Design awesome websites with these CSS libraries
Most of us web developers and programmers would be familiar with CSS frameworks. Many a time, clients with an intent to hire a programmer expect a solid, responsive and accessible website. In an effort to deliver upon such expectations, programmers work round the clock deploying their best methodologies that also includes effectively leveraging the power of CSS. What is the beauty of CSS you ask? Front end web development plays a major role in attracting users to the website and CSS is a significant part of the same. CSS frameworks provide a robust and standardised platform for programmers to address the common and recurring issues of front end web development without having to start from scratch every time while designing applications for clients. After all, time is of the essence for web developers. CSS libraries on the other hand provide greater control to the developer.
There are several CSS libraries available on the internet which forms the basis for this blogpost. In our collective endeavour to better satisfy the clients, our developer team at HireIndianProgrammers came up with a list of cool CSS libraries that will definitely make the client’s website stand out from the competitive crowd.
CSS Wand
True to its name, CSS Wand empowers the developer to customise websites creatively with an easy copy-paste mechanism. The library is a simple CSS tool that allows for deploying cool animation effects on the client’s site. For example, designing buttons with a ripple effect and deliberating on the perfect loading animations.
Atomise
Atomise is a very minimalistic CSS library more suited for those clients that want to keep things simple or make an apparent understatement. As the library proclaims, Atomise is style neutral letting developers to define their own margin and grid classes and breakpoints. Perhaps the main highlight of this tool is its emphasis on human-readable classes.
Spectrum CSS
Coming from the stables of Adobe, this CSS is along the lines of Adobe’s design language. It is a CSS-only library meaning that only simple things like typography, checkboxes and the like are designed. Developers can access the demo from their website, thus giving an idea of different elements.
Woah.css
Having the ability to install either via npm or bower, Woah.css is for those clients that want to exhibit quirkiness in their website. While this may not appeal to serious business entrepreneurs, we are sure that there are some start-up clients with wacky sense of humour and serve their customers in the same manner. The different animation effects available on Woah.css speaks for itself in this regard. There is even an infinite class for repeating animations forever.
Denali
This CSS library is perfect for the serious formal business websites that want to project a highly professional image. Based on its own design language, the denali design language, this CSS is lightweight and flexible. Developers have the ability to design with custom variables there by making it easier for the tool’s components to adapt to any business brand.
relaxCSS
We would recommend this library especially for the beginner developers looking to easily deploy simple CSS animations on their client’s website. There are several components such as backgrounds, buttons, font weight, tables, text containers, margins and more. There is also a dark theme available. Adding these styles is not a difficulty which can be done by a grid layout.
Raisin CSS
This is a utility library that certainly requires some amount of expertise on the part of the developer to indulge with different classes. There are pre-built modules like CSS Grid, breakpoints, overflow and so on which allow for high levels of customisation.
There are many more such CSS libraries such vov.css, animation library etc. Having gone through the list, what do you think would be a great CSS library for your web development assignment. Share us your comments below.
For further queries in hiring a programmer, contact us here.
CSS Hero – First Impressions
Themes are important for clients selling products, services or content online. If successfully deployed, they position themselves firmly in the minds of end users, thereby retaining existing customers and attracting new customers. But how do clients who most often try to hire a WordPress developer decide on a theme? Many a time, we have come across clients distressed in finding the right theme, especially because there is a lot of competition and they need to clearly stand out. Yet another factor in consideration is the responsiveness. There are a lot of themes around in the WordPress world but almost always there is a constraint. The said plugin might be expensive or it requires the professional expertise of a developer. So in this blogpost, we will talk about our first impressions in using CSS Hero – a remarkable plugin that claims to help in customising clients’ websites with ease.
How does it work?
Using a simple point and click mechanism, all customisations on CSS Hero is done on the front end. As in a page builder, the client is able to select customisable elements of the webpage. The live editing. Perhaps the best feature of CSS Hero is that it allows clients deploy customisations separately to the original themes by creating a dedicated file. This is a boon in disguise, for in the untoward event of website crash, clients can easily revert to their earlier theme versions. Nothing can lose crucial customers such as a bad user experience.
What’s more? CSS Hero also enjoys a very wide compatibility with other themes like Divi. With respect to pricing, the plugin is not expensive in traditional terms. In fact, clients can choose from 4 different pricing plans as per their project requirements. However, they need to pay additionally with every year of license renewal. The client also gets extra support from the CSS Hero team. There is a starter plan, personal plan, pro plan, lifetime pro depending on the number of sites. Installation of the plugin is quite standard as in other plugins. Purchase, download and upload the client’s website. After which, the client can activate the license by getting the corresponding key. Customisation using the plugin can be initiated by clicking on the said button in the preview screen.
Going about Customisation
The client can click on any area of the webpage and instantly a sidebar opens up with plenty of options. For instance, by clicking on the background of the page, all related aspects of the background pop up in the sidebar. There is yet another quirky feature that allows for clients in repeating a particular customisation every time. The highlight of CSS Hero is experimentation and with provision for reverting back to prior versions, clients need to worry about getting creative till they get the desired results. They can get into modifying individual components like changing the colour of hyperlinks whenever mouse pointer is placed. Clients with certain experience of coding are also welcome to add individual snippets to existing code by clicking on the inspector tab.
Clients can easily restore their code by exporting their CSS file after minification to an external location. So resetting after this process will be cause no problems whatsoever. The support and documentation of CSS Hero is quite robust in our opinion. Novices can also easily learn using the plugin by just following the elegant tutorials that includes videos too. Want personal support? CSS Hero has got your back. The team behind the plugin can be contacted through various channels such as email, twitter, raising a ticket on the client’s account etc;
Final Thoughts
Our initial impressions tell us that CSS Hero is all about ease of use, prioritising user control that allows to elegantly choose, test and display theme changes in real time. One only needs to follow the instructions provided on the screen. In case a client is short on funds when hiring a WordPress Programmer, they can forego the process of coding themes from scratch and instead use CSS Hero.
Well, what do you think of this customisation plugin? Leave us your thoughts here.
Choosing the Best Frontend Frameworks for Web Development in 2022
The front end of a website plays an important role in attracting and retaining customers to buy client products and services. It is not only important from a brand perspective but also plays a functional role right from accessing content to payment checkout. In that respect, clients would need to hire a programmer that accords prime priority in choosing the right and most effective front-end development framework.
There are several best frontend frameworks in the market but there are only a few that really make a mark in terms of quality and reliability. After all, what more does a developer want? Some of the best front-end frameworks are used by many successful companies like Netflix, Facebook, Instagram, etc. according to the state of JS report, 2020.
What are Front end development and Frontend Frameworks?
Front end development is the development of what you first see in their browser and it can manage everything that users first see visually in the applications or browsers. It includes the design part, looks, and feel, of the site.
The front-end framework is the CSS framework to build interactive web apps with complex, unique, and scalable features. It helps to develop a web app with complex operations and seamless features for the pleasant look and feel and easy-to-use functions.
The best web front-end development frameworks are the software tool or product that serves as the basis to develop the front-end parts of the web solutions. Nowadays multiple frameworks are available and ruling the market that’s why it is quite difficult to choose the best frontend frameworks to use for web app development. To help you out, we come up with a list of the top 5 popular web front-end development frameworks in 2022 that help you to build and design seamless apps.
Top 5 Popular Front End Frameworks of 2022:
In this blog post, we will take a look at some of the better and more prominent best front-end frameworks to use for web app development that is also typically popular amongst developers. While every framework has its pros and cons, developers would do well to be informed of the client’s project requirements so as to select the most appropriate framework. Sometimes, it may be that the project may not be too complex which removes the need for using a sophisticated framework.
Let us start with the most widely used framework – Bootstrap.
1. Bootstrap Framework:
Most developers would be familiar with Bootstrap for it is known to help build superior websites for a long time. In fact, even some clients come back to us to use Bootstrap for their next website or allied websites, because they prefer it for the intuitive interface the framework promises and delivers. As per the Twitter Bootstrap statistics 2020, Bootstrap ran 18% of the top million sites.
Bootstrap is also a modular and mobile-first framework – meaning that selective components can be deployed and adapted to the mobile ecosystem. Perhaps, the greatest advantage of Bootstrap is its open-source credential, exhaustive resources, and the availability of powerful plugins that developers really need to develop a decent website.
Pros of Bootstrap:
- Bootstrap has a shallow learning curve
- Come up with many pre-style components
- Compatible with Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and other modern browsers
- The community support is excellent
- Comes with extensive built-in components (Sass, mixins)
Cons of Bootstrap:
- Similar looking elements are created.
- Results in buggy websites because of so many anti-patterns
- Manual deletion is required because of heavy file generation
Top-rated websites and apps built by Bootstrap
- BscScan
- PayPal
- Ahrefs
- Font Awesome
2. Foundation Framework:
Next, we have Foundation. Developed by ZURB, this enterprise-level mobile-friendly front-end framework delivers true to its name – builds a strong foundational best front-end framework. It enjoys patronage by many big websites like Facebook, eBay, National Geographic, and so on.
With good documentation, developers can get started easily with frontend development. Foundation proclaims to enable developers to design for any medium – be it mobile or desktop – and with a constantly increasing set of resources and templates, one can even build dedicated mobile-first websites.
Pros of Foundation:
- Can create responsive and lightweight websites
- Grids are more flexible
- Authenticated library is formed with HTML5
- Mobile friendly front end framework
- Come with GPU acceleration features
Cons of Foundation:
- Fewer support platforms and community
- Hard to learn for freshers
- Not good for contender framework (Twitter)
Top-rated websites built by Foundation
- ADIDAS
- Vans
- Fandango
- Kawasaki
- iStockphoto
3. Ulkit by Yootheme:
Third on our list is UIKit, a very light and modular fastest customizable front-end framework developed by YOOtheme. Having a set of ready-to-use and customizable components is for those developers that want to get into manual mode and develop fast, powerful websites.
Also advocating the mobile-first approach gives space for developers to create their own styles, taking inspiration from the framework’s community. Although not quite popular, developers can try this if they want to elaborate on a basic style and build upon it by innovative customization.
Pros of Ulkit
- Easy to use, and flexible
- Possible to customize manually
- Useful to create a powerful WordPress website
- Mobile-first and responsive framework
- It can be extendable with themes
- Off-canvas navigations by supporting RTL
Cons of Ulkit
- Sometimes Ulkit codes can break after article saving
- 2 versions are quite difficult to use simultaneously
Well-known websites built by UIKit
- Igg-games
- Uptime robot
- Extend office
- Webempresa
4. Semantic UI:
We have other front-end development frameworks like Semantic UI. This modern front-end development framework is invented by Jack Lukic, released in 2014. This is the best JavaScript front-end framework supported by jQuery and LESS and it is new in the market. While the former emphasizes human-friendly code using natural language principles the latter CSS framework advocates minimal footprint in terms of coding.
Ultimately, it all boils down to the preferences, compromises, needs and wants, can-do-away with and cannot-do-away-with features decided by both the developer and the client jointly. Of course, we do have some basic guidelines that developers can follow to make their decision easier.
Pros of Semantic UI:
- Easy coding to learn for novice
- It offers support for a wide range of 3rd party libraries
- Help to reduce the load times because of small size files
- Powerful, flexible, and quick customization is available
- Rich in receptiveness and UI modules
Cons of Semantic UI:
- Packages are quite larger
- Not easy for learners without Javascript knowledge
- Low popularity
Websites built using Semantic UI
- App Codility
- Readm
- Discudemy
- Arts P
- Oschina
5. Pure by Yahoo:
Pure CSS framework by Yahoo is an advanced base theme, responsive, HTML5, mobile-first framework developed by Dr. Radut. This framework is using a responsive powerful Yahoo Pure.CSS framework and includes fully-featured, 2 fine-tuned, end-user themes. You can choose this front-end CSS framework as the fastest and tiny one. This framework is compatible with cross-browser by HTML5 validating themes. This is the best frontend framework designed as per mobile and SEO compatibility.
Pros of Pure Framework:
- Ideal for small projects
- You can customize the responsive grid as per your need
- Standard and responsive grid systems
- CSS with a minimal footprint
- Multi-level drop-down menus
- Lightweight, easy to use
Cons of Pure Framework:
- Slow development
- Not suitable for beginners
- Messy code classes
Top-rated websites built by Pure Framework
- Knowledge.Autodesk
- Synology
- Flickr
- Testbook
Choose the best Frontend Frameworks for your Business:
As many of us might be aware, this is an era of disruption. Almost in every field, there is disruption and web development is no exception. There is huge competition among businesses and therefore there arises a need to be the best in a consistent way which means that they need to be able to quickly grasp any new trends or customer preferences and adapt or adapt accordingly.
Having said that, clients and developers would do well to choose that framework that is popular, evolving, and one that has an extensive documentation with some factors to consider while choosing your front-end framework. Because, in our opinion, documentation can speak volumes about a framework – it reflects the professionalism that guides developers to adopt their framework.
So which is the best front-end framework do you think would serve clients better? Contact us and leave us your thoughts with our developer team at Hire Indian Programmers.
Living in an Automated World
By now, we might have come across scenes on advertisements or movies where people control all their home appliances by the smartphone. For instance, most of us would have seen that guy changing the lights colour or turning on/off the television through voice control. These features or technologies come under the umbrella term – home automation. It essentially means people can control all those devices that have automation facilities through the Internet of Things (IoT). Touted as a convenience feature, home automation reduces human intervention in completing routine tasks at home. While we are familiar with singular programmable devices, home automation goes a step further and addresses holistic automation of all appliances – a smart home if you will. Given that it is an emerging technology, home automation is a work in progress and evolving as we speak.
In this blogpost, we will look at the different technologies that come into play to make home automation a reality. Clients who want to hire a coder for web development projects must also realise that different devices have different compatibility. Therefore, it would make sense to select one protocol that supports maximum devices.
One of the most popular and widely used protocols in Wireless Fidelity (Wifi) networks present at homes. Now most people access the internet through their home Wifi. Due to Wifi’s support for multiplexing technology – sending multiple signals at the same time – this enables many home appliances to connect to the same network. However, word of caution – since Wifi networks are power consuming, batteries are drained much faster when compared to other protocols. Again, more the appliances connected, more the energy consumption. When we talk about Wifi, we cannot leave out Bluetooth – the humble non-internet wireless companion. Although it consumes much lesser power, the range is quite small because Bluetooth is primarily used for short distance communication. So one can control devices like bulbs and door locks.
Next, we have radio frequency protocol which is somewhat an older technology in this list. Invariably, when we hear radio frequency, it refers to a transmitter and receiver and we all know that this can be used only for direct and singular commands – like on/off. Therefore, its influence is decreasing, given that home automation demands a lot of functionality on same device. In fact, in the face of newer technologies, it is bound to make way for them. Yet another older technology which we have been using for many years is the infrared. We are already familiar with the infrared – remote control that we use for switching on/off appliances like television.
One of the emerging technologies is Lifi – Light Fidelity. In Lifi, the medium of transmission is light and it is increasingly advocated by those companies that want to be energy conscious and save energy. Not only visible light, even ultraviolet can be used in transmission. Next we have UPB (Universal Powerline Bus) and Insteon. While the former is wired technology, the latter is a combination of both wired and wireless. There are other such protocols like Thread, Z-wave etc that can be used for transmission to control home appliances.
The market now is flooded with a lot of smart home devices. To start with, we have similar smart speakers by the big tech companies like Amazon, Google and Apple that work on voice commands. These speakers also function as a virtual assistant – in relaying news, setting reminders, ordering online, booking appointments, making calls and sending messages and so on.
Home Automation is still in the nascent stage even in the developed world. Moreover, given the large initial investments and steep learning curve, we can conclude that home automation still has much ground to cover in getting more sophisticated and attractive for consumers.
Contact our developer team at HireIndianProgrammers to enlist our web development services.
WordPress Plugins for Two-Factor Authentication
In today’s world with the proliferation of the internet services, along with the massive growth in information consumption and online goods-services purchase, there is also an equivalent threat to the security and stability of websites. Websites, if not protected adequately, may face virtual attacks. This can lead to loss of credibility of websites, loss of site traffic and even de-listing from search engines – the last thing business owners want. In simple terms, businesses are vulnerable to malware attacks which can subsequently hurt their bottom lines. Therefore, there is a need to secure websites in an effective and efficient way.
The need for two-factor authentication
Most of us would be familiar with two-factor authentication, especially since we would have had so much experience in creating new accounts or installing new applications. However, for the uninitiated, two-factor authentication is essentially an additional layer of security along with the default password. This two-factor authentication can range from simple forms such as entering picture captcha or pattern to more secure forms of providing device-linked OTPs (One Time Passwords). These two-factor authentications ensure that only the rightful owner of the website is able to access the website.
Depending on the kind of authentication that clients want they can go for either of the following means to implement two-factor authentication:
1) E-mail – the secret code is sent via the client’s registered mail ,
2) SMS – OTP is sent to the client’s registered mobile number,
3) App-Generated code – Some apps come with the feature of generating random codes which the client has to enter while accessing,
4) Tokens – Inserting dedicated tokens into USB ports
Now, in this blogpost, we take a look at some of the popular WordPress plugins that can be used to setup two-factor authentication. Why WordPress? Because, it is one of the most widely used CMS platforms.You can also hire a wordpress programmer from us who can help you with this.
Duo Two-Factor Authentication
First in this list, we have Duo developed by the folks at Duo Security. This software proclaims to setup two-factor authentication within minutes to prevent data theft. Initially, clients will need to verify themselves with a device of their choice – a mobile phone for example – to increase security manifold. In our time with the software, we can say that Duo is easy to setup without complexity. Having provision for different user roles like admins, authors, editors Duo also has multiple ways to provide authentication ranging from one-tap passcodes, phone call-backs to one-tap authentication using Duo’s own app.
Two Factor
This is a free-to-use open source software which in our opinion is one of the simplest two-factor authentication in this list. All one needs to setup is to go to Users section, click on Profile and then click on Two-Factor options. The plugin claims to have provision for Email codes, OTPs, Backup codes. A delightful feature is the presence of a simple testing provision that clients can use to check their authentication.
Google Authenticator
Google Authenticator is an easy recommend for those clients who want to hire a WordPress developer for implementing complete end-to-end security solutions. All of this without having to pay anything – always good news for developers. Needless to say, we found the software that has a beautiful UI, easy to install. What’s more? It is GDPR compliant and has support for multiple languages. The free plugin features include even two-factor authentication on login page itself. It distinguishes itself from other plugins from monitoring user logins. Clients can do more by going for the premium versions.
GatewayAPI
GatewayAPI is a no-nonsense two-factor authentication service that banks on purely on SMS sent from the back-end. All one needs to do is signup for a free account and clients can choose from a range of features including short-codes, integration with Contact Form 7, import of recipient list, remember device for 30 days and more. The software also adds a bit of personalisation by providing clients the freedom to use their own keywords to receive as SMS.
Rublon Two-Factor Authentication
Last on our list in Rublon – yet another software that emphasises ease of use and simplicity.It supports email, SMS, QR code, Time OTP among other two-factor authentications. The best highlight of Rublon is that there is no need for any configuration. Clients only need to install the plugin and connect to the API using the relevant security key. Having support for five languages and a friendly interface, it makes for a satisfying security implementation.
Get in touch with our team at HireIndianProgrammers to enlist our services.
Colour – a Cornerstone of positive UX
A holistic web development calls for equal attention to be paid on different aspects ranging from functionality to engagement. This includes colour too. While it might be insignificant for some clients hiring a developer, in our experience at HireIndianProgrammers, we have found that colour affects user experience in indirect but surely critical ways. Therefore, clients hiring a programmer would do well to concentrate on this, for it can make or break visitor engagement. Colour is strongly linked to the kind of business and the positioning that the business hiring programmer wants to cater and project.
In light of this, our company, given that various clients hire developers from us for different projects and the resultant experience, thought to share some of the insights and issues pertaining to colour in user experience.
Targeting your demographic set
Whether it is a website or an app that the company hiring coders is designing, they need to get the right colours for the targeted demographic. This can be accomplished by consulting with both marketing teams and developers alike. For instance, men tend to engage more with dark themes while women have an affinity towards medium shades. This again changes with the culture – relevant in the context of a company selling in multiple markets.
Exhibiting ideas with colour
Ultimately all businesses that hire a web developer to develop their website have a single goal – convey an idea and make that a compelling reason for customers to buy that idea (goods or service). In other words, businesses want to build brand equity. Colours are a key part in reinforcing these ideas in the customer’s mind. Different colours mean different things for people. For example, if the business is selling eco-friendly stationary, then hiring a programmer with the right expertise would probably result in a green themed website. In the long term, colour plays a major role. Can you possibly imagine a red coloured Internet Explorer logo?
Enhancing accessibility with colour
Colour also plays the other role of enhancing user accessibility. User accessibility is part and parcel of user engagement in a website. Therefore, a client hiring a coder, needs to incorporate colour design elements that improve navigation and engagement. This can range from simple links, buttons to sliders, transitions etc; Hiring a developer with good experience will ensure that visitors to the client’s website thoroughly enjoy the browsing experience. Having a knack for placing contrasting elements is an art in itself and provides for maximum convenience – leading more conversion rates.
We hope that this blogpost allayed some of your concerns. Frustrated about hiring a programmer who is a right fit for your web development project? Don’t fret, for you have come to the right place. At HireIndianProgrammers, you can now hire a developer to concretise your business dreams. All you need to do after hiring a coder from us is to stipulate the requirements as per your vision. Consider the rest done with the highest standards of quality, transparency and dedication.
Still not convinced? Feel free to go through our past projects and you will know where we, at HireIndianProgrammers stand.
Contact our executives at HireIndianProgrammers and Hire a developer today and get started!