Animating HTML Links with CSS Transition

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Original Source: https://1stwebdesigner.com/animating-html-links-with-css-transition/

This article was originally posted at https://christinatruong.medium.com/animating-links-on-hover-with-css-transition-e73b955f1e98 and was kindly shared by Christina Truong. Check out more of her work at https://christinatruong.com.

The CSS transition property does what it sounds like; it creates transitions! But more specifically, it controls the animation speed when changing a CSS style from one state to another. For example, changing the text color when hovering over alink. The hover is the state change.

Prefer to watch a video? This article is a companion piece to my Decoded by Christina series on YouTube.

Changing the state of an element usually requires some kind of user interaction like scrolling down the page or clicking on an object. Making changes based on user interactions usually requires JavaScript. But there is a way to create CSS-only interactions using pseudo-classes.

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CSS pseudo-classes

A CSS pseudo-class is a special keyword, added to a selector, to define a specific state of an element. A common example is using :hover to change the style of a link when a user hovers over it with their mouse.

A common style convention for the link/hover interaction is to change the underline and/or the color styles. By default, links are blue and underlined.

CSS transitions - default link style

But that can be changed with the text-decoration-line and color properties. In the following example, the underline is removed and the default color has been changed.

.link {
text-decoration-line: none;
color: crimson;
}

CSS transitions - styled link

Then, using the :hover pseudo-class with the .link class, the underline can be added back in by setting text-decoration-line to underline. To add multiple styles, just add another property to the declaration block. For example, we can also change the color of the text, on hover, by using the color property here. Or change the color of the underline with the text-decoration-color property.

.link {
text-decoration-line: none;
color: crimson;
}
.link:hover {
text-decoration-line: underline;
text-decoration-color: green;
color: mediumpurple;
}

Now when you hover over the link, the underline and color changes will be applied instantaneously.

CSS transitions - styled example

You could also do the reverse and leave the underline as is, then remove it on hover. It’s up to you!

text-decoration shorthand syntax
text-decoration-line and text-decoration-color can also be declared using the shorthand text-decoration property.

/* longhand syntax */
.link {
text-decoration-line: none;
color: crimson;
}
.link:hover {
text-decoration-line: underline;
text-decoration-color: green;
color: mediumpurple;
}
/* shorthand syntax */
.link {
text-decoration: none;
color: crimson;
}
.link:hover {
text-decoration: underline green;
color: mediumpurple;
}

The transition property

These types of hover style are a pretty common way of indicating to the user that this bit of text is a link. For these types of interactions, I like to use the transition property to make the change between the styles a little more subtle.

In the following example, the transition style has been included in the CSS. Now, when you hover over the link, the color of the text will change slowly, as it transitions from the one color to another.

See the Pen
Animating with CSS transition by Christina Truong (@christinatruong)
on CodePen.0

But there is no gradual change showing for the underline style. It displays right away, on hover, just like it did before the transition style was added. That’s because not all CSS properties are affected by the transition property. Let’s dive a little deeper into how this works.

transition is actually shorthand for four sub-properties.

/* shorthand */
transition: color 1s linear 0.5s;

/* longhand */
transition-property: color;
transition-duration: 1s;
transition-timing-function: linear;
transition-delay: 0.5s;

The transition-property and transition-duration must be defined for this style to work. Defining the transition-timing-function and transition-delay are optional.

How to use the transition property
Whether you’re using the longhand or the shorthand syntax, the transition property should be added to the element before the changes start.

In the following example, the hover effect triggers the change. So, the transition property should be added to the .link class, to define the behavior before the changes begin. The styles added to .link:hover are the styles that should be displayed at the end of the transition.

.link {
text-decoration-line: none;
color: crimson;
transition: color 1s linear 0.5s;
}
.link:hover {
text-decoration-line: underline;
text-decoration-color: green;
color: mediumpurple;
}

transition-property

The transition-property determines which CSS style will be applied by specifying the property name (e.g. color or font-size). Only the properties defined here will be animated during the transition.

/* transition will be applied only to ‘color’ */
transition-property: color;

/* transition will be applied only to ‘font-size’ */
transition-property: font-size;

To apply a transition to more than one property, the values can be separated by a comma or use the keyword all to apply the effect to all the properties that can be transitioned.

/* Transition will be applied to ‘color’ and `font-size` */
transition-property: color, font-size;

/* Applied to all properties that can transition */
transition-property: all;

As we saw in the previous example, some properties can’t be transitioned. If the property has no in-between state, transition can’t be used to show a gradual change.

Referring back to the previous Codepen example, text-decoration-line will not be transitioned. Either the line is there or it isn’t. But the color property does have in-between values, that the browser can define, as it’s changing from one color to another. And by default, the color of the underline follows the color of the text. So while the underline shows right away, the color of the line will transition, on hover.

To see a full list of which CSS properties can be transitioned, check out this resource from the Mozilla Developer Network.

There are alternative ways to create a style that looks like the underline is expanding from left to right but that involves using other properties instead of text-decoration. Check out this article for more details.

transition-duration

The next step is to set the length of time to complete the change, using the transition-duration property. Set the value using seconds with the s unit or milliseconds with the ms unit. You can use whole numbers or decimals. The 0 before the decimal point is not required but can be added, if that is your personal preference.

transition-duration: 1s; /* one second */
transition-duration: 1000ms; /* one thousand milliseconds = 1 second */
transition-duration: 0.5s; /* half a second */
transition-duration: 500ms; /* 500 milliseconds = half a second */

transition-timing-function

The transition-timing-function property is used to set an acceleration curve of the transition, by varying the speed over the duration of the change from one style to the other. It can be used with a variety of keyword or function values.

The keyword values are based on Bézier curves, specifically cubic Bézier curves, which uses four points to define the acceleration pattern.

cubic Bézier curves

/* Keyword values */
transition-timing-function: linear;
transition-timing-function: ease-in;

The linear keyword will set the acceleration pattern to an even speed for the duration of the animation. The ease-in keyword, which is being used in the previous Codepen example, will set the acceleration to start slowly—easing in. Then, the speed will increase until it’s complete.

You can also create your own acceleration patterns, using this function values instead.

/* Function values */
transition-timing-function: steps(4, jump-end);
transition-timing-function: cubic-bezier(0.1, 0.7, 1.0, 0.1);

Personally, I keep it simple when using this property and generally stick linear or one of the ease keywords. Though, the more advanced options would be useful for creating more advanced animations.

Check out the Mozilla Developer Network for a full list of keyword values, examples and more information about creating your own functions.

transition-delay

The transition-delay property can be used to delay the start of the animation. It is defined with seconds or milliseconds.

A positive value will delay the start of the transition. A negative value will begin the transition immediately but also partway through the animation, as if it had already been running for the length of time defined.

This property is also optional and if it’s not declared, there will be no delay at the start of the animation. You can refer to my YouTube video to see a demo of this effect.

Since transition-delay and transition-duration both use the same type of values, when using the shorthand syntax, the first number value will always be read by the browser as the transition-duration value. So make sure to add the transition-delay value after.

/* shorthand */
transition: color 1s linear 0.5s;

/* longhand */
transition-property: color;
transition-duration: 1s;
transition-timing-function: linear;
transition-delay: 0.5s;

And that’s it! Take some time to experiment with these different values and different properties to find the perfect combination for your transitions.

What’s the Difference Between Good UI and Good UX?

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Original Source: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2022/02/whats-the-difference-between-good-ui-and-good-ux/

User Experience (UX) design and User Interface (UI) design are two terms people sometimes mistakenly use interchangeably. While aspects of each are interconnected, there are distinct differences between UI/UX design.

According to Internet Live Stats, there are over 1.9 billion websites, but not all are active at the same time. No matter how you slice it, there’s a lot of competition to grab and keep user attention. Good UX is just part of the equation. For a genuinely stellar site, you must also offer an excellent interface.

Learning the ins and outs of good UI and UX requires a bit of knowledge of how the two differ and what works. Although they weave in and out of the same design, they are different.

What Is the Biggest Difference Between Good UX and UI?

UI is the functionality of the design and what users see. How do they interact with various elements? UX is more the way things come together — both visual and interactive features — to create a feel for the user. You can certainly see why people confuse the two as they both apply to interacting with a website or app.

Top design firms often have team members specializing in each discipline. However, UX designers are also aware of UI, and UI designers are also mindful of UX. How can you ensure you’re offering excellent UI/UX design while covering the full spectrum of requirements for each?

Ensuring Effective UX Design

Good UX design increases conversion rates by 400% or more. The site visitor walks away feeling understood and not frustrated. What are some of the most important aspects of good UX design?

1. Create a Good Structure

What is the hierarchy of your site? What is the first thing the user sees when they pull it up? How do they navigate from one page to the next? A well-designed website classifies different aspects of the page, and new content naturally falls into the appropriate category as it grows.

When creating a structure for your site, think about how it might expand in the next five years. You want the hierarchy to work from day one, but you also want to think through significant shifts in the content you might see down the road.

Even your navigational hierarchy should accommodate new areas easily. Plan for the unexpected, so you know how to work it into the overall design when you must.

2. Choose Beautiful Aesthetics

You have a few seconds to make an excellent impression on your site visitors. Take the time to make sure your design functions and is visually appealing. Your color palette should work, images should be crisp and relevant, and typography should be readable and engaging.

Step back from your computer and look at your design from a distance. Does anything stand out that isn’t pleasing to the eye? Get feedback from visitors about what they like and dislike. Since the focus is on user experience, your best source of constructive criticism is from your target audience. Listen to their concerns and ideas.

3. Communicate With Site Visitors

Most experts agree that users want an element of interactivity on sites and apps. People want to know you hear them and get a response. Some ideas include adding a live chat option to your site or engaging in SMS customer support.

Put yourself in their shoes. A customer may visit your site for the first time, having never heard of your brand. They have no reason to trust you or that you’ll follow through on your promises. Potential leads may have a few questions before parting with their hard-earned dollars.

Adding various ways to communicate shows them you’ll be there should they have a problem. It’s much easier to trust a company when you know you can phone, engage in live chat or shoot off an email and get an almost immediate response.

4. Add Clear Direction

Excellent UX is intuitive. You should add calls to action (CTAs) and images pointing the user where they should go next. You can use graphics of arrows, people looking or pointing toward the next step, words, or CTA buttons.

Get feedback on how clear the directions are and tweak them as needed. The user should never have to stop and ponder what to do next. Everything on the page should guide them toward the ultimate goal.

5. Break Down Complex Data

Every industry has complicated data that is difficult for non-experts to understand. Part of good UX is breaking down complex information and sharing it in a simplified way.

One example might be the registration process. Instead of just showing text, a good UX designer would number the steps. Visualizations help add to understanding.

Embracing Effective UI Design

User Interface impacts UX and involves how the design works. The UI designer thinks through visitor expectations and then creates an interface that isn’t frustrating. UI works within the framework of a website to develop functional features. User experience isn’t the complete focus of UI, but it does tie into the planning phases. What are some elements of good UI design?

1. Set Standards

For a design to have good UI, it must perform as expected. Have you ever clicked on a button, and nothing happened? Determine how you want things to work and the minimum acceptable standards for your site.

For example, what happens when someone clicks on a link or button? How does the user know their action created the expected result? Consistency is crucial to how a site performs.

2. Choose the Right Colors

While UX designers look at the emotional impact of various colors, UI designers look at whether the shades match branding and how well the different ones contrast for readability and usability. UI/UX design often bridges a single designer’s work, so the employee ensures everything works as intended, both emotionally and functionally.

You may work with another designer to make the site aesthetically pleasing while also tapping into the emotions driving users. For example, some people love blue, so a blue button can have positive results.

UX and UI designers utilize split testing to see which users respond best to. Then, make adjustments as indicated by how site visitors respond.

3. Focus on Cognitive Matters

According to the Interaction Design Foundation, people can only retain around five things in their short-term memory. Designers should work with recognition instead, as users tend to rely on cues to find what they need.

UI designers may develop an intuitive navigation system and then use the same cues on every page, such as placement, color, and language. Users can then recognize the system without having to memorize it.

4. Prevent Errors

Your job is to ensure errors are kept to a minimum when designing a website or app. One of the most significant parts of a designer’s job is testing and retesting.

Think about all the potential problems a user might run into, such as broken links, images not showing, or incomplete actions. How can you keep those problems from occurring in the first place?

Error prevention is particularly vital when designing software as a service (SaaS) or apps. Users grow frustrated quickly and will find another solution rather than troubleshooting an issue. You’re much better off avoiding the error in the first place.

How Do UX and UI Work Together?

You’ve likely already figured out how closely UX and UI entwine to create a usable experience. The UX designer pays attention to function and interactivity, and the UI designer thinks through how the interface looks.

UX pays attention to the flow of the website and where users start, go next and end up. On the other end, UI figures out how the elements look to the viewer and where everything is placed.

The UX team may decide to add an extra button to the page. The UI team must determine where to place it, if any sizing needs must occur, and how it impacts usability on desktop and mobile devices.

Although each has a different function, user experience and user interface must work together to create a usable site the target audience responds to. You can’t have excellent UX without excellent UI, and vice versa. The best designers consider both and implement them to their fullest potential.

 

Featured image via Pexels.

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

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Popular Design News of the Week: January 24, 2022 – January 30, 2022

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Original Source: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2022/01/popular-design-news-of-the-week-january-24-2022-january-30-2022/

Every day design fans submit incredible industry stories to our sister-site, Webdesigner News. Our colleagues sift through it, selecting the very best stories from the design, UX, tech, and development worlds and posting them live on the site.

The best way to keep up with the most important stories for web professionals is to subscribe to Webdesigner News or check out the site regularly. However, in case you missed a day this week, here’s a handy compilation of the top curated stories from the last seven days. Enjoy!

16 Leading UI/UX Design Trends to Dominate in 2022

Unused Nintendo Wii Logos Include Some Serious Design Crimes

The Baseline for Web Development in 2022

60 Bootstrap Examples for Website Design

M&M’s Redesign by JKR

Frontend Predictions for 2022

Minze – Dead-Simple JS Framework for Native Web Components

Cheet – Create Developer Cheatsheets

What’s New in WordPress 5.9 (Features and Screenshots)

20 Best New Websites, January 2022

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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;}

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How to Clean iPad Screen & Device

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Original Source: https://designrfix.com/blog/how-to-clean-ipad-screen

The iPad is a crucial piece of electronic equipment that contributes to technological advancement in various sectors of the economy today. Illustrators, artists, teachers, graphic designers are the primary users of apple pads in their workstations. But why? With an iPad, you have a smartphone, a computer, sketching tool, and e-learning device; anyone can use…

The post How to Clean iPad Screen & Device appeared first on DesignrFix.

Exciting New Tools For Designers, February 2022

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Original Source: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2022/01/exciting-new-tools-for-designers-february-2022/

One of the most talked-about digital elements of the new year leads our roundup of tools and resources this month – NFTs. The NFT landscape seems to be exploding right now and that includes tools for designers to get in on the game as well.

Here’s what is new for designers this month…

Zero Code NFT

Zero Code NFT offers an advanced no-code tool to simplify the smart contract development and deployment process, allowing you to launch your NFTs with no previous coding experience. It includes a smart contract wizard that supports Ethereum, Polygon, Fantom, and Avalanche, with Solana and others underway. The tool has a waitlist if you are interested.

54nft

54nft is a tool to create a customized NFT store. It is a complete commerce platform that lets you start, grow, and manage an NFT business. Create and customize a store, publish and mint assets on available blockchains, and sell. The tool is free but charges a transaction fee on sales.

NFT-Inator

NFT-Inator is a free toolkit to accelerate the design and development of procedurally generated NFT projects. Create custom and randomized designs, test layer combinations, and export images and metadata for Solana, Ethereum, and Polygon.

Gradientos

Gradientos makes finding gradients that work with your design easy. Pick your colors and see the gradient live on a demo website with common UI elements.

Web Almanac

Web Almanac is an annual state of the web report from HTTP Archive. It is a comprehensive report on the state of the web, backed by real data and trusted web experts. The 2021 edition is comprised of 24 chapters spanning aspects of page content, user experience, publishing, and distribution.

Straw.Page

Straw.Page is a new take on website builders. It is a super simple builder that you can use to create websites from your phone. It’s a drag and drop builder that’s highly experimental and allows you to connect via a subdomain or with a custom domain.

Placy

Placy is a simple placeholder generator. Set the size, color, and fonts and you’ll get a usable data URL to include on your website. Available and JPG, PNG, or SVG.

MetaSEO

MetaSEO is a tool to generate meta tags in one click for the best SEO of your website, rank high in search results, and appear unique when someone shares your link. It’s a no-brainer SEO tool for web designers and developers that aren’t as versed in search engine optimization.

Glitch Image Generator

Glitch Image Generator is a tool to create a trend effect of the same name. Upload an image, pick a color mode, set glitch preferences, and save it as a PNG for projects. It’s that easy.

Smoothly Reverting CSS Animations

Smoothly Reverting CSS Animations is a simple and easy-to-understand tutorial that will walk you through how to create a keyframe animation that moves smoothly. Pragmatic Pineapple explains the steps with code snippets to help you understand how to make this animated element work for you.

Alternate Column Scroll Animation

Alternate Column Scroll Animation is a nifty little tutorial and demo (with downloadable source code) from Codrops. The result is a grid layout with columns that scroll in opposite directions and a content preview animation.

Waldo

Waldo is a premium tool that can help you ship mobile apps faster with fewer bugs (that’s a win-win). The no-code testing platform allows you to upload your app to the platform, run tests, and fix any issues that might arise to help you provide a better experience when it is time to make your app live.

Monad

Monad offers an efficient and simple way to share and discover code snippets. Create an account to easily find snippets relevant to you using tags or browse and create snippets anonymously. One of the best features is the ability to work collaboratively or privately.

Doodle CSS

Doodle CSS is a simple hand-drawn HTML/CSS theme that you can snag from GitHub. It’s fun and whimsical. Practical application for a look like this is up to your style and imagination.

Pixel Patterns

Pixel Patterns is a concept pattern set that implements a function to create patterns with minimal syntax. They are in a pixel style with code snippets that you can play with.

Protodeo

Protodeo is a tool to make 3D video website templates to help show off new products or services. Just upload a few images, customize your settings, and the tool will give you a Bootstrap template with video mockups in less than a day.

VanillaList

VanillaList is a repository of handpicked JavaScript plugins and resources to save time as a developer and create high-performance web apps. And as the name implies, they are all vanilla.

The Mouse Mover

The Mouse Mover is a fun little tool with questionable ethics – it simulates real mouse movements on your PC. Plus you get the source code and won’t have to worry about going to sleep or triggering a logged-off status.

Ground Zero

Ground Zero returns Mac apps to the state they were in when first installed, without deleting the app. Fix issues and get back the default settings, or simply re-claim disk space by cleaning up data that would normally be left behind when uninstalling an app.

Alonzo

Alonzo is a premium typeface family in a modern style with high contrast stroke weights. The family includes 24 styles and with an almost condensed style fits nicely in tight spaces.

ContaneText

ContaneText is the more readable text version of the Contane typeface family. It’s a solid serif with 20 styles including Romans and matching italics. Stronger hairlines, solid serifs, and slightly more comfortable proportions make it appropriate for bold headlines, as well as for small text sizes.

Plinc Flourish

Plinc Flourish completes our roundup this month with an interesting, premium typeface that’s beautiful and functional. Part italic, part roman, this iconoclastic font is all style. It includes formal pen strokes in a taut upright framework to create a typeface that looks defiantly forward.

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p img {display:inline-block; margin-right:10px;}
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body#browserfriendly p, body#podcast p, div#emailbody p{margin:0;}

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Backlight: Where Designers & Developers Build Design Systems at Scale

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Original Source: https://1stwebdesigner.com/backlight-where-designers-developers-build-design-systems-at-scale/

Is your team struggling to create seamless synchronization between Designers and Developers? Do you wish project hand-offs were less time-consuming? Are you ready to streamline your team’s workflow? A simpler and more efficient design process is achievable with Backlight – the collaborative platform, used by front-end development teams.

Backlight is an all-in-one development tool that can be used to collaboratively build, ship, and scale efficient design systems. Created with developers and designers in mind, Backlight uses standard web development technology and can publish NPM packages on demand.

backlight product feature

Key Features: How Backlight Helps Build Design Systems

Components are visually organized
Live documentation is editable
Documentation support for Markdown, MDX, MD Vue, and Nunjunk
Design integration that supports Sketch, Figma, and Adobe XD
Integration with GitHub and Gitlab
Built-in test runner and reporter
Ejectable design systems that use 100% standard web development technologies

Pricing: How Much Backlight Costs

Backlight pricing starts with a free plan that includes up to three editors, two design systems, unlimited viewers, Github integration, Gitlab integration, community support, and the ability to publish NPM packages. If you’re interested in learning more about the ins and outs of Backlight, the free tier is an excellent way to test this platform without spending a penny.

The next tier is the Pro plan, which starts at $149/month. This plan includes all the features of the free plan plus, five design systems, unlimited users, and email support from Backlight.

Lastly, Backlight offers an Enterprise tier for companies that need advanced features and premium support. The pricing for this plan starts at $499. The Enterprise tier includes all of the pro features and unlimited design systems – making it Backlight’s most robust option yet.

Conclusion

Backlight is a Design System platform built for collaboration. Large teams will benefit from simplified workflows and increased productivity. Smaller teams will leverage Backlight, equally, to build their Design System without needing a dedicated team.

Best Web Hosting Providers for Value, Speed, and Security (Jan 2022)

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Original Source: https://ecommerce-platforms.com/articles/best-web-hosting

Web hosting fuels the internet. And web hosting companies manage the servers where all websites get stored—more specifically, website files. Online stores, blogs, forums, and every type of website, app, and game on the internet requires web hosting, and that’s why it’s so essential to find a high quality host. That’s why we researched and decided on the absolute best web hosting providers, to ensure your website never crashes, to speed up your loading speeds, to improve your SEO.

The good news is that most reputable web hosts offer a simple, intuitive way to place your website on their servers. Not to mention, our top choices offer reasonable pricing, top-notch security, and an incredible amount of features to integrate with your favorite tools.

How We Conducted the Research

To say the web hosting market is over-saturated is an understatement. Thousands of companies around the world offer server space for a price. A quick search online is bound to deliver a seemingly never-ending list of web hosting options, from small to large, cheap to expensive, simple to complicated.

Since this website is a resource for ecommerce platforms, our team has researched and reviewed hundreds of web hosting providers over the years to identify which have the server capabilities, security measures, and the best user experiences to support scaling online stores.

To compile this list, we looked back at our previous research and combined it with the updated offerings from the top-50 hosting providers in the world. After that, we cut down the list by eliminating those without real-world uptime testing, state-of-the-art security measures, and reasonable pricing.

As a final test, we ran rigorous user-experience tests to understand which web hosts offer the ideal, modern dashboard experience along with quick integrations, managed hosting options, and seamless experiences for all user levels.

Best Web Hosting Providers: Our Top Picks

As a result, we ended up with a list of the top web hosting providers on the market. Take a look at our recommendations below.

1. SiteGround – Our pick for the best web hosting

siteground - best web hosting

SiteGround is our top choice for reliable web hosting because of its simple website management tools, fast and secure hosting, and affordable hosting packages. The standard web hosting from SiteGround is a wonderful starting point for small online stores, blogs, and business websites, but it also offers the opportunity to upgrade to managed WordPress hosting, WooCommerce hosting, and cloud hosting. 

Pricing

New users have an opportunity to sign up for SiteGround’s frequent promotional pricing, which could cut pricing for the first several years depending on the plan you choose. After the promotion, it switches to standard pricing, which still provides a better value than much of the competition. 

Here are the SiteGround shared hosting plans:

StartUp: $14.99 per month ($3.99 per month with the promotion) for one website, 10 GB of web space, 10k monthly visits, a free SSL certificate, daily backups, free CDN, free email, enhanced security, ecommerce tools, managed WordPress options, caching, unlimited databases, and collaboration. GrowBig: $24.99 per month ($6.69 per month with the promotion) for unlimited websites, 20 GB of web space, 100k visits per month, everything from the previous plan, on-demand backups, faster PHP, and a staging section. GoGeek: $39.99 per month ($10.69 per month with the promotion) for unlimited websites, 40 GB of web space, 400k monthly visits, everything from the previous plans, staging + Git, white-label client options, priority customer support, and the highest tier of resources offered through SiteGround. 

Pros ?
Cons ?

Pros ?

SiteGround provides top-notch promotional pricing that remains affordable after the deal is over.
All website hosting plans receive a free SSL certificate and backups for the best possible security.
The web hosting has managed WordPress elements and ecommerce-enabled functionality for setting up a website fast and launching an online store.
You can add collaborators to manage the website, share ideas, and grant user access.
SiteGround plans are designed for scaling businesses, meaning you can upgrade at anytime as your site grows.
The out-of-the-box caching and free CDN come together to improve site speed.
Some of the plans offer staging sites to test plugins, themes, and website designs prior to publishing anything online.
The highest-tiered plan provides advanced tools for working with web design clients, like priority customer support, staging + Git, and white labeling.
SiteGround is optimized for the most popular content management systems like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla. This provides one-click installations to your favorite website builders.
The SiteGround dashboard makes web development and management easy for all users, with modules for domain management, site-building, email services, and more.

Cons ?

SiteGround offers promotional periods for 12 months only. You don’t get discount pricing if you sign up for a period longer than that.
The pricing on SiteGround’s website is a little misleading, since they lure you in with the promotional pricing, but then that goes up to the regular pricing after a year. You also have to pay for the full year in advance.
We’d like to see elements like domain registration, domain privacy, and site scanning included in the pricing. Those are all add-ons.

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2. WP Engine – Runner-up for the best web hosting

wp engine - best web hosting

Trailing close behind SiteGround is WP Engine. Although slightly more expensive, we actually feel that WP Engine is more transparent with its pricing than SiteGround, and you’re simply starting out with regular pricing as opposed to getting a year at a discounted rate. Therefore, the pricing of WP Engine is more or less the same as the top contenders on this list, even if it seems like it’s pricier. Having said that, WP Engine excels with its managed WordPress hosting, alllowing you to launch a fast website, keep it secure, and complete upgrades without having to do much on your end. Much of the process is automated, and you can opt for WordPress hosting, WooCommerce hosting, or enterprise hosting. They even have a full suite for running an agency or managing your freelance business. 

Pricing

WP Engine offers transparent pricing based on whether you pay on a monthly or yearly basis. You can also get in touch with the WP Engine team for a more advanced enterprise hosting solution. 

Managed WordPress plans include:

Startup: $25 per month (annual) or $30 per month (monthly) for one website, 25k monthly visits, 10 GB of storage, and 50 GB of bandwidth. This also includes customizable themes, one-click staging, backups, automated PHP and WordPress updates, proactive threat blocking, and maximum speed. You can upgrade this plan for more WordPress sites, visitors, and storage. There are also upgrades for extra security, automated plugin updates, and bandwidth. Professional: Starting at $49 per month for everything in the previous plan, 3 sites, 75k visits per month, 15 GB of storage, and 125 GB of bandwidth.Growth: Starting at $96 per month for everything in the previous plans, 10 sites, 100k visits per month, 20 GB of storage, and 200 GB of bandwidth per month. Scale: Starting at $242 per month for everything in the previous plans, 30+ sites, 400k visits per month, 50 GB of storage, and 500 GB of bandwidth. Dedicated Hosting: Custom pricing for anything you need over 300 sites, 400k visits, and 50 GB of storage. 

Ecommerce hosting plans include:

Startup: Starting at $30 per month for a platform built for WooCommerce, automated plugin updates, premium WooCommerce themes, one website, 25k visits per month, 10 GB of storage, 50 GB of bandwidth, and options to upgrade all of those. Professional: Starting at $63 per month for everything in the previous plan, 3 sites, 75k monthly visits, 15 GB of storage, and 125 GB of bandwidth. Growth: Starting at $117 per month for everything in the previous plans, 10 sites, 100k visits per month, 20 GB of storage, and 200 GB of bandwidth per month. Scale: Starting at $292 per month for everything in the previous plans, 30+ sites, 400k visits per month, 50 GB of storage, and 500 GB of bandwidth per month. Dedicated Servers: Custom pricing for everything you need over 30 sites, 400k visits per month, and 50 GB of storage. 

Pros ?
Cons ?

Pros ?

WP Engine offers options for managed WordPress hosting or ecommerce solutions.
We know WP engine for having significantly faster load times than its competition.
You can secure your websites with daily backups, managed upgrades, and constant website monitoring.
The customer support is available 24/7/365.
You can run an entire agency or freelance web design platform with one of the white-label plans.
Everything is managed, allowing you to launch a WordPress store within minutes and never have to worry about PHP or WordPress updates.
WP Engine offers a modern, sleek dashboard that’s miles ahead of its competitors when it comes to ease of use.
They offer a quick migration tool for moving over websites from other hosts.
You receive free SSL certificates for securing all transactions that go through your store.
WP Engine offers workflow tools like GIT and SSH access through MySQL and WP-CLI.
Stage sites with a one-click staging tool.
You gain access to several premium WordPress themes and frameworks.
All backups are automated on a regular basis.

Cons ?

Although very transparent, the pricing for WP Engine is definitely higher than budget providers like Siteground.
We’d like to see free automated plugin updates, considering they’re selling “Managed WordPress Hosting.” We would assume automated plugin updates are essential to consider it managed.
You don’t receive an extra level of security (with firewall, DDOS mitigation, and CDN) unless you pay an extra fee.
The ecommerce solution is nice, but they’re essentially charging extra for the convenience of not having to install the WooCommerce plugin–which is extremely easy to do on your own.

Further reading ?

WP Engine Review: Managed WordPress Hosting for Serious Online Stores

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3. GreenGeeks – Best Environmentally Friendly Option

green geeks - best web hosting

GreenGeeks serves as a must-see during your web hosting research if you’re interested in a host that cares about eco-friendly solutions. We recommend it for companies and individuals that care about the environment, seeing as how GreenGeeks puts an emphasis on putting back 3x the power it uses into renewable energy. Not only that, but GreenGeeks offers reasonable pricing, high-speed technologies, and top-notch storage hardware to ensure your website remains fast, secure, and ready for scaling. 

Pricing

GreenGeeks sells standard web hosting along with WordPress, VPS (virtual private server hosting), and reseller hosting. In this section, we’ll outline the pricing for standard web hosting, after which you can upgrade as your small business scales. GreenGeeks also plants one tree for each plan you sign up for. 

Plans include:

Lite: $10.95 per month ($2.95 per month promotional pricing) for one website, standard performance, nightly backups, multi-user access, a green energy match, unlimited databases, caching, a CDN, free domain for a year, free SSL, multiple email accounts, 50 GB of web space, and more. Pro: $15.95 per month ($5.95 per month promotional pricing) for unlimited websites, improved performance, unlimited web space, unlimited emails, everything from the previous plan, on-demand backups, and a WordPress repair tool. Premium: $25.95 per month ($10.95 per month promotional pricing) for unlimited websites, the best performance offered by GreenGeeks, everything in the previous plans, a free dedicated IP, object caching, and free AlphaSSL. 

Pros ?
Cons ?

Pros ?

GreenGeeks tries to help the environment by putting resources back into renewable energy, using eco-friendly hardware, and planting trees for every user that signs up.
The standard hosting plans include several free elements, like email accounts, backups, caching, and SSL certificates.
You can collaborate with several people on the website with multi-user access.
Some of the plans include on-demand backups, AlphaSSL, and object caching.
You can choose which data center you want to use.
The data centers use renewable energy and offer a reliable and powerful infrastructure to place your websites.
You have the option to go with WordPress hosting for managed WordPress updates, free WordPress migrations, and enhanced WordPress security.
You can opt for faster, more reliable hosting with VPS hosting.

Cons ?

GreenGeeks isn’t all that transparent about performance, seeing as how they only tell you that performance improves as you upgrade in the pricing. We’d prefer seeing the best performance for all plans, but it appears they might improve the performance as you pay more money.

Further reading ?

The Best Green Web Hosting Out There (Jan 2022)

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4. Dreamhost

dream host

Dreamhost specializes in WordPress hosting at a reasonable price. It’s known for high speeds, inexpensive add-ons (like domain names), and its super easy control panel for managing the entire operation. You can sign up for shared web hosting, WordPress hosting, or VPS hosting through Dreamhost. Not to mention, they offer a website builder, along with more advanced types of hosting like cloud and dedicated hosting. 

Pricing

With both yearly and monthly plans, and several promotions on a regular basis, you have multiple options to decrease hosting costs, especially when just getting started. 

Standard web hosting plans include:

Shared: Starting at $6.99 per month ($2.95 with promotional pricing) for one website, a free domain, unlimited traffic, fast SSD storage, WordPress pre-installed, a drag-and-drop website builder, automated WordPress migrations, and a free SSL. DreamPress: Starting at $16.95 per month for one WordPress website. This plan is designed for WordPress users and it supports one website (you can upgrade this), free domain names, 100k monthly visitors, 30 GB of SSD storage, an SSL certificate, unlimited email hosting, website building, on-demand backups, Jetpack, a one-click backup restore, and one-click staging site. VPS: Starting at $13.75 per month (up to $110 per month depending on GBs) for unlimited websites, unlimited traffic, 30 GB of SSD storage, one-click WordPress installation, unlimited email, and 24/7 support team access. 

Pros ?
Cons ?

Pros ?

Dreamhost provides many premium tools for free, like an SSL certificate, website builder, and free site migrations.
The cheapest plans still have fast SSD storage.
Some of the plans provide on-demand backups and restoring tools.
The custom control panel is easy to manage.
Dreamhost is known for its always available customer service.
Dreamhost uses solid state drives, making for a faster infrastructure when it comes to caching, database queries, and website loading.
You can install apps like WordPress with the click of a button.

Cons ?

The pricing is a bit confusing with all of their promotions and the fact that the WordPress hosting has some disadvantages when compared to the cheaper Shared hosting. We also noticed this with the VPS hosting.
It would be nice to see unlimited traffic for all plans.

Further reading ?

DreamHost Hosting Reviews (Jan 2022) – Everything You Need to Know

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5. Flywheel

fly wheel

Flywheel boasts one of the cleanest, easiest to use dashboards and setup processes compared to all the best WordPress hosts on the market. And that’s exactly what it is: a managed WordPress host with value-oriented plans, a beautiful online interface, and a configuration process that any type of user can enjoy. In short, Flywheel makes it effortless for everyone. You can manage one site for a low price or opt to run an entire agency by white labeling and handing off control to clients. 

Pricing

Although Flywheel offers a Growth Suite meant for those who need hosting, billing, and client management, we’ll focus on the managed hosting plans:

Tiny: Starting at $13 per month for one site, 5k visits, 5 GB of storage, 20 GB of bandwidth, SSL certificates, the Genesis framework, plugin security alerts, caching, a CDN, collaboration, backups, site cloning, Google Analytics, a free demo site, local development, free migrations, 24/7 live chat support, managed plugin updates, and optimization insights. Starter: Starting at $25 per month for one site, 25k visits, 10 GB of storage, 50 GB of bandwidth, and everything in the previous plan. Freelance: $96 per month for up to 10 sites, 100k visits, 20 GB of storage, 200 GB of bandwidth, everything in the previous plans, and multisite support.  Agency: Starting at $242 per month for up to 30 sites, 400k visits, 50 GB of storage, 500 GB of bandwidth, everything in the previous plans, a migration dashboard, phone support, and a dedicated account manager. 

They also offer custom plans. 

Pros ?
Cons ?

Pros ?

Flywheel does a wonderful job of offering managed hosting for smaller operations.
All users receive SSL certificates for improved security.
You can build your website with ease by using the Genesis Framework.
Flywheel provides plugin security alerts, auto-healing technology, and other security tools.
There’s a CDN for faster speeds.
Caching comes standard with every plan.
You can transfer billing with the click of a button if you plan to use this for clients.
Nightly backups help out with security.
You can clone and demo sites from the Flywheel dashboard.
Flywheel truly has one of the nicest interfaces out of all web hosts.

Cons ?

The pricing plans aren’t the best value. Although Flywheel cuts pricing by quite a bit, you’ll notice that the plans get limited in the site visits and storage areas.
You don’t get multisite support until the $96 per month Freelance plan.

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6. Kinsta

kinsta

Kinsta provides a high-powered managed hosting platform with possibly one of the fastest infrastructures to place your site thanks to its partnership with Google Cloud Platform. Users gain access to a secure hosting environment, automated backups, caching, and a content delivery network without the high fees you would traditionally expect from cloud hosting. Not only that, but the Kinsta dashboard is modern and intuitive, while also giving you direct access to online resources (like a knowledgebase) and customer support reps. 

Pricing

Kinsta has higher pricing than most other hosts on this list, but it’s really one of the best values because of its unmatched speed and advanced tools. 

Here are the pricing plans:

Starter: Starting at $30 per month for one WordPress installation, 25k visits, 10 GB of disk space, a free SSL, CDN, staging, and free migrations. Pro: Starting at $60 per month for 2 WordPress installations, 50k visits, 20 GB of disk space, and everything from the previous plan.Business 1: Starting at $100 per month for 5 WordPress installations, 100k visits, 30 GB of disk space, and everything from the previous plans.Business 2: Starting at $200 per month for 10 WordPress installations, 250k visits, 40 GB of disk space, and everything from the previous plans.Business 3: Starting at $300 per month for 20 WordPress installations, 400k visits, 50 GB of disk space, and everything from the previous plans.Business 4: Starting at $400 per month for 40 WordPress installations, 600k visits, 60 GB of disk space, and everything from the previous plans.Enterprise 1 -4: From $600-$1,500 per month for 60-150 WordPress installations, 1M-3M visits, 100-250 GB of disk space, and everything from the previous plans.

Pros ?
Cons ?

Pros ?

You can’t beat the setup and management processes from Kinsta. Not only is it easy to migrate from a different host, but you can launch several websites with the click of a button.
Even beginners will find the MyKinsta dashboard intuitive.
There’s more value in Kinsta pricing plans than most of the competition, seeing as how you get to put your site on the best cloud servers in the world, and you receive things like an SSL, CDN, and staging, for fairly low pricing.
It’s rather easy to scale up your business and overall website with the Kinsta pricing structure.
Kinsta offers self-healing technology and backup retention to ensure the security of your website.
The 24/7 support (along with plentiful online resources) means you always have someone to help you out.
All plans come with multi-user environments.
You can choose from 29 data center locations.
Kinsta provides hack and malware removal services.
Test plugins, templates, and website designs in multiple staging environments.
You’re able to white label your website designs and pass them off to clients.
Kinsta is quite possibly the best web host for speed because of the Google Cloud Platform, MariaDB, and Nginx.

Cons ?

The Starter plan doesn’t have multisite support.
Even though we see great value in Kinsta, there’s no denying it’s more expensive than the competition.

Further reading ?

Kinsta Managed Hosting Review (Jan 2022): All Ecommerce Sites on WordPress Should Check Out This Hosting

The Best Managed WordPress Hosting Providers for 2022

Best Managed WooCommerce Hosting for 2022

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7. Cloudways

cloudways - best web hosting

Cloudways provides a managed cloud hosting solution with simplicity and a worry-free experience no matter how large your website network. It’s tough to beat the performance you get from Cloudways, considering its servers offer a built-in CDN, auto-healing tools, and automated backups. Not to mention, you’re able to choose from five cloud providers, tap into an unlimited supply of applications, and take control using the innovative control panel. 

Pricing

Pricing for Cloudways depends entirely on the cloud hosting plan you decide on. For instance, you can opt to use AWS (Amazon Web Services), DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, or Google Cloud. 

We won’t cover them all, but rather give you the basics with DigitalOcean:

$12 per month for 1 GB RAM, 1 core, 25 GB of storage, and 1 TB of bandwidth. This includes 24/7 support, a CDN add-on, free migration, free SSL, dedicated firewalls, auto healing, automated backups, and caching. $50 per month for 4 GB RAM, 2 cores, 80 GB of storage, and 4 TB of bandwidth. You also get everything from the previous plan and some additional tools like Object Cache Pro. $26 per month for 2 GB RAM, 1 core, 5 GB storage, 2 TB bandwidth, and everything from the previous plans. $96 per month for 8 GB RAM, 4 cores, 160 GB storage, 5 TB bandwidth, and everything from the previous plans. 

Again, other cloud hosting providers vary in pricing. For instance, AWS starts at around $36 per month when using them through Cloudways. 

Pros ?
Cons ?

Pros ?

You have the option to choose between five different cloud host providers.
Some of the cloud hosting providers offer unique features like unlimited application installations from AWS or offsite backup storage from Google Cloud.
All plans provide automated backups to secure your site.
There are other security tools like auto healing, security patching, and SSL certificates.
The object caching pairs well with the CDN add-on to speed up your site.
Cloudways provides team management options for collaboration.
The staging environment assists in testing out tools and trying things out with your design.
You receive HTTP/2 enabled servers and SSH and SFTP access.

Cons ?

It’s confusing for regular users to mess with the five cloud provider system. For instance, many people won’t understand the differences (advantages/disadvantages) when choosing between AWS and Google Cloud.
The pricing isn’t all that affordable for smaller sites except for the basic plans from DigitalOcean and Linode.

Further reading ?

Cloudways Ecommerce Hosting Review (Jan 2022)

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8. GoDaddy

go daddy

GoDaddy has made more of a name for itself in the domain selling game, but it also serves as an affordable, reliable hosting provider. As one of the best web hosting solutions, GoDaddy offers unparalleled customer support, very inexpensive pricing, and a decent website builder that integrates with WordPress. 

Pricing

With GoDaddy, users choose from standard web hosting, WordPress hosting, and ecommerce hosting. However, we’ll mainly cover the standard web hosting seeing as how it’s where many businesses will start. 

Plans include:

Economy: Starting at $5.99 per month for one website, 100 GB of storage, 10 databases, unmetered bandwidth, a one-click WordPress installation, and promotions like a free domain and email address for a year. Deluxe: Starting at $7.99 per month for standard performance, unlimited websites, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited storage, 25 databases, and everything from the previous plan. Ultimate: Starting at $12.99 per year for increased processing power, unlimited websites, everything from the previous plans, and a free SSL certificate. Maximum: Starting at $19.99 per month for the highest level of processing power and speed from GoDaddy, along with unlimited websites, everything from the previous plans, and unlimited free SSLs for all websites. 

Pros ?
Cons ?

Pros ?

GoDaddy is close to the cheapest hosting solution you can find that doesn’t go up way too high after the promotional periods.
Even the Economy plan is a good value with 100 GB of storage and 10 databases.
The control panel is easy to understand, and you can install WordPress with the click of a button.
You can choose from multiple global data centers to deliver content faster to users.
It’s easy to scale up a website with GoDaddy, since it allows you to upgrade elements like CPU, storage, and I/O with a one-click purchase. You can also upgrade your plan at any time.
You gain access to over 150 free apps like those from Joomla, WordPress, and Windows.
GoDaddy has a solid website builder that functions well with WordPress and provides multiple themes to launch a design.
GoDaddy offers a pre-installed ecommerce plugin that works with WooCommerce. This way, you can get paid quickly and pay lower transaction fees.

Cons ?

You don’t gain access to an SSL until you opt for some of the higher plans.
The free items usually only last for the first year, such as the email address, domain, and SSL certificate.
Most of the promotional pricing requires a 3-year commitment.

Further reading ?

GoDaddy Website Builder Review: Rudimentary, but Good for Some

GoDaddy’s Online Store Rocks for Beginners

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Which of the Best Web Hosting Providers is Right for You?

From SiteGround to GoDaddy, each web host from our rankings has its advantages. We like SiteGround for the best web hosting value, but WP Engine is the top solution for those who want the speediest site with managed WordPress hosting–just be ready to pay a little extra for it. If you want to partner with an environmentally-conscience host, try out GreenGeeks. Other budget web hosts include Dreamhost and GoDaddy (or even Bluehost). For additional managed hosting providers with high-speeds, consider Kinsta, Flywheel, and Cloudways. Just try to look for options that have something like a 30-day money-back guarantee (that way you can test them out). Then let us know in the comments which you would consider the best web hosting services! 

The post Best Web Hosting Providers for Value, Speed, and Security (Jan 2022) appeared first on Ecommerce Platforms.

How to Get Started With UX Research

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Original Source: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2022/01/how-to-get-started-with-ux-research/

The importance of scientific research cannot be overstated. User research is crucial to the success of any UX design, and this article will explain all the reasons why.

But first, we will explore what UX research is and how it can give you valuable tools. Then we will analyze why user research is an ongoing, dynamic process.

By the end of this 5-minute read, you will know every efficient research method (qualitative and quantitative) and how to choose the right one(s) for a new or existing UX project.

What is UX Research?

In a few words, we could say that UX research is about observation techniques, feedback methods, and analysis of the whole user experience of a project. As in any scientific research, UX research analyzes how users think and what their motivations and needs are.

The research methods of UX can be divided into two main types: quantitative and qualitative.

Quantitative Research Methods

These methods are all about statistics and focus on numbers, percentages, and mathematical observations. UX designers later transform such numerical data into useful statistics that you can use in UX designs.

To be precise, there are numerous data collection platforms that UX designers use like Google Analytics, Google Data Studio, etc.

Qualitative Research Methods

Qualitative research aims to understand people’s needs and motivations through observation. This includes numerous methods: from interviews and usability testing to ethnographic and field studies.

In general, qualitative research is crucial for us UX designers because it is easier to analyze than quantitative and we can use it quickly in our projects.

Why is UX Research an Ongoing Process?

Suppose you are about to create a UX wireframe. The process is pretty simple. You start with research, proceed with sketching, then prototype and build. But how many times have you gone back to the previous step of the process?

A UX design is completely dynamic and rarely finished. For this reason, UX research should be viewed as an ongoing process. When I stopped worrying about going through this loop over and over again, I immediately became a better UX designer.

Why Should You Invest in UX Research? 

There are many reasons why you should always conduct UX research before you start sketching and prototyping a wireframe:

Stay relevant: Via UX research, you will ensure that you understand what your users need and tailor your product accordingly.
Improve user experience: With comprehensive UX research, you’ll be one step closer to delivering a great user experience.
Clarify your projects: With UX research, you can quickly identify the features you need to prioritize.
Improve revenue, performance, and credibility: When you successfully use UX research, you can boost the ROI (Return on Investment).

9 Effective UX Research Methods  

It becomes clear that UX research is very important to the success of any UX project. All successful approaches derive from three basic foundations: Observation, understanding, and analysis.

So let us take a look at the most popular and effective qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Interviews 

UX designers can conduct one-on-one interviews to communicate with users and analyze the context of the project. This is a very effective UX research method. You just need to set your goals.

Difficulty: Medium/Low
Cost: Average
Phase: Predesign, During Design Phase

Surveys And Questionnaires

This is a very effective approach if you want to gather valuable information quickly. There are many tools like PandaDoc and Wufoo that allow you to create engaging questionnaires and surveys.

Difficulty: Low
Cost: Low
Phase: Predesign, Post Design Phase

Usability Tests

Usability testing is an essential method if you want to test your product in terms of user experience. It can be applied during or after the creation of an app, site, etc.

Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Average
Phase: During Design Phase

A/B Tests

A/B testing is by far the best way to overcome a dilemma. If you do not know which element to choose, all you have to do is organize an A/B test and show each version to a number of users. Based on their feedback, you can then decide which version is the best.

Difficulty: Low
Cost: Low
Phase: During Design Phase

Card Sorts 

With card sorts, you can help your users by providing them with some product content categories (labeled card sets). This is a very cheap and easy way to understand what your users prefer and how they interact with the content you have just designed.

Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Average
Phase: During Design Phase

Competitive Analysis

Analyzing what your competitors are doing differently is critical to the initial stages of a UX design. This will help you identify their strengths and weaknesses and optimize your product.

Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Average
Phase: Predesign

Persona And Scenario Building 

Creating a user persona and a specific scenario for your project is critical. First, you need to build a user persona by integrating the motives, needs, and goals of your target audience.

Then, you can create a scenario that leverages all of this valuable information to deliver a top-notch user experience.

Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Average
Phase: Predesign

Field Studies 

Although a field study is a very effective UX research method, it is also expensive and difficult to conduct. However, there is nothing like field research when it comes to obtaining real-life data.

Difficulty: High
Cost: High
Phase: Predesign, During Design Phase

Tree Tests

Tree testing is a UX research method that you can apply to your designs during or after the construction phase. The process is fairly simple: you provide users with a text-only version of your product and ask them to complete certain tasks. This tactic is a great way to validate your product’s architecture.

Difficulty: High
Cost: High
Phase: During and Post Design Phase

How to Choose the Right UX Research Method?

Good planning is the most important thing for us UX designers. If you know exactly what the UX problem is, you can solve it quickly.

The methods analyzed above are just some of the research tactics used by UX designers. Choosing the right user research method for a project is not easy. To do so, you should first define your goals.

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Best Website Builder for Artists in 2022

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Original Source: https://ecommerce-platforms.com/website-builders/best-website-builder-for-artists

If you want to showcase your art online, the best website builder for artists is the best way to get started. A good site builder for artists gives you an attractive and effective tool for demonstrating what you can do to potential clients.

Wix, one of the most flexible website builders in the world, is ideal for artists and specialist creators alike. With Wix, professionals can access a variety of templates to bring their site to life, and even use the AI builder as a tool for helping them design a solution ideal for art creators.

Today, we’re going to introduce you to a host of fantastic tools for artists, so you can start bringing your website to life.

1. Squarespace

squarespace - best website builder for artists

One of the most widely recommended tools for building creative online stores, Squarespace is perfect for people who want to build ecommerce companies around their art. With beautiful templates to help showcase your features, Squarespace ensures you can make the right impact on your audience with an excellent range of capabilities.

Creating a stunning range of ecommerce sites with Squarespace is a simple and quick process. You can also access things like SEO features to help improve your chances of being found online. Advanced features like social media integration tools ensure you can sell across a variety of channels. You can also collect useful analytics information from the reporting service.

Squarespace can get you selling in no time, and there’s even the option to add appointments to your website. With the extensions functionality on Squarespace, you can also easily sync third-party solutions for managing, optimizing, and enhancing your website.

Pricing ?

Squarespace pricing starts at around $18 per month, and it ranges all the way to $46 per month. There aren’t transaction fees to worry about, but you also won’t be able to access many useful integrations without the help of a developer either, as there’s no dedicated app market.

Advanced versions of Squarespace give you more functionality, like gift cards and the ability to sell subscriptions.

Pros ?
Cons ?

Pros ?

Great for beautiful templates and customizations
Cross-channel selling features
Easy-to-use, convenient functionality
Good value for money in the pricing plans
SEO features to help you rank online
Lots of sales opportunities

Cons ?

No dedicated app marketplace
Lacks a fantastic blogging feature

Best for ✅

Squarespace is great for building a store to showcase your art. You can easily sell a range of products, moving beyond the basics like Etsy, Amazon, and eBay too. Squarespace helps you to build an attractive site which stands out from the crowd and offers a range of payment options.

2. Wix

wix - best website builder for artists

Wix is easily one of the top website builders for artists on the market. Designed to help you easily showcase your art online, Wix ensures you can even build your website for you, thanks to the dedicated AI tool. Wix attracts the attention of countless business leaders with it’s impressive ease-of-use, and fantastic diversity.

With Wix, you can design and build a range of high-quality websites, whether you’re promoting a business, showcasing your work, opening a store or starting a blog for your art company. You can customize your website as much as you like, add advanced features, like the option to accept bookings online. There’s also the option to optimize your site for SEO, too.

Wix’s Editor has dedicated templates just for artists, and it gives you absolute design freedom, so you can experiment as much as you like. For people with developer knowledge, as well as artistic skill, there’s also the Velo by Wix open development platform.

Wix offers everything from contact form support to tools for working with affiliates and handling affiliate commissions. Read any Wix review, and you’re sure to hear plenty of people raving about the ADI and other unique features.

Pricing ?

The pricing packages of Wix depend on the kind of store you want to build. You can easily connect a domain to Wix for a few dollars per month. However, if you want to sell your art as well as showcasing it, you’ll need the Business Basic package at a minimum for $23 per month.

Business Unlimited allows you to access a variety of features for a higher price, at $27 per month, like unlimited bandwidth. There’s also Business VIP. Which is the enterprise version of Wix, setting you back around $500 per month.

Pros ?
Cons ?

Pros ?

Fantastic flexibility for customizing your store
Wide selection of apps to build functionality
Have an AI system create your store with you
Automatic rollback and site back up options
Wide range of templates specifically for artists
Tons of helpful features for product listing and selling

Cons ?

Requires additional spending for ecommerce features
Blogging does have some limitations

Best for ✅

If you’re looking for an affordable and simple solution for selling your art online, Wix is a great pick. You can achieve your goals in no time with the convenient and straightforward builder. Wix can even build much of your website for you.

3. Weebly

weebly - best website builder for artists

Weebly is a great option if you want the ideal combination of simplicity and feature richness. Weebly is a drag-and-drop website builder ideal for beginners and growing brands alike. There are tons of features to enjoy with Weebly, such as a wide selection of templates, and the freedom to sell from anywhere with the implementation of Square.

There are various features available on Weebly’s online platform, including integrations with solutions like Marketing tools and CRM systems. You can design coupon codes and gift cards. There’s a drag and drop builder, custom fonts, and an image editor too. Video backgrounds are also available.

Another great feature of Weebly is all the data you get. If you need to know which pages are making the biggest impact on the success of your online store, Weebly can help with that. You can track things like page views, unique visitors, and even online orders per day.

Pricing ?

Weebly comes with a number of pricing packages to choose from, starting with a free plan which comes with up to 500 MB of storage. There’s no custom domain with the free service either. The Pro plan starts at around £9 per month, and the connect plan is available at £4 per month if you just want to link store functionality to an existing website.

Pros ?
Cons ?

Pros ?

Very easy for beginners with lots of guidance
Plenty of customization options
Great customer support and live chat
Easy navigation with site search
Third-party gateways
Tax and shipping function

Cons ?

Some issues with template limitations
Not a lot of versioning support

Best for ✅

Small companies looking for a good way to start selling online fast will love Weebly’s simplicity. You’ll need at least a Pro package to take payments, but overall, Weebly is very straightforward and affordable.

4. Pixpa

pixpa - best website builder for artists

If you’re looking for a website designed specifically to help you showcase your art and build a portfolio, Pixpa is a great choice. The solution ensures you can highlight your abilities online alongside other creators. There’s also the option to access various tools for selling your work.

With a heavy focus on the photography market, many of the Pixpa website templates are largely image-based and focus on showing off your photo abilities. Pixpa comes with access to an all-in-one selection of creative features, without the need for any coding knowledge. There’s also an affordable pricing structure, and 24/7 live support.

The templates available from Pixpa cover everything from online stores to creative services, small businesses, and photography portfolios. Overall, it’s a very simple way to set up a portfolio, and you can even try the features for free too.

Pricing ?

There’s a free trial available for Pixpa, or you can start on the paid plans at $3 per month when billed annually. The Light package comes with mobile optimized websites and highly customizable themes. There’s up to 5 pages of galleries, 100 website gallery images, and SSL security included.

More expensive packages, like Personal, start at $7 per month with 200 images supported and simplified proofing. There’s also an Expert package for $10 per month, when billed annually, for unlimited pages and galleries. Alternatively, the Business package allows for an online store at $16 per month.

Pros ?
Cons ?

Pros ?

Lots of ways to showcase your images
Beautifully customized themes
1 year of free domain name access
Simplified back-end environment for beginners
Sell downloads or prints
Affordable pricing plans

Cons ?

Gallery is capped at 200 images on smaller plans
No real SEO functionality.

Best for ✅

Photographers will definitely benefit from Pixpa’s heavy focus on the image side of showcasing your website. With this website builder, you can easily share images with clients and showcase your work in a professional format.

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5. Format

format - best website builder for artists

Format is a website build focusing on offering the simplicity of sites like WordPress, to artists in search of opportunities to thrive online. There are numerous layouts to choose from so you can build an effective portfolio website, optimized for the search engines. There’s even an in-built image protection feature, so you can add watermarks to images without HTML or plugins.

While Format is excellent for showcasing images, the builder doesn’t include quite as many features for website building as some of the other top options on the market. You might struggle to develop an extensive web design similar to something you’d expect from Shopify, for instance.

On the plus side, you can use this artist website builder without spending a fortune. The portfolio system makes it relatively easy for anyone to get online if you don’t need a comprehensive content management system.

Pricing ?

The basic plan for Format starts at $12 per month. This is relatively standard for an artist website builder, although you might find it’s a little expensive when there are free website builders out there, and a lack of ecommerce tools on Format.

There are more expensive plans available, like $40 per month for the Professional plan, which comes with a free mobile app, and an optimized website.

Pros ?
Cons ?

Pros ?

Simple functionality doesn’t require the skills of graphic designers
Quick and affordable way to build online presence
Good for building a simple website with lots of images
Decent pricing for beginners
SEO tools available on some plans

Cons ?

Can make it difficult to sell art online
Quite basic compared to other leading site builders

Best for ✅

If you’re not too worried about an ecommerce plan for your website, and you just want a user-friendly way to showcase your art online, Format is a good choice. There are a lot of design templates to choose from, and a user-friendly backend.

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6. Web.com

web com - best website builder for artists

Finally, if you’re looking for something outside of WordPress.com or WordPress.org to build your website, but you still want an easy way to get started online, web.com is a great choice. This website builder offers a range of ways to get online. You can get a web hosting and site building combo, or you can simply access the functionality to build your own website and access hosting separately.

The website building functionality from Web.com comes with all of the tools you would expect, including email, ecommerce sales solutions, and SEO to help improve your presence online. You can integrate your site with Google Analytics, and use ecommerce functionality to sell your art.

Depending on how much developer experience you have, you can even add CSS and HTML elements to your site or follow a tutorial to integrate social media tools and PPC marketing features.

The drag and drop design tool is easy to use, and comes with a stock image library.

Pricing ?

Pricing for Web.com depends on whether you want features like unlimited storage, or multiple user accounts. If you’re just buying hosting, prices start at $5.95 per month, and go up to $9.95 per month. For a unique bundle of features, you’ll need to talk to the team about getting a business plan set up for your specific needs.

Pros ?
Cons ?

Pros ?

Start building with minimal learning curve or know how
Drag-and-drop editor to build your homepage and site
Add your own hosting from brands like GoDaddy or access built-in hosting
Tweak your site as much as you like with widgets and add-ons
Search engine optimization features included

Cons ?

Can require some learning for certain features
Premium plan options may be expensive

Best for ✅

If you’re looking for a convenient way to get online either with your own hosting or built-in hosting, the Web.com site builder is a fantastic choice. This service is easy-to-use, convenient, and brimming with a wide range of features.

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Choosing the Best Website Builder for Artists

There are plenty of great tools out there for step-by-step website building among artists. Whether you choose Squarespace, Wix, or Web.com, make sure you do your research and learn as much as you can about the builders before you jump in.

Many of the best options will even give you free trials and demos so you can test the functionality of your site builder before you invest.

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