Web Design

Webydo Review – 2014 Update

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

What’s in the Price?

The community-led, web design platform Webydo has already reshaped the way we create our websites and has recently started shaking things up again. This time the minds behind codeless web creation are looking to revolutionize the platform’s pricing. Webydo has taken the suggestions of their burgeoning community of over 83K professional web designers to heart and hand-crafted unique pricing plans to better suit their growing needs. In order to more easily explain these new plans, we’ve asked the most pertinent questions and included all the answers below.

Q: So let’s get right to it, what are the new plans?

A: The folks at Webydo have divided the original paid plan into two basic plan categories: “One-site plans” and “Professional Plans”. The “One-site” plan rings in at $9 a month and comes with the most basic web design options including one website, 3GB of storage, Built-in CMS and advanced, cloud-based hosting. This plan constitutes the most basic package and provides an excellent entry-point into the Webydo universe.

In listening to their ever-expanding community of designers, Webydo discovered a large population of professionals with more demanding needs than the average DIYer. In staying true to their “community-led” moniker, they created new “Professional” plans to address these desires. This new plan category is broken down into three plans labeled “Pro”, “Team”, and “Agency” starting at $17, $35, and $85 a month respectively. By offering more websites, unlimited storage, site export options and even custom training, the “Professional” plans provide interesting opportunities for increased value compared to the competition.

pricing

Q: What features do these new plans offer professional designers?

While this list is by no means comprehensive, here are a few especially helpful features for designers looking to grow their own business:

Full White Label

Your Own Branded Domain

Client Billing

Client DIY Wizard

The client billing feature can be extremely helpful when managing multiple customers and allows all client billing to be accomplished from a single web portal. The client DIY wizard is a feature that helps designers generate leads from clients by enabling the designer to send the client a template of their work from Webydo. The designer is then able to see what changes the client has made and includes contact information to get in touch. A wonderful way to expand your client base.

Q: Will there still be a free plan available?

A: Absolutely! When you’ve created a platform as innovative and useful as Webydo, you’d be crazy not to let the product speak for itself. The brilliant minds over at Webydo certainly aren’t crazy. The option to create a pixel-perfect website within Webydo’s creative canvas is still there and continues to be a wonderful way to dip your toes in the Webydo water.

That’s not all though! With each new paid plan comes a free, unrestricted, thirty day trial. We’re not talking about those “Hey, this is free but just in case we’d like your payment info” trials. All you need to do is create an account with a username, password and email. No credit card required. At the end of the thirty days your account will be automatically transitioned to a free plan where you’re free to upgrade when the mood strikes you and not a moment sooner.

Best Webydo Plan

Q: What’s the most economical plan?

A: Great question and one that depends entirely on the needs of the user. It should be noted here that regardless of plan, the more websites you create with Webydo, the more cost-effective your subscription will be. Only plan on creating a handful of websites? You’d likely be better suited to the “Pro” plan. Have a design firm pushing out new sights on a weekly basis? The “Agency” plan was created just for you! With a fifty website cap and a lion’s share of available plan features, the “Team” plan is the most popular option, though it’s worth perusing each plan’s full feature list to be sure you’re getting exactly what you need.

Q: Is it possible to switch plans as my needs grow?

A: Webydo strives to meet designers exactly where they are and provide a platform that enables them to achieve more and grow their business. As such, users can upgrade their current plans at any time without missing a beat. The goal of Webydo is, after all, to let professional web designers focus on innovative design and where there’s innovative design, there’s expansive growth.

Well, there you have it. New pricing plans for a community-led web design platform that actually listens to its community. With this new structure everyone from the design-from-home startup to the seasoned studio, can find a plan that meets their needs while still allowing room for the inevitable growth. Haven’t tried web design with the cloud-based platform yet? Head on over to Webydo and see what the codeless web design revolution is all about!

This article is presented by Webydo’s community of professional designers.

The post Webydo Review – 2014 Update appeared first on Design Inspiration | How to Design a Website.

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Design your way

WordPress is a very popular open source Content Management System, used widely by individuals and industry and it is particularly used in the development and design industry.

It is an extremely popular blogging platform and it runs millions of blogs across the Internet. There is no doubt why WordPress is so popular considering it has so many advantages.

It is extremely flexible, containing numerous available modifications and themes, which users can easily download.

PHP and MySQL power WordPress and this fact along with WordPress’ numerous features, including its plug-in architecture and template system will suit many users, but individual or specialist needs may mean that you need to look at some WordPress alternatives.

WordPress is an excellent content management system but it may not suit everyone’s needs. The following suggestions are content management systems that you can use as WordPress alternatives. Some are free and some you will need to purchase.

Paying for a content management system is not usually a problem for those wanting a platform for business use, however for individuals who simply want a content management system to do a little blogging for fun, perhaps a CMS such as Ghost might be more suitable.

It is important for those looking at content management systems to carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages of a system before using it for their blog or company, to determine its suitability for their own particular needs or requirements and, even more importantly perhaps, how they want to use it and who will be using it.

Ghost

Ghost is suitable for bloggers. It is an open source application, one which gives you the tools to easily publish posts.

Its simple elegance and design mean you do not have to spend time scratching your head to figure out how to make your blog work. Bloggers can use themes for this CMS and personalize their blogs, so that each can have an individual distinctive design.

It is possible to host your Ghost blog either on your own computing device or on a public server. Ghost is not an ideal content management system for everyone, but it is an excellent blogging platform. Bloggers can compose posts without distracting menus, widgets, settings and tools unrelated to actually writing.

Tumblr

This WordPress alternative is suitable for those wanting a blog that can be quickly managed. Tumblr is mainly what is called a “micro blogging” platform, a platform for sharing rather short posts and it is no mystery why its community likes visual content more than long wordy posts.

However, by customizing Tumblr a little bit, bloggers can post regular blog posts that will look appealing.

Jekyll

Jekyll is more of a static-site generator rather than a content management system, but can be used as a replacement.

Jekyll is aimed at developers and requires some knowledge to use it successfully.

Kirby

It is no wonder that Kirby is a very popular content management system. It is very simple to use and get running and the whole system is very intuitive. Those familiar with PHP will feel in their own element with Kirby.

Statamic

This is a flat file management system which although is built using PHP, users do not need to know or to be able to write PHP in order to use the system successfully.

Statamic uses its own template language, which makes it simple to use for those unfamiliar with PHP. Statamic’s control panel is fully featured and client friendly and may be the one to choose for those wanting a client friendly site.

Craft

The Craft CMS concentrates on managing content of all shapes and sizes. Craft is very flexible but its flexibility does not compromise its ease of use for writers.

It is for people who enjoy taking time building their HTML, CSS, and JS by hand. Craft is not a site builder or design tool and there are no themes, tools or gadgets to help you design a site quickly, so it is not for the casual blogger, who merely wants to get a site running quickly and easily.

CouchCMS

A simple open source content management system aimed at designers. It does not require any knowledge of PHP.

Perch

This system describes itself as a “really little CMS” and the publishing platform allows users to build their sites in an individual way, adding CMS functionality and dynamic components later. It means that your site doesn’t need to have been built with Perch initially, which is great for existing sites needing a few editable dynamic pages.

Perch users can create their own content templates giving them greater control. Perch is also versatile, whether you want a simple text area or a more complex one.

Pico

A flat file content management system, Pico has no administration or database for users to have trouble with. Users simply create .md files in their content folders and your site is done.

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iPad POS: The Next Generation Solution For All Retailers?

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

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Are you one of those people who hate to wait in lines to bill your purchases? Well, wait no more, as iPad and Wi-Fi based Point of Sale systems are now here to stay. iPad POS systems are the wave of the future and they offer multiple benefits that will streamline your billing process by as much as 60 percent. The business website Entrepreneur, states that retailers have yet to jump on to the handheld POS system but its popularity is a given. In fact, the Alabama State University Stadium was the first to incorporate the virtual billing system for its concession vendor service during the first game of the year. The handheld billing systems made it possible to clear a record 5721 sales in the matter of a few hours. This rapid billing system impressed other stadium owners as well and handheld billing systems may be expected to be implemented at all major stadiums in the US. Although this does seem impressive, is it really possible to phase out the traditional billing register and use only tablet-based systems?

How Do Tablet-Based POS Systems Work?

Point of sale systems can be simply described as the cash register that you see when you reach the counter at your supermarket. When you pay, the counter registers the sale and provides you with a bill. Traditionally, the cash register could only record sales. Store staff had to then manually tally store inventory with sales to verify stock and to replace stock. However, POS software changed all that as the computerized systems could tally sales with in-store stock, order goods from the warehouse, tally sales, calculate daily profits and daily taxes, register multiple users, manage payroll and attendance and much, much more. POS software made it easier on customer and on store staff as well but iPad POS are bringing a whole new twist to the game. These handheld tablets contain the same software required for billing but they log on to a cloud-based server that collates the data from the tablets with store information. For example, an iPad billing system can be used with a register and a cash drawer or it can be used by store staff anywhere in the store to ring up spot sales through credit and debit cards.

Are Tablet Based Billing Systems Really That Good?

Every system has its pros and cons but the site Possystemrestaurant states that having a mobile billing system could provide multiple benefits for many industries. For example, one of the major benefits of tablet-based billing systems is the overall cost. A single tablet may cost anywhere from $100 to about $200 and this is usually provided by the vendor. The software is present online and store staff just has to tap on a browser to be linked to the online server. This means that set up costs for an iPad-based POS system are far lower than traditional systems that cost anywhere from $10,000 to about $20,000.

Of course, this does mean that the retailer has to pay the cloud-based system a monthly fee to store data online safely and they also have to pay an internet provider for a fast and efficient in-store connection. A glitch in the store Wi-Fi or the cloud-based server could delay billing or even stop the entire billing process in the store completely. To prevent this, vendors are now offering cloud and traditional iPad POS hybrid systems. These hybrid systems contain both traditional offline POS and online POS which work together as backups in case one system goes offline.

Mobile billing systems are also proving to be very useful in the restaurant industry as servers at Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, frozen-drink lounge Snow & Co, The Bean Sprouts Café & Cooking School, etc. use the handheld devices to take orders, convey orders to the kitchen and be notified when the kitchen has prepared orders. The same handheld devices also compute bills and calculate tips and are used by the servers to tally sales immediate with no delay. As market awareness of handheld iPad POS systems increase, more and more tech companies are climbing on to the market and making innovative products and affordable tablets that will make the transition from traditional to cloud that much easier.

The Future

The website Now2business states that it’s hard to beat the advantages of the tablet-based billing system. As store staff are already familiar with tablet use, they do not require extensive training. It also frees up staff to interact with customers and carry out other vital store jobs. With many more tablet-based billing systems, it may also be possible for store staff to approach browsing customers and bill sales on the spot reducing the need to stand at checkout counters for billing. Not only will this reduce billing time but it may also convert browsing customers to billing customers and increase overall store profits. It’s actually a win-win deal for everyone.

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Design your way

Planning and communication are key elements in developing any project and this is no less true when developing a website or application. The wireframing process is a fast, simple means to plan a website’s layout and it is also a cost effective, time saving way of communicating your ideas to your clients.

When starting a new web design or app design project, begin with a wireframe. The wireframe allows you to set and communicate the page’s layout to customers or colleagues without everyone being distracted by worrying about color and design elements.

Wireframes have all of a web page’s or app’s basic elements, everything you need to present to the client your idea for the project. This gives you, your customer, and your colleagues a clear, unadorned, uncomplicated view showing what the site or app will look like structurally when finished. It is also a basic foundation for any alterations that you might wish to make in the future.

Wireframes can save everybody a lot of time. They help those involved in the project to agree where the major page elements should go, when the page is in its early design stage. This saves time and trouble because the page layout is decided before the complicated design elements and finishing touches are added.

Whatever tool you prefer for wireframing, wireframe templates are the crucial basic necessity, when you start to design a new web page or application.