Microsite – What’s It?
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Thursday, December 4, 2014
What are the ways to create animation using CSS3?
The launch of CSS3 was pinnacle to the current change in usage of CSS for developing web animations. Before which, people used resources such as Flash and JavaScript for designing and developing such animations, which includes animated images. There were certain aspects to CSS3 that made creating animations through it so much easier and so much fun. Let’s have a brief look at these aspects now.
To begin with, there are two components - the “styles” and “keyframes”. These components make using CSS an apt option for developing animations. How they make it happen is as follows:
The following three features are major advantages, which the CSS animations have over other traditional animation techniques (which are script-driven).
Creating a sequence of CSS animation involves using the style component to set the animation’s properties and sub-properties. You get to configure the duration and timing of the animation, along with details related to how the sequence of animation should progress. But, you do not get to configure the appearance of these animations using the style, for which purpose you will be using the @keyframes component.
The following are the style properties & sub-properties
As mentioned before, the keyframes allow you to configure the animation’s appearance. For this, you will need to setup at least two (at-rule) keyframes. These keyframes represent how individual elements of the animation render themselves within a set time frame.
This time frame is denoted by a “percentage” system by the keyframes. A 0% represents the start of an animation, and 100% represents the finish; they are given as from/0% and to/100% respectively. Though both these are optional, they are very important, and thus, the browser by default computes all the attributes of the animation and starts and finishes it accordingly, when the values are not provided.
The following are CSS3 animation examples, which should give you a brief understanding of how this works.
Example 1:
25% {
font-size: 200%;
margin-right: 75%;
width: 200%;
}
This example shows that at 25% of the animation, the header will have the right margin at 75%, with the width being 200%.
Example 2:
from {
margin-right: 100%;
width: 500%;
}
to {
margin-right: 0%;
width: 100%;
}
This example has two keyframes; first occurring at 0% and the second at 100% (by default, since the values aren’t provided); this effectively starts and finishes an animation. The right margin is at 100% with a width of 500% at the start of the animation, and ends at 0% of the right margin with 100% width. Therefore, the browser animates a header from left edge to the right edge.
With that, by including additional keyframes you can add intermediate steps and thus, amend the CSS3 animations as per your requirements.
To begin with, there are two components - the “styles” and “keyframes”. These components make using CSS an apt option for developing animations. How they make it happen is as follows:
- A “style” describes the CSS animation.
- A “keyframe” indicates the flow of animation styles from beginning through the end.
Advantages of CSS3 Animations
- CSS makes it easy to create simple animations; also, one would not need to have knowledge on JavaScript or similar tools to work with CSS.
- Unlike JavaScript animations, which runs poorly even the simple animations (when not well made), the CSS animations run really well even when the system’s under moderate load. This is made possible by the rendering engine, which utilizes frame-skipping techniques to maintain performance and smoothness.
- Having the browsers themselves control the flow of animations (such as animation refresh rates, etc), has lead to best performance optimization and smoother animation flow.
Creating the Animations
CSS Style
- animation-delay: This helps configure the time delay between different elements of the loaded animation and the sequential animations.
- animation-direction: This configuration sets the direction of individual animations, and also states if the particular animation will repeat itself in the same sequence or in a different direction on its consecutive runs.
- animation-duration: Sets the time an animation would take to complete its single cycle.
- animation-iteration-count: Sets the number of times an animation would repeat itself. If set to infinite, the animation would go on indefinitely.
- animation-name: This specifies the at-rule name, which describes an animation’s keyframes.
- animation-play-state: You can configure an animation’s pause/play status.
- animation-timing-function: With this configuration, you can establish the acceleration curves of the animation, setting its keyframes transitions.
- animation-fill-mode: This configures the values applied to an animation, (before & after it’s execution).
CSS @keyframes
This time frame is denoted by a “percentage” system by the keyframes. A 0% represents the start of an animation, and 100% represents the finish; they are given as from/0% and to/100% respectively. Though both these are optional, they are very important, and thus, the browser by default computes all the attributes of the animation and starts and finishes it accordingly, when the values are not provided.
The following are CSS3 animation examples, which should give you a brief understanding of how this works.
Example 1:
25% {
font-size: 200%;
margin-right: 75%;
width: 200%;
}
This example shows that at 25% of the animation, the header will have the right margin at 75%, with the width being 200%.
Example 2:
from {
margin-right: 100%;
width: 500%;
}
to {
margin-right: 0%;
width: 100%;
}
This example has two keyframes; first occurring at 0% and the second at 100% (by default, since the values aren’t provided); this effectively starts and finishes an animation. The right margin is at 100% with a width of 500% at the start of the animation, and ends at 0% of the right margin with 100% width. Therefore, the browser animates a header from left edge to the right edge.
With that, by including additional keyframes you can add intermediate steps and thus, amend the CSS3 animations as per your requirements.
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Few good Tricks To Improve Your WordPress Theme
Improve your WordPress Themes
In WordPress, the “Themes” play a vital part in making one’s site look unique and impressive. To that fact, there are thousands of themes available for the users to choose from and download, these are either offered for free or for a premium. However, did you know all these themes can be further tweaked in order to get better optimization, features or customization?
Well, let’s have a look at few simple yet effective tweaks that can be done to your WordPress themes, to offer better and safer experience to your website visitors.
Theme Images
Images are the primary part of most themes; they are on the logos, the backgrounds, icons and so on. However, WordPress theme developers sometimes fail to realize that their high resolution/high quality images are actually doing more bad to the theme users than good.
How? A high resolution image may make the theme look very pretty and luring, but, what they are also doing is, drastically increasing the load time of these images. When we factor that there are multiple images within a webpage; we can assume how greatly they would affect the total load time or bandwidth consumption - resulting in a very slow website altogether, which we don’t want.
Hence, by optimizing these images we can ensure for a better web experience for our website users. To do that we need to use photo editing tools (for example “Photoshop”), and reduce the image’s resolution through quality settings. Lowering the resolution up to the point just before where the image starts to have a hit on its color or quality would be your sweet spot. Also, some tools offer you options to reduce image file size without making much change to the image’s quality.
This should effectively speedup the theme.
PHP Flush
Like the above step, the purpose of this function is to make your WordPress blog load faster too. A PHP flush should be added immediately after the header, this forces the server to send the header content before rest of the website.
<?php flush(); ?>
What this does is give the browser enough time to load stylesheets in the header reference when it’s waiting for other contents of the webpages to load.
Favicon
Favicon makes your website look professional. But, what is a favicon? It is the icon that you see on the browser’s address bars. Some themes do not come with it by default, in-order to add one you can do the following.
<link rel="icon" href="favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" />
The “href” refers to the favicon file. Adding this code within the header.php found inside the theme’s directory should get your icon up on the bar.
Theme Security
Hackers and other such malicious users can take advantage of various weaknesses within a specific version of the WordPress to attack your website. What makes it ironic is that, your WordPress version is displayed right on the header.
So, what do you do? There’re few steps you can take to get your website protected – that is by removing the displayed version number altogether. The generator code is placed within the <head> tags of the theme.
Step 1
Step 2
Login Errors
Hiding your login errors is another way of protecting your themes too. The reason being that when a person types in a wrong password or a wrong username this error code reveals the exact type of error to the users.
That is; when one type’s in a wrong username the message states its so, giving the potential hacker a confirmed feedback. And when the password alone is wrong, it states that too, ensuring to them that a username is valid, which only requires from them to hack for the password.
So, to remove this - add the following line under functions.php.
add_filter('login_errors', create_function('$a', "return null;"));
Making these minor changes to your wordpress theme, will ensure that it better optimized for safer and faster browsing experience.
In WordPress, the “Themes” play a vital part in making one’s site look unique and impressive. To that fact, there are thousands of themes available for the users to choose from and download, these are either offered for free or for a premium. However, did you know all these themes can be further tweaked in order to get better optimization, features or customization?
Well, let’s have a look at few simple yet effective tweaks that can be done to your WordPress themes, to offer better and safer experience to your website visitors.
Images are the primary part of most themes; they are on the logos, the backgrounds, icons and so on. However, WordPress theme developers sometimes fail to realize that their high resolution/high quality images are actually doing more bad to the theme users than good.
How? A high resolution image may make the theme look very pretty and luring, but, what they are also doing is, drastically increasing the load time of these images. When we factor that there are multiple images within a webpage; we can assume how greatly they would affect the total load time or bandwidth consumption - resulting in a very slow website altogether, which we don’t want.
Hence, by optimizing these images we can ensure for a better web experience for our website users. To do that we need to use photo editing tools (for example “Photoshop”), and reduce the image’s resolution through quality settings. Lowering the resolution up to the point just before where the image starts to have a hit on its color or quality would be your sweet spot. Also, some tools offer you options to reduce image file size without making much change to the image’s quality.
This should effectively speedup the theme.
PHP Flush
Like the above step, the purpose of this function is to make your WordPress blog load faster too. A PHP flush should be added immediately after the header, this forces the server to send the header content before rest of the website.
<?php flush(); ?>
What this does is give the browser enough time to load stylesheets in the header reference when it’s waiting for other contents of the webpages to load.
Favicon
Favicon makes your website look professional. But, what is a favicon? It is the icon that you see on the browser’s address bars. Some themes do not come with it by default, in-order to add one you can do the following.
<link rel="icon" href="favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" />
The “href” refers to the favicon file. Adding this code within the header.php found inside the theme’s directory should get your icon up on the bar.
Theme Security
Hackers and other such malicious users can take advantage of various weaknesses within a specific version of the WordPress to attack your website. What makes it ironic is that, your WordPress version is displayed right on the header.
So, what do you do? There’re few steps you can take to get your website protected – that is by removing the displayed version number altogether. The generator code is placed within the <head> tags of the theme.
Step 1
- Check if the following line is present in the header.php <meta name="generator" content="WordPress <?php bloginfo(’version’); ?>" />
- If yes, then remove it, as it prints the version number as the <meta> tag.
Step 2
- Now, under functions.php (you can create one if it does not exist, using “source code editor”) past the following: <?php remove_action('wp_head', 'wp_generator'); ?>
- This ensures that the version number won’t be available through wp_head()
Login Errors
Hiding your login errors is another way of protecting your themes too. The reason being that when a person types in a wrong password or a wrong username this error code reveals the exact type of error to the users.
That is; when one type’s in a wrong username the message states its so, giving the potential hacker a confirmed feedback. And when the password alone is wrong, it states that too, ensuring to them that a username is valid, which only requires from them to hack for the password.
So, to remove this - add the following line under functions.php.
add_filter('login_errors', create_function('$a', "return null;"));
Making these minor changes to your wordpress theme, will ensure that it better optimized for safer and faster browsing experience.
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Why to choose ruby on rails to develop a website?
Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails is a hot open source web app framework that’s written using the Ruby language - a general purpose programming language that was developed to keep the object-oriented part of coding intact. Through recent years the number of dedicated followers of Ruby on Rails has increased by large. It’s being enthusiastically used by web app developers who appreciate the clean and elegant coding structure when programming.This framework allows for us to run web applications and provides us with a platform to build new web pages on. With that you can gather information from the server, query the database or manage templates under a secure interface using the ruby on rails CMS (Content Management System).
Also, the Rails framework gives a simplified and easier approach towards developing a website or an app, by coming up with abstracts for common and repetitive tasks. This enables Ruby on Rails developers to deliver speedier projects, thus making it a serious contender to the position held by PHP. Rightly so you can find numerous arguments over which one is better for the development of their next website. Now, let’s have a look at what makes Ruby on Rails the right choice.
Facts of Ruby on Rails
Here are few statements that you hear often when the conversation is about RoR.
- The Framework of RoR is mature” - this is true as the Ruby is built on a much advanced foundation, thus granting us a much easier approach towards developing a high-end product faster and more efficiently. Also, being built on top of solid foundation allows for it to offer a stable maintenance solution. In comparison a PHP website is very weak to tweaks and changes, as the coding most often do not follow a fixed structuring making it very hard for future modifications or additions.
Ruby offers lots of open source contents that are extremely helpful in cutting down on initial development costs, which proves to be game-changer in multiple occasions, for many developers. - “It’s difficult to write bad codes in RoR” this may seem fictional, however that’s very close to reality. Again taking PHP as an example - one of the major advantages of PHP was that it was very easy to pick up and start working with, this enabled lot of developers to flush in with many PHP products under least amount of time. But, trouble brew when bugs where discovered or when contents where needed to be amended, that’s when the easy its structuring proved to also be its major down point.
Now with Ruby on Rails, the rules are strict and structure and flow of coding is mature. This allows for easy changes and bug fixing, which means lower maintenance cost. RoR can be said as – “hard work to begin, but easy work to sustain”. This brings to the next fact. - “RoR has a very steep learning curve” Yes, that’s true too, like mentioned above this fact about Ruby on Rails, actually proves to be its advantage. You don’t have to worry as-much about the quality of projects coming out of a RoR developer, as with other easy to learn development tools. One cannot get away with bad coding here, thus, this toughness filters all the posers from the skilled developers.
Note: Use of agile development is recommended by the Ruby community, for apps with ever-changing requirements.
Features of Ruby on Rails
Here’s a list of features that make RoR a very potent tool for programmers.
- The open source nature of ruby on rails provides the programmers with a vast library of codes, which allows for fasters and more efficient programming.
- The programming structure of RoR is consistent throughout, that allow rails developers to move between different projects.
- The framework of Rails makes it easy for a Ruby developer to make changes to the application as and when needed, without much trouble.
- Ruby programming uses a very readable coding style, such that they themselves serve as documents for other developers or future references.
- Rails being open source requires no licensing, thus leaving you to focus your cost on rails hosting services and kind.
However, there are certain down sides to Ruby on Rails as well, which includes that fact that not all website hosts support Rails at the moment. This is because Rails is resource intensive when in comparison to the other popular programming tool - the PHP. Then, unlike Java or PHP, Rails is not as popular either, it is gaining in popularity but, has a long way to go. Finally Rails isn’t as fast as related programming tools – Java or C.
Conclusion
Despite these minor setbacks Ruby on Rails has in offer a very elegant and powerful development tool that is apt for today’s modern website and mobile application needs; hence, as a reputed developer we provide you with just that.
Friday, October 17, 2014
Custom Website Blog Vs Open Source Website Blog, Which one would be better?
In current scenario it is only natural that we expect every business to have an online presence. And if you are someone owning a business and are catching-up with this trend now, you might be in for a shock when you personally experience its potential.
So, when you are ready to get your business online and have decide to develop a website, one of the first choices you will be making is deciding on what type of platform you will be building your website on - an open source or a custom one. Before we go ahead and choose one, let’s understand their differences and what they have in offer.
But first we need to know what a “CMS” is.
CMS - Content Management System
A CMS is the system upon which your website is built and is the platform which is used for creating, publishing, managing and deleting contents on your website. This includes text, media, coding, etc; however, knowledge on coding is not mandatory as CMS is very simple to operate - almost as simple as editing one’s document. Now, let us go back to the two different types.
Open Source Websites Blog: An open source website blog uses the codes that are already available for the public. One can uses these codes for editing as well as redistribution. These types of systems are constantly under improvement and development by the community comprising of thousands of people; all contributing newer and more efficient solutions to the pool.
Custom Websites Blog: The custom platforms use privately held codes that are distributed and maintained by individual owners. These types of systems are thus developed and improved up-on, as per these owners’ personal judgments.
These are few brief understanding of the differences between the Custom Website Blog and Open Source Website Blog. Which is better?..depends upon your personal needs. When you are looking for a website that is easy to build, fun to develop and fast to modify then open source website blog would be your best choice. However, if you want a very personalized websites that is most unique, more secure and ultimately you do not mind the extra cost than you better opt for custom website blogs. Whichever your choice is, we offer you both these services.
So, when you are ready to get your business online and have decide to develop a website, one of the first choices you will be making is deciding on what type of platform you will be building your website on - an open source or a custom one. Before we go ahead and choose one, let’s understand their differences and what they have in offer.
But first we need to know what a “CMS” is.
CMS - Content Management System
A CMS is the system upon which your website is built and is the platform which is used for creating, publishing, managing and deleting contents on your website. This includes text, media, coding, etc; however, knowledge on coding is not mandatory as CMS is very simple to operate - almost as simple as editing one’s document. Now, let us go back to the two different types.
Open Source Websites Blog: An open source website blog uses the codes that are already available for the public. One can uses these codes for editing as well as redistribution. These types of systems are constantly under improvement and development by the community comprising of thousands of people; all contributing newer and more efficient solutions to the pool.
- The main advantage in using open source websites is that you get a website for the least budget. Having a designer work on a website would defiantly cost you most that what you would be spending for get a website up and running using an open source.
- The usability of these websites are very flexible and anybody can take it upon themselves to edit and modify their websites. Adding new pages, removing continents cannot be easier.
- The overall time it takes to get your website to the public is a lot shorter than in comparison with custom websites. You do not need for the developers to provide individual codes for your website, most are immediately available and the rest requires easy edits to customize to your needs.
- No matter how many pages or how different your pages you require, all are done using the templates, which offers you with a consistent output.
- With just addition of few plug-inns you can make your website as functional and unique as you want, however not to the precision of a custom website blog, but enough for most.
- Adding and editing media is so much easier with open source websites, as they were practically designed to offer you with such opportunities and features.
- Developing your website is more fun through this method, as most to all options can be edited and molded by you to your personal liking. Thus, enjoy the DIY feel without having to know anything about coding or programming. It’s easy to lean interface and user-friendly interaction allow for you to enjoy your website development.
Custom Websites Blog: The custom platforms use privately held codes that are distributed and maintained by individual owners. These types of systems are thus developed and improved up-on, as per these owners’ personal judgments.
- The main aspect of using a custom websites is that, they can be designed exactly to one’s desire. The templates can be designed to function and look as unique as possible, to an extent beyond what is possible through open source websites, hence you can be sure that no other website is going to look like yours. Also, there are options for you to purchase these individual templates such that no one else will be able to imitate or copy your website design.
- Being able to customize the website beyond the concepts of templates allows for you to direct your customers the way you want. Thus, the ability to control and steer your customers will play an important role in improving business through your website.
- Using the custom codes are the most effective and efficient way to get a website done, as no unnecessary aspects to the website are added. They are more personable and are most apt for working towards improving your web-traffic with search engine optimization (SEO).
- Having a custom website blog allows for you to structure your website to fulfill your individual needs instead of working around and finding a compromise.
These are few brief understanding of the differences between the Custom Website Blog and Open Source Website Blog. Which is better?..depends upon your personal needs. When you are looking for a website that is easy to build, fun to develop and fast to modify then open source website blog would be your best choice. However, if you want a very personalized websites that is most unique, more secure and ultimately you do not mind the extra cost than you better opt for custom website blogs. Whichever your choice is, we offer you both these services.
Friday, October 10, 2014
Teach and Learn through Moodle based e-learning platform
Moodle is an e-Learning platform that was released to the public in August of 2002 as a free software that’s available to anyone for download. Moodle the abbreviation for “Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment” is a learning platform that was designed to offer the best interactive learning experience for the users. Both the trainers and the learners benefit from its simple yet feature rich environment, which are customizable and effective at the same time. All these traits are essential and make for a good e-learning platform. Due to which, the number of customized versions of this software available to the public has increased to tens of thousands over the years.
Moodle being a very interactive tool allows for the trainers as well as the learners to work in co-ordination with each other, creating unique online course structures that are customized exactly to their specific wants. The flexibility of this continually evolving platform which is molded constantly to attain fineness and credibility is what has brought 70+ million dedicated users to it.
Teaching and Learning with moodle
The reasons behind why moodle is the most preferred e-learning platform for great many users, are numerous; let’s have a look at some of the important ones and how it influences teaching or learning.
Reliability: This tool has been around for over a decade now, and during these years has undergone numerous changes, to become what is now very reliable and proven resource. From Institutions to Universities, both small and big have chosen to use moodle as their teaching platform; this shows us how trusted this e-learning tool is.
Free License: This being an open-source software, anyone can downloaded it for both commercial or non-commercial usage without any licensing fee. As, the tool can be modified and extended to the user’s specific needs, its cost-effectiveness is its major benefit for trainers and institutes.
Mobility: This is a web-based platform and thus accessible from anywhere and on any device, making its contents reachable by anyone with an internet connection. It’s cross browser compatible and is also available in responsive themes for better usability making moodle a perfect learning tool for students on the move.
Security: One of the major concerns of critics was its security and privacy capabilities. However, through constant updates and regular checks, the moodle platform has proven to be very strong against unauthorized usage, data loss and similar misuses. This e-learning platform is thus ideal for trainers and the learners looking for a safe medium.
Multilingual: Moodle is available in multiple languages, thus apt for students of different culture and various parts of the world. The community is responsible for taking moodle beyond the limitations of its base language. Now the e-learners can opt for available 120+ languages.
Community: And then the most important aspect of all “the community” this is the driving force behind moodle’s success as a prominent Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The dedicated international community provides continual support and intense bug fixes, guarantying a resource that’s fit for training institutes and organizations for small and large scale.
A Complete Package: Moodle has undergone years of development on various fronts to make it a complete tool-set for all types of online courses. Users can configure the very core of this tool and enable or disable its various features to make it the package they would want to support. The package guarantees resource for the following features:
With these collective attributes, moodle LMS (Learning Management System) serves its users with the best of online learning and training environment.
Moodle being a very interactive tool allows for the trainers as well as the learners to work in co-ordination with each other, creating unique online course structures that are customized exactly to their specific wants. The flexibility of this continually evolving platform which is molded constantly to attain fineness and credibility is what has brought 70+ million dedicated users to it.
Teaching and Learning with moodle
The reasons behind why moodle is the most preferred e-learning platform for great many users, are numerous; let’s have a look at some of the important ones and how it influences teaching or learning.
Reliability: This tool has been around for over a decade now, and during these years has undergone numerous changes, to become what is now very reliable and proven resource. From Institutions to Universities, both small and big have chosen to use moodle as their teaching platform; this shows us how trusted this e-learning tool is.
Free License: This being an open-source software, anyone can downloaded it for both commercial or non-commercial usage without any licensing fee. As, the tool can be modified and extended to the user’s specific needs, its cost-effectiveness is its major benefit for trainers and institutes.
Mobility: This is a web-based platform and thus accessible from anywhere and on any device, making its contents reachable by anyone with an internet connection. It’s cross browser compatible and is also available in responsive themes for better usability making moodle a perfect learning tool for students on the move.
Security: One of the major concerns of critics was its security and privacy capabilities. However, through constant updates and regular checks, the moodle platform has proven to be very strong against unauthorized usage, data loss and similar misuses. This e-learning platform is thus ideal for trainers and the learners looking for a safe medium.
Multilingual: Moodle is available in multiple languages, thus apt for students of different culture and various parts of the world. The community is responsible for taking moodle beyond the limitations of its base language. Now the e-learners can opt for available 120+ languages.
Community: And then the most important aspect of all “the community” this is the driving force behind moodle’s success as a prominent Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The dedicated international community provides continual support and intense bug fixes, guarantying a resource that’s fit for training institutes and organizations for small and large scale.
A Complete Package: Moodle has undergone years of development on various fronts to make it a complete tool-set for all types of online courses. Users can configure the very core of this tool and enable or disable its various features to make it the package they would want to support. The package guarantees resource for the following features:
- Save a lot on course materials
- Interactive homework/assignments
- Little to no paperwork
- Evaluation of skills are fully customizable
- Wide range of learning activities
- YouTube video embedding
- Feedbacks and details are stored meticulously
- Automated grade-books
With these collective attributes, moodle LMS (Learning Management System) serves its users with the best of online learning and training environment.
Monday, October 6, 2014
An introduction to WebRTC and how it will improve revenue opportunities for your company?
Introduction to WebRTC
WebRTC is a JavaScript API (Application Programming Interface) that’s designed to support developers in adding Real-Time Communication (RTC) features such as data sharing and voice/video streaming directly into the browsers, thus making them an integral part of these browsers.
This way, the users wouldn’t have to download and install different plug-ins to their individual browsers in-order to experience these real-time communications. As these plug-ins are not only a hassle to the end-users but also to the developers, because they needed to invest a ton of money into funding these plug-ins’ maintains and monitoring for consistent stability and functionality across multiple browsers working under different operating systems.
With this technology - the various devices that you use on a day-to-day basis, like the smart phones, TVs, computers and the near-future wearable technologies can all interact between each other and exchange data, voice and videos seamlessly on a real-time basis via the internet irrespective of their difference in base platforms.
A Brief History
This concept of WebRTC came to life at the Google; about a year after the launch of Google Chrome the Chrome team wanted a system that would provide this real-time communication features. However, the results they came up with weren’t satisfactory and Google released their WebRTC to the public in May of 2011 as an open-source project.
Since then there has been thousands of potential endpoints on development to enhance and make-real the visions for WebRTC, this includes contributions from Ericsson, Mozilla and AT&T. Now, with its inclusion within the latest markup language - the HTML 5 - the browsers such as Chrome, Firefox and Opera have all incorporated the WebRTC within their browser experience, while Internet Explorer and Safari are yet to catch-up, as of Sep 2014.
Prospective Future
So, we know that this new technology can bring about a mountain of changes to the ways we perceive peer to peer interactions. But, how these changes will influence or improve your revenue opportunities? – Here, grab a peek!
1) Long Distance Business Communication
Imagine a call center without any telephones - both in physical or on a desktop form!! Impossible?
Well, it may seem so at the moment, but that’s exactly what the concept behind WebRCT is all about. The developers hope to achieve a real-time communications infrastructure that enables all peer to peer interactions within a default browser’s interface.
The possibilities are beyond call centers and similar businesses; all organization can make use of its potential and maximize their efficiency by completely eliminating the needs for telephonic or desktop based phone infrastructures and accordingly control their revenue to a great extent. This technology is thus considered by many as a game changer.
Having a browser that can by default provide you with voice/video calling features and P2P file sharing facilities, without the need for additional plug-ins or any other third party software programs is defiantly a boost for any businesses, especially those companies that have limited budget for availing these services.
2) Advance Conferencing for Business Meets
A long distance video conference usually comprises of multiple participants interacting from different locations via a common tool, which typically relays all their voices echoing from a single speaker, but this leaves a mess of voices. However, all this could change with WebRTC “Spatial Conferencing” a concept that aims to bring about a field of depth in the communications, such that the participants can pinpoint the each other location.
This is achieved by placing a small speaker in-front of the participants, these speakers produce a full three dimensional sound for each participants as per their locations. This gives the listener a clear perspective of individual voices.
This technology thus is very efficient at giving the users a feel of live meeting within a conference room, making the video interactions seamless and pleasant.
3) Acute File Transferring System
Another important aspect of WebRTC is its ability to transfer files between any browsers; be it on desktop or mobile. The possibilities are endless, as the freedom to transfer files across multiple devices and operating systems solves various problems associated with plug-ins and compatibilities.
For companies, this feature can save a lot of hassle and help enhance their productivity.
Conclusion
These are some of the feature of WebRTC that show great potential, in improving our business lifestyle and allowing us to focus on more important tasks.
WebRTC is a JavaScript API (Application Programming Interface) that’s designed to support developers in adding Real-Time Communication (RTC) features such as data sharing and voice/video streaming directly into the browsers, thus making them an integral part of these browsers.
This way, the users wouldn’t have to download and install different plug-ins to their individual browsers in-order to experience these real-time communications. As these plug-ins are not only a hassle to the end-users but also to the developers, because they needed to invest a ton of money into funding these plug-ins’ maintains and monitoring for consistent stability and functionality across multiple browsers working under different operating systems.
With this technology - the various devices that you use on a day-to-day basis, like the smart phones, TVs, computers and the near-future wearable technologies can all interact between each other and exchange data, voice and videos seamlessly on a real-time basis via the internet irrespective of their difference in base platforms.
A Brief History
This concept of WebRTC came to life at the Google; about a year after the launch of Google Chrome the Chrome team wanted a system that would provide this real-time communication features. However, the results they came up with weren’t satisfactory and Google released their WebRTC to the public in May of 2011 as an open-source project.
Since then there has been thousands of potential endpoints on development to enhance and make-real the visions for WebRTC, this includes contributions from Ericsson, Mozilla and AT&T. Now, with its inclusion within the latest markup language - the HTML 5 - the browsers such as Chrome, Firefox and Opera have all incorporated the WebRTC within their browser experience, while Internet Explorer and Safari are yet to catch-up, as of Sep 2014.
Prospective Future
So, we know that this new technology can bring about a mountain of changes to the ways we perceive peer to peer interactions. But, how these changes will influence or improve your revenue opportunities? – Here, grab a peek!
1) Long Distance Business Communication
Imagine a call center without any telephones - both in physical or on a desktop form!! Impossible?
Well, it may seem so at the moment, but that’s exactly what the concept behind WebRCT is all about. The developers hope to achieve a real-time communications infrastructure that enables all peer to peer interactions within a default browser’s interface.
The possibilities are beyond call centers and similar businesses; all organization can make use of its potential and maximize their efficiency by completely eliminating the needs for telephonic or desktop based phone infrastructures and accordingly control their revenue to a great extent. This technology is thus considered by many as a game changer.
Having a browser that can by default provide you with voice/video calling features and P2P file sharing facilities, without the need for additional plug-ins or any other third party software programs is defiantly a boost for any businesses, especially those companies that have limited budget for availing these services.
2) Advance Conferencing for Business Meets
A long distance video conference usually comprises of multiple participants interacting from different locations via a common tool, which typically relays all their voices echoing from a single speaker, but this leaves a mess of voices. However, all this could change with WebRTC “Spatial Conferencing” a concept that aims to bring about a field of depth in the communications, such that the participants can pinpoint the each other location.
This is achieved by placing a small speaker in-front of the participants, these speakers produce a full three dimensional sound for each participants as per their locations. This gives the listener a clear perspective of individual voices.
This technology thus is very efficient at giving the users a feel of live meeting within a conference room, making the video interactions seamless and pleasant.
3) Acute File Transferring System
Another important aspect of WebRTC is its ability to transfer files between any browsers; be it on desktop or mobile. The possibilities are endless, as the freedom to transfer files across multiple devices and operating systems solves various problems associated with plug-ins and compatibilities.
For companies, this feature can save a lot of hassle and help enhance their productivity.
Conclusion
These are some of the feature of WebRTC that show great potential, in improving our business lifestyle and allowing us to focus on more important tasks.
Monday, September 29, 2014
What’s best for your business – Website Builder or Web Designer?
Every business at one point or another will have to look into creating a website for themselves in order to be competent enough in this current scenario. So when that is under consideration, one of the first things that crops into their mind is – Do I need a hire a Web Designer to design and develop my website or will I be able to handle it all by myself using a Web Builder software?
Well read ahead to understand their ups and downs before you can decide that for yourself. But first let’s have a look at what web building software is all about and why some prefer this over hiring a web designer.
Website Builder:
A website builder software, is a tool that allows the users to design their own website without them requiring to have any knowledge on website development/designing or most importantly on coding. Yes, anyone can take-up website designing task and go ahead and start designing one right from the word go. You do not need prior experience or specific education to take on designing your own website using these simple tools.
These kind of tools can be categorized under two types; 1) the online type and 2) the offline type.
The tools themselves are designed to be easy to use, such as choosing form different available options to finish you entire website design. So, these tools offer you a limited number of different layouts and few personalization options to make yours feel unique. Apart from these few personalization options though, you wouldn’t get much of customization out of a standard website builder.
However, using the more complex tools (CMS) offered by some webhosting companies, you could increase these customizations and user experiences up by few notches.
These are some of the widespread reasons behind why people choose website builders over hiring web designers.
So, then why do still others including top corporate go with hired web designers?
Web Designer:
Hired web designers are experts in the field of “web development” and “web designing”. Though both fall under a single service, their roles are different. Here’s a brief:
However, on hiring web designers you get both of these services – mostly.
Before we go ahead with the advantages of using a web designer, let’s have a quick look at some of its major down sides – budget, and ofcourse without the need to mention, the time it takes to completely design a website.
When both of these aren’t your primary concerns (which is not so, majority of the times), then let’s go ahead with the advantages.
What you lose in terms of budget you get back in with ton of options and elements - such as great customization/personalization possibilities, top features, high security, professional build, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), so on and so forth. All of which are essential for a website to become a great website.
Also, all these options impact your brand development on the web to a great extent.
These are some of the reasons why people go for hiring a web designer.
Conclusion:
Now, that you have a brief idea into the working of both these options – what should you choose?
That entirely depends upon the reasons behind your website. If it’s a business website that’s just going to your online visiting card, and you wouldn’t want to spend too much on it, either money or time then website builder would be the better choice.
However, if yours is a business that involves a lot of online presence, and when your online branding is going to be the pinnacle of your business’s success, then it is always ideal for you to hire a good web designer to develop your website.
Well read ahead to understand their ups and downs before you can decide that for yourself. But first let’s have a look at what web building software is all about and why some prefer this over hiring a web designer.
A website builder software, is a tool that allows the users to design their own website without them requiring to have any knowledge on website development/designing or most importantly on coding. Yes, anyone can take-up website designing task and go ahead and start designing one right from the word go. You do not need prior experience or specific education to take on designing your own website using these simple tools.
These kind of tools can be categorized under two types; 1) the online type and 2) the offline type.
- An online type is the one where the web hosting company itself provides you with dedicated tools for you to develop your website on (the more complex versions of these online tools are called the Content Management Systems (CMS)).
- The offline ones are those where you use a software to develop your website and then upload them onto a host to publish your new website.
The tools themselves are designed to be easy to use, such as choosing form different available options to finish you entire website design. So, these tools offer you a limited number of different layouts and few personalization options to make yours feel unique. Apart from these few personalization options though, you wouldn’t get much of customization out of a standard website builder.
However, using the more complex tools (CMS) offered by some webhosting companies, you could increase these customizations and user experiences up by few notches.
- Ease to use
- Quicker to design
- Smaller Budget
These are some of the widespread reasons behind why people choose website builders over hiring web designers.
So, then why do still others including top corporate go with hired web designers?
Web Designer:
Hired web designers are experts in the field of “web development” and “web designing”. Though both fall under a single service, their roles are different. Here’s a brief:
- Web Development: This involves all the back-end processes of the website - such as coding and programming. Required for running and sustaining a website impeccably.
- Web Designing: On the other hand this involves all the front-end processes of the website - such as its interface and the layout designs. Most visual aspects of a website.
However, on hiring web designers you get both of these services – mostly.
Before we go ahead with the advantages of using a web designer, let’s have a quick look at some of its major down sides – budget, and ofcourse without the need to mention, the time it takes to completely design a website.
When both of these aren’t your primary concerns (which is not so, majority of the times), then let’s go ahead with the advantages.
What you lose in terms of budget you get back in with ton of options and elements - such as great customization/personalization possibilities, top features, high security, professional build, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), so on and so forth. All of which are essential for a website to become a great website.
Also, all these options impact your brand development on the web to a great extent.
- High Quality
- Professional Website
- Great Flexibility
- Secure
These are some of the reasons why people go for hiring a web designer.
Conclusion:
Now, that you have a brief idea into the working of both these options – what should you choose?
That entirely depends upon the reasons behind your website. If it’s a business website that’s just going to your online visiting card, and you wouldn’t want to spend too much on it, either money or time then website builder would be the better choice.
However, if yours is a business that involves a lot of online presence, and when your online branding is going to be the pinnacle of your business’s success, then it is always ideal for you to hire a good web designer to develop your website.
Monday, September 8, 2014
Top 6 trends and technologies that’s changing our future!
We have heard that “necessity is the mother of all inventions”, however, what is driving our innovations in modern times, is more than just necessity, it’s our “need” for futurization – meeting the technologies that we see in Sc-Fi movies!
To fulfill these needs of ours is what some have taken as their quest. Hence, we are bombarded with overwhelming number of new techs, every now and then. However, only few really capture our wonder and leave us in awe. Here are a few that did so.Top-6-trends-technology
1.Staying Connected
We have already experienced how convenient it is, when our various devises such as smart phones, laptops and desktop computers are connected via network and make possible for a synced experience. Now, there is our TVs, watches, eye-wares and even cars capable of staying connected with each other and offering us unworldly comfort and accessibility.
This user pleasure doesn’t seem to stop there; with our fridges, heaters, electric meter and other appliances being able to stay connected and communicate between each other, the possibilities of this technology is practically – limitless.
2.Wear Them Too
Closely working in tandem with the above tech, the trend for having devices that are wearable is the “talk of town”. You wear them where you go, from activity bands and Google glasses to smart clothing and smart helmets; the wearable device trend is fast catching on and is leading every tech company out there to wage a war of innovation. These devices can keep track of their user’s daily activities and habits, to provide them with the right information – before they ask for it – how good of a future is that?
3.The (AR) Augmented Reality
Anyone who has seen Augmented Reality in action will know immediately that mankind has made a breakthrough with this technology. Like touch screens that changed the way we use some of our devices, the AR has the power to alter our realty to a whole new level. This amazing technology connects the virtual world with the physical world seamlessly. And with the type of connectivity we can envision being available in our coming future, this AR can open-up an engaging user experience across its digital space.
4.Algorithm to Learning
Now, with Google searches and email spam filtering we understand how our usage history and data can influence the future results. However, this is getting to be obsolete, as newer and more powerful technology is on its way. Called the Machine Learning Algorithm – this technology is based on the advancement in the algorithm of data collection and analysis. The algorithm is such that the system learns, develops and adapts to one’s personal usage, thus becoming capable of predicting and suggesting your future engagements.
5.mHealth
Smartphone’s these days are probably used by more than half the human population on earth. They are with us right through the day, now they can collect information on our day-to-day activities and provide related recommendations, for example on what we can eat, where we can go, what we can read, etc. The mHealth’s potential to direct and improve the lifestyle of numerous users is unparalleled.
6.Print in 3D
The creative possibilities of 3D printing are only left to your imagination. From artistic creations to business potentials, like for sampling architecture or house planning and designing, this technology is beyond the capabilities of any other printer you might have known before. Being able to literally print solid objects, 3D printing could become a perfect business potential.
Companies would no longer need to keep a warehouse of spares – they can just print them into existence!
Other trends that could make some major influences on future lifestyle:
E-learning
Online courses have been around for a long time now, however, its practicality when compared to traditional certification methods, was very negligible. This seems to be changing though, as lot and lot more of students are enrolling on these online certification courses.
Even physical universities have started to offer many online certification courses for their students; this includes globally top ranking universities.
Virtual Money
Have you heard of bit coins? If not – then, they can be considered as something that’s effectively equal to our physical currency, only now they are Virtual. Thus, unlike debit cards or credit cards that represent physical cash that can be used online, these virtual money are on a different level. They are currency on their own rights. Which, you can use to make your purchases or other transactions.
How, effective this will be is left for the future to decide.
To fulfill these needs of ours is what some have taken as their quest. Hence, we are bombarded with overwhelming number of new techs, every now and then. However, only few really capture our wonder and leave us in awe. Here are a few that did so.Top-6-trends-technology
We have already experienced how convenient it is, when our various devises such as smart phones, laptops and desktop computers are connected via network and make possible for a synced experience. Now, there is our TVs, watches, eye-wares and even cars capable of staying connected with each other and offering us unworldly comfort and accessibility.
This user pleasure doesn’t seem to stop there; with our fridges, heaters, electric meter and other appliances being able to stay connected and communicate between each other, the possibilities of this technology is practically – limitless.
2.Wear Them Too
Closely working in tandem with the above tech, the trend for having devices that are wearable is the “talk of town”. You wear them where you go, from activity bands and Google glasses to smart clothing and smart helmets; the wearable device trend is fast catching on and is leading every tech company out there to wage a war of innovation. These devices can keep track of their user’s daily activities and habits, to provide them with the right information – before they ask for it – how good of a future is that?
3.The (AR) Augmented Reality
Anyone who has seen Augmented Reality in action will know immediately that mankind has made a breakthrough with this technology. Like touch screens that changed the way we use some of our devices, the AR has the power to alter our realty to a whole new level. This amazing technology connects the virtual world with the physical world seamlessly. And with the type of connectivity we can envision being available in our coming future, this AR can open-up an engaging user experience across its digital space.
4.Algorithm to Learning
Now, with Google searches and email spam filtering we understand how our usage history and data can influence the future results. However, this is getting to be obsolete, as newer and more powerful technology is on its way. Called the Machine Learning Algorithm – this technology is based on the advancement in the algorithm of data collection and analysis. The algorithm is such that the system learns, develops and adapts to one’s personal usage, thus becoming capable of predicting and suggesting your future engagements.
5.mHealth
Smartphone’s these days are probably used by more than half the human population on earth. They are with us right through the day, now they can collect information on our day-to-day activities and provide related recommendations, for example on what we can eat, where we can go, what we can read, etc. The mHealth’s potential to direct and improve the lifestyle of numerous users is unparalleled.
6.Print in 3D
The creative possibilities of 3D printing are only left to your imagination. From artistic creations to business potentials, like for sampling architecture or house planning and designing, this technology is beyond the capabilities of any other printer you might have known before. Being able to literally print solid objects, 3D printing could become a perfect business potential.
Companies would no longer need to keep a warehouse of spares – they can just print them into existence!
Other trends that could make some major influences on future lifestyle:
E-learning
Online courses have been around for a long time now, however, its practicality when compared to traditional certification methods, was very negligible. This seems to be changing though, as lot and lot more of students are enrolling on these online certification courses.
Even physical universities have started to offer many online certification courses for their students; this includes globally top ranking universities.
Virtual Money
Have you heard of bit coins? If not – then, they can be considered as something that’s effectively equal to our physical currency, only now they are Virtual. Thus, unlike debit cards or credit cards that represent physical cash that can be used online, these virtual money are on a different level. They are currency on their own rights. Which, you can use to make your purchases or other transactions.
How, effective this will be is left for the future to decide.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
How to make Social Media a Marketing Ground for your Mobile Apps?
You have had a great success with the development of your
mobile app. You have worked along with your app development partners and have created
the most wonderful and useful app. Now you are wondering, what’s the next step
towards getting your - soon to be “Hit” - app to its intended customers? Without
thinking further, you would know that app promotions and advertisements are
your best bets in reaching far and wide. However, how would you go about doing
it? Most developers will suggest you that, “in-app advertisements” should be
good enough.
Is that enough, though? Remember, it is all about
creating demands, the more you let people know about your app and the various uses
it offer, the more you create that needed demand. So, would you want to stick
with “in-app ads” alone? You probably should think “No”. If so, then what else
can you do?
That’s where socialmedia marketing come into play. They are mostly free resources that help
you reach potential audience over wider range. Thus, without having to spend a
small fortune, you can start promoting your apps to audiences, otherwise not so
easily accessible.
Here are few things that you can do in order to make that
push through social media and amplify your mobile
apps promotion.
- Temptation with Content
The more creative you are with your promotional contents,
the more likely that you can capture your intended customers. An attractive to engage
with your audience is to create videos of your app’s uses in real situations. This
is a straight and effective way to get people to understand your product. The
more they familiarize with the app, the more they will want to try it out for
themselves. To create this want, is our goal here.
Making these videos funny could add to the excitement and
help you push your app without trying too hard. This could be the right calling
card depending upon the function of you app, however this usually works for
most apps. Also keeping the content simple and allowing the viewers to imaging
its implications will guaranty more downloads than otherwise. While at the same
time, the more sharable and the more likable your video is, the greater its
chance of doing well by itself.
Also, linking your videos to other highly viewed videos -
that in some remote way is related with what your app has got to offer or to videos
that would peak the viewer’s interest on the features offered by your app - will
amplify your app’s popularity meter tremendously.
Having videos of someone influential using your app on
the context of explaining something else is also a great way to promote your
product. As people watching the video will consider your app to be highly
credible, owing to it being not the primary objective of the video itself. This
will spread passive popularity and frankly all the more popularity we can get,
the better, isn’t it?
- Social Networking
Facebook
Literally has millions of users using it every day. With this
kind of customer potential, a perfect Facebook channel for your app - can have
no alternative in terms of your social media marketing. However, getting this amount of recognition requires dedication
and planning.
Once your channel is created, you will start off with
practically zero credibility and followers. But, that’s how a beginning usually
is. Following others to get them follow you should be start. Then, with
constant posting of new contents and articles (related to your app), should be
able to get your channel up and running. Keeping your followers updated and providing
them with proper follow-ups on their feedbacks, will improve your credibility greatly.
And providing them valuable information during conversations will grant you
their respect. All this will boost your channel’s reputation and thus your
app’s downloads - which is the goal ultimately.
Google +
Might not be as powerful as the Facebook, but, Google+
has its own perks. Being a product of Google, obviously, you app has higher possibilities
of making it to the top of the search results when you get it well established
here. Then, Google has the hashtag! Use it wisely to improve your SEO.
Twitter
Best place to network and meet “those” influential
people, who can promote your app, indirectly, as they re-tweet or otherwise. Then
there is a twitter’s feature, called the “Twitter Cards”, with which you can smartly
promote your app via content marketing.
Following these, should help you off the line with a
flying start and then some more. Else, you can always hire a social media marketing company to do these
for you.
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
How to build your website across multiple devices and different browsers?
Regardless to the type of device our customers use when
browsing through our website, they expect to have a great browsing experience. And
the responsibility to give them that is ours. An easy to use website, that’s also
compatible with the different browsers available, is a mandatory field that needs
to be fulfilled in order to experience your website’s full online potential.
Few years ago optimizing the website to a standard screen
resolution and running them on few browsers to test their credibility, was
enough to be confidently publish the site and expect all the visitors to experience
a roughly similar web experience. Some of the users may notice minor issues
such as greater display resolution or different fonts, etc. However, mostly the
appearance of the website was constant overall, in spite of OS difference or browser
difference.
But, in today’s world people are not confined to just few
different browsers and even fewer OSs on their desktop or laptop computers,
they are now free to access the web for anywhere through any of the mobiledevices available with hundreds of different display capabilities – smart
phones, tablets, of course PCs and even TVs. Also, people have become
accustomed to accessing these different devices simultaneously and syncing them
between each other.
So, how do we ensure that the browsing experience is uniform
and best for all our website visitors? Here are few steps that you can take in
order to ensure that.
Analyzing your traffic and customer interactions
It is of primary importance to immediately understand the visitors
to your website. What type of device they are using? What type of content they
are accessing? Etc. When, with your analysis you realize that the visitors using
mobile devices to access your website averages above 10% of the total, then it
is time for you to make the necessary changes to your website to make it mobile
optimized. And optimizing the contents of your site to be more customers
centric (i.e. contents for which visitors access your website) will grant you
better traffic flow.
- Responsive Web Designing
- Dedicate Website for the Mobiles
- Making Browser Specific Changes
There were days when you had to have all the different
browsers open individually, and check for issues or incompatibility between your
website updates and the browsers. When found, you had to again individually make
the necessary changes to the coding based on the issue, on a completely setup. This
was a time consuming process as multiple changes to multiple page layouts
meant, work on them forever.
However, with the advent of newer technologies - HTML 5 and
CSS 3 - and better means to make the changes, this process has become much
easier. Now, coding the contents based on the browser market you want to engage
or conquer will allow you to successfully optimize you web contents to be compatible
with the different web browsers.
It is a known fact that with regards web technology, it is
possible for the websites to work as good as it can even when something is quite
not right. Which when compared with other programming environment is above
notches, as even the mistake there will completely cripple it.
Hence, make sure you make necessary change whenever any
issue is found on the websites, to provide your customers with the best user
experience; to keep your business or service going to greater heights.
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Options to list your website on top via online traffic!
How do you increase traffic to your websites? A question that has been a topic of discussion, on many occasions. Also, to which the answers are numerous. However, most of these answers all point to certain key factors that make up for major impact on your websites. They are Quality Content, Social Networking and Good Web Design.
Increasing the traffic flow to any website is a concern for any business or service that is striving to take a foot hold through online means. This is because more traffic naturally means more business possibilities and prospects of growth. To this end many companies go to great levels and greater financial strains in order to attain and sustain peek traffic to this websites.
So, can you too compete and expect to see results in areas where the big fish are dominating? Following are some ways and methods you can consider, that will help you sustain in the competition and improve your website’s traffic.
1- Content
There is always a demand for good and quality content, it doesn't matter how tough the competitions are, but, content that is rich and original will keep your customers coming back to you. Here are some tips to help you with that.
Great Beginning - Title
What other better way is there to attract people to your content than a catchy and resourceful title? Title of an article is the first thing that a reader will see before getting to your article. And that usually will be the only thing they will be seeing, if it isn't driving them forward. So, spend time on your titles and come up with attractive captions that can hook a reader in a glance and spike there interest to a level beyond their resistance.
The Content
It is important to understand, that reader are here to gain something from your article. So, it is very important to provide them with just that. So, making sure your content is rich with information and proves to be a source where your readers can learn something from it, addresses this need. Ensuring this can greatly boost the value of your content.
Never post a duplicate of another website, because this will put yours right at the bottom of the order.
Covering one sector of audience and offering them the best of what they can get, will dramatically increase your web’s traffic with one section of people. This is much better than trying to cover a wider range of audience and not being able to deliver such high quality of content. For this you could either start a web on topic related to your interest, or one based a topic that is least covered (This will require research on its own).
Final Touches
Giving the proper finishing touches can make the difference between “another article” and “right article”. These include Meta Descriptions, Keywords and Tags to your article. Posting your content under the right category and linking them with suitable tags and keywords is a very important step, that, if ignored is going to deprive your website off potentially great traffic. However, don’t overdo them though.
2-Social Networking
As your contents become more and more likable, your readers would want to share it, thus creating contents that are easily sharable through networking sites is mandatory for a successful website.
Twitter, Facebook, Google+ Pinstrip, Instagram are some of the major networking site that you effectively can use for this purpose. Making sure that you have a greater presence in these will improve your traffic by multi-folds, as sharing and following becomes a necessary step towards getting higher recognition and exposure.
Interacting with your readers and creating opportunities where they are motivated to interact, comment, follow and write on your forms is also part of networking. The more networked you are, the higher the probability for greater website traffic.
Apart from getting your website linked to these sites, you can also make internal links. That is creating links to your older posts within newer post, where appropriate.
Advertising
Of various modes of marketing, advertising has had the primary position for centuries. This holds true with our need for more traffic too.
There are both offline and online methods to advertise your website. The most obvious means of offline advertising is through word of mouth; tell everyone you know and get to know about your website - newspapers, magazines, etc are other mediums that you can make use of.
The online methods would involve buying advertising packages available in search engine majors, such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.
3-Good Web Design
The look and layout of your website is another factor that is going to play a vital role in retaining and attracting customers and tempting them to return often. Making sure that your website’s design matches that of what you are offering is the first step towards it.
A simple and sharp web interface will go a long way in being attractive. The layout will be simple to handle and easy to navigate around. This keeps the visitors and potential customers from getting lost and frustrated.
Make your website optimized for mobile devices. As more and more are accessing the internet via their smartphones and tables, it is only obvious that optimization of your website to suit these needs is next to immediate.
These are some of the best proven and tested ways to improve the traffic for your websites.
Increasing the traffic flow to any website is a concern for any business or service that is striving to take a foot hold through online means. This is because more traffic naturally means more business possibilities and prospects of growth. To this end many companies go to great levels and greater financial strains in order to attain and sustain peek traffic to this websites.
1- Content
There is always a demand for good and quality content, it doesn't matter how tough the competitions are, but, content that is rich and original will keep your customers coming back to you. Here are some tips to help you with that.
Great Beginning - Title
What other better way is there to attract people to your content than a catchy and resourceful title? Title of an article is the first thing that a reader will see before getting to your article. And that usually will be the only thing they will be seeing, if it isn't driving them forward. So, spend time on your titles and come up with attractive captions that can hook a reader in a glance and spike there interest to a level beyond their resistance.
The Content
It is important to understand, that reader are here to gain something from your article. So, it is very important to provide them with just that. So, making sure your content is rich with information and proves to be a source where your readers can learn something from it, addresses this need. Ensuring this can greatly boost the value of your content.
Never post a duplicate of another website, because this will put yours right at the bottom of the order.
Covering one sector of audience and offering them the best of what they can get, will dramatically increase your web’s traffic with one section of people. This is much better than trying to cover a wider range of audience and not being able to deliver such high quality of content. For this you could either start a web on topic related to your interest, or one based a topic that is least covered (This will require research on its own).
Final Touches
Giving the proper finishing touches can make the difference between “another article” and “right article”. These include Meta Descriptions, Keywords and Tags to your article. Posting your content under the right category and linking them with suitable tags and keywords is a very important step, that, if ignored is going to deprive your website off potentially great traffic. However, don’t overdo them though.
2-Social Networking
As your contents become more and more likable, your readers would want to share it, thus creating contents that are easily sharable through networking sites is mandatory for a successful website.
Twitter, Facebook, Google+ Pinstrip, Instagram are some of the major networking site that you effectively can use for this purpose. Making sure that you have a greater presence in these will improve your traffic by multi-folds, as sharing and following becomes a necessary step towards getting higher recognition and exposure.
Interacting with your readers and creating opportunities where they are motivated to interact, comment, follow and write on your forms is also part of networking. The more networked you are, the higher the probability for greater website traffic.
Apart from getting your website linked to these sites, you can also make internal links. That is creating links to your older posts within newer post, where appropriate.
Advertising
Of various modes of marketing, advertising has had the primary position for centuries. This holds true with our need for more traffic too.
There are both offline and online methods to advertise your website. The most obvious means of offline advertising is through word of mouth; tell everyone you know and get to know about your website - newspapers, magazines, etc are other mediums that you can make use of.
The online methods would involve buying advertising packages available in search engine majors, such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc.
3-Good Web Design
The look and layout of your website is another factor that is going to play a vital role in retaining and attracting customers and tempting them to return often. Making sure that your website’s design matches that of what you are offering is the first step towards it.
A simple and sharp web interface will go a long way in being attractive. The layout will be simple to handle and easy to navigate around. This keeps the visitors and potential customers from getting lost and frustrated.
Make your website optimized for mobile devices. As more and more are accessing the internet via their smartphones and tables, it is only obvious that optimization of your website to suit these needs is next to immediate.
These are some of the best proven and tested ways to improve the traffic for your websites.
Friday, August 1, 2014
Mobile augmented reality apps to drive sales in retail sector!
The term Augmented Reality (AR) has been around for over two decades now, however only with the advancement of smartphones did AR really begin to make the intended impact. And the implications of this technological marvel are so huge that whatever is available in the digital world at the moment (Jul 2014) is only scratching its surface.
More over with the advent of newer and better computing options such as wearable computing and “smarter” smartphones, AR is making a steady progress into the consumer market. The implication possibility of this AR technology is only left to the imagination and the capabilities of mobile apps.
From being a tech toy that’s used for entertainment and fun to being one of this generations’ ultimate business tool, AR’s potential is limitless. With that in “sight” Google & many other companies are scrambling ahead to make this market, theirs. One such product from Google is Google Glass, it is set to make use of all the potentials of AR to its advantage and deliver the perfect Augmented Reality world to the users.
So, how all this has anything to do with the retail business?
In today’s world, the conventional means and modes of shopping has dwindled to a great extent. Once we all had no other options but to physically go to places and browser through the shop’s inventories and shelves in order to look for the products we want to buy. However, now we have plentiful of options no matter what we are looking to buy be it garments, tech gadgets or even an automobile. We can browse for them, compare them, customize them, read their reviews, order them, advance book them, all that and more by sitting anywhere we want with a computing device and an internet connection, through a wondrous technology called online shopping. What more could we want? Everything at our finger tip!
Well, we humans cannot get enough of anything, can we? Here comes AR to quench this thirst, with its next level of shopping possibilities. Blending the two worlds together – the online world and the offline world – to give us this next level experience. Let’s have a look at some of the mobile application possibilities, of which most are already being implemented in shops across the globe.
So, what makes the major difference between the online garment stores and the real-world stores? It’s the Trial Room!
This has always been the issue with buy a dress online, we cannot be sure of its fitting until we finally receive it in hand and are able to try it out personally. Now, with AR’s Virtual Fitting we can do just that; virtually.
We can try out all the different garments available to our hearts content and then make the buy. As an added bonus, this process in much less cumbersome and is within instants.
Keeping a record of the warehouse’s inventory is by itself a daunting task, finding a particular product from this huge list could prove to be another trouble altogether. With the AR technology, all this can change in a jiffy. Browsing the inventory, updating it, filtering it can all possibly be done with just a look and few clicks. Now, how smart is that?
We no longer have to navigate around the huge spaces of a warehouse blandly looking at the lists. Rather looking straight at the various cartons could give a virtual 3d image of its contents, thus cutting down our time spent drastically.
No longer do advertising banners and posts be static and uneventful, retail brands can AR their advertisements and capture the eyes of potential customers. The poster can be augmented with product videos, content details, etc.
The customers will also be able to scan through the various products available in the store and get detailed information including product rating, coupons, expert discussions, etc on these different products in an instant. Allowing us to make informed purchases.
Gone will be our present days, where we take measurements of our living room wall to find the right set of sofas. Through the AR tech, we can get projected catalog – IKEA is offering this option – to virtually stimulate an experience in real time and in real scale to view exactly how the product would fit within the home space; long before we make the decision to buy.
Thus, the magnitude and potential if this great technology is unfathomable, yet. But, all hands point towards the direction of absolute growth for the retailers who make wise use of this Augmented Reality.
More over with the advent of newer and better computing options such as wearable computing and “smarter” smartphones, AR is making a steady progress into the consumer market. The implication possibility of this AR technology is only left to the imagination and the capabilities of mobile apps.
From being a tech toy that’s used for entertainment and fun to being one of this generations’ ultimate business tool, AR’s potential is limitless. With that in “sight” Google & many other companies are scrambling ahead to make this market, theirs. One such product from Google is Google Glass, it is set to make use of all the potentials of AR to its advantage and deliver the perfect Augmented Reality world to the users.
So, how all this has anything to do with the retail business?
In today’s world, the conventional means and modes of shopping has dwindled to a great extent. Once we all had no other options but to physically go to places and browser through the shop’s inventories and shelves in order to look for the products we want to buy. However, now we have plentiful of options no matter what we are looking to buy be it garments, tech gadgets or even an automobile. We can browse for them, compare them, customize them, read their reviews, order them, advance book them, all that and more by sitting anywhere we want with a computing device and an internet connection, through a wondrous technology called online shopping. What more could we want? Everything at our finger tip!
Well, we humans cannot get enough of anything, can we? Here comes AR to quench this thirst, with its next level of shopping possibilities. Blending the two worlds together – the online world and the offline world – to give us this next level experience. Let’s have a look at some of the mobile application possibilities, of which most are already being implemented in shops across the globe.
- Virtual Fitting:
So, what makes the major difference between the online garment stores and the real-world stores? It’s the Trial Room!
This has always been the issue with buy a dress online, we cannot be sure of its fitting until we finally receive it in hand and are able to try it out personally. Now, with AR’s Virtual Fitting we can do just that; virtually.
We can try out all the different garments available to our hearts content and then make the buy. As an added bonus, this process in much less cumbersome and is within instants.
- Warehouse Space Management and Navigation:
Keeping a record of the warehouse’s inventory is by itself a daunting task, finding a particular product from this huge list could prove to be another trouble altogether. With the AR technology, all this can change in a jiffy. Browsing the inventory, updating it, filtering it can all possibly be done with just a look and few clicks. Now, how smart is that?
We no longer have to navigate around the huge spaces of a warehouse blandly looking at the lists. Rather looking straight at the various cartons could give a virtual 3d image of its contents, thus cutting down our time spent drastically.
- Advertising and Product Details:
No longer do advertising banners and posts be static and uneventful, retail brands can AR their advertisements and capture the eyes of potential customers. The poster can be augmented with product videos, content details, etc.
The customers will also be able to scan through the various products available in the store and get detailed information including product rating, coupons, expert discussions, etc on these different products in an instant. Allowing us to make informed purchases.
- Virtual Products:
Gone will be our present days, where we take measurements of our living room wall to find the right set of sofas. Through the AR tech, we can get projected catalog – IKEA is offering this option – to virtually stimulate an experience in real time and in real scale to view exactly how the product would fit within the home space; long before we make the decision to buy.
Thus, the magnitude and potential if this great technology is unfathomable, yet. But, all hands point towards the direction of absolute growth for the retailers who make wise use of this Augmented Reality.
Friday, July 25, 2014
How to list your app on top using app store optimization?
Let’s face it, the mobile apps industry has grown multi-folds over the past few years and continues to grow at staggering rates. With hundreds if not thousands of apps under similar categories already competing over the top positions, new app developers don’t seem to have much chance at even getting noticed, that is, unless they are considering to work on their App Store Optimization (ASO).
ASO is similar to SEO, however, for optimization of their mobile apps’ ranking. At present the app industry is split between two major players in terms of market share – Apple’s iOS and Android. Let’s have a look at them.
Google Play for Android
Android is an open source platform and has slightly greater market share and correspondingly more apps under its belt than its counterpart; which doesn't necessarily mean it has “better” apps though. Also, android seems to show an increase in its share, during the course of coming years due to this open sourced nature of the platform.
Apple’s iOS Store
Apple’s iOS on the other hand is not an open source platform, hence, the number of apps available in iOS Store is comparably less. Yet Apple is making more revenue from its apps than Google Play, in-spite of android having more apps and more downloads per app.
App Store Optimization Techniques to optimize your Apps:
Here is a quick tip to help you optimize your apps to hit the top lists.
1 App Titles
An app title is the most important aspect, keeping it small and making sure it highlights the apps main function will add to your ASO. The ideal recommendation for an app titles is 25 characters or less, as longer titles do not appear appealing when viewed through small screens of a mobile devices.
2 App Description
A short and clear explanation on what the app is about on what it does. Consider this as the place where you market your app, so make sure to provide all the necessary details, while making sure it is still short enough for users accessing through mobile devices to understand it preciously. As any misleading information here could lead to your app getting a lot of negative feedback, which obviously is what we are trying to avoid.
3 App Icon / Logo
Make sure you spend your time and effort on developing an icon/logo for your app. Get creative here and make it happen, never ignore this aspect of the app, as it is one of the key for ASO. Developing one that represents the essence of the app is going to make a great difference too.
4 Category
How else are the users going to be able to find your app, if you are not categorizing it under the right one? When not clear on which category your app will fall under, it is best to scope through the different categories, analyze other similar app and the category they are posted in. If the app falls under multiple categories then place it in the one that’s most appropriate.
5 Screenshots / Videos
Users like to have a look at the app before downloading it, be it a game or any other application; this is where you can capture this interest. A neat screenshot or a video demo (Google Play) increases interest and trust, leading to more download probability.
6 Google Play – Google Plus
As, both are products of Google, a Google Plus plugin of your app is also available. More pluses your apps get in it the more likely your app could end up being on top. Use this feature wisely.
7 iOS Store – Keywords
Follow the recommendations of Apple and Keep your keywords as unique as possible and avoid dumping of generic keywords. This could prove counter-productive.
Following these tips will greatly boost your app’s ranking on both the Google Play and iOS Store. However, like all this in like – practice makes perfect.
ASO is similar to SEO, however, for optimization of their mobile apps’ ranking. At present the app industry is split between two major players in terms of market share – Apple’s iOS and Android. Let’s have a look at them.
Google Play for Android
Android is an open source platform and has slightly greater market share and correspondingly more apps under its belt than its counterpart; which doesn't necessarily mean it has “better” apps though. Also, android seems to show an increase in its share, during the course of coming years due to this open sourced nature of the platform.
Apple’s iOS Store
Apple’s iOS on the other hand is not an open source platform, hence, the number of apps available in iOS Store is comparably less. Yet Apple is making more revenue from its apps than Google Play, in-spite of android having more apps and more downloads per app.
App Store Optimization Techniques to optimize your Apps:
Here is a quick tip to help you optimize your apps to hit the top lists.
1 App Titles
An app title is the most important aspect, keeping it small and making sure it highlights the apps main function will add to your ASO. The ideal recommendation for an app titles is 25 characters or less, as longer titles do not appear appealing when viewed through small screens of a mobile devices.
2 App Description
A short and clear explanation on what the app is about on what it does. Consider this as the place where you market your app, so make sure to provide all the necessary details, while making sure it is still short enough for users accessing through mobile devices to understand it preciously. As any misleading information here could lead to your app getting a lot of negative feedback, which obviously is what we are trying to avoid.
3 App Icon / Logo
Make sure you spend your time and effort on developing an icon/logo for your app. Get creative here and make it happen, never ignore this aspect of the app, as it is one of the key for ASO. Developing one that represents the essence of the app is going to make a great difference too.
4 Category
How else are the users going to be able to find your app, if you are not categorizing it under the right one? When not clear on which category your app will fall under, it is best to scope through the different categories, analyze other similar app and the category they are posted in. If the app falls under multiple categories then place it in the one that’s most appropriate.
5 Screenshots / Videos
Users like to have a look at the app before downloading it, be it a game or any other application; this is where you can capture this interest. A neat screenshot or a video demo (Google Play) increases interest and trust, leading to more download probability.
6 Google Play – Google Plus
As, both are products of Google, a Google Plus plugin of your app is also available. More pluses your apps get in it the more likely your app could end up being on top. Use this feature wisely.
7 iOS Store – Keywords
Follow the recommendations of Apple and Keep your keywords as unique as possible and avoid dumping of generic keywords. This could prove counter-productive.
Following these tips will greatly boost your app’s ranking on both the Google Play and iOS Store. However, like all this in like – practice makes perfect.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Browser based video formats in HTML5
Video
formats are diverse and each of them can be used in a specified browsers. Few
of the video formats are MP4, VP8, VP9, Theora and so on. There are lots of
browsers being used in the web. Most of the web developers are not aware of the
latest browsers and the video formats supported by the browsers, they automatically
use the prescribed or default video formats. In order to display the videos
without any plugins, HTML 5 launched an element called ‘video element’.
Let us
have brief information about the Video element of HTML 5 and the browser-based
video formats in this article…
HTML 5 Supported Video Formats
HTML5
does not state which video formats should be supported browsers. If a video
format is appropriate, the browser can support them for free. But, content
authors will not allow them to do so, as they consider that the browsers have
no least set of video formats to support.
The
HTML5 Working Group states that, each browser should support at least one video
format. That ideal format of a video should hold the following constraints:
- Royalty-free
- Good image quality
- Low decode processor use
- Good compression
- Hardware video decoder must be present with software decoder for a video format.
Video Element of HTML 5
To
download a video file in a browser, two methods are used:
- JavaScript canPlayType() function
Type
refers to the MIME (Multi-Purpose Internet Mail Extension) type and the list of
codecs. This instructs the browser to decode the file.
- <source>
Fallback
is supported by the ‘video’ element through the multiple sources
specifications. <source> can be any number of elements. The file to be
downloaded can be picked by the browser.
Browser- based Video Formats
Theora and
WebM are the free formats. MPEG-4 is the non-free format. The most common
browser-based video formats in HTML 5 are:
- Theora
- H.264 (MP4)
- VP8
- VP9
- MPEG 4
Theora
|
Theora
|
Browser
|
OS
|
Latest
Version
|
|
3.0
|
Google Chrome
|
35.0.1916.153
|
35.0.1916.153
|
|
Manual
|
Internet Explorer
|
Windows
|
11.09
|
|
3.5
|
Mozilla Firefox
|
Windows 7+, Vista, Linux, Android and others
|
30.0
ESR 24.6.0
|
|
2.3
|
Android
|
Android
|
4.2.1 Jelly Bean
|
|
2.28
|
Web
|
All supported
|
3.12.2
|
|
10.50
|
Opera
|
Windows Presto,
Windows OS, Linux, FreeBSD
|
12.17, 22.0.1471.7,
12.16
|
|
r18297
|
Chromium
|
Unix, & others
|
-
|
|
Manual
|
Safari
|
OSX
|
7.0.5, 6.1.5
|
|
4.4
|
Konqueror
|
All supported
|
4.13.1
|
H.264
(MP4)
|
MP4
|
Browser
|
OS
|
Latest
Version
|
|
3.0
|
Google Chrome
|
35.0.1916.153
|
|
|
9.0, 9.0, 10.0
|
Internet Explorer
|
Windows, Windows Phone, Windows
RT
|
11.09, 10.0, 10.0
|
|
21.0, 22.0, 26.0, 17.0
|
Mozilla Firefox
|
Windows 7+, Vista, Linux, Android
|
30.0
ESR 24.6.0
|
|
3.0
|
Android
|
Android
|
4.2.1 Jelly Bean
|
|
2.28
|
Web
|
All supported
|
3.12.2
|
|
11.50
|
Opera
|
20
for Android
12.0.22
for Symbian S60
10.0 for Windows Mobile
|
|
|
3.1
|
Safari
|
OSX
|
7.0.5, 6.1.5
|
|
Manual
|
Chromium
|
Unix
|
-
|
|
4.4
|
Konqueror
|
All supported
|
4.13.1
|
VP8
|
VP8
|
Browser
|
OS
|
Latest
Version
|
|
6.0
|
Google Chrome
|
35.0.1916.153
|
|
|
Manual
|
Internet Explorer
|
Windows
|
11.09
|
|
4.0
|
Mozilla Firefox
|
Windows 7+, Vista, Linux, Android & others
|
30.0
ESR 24.6.0
|
|
2.3
|
Android
|
Android
|
4.2.1 Jelly Bean
|
|
2.28
|
Web
|
All supported
|
3.12.2
|
|
11.50
10.50
|
Opera
|
20
for Android, 12.0.22 for Symbian S60
10.0 for Windows Mobile
|
|
|
Windows Presto,
Windows
OS, Linux, FreeBSD
|
|||
|
Manual
|
Safari
|
OSX
|
7.0.5, 6.1.5
|
|
r47759
|
Chromium
|
Unix
|
-
|
|
4.4
|
Konqueror
|
All supported
|
4.13.1
|
VP9
|
VP9
|
Browser
|
OS
|
Latest
Version
|
|
29.0
|
Google Chrome
|
35.0.1916.153
|
|
|
-
|
Internet Explorer
|
-
|
|
|
28.0
|
Mozilla Firefox
|
Windows 7+, Vista, Linux, Android & others
|
30.0
ESR 24.6.0
|
|
-
|
Android
|
-
|
|
|
2.28
|
Web
|
All supported
|
3.12.2
|
|
16.0
|
Opera
|
20
for Android
12.0.22
for Symbian S60
10.0 for Windows Mobile
|
|
|
-
|
Safari
|
-
|
-
|
|
r172738
|
Chromium
|
Unix
|
-
|
|
4.4
|
Konqueror
|
All supported
|
4.13.1
|
MPEG
4/H.264
This
format is widely used. It has good speed, video quality, hardware decoders, and
compression.
H.264
is used in MP4 format, with Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) audio. Users of MP4 should
hold the licences of both AAC and H.264. This format is supported by Apple and
Microsoft.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)