Tips to Provide the Best Website Experience, Page 11 of 25

Fully responsive web design is no longer a luxury for your website. Google announced recently that it will punish websites that are not fully responsive. Not only this, but mobile commerce continues to increase. 2015 may be the year that mobile commerce as a whole overtakes other forms of digital commerce. This has already been the case for many years for many younger demographics.

You must make the switch into fully responsive web design today in order to build a lasting brand online. Here are three top tips that will help you make the transition or improve your scalability and marketability if you have already implemented it to some degree.

Natural Asset Scalability

The only responsive website design themes or templates that you should seriously consider using will include natural asset scalability. An asset is anything that a customer views as a separate piece of information on the screen. Pictures, text, buttons - all of these are separate assets, and all of these assets have the ability to scale naturally with the size of the screen that the customer uses.

Each asset with additional features on mouse holdover should retain those features regardless of size. For instance, navigation bar items with drop down menus must retain their menus regardless of the size of the screen. However, your web designer must make the menu fonts scale at the same rate as the original navigation bar asset to keep the website cohesive.

Sophisticated CSS designers may allow your assets to reorganize themselves if the screen gets so small that text cannot be seen. In some cases, assets that are less important may drop off the screen entirely if the user decides to reduce the display past a certain percentage.

Vertically Elongated Menus

For the most part, horizontal scrolling is panned in the world of responsive web design. People simply prefer vertical scrolling, and this includes menu scrolling.

If your laptop website has any menus that elongate along a horizontal path, they must repurpose themselves as a vertical menu. Many smart phones and tablets do not even allow for vertical scrolling past a certain point, meaning that your website may completely lose a menu item in a worst case scenario. Because the last item is most menus and along navigation bars is usually the conversion action or the sale button, you might imagine how this might negatively affect your business.

Hidden Toggle Menus

Between the choices of hidden toggle menus and on-screen toggle menus, hidden toggle menus seem to have won out. Hidden toggle menus became a trend in the iOS circles, especially those that used native Cocoa libraries for some incredible animations. The idea spread as more web designers found uses for the hidden toggle, and it has become such a normal part of the mainstream web design circuit that it is now the preferred type of menu animation.

There is one weakness to the hidden toggle menu: It relies heavily on Javascript. This may affect your decisions in the short-term, but over the long-term, Javascript will become a more integrated part of mobile design. If you are looking to create a site that will stand, then do not move away from the hidden toggle menu just because the majority of your users have mobile devices that are not yet ready for Javascript. Your web designer can create a fork that directs your customers to a Javascript free mirror if the device does not support the technology.

Please feel free to contact us when you need an online partner focused on time and cost efficiency. Our proprietary development process is based in agile scrum, a process that minimizes all time spent in bulky applications while maximizing value for your web design money.

The classic project management model and the agile model have the same goals. Both want to organize a project and deliver it in a timely fashion, but classic project management and agile development have different ideas about how this process is most effectively achieved. Both approaches recognize that planning is essential if developers are to create a meaningful and responsive product.

Agile development diverges from the classic model in terms of when planning occurs. In the classic model, all planning happens before actual project development begins. Milestones are determined, including the number hours dedicated to achieving specific goals. Likewise scope and features are locked in. The System Development Lifecycle (SDLC) essentially recognizes that the development process is ongoing, that review and maintenance phases will recognize limits in the version under development, which can be implemented in future releases.

The agile approach does not require as much planning up front. Under the agile model, planning is more flexible. This flexibility has both positive and negative potential. On the positive side, changes may be incorporated later in the planning process. This recognizes both the creative capability of programmers as well as the reality that sometimes limitations cannot be seen in all instances prior to the start of the actual development process. These are concepts which are critical to fluid meaningful development, and should not be dismissed lightly.

On the potentially negative side, if the planning phase cannot be said to be definitively completed, it would be possible to 'talk something to death', which is to say, never to move past the planning phase and commit to actual development. This potential is even more of a concern when the development process solicits the input of highly creative individuals.

In the open source arena this can lead to a project 'forking' into different products as schism between personalities over the direction a product should take may eventually lead to breakup of development teams, or the loss of key team members. Such a dramatic segue may be entertaining to read about on open source project chat boards, but it has no place in serious commercial development. Clearly, even though creativity minds should be given a chance to add meaningfully to product development, there must be a line of demarcation where leadership prevents the chaos of uncontrolled egos and creativity.

Scrum is the process which attempts to create and maintain a balance between uncontrolled creative minds and the leadership necessary to drive a product in a stakeholder driven meaningful direction. To provide a brief analogy, picture a hallway with a closed door at the end. Now fill the hallway with cats and attempt to herd them through the doorway. Some will move quickly, some will need to be enticed, other will need to be carried. You will get them all through the doorway in the end, but the process and mechanics will be predictable in concept, unpredictable in practice, and perhaps unattractive or comical to behold. Once all of the cats have been herded through the first door, you close the door firmly, walk down and open the next door, and begin anew to herd your cats toward the second door.

The scrum concept will move all of the team from one stage to the next in similar fashion. It permits individual team members to contribute their own creativity, while at the same time keeping leadership (the scrum master) in a position to close off doors when needed to keep what is essentially a herd of cats manageable. Creative minds want to create, they generally do not want to manage. One of the basic principle of agile development is 'working software over comprehensive documentation', and lack of interest in management principles may be a badge of honor or propriety among developers. Yet management is an inescapable necessity in successful commercial development. Scrum provides the smaller steps necessary to provide distinct milestones without the feeling of micromanagement which can impede creativity and new ideas.

For more information on putting scrum to work for you projects, please contact us.

So you've decided to develop a mobile app. Great choice! As we (and others) have pointed out in plenty of previous blog posts, the rising popularity of smartphones, tablets, and wearables will only make mobile applications more important in coming months and years. We're now past the tipping point in the seemingly endless "mobile vs. desktop" debate, as mobile internet usage surpassed its desktop counterpart for the first time last year.

In other words, it's a great time to get your marketing strategy ready for 2016 by developing a mobile app. But the next step is just as important: picking the right one among the plethora of mobile application development companies to get your app as close to what you want and need as possible. Distinguishing the countless companies out there can be difficult, so we want to help! Here are three distinguishing factors that you should keep in mind when shopping your project around.

1) Agile vs. Waterfall

Just how does the app developer get your app to the finish line? Traditionally, most companies have subscribed to a linear "waterfall" method in which one step is created after the next, with testing being done as the project nears completion. Of course, as you can probably imagine, this method can be too rigid to be successful. For example, you may run into timeline or budget issues that you can do little about once you discover them. At that point, you just have to move forward, knowing that your app will be finished late or over budget.

That's why developers like us have begun to move away from the rigid "waterfall" method and toward a more agile philosophy. In this development process, we break your app project into separate pieces that can be developed at the same time. This allows for increased corporation between the individual designers, coders as well as the client, who can have more input into the development process. Another advantage of agile development is a focus on testing, which can be done throughout the process. This increased flexibility ultimately means a greater chance of finishing a more well-tested app on time, and on budget.

2) Clients vs. Partners

Most developers, like most B2B service providers, follow the strict parameters of an agency-client relationship. You give them the budget and a set of instructions, and they'll (hopefully) deliver the project on time. Communication is kept to status updates.

Of course, this method has several shortfalls. After all, it's in a developer's best interest to create the best product possible, and it can only do so with open two-way communication channels. That's why we believe in a partner relationship with our clients, which includes a more open communication flow as well as the next crucial point:

3) To-Completion vs. Life-Cycle

What happens when your app is finished? Does the developer hand it off, wipe his hands clean and move on to the next client? Probably, but as any mobile marketer knows, the completion point of an app is from its end point. Continuous updates will be necessary as your business expands or changes its offerings, as well as fixing the inevitable bugs that even the greatest amount of testing wasn't able to find.

That's why we strongly believe that in order to build an agency-client relationship that's a close partnership, we want to stay with your business and your app until the end of its lifecycle. That means keeping those communication channels open even after the app is completed, being able to make updates and follow its success for as long as you need.

As you can see, there may be a variety of mobile app development companies out there - but they don't all operate nearly on the same level. So when looking to get your app developed, be sure that you find a developer who matches your preference in terms of agile vs. waterfall, treats you as a partner rather than a client, and is willing to follow your app's entire lifecycle. And if you're ready for just that developer, we'd love to have a word! Contact us to get the conversation started.

Lately, it seems like a custom web app is absolutely necessary to do business online, and even companies that have excellent responsive websites have companion apps. Despite this, very few of these apps live up to their promise. What can you do to ensure that your app will keep people's interest? Here are a few things that will help ensure that your offering won't end up being uninstalled:

1. Keep it relevant. Most companies have caught on to this, but there are still a few that make the mistake of releasing an app that has nothing to do with their main service. An example of this would be a food company that puts out a video game. That may work if children are the target market, but if you cater to adults, you need to keep a tighter focus. The food company in the example would be better off with a cooking app or one that promotes eating the types of food that company sells.

2. Don't just duplicate your site. This is especially true if you have a great adaptive site that offers just as much functionality on the small screen as the app would. This offers no value and will soon find its way to the uninstall list. It's a good idea to offer shopping capabilities if your business involves online buying, but remember that your mobile site is already there to take orders. Your app's main function should be to augment it rather than duplicate it.

3. Come up with something unique. Don't worry if you draw a blank on this one. If you talk to a full-service development company, they should be able to brainstorm with you to devise a new angle. Developers get orders all the time, so they can tell you if an idea is something different or a "yet another X" concept. Developers are also good sources of ideas for methods of presentation and other areas that can be made unique even if the main concept has been done.

4. Don't charge unless you're in the app business. People will pay for apps if they're being sold by app companies, but it's a much different story if your business is something like selling cars. In the latter case, people expect your app to be free and will generally refuse to "pay for your ads."

5. If you are in the app business, avoid saturated concepts. This is basically a matter of supply and demand, but it also ties in with the fact that it's much harder to excel when a market is already full of top-notch competition. Avoid saturated categories unless you have a truly unique concept. Go ahead and commission a custom app that you think could be the next Angry Birds - but avoid copying the one that already exists.

6. Hire an experienced and adaptable developer. This is an essential requirement no matter what you intend your app to do or why you want one. Modern developers can keep up with changing project requirements and use processes that assume that changes will be needed. This is much different from ones who use old-fashioned methods that demanded exact specifications from the start and couldn't accommodate changes midstream. Of course, the value of experience barely needs to be explained. Developers who have plenty of it are the ones who are most likely to deliver a glitch-free product and do so within the estimated time frame.

By keeping these six key factors in mind, you'll increase your chance of being successful with your app. To learn more or discuss having a custom app produced, just contact us. We'll be glad to work with you.

Software as a Service is a rapidly growing field. As corporate offices are becoming more aware of the many possibilities afforded to them by subscription-based software, providers in all industry are entering the field and carving out their niche. In all, the SaaS market is expected to grow over 20 percent within the next two years, and is well on its way to a $50 billion industry - more than double the revenue just two years ago.

Naturally, it's easy to want a piece of that revenue pie. Whether you're a traditional business looking to enter the subscription-based space, or you have an entrepreneurial idea and plan that would just be perfect for an SaaS business model, you may be thinking about entering the SaaS industry. If that's the case, we can help! Here are 5 things to keep in mind for your potential software as a service development.

1) Know Your Audience

Entering the broad field of SaaS, you'll encounter an audience that is much more sophisticated and knowledgeable in its field than you might be used to. You are developing a software for experts in their field; marketing automation software, for instance, among the most popular types of SaaS, will be used primarily by marketers who are looking for and expecting very specific capabilities.

Why does that matter? Because it shapes how you develop your software from the start. Instead of flash, you need to provide substance that visibly helps your customers conduct their business. That's especially true because in the SaaS industry, you're not looking for a one-time sale. You are looking for long-term subscribers, who will only keep coming back to your software if you continue to offer them what they need. Above all, that means:

2) Architecture Matters

Trust us when we say this: exactly how you set up your software will make the difference between an intrigued audience and loyal subscribers. Your users, sophisticated as they are, expect your software to make their business life easier, so integrating your software with other business-related tools can be a huge bonus.

To stay with the marketing automation example above, integration with popular Customer Relationship Management software can be crucial. Of course, so is setting up a software that works reliably and accurately. Speaking of which:

3) Reporting is Crucial

Again, we keep coming back to the sophisticated nature of your audience. Instead of just being happy to use your software, they will expect measures and reporting capabilities that help them prove the worth of your software and their tactics to their constituents.

In most cases, software as a service is a significant investment, and an intricate reporting structure that shows the success and ROI of its capabilities can make the difference between loyal subscribers and one-time customers that jump off after their initial contract is over.

4) Multi-Platform Capabilities

We're not telling you anything new when we say that in a shifting digital landscape, simply developing your SaaS solution for desktop computers is no longer enough. Most of your competitors will conduct their business and provide their structure in the cloud, allowing subscribers access to the software's capabilities and reporting from anywhere in the world.

As a result, your software should run flawlessly on all devices. You may even think about a mobile app for iOS and/or Android, depending on your audience's preference, that provides additional capabilities without the need to open a mobile web browser. Again, your customers will be sophisticated business people who expect access at all times, regardless of device.

As you may imagine from the above paragraphs, developing software as a service solutions can be challenging. But it's also incredibly rewarding, as you're entering a field that continues to grow exponentially. To make sure your SaaS solution is up to par within your industry and the global marketplace, contact us! We'd love to help you enter the market and begin to gain subscribers.

Waterfall is the traditional way that businesses accomplish things. It's main characteristic is it's linearity. It like one of those Discovery channel car shows. Someone brings them an old car, the customer (usually pretty vaguely) tells the boss what he wants to be done. Then a routine build is dramatized for TV (not enough time, ordered the wrong part, scratched the paint, etc.). At the end, the customer comes back swearing that the car is exactly what he had blurredly envisioned from the beginning.

At the beginning of traditional work flow the requirements for the product are all established, and in the middle the creation process, usually monitored, is carried out until the product is complete. The problem with this is that customers usually can't tell you what they really want, they don't generally have enough knowledge of the complexities of the software to accurately describe what they want in the beginning.

Agile development exists to solve this problem. It consists of fixed time sprints, where a specific part or iteration of the project is completed. It's more user focused and can more easily be used to produce a usable prototype more quickly. It requires customer involvement and decisions which might not be good for those with scarce time or interest in the process.

The best of those car shows are the ones that cut down on useless drama to actually educate you. They dramatize the actual difficulty of satisfying the customer. They might show the customer being shown renderings of possible looks for the car, or coming to look at the project and being dissatisfied. Sometimes the boss has to work around the customers restraining budget, being as flexible as possible for the sake of the customer. Find out how Contensive will adapt for your needs, please contact us.

Running a successful business means facing complex challenges that require out-of-the box solutions to achieve your product goals. A viable alternative toward reaching a solution is applying the method of scrum in agile development.

The term “scrum” is an iterative and cumulative agile software development for managing product expansion. Its origin derives from the cooperative rugby strategy where teams gain distance by passing the ball back and forth. In parallel to its origin, scrum outlines a flexible, all-inclusive product development strategy where a development team works as a unit to reach a common goal, challenging alternative methods of the “traditional” approach toward product development. Teams generally self-organize through online and face-to-face collaboration including all team members.

As part of the production process, the underlying principle of scrum involves understanding the client has the right to apply “requirement churn” (client changes mind regarding want or need). The team takes an experiential approach by applying an unconventional manner or strategy toward addressing all unforeseen problems that arise.

Scrum basics

There are three elements that play a role in the scrum process.

 Sprint backlog- (task list applying priority product features)

 Burndown chart - amount of work remaining as backlogs burn down

The Process

The project owner compiles the project requirements according to priority. Working on a defined deadline the sprint planning team tackles top priority items in the backlog. The scrum master tracks the progress of the project guiding team toward completion. A review of the finished sprints foreshadows work on the next sprint, involving the next batch of priority items.

Advantages

Once the sprint process reaches a level of satisfactory development the product is ready for sale while project is nearing completion. This incremental system shortens the time to the market with the possible increase in revenue since each completed backlog represents a new product release. If done correctly all parties involved reap the advantages of successful scrum development.

 For the client scrum returns control of value stream back to the company, delivers product quickly allowing client to swiftly change priorities and requirements. A solid predictable release cycle with built-in testing processes results in product stability.

 Adopting new methods is difficult for companies since the decision's impact affects all aspects. Scrum helps to maintain company integrity and transparency while satisfy their requirements. The various degrees of decision-making shift to the line employees who understand best all the facts.

 Team reassurance from management guarantees enhancement of customer and client relationships, visibility of the entirety of project management process and improved workforce administration.

In the end scrum reinforces overall quality of team’s work through autonomy, self-direction, immediate feedback and sincere collaboration. Much like its namesake all members must collaborate together to move the product toward completion passing innovative and non-traditional methods down the agile developmental field.

We at Contensive are passionate about producing creative solutions and finding answers for your complicated website and mobile application problems. Whether you need web app development, mobile app development, online integration or responsive design or exceptionally talented team of analysts, engineers and designers will collaborate to find the best solution for your business. Contact us today to find out more about our products, services or schedule a briefing.

Wanting an app is easy. In an increasingly mobile-dominated digital environment, it makes perfect sense to reach your potential customers through more ways than one, and a mobile app seems like a perfect solution. The more practical aspects of mobile app development, though, require more thought and planning. We'd love to help! If you want an app but don't know where to start, here are three things you should know before building your first mobile app.

1) Know Your Customers

Any effective marketing-related effort has to begin with your audience, and the process of developing a mobile app is no different. Before you even begin your app development process, you should know everything you can about your potential customers' behavior on mobile devices.

What is their preferred operating system? Would they really prefer an app over a more simple solution like a responsive website that adjusts its design based on their preference? How receptive would they be to the concept of native web apps or extensions that they can use without leaving their browser?

All of these are questions for which you should at least be able to make an educated guess on the answer. Getting that answer can involve surveys and even informal focus groups with your current customers, while you can glean some of the information (such as your customers' preferred mobile devices and operating systems) with a look at your analytics accounts.

2) Know Your Goal

Once you know what your customers want and need, it's time to figure out just what you want to accomplish with your app. This is, of course, intimately connected to the first question: knowing your customers will give you a better idea of what they expect from a mobile app.

But at the same time, pointing out the necessity of knowing your potential app's goal is worth its own point. Your app could function as a brand awareness-builder, a brand loyalty helper with an integrated reward system, or incorporate ecommerce capabilities.

Of course, there are many more possible directions for your app to go in, each of them requiring a different approach to get to the finished product. Establishing a singular goal and developing your app with that goal in mind will go a long way toward getting a polished and effective app that helps attract and retain customers.

3) Know Your Developer

Trust us when we say this: any app developer you work with will appreciate their clients coming in with answers to the first two points in this blog post. But at the same time, they'll be glad to help you figure out the direction of your app. Of course, that's where the similarities of app developers end.

As you may have noticed when you browsed through our website and past blog post, we are firm believers in the "agile" development process. That means breaking up a project such as your app into several different parts that can be developed at once, allowing for increased testing times and cost-effectiveness.

Of course, not every developer subscribes to this methodology. Others prefer a more traditional "waterfall" development process in which an app (or website) is developed in a more linear, step-by-step process. Understanding your developer's philosophy when it comes to app development is crucial to finding a partner that fits your needs.

If you're thinking about adding to your company's digital presence with a mobile app, you've made the first important step. Congratulations! Following the three above steps will help ensure that the rest of the process will go as smoothly as that initial decision. And if you need any additional help throughout your planning process, don't hesitate to contact us!