Archive for category: Random Stories

Original Source: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/07/smashingconf-videos-web-fonts-performance/

Webfonts And Performance: SmashingConf Videos

Webfonts And Performance: SmashingConf Videos

The Smashing Editorial

2018-07-20T14:35:35+02:00
2018-07-20T15:29:44+00:00

Webfonts are difficult to get right. An often overlooked and disruptive piece of web performance, webfonts can slow down your site and leave your visitors confused and agitated. No one wants agitated visitors.

Webfonts Are ▢▢▢ Rocket Science

Recorded at our special web performance themed SmashingConf in London, Zach Leatherman demystifies webfonts in order that we can avoid font-related performance issues. He takes us through a detailed guide to best practices when using webfonts, so you can use beautiful fonts without sacrificing performance. If you have ever asked, “What is the best way to load webfonts?” then you need to hear this talk. Zach breaks down the various approaches in a straightforward way, so you should feel able to make the best decisions for your own use of webfonts.

In addition to this video, you can take a look at Zach’s “Comprehensive Guide To Font Loading Strategies,” and subscribe to his newsletter fontspeed.io.

Fontastic Web Performance

Another great introduction to font loading was made by Monica Dinculescu at SmashingConf Barcelona. She spoke about which new platform features are here to help us deliver pretty (but also!) fast experiences to everyone.

In her talk, Monica also mentions the following resources — in addition to Zach’s work:

“Type is Your Right,” by Helen Holmes
“Minimising Font Downloads,” by Jake Archibald
Type With Pride
Axis Praxis
Fontastic

We also find Monca’s Font Style Matcher tool really useful, helping you find a font that matches your webfont closely to prevent a jarring shift between the sizes.

Enjoyed listening to these talks? There are many more SmashingConf videos on Vimeo, and we’re getting ready for the upcoming SmashingConf in New York — see you there? 😉

With so much happening on the web, what should we really pay attention to? At SmashingConf New York 2018 ?? we’ll explore everything from PWAs, font loading best practices, web performance and eCommerce UX optimization, to refactoring CSS, design workflows and convincing your clients. With Sarah Drasner, Dan Mall, Sara Soueidan, Jason Grigsby, and many other speakers. Oct 23–24.

Check the speakers →

(ra, il)

Original Source: https://inspiredm.com/brizy-review-visual-page-building-reinforced/

Meta: This Brizy Page Builder review covers everything you need to know about the WordPress plugin, with focus on how it would potentially impact your business.

Well, of course, we love WordPress for its usability, and most importantly, its wide array of third-party plugins optimized for pretty much everything to do with websites.

Come to think of it, we could spend a fortnight comparing different plugin categories, debating about the most essential one. However, if you’re honest, you’d acknowledge that nothing comes close to web design plugins especially when it comes to ecommerce sites.

Consider this. The first impression visitors have of your website is 94% related to its overall design. That’s according to a study conducted by Northumbria and Sheffield Universities. The University of Surrey, on the other hand, released a separate report revealing that users’ assessment of your business’ credibility is 75% based on the website design.

And that explains why a well-designed web interface is capable of boosting your standard conversion rate by 200 to 400%.Design comes first before other supplementary site elements pick up from there to optimize the conversion process.

That’s why I’ve always been crazy about web building plugins. Leveraging good ones is one way to lay a solid foundation for a seamless experience with other plugins and site elements.

That said, I’ll admit that I’ve used quite a couple of extremely effective plugins in this space. But, as expected, I’ve also seen my fair share of poor ones.

Above everything, I’ve always found it exciting to try out the newest entrants. Mostly because some of them come out with all guns blazing. They are seemingly never shy to challenge even established competitors with trendy, exciting features at comparatively cheap rates.

And that’s how I was quick to notice Brizy Page Builder. A new kid on the block, but certainly one of the most notable entrants.

So, what exactly does it come with? And is it any different from its predecessors?

Well, let’s find out. This Brizy Page Builder review covers everything you need to know about the WordPress plugin, with focus on how it would potentially impact your business.

Brizy Page Builder Overview

Barely two months ago, in May, was Brizy launched as a page builder for WordPress-based sites. It was essentially developed to eliminate all the coding mumbo-jumbo, and consequently help users design and set up web pages without hiring developers.

Now, let me take a wild guess here. I assume you’ve heard that same description numerous times by now. So many that it has almost grown into a cliché.

Of course, it’s understandable that you might be thinking “another page builder?” What does Brizy gain from a space that’s already seeing a steady influx of tools on a regular basis?

Well, according to the team behind Brizy, it turns out that it’s not just a standard page builder. They acknowledge that indeed there are tons of page builders out there, but claim that Brizy will change your entire perception of visual page editors.

Top on the list of things its creators boast is a new revolutionary approach, which simplifies the whole editing process by availing only the tools that matter. Through Brizy, they also attempted to do away with what they call restrictive design elements.  Instead, the tool now supports extensive customization to empower site owners to do exactly what they want.

Now that only scratches the surface. There are loads of other features its developers say you’ll not see in other page builders.

Sounds impressive, right? Well, to be fair, this could possibly be marketing fluff to set the ball rolling. But then again, get this. Over the past couple of weeks, Brizy has grown to well over 100,000 downloads with a corresponding active user base of more than 20,000.

To top it off, the company is right on the verge of launching a whole new version of the tool- Brizy Pro.

Now that’s not a bad run. Quite remarkable as a matter of fact.

But are its features worth the hype?

Let’s take a closer look…

Brizy Page Builder Reviews: Features
Premium Themes

A bland outlook is one way to approach your page design, especially if you believe that graphics could be distracting.

But, let’s look at facts here. Going by research conducted by Adobe, 38% of your traffic will bounce off immediately your store’s website loads without appealing imagery or layout.

To help you entice your users, Brizy has outsourced theme designing to the real experts- Themefuse. This renowned group of professionals has designed a wide range of attractive and elegant premium themes, which are principally available on Brizy Pro.

And to avoid distracting users, the templates come with simple, clutter-free layouts. They are sleek, with minimalistic arrangements to help site visitors navigate around without any problems.

Clean Interface

While it might be exciting to see a wide range of editing tools when you’re working on a web page, let’s face it. Even for extremely complex pages with dynamic elements, you’ll only be able to use a limited number of tools at a time. Consequently making the rest redundant and bothersome.

Brizy addresses this problem by eliminating the crowd of editing tools we’ve seen with the bulk of other page builders.

However, make no mistake about it. The tools are not abolished completely.  Instead, Brizy avails only what you need for the specific task at hand, and hides the redundant options.

The result? Well, apart from a well-streamlined editing process, you get to enjoy a smart, clean interface.

Extensive Design Elements

Availing only the necessary editing options is quite commendable. But, admittedly, the subsequent clean editing interface could get you worried that Brizy might have very limited design elements.

Well, could that be the case with this WordPress plugin?

To comprehensively assess Brizy’s capabilities, I went beyond the standard options. I tried creating a web page with multiple elements, all dynamically linked within a single interface.

Thankfully, Brizy systematically provided a wide range of elements to design just the right page. In addition to maps, Brizy supports videos, icons, images, buttons, text, and many more.

Among its provisions is over 4,000 different icons, available in both Glyph and Outline versions. It also offers more than 150 pre-made page design blocks, which can be conveniently added to your web page to set its structure.

Recently, its creators further introduced entrance animations to the whole editing package.  You can now take advantage of more than 40 animation types to create an intuitive scrolling experience.

That said, here’s the kicker. While Brizy has covered all the fundamental design elements, it’s fairly limited when it comes to advanced elements. But the silver lining is the fact that the team behind it continues to improve the editing environment with additional web page design elements.

Global Customization

Embedding all those elements with their default parameters would ideally shorten the page building procedure. But, it would also result in a boring, unappealing web page. Different pages would possibly share more or less the same outlook.

Since every site is unique in its own way, Brizy found it critical to expand its editing options to facilitate extensive customization. That way, you can comfortably adopt your entire website to the specific business branding strategy.

But, how does this work exactly?

Brizy essentially allows you to adjust multiple aspects and parameters of the individual page elements. When you need to set positions within the page, for instance, you could capitalize on the intuitive drag and drop feature. It helps you conveniently move the elements to their desired position by simply choosing, clicking, dragging and dropping them anywhere within the page.

If the columns seem to be disproportionate, you could resize them by moving a mid-handle. You might especially find the corresponding percentage values displayed up top quite handy in ensuring accuracy.

And guess what? Customizing the columns doesn’t affect the content. Everything simply readjusts to adapt to the new dimensions.

And speaking of content, Brizy also comes with a smart text editor, which is optimized for changing text alignments, fonts, and colors. You can also extend the color scheme to the rest of the page layout with a single click to edit template properties.

And you know what? You’re free to be creative and experiment with multiple design options. You can always click to undo or redo any edit.

Mobile Optimization

A typical internet user today is pretty versatile. A report by Adobe revealed that 83% of customers worldwide, on average, surf on multiple screens using 2.23 devices at the same time.

Yes, you’re dead right. This includes smartphones and mobile tablets.

As a matter of fact, users love their mobile devices so much, that 74% of them say that they may never attempt to revisit a site if they found it to be poorly optimized for mobile surfing. I guess our addiction to surfing on-the-go might have everything to do with this widespread preference.

Now, one thing’s for sure. Such entitlement by internet users is not going anywhere. Quite simply adapt your site or go home.

Fortunately, Brizy provides a Mobile View mode with just the right tools to optimize your web page for mobile devices. Shifting to this window allows you to design all the elements for smaller screens.

Brizy Page Builder Reviews: Pricing

You’ll love this.

At the moment, all these features are available for free. You’re not going to pay even a dime to leverage them.

Developers are working now on an extended version (Brizy Pro) that will offer much more features aimed at web professionals and marketers.

What you are buying now is a pre sale for the Pro version, but the catch is that this is a one time payment only, lifetime deal. Once the Pro is out, the lifetime will be gone and you’ll pay yearly.

Brizy Pro

Brizy Pro is basically standard Brizy on steroids. According to the developing team, some of the additional features it will introduce include:

A/B Testing- You’ll be able to review and compare two distinct versions of the same web page with varying parameters.
Advance Forms-While the free version supports standard forms, Brizy Pro supports advanced forms with additional design options.
Role Manager-This allows you to set access and editing privileges for different parties you’ll be collaborating with.
Pop-up Builder- To boost your conversion rate, the pop-up builder facilitates the design and setup of call-to-action windows, pop-up banners, and more.
Third-Party Integration- Brizy Pro will support the following third-party services; Drip, SendGrid, AutoPilot, Mailer (Lite), HubSpot, Zapier, Unsplash, Salesforce, AWeber, MailChimp, Campaign Monitor, TypeKit, plus more.

Who Should Consider Using Brizy Page Builder?

To recap, here are the crucial takeaways:

Top on the list of things Brizy’s creators boast is a new revolutionary approach, which simplifies the whole editing process by availing only the tools that matter.
Over the past couple of weeks, Brizy has grown to well over 100,000 downloads with a corresponding active user base of more than 20,000.
Developers are working on a parallel version, Brizy Pro, which will offer much more features at a price. If you’re interested, you could pay $247 for a lifetime package of Brizy Pro once it launches.

Going by the current provisions, Brizy is quite decent for personal projects and basic websites. It can also suffice for small businesses and startups, but only for non-sales web pages.

Heavier users with high business ambitions have no choice, but to hang on until Brizy Pro is ultimately launched. And from the few features that have been leaked, I have to say that we expect it to make a substantial impact in the WordPress page building space.

For now, paying for the lifetime package seems like a pretty safe bet. Especially considering the fact that Brizy’s developers have already proven what they are capable of over the long haul.

Otherwise, let’s wait and see how it pans out. And maybe, I might hit you with a comprehensive Brizy Pro review in the near future.

The post Brizy Review: Visual Page Building Reinforced appeared first on Inspired Magazine.

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/CreativeBloq/~3/I8ejKl528Dk/will-brexit-wreck-the-vfx-industry

Having sat in screening rooms at ILM and Digital Domain for well over 18 years, I've heard my share of comments from big-name film directors regarding their review of shots for their films.

What will Brexit mean for the British VFX and CG industry?

The comment we were always hoping to hear was 'Final'. When the director said that magic word, a thunderous cheer was often heard from the men and women that had toiled for countless hours over that five or so seconds of film. But, when the team felt that the shot should be 'Finaled' and the director said 'CBB' (Could Be Better), we knew we were in for the long haul, because oftentimes the director had no idea what he or she was actually looking for.

Brexit could have some very serious consequences and implications for the visual effects industry, both in the UK and the rest of the world. But before we look at some of the issues regarding Brexit and the VFX industry, let's get a clear picture of the business of VFX.

What drives the industry

Let's be clear, Hollywood studios are looking for the best visual effects that will be delivered on time for the lowest price. A major blockbuster movie must be released on time. There's countless hours of planning and strategy by dozens of marketing execs, having reviewed all other studios' movies and their release dates to determine their film's date and overall marketing plan.

And generally speaking, they are pretty spot on with their date (except of course Titanic, which missed its July release and was finally released mid-December, catapulting its box office to dizzying heights, but that's another story). So, delivery is critical, and that is why generally speaking, the VFX studios that are of significant size and have a history of hitting outrageous schedules, get the work.

Of course, the studios want the very best quality, except when that quality costs too much. For example, when I was at the helm of ILM, I had a rather heated conversation with the president of Columbia Pictures regarding Air Force One. Arguing my case that the VFX looked horrible, the Columbia Exec asked me what ILM would have charged to do the VFX, and I gave him a number. He laughed and said, "Your price is $1.5 million higher than what we paid, are you telling me that we would have seen considerably more box office if the VFX were better?" He had a point.

Where Disney decides to spends its money has a huge impact on the industry

So, quality is important… but price is much more important. I learned my lesson. That's why I was sure that like most manufacturing, the manufacturing of VFX would move off shore to lower-cost environments, where wages were considerably less. I'd seen it happen in animation only a decade or two before. Animation was generally produced in the US by studios like Hanna-Barbera and Disney. But as prices rose due to increased labour costs, much of the animation moved to Korea and the Far East. I assumed, incorrectly so, that much of the VFX work would wind up in China and India.

But then came tax subsidies and rebates from English-speaking countries like Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. And while the labour costs were higher than, say, India, the rebates, the ease of communication and the careful strategic coming together of the likes of Sohonet, gave the US studios everything that they wanted… a great price due to government sponsorship, English-speaking contractors and high-quality VFX due to the enormous influx of talent from around the world. London (and Vancouver) became the nexus for VFX. 

Brexit: the pluses

Which currency will prevail post-Brexit?

Never forget, it's show business and as such, the studios and producers are always driven by price. There are two advantages that I see regarding VFX and Brexit. The pound to dollar pricing becomes quite attractive to US studios as the pound falls.

While I'm no economist, there have been several folks who have predicted that the pound will continue to fall against the dollar. The other opportunity is that the UK will no longer be bound by the rules of the EU, and as such, might make the subsidies and tax rebates even more attractive.

Brexit: the minuses

While the studios are driven by price, they are even more concerned about delivery. They are scared to death that they will miss their release date. Having done some research, the VFX workforce in London is approaching 50 per cent that are non-UK citizens, and 40 per cent of the current workforce are comprised of EU nationals.

While Brexit is not yet fully defined, it seems that it will force EU nationals to obtain the necessary work permits, which might prove very difficult, or not depending on the process – the proposed system announced recently suggests this process should be fairly straightforward. If it isn't, the result could be that London VFX studios would lose close to 50 per cent of its trained workforce. That could be disastrous. 

With a diminished talent base, London will not be able to handle the big shows, and as such will bring great concern to the studios regarding the London facilities' ability to deliver the work on time.

The possible

Will EU workers be able to stay once the UK has Brexit-ed?

If the London-based VFX studios' management is able to petition the UK government to allow their EU employees to remain in the UK, or if the proposed process for EU residents to seek settled status is put in place, then all will be well. However, if that doesn't happen, well, the proverbial will hit the fan.

The US studios will look for alternative ways to address their VFX needs. One possibility is that the London-based facilities open VFX operations in other countries, like France or Germany. We've seen that this is already happening. Unfortunately, opening up a new facility will take a great deal of cash, which, given the current margins in the VFX industry, means the parent company will take yet another financial hit.

Additionally, all the EU employees presently working at the London facilities will have to, once again, uproot their lives and move (which will also cost the London-based facilities more money). So, as you can see, this is not a pretty picture for the facilities or the workers.

There have been talks about setting up hub/spoke-based operations. That is, the hub remains in London but various tasks such as rigging, match moves, modelling and compositing take place in distant locations. While seemingly attractive, this idea creates a bunch of issues. Security, proximity, governmental tax issues and subsidies now become a problem not only for the facility, but for the client too.

Remembering my time back in various VFX screening rooms, I kept my fingers crossed every time my teams would screen their shots for the director, hoping for that magic word… Final. 

Unfortunately, Brexit looks like a CBB at best, or maybe even a famous Jim Cameron statement when viewing a shot that he didn't think was up to snuff, an 'NFG' (No Fucking Good).

This article was originally published in issue 235 of 3D World, the world's best-selling magazine for CG artists. Buy issue 235 here or subscribe to 3D World here.

Related articles:

Savage Brexit stamps are the best of BritishThe designer's guide to BrexitHow the web industry is coping in uncertain times

Original Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Designrfix/~3/LvFJvIKYfyQ/drive-more-quality-traffic

Driving more potential customers to your website can have a major impact on your bottom line. Netting more traffic takes a combination of web design, user experience, marketing, and outreach. In fact, the top five traffic driving assets include email marketing, landing pages, content marketing, search optimization, and social media.   More quality traffic, the […]

The post How To Drive More Quality Traffic To Your Website appeared first on designrfix.com.

Original Source: https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2018/07/20-freshest-web-designs-july-2018/

Welcome to our roundup of the best websites launched (or significantly updated) this month. July is a strange time to launch a site with the Summer slowdown in full effect, but these intrepid entrepreneurs have done so. We’ve got examples of great ecommerce, a couple of agency sites that we couldn’t resist, and lots of incredible art direction.

This month sees a big trend in compass navigation (a link in every corner of the page), and parallax is definitely still a big deal. Whether it’s inspired by the World Cup, or Le Tour, there’s a subtle gallic feel to a lot of sites this month…savourer!

Drift

Drift is a creative agency with some chops. Rejecting the minimalism that seemingly every other agency opts for, they’ve put together a charmingly animated, hand-made site. Not too functional, unless your aim is to communicate creative courage—they stand out.

Unspoken Agreement

Unspoken Agreement is a creative agency that believes in beauty. Its landing page is a schooling in art direction, and the simple bold copy is persuasive. I’m not sold on the compass navigation, but you can’t have everything.

2018 Foosball World Cup

As the final whistle is blown on the Fifa World Cup 2018, this awesome site gives you the chance to relive this Summer’s big sporting event from the comfort of your desktop. Pick a team, and click and scroll your way to victory. No spinning those bars!

Pittori di Cinema

The site designed to promote a book about film artists, Pittori di Cinema, is a suitably bold site with masses of color and strong lettering. Simple to use, it features that compass navigation again. But the graphics are something to behold.

Blackbird

Blackbird is an beautifully minimal Shopify site selling perfume. The site is a great example of how effective parallax can still be, if used effectively. I have no idea what that weird frog video is for, but it’s intriguing nonetheless.

Copenhagen Bike Company

If Le Tour is making you feel like cycling, but you don’t quite have the energy to make it up the Pyrenees, wander north to discover a cooler, more laid back approach to cycling. The site for the Copenhagen Bike Company features on-brand art direction, smooth UI details, and high-end minimalism.

Care Cards

We all get a little stressed from time to time, it’s OK to admit it. Care Cards is a progressive web app with over 80 kind tips to help you cope with the rigors of modern life. Just open it up on your phone (or notebook) and swipe through the gems of wisdom. I love this site.

CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation

Promoting fundraising for Canada’s premier hospital for the pre- and post-natal care of mothers and children. The strong grid layout, coupled with smart brand choices and subtle animation is a winning combination for this important cause.

Apostrophe

It’s always hard to design a site for copywriters, but this site does so beautifully. Hooking up the leading animation to the scroll of the page is an excellent device for driving home exactly what this minimal site is promoting.

Contemple

Another design agency showing us something special, this time it’s an amazing ripple effect on their slideshow as you scroll through the featured projects on their landing page. Click through to the case studies and there’s some awesome work on display.

License IV Wine

This simple one-page site sells a wine brand perfectly, by capturing the spirit of community around a good bottle of French wine. The License IV wine label is bringing French savoir faire to wine drinkers in the USA with this charming site.

In Caso di Mag: Kitzbühel

Kitzbühel is the latest in an ongoing series of craftily designed travelogues around the world’s best ski resorts. Each location gets its own page, with custom art direction capturing the spirit of each place. I love the attention to detail.

Carpe Diem Santorini

If there’s one place I’d love to spend some time, it’s among the cycladic minimalism of Santorini. The tiny Greek island is world famous for the beauty of its sunsets, and this enchanting site sells the romance of the destination perfectly.

La Gent

Who doesn’t love quality, independent brands that put timelessness ahead of fashion. La Gent’s site is designed for browsing. I love the fact that their slider has just two items, enough for variety but not so much that you get lost.

Fortnum&Fox

Another design agency with a flair for art direction, the site for Fortnum&Fox features an exceptional split screen design showing off an impressive back-catalogue of work. I particularly like how cohesive and simple the whole experience feels.

Maman Corp

Maman Corp is a construction company and their site reflects this with a grid-based layout and animation that feels like the site is being constructed before your eyes. I love the full-screen video and beautiful typography.

Twill

Twill is an open-source CMS kit for Laravel, offering increased productivity and more control. It’s promoting itself to developers, and that’s never an easy task, but breaking down the benefits in this one-page site it’s clearly worth checking out.

Knight Associates

You don’t get more minimal than this site for a New Zealand-based interior design firm. A simple list of projects click through to case studies. It’s a exercise in restraint from the design team than fans of simplicity will love.

Bang & Olufsen SS18

Bang & Olufsen’s spring and summer collection features aloe, teal, and steel blue hues inspired by the ocean. The whole microsite feels like its floating in water, and there’s a great liquid hover effect on the images.

Harris Farm

If you’ve had your fill of minimalism for this month, then browse over to Harris Farm. The positive feeling site is packed with illustrations and lettering that capture the spirit of this healthy, food-loving Australian company.

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