Randy A Brown

Author: Randy A Brown

  • WordPress Header Design

    WordPress Header Design

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    The header is often the first thing your visitors see when they land on your website. This means your header is your website’s first impression for your readers. You know what they say about first impressions. This is your first chance to wow your reader, capture their attention, and keep them on your website.

    This design element can tell your readers about your website. It can say “I’m serious”, “I’m light-hearted”, “I’m intelligent”, “I’m trustworthy”, etc., just from the use of color or images. Needless to say, this is an important aspect for your website.

    Header Elements

    The typical header contains elements such as:

    • Logo
    • Navigation
    • Tagline
    • Color for mood
    • Image
    • Animation
    • Call to Action
    • Video
    • Social Buttons
    • Contact info

    Your header needs to be responsive, clean, informative, and useful. It shouldn’t be slow loading, eye-piercing, or confusing. Many WordPress users keep the standard header for their theme without customizing it. They work, but they don’t stand out from the crowd. Better header design requires a little bit of customization. Most customizations can be done with the theme’s built-in features, by adding your own code, or by using a simple plugin.

    Let’s look at a few good headers.

    Examples of Good Header Design

    This is Divi Cafe (a Divi demo). The colors work perfectly for a cafe. I especially like the dark overlay with the background showing through the text. Navigation is easy to see and understand. I can tell at a glance that I can make a purchase because of the shopping cart. The image of the cafe can be seen through the overlay and it’s just visible enough to tell me what the website’s about. The logo appears above the menu on scroll. Both the menu and logo change to a lighter, but still elegant, color.

    Of course this is only one of the types of headers that you can make with Divi. Choices include vertical or horizontal navigation, full screen and slide-in navigation, unlimited colors, transparent headers, left aligned or centered logo, hide navigation before scrolling, add video, adjust the header height, change the fonts, and lots more.

    Another option is to use a plugin such as Awesome Header. It’s a plugin that replaces the standard WordPress header. You can add images, adjust colors, fonts, create sticky navigation, and lots more.

    Where to Get Ideas for Great Headers

    My two favorite places to get ideas for headers is searching on Pinterest and looking through theme examples. The theme examples can be any kind of website theme including WordPress, Wix, etc. I like looking through themes with pre-made layouts on ThemeForest, child themes for platforms such as Divi, etc.

    The example above is a Pinterest search using the keywords website headers. I like to pin my favorites and come back to them for ideas.

    This is a look at some of the pre-made layouts for BeTheme. When something catches my eye, I’ll click on it and start making notes.

    Let’s Discuss

    • What’s you favorite method for designing headers?
    • Do you use the features in your favorite themes, use a plugin, or use code?
    • Where do you get your ideas for header designs?

    Let us know what you think in the comments. Thanks for reading. Please subscribe if you haven’t already. 

    Image by Igor Miske

     

  • Where to Get Design Ideas for Your WordPress Layouts

    Where to Get Design Ideas for Your WordPress Layouts

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

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    The days of WordPress being just a blogging platform are long over. WordPress can now be used to create practically any type of website you can imagine. With all of the themes and design tools available, and the ability to expand WordPress even further by adding your own code and plugins, the sky is the limit for your WordPress design.

    One question I’m often asked is where to get ideas for WordPress designs. I like this question. There are actually a lot of good places to get ideas. Here is a look at some of my favorite methods of getting ideas layout designs for my WordPress projects.

    Keep in mind the idea isn’t to directly copy another design. Instead, it is to get ideas to improve on, incorporate into other ideas, expand, etc.; using them with the idea of creating something unique.

    What to Look For

    There are lots of places to get ideas. One thing to keep in mind is it doesn’t matter what was used to create the website. It doesn’t have to be a WordPress website. It could have been created with any builder, such as Divi, Wix, Elementor, etc. The idea is to look for layouts and design elements that you like.

    Coffee – a Divi child theme

    For layouts I prefer to take a step-back approach and see an image of the entire layout at once. This way I can see the individual elements and see how they work together. The layout should tell the story you want it to tell. This is easier to see when viewing a smaller image rather than seeing the website full-screen. Try to pay attention to the layout rather than the placeholder images. The two things that stand out about the theme above is it looks very different when there are no placeholder images which can draw attention away from the design, and it’s hard to tell much about it when seeing the full screen image.

    Pinterest

    Pinterest is one of my favorite places to look at website layouts. Just type in keywords like web design, website layout, or similar and you’ll see more than you need. You can even look for colors. It will give you a few filters across the top so you can narrow down your choices. Be careful though, once you start searching on Pinterest it’s easy to stay there for several days at a time (well, maybe several hours, but the point is the same).

    Theme Sell Sites

    Another great place to get ideas is from theme sites such as ThemeForest or the marketplaces. I like to select the popular themes and look at their demos. They don’t even have to be for WordPress. The image above is from a WordPress theme called Jupiter 5.

    Other Websites Within the Genre

    Another method I’ve found useful is to research some of the more popular websites within the genre that I’m developing in. For example, if I’m designing a website for a writer, I’ll look at websites for writers and make notes of my favorite elements. I;ll then incorporate those elements using my own styles, tweaking and making them my own.

    Keep a Notebook

    I like to keep screenshots and links to layouts the I find inspiring. That’s one of the benefits of Pinterest because of the ability to create your own boards. I also like to save links in a folder in my web browser. Another option is to keep a file of links in a document or use a tool such as EverNote.

    Let’s Discuss

    • Do you use any of these methods for getting layout design ideas?
    • What other websites do you use?
    • What other methods do you use?
    • What’s your favorite way of saving the design ideas?

    Let us know what you think in the comments. Thanks for reading. Please subscribe if you haven’t already.

    Image by Tamarcus Brown

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  • Web Design Trends 2017 – Stronger Focus on Mobile First

    Web Design Trends 2017 – Stronger Focus on Mobile First

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

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    The day of websites not formatting correctly on mobile devices is over. The majority of reader’s access websites on mobile devices. If today’s layouts don’t work perfectly on mobile the website will lose traffic and readership. For this reason many designers are designing websites for mobile first. In other words, a website would be designed for mobile screens before being designed for desktop screens. This keeps mobile in the forefront rather than being tacked on last or forgotten completely.

    The design methods of the olden days of web design (last year) was to design a layout or a theme and test it in a few browsers. Once the designer was satisfied that it worked on the popular browsers the website would go live. The problem is the designer didn’t always test it on mobile, so it wouldn’t always get optimized for small screens. Many sites weren’t even responsive until a year or so ago.

    Whether you design on mobile and scale to desktop, or design on desktop and scale to mobile, the website must work perfectly on both. My advice is to use a theme that’s mobile-ready and test on as many devices as you can. Divi is a great chioce. As Zurb demonstrates, creating a site for mobile and scaling up to desktop is better than creating for desktop and scaling down to mobile.

    For more stats on mobile usage see the article Mobile Marketing Statistics compilation from Smart Insights.

    How to Test for Mobile Optimization

    My preferred tool is Google Chrome Tools. If you’re using Chrome, right click anywhere on a website and select Inspect. This will open the tools. The will open a tool box either on the right or on the bottom portion of the screen. Select Toggle Device Toolbar if it’s not already showing in the left portion or at the top.

    The webpage you’re viewing will show in a simulated mobile device. Choose a device to test in both portrait and landscape mode. Be sure to test as many devices as you can.

    Once you’re satisfied with how your website looks in the simulated mobile devices, load the website on as many actual devices as you can.

    Another tool I like is Am I Responsive. Enter your URL and it will show your website on multiple screen sizes and you can scroll through them.

    Let’s Discuss

    • Do you build for mobile first?
    • Do you prefer to scale up to desktop or scale down to mobile?
    • What are your favorite tools for developing and testing for mobile?

    Let us know what you think in the comments. Thanks for reading and please subscribe if you haven’t already. 

    Featured image by NeONBRAND

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  • Web Design Trends 2017 – Virtual Reality Integration

    Web Design Trends 2017 – Virtual Reality Integration

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

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    If you think about it, the web is actually a 2D alternate reality. The next obvious step is to shape it into a 3D virtual reality. VR headsets for smartphones are becoming popular, and both desktops and mobile devices have ways of displaying VR. It makes sense when you consider the advantages. For example, you could stand in a room you’re considering renting or buying, stand on a vacation spot to help make your decision of where to spend your vacation time, view a product and see it from all angles without having to be in the store, and so much more.

    Here are some of the popular ways that VR is being incorporated into WordPress.

    Google VR view

    Google VR view is becoming popular and incorporating VR features into WordPress and apps. It let’s you embed 360 degree VR media for desktop and mobile devices. It supports mono and stereo images. Images can be stored as JPG, PNG, or GIF. Video can be stored as MP4.

    Plugins

    It’s still in its infancy but currently the easiest way to incorporate VR into your WordPress designs is by using a plugin. Here’s a look at a few plugins to add VR to your WordPress website.

    WP-VR View

    WP-VR-view is a free plugin in the WordPress depository that lets you add a photo sphere and 360 degree video to your WordPress website to create 3D panoramas that readers can navigate through. It includes lots of shortcodes for videos, images, preview, width and height, and stereo. It works in web browsers and on mobile devices including Google’s Cardboard.

    Web VR Shop

    Web VR Shop is a premium WordPress plugin for WooCommerce that allows you to add 3D models to your shop. Upload your 3D model and then scale, position, rotate, and change the background color with easy to use sliders to create a VR product gallery. It includes multiple 3D extensions. It works on desktop, mobile, Rift, Cardboard, and Vive.

    Let’s Discuss

    • Do you use VR on your website?
    • What’s your favorite way to incorporate VR into WordPress?
    • What’s your favorite use of VR?

    Let us know what you think in the comments. Thanks for reading and please subscribe if you haven’t already.

    Featured image by Samuel Zeller

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  • WordPress Design Trends 2017 – Improved Micro-interactions

    WordPress Design Trends 2017 – Improved Micro-interactions

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

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    Micro-interactions are small animations and effects to indicate when an event is happening. They’re great for showing that something is clickable and for indicating that the user’s actions were recognized. I personally hate it when I hover over something and it doesn’t show me that I can click on it and then when I do it doesn’t show me that it took the click. Micro-interactions greatly improve the usability of a website and they’re becoming even more popular.

    An example in the real world include the tiny vibration you feel when you click on a button on your smart-phone. You know that it took your click because of that vibration. You’ll also see an animation on the button itself such as the button changing color or becoming larger and then shrinking back to normal.

    An example in the virtual world would be hovering your mouse over a menu item on a website you’ll see an effect that indicates the post is clickable. A good example is the menu of Web Design Depot.

    These micro-interactions are useful for:

    • buttons
    • menus
    • status
    • changes
    • call to action
    • messages as the result of an action
    • visual input
    • typing indication
    • feedback
    • toggling something on or off
    • etc.

    CSS Animation

    Hover Effects Builder – WordPress Plugin

    You can tell from the image above what is being clicked by its hover animation.

    Most of these micro-interactions are in the form of CSS animation and can be created with CSS tools or with plugins. Here are a few resources to help you create them:

    Use as many as you can but keep them simple, consistent, and easy to understand.

    Let’s Discuss

    • Do you use micro-interactions?
    • What are your favorite micro-interactions?
    • What are your favorite tools for creating them?

    Let us know what you think about micro-interactions in the comments below. Thanks for reading and please subscribe if you haven’t already. 

    Featured image by Samson Vowles

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  • WordPress Design Trends 2017 – Gradients

    WordPress Design Trends 2017 – Gradients

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

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    Where we used to see solid-colored backgrounds, now we’re seeing a lot of backgrounds with gradients. A gradient is a smooth transition from one color to another. Most background gradients transition between two colors, but it’s possible to transition between multiple colors and include features such as animated transitions.

    image from colorful gradients

    Gradients can be created as image files or with CSS. A well-designed gradient can make the web pages more colorful and interesting while still loading fast. Gradients are not limited to backgrounds. They can include images with overlays, backgrounds, logos, headers, buttons, backgrounds for forms, etc.

    The image above can be accomplished with a plugin such as this premium plugin for Divi called Fullwidth Header Extended. It adds a CSS gradient to the custom header and includes particle animation, multiple color gradients, and gradient animation. It even adds dynamic text effects, icon animations, image effects, and other background effects. It also includes a sub-header that can be placed above or below the header title. I consider this a must-have plugin for every Divi user.

    Online Tools to Create Gradients

    Gradients can be created with graphics software such as Photoshop, Gimp, Sketch, PaintShop Pro, and Paint.NET. There are also lots of online tools that will create gradients for you based on colors you choose. Some have more features than others but they’re free to use. Some have pre-made gradients that you can save and reuse. A few include CSS tutorials. Just be sure to compress them. I like TinyPNG.

    Here are some good tools for downloading or creating your own gradients:

    Let’s Discuss

    • Do you use gradients?
    • What’s your favorite tools to create gradients?
    • Do you prefer to download pre-made gradients?

    Let us know in the comments. Thanks for reading and please subscribe if you haven’t already. 

    Featured image from James Douglas

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  • Web Design Trends 2017 – Better Use of Parallax

    Web Design Trends 2017 – Better Use of Parallax

    Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Parallax is one of those design elements that can be difficult to get right, but it works great if you do. Often parallax is overdone or used as a gimmick. There’s sometimes so much of it that it doesn’t stand out anymore (I’m guilty of this myself). Too much parallax can become annoying and it loses its intrigue.

    Use Parallax Sparingly

    I’m starting to see parallax used more sparingly and with a greater effect. For example, rather than parallax just for the sake of parallax, I’ve seen it used where it creates an interaction between image layers such as a person in the background moving independently of objects in the foreground, making them seem to interact.

    Another good choice is to use it to identify sections in a homepage or  to create a window where the content scrolls differently from the page or maybe it remains in place as the foreground scrolls over it. I’ve seen this used to show content on a monitor or within a small image.

    Plugins

    In the image above the background is blurred while the foreground is in focus. This can be added to any theme using a plugin such as D.ex – Multilayer Parallax WordPress Plugin which has unlimited layers that can scroll according to your settings. Another good plugin is The Parallaxer WP – Parallax Effects on Content which includes lots of customizations and works with any theme, Visual Composer, and is mobile optimized.

     Themes

    Lots of themes have parallax built in. Here are a few:

    An Example Using Divi

    Since this website was built with Divi, this article itself works as an example. The featured image remains in place while the content scrolls up. Another example is a child theme called Creative which uses parallax as a header and to reveal the footer.

    Here’s an example using Divi from Elegant Themes that shows text over images of food:

    Let’s Discuss

    • Do you use parallax?
    • What the best use of parallax that you’ve seen?
    • What’s the worst use of parallax that you’ve seen?

    Let us know what you think in the comments. As always, thanks for reading and please subscribe if you haven’t already. 

    Featured image by Caleb Jones

     

  • Web Design Trends 2017 – SVG Logos and Icons

    Web Design Trends 2017 – SVG Logos and Icons

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

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    JPEG’s and PNG’s used to be the most popular file-types for logos and icons. One problem though is they don’t always scale properly. They become pixelated when you zoom in. Another problem is file size. They can become large and if you compress them you’ll lose some of the quality.

    A better solution is to use Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). SVG is an XML markup language that’s used to describe vector graphics. in other words, SVG’s are text files and can be edited with a text editor.

    SVG’s have a smaller file size (they’re about half the size of the equivalent PNG) and they’re scalable, meaning they don’t lose graphic quality when you zoom in, making them a perfect choice for logos, icons, and even featured images for responsive websites. They look  great on retina displays. They can be manipulated with CSS. The smaller file size of course will improve your page-loading time, so it’s win/win.

    Raster Vs Vector

    Here’s a look at raster (PNG, JPEG) vs vector (SVG) (image from the QuickLeft blog). Both look fine at small sizes, but when you zoom in it’s obvious the raster image gets pixelated while the vector remains sharp. To solve this, many designers have used a sharp larger image, but that increases the file size and load time. The SVG solves all of these problems.

    Example Logos

    This image, taken from Responsive Logos, shows a set of popular logos. The image above is regular size.

    The image above is 25% of the original size. You can see the logos retain their definition.

    The image above is at 300 zoom. The logo is still sharp.

    Tools for Creating SVG’s

    Some popular tools to create SVG’s include:

    SVG Downloads

    Let’s Discuss

    • Do you currently use PNG’s?
    • If not, do you plan to move to PNG’s?
    • What are you favorite tools and resources for SVG’s?
    • Is there another file type you prefer?

    Let us know in the comments. Thanks for reading. Please subscribe if you haven’t already. 

    Featured image from seabass creatives

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  • WordPress Design Trends 2017 – Child Themes and Layouts

    WordPress Design Trends 2017 – Child Themes and Layouts

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

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    Child themes and layouts are great tools to help speed up the design process. They’re easy to get. Many multi-purpose themes and plugin builders allow you to export and import, so they’re reusable and you can buy them, share them, and even sell them. This trend will become even stronger through 2017 into 2018 as designs get more complex and interesting.

    The 7

    Most are designed by top WordPress designers using best practices and design principles, so you’ll have a great start on creating your own website. They’re available in the marketplaces online and directly from the designers themselves.

    Child Themes

    Monterey Premier

    Child theme usage will become more popular for themes that allow for heavy customization. New features can be added to the theme itself. Many builder themes come with demos or pre-designed child themes, and some of them allow users to create their own which can be sold in the marketplaces. Divi is one such theme. Developers are creating and selling child themes more than ever and that will continue to gain popularity.

    StudioPress

    Layouts

    Elegant Marketplace

    Many themes and builder plugins allow for easy layout importing. These will become more popular because they’re relatively easy to make and they don’t require the user to adopt the complete design like a child theme does. Instead, they can be used on a per-page basis. There are lots of free and premium layouts and even the premium layouts are not that expensive when compared to child themes. Several designers give them away as incentives to sign up to their newsletters. They’re also being included within services such as Divi Cloud.

    Let’s Discuss

    • Do you use child themes or layouts?
    • Which do you prefer between child themes and layouts?
    • What platform do you use them with?

    Let us know what you think in the comments below. As always thanks for reading, and please subscribe if you haven’t already. 

    Featured image from Divi Cloud

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  • Web Design Trends 2017 – Drag and Drop Theme Builder Plugins

    Web Design Trends 2017 – Drag and Drop Theme Builder Plugins

    Reading Time: 4 minutes

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    One of the greatest problems with standard WordPress themes is they are limited in their design. They have the layout they have, and that’s what you get. That’s fine if you want the layout they provide, but what if you want to customize it without having to dig into code? You have a few good options:

    • Use a different theme
    • Use a drag and drop builder plugin
    Conductor

    There are lots of great themes out there and some even have built-in drag and drop builders. However, changing themes is not always an option. Changing to a theme that has a layout you like is still limited to that layout. Changing to a multi-purpose theme can be a better option to help solve that problem, but what if you’ve already customized your current theme? What if you don’t want to change themes? What if you like your theme but just want to add some builder functionality? For these reasons, and many more, drag and drop builder plugins are becoming more popular and this is a trend that will pick up speed into 2017-2018.

    Advantages, Elements, and Design

    MotoPress front end

    The advantage of a plugin is they don’t require a specific theme to work. This means users can install the plugin and start building without having to set up a new theme first. This also means that designers can create new layouts within their client’s current themes.

    MotoPress

    They allow you to create layouts, place rows, widgets, resize, move things around, edit, add code, and lots more. They include content elements such as text, images, video, audio, sliders, galleries, post grids, buttons, social buttons, accordions, tables, charts, HTML, maps, widgets, and more. Practically any type of layout can be created with a drag and drop builder plugin. Some even work from the front-end, making it easier to see the design as you go.

    Siteorigin

    Drag and drop builder plugins still require the use of design principles. They’re just a tool, so they’ll never take the place of a designer or developer, but they do make the job faster. Depending on the features of the builder you might have to keep the plugin installed even if you move away from it in order to keep the pages built with it intact.

    Elementor

    Some even include template libraries, allowing you to load a layout to modify. Some even allow you to import and export layouts, so they’re reusable.

    Popular Builder Plugins

    Here’s a list of the most popular drag and drop builder plugins:

    We’ll take a closer look at each plugin in future articles.

    Example – Divi Builder

    Divi Builder back-end

    Here’s a look at the Divi Builder plugin using the Twenty Seventeen theme. Both the back-end and front-end look and work just like the Divi theme. It even includes pre-made layouts that you can load and modify. It’s even compatible with Divi Cloud.

    Divi Builder frontend

    Let’s Discuss

    • For page builders do you prefer themes or plugins?
    • What’s your favorite page builder plugin?

    Let us know what you think about page builder plugins in the comments below. Thanks for reading. Please subscribe if you haven’t already. 

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