gives users maximum design flexibility and eliminates any need for coding
header, footer, and grid options, color palettes, and a host of design options and elements including shortcodes
blog, portfolio, and shop page layouts
BeTheme is one of the top three best-selling themes on the market. Click on the banner to learn more about this popular website-building tool.
2. Total WordPress Theme
A challenge multipurpose theme authors constantly face is that, when designing a sophisticated, multi-functional tool, they also have to make it reasonably easy to learn and use.
Total is truly feature-rich, but it has been designed in such a way that first-time users with little or no design experience have no trouble using it, while all the features and functionalities more advanced users would expect are there and ready to use.
Total effectively promotes a building block or modular design approach combined with an easy drag-and-drop page builder (WPBakery).
Users have ready access to all-inclusive selections of 40+ pre-made demos and 80+ building modules and 500+ styling options, in addition to unlimited colors and custom fonts and icons.
It includes WooCommerce, Revolution Slider, LayerSlider, and Templatera plugins with supportive building blocks.
You’ll also find shortcodes for forms and menus.
Total is responsive, translation ready, and child-theme ready.
Click on the banner to check out Total’s many other useful features.
3. Avada Theme
Avada has been on the market long enough to become the world’s all-time best selling theme. The real reason for this isn’t the length of time it’s been available, but rather what it has to offer. Avada’s robust framework gives users the ability to design anything they want, the way they want it.
Avada is incredibly fast, offers front-end editing, and is packed with demos, partial demos, pre-built websites, and design elements.
Avada’s drag-and-drop builder of choice is Fusion Builder.
The Dynamic Content System provides unparalleled flexibility.
Theme and Page Options give you full control over your design and eliminate any need for coding.
The Fusion Core toolbox is Avada’s engine.
Avada is 100% WooCommerce ready.
Click on the banner to learn more.
4. Kalium
Super easy to use and maintain, Kalium is a creative, multipurpose theme that’s particularly ideal for blog and portfolio website design.
Kalium is fast, 100% responsive to every screen size, and GDPR compliant.
Kalium supports all the popular WordPress plugins.
WPBakery Page Builder, Elementor, Slider Revolution, and WooCommerce plugins are included.
Users can expect first-class Customer Support.
It’s a favorite of 35,000 clients.
Click on the banner to learn more.
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8 Top WordPress Multipurpose Themes and Their Cool Features
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Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/1stwebdesigner/~3/QTgx9Xm_JF0/
When you find the need to put together a presentation, it’s vital to have a solid template at your disposal. This is especially the case when preparing a pitch deck. After all, this is going to be someone’s first impression of you, your business, or your project. It’s key that whatever template you choose is high-quality and eye-catching.
That’s why we’ve done the hard part for you and sourced 16 pitch deck templates that offer real functionality and look great doing it. Each of these have a slightly different look that can be utilized for a wide range of businesses or projects.
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Pitch Deck Keynote Presentation
This pitch deck offers a clean layout with a definitive style that can serve your presentation well. It’s got a lot of whitespace but plenty of key feature sections that can make your content stand out.
Nia Pitch Deck
The Nia Pitch Deck is lovely to look at. The layouts utilize angles to stunning effect to make your content look unique. It can be used for corporate work but skips the traditional boxy design.
Business Pitch Deck Keynote
Another option is the Business Pitch Deck Keynote. This one makes stunning use of a grayscale layout with colorful punctuation to make a statement.
Pitch Deck Powerpoint Template
If you’re looking for something clean, the Pitch Deck PowerPoint Template is a nice choice. Create bulleted lists, colorful charts, graphs, icons, and more.
Pitch Werk
Pitch Werk is another great option for making a presentation that makes an impact. Drop shadow effects on images, unique chart options, and image gallery layouts offer diversity in presentation.
Manola Pitch Deck Keynote Presentation
Or you can use the Manola presentation that offers an all-business pitch deck layout that gets your point across without being boring.
Lyon – Presentation Deck Template
The Lyon pitch deck is super simple but has the benefit of offering plenty of color options for backgrounds, text, and charts.
Pitch Deck Powerpoint Template
Your pitch deck will look professional and sophisticated if you use this option. It offers interesting design elements, however, that make it stand out. Check out the angular graphics on that pricing table slide, for instance.
Matrix – Minimal Powerpoint Presentation Template
If a darker look is more your thing, the Matrix PPT is lovely. Use full-width images, add delicate overlaid text and icons and more to get the effect you want.
Startup Pitch Deck Presentation
The Startup Pitch Deck Presentation offers plenty of colorful backgrounds, text options, and stylized numbering and graphics to keep your audience engaged.
Pitch Deck
The Scofe Pitch Deck is corporate-looking, with lots of whitespace, room for charts and maps, as well as a unified color story.
Pitch Deck Powerpoint Template
Another option worth checking out is this Pitch Deck PowerPoint Template. With curved graphical elements and interesting image segmentation, your presentation will be as engaging as it is informative.
Pitch Deck Keynote Template
This option includes 32 slides with a variety of style and layout choices. Include images, statistics, maps, charts and graphs, image overlays, bullet points, and more.
Spielburg – Pitch Deck
Still another choice is this Spielburg pitch deck. Its large, bold headings make it easy for your audience to stay abreast of the topic at hand. In addition, the easy flow of information is concise and attractive.
Bright Pitch Deck Keynote
You may also wish to consider the Bright Pitch Deck, which uses bold and bright colors to draw you in. Who ever said presentations have to be boring?
Fintech Startup Pitch Deck Presentation
Last on our list is the Fintech Startup Pitch Deck Presentation. This one offers bright, solid color to engage the eye, all while using subtle color variants to overlay text boxes, charts, and graphics. This one uses the best of web design to create a familiar presentation layout that works.
Getting Started with Pitch Deck Templates
Pitch deck templates can help you immensely when trying to put together a presentation that appeals to your target audience. Without it, you’ll be tasked with spending a lot of time custom designing something when you could be spending that time carrying out other operations of your company.
Hopefully, this collection of pitch deck templates will guide you toward an option that suits your needs and truly best represents what you’re about.
Original Source: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2020/05/5-tips-for-working-with-clients-when-youre-at-home/
For those of you working from home right now (willingly or unwillingly), you can’t allow your surroundings to have an effect on your work and, more importantly, your client relationships. Clients don’t care where you are. They just want you to get the job done, and get it done it well.
By that same token, you can’t allow your interactions with clients to have a trickle-down effect on your home life. There needs to be a clear separation between work and home when working with remote clients.
Below are some tips for web designers and other freelancers trying to get a better handle on client management and relationships when they work from home.
1. Power Up Your Internet Speeds
When working from an office, you have the luxury of milking your employer’s or cowork space’s Internet as much as possible. But at home? You’re probably not too excited about paying for super-high-speed Internet when it comes with a hefty monthly cost and it’s only needed for eight or so hours a day.
Look at it this way:
The faster your Internet is, the more quickly you’ll be able to get work done. Plus, healthy Internet speeds are essential for streaming — and I’m not talking about streaming a funny YouTube video. I’m referring to those Zoom meetings you’re going to have with your clients (more on that below).
Keep in mind that Internet costs can be deducted on your taxes. Specifically, you can write off the amount you actually use each day for work purposes. So, some of that money will go back into your pocket come tax time.
2. Dedicate Specific Hours to Client Communication
It’s really important to avoid interruptions when you’re working. And clients present a huge opportunity for interruption and distraction if you let them.
A study out of the University of California discovered the following about interrupted work:
When people are constantly interrupted, they develop a mode of working faster… to compensate for the time they know they will lose by being interrupted. Yet working faster with interruptions has its cost: people in the interrupted conditions experienced a higher workload, more stress, higher frustration, more time pressure, and effort.
By dedicating an hour or two to client communication every day — and communicating this policy to clients — you can keep those distractions to a minimum.
Oh, and make sure anyone at home with you is aware of this.
It might’ve been funny when this BBC News interview was interrupted by kids in the background, but clients won’t be happy if you’ve given them a small timeframe to communicate, only for it to be interrupted.
3. Empower Clients to Schedule Meetings
Even if it’s only you running the show, you want to give off the impression that everything is being handled as well as it would if you had a team behind you. So, this is where your choice of software and your system of automations comes into play.
For starters, your website needs to have a meeting schedule link to empower prospective clients to schedule meetings with you. That’s going to save you time trying to coordinate schedules, setting up meeting details, collecting pertinent details, and so on.
Here’s how I’ve done it on my website:
I first ask prospects to fill in a short questionnaire. This allows me to gather important details to prepare for our meeting.
I then ask them to schedule a call through Calendly:
My Calendly scheduler is connected to my Gmail calendar and Zoom. Once a request has been submitted, the software sets everything up without my having to do a single thing.
By setting the stage with self-scheduling, prospects who become clients already know how they can get in touch with me when they want to chat. To make it even easier for them and myself, I have a separate calendar that allows them to schedule meetings with me during my dedicated client hours.
Of course, you still want to control the flow of your project, so make sure your process includes meetings at key milestones — like the client kickoff, reviewing design mockups, and website handoff. That’ll lessen the likelihood that clients need to meet unexpectedly.
4. Use a Client-friendly Video Conferencing Tool
When you’re working from home, it’s important to have face-to-face conversations with clients. It’s not like every call requires a face-to-face meetup, but it’s nice to do it every once in a while, especially if you’re going to be sharing your screen anyway (like for a website walk-through).
There are a number of video conferencing tools you can use. Zoom is a popular video conferencing solution that you can use for free. If you’re a paying G Suite user, you can opt for Google Meet.
Either of these tools would work well for these purposes as they’re well-known and easy for clients to get the hang of (i.e. they don’t require them to download or install anything). Zoom is the one I would recommend though.
As I mentioned before, it integrates with Calendly (and other online schedulers), which makes setting up meetings a breeze. Also, you can change up your background. This is helpful if:
a) You don’t want clients seeing into your home like software engineer Andrew Eckel who used a luxury apartment photo as a backdrop.
b) You want to have a little fun with your clients like video producer Dan Crowd did when he created this joke background:
Today I made a Zoom background of myself accidentally walking in on myself in a Zoom meeting. pic.twitter.com/Rl2AsjfZ7V
— Dan Crowd (@itsdancrowd) April 3, 2020
c) You want to feel like you’re working from anywhere but your home.
5. Choose the Right Channel to Communicate Through
There are many different ways you can communicate with clients these days. Email. A phone call. Text. Slack message. Zoom video. Asana message feeds. Google Doc comments.
But you need to be careful with this. There’s a time and a place to use each of these channels, so make sure you get it right. If you use them the right way, then your clients will be less likely to abuse or misuse these channels. You know how it goes. First, they email you with a question. Then panic-call you hours later when they haven’t heard back. And then, as a last resort, bombard you with texts until they hear back.
Here are some suggestions for picking the right communication channels:
Email:
Confirmation emails;
Templated messages;
Short responses that aren’t time sensitive;
Moving Google Doc questions or comments out into a larger space to answer.
Phone or Zoom calls:
Client kickoff;
Milestone check-ins;
Website handoff;
Any time you have to share your screen;
Whenever there is an issue or disagreement.
Text:
Unless you have a dedicated phone for business, don’t do it.
Slack messages or Asana (task manager) messages:
Progress check-ins;
Milestone delivery notifications;
Light brainstorming.
It Doesn’t Have to Be Difficult Working with Remote Clients
No matter how long you’ve worked from home, it’s always a good idea to reassess and strengthen your client management strategy. Even if you only tweak things a little bit, you might find it easier to get work done as well as to keep clients happy.
Featured image via Unsplash.
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Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/1stwebdesigner/~3/Ct5xTPNH1uQ/
Modern websites need to look and function well on every screen. That’s not exactly a newsflash, as web designers have been told this for years. But there is more than one way to go about accomplishing it, such as adaptive design and responsive design, which we will discuss in this article.
There can be some confusion when it comes to the terminology used to describe these techniques. As with so many aspects of design and development, we are inundated with buzzwords. Sometimes they become so mixed up that we (mistakenly) use them interchangeably. True, both adaptive and responsive design share a similar end goal: to ensure a great user experience on large screens, small screens and everything in-between. But they take very different approaches to get there.
Today, we’ll dig into those differences in an effort to help you choose the right solution for your projects.
What is Responsive Design?
The more commonly-used of the two techniques, responsive design rearranges content based on browser size.
CSS media queries are used to set one or more breakpoints – viewport resolutions at which selected elements of a website adjust accordingly. Breakpoints are often set to mimic the screen sizes of popular mobile devices, including phones and tablets.
One common example of this would be responsive navigation. Think of a full-width navigation bar displaying on larger screens (laptops and desktops). As the viewport shrinks, the menu could conceivably be set to adjust any number of ways to make use of the space available. Then, on the smallest of mobile screens, that same navigation is then hidden beneath a “hamburger” menu.
Responsive multi-column layouts are also quite popular. Designers often configure them to “stack” on top of each other on smaller screens. On mid-sized screens such as tablets, columns may remain in-tact or partially stack. The feature is actually built into CSS specifications such as Flexbox, which automatically adjusts columns according to screen real estate.
Advantages of Responsive Design
Perhaps the biggest advantage of using responsive design techniques is that users get essentially the same website on every device. That continuity allows frequent visitors to more easily find what they’re looking for.
In addition, adding responsive elements to CSS is relatively straightforward. It’s a matter of taking what’s on the big screen and adjusting accordingly for various breakpoints. Even older websites designed before the smartphone revolution can be retrofitted without too much trouble.
Lastly, since the content and URL of a given page is the same throughout the full spectrum of viewports, a responsive design is better for SEO. Thanks to that consistency, search engines tend to handle these websites a bit better.
Disadvantages
Going responsive is not all good news. Some website layouts may be fine on a big screen, but are more difficult to manage on smaller viewports.
Massive amounts of scrolling might be necessary – even if that isn’t quite as taboo as it used to be. Also, some interactive or code-heavy elements may simply be too slow and cumbersome to use on a phone.
What is Adaptive Design?
Adaptive design, also referred to as “progressive enhancement”, is the process of creating several fixed layouts for various screen sizes. In essence, a designer could create completely different experiences for phones, tablets and desktops.
The idea is that you start with something very basic and then “enhance” the experience for larger screens. The more screen real estate a user has, the more bells and whistles will become available.
One way to visualize the difference between adaptive and responsive design: observe how a given website reacts as you resize your web browser on a desktop device.
A responsive website will continually adjust content as you reach specific breakpoints. Columns may stack, containers and typography may scale.
With an adaptive website, there is an absence of a constantly-shifting layout. Instead, new breakpoints may bring completely new layouts – and thus, even some potential differences in content. For example, some items deemed unnecessary on a phone may be removed altogether.
Advantages of Adaptive Design
Implementing an adaptive design means really putting users first. By crafting a separate experience for a specific screen size, designers can limit the pain points that often come with responsive sites.
Mobile users, for instance, will see only the design and content elements that are relevant to them. The website should, in theory, be easier to navigate and content easier to digest on that smaller, touch-enabled screen.
Then, as more screen size and computing power come into play, those extra features are added in. Adaptive design is understanding that the web is not one-size-fits-all.
Disadvantages
Because you’re creating separate experiences, implementing adaptive design techniques can be very time-consuming. This is especially of concern for projects that are on a tight budget, deadline or both.
Then there is also the potential for an inconsistent user experience. Attention to detail is incredibly important here, as a website will need to provide a separate-but-similar look, feel and functionality. Missing a detail or making a few poor decisions in the design process could hamper the ability to use the website on one or more devices.
Speaking of devices, new ones are being released all the time. Some have unique viewports and could conceivably be served the “wrong” layout. Therefore, it may require routine checks to ensure your site is working with the latest technology.
SEO is also a concern for sites that serve up mobile-only editions using “m.yoursite.com” and the like. That won’t come into play in every situation, but still worth considering if your project is affected.
Choosing the Right Design Technique
How do you know which technique is the best fit for your project? In many cases, it may be a matter of time and money. To that end, responsive designs are quicker and cheaper to implement.
If you’re using third-party products like WordPress themes – which often come with responsive styles – that decision has already been made for you.
However, adaptive design still has its place. For larger websites that have the budget and time resources, designers can craft an outstanding experience for every device using adaptive techniques.
Either way, the bottom line is ensuring that your website works well for every user. Thankfully, there are two highly-proven methods to make it a reality: adaptive or responsive design.
