January 2017

Google Maps will Help you Park

Have you ever driven slowly around a metropolitan area, looking for a place to park? Most of us have. While GPS apps and devices can help you find a location, they don’t tell where to park. Thankfully, Google Maps is now more helpful than it already is: there is a new feature that lets users know how crowded parking is at public locations. So when you’re driving to a concert or show in a city, you will now see a “P” symbol where the parking is for your destination. The “P” will be blue if parking is available, and red if it’s limited.

How this will Help Drivers

According to NBC, about 30% of traffic in packed cities comes from drivers looking for parking. That’s a pretty substantial amount. With this app, drivers won’t have to roam around looking for parking as much. This will cut down the hassle of finding a spot for everyone on the road. For now traffic is not updated in real time. Google took the parking information from “historical parking data”. So if a parking garage is typically crowded, Google Maps will let you know to look elsewhere. This is good for drivers headed to a city they’ve never been to before, who aren’t sure which lots fill up quickly.

Who can Use Google Maps for Parking

As of right now, this feature is only on Android devices. It should come out for iOS devices at a later date. In addition to this, Google has only created this for 25 cities in the US right now. This includes: San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Portland, Cleveland, Dallas, Phoenix, Houston, Miami, and more.

This is a pretty exciting development for people who use Google Maps frequently. It will help you navigate parking in dense areas, cut down traffic, and lessen the headache of driving in a city.

Using Abstract Shapes in Web Design

Union Square Design Design, Web Design

abstract shapes on a web page — source: extcreative.com

An unlikely trend has developed this January — using abstract shapes in web design. These squares, squiggly lines, and triangles are scattered on the home page design in a seemingly random fashion. But it kind of works. It is unique, and it draws readers’ eyes across the page. It holds attention. And we know how important it is to capture and keep visitors’ attention. So here we’ll give you a brief rundown on these abstract shapes and how to incorporate them on you own website.

Geometric Designs on Websites

Geometric designs and backgrounds have always been popular in web design. Websites are generally designed on a grid, so incorporating shapes into the grid seems to make perfect sense. Geometric backgrounds are also used in place of photos because they take less time to load. Geometric designs are perfect to make your site stand out, and they’re generally very nice looking as well.

Abstract Shapes in Web Design

However, these abstract shapes are a bit different from geometric design. These shapes are just thrown into a design, and are used to either move visitors’ eyes, or simply spice up a flat design. The shapes you choose can be anything you like. You can fill them in, or leave them as simple outlines. They can move around the page, or they can stay in one place. You can make them interactive. It’s really up to you to get creative with these abstract shapes. The possibilities vary, depending on the kinds of aesthetic you want for your page.

To include abstract shapes on your website’s design, you need to be a certain kind of company. They’re playful shapes — so they pair well with playful, creative companies. So if you or your business’s website is more serious, these shapes may not be for you.

Mobile Gaming Changing the Landscape

Union Square Design E-Commerce

We all saw the success of Pokemon Go this summer. People flocked to the streets, phones out, looking for Pokemon to catch on one of Nintendo’s first smartphone games. Now, Nintendo has released Super Mario Run for iPhone; Fire Emblem is coming out February 2nd for iPhone and Android, and an Animal Crossing mobile game will be released this spring. While smartphone gaming used to be mocked as inferior to “real” games on consoles, the times are changing. Now, mobile gaming is surpassing other forms of gaming.

Mobile Gaming in 2016

It was predicted early last year that mobile games would surpass PC and console earnings for the first time. And that came true! Mobile gaming brought in $41 billion, while retail gaming brough in $26 billion. Mobile game developers also began to partner with large gaming companies — for PC and consoles — to create apps. Overall, mobile gaming had a good year in 2016. And we can tell the landscape is changing as games once only for Nintendo consoles — such as Animal Crossing — are making their way to mobile.

Predictions for 2017

We except mobile gaming to keep rising in popularity this year. Creators will incorporate AI more, for a more interactive experience. For example, companies will use AI, “to create deterministic logic to using it to create probabilistic environments (i.e., to learn from the game play and make the play more dynamic and challenging for the user).” We also expect game developers to focus more on more creative ways to advertise in games.

Companies can also begin to use mobile gaming to promote their consoles. For example, Nintendo can try and convert all of the Pokemon Go and Super Mario Run fans into customers for their new console coming out this year — the Nintendo Switch. If they create great smartphone games, it gives consumers more of an incentive to buy their more expensive consoles.

Best SSL Certificate Providers for Your Security

Union Square Design E-Commerce

When it comes to online security, you don’t want to put visitors to your website at risk. If you run an e-commerce website, where people give their credit card information, address, and e-mail to purchase goods, you need to ensure that these people won’t get their information stolen. SSL certificates are a must when it comes to online business; they connect your computer to a secure server ensuring protection. We’ve compiled the best SSL certificate providers for your, and your customers’, security.

GoDaddy — Not just Domain Names

GoDaddy is very well known for providing domain names. But did you know they also sell SSL certificates starting at $69? Different packages allow you to choose the one that is best for your needs. Also, GoDaddy customer service is what gives them an edge. There is live, great support 24/7.

Network Solutions — Affordable and Trustworthy

Network Solutions is a highly trusted brand. They have the support for a large amount of encryption, and they have 24/7 customer support. In addition to this, their cheapest SSL certificate is only $49.99. Of course, price is dependent on how much you need to be secured. So if you’re a small company, this may be great for you.

Digicert — For the Large Businesses

This is for the big companies. Digicert is used by giant companies, such as Microsoft, Yahoo, AT&T, Facebook, Amazon.com, Wikipedia, and NASA. Their prices are reasonable for the amount of SSL certificates they offer. But their cheapest package comes to $156/year.

VeriSign — Most Trusted, Most Money

VeriSign, like Digicert, is another SSL certificate provider for larger companies. They are a trusted company that can support up to 256 bit encryption. The most expensive certificate comes to over $1,000 — but you don’t need to spend that much on a smaller package.

When it comes down to it, trust is a very important factor when choosing a SSL certificate provider. Cost, reliability, and customer service are all key factors as well. That being said, these are some of the best SSL certificate providers around.

4 Goals for Web Developers in 2017

Union Square Design Web Design, Web Development

Do you need to work on some web development skills? Are you having trouble keeping your skill set up to date? If so, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve already written about trends we expect to see in 2017 — so how should web developers prepare themselves for these trends? Here are 4 goals for web developers in 2017; sticking to these goals are a great way to expand your knowledge and prepare for the future of web development.

Learn more about AI

Artificial Intelligence is being used in various ways such as with chat bots and website creation. Bots are making life easier in some ways, but creating and perfecting them takes time and effort. Conversational UI in particular will become more important as time goes on.If you don’t know much about AI, now is the time to learn. Soon it will be integral for every site.

Make websites even more mobile friendly

The new motto is “mobile first”. Design for mobile sites in mind, and then translate them to computer screens. People literally live with their phones in their hands, all of the time. Designing with mobile in mind will save you time and money down the road.

Include Live Support

We’re sure you’ve seen those “Chat with us!” pop-ups at the bottom of web pages. Live support is important for websites to have today — especially e-commerce websites. If you’re a developer, be sure to learn how to create these little chats. Many companies will be asking for them.

Learn a New Language

Every developer has a language that they’d like to learn but just keep putting off. So here is your push: learn a new language this year. If you are unsure about which one to learn, there is a buzz around a few languages this year, such as JavaScript and Ruby on Rails.

Hopefully we’ve inspired you to learn a few new things this year. These goals for web developers aren’t totally out of reach. It’s important to try and stay ahead of the game — or at least keep up with it.

Should You Switch to HTTPS?

Union Square Design E-Commerce, Web Development

HTTP and HTTPS are pretty much the same thing, with one minor difference: the S stands for Secure. This means that websites with HTTPS are secure for users to visit. HTTPS helps reduce of the risk of hacking. This is because HTTPS encrypts the server. “Encrypted” means that the data is converted into code, to prevent unauthorized access. So, the user can be sure that their information will be safe.

Do you need to switch to HTTPS?

It seems like a no-brainer: a safe website is better for visitors. But it’s not always necessary. If you run a small website and never ask Internet users to provide personal information on it, then you probably don’t need it. If you aren’t collecting their information, or payments, you can get away with using HTTP. On top of that HTTPS won’t protect you any more from hackers than HTTP will. It’ll just protect your website viewers.

Think about making the switch to HTTPS

Google recently announced that having HTTPS can improve your ranking signal. This means that your website can rank higher on Google search engine results. That’s great, but it really only accounts for a small percentage in the overall ranking factor. Meaning, it won’t bump you from #50 to #1. Maybe it’ll bump you to #40. So, is it really worth it? Well, Google seems to think there are many virtues of using HTTPS over HTTP. They have even run a campaign called HTTPS Everywhere in the past.

Overall, it’s up to what you think is best for your website. People are more likely to trust HTTPS over HTTP. This can lead to many benefits for site owners. If your website is more trustworthy, your business in turn becomes more trustworthy, and it will most likely excel. So with this in mind, you can decide for yourself if you want to make the switch to HTTPS from HTTP.

5 Chrome Extensions for Web Developers

Union Square Design Web Development

Creating websites seems to get more and more complicated as the Internet evolves. While once upon a time the Internet could only be viewed on a computer screen, on one browser, that time is no more. With tablets, phones, laptops and Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc. you need to account for web development on all these different devices. These chrome extensions making designing and developing sites much less frustrating.

1. Web Developer

Web Developer can save you a lot of time when creating websites. With this extension you can access tools to edit CSS, image size, view JavaScript, and more. It’s available for Firefox as well. This chrome extension is pretty much a must-have.

2. Accessibility Tools

You need to ensure your website can be accessed by people with disabilities. This extension lets you run an accessibility check on any web page. You can also add an Accessibility sidebar pane to your Chrome Developer Tools. If anything’s wrong, it’ll let you know.

3. PerfectPixel

With this extension, you no longer have to worry about the design matching the code. Simply install PerfectPixel, and you can put a semi-transparent image overlay on top of your web page to compare it against the HTML code.

4. User Agent Switcher

We all know how frustrating it is to design websites for various screens. But this extension allows you to trick websites into thinking you are using whatever browser and screen you want. This is useful for testing how your website looks and acts on all devices.

5. Check My Links

Links are important for websites. If you have a lot of them, download this extension. It will find all the links on a web page, and check each one for you to make sure they work. It highlights good links in green and the broken ones in red.

Goodbye frustration, and welcome to simpler web development. Hopefully these chrome extensions will help you develop websites.

How to Create a Great Landing Page

Union Square Design Design, Web Design

A landing page, also known as a home page, can make or break a website. Since it is the first page all visitors will see, you need to make sure it is eye-catching and informative. There are a few things that can mess up a landing page: the design, the loading time, the content, and more. Here are a few tips on how to create a great landing page.

Keep the Content Simple

You don’t want to scare visitors away with unclear jargon, or too many words on the page. A landing page shouldn’t have an insane amount of content on it. Instead, make sure your overall message is clear, and provide links to additional pages. Use the rest of your website to explain what you’re all about. Just let the home page act as a summary, and a call, to entice visitors to keep reading.

Make it Look Professional

Your landing page’s design should be attractive. The overall look of a website contributes to the feel of it, and the way people will respond to it. If a website looks cheap, or poorly designed, people will not trust it. First impressions count, especially on the Internet.

Let Visitors Know You’re Real

On the Internet, there are tons of fake, spam websites looking to take people’s money. In order to assure visitors that you’re a real person, with a real company, provide your contact information. An email, a phone number, and the location of your business (if applicable) should be somewhere on the landing page — we recommend putting it on the footer.

With these tips, you can transform your landing page into an effective business tool. By creating an enticing home page, visitors will stay on your website longer and return to it as well. You don’t want to mess up the very first impression people will have of you or your business.

Easy Fixes to Common Magento Issues

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When working in Magento, it’s always good practice to heed caution and think twice, because Magento can be quite unforgiving when it comes to the smallest mistakes. We’ve compiled a list of five easy fixes to some of the most common Magento issues below.

1. Configuring Magento to Work with a New Domain

There are two things you should do in order to configure Magento to work with a new domain:

Edit the Magento database

Go to your cPanel > phpMyAdmin. Select your Magento database from the left menu, find the table called core_config_data and click on it. Click the Browse tab and edit the first two fields:

web/unsecure/base_urlweb/secure/base_url

by clicking the pen icon in front of each of them. Replace your old domain name with your new one and click the Go button to save the change.

Clear the Magento cache.

The Magento cache folder is located in your Magento installation directory > /var/cache. To clear the cache, simply delete the folder.

You can fix many Magento issues just by clearing the cache.

2. Enabling Search Engine Friendly URLs in Magento

To enable Search Engine Friendly URLs in Magento, you have to log in to the Magento administration area and click on the Configuration button. Under the System navigation menu, switch to Web page from the sub-navigation panel on the left.

When the page loads, you will see blue lines which represent closed options tablets. Click on the Search Engines Optimization tab and turn on the Use Web Server Rewrites (mark as Yes). Click on the Save Config button and your Magento search engine friendly URLs will be enabled.

3. Speeding Up Magento

Slow performance causes many Magento issues. The recommended way to speed up Magento’s performance is to enable its Compilation function. The performance increase is between 25%-50% on page loads.

You can enable Magento Compilation from your Magento admin panel > System > Tools > Compilation.

4. Redirecting Magento to Open Through WWW

For SEO and usability purposes you may want to redirect your visitors to open your site only through www (http://www.yourdomain.com).

To do this in Magento, open the .htaccess file in the folder where Magento is installed. In it locate the RewriteEngine on line and right after it add the following lines:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^yourdomain.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.yourdomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

Once you do this, save the .htaccess file and log in to the Magento admin area > System > Configuration menu and from the left panel click the Web button.

Unfold the Unsecured set of options and change the Base URL option from http://yourdomain.com to http://www.yourdomain.com.

Save the changes, and your Magento will start working through www.yourdomain.com only!

5. How to Set Up a Blog in Magento

It is not difficult to set up a blog in Magento. However, note that this functionality is not included by default and you will have to use a custom extension to add it. You can search Magento Connect for an extension that will fully suit your needs. One of the popular free extensions that you can use is the Magento Blog – Community Edition. Once the extension is installed, you will have one additional section in the top menu of your Magento admin area called Blog. From there you can adjust the newly-installed Blog settings, add posts, etc.

The above five tips will hopefully help you resolve at least some of the Magento issues you have faced or are about to face.

Best WordPress Tutorials for Merchants

Union Square Design E-Commerce, WordPress

WordPress — on the surface, it’s so simple, and easy for a blogger to get used to. But the more we study you, the more we see that there is so much to learn and uncover. There are tons of WordPress plugins, each that is special in its own way. We have an informative list to share with you today. Here are some of the best WordPress tutorials for merchants who are looking to utilize their WordPress site.

1. WordPress Lessons

The best place to start for instruction on WordPress. WordPress Lessons has a large library of WordPress tutorials; this includes lessons about WordPress for Beginners, designing your WordPress site, theme development, and website development.

2. WordPress eCommerce: Problems, Plugins, and Solutions

Problems, Plugins, and Solutions covers the problems and challenges that you may face when developing a WordPress e-commerce site. Some examples are evaluating your business for a WordPress e-commerce solution, choosing the right theme for your website, and using solutions to address WordPress e-commerce challenge.

3. How to Speed Up Your WordPress Website

Nowadays, users expect websites to be as fast as they can possibly be. So improving your website’s loading times will boost your revenues. Smashing Magazine’s tutorial offers twelve quick fixes that will dramatically improve your website’s loading time.

4. The Definitive Guide to WordPress Security

This Moz tutorial is a guide to WordPress security. It covers hosting and server-level security, WordPress installation, personal security, and a seven-step checklist to maintain constant vigilance for your WordPress sites.

5. The Definitive Guide to Higher Rankings For WordPress Sites

Yoast’s guide will teach you how to optimize your website to the best practices, improve your rankings, increase your audience, and the overall performance of your website.

6. WordPress Multi-site Guide for Beginners

Multi-site is a feature within WordPress that allows you to run a number of sites from one WordPress installation. This tutorial explores multi-site advantages and disadvantages, examples, available plugins, multi-site installation, and help to determine if a multi-site is right for you.

7. How to Setup a WordPress eCommerce Site

A basic WordPress tutorial on how to set up a WordPress e-commerce site. IT reviews popular e-commerce plugins and online store themes for WordPress. These options also allow you to launch an online store, quickly and easily, with minimal expense.