Are we heading towards a Single Browser Web?
The advent of the internet in the 90s saw the rise of the first gen web browsers like Lynx, Mosaic, Netscape, Internet Explorer and many more. Long story short, until the last decade, there were a number of browsers catering to end users. However, fast forward to 2019, programmers and consumers are stuck to mainly 3 browsers with a significant market share namely Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox. Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge have a paltry share.
Anyone in business would acknowledge that competition is desirable, encourages innovation and brings out the best in everyone. But, given the current scenario, it looks like Google’s dominance is here to stay. So, where does that leave programmers and developers and what does it entail for them in a single browser world?
For a long time, Microsoft was ruling the web. Then Mozilla’s Firefox and Google’s Chrome happened and it literally changed the browser game. These two browsers prioritised speed and ease of use and consequently became a haven for web designers, developers and hard-core programmers. Companies providing a wide array of web development services preferred these browsers that provided the latest features. End users almost always turn a blind eye to the default buggy Internet Explorer and use it only once – just for installing Chrome or Firefox. Things took a dramatic turn with the boom of smartphones and the not-so-gradual shift of consumers towards mobile browsing.
Given that Google bought Android and Apple pioneered the touchscreen, it was show-time thereon for both these companies. While Chrome was the default browser on android phones, Safari was the default browser on iphones. When it comes to browsers, users and developers, tend to stick with the default option provided by the Operating system, representing huge entry barriers. This is especially true with mobiles.
Developers must be aware of the problems posed in such a scenario, where one huge player dominates the market – case in point Google. It does not augur well for a truly open web. Tying the browser with the OS reflects a practice of anti-competition. For webdevelopers, this means that they have to design for one major entity and bend their designs as per the directions of the player.
On the other hand, having just one browser means easy work for developers, right from design to testing and maintenance. If there were a large number of browsers, they would have to deal with each one of them, leading to more time consumption for things like browser testing.
However, things are bound to change in a market. There might be a new player in town, posing a serious challenge to Chrome or Firefox itself could rapidly re-engineer themselves or Microsoft may be able to finally deliver on the Internet Explorer we really need or Google could fall prey to any legislative policy changes. Anything might happen and programmers must be on the lookout for such signs. They must be able to quickly adapt to the new browser – the one end users are likely to shift to. Developer forums could of be of use to individual developers because they will stay connected and be aware of the current trends.
Looking to hire a programmer to initiate your online business or develop a new rich website from scratch? Our programmers at HireIndianProgrammers provide a range of web development services covering the software development life cycle in its entirety. Having been in the field for over a decade and a half, we guarantee that you will be satisfied with our output delivered by our dedicated programmers. Proceed to check our space to know more about us and our previous projects.
Mistakes you need to steer clear while developing your Website
If you are someone new to online business or already have an established online presence, either way, you would readily acknowledge that business websites are strongly linked to your brand image. As dedicated programmers at HireIndianProgrammers, we have a compiled a list of some blunders that you may make while developing your website.
In committing such blunders, it will heavily cost your business in terms of not only signup conversions and sales but also your brand equity.
Mistake 1 – Not Adapting to Mobile
It is 2019. Smartphones have made deep inroads into people’s lives and studies show that more than two thirds of the people browse online using their mobiles. So, it is extremely crucial that you also develop your website accordingly for the mobile version.
In fact, mobile searches are to grow from here on and adapting to mobile will help in your SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Not developing a mobile friendly website will be a loss of business potential. Clients who have hired our programmers attribute the significant boost of their sales to our successful deployment of mobile versions of websites.
Mistake 2 – Sluggish Loading Times
Time and again, we have come across this issue. Visitors coming to your website to make a purchase and learn about a new product invariably want a smooth browsing experience. Long loading times irritate the visitor and they are likely to immediately exit your site if there are other alternatives.
So guess what causes slugging loading times? Yes, you guessed it right. Too much Content. This also includes heavy images and irrelevant sliders and animations. Remember, you are conducting business online and people are here for convenience. Therefore, keep things simple – talk about your products exactly with accurate images.
Mistake 3 – Not Optimising your SEO
Programmers who have been in the game for long recognise the importance of SEO optimised content i.e making your website relevant. It means that curating your content exactly as you want your target customers to perceive your business (brand) and Google’s web crawlers.
In other words, design content that is original and unique with a set of keywords that lead directly to your business.
Mistake 4 – Not Keeping your Website Upto date
This is pretty straightforward and holds true for the conventional business as well. There MUST be regular updation of website – whether addition of content or modification of design elements and so on. In failing to do so, you are losing to competitors and visitors will not hesitate to hop on to next viable alternative.
One of the most common signs of an outdated website is the presence of dead or broken links. Any prudent programmer you hire would say that the mere presence of these links will turn away visitors.
Mistake 5 – Not paying due attention to CTA elements
CTA – Call to Action elements are those buttons and links that directly influence your signup conversions and end sales – pretty common in any e-commerce websites like Amazon. Both visibility and orderly attractiveness are the key factors when designing CTA elements.
Positioning them in a completely random and irrelevant way not only causes inconvenience to your visitors but also negatively impacts your website credibility.
In all these mistakes that we have compiled, there is a common theme – your website is never complete but rather it is always a work in progress.
By hiring our dedicated programmers at HireIndianProgrammers, we ensure that these mistakes are steered clear of throughout the software development cycle.
Get in touch with our programmers here.
Top 5 Useful UX and UI Tools
Web programmers around the world have the mandate of not only providing error-free software but also address usability issues much before in the software development cycle. In fact, they are so common that these can be very often resolved in the design phase itself with the help of several tools.
In this blogpost, our dedicated programmers at HireIndianProgrammers having extensive knowledge of multiple software platforms, will delve into the different front-end tools to reduce usability concerns – providing for a breezy experience.
Mason
With Mason, programmers spread across different geographic locations can collaborate and work on a website’s front end. There are not much expenses related to the addition or modification of any feature that is usually associated in this part of the development cycle.
What makes Mason a hit among programmers is the fact that it takes care of the hard coding stuff and programmers can directly focus on the larger issues of deploying robust software. By using Mason, you can seek to bring your entire product team together, push updates in seconds and includes, among other things, features like, user registration, SSO, two-factor-authentication and so on.
Interfacer
Interfacer is a quality front end tool available for programmers to makes the best use of – especially with regard to its extensive library resources. This library is not only highly comprehensive but also a fun resource for programmers to experiment with.
Now what does this library contain? It is a collection of everything ranging from fonts, icons to UI Designs and templates for websites. All of this is free for programmers to work with.
Webflow
Webflow is a one-stop solution for all your website development needs including but not limited to website design, CMS, hosting etc; Even if you are a beginner in programmer, fret not, for Webflow is designed for both experienced programmers and beginners alike.
You can design whole layouts for every website or app from scratch with ease, therefore, Webflow is creative hotspot for programmers to unleash their full potential.
UXPin
UXPin is built on the premise of iterative wireframing and prototyping. A powerful cloud based prototyping tool, UXPin promises programmers to allow them to design, prototype and collaborate.Programmers can start designing from the pre-coded modules.
The best thing about UXPin is the provision of sharing designs across stakeholders including clients and other programmers on the team in any form like wire frames. This means that feedback becomes central to the design process ultimately reducing costly time resource.
With that we come to the end of this post and would like to reiterate to programmers and online business people the importance of UX. UX is one of those small things that impresses visitors to your site. A good UX will impress visitors to the extent that they go on to bookmark your website for future browsing – thereby increasing brand loyalty and word of mouth.
After all, a smooth online purchase experience is what all customers yearn for, isn’t it?
Start designing your website with a renewed emphasis on UX by hiring our programmers. Get in touch with our team here.