6 Compelling Reasons to Start Using React Native

6 Compelling Reasons to Start Using React Native

by | Aug 3, 2018 | Business

React Native in recent years has gained much popularity owing to its ease of usage and competence. Here are the 6 key highlighted benefits:The shift from mobile phones to smartphones has been phenomenal by all measures that have spurred entirely new services and industries while penetrating deep into the existing ones. In fact, with around a hundred application on their phone, users have started to accept mobile apps as their primary gateway to availing products and services or getting in touch with businesses.Now if you are on the other side of the aisle- as a service provider, the key thing to decide is not if but what kind of an app to build? If you know anything about app development market, you must be aware of the native vs hybrid debate and the trade-offs involved in user experience and performance. React Native is one rare technology in the domain that comes out on the top of all such considerations. Here are 6 reasons React Native would make an excellent platform for your next mobile app:Open-Source React Native is an open source project that means it?s not just available for free but you are limited only by your imagination in terms of customization. While an entire piece can be written on the benefits of using open source technologies, your key takeaway should be that these technologies evolve rapidly, have a large community, and as a result, there are many supporting tools.Cost-Effective As the open source tag indicates, there are no operational costs associated with using React Native, thus significantly bringing down the cost of development. Along with that, there is also another reason- React Native employs JavaScript, which is one of the most common languages web developers use and hence ample cheap resources are available. To put it in simple terms, you have to pay your developers relatively less to build apps on a platform that is free!Both Ios And Android Covered As discussed previously, React Native is packed with the benefits of both hybrid and native apps without actually suffering from their shortfalls. What makes it stand out even among other hybrid frameworks is its equal competence in iOS and Android as well as UI and features. For instance, Xamarin and Ionic cover both the platforms but lack many native UI components.Native Rendering There are two kinds of hybrid apps- those built using HTML and CSS wrapped in a native wrapper. They are essentially web apps disguised as mobile apps; Second is the kind built using native components of each platform. These applications are far more similar to corresponding native apps in terms of feel and performance. React Native stands in the second category. And should go without saying that it is a major plus point.New And Expanding Framework In the world of mobile app development, React Native is still a relatively new framework. While this would be a negative aspect for any other framework due to various apprehensions, React Native has clearly underscored its competence with success stories of Instagram, Skype, Facebook, among others and managed to turn those apprehensions into excitement for this new technology.Also, owing to its open source tag and corporate backing from Facebook, React Native developers are confident in undertaking large projects with long-term assurance and wide community support.

Read Also:-??Advantages of Hybrid Mobile App Development

Third-Party Plugins One of the key highlights of any technology remains its resource pool and compatibility with other supplementary technologies. React Native excels in this regard as well. When you create React Native applications, you aren?t just limited to its core libraries but can also easily import third-party APIs to bring more functionality and even access hardware features to boost performance.Conclusion As discussed earlier, React Native is a framework born out of the debate between native vs hybrid apps that is packed with the benefits of both. But that isn?t enough. What makes it truly stand out is its excellence among the host of other hybrid app development frameworks. Now as a business, if you ask what kind of an app should i build? You are most likely to lean towards a cross-platform app with native features. And then if you ask which technology would deliver the best results? React Native would still come out on the top.
E-commerce Design Mistakes That Could Be Harming Your Business

E-commerce Design Mistakes That Could Be Harming Your Business

by | Jul 28, 2018 | E-commerce, Web Design

There are now tools available to allow any budding entrepreneurs out there to put together their own e-commerce website without the need for any prior web design skills. While this has definitely lowered the barriers to launching such a business, it has also meant that many entrepreneurs dive in to the venture before they are truly ready for it. The following common mistakes harm businesses, and ultimately their sales.

Assuming Customers Will Find You

This is known as the ?if you build it, they will come? mentality. Simply starting an e-commerce business and getting a website online isn?t going to generate you any revenue. If you want to start turning a profit, you will need to make an effort to promote your website and let other people know of its existence. There are in excess of a billion websites on the internet today, meaning that, if you don?t actively advertise your website, it?s unlikely many people will stumble across it.Even if you have the most elegantly designed website in the world, offering the most fantastic range of products, if you don?t tell anyone your website is there, they definitely won?t come. Launching your business is only the first step. But you should be thinking about how you will promote your business before your website has launched.

Going Without a Logo

When we arrive on a business?s website for the first time, we expect to see a logo prominently displayed. But a logo is much more than an aesthetic feature; there are in fact several purposes to a logo.Of course, brand recognition is an important part of a logo?s purpose. You want people to come to associate your logo with your business. In this way, a logo behaves like a shorthand, where when people see your logo, they will instantly think of your business.The absence of a logo can also make your website look a lot less professional. Many businesses make the mistake of assuming that a logo needs to be professionally designed in order to be worthwhile. There is nothing wrong with a simple placeholder logo to begin with, upgrading to something a little more impressive when you have the money to spend on it. Having even a basic logo is better than having no logo at all.If you elect to use a tool such as webeden.co.uk to build your website, your logo will be important in setting your site apart from others made using the same service. Web Eden gives users plenty of ways to customise their website, but inevitably your tastes will overlap with someone else?s, and there?s always the possibility they will be one of your competitors.

No Organic Marketing

Organic marketing refers to things like customer reviews and testimonials. These are marketing materials which are designed to look as natural as possible. Consumers are more trusting of organic marketing, because it doesn?t trigger the same self-defence mechanisms that we tend to put up when we are faced with a normal advert.When we know that what we are looking at are marketing materials, designed to part us with our money and encourage us to buy a product, we instantly become more sceptical of any claims that are made. For example, an advert on television which tells us that a product is ?the best ever? doesn?t carry nearly as much weight as someone we know and trust telling us the same thing.

Difficult to Contact

If you have a well-designed website underpinning your e-commerce business, your customers shouldn?t run into too many problems when using it. However, it is inevitable that a customer will sooner or later either require your assistance or will have a query that needs answering. If they aren?t able to easily contact you through your website, it will reflect poorly on your business as a whole.The simplest solution to this problem is to ensure that you either include your contact information in the footer of each page on your website, or you make a ?contact us? link clearly visible.As you are putting your e-commerce website together, be sure to keep checking for any signs of the above mistakes. It is these mistakes more than any others that lead to e-commerce businesses underperforming, and in some cases folding completely.
The Content Mistakes You Need To Stop Making Right Now

The Content Mistakes You Need To Stop Making Right Now

by | Jul 28, 2018 | Off Topic

Anyone that owns a website or develops them for other people should know that content is king. It?s a massive SEO ranking factor, it improves the user experience of a site, and it pretty much will determine whether or not you generate leads or make sales. You?d think that creating content for a website is easy, and yet, so many people continue to make the same mistakes. Here are some of the most common ones that you need to stop making right now:

Not having any consistency

Content has to be delivered consistently or else an audience will lose interest. If you have a blog, then you absolutely need to keep adding content all the time on a regular basis. This is how you start to grow an audience, but it?s also an effective way of driving traffic to your site with more consistency. Now, there are companies out there like VistaComm that use things called editorial calendars to help schedule content. Everyone should have something like this to ensure they stay on top of their content and are putting it out regularly, in tune with current events.

Stuffing keywords everywhere

I think the majority of people reading this are guilty of keyword stuffing at some point. Everyone?s been there; we believe that putting as many of our target keywords in our content as possible will lead to better SEO results. In reality, it does the opposite, and we slide down the rankings. Whether it?s simple website copy or a full-on blog post, use keywords naturally and never stuff them to try and improve your ranking.

Only producing one type of content

Another highly common mistake is to only create one form of content. For example, all the content on your site is written, and you have no visual content at all. A few photos or videos here and there will break things up, provide new ways of engaging with users and make your site a lot better on the whole. Also, with regards to written content, you should mix up your word limits as well. Create short-form content that just a couple of hundred words, and then have long-form stuff that?s over a thousand words.

Creating content with no value or substance

Every piece of content on your website must carry some sort of value. It has to have substance, it needs to give users something. An easy example of this is a business website homepage; there must be content on here that explains your business to the user. The same goes for blog posts; they should either explain things to people or entertain them. Otherwise, your content serves no purpose, and it?s essentially useless. If you?re guilty of making any of these mistakes, then you need to stop right now! With the right content strategy, you will vastly improve your website. Your search rankings will go through the roof, more traffic will come, and people will stay on your site long enough to be converted into a lead.
What is The Effect of GDPR on Web Design & Development?

What is The Effect of GDPR on Web Design & Development?

by | Jul 25, 2018 | Web Design

Web design & development requires brainstorming on different aspects and consider multiple factors including layout design, website objective, SEO, budget and more. With the introduction of GDPR, now there is a new entry on the web developer?s list which they have to keep in mind when creating websites. But, what everyone is concerned about, whether this new law will affect the way developers design & build websites.GDPR law requires that you become more thoughtful about the websites and services you build as well as more transparent about the methods of collection and use of personal data. That?s why, owners of varied digital platforms are required to become more diligent and stringent about how they collect, use and store personal information of their customers. GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is designed to ensure data safety of European Union citizens, but it is also applicable for organizations that are outside of the EU which capture data from EU residents. So, eventually, every business is covered under this law. ?Measures to cope with the General Data Protection RegulationIf any organization (whether operating inside or outside the European Union) infringes GDPR legislation, it is liable for a hefty fine of 20 million euros or 4% of company?s global annual turnover (whichever is higher). In order to avoid this huge loss, companies must comply with this law. Hence, the company?s websites should be built in a way that they fulfill all the requirements of this new data security regulation.To make your business compliant with the new law, first, you need to understand it. According to this regulation, individuals are granted with 8 essentials rights as follows:
  1. Right to information: This right requires you to be transparent about how you use the information collected from customers or users. Usually, you provide this information in the privacy policy of your website, update this document to provide clear and concise information about your usage of the personal data.
  2. Right to access data: When a customer or user requests you to send their data, you should send it them in commonly used format like CSV.
  3. Right to correct or rectify data: In case of inaccurate data, you must let your clients or users rectify it.
  4. Erasure of data or Right to be forgotten: When there is no compelling reason to continue processing of the data, your clients or users may request to remove or delete it. ?
  5. Restrict data processing: As per this right individuals can request companies to stop processing their data. In that situation, companies can store the data but not allowed to process.
  6. Right to portability: Individuals should be allowed to access and reuse their personal information for their own purposes.
  7. Right to object: Individuals can object on their data usage including in fields like research, marketing, and statistics.
  8. Right pertaining to automatic decision making, including profiling: This defines the conditions in which you can use automated decision making and profiling. Plus, it also explains about the requirements to be met such as explicit consent of individuals.
These are the essential rules that should be followed by every business unit in order to abide by the GDPR law. While designing & building a website, developers need to pay attention to these regulations and then create the website that fulfills these rules. The following steps should be taken to make sure that your website is GDPR compliant:
  • Conduct a data audit: To make sure that you are safely handling the data from your customers or users, you should figure out a different aspect of this process.
  • Define a clear and precise privacy policy: This document is where you describe the procedure on data collection, usage, storage and other processes. Define everything clearly pertaining to individuals? data handling. ?
  • Implement SSL certification: Those websites that use HTTPS send data through an encrypted connection. So, if you have a SSL certificate, you have taken a step ahead to adhere to GDPR. In absence of HTTPS, your website sends encrypted data which may be intercepted in transit. ??
  • Determine and document a clear process in case of a data breach: The new law requires that data controlled should establish a procedure to be followed in case of data breach. According to the regulation, data controller is obliged to report the data breach within 72 hours to authorities.
  • Processing of data collected from children: Organizations which collect information from children need to take consent from their parents or guardians before processing their data legally. According to the law, children with a minimum age of 16 years can give their own consent for data processing. Mention information in your privacy policy precisely and in a way that 16 year child can understand.
ConclusionIn this digital era, data safety should be assured to the customers and users of your online services. It is an ethnic way that every business should consider while rendering their services. GPDR compliance requirement has made it essential for companies to ensure data safety. Now, it?s time to adhere to this legislation as failing to comply with this may have adverse effects on your business. ???? ???Author Bio:Tom Hardy has hands-on experience as a digital marketing consultant. He currently works at Sparx IT Solutions: GDPR Compliance Solution Provider and offers exceptional website auditing services to prepare a business for GDPR readiness. Also, he writes informative blogs to let users know how much it is important to comply with GDPR for websites to get better data security.
The Importance of Website Design for Successful Blogging

The Importance of Website Design for Successful Blogging

by | Jul 24, 2018 | Off Topic

What does it take to run a successful blog?Needless to say, quality content is the number one priority ? but it won?t be enough on its own in order for a blog to reach a wide following. Naturally, it?s important that a blogger is consistent with the content they create and post, keeping a regular pace and ensuring they?re not overwhelming the blog in short surges or letting it go dormant for periods of time. Blog marketing is another point of successful blogging that we?re now used to seeing in a matter-of-fact kind of way ? for example, any blogger will dedicate their time and effort to marketing their blog on at least one social media platform (and that?s just a piece of the marketing puzzle). All of these points are directed at content creation, but the question arises: if design is so important for websites, shouldn?t it be important for blogs as well? Considering the emphasis on content, design seems to be further down the list of priorities on many blogs, as bloggers usually opt for generic layouts and themes. But the exceptions ? beautifully designed blogs ? show us that any blog can greatly benefit from effective and innovative web design. Read on to see just how great website design can contribute to blogging success.

Branding

Branding is important for blogs as much as it is for business websites, and successful branding calls for using design to your advantage ? in order to define your blog?s identity and convey a message without using words. After all, first-time visitors will get a feel for your blog?s identity, style, and values from first glance while skimming over the content. This first impression can encourage or discourage them to stay on your blog and fully dedicate their attention to your posts. Source: unsplash.comFrom choosing the right color scheme to designing an impactful logo and placing it effectively on the webpage, web design is what will essentially help you showcase your authenticity and establish a relationship with your audience at first contact.

Readability and effortless navigation

Readers come to your blog for useful and interesting content. No matter how beautiful the design is, content is the only thing that will keep them coming back as well. But this doesn?t suggest that website design plays no role whatsoever in this aspect ? in fact, its role is significant and helpful in engaging the readers, but only if the design is unobtrusive. Good website design ensures that the content is emphasized and easy to read and that there are no hiccups in the blog navigation that can potentially cause a visitor to abandon the blog in frustration. This entails:
  • A neat, uncluttered layout and tasteful use of white space that brings attention to the content and encourages visitors to explore the options on the blog
  • Efficient categorizing
  • Proper formatting so that blog posts grasps the reader?s attention visually and make reading effortless
  • Carefully choosing fonts and font sizes to improve readability
  • Strategic ad placement so that it can resonate with visitors and does not hinder the importance of content

Maintaining a fresh appearance

Here?s the thing: blogs have much more repeat traffic than traditional websites (as the point is to establish a wide base of subscribers), and the visitors are expected to stay on the pages longer as they read the content. When a blog has a reader base that follows the posts regularly, design plays an important role in keeping things fresh. Many bloggers change the themes often so that the blog doesn?t look stale and stagnant to the people who visit it regularly. Regardless where the blog is hosted, changing themes allows bloggers to keep up with the latest website designs, learn from them, constantly improve their design, and keep things interesting both for the readers and themselves. WordPress, for example, offers a wide array of themes, many of which are free, which allows bloggers to experiment and stay updated on trends.

Fast loading

The Importance of Website Design for Successful BloggingSource: pexels.comThe modern web changes and operates at an amazing pace, and standards are simply higher than ever. Visitors can turn to something better, faster, more effective with just a single click, and that very first point of contact plays a crucial role. Research shows that visitors expect webpages to load within 3 seconds: anything more than that, and you?re risking high bounce rates and a low SEO ranking. Not only that, but fast-loading websites help build trust and reach organic traffic. That?s why bloggers and website owners seek help for optimizing web pages for fast loading, where web design will have a decisive role (or loading time will have a decisive role for design choices ? whichever way you choose to look at it). For example, things such as steering clear of clutter and avoiding the overuse of heavy images per page are where popular website design and loading time optimization intertwine.

Encourage social media sharing

All bloggers aspire to have their posts shared on social media to help them gain visibility and reach relevant audiences. The success of a blog largely depends on the shareability of its posts and how much engagement they encourage. Considering that this is a big goal on the path to blogging success, it?s important that the blog is provided with all the necessary tools to achieve it. That?s where web design comes in: it?s necessary to integrate social media sharing buttons and widgets, but also to place them strategically to encourage their use. A well-designed blog will have these buttons standing out clearly but in good taste, usually at the top of a post or at the very bottom so that it suggests to the readers to share the post the moment they?ve finished reading.

SEO

Search engine optimization is an important tool for a successful blog, as higher search engine rankings will help gain visibility and improve traffic. Quality of content is crucial for SEO rankings, and so is the website design ? from the design?s navigation, to formatting the content, to redirecting things properly and keeping up with evolving SEO guidelines. SEOSource: unsplash.comEssentially, website design is in service of the blog?s content, but it can bring much more to the table. When done right, it helps the ultimate goal, and when done wrong, it?s likely to turn visitors away in frustration or present you in a bad light. Great design and great content go hand-in-hand ? and constantly improving and evolving will lead the way to a successful blog. BioMeaghan Yorke is a content writer for designrush.com, specializing in website design. These days she is all about researching various IT related topics. When she is not working she enjoys dancing classical ballet.