Did you get a shiny new tech-toy for Christmas? My dad and stepmom did. They proudly FaceTime-ed me from their new iPad, and when I "hung up," they were busy trying to wrestle the device back from my 18-year-old sister. Tablets and smart phones easily transcend generational barriers. In fact, data collected by NPD DisplaySearch projects that tablets will outsell notebooks by 2016. Why does this matter? I'll give you a hint . . . your website! Problem? Solution. Ethan Marcotte explains the problem this way: "We’re faced with a greater number of devices, input modes, and browsers than ever before." While it's possible to design separate packages for each of the different platforms (desktop, tablet, smart phone, mini-tablet), there's a better solution, and we predict you'll hear a lot about it this year. The solution is responsive web design, in which we create an attrac...
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At Your Creative People, we enjoy brainstorming and dreaming up ways to innovate and improve our CMS product, Backstage. As one of our clients, did you know you can be a part of that creative process as well? In a large way, our client's help to build Backstage by highlighting the needs of their industries or businesses and pointing out ways to make our Backstage CMS even simpler for you to use! Have you seen the "Submit an Idea" feature in Backstage? When you discover a need for a new feature, or even just a neat idea that you think could streamline your process of updating your website, mobile site, or app, click the button and share it with us! We take and review every idea individually. Any idea that can benefit all Backstage users is added to our development list for inclusion in a future upgrade. We're not promising your idea will go into effect immediately, but...
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Secret #1: Keep it simple Navigation. Make it easy for your customers to find the products they are searching for. Using simplified navigation (for instance breadcrumbs like the Apple Store example) gives your customers instant orientation to which page they are viewing and a visual path back. Search. Since approximately 50% of users are search driven - they instantly locate and use the closest search tool - having a search that narrows search results as you type is a great feature. Your results page should effectively and graphically list the results, proving to be simple to understand. Checkout. An easy checkout system or shopping cart can make the buying process smooth and more inviting. For example, it's easiest for me to checkout online with simply my e-mail address as a guest checkout, rather than having to create a new user account at each site I shop at. If yo...
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E-books are projected to revolutionize education. After our last blog-post about Google, Apple had some big news of their own today. Apple released iBooks 2, an update to their e-book software for iOS devices (the iPod, iPad, and iPhone). In true Apple-fashion, a press event was held to present the new software and it's most exciting features. Phil Schiller, introducing iBooks 2, described Apple's desire to use the iPad for educational progress. Schiller pointed out that students like to learn on the iPad - in fact it was the # 1 item on teens' holiday wish lists this year. He then described that iPad textbooks can replace the cumbersome, short-lived, non-interactive paper textbooks that students are used to. Apple has already partnered with McGraw-Hill, Pearson, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to start the ball rolling. These companies are currently responsible for 90%...
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