Oh wait, you don’t have to … because today, two whole years after the iPad picked up the dead tablet industry and whipped it into roaring, raging life, many websites are not optimized for tablets. Even new ones. Shocking? Sure. Unthinkable? Maybe. Unfortunately, however, it’s reality. And it’s not just the obscure little sites, either — try using Google Docs on your iPad for anything other than viewing.

Google Docs doesn’t like mobile Safari …

What’s the problem?

Sometimes it’s the simple stuff: a site with links and clickable images that are just a little bit too small. Usability guru Jakob Nielsen has skewered this fat-fingered problem, particularly on midsize tables like the Kindle Fire. Not so surprisingly , a design built for a 15″ laptop screen or a 22″ monitor doesn’t always translate well to a 10″ iPad screen, and users have to make liberal use of the standard double-tap protocol to “big-ify” text and navigation. Make this a frequent necessity on your site, and they’ll want to double tap you, too.

Five key differences …

In general, there are at least five key differences between designing websites for tablets, and designing for desktops and laptops:

Size
Tablets are generally smaller (who knew?).
Screen resolution
Tablets have widely varying screen resolutions (from the Kindle Fire’s 600×1,024 to the new iPad’s 2,048-by-1,536 pixels). Orientation is flexible as well, so user could be viewing your site in landscape or portrait, widescreen or tall.
Compatibility
Yes, there’s the problem with Adobe Flash. But also other plugins (Silverlight, anyone?) and even JavaScript-heavy computationally-intensive web apps can cause problems on tablets.
Touch interfaces
This is the big one. The touch interface is fundamentally different from a traditional desktop/laptop experience. It requires bigger clickable elements and fewer hidden navigation elements.
Memory and CPU limitations
The limitation is often overlooked, but tablets have less RAM (working memory) and punier CPUs, so media-intensive experiences can be challenging for tablet users.

So how do you design websites for tablet users?

Shawn Neumann, founder of the web agency Domain7, says the most important thing is to understand the user experience and strategize from there. “The desktop is the research or get-something-done place, and the phone is the on-the-run and killing-time device. The tablet is the living room, fireside device, but it’s also a catchall, a bridge between diving deep and getting quick info,” Neumann says.

“Sometimes a responsive approach works best,” Neumann suggests. A responsive website is fluid, adjusting to different screen sizes and display resolutions, so that theoretically the same site can be viewed on both large and small screens. Realistically, the results are not always optimal: “There are challenges around resolution thresholds,” he acknowledges. A design intended for large monitors won’t always look great on a 7″ screen. In that case, Neumann says, you cannot assume that you can deliver one design for all mediums. “The one-site experience doesn’t work anymore – you can’t assume that people will be able to zoom and pinch and see everything.”

That opens up a number of different possibilities, from building a mobile-friendly site, to sending users customized versions of your site based on the device they’re using. The mobile-friendly site can be challenging, particularly if it’s running off a different content management system (or none at all). Maintaining both sites can be challenging and expensive, and you risk annoying users who cannot access the full version of your site on their tablet. And in either case, you’re incurring extra development effort, extra cost.

In some cases you can use shortcuts: software like Pressly or OnSwipe. They’ll take your standard website and, with a little magic pixie dust, seamlessly output a version that is optimized for tablet viewing.

That’s the route that Jason Baptiste, chief executive and co-founder of OnSwipe, prefers. “The world is shifting from on-click to on-swipe, from a three-foot user experience to a one-foot,” he says. It’s a more focused, concentrated user interface, according to Baptiste, and it requires a different design approach. “Some camps say you should design once and publish everywhere. I think that’s a real cop-out. On a tablet you should be designing for touch.”

The implications are obvious

What works better on tablets? Simple, clean user interfaces with large, obvious, and well-spaced navigation and controls. Go easy on the interactivity and the heavy-duty plugins. Create a flexible framework that works well on multiple screen sizes. You may not be able to master every use case, but you’ll be close. And, decide if you’re willing to use a service to automatically reformat your site for tablets and other mobile viewers.

There’s a reason personalized content aggregators Flipboard and Pulse are so popular: they make the web beautiful on small devices. Watch what they’re doing and take notes on how your website might need to change.

The tablet market is exploding

More tablets are being sold every week. Research firm Gartner estimates that there will be 665 million tablets in use worldwide by 2016. And it’s not just volume: it’s quality. Adobe’s Digital Marketing Insights report shows that tablet visitors spend 20 percent more per purchase than regular website visitors, making them the exact kind of visitors you want.

Here we are going to discuss the main principles of web design and the latest approaches which will lead us to create an effective website.

Designing a Usable Effective Website

How do users think? In order to use the principles of making a great website, you have to understand how do users usually thinks, and act accordingly.

Basically users habits and behaviors on the internet don’t differ a lot from their habits In our real life, like if we are going to talk about a store, people go to store – a related store of what they are looking for obviously, then if they found what fulfill their needs, they will actually buy it, or at least they will leave a good impression!

Now think online, people are using search engines for searching of a certain service or product or some information, they are looking for something usable and clickable that is related to their needs, user as a visitor to your website and believe it always don’t take long before clicking the back button , if he didn’t found what makes him happy !

Users appreciate quality and credibility, yes they do! If the page provides users with high quality and credible content, that adds the highest value of your website.

No reading, Just Scanning! Yes, users do not read they scan the whole page looking for a fixed points or anchors that might guide them to what they are looking for, so do not expect that user will read all of your content without arranging it according to how user will SCAN it.

Web users are impatient and insists on instant contentment, very simple principle, if users couldn’t find what meets their expectations then, the web designer failed to do his job and the company will lose money accordingly as the user will search for another, and the alternative search for the user might be your biggest competitor!

Users are not making optimal choices, users doesn’t always choose the optimal choice while searching for their goals, but they keep scanning web pages going from a section to another searching for what meets their goals then it will be clicked immediately, so satisfying is more important than optimization, while also optimization is hard and will take some time, in opposite with creating satisfaction.

Users are using their improvisation, in most cases, user’s goes through instead of reading information provided by the designer, so if you found something that works with that, just stick to it, Even if you can’t understand how it works but you still can use it!

Users want to have control, like they needs the easiest way to navigate your site, click a link and get back from it easily with their back-button without any popup pages or new windows that will keep popping every time they click a link, they want to be their own controller and to control their browser.

By now, you can understand the most important behaviors of web users that must be taken into consideration while building your website design, and please remember Content is always the king, quality and credibility will add a great value to your website, test and keep test the user experience, by treating yourself as one of them not just a webmaster we web designer!

Here we are going to discuss the main principles of web design and the latest approaches which will lead us to create an effective website.

Designing a Usable Effective Website

How do users think? In order to use the principles of making a great website, you have to understand how do users usually thinks, and act accordingly.

Basically users habits and behaviors on the internet don’t differ a lot from their habits In our real life, like if we are going to talk about a store, people go to store – a related store of what they are looking for obviously, then if they found what fulfill their needs, they will actually buy it, or at least they will leave a good impression!

Now think online, people are using search engines for searching of a certain service or product or some information, they are looking for something usable and clickable that is related to their needs, user as a visitor to your website and believe it always don’t take long before clicking the back button , if he didn’t found what makes him happy !

Users appreciate quality and credibility, yes they do! If the page provides users with high quality and credible content, that adds the highest value of your website.

No reading, Just Scanning! Yes, users do not read they scan the whole page looking for a fixed points or anchors that might guide them to what they are looking for, so do not expect that user will read all of your content without arranging it according to how user will SCAN it.

Web users are impatient and insists on instant contentment, very simple principle, if users couldn’t find what meets their expectations then, the web designer failed to do his job and the company will lose money accordingly as the user will search for another, and the alternative search for the user might be your biggest competitor!

Users are not making optimal choices, users doesn’t always choose the optimal choice while searching for their goals, but they keep scanning web pages going from a section to another searching for what meets their goals then it will be clicked immediately, so satisfying is more important than optimization, while also optimization is hard and will take some time, in opposite with creating satisfaction.

Users are using their improvisation, in most cases, user’s goes through instead of reading information provided by the designer, so if you found something that works with that, just stick to it, Even if you can’t understand how it works but you still can use it!

Users want to have control, like they needs the easiest way to navigate your site, click a link and get back from it easily with their back-button without any popup pages or new windows that will keep popping every time they click a link, they want to be their own controller and to control their browser.

By now, you can understand the most important behaviors of web users that must be taken into consideration while building your website design, and please remember Content is always the king, quality and credibility will add a great value to your website, test and keep test the user experience, by treating yourself as one of them not just a webmaster we web designer!

The < canvas > tag, which is used to draw 2D objects.
The < audio > and < video > tags, for media playback on web pages.
HTML5 supports storage at the local machine.
Some other content specific elements are introduced, like < article >, < footer >, < nav >, < section > etc.
New forms controls, like e-mail, calendar, date, time, search etc.
Provides the Geolocation feature i.e. ability to detect the working location of the user.
Better error-handling has been introduced to prevent frequent crashes.
No need to install third-party application or plug-ins to play audio or video on a web-page.

There is a major advantage of HTML 5 over Flash. Flash is a third party platform used by web-designers and developers to make their web-sites, audio and video capable. Flash provides with the fluid like flowing animations on web-pages to make them more attractive and eye pleasing.

But, with HTML 5 introduced, it is deduced that Flash would be rolled out from the scene of technology, not so soon, but with the passage of time. While flash was developed basically for desktop systems, it became difficult for developers to embed flash in mobile web-sites due to the reason that it makes the code for web-site very messy and creates the battery drainage and CPU straining problem for mobile devices.

Now, some advantages of using HTML5 are:

Compatibility: HTML 5 is supported by nearly all the modern browsers and so there is virtually no restriction on the use of a specific browser for running an application.
Much Cleaner Code: HTML 5 allows developers and designers to deploy much easier ways to write and analyze the code for a web-page.
Eye pleasing visuals: Developers can generate much fancier forms and design for web-pages so as to attract as much users as possible to their web-page.
Easily mobile compatible: HTML 5 provides an easy transformation and compatibility of web-pages with mobile devices, without degrading the features and visual quality of the web-site. It also provides an easy approach to mobile application developers, for designing and developing dynamic sites with fancy animation and with embedded audio and video in pages.

HTML 5 is developed in the period of android, iPad and iPhone development where mobility is the essence of communication. Since it overcomes all the related problems with Flash, mobile app development companies are happy developing for mobile devices. While flash causes touch screen and over-heating problem with mobile devices, HTML 5 is quite mobile friendly, as it does not causes any above mentioned problem and gels well with mobile platforms.

Here are a few ideas with examples to use cartoon character logo designs in your brand mark:

1. Use Animated Characters:
This is one of the most popular emblem craft styles. Using an illustration in your monogram gives it greater margin for creativity and makes it appealing for people of all ages.

For example:
a) Starbucks’ Mermaid:
The black and white mermaid sketch surrounded by a green border is one of the most popular illustrations in the coffee industry. The small smile on the mermaid’s face is alluring and exotic which is the perfect animation for this coffee corporation.

b) 7-up’s Fido Dido:
Who is not familiar with Fido Dido? He may not have his own television show, but it is still one of the most popular animated characters to have ever existed. Fido has given 7 up a new personality and has made the beverage appealing to people of all ages.

2. Use Realistic Animated Character:
Another idea is to use comic sketches in your emblem but make the image so realistic that it almost, but not quite, looks like a photograph. It can give you the freedom to alter the body language and expressions in innate objects similar to cartoon drawing but can help the image retain its realism through the almost life like design.

For Example:
a) Pixar:
This famous animation house’s logo consists of the company name with a lamp substituted for the letter I. The quality that sets this logo apart from the rest is the use of an animation that is very realistic. The famous lamp in this company symbol is the main character of the company’s second production.

b) Duracell:
The mascot of one of the most popular battery making companies is a pink bunny. The bunny is so life-like that a viewer can almost feel the softness of the pink colored fur. Using realistic animation has made this symbol one of the most appealing and memorable designs of all time.

3. Use Cartoon Image Of Yourself:
If you are running a business independently and want to make your trademark exclusive and unique, then you should use a comic image of yourself in your emblem. Nothing can make your emblem more exclusive and unique than a comic illustration of ‘you’. This will also make your design eye catching and appealing.

For Example:
a. Mr Cartoon:
Nicknamed as mr. cartoon, this famous tattoo artist is one of the most famous personalities of Hollywood and his brand mark is as cool as the man himself. The mr. cartoon logo consists of a comic version of him carrying a giant pencil over a shoulder and another hand in the pockets of his pants. The arched eyebrows, narrowed eyes and french beard give him a very cool Hollywood look. His name is written in curvy font style at an alignment which gives an impression of intricate artistry and innovation.
In a nutshell, if you want to add a magnetic personality to your brand mark, use animations for your emblem.

However, for a successful business venture in a virtual world, having a website is not just enough. Gaining customers is not that easy. The user should be at ease while navigating and browsing; improper e-commerce website can result in loss of opportunity of getting higher sales. So, all in all, I simply want to emphasize that your e-commerce website should be designed in a way that the visitors don’t get perplexed by its complexity but are impressed by its features.

Some of the essential features are enlisted herewith which should be present in your e-commerce website to make it a success.

Ease of Navigation

The first requirement for selling a product is that you should be able to offer the customers what they are looking for. Customers don’t like to spend much time on the websites to figure out how to navigate from one page or the next. Lost visitors means lost sale, therefore your website should be easy to browse allowing users to get what they want with minimum effort.

Effective Presentation

As opposed to physical store, the customer can’t touch the products being offered by your e-store. Thus, its imperative for you to present the products in a best possible way. The platform on which your e-commerce website is developed plays an important role in that.

Easy Checkout

Users’ experience on e-commerce site is critical to its success. Ideally, the checkout process should involve minimal amount of steps. Asking too many details can lead to shopping cart abandonment by the customers.

Multiple Languages and Currency Options

To reach out to the world, its important that you provide online users with multiple languages and currency options. Widespread language barriers that move from country to country makes it hard for e-commerce retailers to market their products globally.

Security

The security of the online users who are sharing their critical information with you is your responsibility. If your site is not secure, don’t expect to get quality business.

I hope following these guidelines, you can make your website ultimately more successful.

Addressing the usability challenges in mobile web designing in a successful manner is still a hot question. The reason is very simple: the primitive approach followed towards the mobile usability aspects. As there are more innovations and experimentation going on in this aspect, more possibilities too are opening up. People want web on mobile to look and feel the same like when they are using a PC. It is very handy and convenient to use a smart phone for accessing the internet rather than opting a traditional desktop.

Usability in the small screen

Usability means the how easily the target users can commit to a transaction on your site and find what they want in a speedy and easy manner. It also depend on the nature of services and also the end user’s smart device which is used to access the website. Some major aspects which comes under usability are discussed below:

UI considerations
Even though it seems that user interface is all about navigational elements and tabs, there is something beyond navigation too. The degree of user-friendliness and interactivity does matter a lot in providing a unique UX to the user who is accessing your site in a mobile/smart device.

Screen resolution
A small screen is very compact which forces the designer to go for a good trade off on various important issues like content, visual appearance, interaction etc. But still, a traditional website should work finely when accessed in mobile devices. The responsive design should scale smoothly in to a small-screen.

Input options
There is a wide disparity in the input options available in cross-platform devices. Many smart phone devices uses touch based screens. Most of the keypads in the smart devices will be QWERTY based but the lack of mouse really show up when the screen need to be scrolled to reach to its length and width and also while selecting objects.

OS diversity
When the devices used to access internet changes, the operating system and its related hardware and software specification also change. Most the smart devices are based on different OS. For example,all Apple phones will be on iOS while the other leading name is of Google Android. This lead to differences in visual appearances as well as in the manner in which controls are implemented. In iPhones, the Tab buttons are in the bottom area while in Android devices, it is located near the top of the screen.

Content presentation
The information hierarchy in which is the content is presented in your website should be almost same and should be seamlessly available in the mobile or smart phone devices too. The user should feel easy to get all the required information in a speedy and transparent manner.

Performance
Mobile or smart devices are still performance challenged as they are not capable of using highly powerful processors or higher band width networks. The speed in which a page loads, bandwidth, hardware capabilities etc do influence the performance of a website in the mobile or small screen devices.

When usability challenges are met properly in mobile web browsing, then you can call your responsive design a successful one.