Tag: Website Design Company

Categories
Web Design and Development

It’s 2023. Having a business website is non-negotiable. Here’s why.

152 words on a plain white background, a heading tag, 20+ hyperlinking tags leading to a mesh of interlinked pages and no images.

Today, for a website development company in Ahmedabad, Athens or anywhere in between such a website is a no-no, but back in 1991, it was all the rage as the world saw its first website ever!

So much so that within 3 decades, the internet is now host to over 202,900,724 active websites swaddling millions of data bytes structured much more effectively with thought-out UX and intuitively designed UI.

The exponential rise in the popularity of websites and subsequently website design and development companies are also because of the massive benefits a website brings to businesses.

From reaching the right, wide and new audience base to attaching a sense of credibility to the brand. No wonder, major brands consider their business websites as one of the most essential assets to their business.

And if you are still wondering, why to have a website, have all your answers here.

Why your business needs a website: Insights from a website design company

business-needs
Digital presence and reach severely affect every business, in every industry all across the globe. Especially when there are over 5.16 billion internet users across the globe. Along with this following are the key motivators to have a website by a website design company:

  • Increase visibility
  • Boost credibility
  • Elevate customer experience
  • Control brand image and narrative
  • Provide valuable user insights

Let’s explore every point in detail.

Increased visibility

As a website development company based in Ahmedabad, we are aware of how important reach is for leads and conversions.

With a website, your business is always a click away from the consumers in your targeted locations, 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. This elevated visibility means an “always on” leads-generating mechanism, which results in increased conversions, sales and higher ROI.

Flora Fountain Tip: Just having a website won’t do the magic. To increase visibility, your website must crawl up to the top of searched results (SERP). For this, you need to have a smart SEO strategy in place.

Boosted credibility

Your consumer is expecting you to have a website, and in many ways, it can be one of the main factors of credibility against your brand’s competitors.

Testimonials, case studies, portfolios, showcasing previous clients and details as minute as the services provided can help develop transparency and trust with potential consumers.

In simpler words, having a website is having digital proof, a reflection of your experience, sincerity and expertise about the services you have to offer.

Since a large faction of users looks up the product and service before deciding to buy them, having a website that markets your business 24*7 is a no-brainer.

Refined customer experience

A well-developed and uniquely designed website can add that factor of delight, in return increasing consumer engagement. In terms of a website development company, it boils down to the website’s UI and UX.

Why is it important for a brand?

Well for starters, an elevated user experience adds to the prestige of the brand, it shows that the brand is serious about its customer’s experience and business.

Additionally, having a website effectively impacts consumer service and leads to an increase in organic traffic. For instance, a ChatBot on your website can respond with smart AI-generated messages to resolve the concerns of a consumer even at the oddest non-working hours.

Control of brand image and narrative

Communicating a brand’s personality, identity and story are important factors to create brand loyalty among consumers. This reflects in the tone of communication, colour schemes, design themes and even in details like the use of whitespace.

Tweak-India-digital-media-company-by-Twinkle-Khanna-Tweak-India

With a website, it becomes much easier to curate, circulate and manage your brand’s messaging. If you have an update or have achieved a milestone in your industry, you can highlight this on your website in minutes and share this link across social media for added credibility.

On top of this, your website becomes a means of verification for any miscommunication or wrong information put out by third parties. All this in addition to the branding done by the website, makes it an essential aspect for all businesses.

Flora Fountain Tip: First identify your brand archetype and personality and then design the website theme, layouts and content aligned to this.

Valuable insights

From who is interested in your website to what interests them the most, you can have every detail about your business from website data collection and analytics tools. This is another vital factor to consider websites as an asset.

Armed with this data and an analytical understanding of consumer interactions and product performance, you can plan out smarter business strategies.

Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Hotjar, Smartlook and Open Web Analytics are just some of the web analytics tools that can help get you started.

Now, these were the top reasons as to why businesses must build websites with the help of a website design company. But, for many others, a top concern is how to choose the right web development company. Here’s how!

Choose the right website development company!

website-development
Now that you know that your website is an asset, it is vital to select the right web development company in order to get the best out of your investment. In such case, the following pointers will guide you while choosing the right website development company:

  • Determine what type of website you need
  • Look for expertise and creativity
  • Ask if they provide mobile-first and responsive web designs
  • Check out their website and portfolio
  • If still not convinced, ask for a proof of concept (POC)

Determine what type of website you need

Different platforms and website types have extremely vast requirements. Hence, determining what is best in your interest will help you have clarity. Ask yourself:

  • Am I looking for an ecommerce development company?
  • What features will the website have?
  • What timelines and budgets am I willing to spend on the website?
  • What platform and language will host the website?
  • Do I require specific customised features for the website?
  • Who are my competitors and what are they doing?

With this, you will get more clarity on what are your requirements for the website. Doing so will help you filter out the most suitable website design company.

Flora Fountain Tip: Ask the web development service provider if they provide free consultancy. This will provide some clarity if you have none.

Look for expertise and creativity

Evaluating the experience and ability of a website development company helps you identify what service you want from them.

For more inclusive outcomes, look for a company with expertise not just in front-end and back-end development, but also conducting user experience research, creating Information Architecture (IA), producing wireframes, building user-centric user interface designs, testing for quality assurance and launching the website. It always makes more sense to have these different teams be a part of the same larger group for more accountability and seamless working.

The second parameter is ‘creativity’. Since tech is a futuristic domain, you want your website to be up-to-date and innovative enough to delight the visitor. The more customised the journey for the user, the more delightful!

We at Flora Fountain host an exceptionally strong team of website developers and website designers in Ahmedabad that holds expertise in platforms like WordPress, Shopify and Laravel, as well as, languages like PHP, React, JavaScript, CSS & HTML.

Ask if they provide mobile-first and responsive web designs

In 2022, 54.8 % of global website traffic was from mobile users. This percentage goes even higher for India, where the majority of the population accesses the internet on smartphones. So having a website development company that uses a mobile-first approach is a must-have. This shows the company is sensitive to current trends and has the ability to build as per the user’s needs.

mobile-ai

Check out their website and portfolio

From their client portfolio to even how a website agency maintains its own website, a lot of information can be gathered about a website design company from their past and current work.

This can help you gauge if the developers understand the brand and the industry. Do they maintain the set standards of the industry? How quickly do they rectify bugs and errors? How good are they at maintaining websites?

If the website of the company is down, slow to load, unappealing or full of bugs, you might want to reconsider your choices!

Flora Fountain has successfully developed, designed and maintained websites for brands such as National Geographic Traveller, Tweak India, Ray Ethnic, Vajra Jewels, Heritage Infra Space, Shivashish World School, The Faraway Tree and hundreds of other startups and established brands.

Ask for POC (Proof of Concept)

If you are still confused, before finalising your contract with any web development company ask for a proof of concept.

This will provide you with clarity on whether the website agency understands your vision and goals. In simpler words, a POC will help you test the claims of the developer.

With that in mind, you are all set to choose the right website development company. And if you still have clouds of confusion in your mind, Flora Fountain, as a reliable and reputed web development company in Ahmedabad, can provide high-quality web development & design services aligned with your requirements, budget and timeline.

So wait no more, drop us a hello at hello@flora.ffteam.in and start your digital journey today. And if you are looking for more such interesting insights from experts in web development, branding, content curation and all things related to digital marketing, head to our blog section right away!

Categories
Web Design and Development

How we created a mobile-first responsive website for an Ahmedabad school

Shivashish World School Website Desktop

Located in one of Ahmedabad’s fastest developing areas, Shivashish World School (SWS) is a premier co-educational school which started back in the year 1994. A charitable trust started the school with Gujarati medium but with time the school got its CBSE affiliation and introduced English medium. In the year 2021, they went through a major expansion and re-branding exercise, which included a completely new building, identity design and re-doing their digital presence across website and social media.

The school wanted a total revamp of their design and branding, so one of Ahmedabad’s best digital marketing agencies came up with a best in class website to help them achieve a complete image makeover.

The Client’s Problem

Incepted more than 28 years ago, SWS has been imparting high-quality education from kindergarten right to high school. In 2021, they set up a new world class building for their CBSE board, but realized that in the post-pandemic era, most parents were going to discover them online first. Unfortunately, their existing website did not match the scale and aesthetic of the new building. The website was also being used for two different brands, the Gujarat Board school, called Shivashish School, and the CBSE school, called SWS, creating confusion for the user.

Moreover, the old website had been designed primarily for the desktop, with its mobile version created almost as an after-thought. However, a quick look at their analytics showed that up to 90% of their unique users accessed the website through mobile devices. All of whom were being served a sub-par experience.

The school also realized that most of the things that made them unique, such as their pedagogy, amenities and most of all its teaching staff had to be showcased better!

CBSE & GBSE The history of the school as presented in old website

Solution presented by Flora Fountain

Since most parents were accessing the website from a cell phone, we decided to create a mobile-first website, a first for any school in Ahmedabad, that was dynamic and sleek. Modern design concepts like glassmorphism, neumorphism, micro animations, extensive use of swipe, and an almost app-like UI were identified to create a modern website matching the new identity of the school. In order to accomplish this, we decided to design and develop a completely new mobile-first website, which was a first for any school in Ahmedabad.

Neomorphism in the footer of the new SWS website

Phase 1: Analysis

According to research, 61% of mobile users are more likely to contact a local business if they have a mobile-friendly site. That means, more than half of the target audience, parents, would look for schools in their locality on their phones. So on the basis of the research conducted on their website usage and research on the new mobile web technologies, we listed some points to work on.

1) There was a lot of information available for parents, students, and teachers. So the information architecture of the old website needed to be fleshed out better for users to easily navigate through the website.

2) The new website had to reflect and highlight current school values, while at the same time showcasing the facilities and amenities of the new school building, the talents of its students and most importantly, its teaching staff.

3) The new website had to be Search Engine optimized, or SEO optimized, to improve the school’s reach on search engines online

4) The new website had to provide an intuitive and delightful responsive experience for all its audience, especially those accessing it through mobile devices

5) The new website had to be created on a user-friendly CMS like so the client could edit the content and images on their own going forward

Phase 2: Ideation & Implementation

Committing to a Mobile-first approach

After gathering and analyzing the data and noting that parents would be the target audience and that the site should be easy for them to use, we went ahead with our original idea to create a mobile-first website. This means that our product and design team starts by creating wireframes and mockups for mobile first. This means thinking of a more modular layout than a grid-based one. The modules can then be rearranged to create layouts for desktop and mobile.

responsive vs mobile first web design

Neumorphic, Glassmorphic, Animated

The second idea was to incorporate Neumorphism, Glassmorphism and animation in the user interface or UI. Once the wireframes were sketched, our design team created mockups using these two effects on all the various elements that make up a website, right from buttons and tabs, to images and navigation elements. Each page was painstakingly mocked up so there was no room for error while coding. A document was created for all the animation with adequate references.

To implement Neumorphism all this, the front-end team placed UI elements behind a background in CSS, to make it seem like components such as buttons are actually housed inside the background. For the frosted-glass effect of Glassmorphism, a blur effect was added to the background. Contrasting and vivid colours are used in the background to highlight the blurred transparency, giving a subtle border to the translucent objects. For animation we relied on extensive use of jQuery’s animation libraries.

Creating content through writing and photo & video shoot

Since we had put our heart and souls into designing and developing the website, we realized that we would also be the best people to create content for it. We wrote SEO-optimized content using the information provided by the client, adding all relevant meta tags and keywords on each page to target audiences in the nearby 5 km radius. Since that is the most parents are willing to travel to send their kids to school. We also realized the need for high quality photographs and images to bring this vision to life. So we conducted a shoot to get the right expressions of each child and teacher for the website. We also shot scripted videos with the children each presenting school values in an irrepressibly cute way. We overlaid sketched illustrations on some images to give them an element of storytelling. Finally, we added GIFs for each teacher to give the website a fun approachable vibe.

Testing

We extensively tested this website across top 10 mobile devices used by parents, with at least 5% of the website traffic percentage, such as Samsung Galaxy phones, Vivo, Oppo, Google Pixel, OnePlus and Apple iPhone. In addition to this we also tested it across popular desktop browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari.

Result:

And viola, just like that the new website turned out to be as awesome as we had dreamt on paper and Illustrator 🙂

Let’s take a look!

Neumorphic, Glassmorphic, Animated visuals on the new SWS website

The new website highlighted the teachers and the students in a quirky and creative way, in line with the client brief.

SWS Teachers Mobile friendly views of the new SWS website

It showcased the history of the school in a fun and more accessible way, than the usual text format.

And here is the highlight of the website! A 3-d globe showing the alumni of the school spread across the world.

Want to explore this website some more? Check it out here.

Alumni of the SWS school Mobile friendly views of the new SWS website

So this is how Ahmedabad got its mobile-first school website! Time for your brand to do the same! If your brand needs a kickass and memorable website that works equally well on mobile as it does on desktop, one of the best and most thoughtful website development companies in Ahmedabad, Flora Fountain is here for you! Drop us an email on hello@flora.ffteam.in or call 9558079502!

Categories
Web Design and Development

5 Nightmares Every Web Developer Dreads

Web Developer

While everyone and their aunt talks about things developers dig, what coders love to create and so on, we are surprised how nobody is talking about what developers love to hate, the coding horrors that give them nightmares.

With a team of sharp web developers working on some of the best websites designed and developed in Ahmedabad India, we have learnt at close quarters about the many things that keep our talented techies up at night, things they dread. And they are…

1. Fixing someone else’s bad code and bugs

The one thing that every developer fears while joining a new company, is the cleanup job of any project developed by someone else. Developers hate touching someone else’s code. And it’s a horror story if the code they’re working on is lengthy, unreadable, complex, riddled with bugs and LIVE.

Good-Developer

Wondering why this happens so often? That’s because developers, just like writers and painters, have their own style of coding. A good developer will always document his/her code, to ensure the sanity of anyone who might have to work on their code in future. Yes, this includes themselves too.

Of course documentation is a painful process and it’s the second most hated thing for most developers, but without it, any new developer will have to scour through thousands of lines of the original code to figure out what the former developer was thinking. And trust us, it is a NIGHTMARE!

2. This, that, everything is a top priority!

Three developers walk into a bar, they start discussing their priority tasks and bugs. The bartender chipped in, “I KNOW, RIGHT… THAT’S WHY I CHOSE BARTENDING OVER CODING!”

Frustrated man with laptop

Developers absolutely hate it when their project managers come up to them and keep adding new “top-priority” tasks on their plate and still expect them to complete all the previously ongoing ones at the end of the day.Prioritizing means ranking tasks on the basis of its importance and urgency. It’s not rocket science for anyone to not get it. Of the many developers we have worked with while offering website development and web design services in Ahmedabad, most of us have recalled of instances where they have been expected to work on two projects in parallel or multitask because Task A and Task B both are ‘Top Priority’

Surprise, surprise, that’s not how it is supposed to work! It’s just a pure case of bad management and project heads and team leads cannot blame their developers for their poor estimation of deadlines.

3. Meetings, a lot of them!

THIS MEETING COULD HAVE BEEN AN EMAIL!

Developers absolutely hate it when they are pulled into “quick meetings” that last close to an hour and have no clear objective or agenda. This causes interruptions in the flow of their work and forces them to clock extra hours in the office to finish their work for their “Top Priority” projects.

Badly run meetings or “brainstorming sessions” can end up wasting the developer’s valuable working hours and break their flow of thought, which then leads to difficulty in getting back into the zone to write code.

Project Manager

So, the next time a developer says he/she is looking forward to the weekend, they aren’t making plans to hang out with friends, relax or go on a date (hope we didn’t touch a nerve there), but to finish their pending tasks with focus and in absolute isolation (okay, that’s the last one, we promise).

4. Just one more thing

Office Space came close, but we’re actually surprised why Hollywood or Bollywood hasn’t made a movie on a developer who goes on a rampage after his/her project manager came up to the desk and said “Hey, one more thing..” and added another new, difficult task on their plate.

Website Development and Web Design Services

Yes, we know that priorities change during the course of the day and not every task list can be followed to the T in website development and design. But it makes the life of a developer easier if the smaller things in web design can be planned before the actual development begins. We’re talking about the last minute, unclear requirements that crop up once the demo is ready.

Too many last minute additions and that “Just One More Thing” could wreck the code and further ruin the design philosophy of the entire product. One product cannot please all!

5. People seeking “tech co-founders”

Ever wondered what do developers talk about and laugh out loud with their other developer buddies during lunch break or around the water cooler? It’s the number of times they have been asked to join hands with their ‘non-developer’ friends as the “Tech Co-Founders” for their “Path-breaking Digital Solutions” company.

Jimmy Speckman

No, we haven’t lifted a scene straight out of The Big Bang Theory (Remember Jimmy Speckman and his great 3D glasses idea?). Developers absolutely hate it when their friends and families expect them to build products and softwares that fulfill their wild fantasies, and further accept the fancy titles given to them for being the “co-founder” of the startup.

Ever wondered why? Because people who approach developers to join their start-ups as their tech co-founders have absolutely no idea how web development works and they are the ones who have watched “The Social Network” and got inspired to create the next big tech idea.

And no, this wasn’t a rant by our tech lead, but just an ode to all the talented and hardworking developers around the world who have worked with us and are working with many other companies, having developed some of the best products. We hear you guys, and you all are awesome! And oh btw, in case you were looking for a web design company to work with in Ahmedabad that just gets it, you know who to contact 🙂

Categories
Web Design and Development

Building the perfect website is a collaboration between design and development

Web Design and Development

A website is a great tool for digital marketing, selling online and for building credibility for a business. But an average user spends hardly 15 seconds on a website. In order to make them stay longer and engage with the website, the website must be visually pleasing and easy to interact with.

It is a collaboration between great design and robust development that creates a smashing website. Here’s a look at how Flora Fountain, the best website development and design agency in Ahmedabad works to create the perfect website for its brands and businesses

But first, let’s understand what web design and web development is.

Web Design

Website Design or Web Design refers to designing everything from the user experience to the user interface, basically all the visual elements of the website and their usability from the perspective of a user. Web designers focus on designing the front-end of the website, the part which the users get to see on the internet and interact with.

They recreate the visual ideas by creating the 1. wireframes showing the layout of the website 2. creating styleguides detailing the details of the visual elements such as fonts, buttons, text treatment for different sections and so on 3. defining the interactive elements that might need to be animated. For responsive design, designers end up creating separate layout for mobile and desktop.  Once done, they work with developers to get their vision executed and tested in code.

Web Development

As a web design agency in Ahmedabad, design is at the forefront of every website we create, after all, a website is the face of every brand on digital.

Web Development

Web development or website development team usually consists of front-end and backend developers who write code that brings the wireframes to life as a working website. The front-end team code in browser-based client-side technologies like HTML, CSS, Javascript to creating what the visitors will see when they open the website in a browser, while the backend team works in server-side programming languages like PHP, Nodejs, Python, Ruby to ensure that the business logic and the functionality of any features being planned for the website are fully incorporated.

So, how does design & development work together?

1. Getting the Requirements

Information gathering is the first and foremost activity that takes place to build a website from scratch. The product owner (or manager) with the help of design, content and technology teams defines the purpose of the website, the target audience, the requirements from the client and the users for this website, and the kind of content and functionality that will be made available to the end user.

2. Creating an Information Architecture or Sitemap

With the requirements in place, now it’s time to decide what goes where and how. This exercise is ideally done by the product owner in tandem with the content team. Together they flesh out the pages required on the website and the information hierarchy or flow required to show all the information required as per the original brief.

3. Creating the Wireframe & Styleguide

website wireframe

A website wireframe comprises of the skeletal framework required for each page of the website. Together with the styleguide, this is the blueprint of the website. Creating the wireframes can be as simple as sketching on paper, or they can be created professionally using tools like Sketch, InVision, Adobe XD or Figma

For getting your websites wireframe made professionally, you can always contact us.

4. Building the first mocks

A mock is the working, visual replica or prototype of the website created keeping in mind the user interface of the site. While usually having a wireframe and style guide is enough, for more complicated designs, a detailed mock with each element, pictures and sample content is sometimes required. This mock gives an idea on how all the elements will come together on a page, and is useful for getting feedback from the client, before beginning coding. For responsive websites, separated mockups for desktop, mobile and even tablets might be required.

Custom website design through mockups is one of Flora Fountain’s core strengths as a website development agency.

One of the most traditionally common tools for creating website mocks is Adobe Photoshop. Nowadays, Sketch and Adobe XD are also used.

5. Building the Front End

Once the mockup is made, the wireframes and styleguide defined, the Frontend developers now take charge of the project, where they bring all the concepts to life through coding. They implement the design ideas through HTML, CSS and JavaScript in a manner that the site looks aesthetically pleasing on all kinds of devices, also known as a responsive website. This ensures that the visitors can easily interact with the page and get exactly what they are looking for.

Frontend developers

6. Meanwhile, building that strong base for everything to stand

It’s the backend development team that’s responsible for preparing all the information and coding the business logic and functionality that needs to be sent over to the client side, or the front end. The backend development takes place in server side languages. While their end of the work remains concealed to the world, it forms a strong base to create a high-performing responsive website that loads quickly. These teams further work on ensuring that database and database requests are optimized, the code is high-performance and the servers adequate to support the website functionality. The technologies used in backend are usually languages like Python, PHP, or Ruby, or frameworks made using these languages such as WordPress, Magento or Shopify.

But what if it is Theme-based Website?

The process is usually the same, with step 1 and 2 being followed diligently. But, instead of designing or developing the website from scratch, a theme which suits the brand or business well is picked. Website themes can be purchased online from sites like Themeforest by Envato.

website wireframe

These themes are design and development-ready, with the designer and development teams only making cosmetic changes and adding additional plugins to suit the requirements of the website. Followed by step 5 and 6, where all the customisation required to suit the brand comes to life on the website.

Did you know that some of the most beautiful website made by us at Flora Fountain are actually themes modified to suit the brand’s design language. Curios to see these theme-based websites designed by Flora Fountain? Drop us a message.

The Confluence of Design & Development at Flora Fountain

With such effective collaboration between web development and web design, the websites we create at Flora Fountain are nothing short of being a masterpiece. With well-thought wireframes and aesthetic design elements brought together by our skilled web designers, and robust code by our web developers, they complement each other in building beautiful, responsive and multi-functional websites, which our brands love to call their digital home.

Looking to create a stunning home for your brand or set up a shop online? Get in touch with the best web development agency in India.