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Did we ever anticipate mobile phones to battle computers? On the contrary, it is a well observed fact today. What it basically means is that with technology you should “expect the unexpected.”  Through innovative gadgets like tablet computers, smart phones, netpads, etc we can access websites anytime, anywhere as and when required.  As a result, responsive web designing is gaining momentum and web designers across the sphere have started to track and emphasize its importance.

Responsive web designing in its simplest form is how your website adapts and responds according to user environment, namely his device and actions. Bearing this in mind, we suggest three major factors that every web designer should mull over while aiming to design a responsive web page.

Fluid grids:

Conventional fixed layout designing was appreciated a decade ago, but today the scenario is different. The extensive range of screen resolutions in diverse gadgets is a matter of concern, when it comes to delivering quality user experience. To obviate this concern, the concept of fluid grids has been propounded which is based on proportions rather than on pixels. Counting the screen size, the layouts automatically adjust and resize in relation to one another. The process of responsive web designing is drastically refined by fluid grids however, on the flip side it is not easy to interact when the screen size is thin involving multiple columns.

Flexible images:

One more important feature in responsive web designing is flexible images. Scaling down huge images in a small browser is definitely a trying task for designers. In addition, optimizing load time is also crucial. Popular techniques that are frequently used to crop images are utilizing CSS and storing multiple image versions on server in varied sizes. If this doesn’t solve the purpose you can conceal unnecessary images, employing media queries. Web designers increasingly recommend sites with minimum image loads.

Media Queries:

Media queries are logical expressions that check for media features like height, width, colour, etc in relation to the device’s screen size. Eventually, with the aid of media queries you can discover the minimum/ maximum width and apply the corresponding CSS3. Crafting a media query is simple, yet to implement an efficient one, it should be thoroughly understood.

It can either be embedded within a style sheet or made external, stacked or overlapped. Besides there are other concerns like what your default CSS style is, minimum/maximum width considerations, orientation, breaking point units, etc.  As you can imagine, each condition has its own advantages and disadvantages. Consequently as a designer, you should know the what, why, and how depending on the project and its users.

Mobile browsing is expected to overtake desktop browsing in another 3 or 4 years which means that websites should capably handle a multitude of browsers and screen resolutions.  Moreover, it is impossible to create compatible versions for every new device launched. Responsive web designing is therefore, the one and only option!

Further reading: Fluid Grids, Responsive themes for Drupal designers,

Many of our customers who look for Ecommerce solutions find Opensource solutions to build it cost effectively and they like what we recommended, Cubecart!There are reasons:1. Easy to customize (skin based), and this keeps the cost low.
2. You can bring great look and feel with skins, you can make the site like complete custom design. No footsteps of Cubecart would be visible.
3. PHP programmers likes it. – Clean code structure, easy to manage. Our PHP programmers have a great feel about it.
4. Designers like it. Clean XHTML interface and CSS driven.
5. SEO guys like it. Search Engine Friendly URLs, Custom URLs, Meta Tags, Robots.txt & PHP Session Killer etc
6. Good support from Cubecart team apart from forum support (Like http://www.cubecartforums.org/)
7. Low cost, $180 only.
8. Good number of alternate payment solutions, Shipping modules (http://www.cubecart.com/modules)
9. Web2.0 interface, But I am yet to see any Mashups.We strongly recommend and teach the importance of SEO for customers who wants us to build Ecommerce sites, as any online business should consider SEO as their primary marketing channel – Not just news paper ads, for long term business through online. Cubecart is one good choice to build SEO friendly Ecommerce sites that supports online marketing.

This post is written based on the requests seen in forums. I still found most of the surfers don’t have clear picture about the “difference between Normal design websites and Web2.0“. So thought of writing a brief note on Web2.0

Hopefully people who try to know Web 2.0 design standards should be knowing about normal design, so not much explaining here to bore

Starting, Web 2.0 websites allow visitors to do more than just retrieve information what we see in normal design. They can build on the interactive facilities, allowing users to run software applications altogether through a browser

Below are the attributes that can be followed for Web2.0 

• Clean & simple style
• Pastell colors
• Center aligned with 2 or 3 columns
• Bigger Logo
• Bigger Buttons
• Bigger font size
• Descriptive HTML (XML style)
• Bold text introductions
• Vibrant colors with gradients
• Visible header
• Content as Feeds
• Rich and interactive user interfaces
• Users active participation
• Video sharing
• Social Networking

Get ready to start furnishing a Web2.0 site

We have developed some Web 2.0 sites, for more clarification you can mail us for website names to get a clear picture

Its Web2.0 era, and many of us know how a web 2.o site would look like. We are also developing web 2.0 sites, especially Social networking sites, though we still have no clarity on Web2.0 impact in business. But everybody wants to make it. We get at least 2 requests per week for Social networking application development in Web 2.0 mash ups which are already aplenty in the market. Due to the recent popularity it received,  venture capitalists pour money over such applications, and they get one for them with a “BETA” tag under their logo.

I recently found few directories with a list of web2.0 sites. I was wondering what is the need for this huge list? Are they going to be used by people? How many of us are registered with more than 3 or 4 social networking sites? While I appreciate specific group based social networking sites, what is the need for 200 similar social networking sites for one community? Is that not looking potentiality waste of money. After investing few thousands of dollars what will happen if the site is not promoted due to the fear of its competition it already has? What market can the site catch? 20 registered users in 2 years? How many users will come back to the site after 2-3 visitors?

Here is a list of diretories which has 100s of web2.0 based sites, under different categories. Are they worth visiting and registering?

http://web2.econsultant.com/

http://www.go2web20.net/

http://www.digfoot.com/

I do not say there should be no competition. But uniqueness is needed for any web2.0. Many of them are offering free services, and that can not be the only reason for their success. I beleive the following points should be considered by anyone who wants to develop a Web2.0 application.

1. Does the market or the society need this application?

2. Does the site going to make impact in the market or the society?

3. Can I make money out of this site and this is not just my hobby?

4. Am I offering unique features that will attract used in my web2.0 site?

5. Am I NOT wasting my (or my VC’s) money by making Just another web2.o site?

6. Do I have enough funds to market the site heavily and to overtake my competition?

7. This is not just a trial I want to make since I have few thousand excess money in my Bank A/C, Right?

If you say even single “NO!, you should really think about your stratagy.