Category: Website Design

Top 15 Guidelines for a Thriving Dashboard Design

Posted on by probytesnextjs

The dashboard is designed to offer a comprehensive visual display of status and real-time performance updates. A thriving dashboard design will be functional, purposeful, and relevant. It needs to be regularly updated so that the users will be able to view the latest information at any point in time or any state of the work process.

15-Top-Trending-Web-Development-Techniques-to-Watch-Out-In-2020-banner

The dashboard design should serve its purpose. If it is designed for the operations team, then it should have all the relevant project details and updates, status of work completed by all the people involved in the project. In case, the dashboard is created by business leaders, then it should have all the relevant information that the senior management will need to know about the health, performance, and issues in the company.

In this blog, we will look into the top 15 guidelines to keep in mind while designing a thriving dashboard design.

1. Do essential research before designing the dashboard

Before you start working on the dashboard design, you need to have all information about the stakeholders, the end-users, budget, timeline, technology constraints, security, and level of interaction. You should also find out the function and purpose of the dashboard and the data that needs to be displayed on the dashboard.

Read Also: Web Development Vs Web Design – Want To Know The Difference?

Before the designing process begins, you should have decided on the key metrics and benchmarks that need to be displayed. You should also know where all the data is being collected, and if the data is cross verified before being presented on the dashboard.

Details such as complete or partial access for different users and technology to be used while building the dashboard should all be finalized before creating the dashboard design.

2. Decide on the type of dashboard

It is essential to have a definite idea of the purpose of the dashboard before it is designed. The major types of dashboards generally used in most applications are operational, tactical, strategic, and analytical.

An operational dashboard is time sensitive and needs to have updated and critical data that will allow users to know the status of any task or resource at any point in time. Analytical dashboard, on the other hand, is more focused on providing pertinent information required for decision making.

Top 15 Guidelines for a Thriving Dashboard Design-1

This dashboard is not time sensitive, and will feature more tools for analytics. Tactical dashboards are generally designed for upper management. The data in this dashboard will help them get a deeper understanding of the results of the company’s actions. A tactical dashboard will have visual data and trends that will help the stakeholders to make informed decisions.

A strategic dashboard will have key performance indicators, performance metrics, or goals that the senior executives of a company need to reach. The dashboard will help the executives know the status of their projects in terms of the strategic goals at any point in time. Depending on the purpose and audience, you need to decide on the type of dashboard.

3. Have only essential components in the dashboard

It can be tempting to put in a lot of components in a dashboard, but that will completely defeat the purpose of creating it in the first place. So, depending on the type and purpose of the dashboard, you need to add only the key components.

The dashboard can have essential data of the project or the process, visualized forms of the data like tables, charts, and graphs, and links for those who want to check the data in-depth.

4. Have a responsive dashboard design

A dashboard that has too many data visualization elements can become overwhelming and confusing for the user. So, instead of spending a lot of time deciding which elements you want to have on the dashboard, you can hand over the control to the user.

You can create an interface that allows the user to see the key data in the main window and drill-down data in the sidebar or pop-up windows. A dashboard with responsive design allows the user to decide what information he/she wants in the main window and what data in the sides.

5. Offer different views of the dashboard

Offer different display views that the user can select based on his/her preferences. An online bank account can have different views – a view that allows the user to check the account balance, deposits, payments, and more or a view that gives them the account summary and the latest transactions.

Similarly, the dashboard of an online restaurant booking application can show a view of the current reservations, upcoming reservations, payments made, and such or a view that allows the admin to filter details by date or view employee shifts and vendor details.

6. Design the dashboard based on the audience

In general, a hierarchy is followed in all companies. The hierarchy not only determines the roles and responsibilities, but also the extent of data that they can access.

Top 15 Guidelines for a Thriving Dashboard Design-4

You should create a pyramidal structure based on the management structure. It will allow you to design the dashboard layout based on the specific audience.

7. Choose the right forms of data visuals

Data visualization is one of the key components of a dashboard, especially while displaying multiple types and forms of data. Whether you have a static or a dynamic dashboard, it is important to choose the right kinds of graphs and charts to visually display the data. Here are some suggestions for using the right kind of data visualization elements:

  • While comparing data, line and column graphs are best. Also, while creating these graphs, make sure that the data is sorted from highest to lowest or lowest to highest and not in some random order
  • Preferably, line graphs should not have more than 5 values and bar graphs not more than 7 values
  • If you have a graph that shows the change of a value over time, you should always plot time along the horizontal axis, in increasing order
  • For correlation and distribution analysis, use scatter plots
  • To show connections between data points, use a network diagram
  • Though pie charts and donut charts look very pretty on the screen, they may not be useful as understanding the data they represent is very difficult. So, preferably avoid these types of charts

8. Be consistent in naming conventions and date formatting

The naming convention that you use in the dashboard should be consistent with what is being used in the process or the project. If you are labelling data using a particular format in the process, then the same should be followed in the dashboard.

Top 15 Guidelines for a Thriving Dashboard Design-3

The same rule works for date formatting. Whether you use dd/mm/yy or mm/dd/yy, be consistent with the format on the dashboard.

9. Focus on the layout and flow

While designing the layout of the dashboard, pay attention to the alignment and flow. You need to first create a grid or a basic skeleton that will have the details of the components of the dashboard. The layout should be designed in such a manner that the user can smoothly “read” the data and the interpretation.

10. Make optimum use of white space

Negative space or white space is an essential component of the dashboard design. A balanced white space makes it easy for the user to navigate the dashboard and read the data.

Read Also: 13 Frequently Asked Questions On Python Web Development

11. Allow for personalization of the dashboard

For the dashboard to be useful, it needs to have the information that the user is looking for. The user should be able to customize the layout, content, and data visualization elements according to their role, preferences, and requirements.

12. Use tables for large data chunks

Top 15 Guidelines for a Thriving Dashboard Design-5

Tables are a convenient way to display large volumes of data in an organized manner. Moreover, most users will have experience in working with MS Excel. So, they will find it easy to manage and read tables in the dashboard. Also, a table doesn’t take up a lot of the space and allows for extension, if required.

13. Automate data collection

To ensure that the dashboard is always up to date, automate the data collection process. If you collate data using an excel sheet, then you can build the dashboard such that the data from the excel sheet can be directly uploaded to the system. You can also use integrations to directly upload data to the system.

14. Use the design-led development process

The agile development process recommends creating the design first and then moving on to the development process. The initial planning phase should focus more on the design elements of the dashboard.

Once the layout and flow are finalized, the development process can be initiated. This method reduces the time required to build the dashboard. At the same time, it also reduces the unnecessary change in the codes and algorithms if the design needs to be changed.

15. Save Dashboard designing for the last

A dashboard will have a summary view of all the tasks and data from the process. So, it is important to do the dashboard design at the last after the entire website or application has been designed.

Top 15 Guidelines for a Thriving Dashboard Design-2

This way is more practical as you will have an idea of all the components you should integrate into the dashboard design. If you work on the dashboard first, then you should go back and forth, making changes in the dashboard as you develop your application

Read Also: 7 Web Development Strategies To Take Your Business To The Next Level

Conclusion:

A thriving dashboard design has all the essential visual elements that allow the user to easily read the data. The layout and flow should be smooth so that the user can interpret the data and gain the information that he/she is looking for.

Finally, the design should be simple, minimalistic, and purposeful. Probytes can design a unique and functional dashboard for your application or work process. Contact us to know more

Who’s Who?: Structure & Roles of a Web Development Team

Posted on by probytesnextjs

If you are a client who have already made an order with a web development agency based on a Web application for your business, it’s good to know about their team for further business communication. Understand Who’s Who? the structure & roles of a web development team

We’ve written this info-graphic to help you figure out the precise roles of each person of the Web Development Team – in other words, what each person is actually responsible for

A Web Development Team Consist Of
  • Requirements analysts
  • UX and UI designers
  • Web developers
  • Quality Assurance specialists

Typical Responsibilities of Requirements Analyst

  • Eliciting project requirements
  • Communicating requirements to other team members
  • Analyzing product requirements
  • Developing necessary documentation
  • Managing the project’s scope

UX Designers are Responsible for

  • Create information architecture
  • Develop wireframes
  • Create prototypes for user testing

Duties of Web Developers

  • Write server-side scripts
  • Create and manage databases
  • Integrate the application with cloud computing services
  • Develop or integrate a Content Management System
  • Implement security standards

Important Responsibilities of a QA Engineer
  • Write tests
  • Test software quality
  • Performing regression and negative tests
  • Test the user interface and app compatibility with various browsers
who-info

Top 20 Tools to Check Your Website Health

Posted on by probytesnextjs

You would have spent a lot of time, effort, and money in building a website. In fact, now you can even call it as an important asset of your company. It is necessary to regularly check the health and performance of your website, right from the time you are developing it. Website maintenance and upgradation is an on-going process.

Fortunately, there are numerous tools, both free and paid, you can use to periodically evaluate your website’s health. A few tools check the website’s overall health and performance based on pre-determined metrics every minute.

Want-to-Develop-a-High-Converting-Website,-Contact-Us

There are a few tools that check your website’s performance on search engines. Also, there are tools that check your website for vulnerabilities and help you identify them before the hackers do. In this blog, we will look into the top 20 tools that you can use to check your website’s health. 

  1. Google Webmaster’s Tools 

Google Webmasters is one of the basic tools that every website owner uses to evaluate the performance and health of a website.

Google-Webmaster-Tools-Logo

The search console has a host of tools that allow you to submit pages for indexing on Google, screen backlinks, learn about keywords that brought visitors to your website, and do lots more. This free website analysis tool also helps you check if all the pages of your website are being crawled and if there are any broken links and errors in your website.  

Read Also: Web Development Vs Web Design – Want To Know The Difference?

  1. Check My Links 

Check My Links is a tool that helps website owners optimize links and check if both external and internal links are working fine. The best thing about this tool is that it can be used even on a live page.

Check-My-Links

When the page is run in the tool, it will immediately highlight all good links in green and broken links in red. This tool is available for free. 

  1. HubSpot’s Website Grader 

HubSpot’s website grader is a website audit tool that was released in 2007. Since then, the tool has undergone many upgrades and now delivers personalized reports based on pre-determined metrics. This website analytics tool evaluates your website for mobile readiness and checks the security features.

It also analyses the page’s speed, size, and other SEO metrics to evaluate the website’s performance on search engines. This grader tool has more than 70 metrics to evaluate the various components of a website. It is available for free. 

  1. Browser Shots 

Browser Shots helps developers check the website’s compatibility with different types and versions of browsers. You need to submit your website link to the tool and it will be added to the queue.

Browser-Shots

The tool will then open your website on different browsers and take screenshots of it. The screenshots will then be uploaded on a server where you can check the results. 

  1. Moz’s Pro Tools 

Moz’s Pro Tools can help identify duplicate content, SEO elements, and other crawlability factors that can influence your website’s performance on search engines. This website analysis tool has a web crawler called RogerBot that analyses up to 3,000 links. Once the analysis is complete, it will send a report with detailed information regarding all links analysed via email to the registered mail ID. 

  1. Web Page Speed Test 

Web Page Speed Test is a website analysis tool that will allow developers to test the website loading speed using real browsers from multiple locations across the globe. The test also evaluates multi-step interactions, content blocking, video capture, and more. The results include page speed optimization suggestions and waterfalls chats. 

  1. Pingdom 

Pingdom is available for free for 14 days, after which you can choose either the Standard or the Premium account if you are happy with the services. This website monitoring tool checks website performance every minute. Its website speed test is available for free and notifies you in case of any problems. This tool also checks website uptime and performance from different servers set in different parts of the globe. The downside is that its SMS capabilities are not that good and its coverage in the Asia Pacific region is less. 

  1. Linkody 

Linkody is a tool that will help you check the performance of the backlinks. This tool has an easy-to-understand interface that gives you detailed backlink metrics such as Google indexation status, domain authority, Alexa score, ‘rel’  score, Spam score, and other features for backlink tracking.

Top 20 Tools to Check Your Website Health-linkody-seo-backlink-checker

It also allows you to check your competitor’s backlinks. Enter the competitor’s website URL in the tool, and get all the ‘niche’ information you will need to build backlinks for your website. Another feature is that this website helps you generate reports that you can share with your team or use for presentations.  

  1. Buzzstream 

If your website has inbound links from numerous sources, then Buzzstream is the right tool to evaluate the health of those inbound links. This tool will be helpful when you are building backlinks with guest blogs, social media platforms and other sources.

Top 20 Tools to Check Your Website Health-buzzstream_logo-new

The dashboard lists all the sources to which you have requested backlinks. It will also let you know if the link has been accepted or if it is in inactive state. The tool also helps you identify platforms from which you can build inbound links. This tool is available for free for 2 weeks after which it converts to paid model. 

Read Also: 13 Frequently Asked Questions On Python Web Development

  1. Woorank 

Woorank is a website audit tool that has a 14-day free trail. This tool does in-depth analysis of the website and also evaluates its performance on search engines and social media platforms.

Woorank

It also monitors the usability of the website. The report generated by the Woorank tool has 8 sections, which include – Marketing checklist, SEO, Mobile, usability, technologies, social, local, and visitors.  

  1. Intruder 

Intruder is a cloud-based website vulnerability testing scanner that checks your website for more than 900 features including misconfigurations, CMS issues, cross-site scripting, SQL injections, misconfigurations, missing patches, configuration weakness, and more.

Intruder

This tool comes enterprise ready and can be directly used with large websites. It has different packages for small businesses, developers, and enterprise websites.  

  1. DNS Health Checker 

The DNS Health Checker offers a suite of website performance checks such as uptime monitoring, page speed monitoring, transaction monitoring, server monitoring, and visitors’ insights. 

You can use the 14-day free trial to check if the website monitoring services are what you are looking for. If they meet your preferences and requirements, then you can go for the Standard, Advanced, Professional or Enterprise package. 

  1. Ahrefs 

Ahrefs is more of a SEO diagnostic tool that lets you check if your website is performing well on search engines. You can do a complete site audit using this tool. In the audit, the tool will crawl the page and let you know if there are any technical issues in the page.

Top 20 Tools to Check Your Website Health-Ahrefs

Also, this tool helps you check if your website is performing well for certain keywords and gives you the click-through rate.  

  1. Sucuri 

Sucuri is a website vulnerability testing tool that will check your website for malicious code, out-of-date software, website errors, defacements, viruses, spam, and malware. It will also check if any links of your website are blacklisted.

Top 20 Tools to Check Your Website Health-Sucuri

It helps you clean your website and protect it from cyber threats. This tool is compatible with Joomla, WordPress, Drupal, Magento, and more. 

  1. Montastic 

The free version of Montastic tool is great for small businesses and individuals who want to track their website’s health and performance. This tool doesn’t have a dashboard, but sends notifications when it identifies something going wrong on the website.

Montastic-0

In the free version, the tool evaluates the website’s performance every 30 minutes. In the paid version, you can expect a more frequent check. It has widgets for Android, Mac, and Windows. 

  1. StatusCake 

StatusCake has a host of tools to monitor website health and performance. This tool is available in both free and paid versions. In the free version, it monitors up to 10 systems in 5-minute intervals. In the premium paid version, up to 300 systems are monitored in 30-second intervals.

StatusCake

The Superior Plan offers monitoring services for up to 100 monitors in 15-minute intervals. The page speed test feature is available in the free version, while domain monitoring, server monitoring, and SSL certificate monitoring are available only in the paid version. StatusCake has 48 test locations located across 28 countries.  

  1. New Relic 

New Relic is built on a SaaS model and helps track your website and web application performance. This cloud-based platform supports 8 languages – MS.NET, Java, PHP, Ruby, Node.js, C SDK, Go, and Python. It monitors response time, database, website uptime, website speed, browser, infrastructure, application performance, error rates, and synthetics. 

Top 20 Tools to Check Your Website Health-New-Relic

While the monitoring capabilities are good, navigation between services can be difficult. This website health analysis tool is available for free for 14 days after which can choose one of the payment plans depending on your usage and monitoring requirements.  

  1. Uptime Robot 

Uptime Robot launched in 2010 is available in both free and paid versions. The free version lets you monitor up to 50 systems and stores up to 2 months of log.

Top 20 Tools to Check Your Website Health-Uptime-Robot

On the other hand, the paid version lets you monitor up to 1000 systems and maintains 24 months of log. In the free version, website check is done once in five minutes, while it is once in a minute in the paid version.  

  1. DotCom-Monitor 

DotCom-Monitor was established in 1998 and has more than 25,000 customers now. It is one of the earliest companies to provide 1-minute website checking service. The monitoring services that it offers include mail monitoring, uptime, transaction, FTP, and web page analysis.

Dotcom-Monitor

It has a real-time dashboard where you can check the status of your website performance at any point of time. It also sends notifications via SMS, mail, and phone. The entire platform is available for free for the first 30 days. After the free trial ends, you can decide on the services you need and pay according to the services you choose. 

Read Also: 7 Web Development Strategies To Take Your Business To The Next Level

  1. Monitis 

Montis is a cloud-based IT solution provider that does a complete website check once in five minutes. The various attributes that it checks includes website uptime, response time, server health, network performance, and bottlenecks before they arise.

Monitis

You can also customize metrics based on your preferences and requirements. It is available for a free trail for 15 days, after which it turns into a paid subscription service. You can choose from one of the plans based on your needs and your website health goals. 

Conclusion

The tools that we’ve discussed here are just a few of the top-notch website analysis tools available in the industry. There are lots more that you can use based on your website’s requirements and your preferences.

To ensure that your website’s health-o-meter is always in the top, get support of professionals for website maintenance. Contact Probytes, a reputed website development company for professional website development and maintenance services. 

20 Designs Tips to Improve your Ecommerce UX in 2020

Posted on by probytesnextjs

When running an ecommerce website, the most important thing needed to become successful is the ability to grab the attention of web users and get them to buy your products.

The user must feel comfortable when using your services and their experience on the website should be good. Therefore, ecommerce UX is the biggest contributor to the success of your ecommerce business. 

Want-to-Develop-a-High-Converting-Website,-Contact-Us

User Experience, more commonly referred to as UX, is the experience and the feelings generated in the user while using your services. After visiting a website, UX plays a very important role in the users deciding whether to visit that same website again or not.  

Users will return to the same website repeatedly only if their first experience on the site was good. Therefore, UX should be given priority when designing a website. It should be pleasing to the eye, easy to navigate and comfortable to use. 

The following are ways to create a design that can improve your ecommerce UX in 2020

1. UX research

Before developing anything, research has to be done on it so that it can be properly planned and executed without any wastage of time or money. It is the same for ecommerce UX. 

Read Also: Web Development Vs Web Design – Want To Know The Difference?

Before designing a website and making it go online, proper research has to be done to see the requirements of the users, their needs and behaviour. Websites built based on this information can provide the best UX to its users.

2. Mobile optimisation

Nowadays, mobile phones are more in use than the desktop and it is increasing day by day. All online activities, be it shopping, browsing, social media etc are easier on the mobile than on a desktop. 

20 Designs Tips to Improve your Ecommerce UX in 2020-1

The desktop being bigger allows for more data on the screen. The mobile cannot carry so much data on the screen because it creates clutter and difficulty in use. Therefore, when designing a website, make sure it is optimised for both desktops and mobiles. 

3. Use minimalistic design on the home page

Rather than having bright colours and fancy fonts, what attracts users nowadays is minimalistic design. The key is to keep it simple. Every element on the screen should be useful and have a specific purpose. Do not clutter a page by adding too many pictures and text.

The homepage is the first page that a user visits. The page should clearly show what you are selling and put up relevant CTAs. If you are having any kind of sale, put a banner in the homepage itself to attract users. 

4. Product images

The quality of your product images should be very high. You are running an ecommerce business. People buy your products based on the images that they see online. 

20 Designs Tips to Improve your Ecommerce UX in 2020-3

Therefore, the quality of your images is a huge factor contributing to sales. Images from multiple angles and images that can be clearly zoomed in is the way to go.

5. Dark themes

Another upcoming trend in any apps is dark mode. Users like it when there is dark mode and light mode in a website. 

Therefore, having a dark mode in your website can help give users a better experience. It is both visually appealing and less of a strain to the eye.

6. Product search bar

One of the most basic features that an ecommerce website should have is a properly optimised product search bar. Often, the users that come to a website know what they are searching for. 

The absence of a visible and well placed search bar can annoy users. Also make sure that the search bar has additional features like auto-complete and predictive search.

7. Filter system and faceted search

Faceted search is a technique used to help users narrow down their search results by applying multiple filters.  When creating filters, general filters like size and price and also specific filters for each category of product should be made. 

This way, users can point out and actually get what they want. They should be able to easily apply and remove filters.

8. Discovery mode

Many shoppers are not sure of what they want when visiting an ecommerce website. Some users are simply browsing the site and trying to find something interesting. 

20 Designs Tips to Improve your Ecommerce UX in 2020-4

Therefore, every ecommerce website should have a discovery mode which clearly shows new arrivals and also best selling products. Product categories should be specified. 

Having a discovery mode is your chance to make a sale. You have to make it appealing to the user and provide them a great UX so that they will be persuaded to buy what you got them interested in while on your website.

9. Provide detailed and relevant information on product page

On the product page, information given on each product should be detailed and also relevant. The information should be given in an appealing and user-friendly manner so that users won’t get bored. 

Read Also: 13 Frequently Asked Questions On Python Web Development

10. Checkout page

Users should find it easy to place an order. One way to make it prominent is by putting a solid coloured button on the screen beside the product image.

Make the checkout process quick and efficient. Complicating it can result in the customer leaving your page. If they have come so far, it is your responsibility to make sure that they don’t abandon their purchase and leave.

11. Checkout as guests

Allow the users to checkout as guests. Do not force them to register or become a member of your website. It can be very displeasing to the customer.

When they are checking out, you can give them the option of creating an account on your website but only at their discretion. It is good to coerce them. Most of the people who had no intention of registering might do so if it is not very forceful and the process is easy and quick.

12. Shopping cart

A link for the users to view their shopping carts should be visible in all the pages that the user visited.  The cart should clearly show the items selected, images of products, the price of each item, the total cost and any additional costs including shipping charges. 

Customers should also be able to remove anything they do not want from their cart easily and if they want to add more quantity of the same item, they should be allowed to do so within the cart itself.

13. Payment methods

Use common payment methods so that users will not feel uncomfortable paying the money. Besides credit cards and debit cards, other payment methods like Paytm and PayPal should be allowed. 

20 Designs Tips to Improve your Ecommerce UX in 2020-2

Giving different payment options can get users to feel more comfortable paying as some do not like to give out their credit card details.

14. Single column forms for getting user data

The data given on forms with multiple columns can get cluttered and untidy. Users also tend to miss certain fields when filling out a form with multiple columns. Therefore it is better to use forms having single columns. Users can fill it out easily and move on.

15. Fonts 

One of the easiest ways to grab user attention is to use bold and big fonts. Users find it easier to read and they are also tempted to read it. Having headlines in bold and bigger fonts will catch their attention. When deciding on fonts for your website, do not use very fancy ones as it gets tiring. 

16. Product thumbnails

Product thumbnails should be added in each and every page of the website. These thumbnails should be clear pictures and should not be too big. If possible, the thumbnail should have an entire view of the product. 

Even in the cart, product thumbnails should be visible so that users can have a quick overview of what they are going to buy.

17. Mobile phone friendly

Most people using phones use their thumbs for all the control. There are certain regions on a phone which is easily accessible by thumbs and therefore all the buttons have to be consciously placed in those regions. 

Read Also: 7 Web Development Strategies To Take Your Business To The Next Level

The buttons should not be too small to click, but make sure that it is not too large to look visually displeasing. 

18. Build trust

20 Designs Tips to Improve your Ecommerce UX in 2020-5

To build the trust of the users, reviews left by previous users should be placed in different parts of the website, especially in the product page and the checkout page. Also add financial security certificates and logos to gain their trust.

19. Personalise the UX

Try and personalize the UX for each user so that they will have a great experience on your website. Personalization can be done on the basis of previously viewed products and search history. Offer links to similar products or combo offers for users to have a unique and enjoyable experience.

Having engaging quizzes and polls will help you identify your user requirements and provide services accordingly.

20. Visual content

Insert engaging visual content like GIFs, small video clips, animations and images for users to have a pleasant experience. Make sure that the video clips inserted are not too long to hog the time of the users. Animations can be fun. 

The designers have to place it in such a way that the shopping experience is more fun but it doesn’t get in the way when things have to be done.

Conclusion

When building your website, you have to ensure that the users will have a great experience on your site. The above design ideas can be kept in mind to enhance ecommerce UX. Use of minimalistic designs, large and classy fonts, filters and dark mode can help you provide a better service.

 Always remember that the possibilities in design are limitless. Your creativity and imagination will definitely help you create better and more exciting ecommerce UX.

API in Web Development-Best Practices for You

Posted on by probytesnextjs

There’s a lot of buzz about API’s in the web development domain. Many organizations are also planning to build API’s for their existing digital portals. Are you wondering what API is all about and if you need to build an API for your online business?

In this blog, we will first look into the features and principles of an API before we go into detail about the best practices for building an API in web development.

Website design ad banner

What is an API?
Application Programming Interface or API is an interface or a library that connects machines and software applications. APIs can be designed based on the purpose of the application/website, its architecture, network, and servers.

Another purpose of these interfaces is that they allow developers to access data and functions. An API can be a beneficial add-on to your existing product. If it has unique features and functions, then an API itself can function as a separate channel or product.

Key Features of an API

  • Should have a business plan and model
  • Should be manageable
  • Should be measurable
  • Should be simple and flexible
  • Should provide valuable service
  • Should provide developer support

Best Practices for Creating API in Web Development

1.Create a document

Documentation is one of the most important practices you need to follow before building an API. The document should contain all the methods, requests, responses, and other functions of the API and details on how to call them.

Read Also: Top 25 Free Online Movie Websites

It should have all the details that will make it easy for the user to understand your application and also make the most of it. If you are not really clear about what all you should include in your document, you can just search for API guides and templates online and customize it for your product.

2.Garbage in Garbage Out

In API designing, Garbage in Garbage out refers to having a rigid approach when it comes to requesting validation. You should also keep in mind that it is not practically possible to anticipate all the needs of a user.

951-[Converted]

So, you need to ensure that there is flexibility in input and output constraints. Ensure that your API has multiple ways to input and output variables.

3.Platform Independence

It is vital to build an API that works on all kinds of platforms, independent on how it is implemented internally.

4.Security

More than best practice, Security is a must-have in your API. Provide usable and secure methods to authorize and authenticate your application. A couple of the popular authentication methods that you can use are token-based authentication and OAuth + SSL.

Protection from Cross-Site Request Forgery is another important security feature that you need to have in your application, especially if you have cookie or session authentication.

While building the API for Web development, you should ensure that proper access validation is provided. This means that the user will only be able to access the resources that they are authorized to use and not any other information on the application.

5.Data Format

The application programming interface should preferably support JSON, XML, or other proprietary formats.

6.Consistency

While talking about API for web development best practices, we should definitely discuss about stability and consistency. Once you launch your API, you may update it and publish the updated versions.

filtering

In such cases, connection with the user may break. To prevent this, you need to version the application right at the start. So, the URL will also have the version details, which can be updated.

7.Easy to Access

The product that you design should have an easy-to-access source code and a simple registration process.

Read Also: 7 Kick-ass Games Built Using Python Language

8.Naming Conventions

While naming fields, actions, and controllers, preferably use plurals rather than singular. For example use /products or /GET/cars rather than /product or /GET/car.

Also, while naming, don’t use full action words or verbs like /GET/addnewproducts or POST/Deletebooks. The right way to name is GET/Newproducts or POST/Books. Preferably use nouns instead of verbs while naming resources.

9.Pagination

By paginating the application program interface, you can help limit the response results. It can be done by using offset and count in the query string. Pagination also gives you more control over how the data is displayed.

10.Sorting

data format

When there are multiple fields, use ascending or descending sort based on the fields. This sorting method will make it easier for the user to access relevant data.

11.HTTP Status Codes

Choose relevant HTTP status codes and use them consistently throughout the application. Also, ensure that you use the standard HTTP return codes for best results. A few of the standard HTTP status codes that you can use in your API are:
400 – Bad Request
401 – User authentication required
403 – Forbidden
404 – Page not found
200 – Everything is good
201 – New Request has been created
202 – Request has been accepted

12.Field Selection

This method lets you get requests with only particular fields. You can customize the field selection based on the platform or other attributes. Enabling all field selections for every query could slow down the speed of your API.

13.Filtering

While creating query for filtering, use a unique parameter for each field. For example, if you want the search to return only products that are black in color, you can use the filter query
GET /api/v0/products?color=black Returns a list of products(Id, Name, Description, Color, Code, Price).

http source code

However, if you want the filter query to return only products that match the code 112, and then query will read like:
GET /api/v0/products?code=112 Returns a list of products(Id, Name, Description, Code, Price) which code is “112”

14.Resource Nesting

Resource Nesting can be used to show the relationship or functional hierarchy of resource objects. While creating the nesting levels, you need to maintain a balance between having too little or too much. Too few nested levels may not give you the right responses while too many may clutter and look inelegant.

Read Also: 15 Best Free Music Websites

15.Error Handling

It is best not to have any errors in the API, but then that is not possible. So, the next best option is to clearly inform in case of any error. There are three ways in which error handling can be done.

One is by using the HTTP status codes that we discussed above. The second method is to give a readable message in text. The third method is to use an internal code ID that you have described in the documentation.

So, are you interested in building an API? Get the support from experts to build an API. Our web development team has experts who can build customized Application Programming Interface for your company based on your specifications and requirements. Contact us to book a consultation.

Website Architecture Design- A Complete Guide

Posted on by probytesnextjs

Have you seen buildings being constructed? The first step of constructing a building is creating a blueprint of the building design and structure. A similar logic can be applied when it comes to building a website. The architecture defines the layout of the website that acts as the foundation on which the entire website is built.

Want-to-Develop-a-High-Converting-Website,-Contact-Us

In this blog, we will delve into detail about the website architecture design, how architecture differs from the design and the various processes involved in website architecture designing.

What is website architecture design?

According to Techopedia, “Website architecture is used in creating a logical layout of a website in line with the user and/or business requirements.” A website architect while creating the website architecture design defines the various components of the website, describes the relationship between the components, and connects the components with the services delivered by the website.

Read Also: 7 Web Development Strategies To Take Your Business To The Next Level

The components of website architecture are:

  • Interaction design
  • User interface design
  • Usability
  • Web design
  • Graphic design
  • Content strategy

What is the need for website architecture?

Imagine you need to visit an office in a new city. Can you reach your destination if there are no directions or landmarks to guide you? That will be a very difficult task. So, you need a map, signposts or a guideline that will help you reach your destination.

The website architecture design works in a similar manner. It helps users find the products or services that they are looking for and make navigation to the right page seamless and straightforward.

A market study by Hubspot has found that 55% of website visitors don’t spend more than 15 seconds on the website.

This means that you have less than 15 seconds to give the information that your visitor is looking for. It is possible only if the website navigation is effective. This, in turn, can happen only if the website architecture design is robust and effective.

How is website architecture different from website design?

Though website design and website architecture are used interchangeably or as a composite term, there are a few basic differences between the two. Both design and architecture have similar goals and are presented in almost a similar manner.

Both website design and architecture revolve around the look and feel of the website. The various steps involved in the designing process are strategizing, storyboard creation, graphic designing, layouts, effects, components, and user experience.

On the other hand, website architecture deals more with user interface, usability, and user experience.

While the design focuses on technical aspects of the front of the website, architecture concentrates on the concept of the website and how it relates to the business goals.

Conceptually, both the processes are similar. Website architecture is about strategizing the website creation process and its presentation, which forms the basis for the website design.

The Process of Building Website Architecture

The process of creating the website architecture design involves the following steps:

1.Understanding the Requirements

The first step is to understand the business goals, the purpose of the website, audience, and all the other details that are essential to create the architecture.

In this step, the website architects also find out about the expected outcomes of the project and the evaluation criteria. It is also a good idea to do a comprehensive brainstorming with the client to cover as many details and specifics as possible.

2.Determine the Target Audience

Read Also: Web Development Vs Web Design – Want To Know The Difference?

The next factor that is considered before creating the architecture is the audience or the end user. The website architect needs to have a clear idea of the target audience so as to create the layout, usability, and user experience accordingly.

Information regarding the target audience can be gathered via demographics, psychological characteristics, need characteristics, geographic location, and user personas.

3.Competitor Analysis

After the basic details are obtained, the architect studies the direct and indirect competitors. This research will give an idea on the concepts to focus on and things that the target audience expects.

4.Defining User Goals

In order to define the user goals, we need to first identify the user problems and possible and probable solutions. While identifying the solutions, the architect thinks from the perspective of the target audience.

5.Scenario Mapping

Now that all the basic research and analysis is completed and all the required data is collected, scenario mapping needs to be done. Scenario mapping is a process that is used to reveal possible user flows.

It creates numerous scenarios that could occur while a user navigates the website. These scenarios are created based on the user goals that were defined in the previous step.

6.Mind Mapping

Till now, all that the architect had is a whole suite of ideas and information. Now all that has to be collated to form is a cohesive picture. This can be done by Mind Mapping. It is a design conceptualizing tool that can be used to create a logical outline of all the available information and ideas.

Website-architecture-design-A-complete-Guide-mind-mapping

Some architects use Mind Mapping tools to create the outline while others go for the traditional pen-and-paper or whiteboard method. After Mind Mapping, the architect will have a clear idea of the categories, subcategories, and interconnections on the website.

7.Information Architecture

The information architecture is basically a foundation for the prototype of the website. A part of the interaction design, information architecture can be defined as the wireframe on which the entire product is built.

While talking about the need for a website architecture design, we spoke about how signposts or a map helps you find your destination in a new city.

In website building, the placement of the sign posts and navigation element is determined in the information architecture. Business goals, user needs, user experience, and all kinds of content are taken into consideration while creating information architecture.

Components such as documents, text, media files, headings and subheadings, and URLs are considered while creating the website’s information architecture.

8.Building the Wireframe or Prototype

Now that the information architecture and Mind Map are ready, the next step is to build the wireframe or prototype. All architects may not work on the Home Page prototype first.

The web page to prototype first depends on the kind of website and the deliverables. Typically, the landing page that will attract the target audience is prototyped first. While building the prototype, the header section is created first.

It usually contains the company logo and contact details, primary navigation menu, and search form. Next, the contextual areas and the footer are designed.

9.Testing

Read Also: 13 Frequently Asked Questions On Python Web Development

Once the prototype is created, it needs to be tested for bugs, errors, and usability.

First, the prototype is compared with the Scenario map to check if all the possible scenarios are covered and if there are any gaps in the navigation. Next, the usability of the architecture is tested using tools to ensure it meets the business goals.

10.Project Specification

It is the document that the website designers and developers need to follow to create the website. The project specification is created after the prototype is positively tested and approved by the client.

This document will contain detailed specifications about each webpage prototype, navigation, software required, technologies needed, user flow, and other information that designers and developers need to build the website.

Website-architecture-design-A-complete-Guide-wireframe

Probytes is a website development company based in India that offers a wide range of website designing and development services. Our team of experienced architects, developers, and designers can build a website customized for your business goals and target audience. Contact us to know more about our services.

Drupal Vs WordPress- All you Need to Know

Posted on by probytesnextjs

Drupal Vs WordPress – It’s a point that all developers ponder over when they start strategizing a website development plan.

The content management system (CMS) is the backbone of the website, and hence deciding on the right one can determine the look and function of your website.

want-to-fully-customize-your-website-solution

In this blog, we will look into the major similarities and differences between these two popular CMS.

Drupal Vs WordPress – Similar Features

Both Drupal and WordPress are open-source platforms that can be developed and customized as per your requirements. These two content management systems boast of a strong community of developers.

Read Also: Insane Features of WordPress 5.0 Gutenberg Editor

Another point of similarity is that the two CMS have user-friendly interfaces with propriety solutions. Also, both these platforms have Schema.org that allow you to hard code templates or add schemas to the website framework.

Before we go into the technical details of Drupal Vs WordPress, let’s take a look at the famous websites that are powered by these content management systems.

Drupal-vs-wordpress-all-you-need-to-know-02

Websites that have Drupal CMS

  • economist.com
  • tesla.com
  • wmg.com
  • wholefoodmarket.com
  • nasa.gov

Websites that have WordPress CMS

  • techcrunch.com
  • time.com
  • nationalarchives.gov.uk
  • thenewyorker.com
  • sony.com

Drupal Vs Word Press – The Differences

Stats

Drupal was launched in 2000 while WordPress was launched three years later in 2003. Though Drupal is an older system, WordPress seems to be the more popular one.

A market study shows that Drupal websites account for around 3 to 4% of global websites while WordPress supports around 35% of websites.

Interface and Learning Curve

While discussing the merits of WordPress Vs Drupal, the first thing that most developers talk about is the interface and its ease of use. WordPress is a beginners-friendly website, which means even those with nil or minimal coding knowledge can build a website using WordPress CMS.

However, you will need to have coding knowledge of HTML, CSS, and PHP while using Drupal. WordPress has WYSIWYG Theme Customizer and Gutenberg editor, which you can use to create a theme.

Another argument that Drupal is a little difficult for beginners is because of its Drupal nodes and relationships. A developer needs to have an in-depth understanding of the blocks, views, content types, and taxonomies to use the Drupal CMS.

Security

While the WordPress CMS scores high in terms of user-friendly features, Drupal ups the ante with its security features. Statistics show that WordPress sites are more prone to hacks compared to Drupal sites.

Read Also: Why WordPress Rules the World of CMS?

However, the core of the WordPress website is quite secure. It is the plug-ins and extensions that are not coded properly, which could make your website vulnerable to cyber attacks. The latest version – Drupal 8 was released recently.

Drupal-vs-wordpress-all-you-need-to-know-03

This version has more security features than the previous version of Drupal 6. Plus, it has community support. So, if you are already using a Drupal CMS or planning for it, go for the updated version.

While opting for Drupal CMS, if you go for Pantheon or Acquia hosting, you can also protect your website from server hacks.

Themes and Plug-ins

When it comes to themes and plug-ins, WordPress has the lead with nearly 6800 free themes. Drupal, on the other hand, has only about 2700 themes. Also, WordPress has a whooping 54,000 plug-ins whereas Drupal has nearly 42,000 plug-ins.

It’s not just the numbers that tilt the scales in favor of WordPress, but also the ease with which these themes, plug-ins, and extensions can be incorporated into the website framework. Integrating plug-ins and extensions in Drupal CMS is a little difficult and time-consuming.

Speed

When it comes to website loading speed, Drupal CMS is a clear winner. WordPress sites are also fast, but when we compare both, we find that Drupal sites are faster. When the loading speed is high, your website performs well on search engines and also ranks higher.

Mobile Interface

WordPress has a native mobile app that allows you to edit content right on the mobile device itself. This option is not available with Drupal as it doesn’t have a native mobile app. Other than this fact, both the content management systems have dedicated themes and interfaces for the mobile device.

Search Engine Optimization

Every website wants to rank high on the search engine results. With a higher loading speed, Drupal has a better performance on the search engines. But, WordPress is more mobile-friendly, which improves search engine ratings.

Drupal-vs-wordpress-all-you-need-to-know-01

In terms of SEO, it is difficult to say which of the two platforms is the winner. However, WordPress has an edge because the margin of errors that could arise during development is lesser. This in turn, impacts the website’s performance on search engines.

Database and Code

In WordPress, the code and the database are regularly updated, approximately once in 3 to 4 months. When a release happens, WordPress automatically updates the database and code in the background without affecting your website.

However, you may have to update the plug-ins, if necessary. In Drupal, the code is not upgradable, but the database is. So, if there are any upgrades, then you may have to redesign the website and re-write the code if needed.

Flexibility and Customizability

WordPress has plenty of flexibility with customizable themes and extensions. Though Drupal also has plenty of themes and modules, finding the right one and customizing it for the website is a little daunting. Developers can easily explore the different themes and functions in a WordPress CMS.

Functionality

In terms of functionality, Drupal is better suited for complex apps. It also has advanced functionality, which makes it a good option for enterprise websites that have multiple templates or page types.

The user permissions are also more advanced in Drupal than WordPress. Drupal allows you to customize content access to site admin, content editors, and other stakeholders. It enhances security and privacy.

Affordability

The cost is the major determining factor. Both the content management systems are open source and free to download. However, you may have charges for customizations.

Read Also: 7 Reasons to Switch from Drupal To Yii

You will also incur expenses in building a website. If you are planning to outsource your website development, then you should know that Drupal developers charge higher than WordPress developers. It is because Drupal requires higher coding expertise than WordPress.

Drupal-vs-wordpress-all-you-need-to-know-05

Drupal Vs WordPress – The Comparison Table

The below table will give you a summary of the differences between the two huge content management systems – Drupal and WordPress

Features Drupal WordPress
Installation Time 10 minutes 5 minutes
Free Themes Around 2700 Around 6800
Languages Nearly 100 Nearly 70
No. of plug-ins Approximately 42,000 Approximately 54,000
Requires coding skills Yes, requires basic knowledge of CSS, PHP, and HTML No
Ease of Use Moderate Easy
Security High Moderate
Loading Speed High Moderate
User Interface Tad difficult Easy to use
Responsive Design Responsive sizes can be set in the Image Style module functions.php file has the image sizes breakpoints
Suitable for Web applications and enterprise-level websites that require very high-security features Blog sites and simple websites

Conclusion

Drupal and WordPress, both have their own sets of pros and cons. You need to choose a content management system based on the web application that you are planning to develop.

Drupal-vs-wordpress-all-you-need-to-know-04

Go for the Drupal CMS, if you are want to build an enterprise website with high security. Also, Drupal is an ideal choice if you are planning to hire a developer or outsource website development to a website development agency.

However, if you are looking for a simple and effective blog site or website, you can use the WordPress CMS. To customize the features of the WordPress CMS and enhance its security features, you can avail the services of a website development company.

Top 15 Free Game Websites

Posted on by probytesnextjs

Love creating and designing games? Make your passion to fund your dreams by building a customized game website. There are numerous gaming websites out there on the internet.

Let’s check out the top 15 free game websites and find out their features and technologies. Based on all the information, you can decide on the features, functions and design of your gaming website.

1. Twitch

Global rank: 58

Twitch is a live streaming platform where online players can search for games by categories and live channels.

Read Also: Top 25 Free Online Movie Websites

Features of the Game Website:

  • The most popular categories are action, adventure game, card and board games, compilation, driving game, flight simulator, educational games and more
  • Players can also chat with other online players
  • A few of the popular online games on this website are League of the Legends, Fortnite, World Warcraft, Dota 2, Apex Legends, Hearthstone, Minecraft, FIFA 20, Grand Theft Auto V, Overwatch and Dead by Daylight

Technologies Used in the Game Website:

  • Facebook Domain Insights
  • Fastly real-time web traffic analytics
  • Ruby on Rails framework
  • Nginx and Varnish web servers

2. Roblox

Global rank: 68

Roblox is one of the top entertainment sites for people aged below 18 years.

Features of the Game Website:

  • This website has more than 2.7 million users
  • It can be accessed on PC and MAC devices, Android and iOS phones, Amazon devices, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Xbox One
  • Users can register and download Roblox for free but may have to pay for extra privileges, customisation and upgrades
  • Parents can use account settings with 4-digit PIN setting to secure their child’s accounts

Technologies Used in the Game Website:

  • Pingdom Real User Monitoring
  • Arkose Labs for fraud prevention
  • comScore audience measurement
  • Google Analytics
  • Facebook Domain Insights
  • ASP.NET and PHP frameworks
  • OSS Content Delivery Network
  • jQuery
  • DOSarrest web hosting
  • IIS and Nginx web server
free-sport-games-websites

3. Nintendo

Global rank: 244

This official website gives you complete information about Nintendo gaming systems, games, support and lots more.

Features of the Game Website:

  • Visitors can explore the website to find out about the latest releases in Nintendo games and gaming systems
  • Users can play fun Nintendo games and enjoy the activities on the website
  • Online players can join the free rewards program My Nintendo to play games, redeem points and get rewards
  • This gaming portal can be assessed on desktop systems or any other Smart device

Technologies Used in the Game Website:

  • Mouseflow that generates heat maps of visitors scrolling, ignoring or clicking areas
  • Google Analytics
  • DoubleClick Floodlight to capture actions of visitors after they click advertisements
  • MediaMind campaign management analytics
  • Adjust mobile app tracking system
  • New Relic to monitor real-time user experience
  • ComScore
  • DoubleClick Floodlight
  • Yandex Metrika to analyse visitor behaviour and site performance
  • Shockwave Flash Embed framework

4. Mind Games

Global rank: 99,337

This website has tons of word, letter, puzzle and math games.

Features of the Game Website:

  • The categories available in this website are brain games, math games, puzzle games, word games, crosswords, Sudoku, memory games, card games and more
  • Users can play any game online by simply selecting the game

Technologies Used in the Game Website:

  • Omniture SiteCatalyst that provides real-time intelligence for creating online strategies
  • Omniture Adobe Test and Target to make content yield better conversion
  • AppDynamics application performance and management
  • Everest Technologies performance testing for Ecommerce
  • Adobe Marketing Cloud
  • Treasure Data to collect and analyse data in Cloud
  • Adobe Analytics
  • Mouseflow that generates heat maps of visitors scrolling, ignoring or clicking areas
  • Google Analytics
  • DoubleClick Floodlight to capture actions of visitors after they click advertisements
  • MediaMind campaign management analytics
  • Google Conversion Tracker
  • J2EE, PHP and Product Schema frameworks

5. Miniclip

Global rank: 7,383

It is one of the leading game websites that offers scores of online games to its visitors. Users can sign up for free to access the games on the website.

Features of the Game Website:

  • This website is available in nearly 15 languages
  • Registered players can create their avatar complete with outfits and accessories
  • This website has Android, iOS and Windows games
  • It has single player, 2 player and multiplayer games
  • Some of the popular game categories are action, adventure, fantasy, card, Christmas, fighting, football, golf, simulation, cricket, tennis, and more

Technologies Used in the Game Website:

  • Rapleaf marketing automation tool
  • Adjust mobile app tracking system
  • New Relic to monitor real-time user experience
  • Google Analytics
  • Facebook Domain Insights
  • Lotame Crowd Control data-driven marketing advertising program
  • PHP framework
  • Facebook CDN
  • GStatic Google Static Content
  • AJAX Libraries API
  • jQuery
  • Apache web server
Free-adventure-game-websites

6. Pogo

Global rank: 3,869

Pogo is a popular online gaming website that has online word games, card games, puzzle games and lots more.

Features of the Game Website:

  • Users will be able to access the games on the website only after they verify their age
  • It offers free online games for users; however, ads will pop up during the play
  • For ad-free gaming experience, online players can join Club Pogo
  • The website offers different sets of games for free players and Club Pogo players
  • Club Pogo players can participate in Tournaments
  • The popular game categories on this website are Puzzle, Card, Word, Board, Hidden Object, Bingo, Casino, Slots, Mahjong, Poker and more
  • The genres of games available on this gaming website are Strategy, Brain, Classic, Family and Multiplayer

Technologies Used in the Game Website:

  • Everest Technologies
  • Signal Distributed data management platform
  • Dotomi for practising user-level marketing program
  • MediaMath
  • Google Analytics
  • ComScore
  • DoubleClick Floodlight
  • Yandex Metrika to analyse visitor behaviour and site performance
  • Shockwave Flash Embed framework
  • Facebook CDN
  • AJAX Libraries API
  • CDN JS
  • Yahoo Image CDN

7. Addicting Games

Global rank: 26,389

Get addicted to online gaming with the plethora of online games available on this game website. It was launched in 2002 and has more than 10 million unique users.

Features of the Game Website:

The website has single player as well as multi-player games

  • It has more than 30 categories of games, including Puzzle, Action, Shooting, Zombie, Funny, Car, Strategy, Casino, Card, Sports and more
  • The game library has more than 4000 classic games
  • New games are added every week to the list of games
  • The website uses a Game Rating System to help identify the maturity level required to play the game
  • Game with adult or violent themes can be identified with the bomb icon

Technologies Used in the Game Website:

  • Google Analytics
  • Ubercart open source Ecommerce package
  • Cloudflare content delivery network
  • Drupal 7 content management system
  • Google Apps for Business, SPF and Amazon SES email hosting
  • Cloudflare hosting
  • Varnish web server

8. Big Fish Games

Global rank: 12,198

It is one of the popular game websites that has a diverse portfolio of casual online games. This website was launched in the year 2002 and operates from its headquarters in Seattle, Washington.

Read Also: 7 Kick-ass Games Built Using Python Language

Features of the Game Website:

  • The popular games on this website are Toy Story Drop!, Gummy Drop!, Cooking Craze, Big Fish Casino, Jackpot Magic Slots, Robin Hood Legends, Cascade, and Fairway Solitaire
  • The games are offered in genres such as Adventure, Puzzle, Hidden Object, Match 3, Casino and Strategy
  • Users can play games online or on iOS, Android and PC devices

Technologies Used in the Game Website:

  • Bazaarvoice that helps brands build online communities
  • WebTrends
  • Visual Website Optimizer that provides A/B, multivariate and split testing
  • Adobe Dynamic Tag Management
  • Adobe Analytics
  • Omniture SiteCatalyst
  • Adobe Marketing Cloud
  • Everest Technologies
  • Shockwave Flash Embed
  • PHP Framework
  • CloudFront content delivery network
  • Atlassian Cloud content management system
  • Adobe Experience Manager
  • Adobe CQ
free-racing-game-websites

9. Agame

Global rank: 14,129

This online gaming portal has more than 20,000 games for people of all ages.

Features of the Game Website:

  • Users can play games without any sign-in
  • The top game genres on this website are Action, Adventure, Puzzle, Girls, Racing and Sports
  • It also has a category New, where newly added games can be accessed
  • The Multiplayer category includes social games, MMO, 2-player games and multiplayer casino
  • The Girl genre has games such as Dress Up, Beauty Games, Caring, Love Games, Make Up, Cooking, Room Decoration and such

Technologies Used in the Game Website:

  • Krux Digital to monetize consumer data
  • Everest Technologies
  • Rapleaf
  • Adjust mobile tracking app
  • LiveRamp lead generation app
  • Netmining performance marketing
  • IgnitionOne conversion optimisation
  • OwnerIQ for targeted advertising
  • Zeotap identity and data platform
  • MediaMath
  • comScore
  • Google Analytics
  • Accelerated Mobile Pages
  • Cart Functionality
  • OpenResty and Shockwave Flash Embed frameworks
  • GStatic Google Static Content, CloudFront, AJAX Libraries API, jsDelivr CDNs

10. Boredgames

Global rank: 12,141,154

Feeling bored? Just play all your favourite online games on this gaming portal. However, users need to install a chrome extension to play the games.

Features of the Game Website:

  • The website has game genres such as racing games, strategy games, adventure games, puzzle games, and more
  • Users can also easily access the Newest Games on the side panel

Technologies Used in the Game Website:

  • Matomo open source web analytics software
  • Google Analytics software
  • PHP framework
  • Cloudflare Hosting
  • Namecheap Hosting
  • SPF email hosting
  • Apache web server

11. Play Retro Games

Global rank: 113,230

This website has a collection of retro games and 8-bit titles from the NES era.

Features of the Game Website:

  • This website supports 8-bit and 16-bit systems such as Genesis, Sega Master System, Nintendo NES & SNES as well as Arcade games
  • The game emulators are written using Flash technology and are compatible with most systems
  • The Game Systems offered on the website are Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Capcom, Coin Op Arcade, Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Color, MAME and Atari Lynx.
  • The popular Nintendo NES retro games offered on this website are Shingen the Ruler, Tecmo NBA Basketball, 1942, Bram Stokers Dracula and Jammit – Street Sports
  • Capcom Games offered on this website are Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha, Street Fighter Zero, Ganbare! Marine Kun, Pnickies, Street Fighter III and more

Technologies Used in the Game Website:

  • Efficient Frontier performance marketing platform
  • Rapleaf
  • Google Analytics
  • Cart Functionality
  • PHP Framework
  • GStatic Google Static Content
  • Cloudflare CDN
  • CDN JS
  • Facebook CDN
  • jsDelivr
  • Google Search Appliance content management system
free-fantasy-game-websites

12. Arkadium

Global rank: 20,304

Arkadium is one of the top game websites as it is free to use and has a user-friendly interface to offer the best online gaming experience.

Features of the Game Website:                             

  • It offers games under the categories Card, Strategy, Word, Puzzles, Crossword, Math, Board, Hidden Object, Racing and Sudoku
  • The popular games on this website are Word Wipe Word Search Game, Mahjongg Candy, Outspell Spelling Game, Spider Solitaire, Free Online Solitaire and Bridge Classic

Technologies Used in the Game Website:

  • Hubspot marketing software
  • Visual Website Optimizer
  • Microsoft Application Insights
  • Google Analytics
  • Shockwave Flash Embed frameworks
  • ASP.NET MVC and ASP.NET framework
  • Akamai content delivery network
  • jQuery
  • IIS and Nginx web server

13. Poki

Global rank: 4,346

This website is perfect for online players who love playing mobile games using a keyboard and a mouse. The games can be played without installing an emulator.

Features of the Game Website:

  • The top genres are Sports games, Board games, Action games, Girl games, Arcade games and Racing games
  • The versatile game library features more than 1000 games
  • The website has more than 30 million gamers from all parts of the world
  • The website also has a category “Poki Kids” that has free games for kids
  • Poki Kids includes cooking games, car games, puzzle games, pet games, LEGO games, Disney games, Hello Kitty games and lots more for children

Technologies Used in the Game Website:

  • Mixpanel analytics platform
  • Google Optimize 360
  • Facebook Domain Insights
  • comScore
  • MediaMind
  • Google Conversion Tracking
  • Cart Functionality
  • Cloudflare, CloudFront, JS and AJAX Libraries API Content Delivery Networks
  • jQuery
  • Google, Google Cloud and Cloudflare web hosting
  • Google Apps for Business email hosting
  • nginx web server

14. Free Online Games

Global rank: 85,892

This website has 1000s of free online games in various genres that are categorised under more than 100 tags.

Features of the Game Website:

  • This website has games under the categories Adventure, Defense, Driving, Flying, Girl, Puzzle, Sport, Shooter, Stunt, Car, Fighting, Logic, Strategy, Dress Up, and more
  • It has single player as well as multiplayer games
  • The website is available in more than 30 languages

Technologies Used in the Game Website:

  • Rapleaf
  • Efficient Frontier
  • Everest Technologies
  • Gemius PL audience measurement
  • Google Conversion Tracking
  • Facebook Domain Insights
  • Google Analytics
  • Cart Functionality
  • PHP Framework
  • GStatic Google Static Content
  • StackPath Bootstrap CDN
  • Cloudflare content delivery network
  • CDN JS
  • AJAX Libraries API CDN
  • Cloudflare Hosting
  • Google Apps for Business email hosting
Free-shooting-game-websites

15. Chess

Global rank: 768

Chess aficionados will love this website where they can indulge in their favourite board game – Chess.

Features of the Game Website:

  • The website has more than 25 million online players
  • Online players can play online, play with computer, play on mobile or solve puzzles
  • Those who are interested in learning this board game can also register on the website
  • The website also provides news and updates about the sport

Technologies Used in the Game Website:

  • Amplitude mobile analytics
  • comScore
  • Facebook Domain Insights
  • Google Analytics
  • Accelerated Mobile Pages
  • PHP framework
  • GStatic Google Static Content
  • Twitter CDN
  • Facebook CDN
  • CloudFront and Cloudflare CDN
  • Google Apps for Business and SPF email hosting
  • Cloudflare Hosting
  • Nginx web server

Read Also: 15 Best Free Music Websites

Are you game to build one of the best gaming websites in the virtual world? Meet our experienced and expert team of web designers and developers who can create a stunning game website for you. Whether you want to monetize your free gaming website or have a niche site with only subscribers, we can create it for you. Contact us to know more.

Best 10 Website Redesign Tips

Posted on by probytesnextjs

First impression makes the best impression.

When prospective customers or clients want to know more about your company, the first thing that they do is check out your website. That’s why it’s very important to have a website which is attractive, informative, and trendy.

You may have built the website years ago when you first launched your business, and the web design and style may be outdated now. Also, numerous design elements can improve your website’s presence in search engines.

Therefore, to keep your website always updated and high performing, you need to update it regularly. This blog will give you the best 10 website redesign tips.

Read Also: Wish To Know The Duration of Redesigning a Website?

Before we go into these suggestions, let us find out more about the benefits of redesigning a website and the best time to redesign a website.

What are the Benefits of Website Redesigning?

Many website owners may feel that it is an additional expense to redesign the website.

They may also feel that as there is no change in the products or services offered by the company, there is no necessity to redesign the company website. However, that is not always the case. There are many benefits of redesigning a website.

The major advantages of website redesigning for your business are:

  • New technologies used in your new website design will help improve user experience and also enhance its performance in search engines
  • Web redesigning can quicken your website loading time, which reflects in better performance
  • You can incorporate analytics and tracking software applications to get real-time feedback of the website performance, customer preference, and customer experience
  • Redesigning can make your website compatible with the latest browser versions
  • Enhancing the responsive features of your website will make it mobile friendly

In other words, redesigning a website can breathe new life into it and improve your business reach and sales.

When is the best time to redesign a website?

To get the best returns on your investment and results on our website redesign tips, you need to redesign your website at the right time. It’s time to redesign your website if:

  • you set up your website many years ago and it looks old now
  • it’s not bringing you enough visitors
  • your website visitors are not exploring or navigating the pages, but quickly moving away from your website
  • your business, strategy, or audience has changed
  • your website is not mobile friendly
  • your website doesn’t reflect your brand identity
  • the website performance is poor on search engines
  • it has too many broken links on the website
  • the user interface is unappealing
  • you’re revamping your business or branching out

Best 10 Website Redesign Tips

best-website-redesign-tips

Now that we’ve got a basic idea of the benefits of website redesigning and the best time to redesign a website, let’s take a look at the best website redesign tips.

1. Decide on your goals

Before you start the website redesigning, you should first decide on the goals you want to achieve. Do you want to reach out to a new sector of audience or do you want your website to perform well on search engines?

Read Also: 10 Best Web Design Software In 2020

If your goal is to get your visitor to stay for longer on your website and navigate to the other pages, you need to let your web developer know that’s one of your goals.

If you’re rebranding your website, then the new web design needs to reflect it. Choose colors, typography, and animations that complement the new look.

2. Reduce page loading time

A recent study found that you lose 1% of your target audience for every 100 millisecond delay in the page loading time. In this fast-paced lifestyle, a website that loads slowly is as good as dead.

So, you need to optimize your website to have a faster loading time, in all browsers and devices. The layout, elements, and other factors that go into the website design determine the page loading time.

You should not just focus on the website loading time, but also the speed in which inner pages load when the user navigates through your website.

3. Understand the visitor journey on your website

To enhance the popularity of your website, you need to start thinking like a visitor who comes to your website and understand the purpose of visiting your website.

Plan the menu and navigation based on the user’s journey. If the visitor is easily able to find the information, product, or service that they are looking for with the minimum number of clicks, they are more likely to come back to your website again. 

4. Integrate analytics and tracking software

In this era of Big Data, statistics and trends are very important. To give your customers the best service, you need to know what they like and want. The modern methods of data analytics and business analytics help you do just that.

There are scores of analytics apps and modules that can be integrated into your website framework. These analytics capture details like customer demographics, page load time, real-time updates on page navigation, page views, visitor behavior, conversions, and lots more.

A few of the popular analytics software platforms are Google Analytics, Yahoo Web Analytics, Crazy Egg, Optimizely, Facebook Insights, and Twitanalyzer.

5. Refine the content

The content on your website is what brings visitors to your website and keeps them navigating the pages. Content just doesn’t mean the write-ups and descriptions you have on your website.

It also refers to the images, animation, photographs and other elements that talk to your website visitor. Use a language that reflects your brand image and gets your customers to trust your company.

6. Focus on the website security

Cyber threats are a huge risk to any website, and more so if you have customer personal details, card details, and other confidential information. If you want your customers to trust your website, you need to have the best security features integrated into the web framework.

From using Captcha to prevent spamming, to using double identification methods for login or payment, there are various ways in which you can let your customers know that you’re serious about website security.

7. Unclutter and go minimalistic

Less is more, especially when it comes to the user-end of your website. Don’t clutter the webpage with too many graphics, images, or text that will confuse the visitor.

The same goes for background colors, fonts, and typography. Choose a couple of fonts and use them in different sizes to create the best effect. Flat 2.0 is the latest design trend that uses highlights, shadows, and color gradients to create a professional look.

An uncluttered web page also allows your visitor to focus on the most important factors that you want to convey.

8. Encourage conversations

Did you know that after ESPN.com introduced community suggestions in the home page, their revenue increased by 35%? Offering a space for your customers to share their views, give feedback, and talk to you greatly enhances the customer experience.

Website design ad banner

You can also use social media channels to encourage customer interaction. Integrate conversations from social media platforms on your website to encourage visitors to join the conversation and share their ideas.

9. Make your website mobile friendly

Mobile friendly websites bring in more visitors and also help you reach out to a wide audience. Moreover, making your website mobile friendly improves its search engine rankings. You need to look into the user interface, navigation, load time, and design elements of the mobile website.

10. Optimize your website for search engines

When you redesign your website, keep Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in focus. All the design elements, developmental factors, Meta tags, content, and other attributes that you incorporate in your web design and development should be search engine friendly.

Read Also: Top 10 Web Development Companies In India

Conclusion

Consult the best web developers and designers to redesign your website. With years of experience and expertise, the professionals can suggest more web redesign tips based on your business, brand image, and your goals. Contact us now to get the maximum returns on your website redesign investment.

Best Tourism Websites in India

Posted on by probytesnextjs

India is one of the top travel destinations for tourists from across the globe. The cultural, geographical, traditional, and linguistic diversity in the nation attracts visitors from all over the world.

The rise in the popularity of Indian tourism has also encouraged the development of numerous tourism websites in India.

Read Also: Top 15 Hotel Booking Sites

A few of these websites are maintained by governmental agencies and many by private travel agencies. This blog will elaborate on the best tourism websites in India.

1. Incredible India

Incredibleindia-Best-Tourism-Websites-in-India

Incredible India is an initiative launched by the Government of India to promote tourism in the country. This campaign was launched in 2002 and the website is being maintained by the Ministry of Tourism.

This website has information regarding the top destinations in India. Tourists can choose tour packages based on the experience that they wish to have such as Spiritual, Adventure, Art, Yoga and Wellness, Shopping, Museums in India, Heritage Sites, Luxury, Food and Cuisine.

2. Ministry of Tourism

tourism-Best-Tourism-Websites-in-India

This website is maintained by the Ministry of Tourism, India. It provides information regarding tourism infrastructure development in the country, hotels and restaurants, travel trade, overseas marketing, international cooperation, and niche tourism.

Tenders and RFP for products and services related to the tourism industry are also available on this website.

3. Iato

Iato-Best-Tourism-Websites-in-India

This website is maintained by the Indian Association of Tour Operators. In this website, you can find all information regarding this association and its services.

The website also offers information regarding exhibitions, fairs, and other events conducted to promote tourism in India. Visitors can also check out the list of government-authorized tour operators on this website.

Indians traveling abroad can also verify details of foreign tour operators here before booking their trip.

4. India Healthcare Tourism

Indiahealthcaretourism-Best-Tourism-Websites-in-India

India is one of the most popular destinations for medical tourism in Asia. Patients prefer to visit India for medical treatment as they can get top-notch treatment at affordable prices.

The Indian government has also been encouraging medical tourism in India by simplifying medical visa regulations and encouraging healthcare institutions in India to offer the best medical care to overseas patients.

India Healthcare Tourism is the official website maintained by the Department of Commerce Development in India and SEPC. The website helps patients find the best hospitals in India for treatment.

It also offers information regarding medical treatment, wellness and rejuvenation, Ayurvedic and alternative medicine. Patients can also get details regarding immigration, visa, connectivity in India, cost of treatment, and more on this website.

5. The Maharajas

maharajas-Best-Tourism-Websites-in-India

Traveling through India in a train is an experience that you will remember forever. The Maharaja’s Express is an initiative by the Indian Railways to offer luxury rail travel experience.

Tourists can book the various trips offered in the Maharaja Express and travel to the various destinations in luxurious accommodation. The Maharaja Express is not an ordinary train.

It is custom built with deluxe suites, restaurants, and a lounge bar. The popular trips offered in the Maharaja Express are The Indian Panorama, The Indian Splendor, Treasures of India, and The Heritage of India. The departures are mostly from Delhi and the trips are usually between October and April.

6. Yatra

yatra-Best-Tourism-Websites-in-India

Yatra is a Gurgaon-based online travel company. It offers destination, experience, and activity-based tour packages. Users who are planning a holiday can fill in details on the website or call the customer care to get a free quote for a customized trip.

A few of the themed tour packages they offer are Spiritual Retreat, River Rafting, Forts and Palaces, Exotic, Water Sports, Mountain Climbing, Road Trip, Romantic, and Family.

7. Thomas Cook India

thomascook-Best-Tourism-Websites-in-India

Thomas Cook started its operations in Mumbai, India in 1881. Thomas Cook offers Indian and international tour packages based on a theme, budget, time frame, and other attributes.

Read Also: How to Create a Website Like TripAdvisor

They also offer Forex and visa application support. Thomas Cook offers handcrafted holidays where travel professionals talk to you to understand your needs and preference and create a customized tour package for you.

8. IRCTC

irctc-Best-Tourism-Websites-in-India

Indian Railways is one of the largest transportation agencies in the world and covers the length and breadth of the country. The IRCTC tourism offers affordable tour packages for Indian and foreign tourists.

IRCTC offers domestic tours, international tours, and pilgrimage tours. Tourists who sign up for IRCTC tours get AC train tickets, accommodation, food, and sightseeing as a part of the package.

They also organize flight tickets for certain packages. The various segments of IRCTC tourism are Buddhist Circuit Special Train, Rail Tour Packages, Maharajas Train, Luxury Train Tours, Cruise packages, Bharat Darshan Special Tourist Trains, and customized LTC tours.

9. WOW Club

WOW-Club-Best-Tourism-Websites-in-India

Women on Wanderlust (WOW) is in our list of the best tourism websites in India for its unique approach to travel and tourism. This tour operator founded by Sumitra Senapaty offers safe all-women tours for adventure-loving women. WOW offers culture and heritage, adventure and wildlife, Signature, Active, leisure, and sailing trips both in India and abroad.

10. SOTC

SOTC website offers India tour packages, honeymoon packages, luxury holidays, MICE (Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) tourism, and more.

Tourists can also find tour packages for Rann Utsav, home stay packages, international tour packages, Dharshan tour packages, and Jalesh Cruise packages, and more.

SOTC has been in the business of organizing tour packages for over 70 years now. It has more than 1000 travel professionals and 160 touch points that organize all the travel and accommodation needs of tourists.

11. Tourism India Online

tourismindiaonline-Best-Tourism-Websites-in-India

This website is the digital version of Tourism India, which is a tourism magazine. You can get the latest updates about the India tourism industry on this website.

The website also provides details regarding destinations, MICE tourism, festivals, art and culture, food, tourism festivals, hotels and resorts, travel events, and lots more.

12. Travel Triangle

Traveltriangle-Best-Tourism-Websites-in-India

Travel Triangle is one of the private tourism websites in India that helps tourists find all the information they need about traveling in India. Tourists can book tour packages based on their budget, time frame, and other preferences on the website.

Travel Triangle offers state-wise destination guides, which can help tourists find all the information they need about a particular destination or tourist spot.

It offers customized packages for honeymoon, family, friends, wildlife, friends, seasonal, water activities, and more. Visitors can get information about places to see and things to do in the most popular tourist destinations in India.

13. Tour my India

Tourmyindia-Best-Tourism-Websites-in-India

Tour My India is a Noida-based company that offers tour packages all over the country. It is associated with the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) and the Indian Mountaineering Foundation.

This company offers heritage tours, cultural tours, educational tours, MICE, and special interest tours. The services they offer include pick up and drop, multilingual guide services, accommodation, transportation, transfers, sightseeing trips, and also arrange tickets for special events on request.

14. Thrillophilia

Thrillophilia-Best-Tourism-Websites-in-India

Thrillophilia is in our list of the best tourism websites in India as it offers unique customized tours for the modern traveler looking for offbeat travel destinations, adventure activities, and thrilling experiences.

They mostly focus on weekend trips and experiences that professionals and working people can take up. Thrillophilia helps tourists find the best places to go trekking, cycling, biking, rappelling, boating, river rafting, canoeing, camping or other activities.

Users can also gift experience for birthdays, anniversaries, friendship day, or special events. The website also offers corporate gifting solutions.

Read Also: Top 15 Flight Booking Sites

With the Indian tourism industry growing in leaps and bounds, travel agencies and tour operators who want to expand their base or reach out to a new audience needs to have a website.

If you want to have a website built for your travel agency, consult the experts right away. Our team of professional web designers and web developers can help build the right website for your travel and tourism business. Contact us for more details.