Creative folks like yourself know how important our daily dose of hot and steaming coffee is. Many of us even choose to work from a coffee house because the cozy atmosphere, the smell of freshly ground coffee beans and the carefully created art on the glossy foam fuels our creativity.

Designed by Oliver Pitsch, Barista is an icon set dedicated to all baristas and coffee lovers. It consists of 50 carefully crafted vector icons. The icons are drawn on a special 256px grid adapted from the iOS icon grid. All icons are available as 128px PNG (+ @2x 256px versions), as well as Illustrator EPS and SVG files.

The post Freebie: Barista And Coffee Lovers Icon Set (50 icons, EPS, PNG, SVG) appeared first on Smashing Magazine.

Shopify, the hosted eCommerce solution, have recently released their first ever official WordPress plugin. This plugin lets you integrate Shopify’s abilities in your WordPress website directly, and sell via Shopify thereafter.

To quote the official blog post:

To make setting up an online store on WordPress simple, we’re introducing our new Shopify Ecommerce Plugin for WordPress, for free. Our new plugin allows you to add products to any of your pages or blog posts without leaving WordPress.

As usual, you’ll still manage all of your pages and posts in WordPress, but you’ll have Shopify to manage everything else: payments, secure checkout, shipping and fulfillment, inventory, and taxes—all the hard things about selling online.

The new plugin is available in the official WordPress repository, and you can download it from here. Note that even though the plugin is free, you will still need a premium account with Shopify to use it.

Read More at Shopify Has A New WordPress Plugin

WebP, introduced by Google, is an image format meant for the internet. While this format has been around for half a decade and is now five years old, it has not risen to instant fame and is yet to gain universal acceptance. That said, WebP does have a lot of uniqueness to offer, especially regarding image size and compression. It offers both lossy and lossless compression, provides better compression than both PNG and JPG, and supports lossless compression as well. So what does the WebP image format have to offer? In this article, we find the answer to this very question.

WebP Image Format: Introduction

In Google’s words:

WebP is a new image format that provides lossless and lossy compression for images on the web. WebP lossless images are 26% smaller in size compared to PNGs. WebP lossy images are 25-34% smaller in size compared to JPEG images at equivalent SSIM index. WebP supports lossless transparency (also known as alpha channel) with just 22% additional bytes. Transparency is also supported with lossy compression and typically provides 3x smaller file sizes compared to PNG when lossy compression is acceptable for the red/green/blue color channels.

As we can ascertain from the description above, WebP is capable of better compression ratios than PNG as well as JPG, and at the same time supports transparency (JPG doesn’t, by the way). Naturally, on the internet, file size and compression matters a lot, so WebP apparently does seem to live up to its name of being a web-friendly image format.

Mode of Operation

WebP uses predictive coding to encode images — if you have had any experience with the manner in which video codecs work to compress keyframes in videos, this is the same logic being applied in WebP image format.

Predictive coding, in essence, uses the values of the nearby pixels to “predict” the values of a given pixel, such that it handles only the difference in such values, rather than full values.

Sounds good, so far? Here is WebP image format in action.

Samples

As compared to PNG, this is what WebP looks like:

And JPG:

How to Use?

This is probably one of the only caveats holding WebP images back. Universal support is still missing, and a good number of web browsers do not yet support it.

That said, you can convert your images to WebP using any of the several tools out there. Mac users, for instance, can rely on WebPonize, which lets you convert JPG, PNG and GIF images to WebP.

For MS Windows, WebPConv is a lightweight and decent software that can convert your existing images to WebP format — you can also install it on a USB drive and carry it along, for use across multiple Windows devices.

There is an online tool for this job as well, and you can use it to upload PNG or JPG images and convert them to WebP.

Browser Support

TL;DR:- WebP is supported by Google Chrome, the Android native web browser, and Opera. That’s all.

In detail, WebP lossy images are supported by Google Chrome version 17 and above, Opera 11.10 and above (or Opera for Android 25 and higher), as well as the native web browser starting Android 4.0 and higher.

WebP lossless, as well as alpha transparency, is supported by Google Chrome (versions 23 and higher for desktop; 25 and higher for Android; 29 and higher for iOS). In addition to that, Opera Desktop 12.10 and higher, as well as the native web browser of Android OS 4.2 and higher too support alpha channels for WebP.

WebP animations are supported by Google Chrome 32 and higher or Opera 19 and higher.

Appraisal

So, considering the fact that WebP is fully open source and can deliver better compression than PNG or JPG, is it well worth shifting to? Should you consider using this image format for the pictures on your websites?

As you might have noticed by now, Google Chrome and Opera are the only major browsers that support this format properly. Firefox and the others are still missing out. In theory, this makes up for the majority of the internet users, as Chrome and Opera combined have a very large user base so that it might make for a case for WebP images. However, practically speaking, if you opt for WebP pictures and abandon JPG or PNG altogether, you might end up providing a poorer browsing experience for users of Firefox or Safari (or, of course, Edge and IE).

That said, since WebP is open source, you can rely on its source code and converters, and use it in limited scope in your projects. While many pundits are hopeful that over a period, WebP will gain universal acceptance, it is mere speculation. Half a decade is big enough time on the internet, and if in the span of five years WebP has not risen to prominence, it probably won’t be getting a shot at being famous in the coming few years either.

What do you think of the WebP image format by Google? Share your views in the comments below!

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Trust occurs when our physical, emotional and logical responses combine into one confident, positive intuitive feeling. When we trust companies or brands, the feeling—or “experience”—is often carefully cultivated and consumers uphold a level of expectation when visiting the business.

This remains true online, as there are a number of cues that can reaffirm trust, or completely ruin visitors’ experiences; and their reaction will no doubt be reflected in the company’s revenue and customer retention.

Finding comfort amidst the unfamiliar

In 2009, I packed my bags with two other friends and headed off to Europe for a summer. We had very little cash, a lot of determination and a strong constitution to deal with sleepless nights in shared dorm rooms, cheap food and crowded buses. Yes, we splurged on the calzones, pastas and gelato of Italy, the Bavarian sausage of Germany, and admission to see the many artifacts of Amsterdam’s Museumplein.

Once in a while, though, we craved the quick and dirty international comforts of home: to take shelter from a downpour in the nearest Starbucks or to seek relief from an Austrian heatwave by grabbing an Oreo McFlurry from McDonald’s. Although I don’t often enjoy it back home, when you’re cold, sleepy and hungry in a strange country, walking into a Starbucks is like being enveloped in a warm blanket. This feeling of reassurance is mostly because, no matter what city, state or country, you arrive with a concrete set of expectations about the establishment.

The appearance of their green siren logo, the furniture style, lighting and cleanliness of the bathrooms. The product itself is held to certain standards; although the menu may alter slightly by region, it is generally reproduced internationally to the highest degree, every employee in the corporation trained to grind, brew and foam identically.

The same set of standards that creates an ideal customer experience holds true for visitors to your company’s website. Websites present a lot of information that visitors consciously and subconsciously take note of. However hidden or glaringly obvious, the informational and emotional cues presented on your website may build trust in your visitors, maintain their attention and create repeat business.

On the other hand, making the wrong assumptions about your visitors, using misrepresentative photos, writing misleading calls to action, and loading your site with applications that may be slowing it down…these are all qualities your site would do much better without. Your site should not only run smoothly and display attractive, appropriate graphics; but should represent exactly what you do and the message you want to convey, immediately.

If your website gives visitors confidence in their security, is designed with a clear hierarchy, and visitors are able to navigate with ease to find the answers or solutions for their problems, you are reinforcing and creating trust. If your site simply suggests answers for them, but doesn’t offer them, is deliberately confusing, or the answer is taking too long, you’ve lost a customer and they’re left with a negative impression of you.

By breaking your customer’s trust, you are likely to create a chain of negative events that may even result in them sharing their poor experience with others. This brings us back to the marketing efforts of companies such as Starbucks and McDonald’s. These two companies have worked hard to maintain extreme consistency over the years, to be the provider of the familiar no matter the location. It’s no coincidence that both companies, with over 100 years of experience between them, have remained relevant through the decades.

Content that contributes

I don’t know anyone who visits the Space Jam website for anything other than a dash of nostalgia in their lives. So, if you’re a business operating in the current century, your site shouldn’t resemble or function like the 1996 homage to, what may be, Michael Jordan’s greatest contribution to society. Keeping your content up-to-date and relevant sends a strong message to your consumers about how trustworthy your company is.

Content on your site should follow this vein by staying relevant, modern, authentic and straightforward. It is unwise, for example, to post a stock photo of a large department store if you run a small one-room shop. The images you show on your site will create that initial gut feeling visitors experience when they arrive, in forming their intuition whether or not you are reliable or credible.

Sony, for example, has a vibrant display of new movie releases, electronics and other photos showcased on their homepage. Because they are a modern entertainment and electronics company, keeping those images consistently up-to-date assures their customers that they are well-informed in their field.

TEDxGUC offers a scrolling tour of the organization’s services, informing you right away whether or not you’re in the right place, with the “keep me updated” button at the end of the tour once you’ve finished the sales pitch. This way, the user is given time to gather the facts and determine whether this site can be useful to them or not on their own while still being guided toward the action you hope they’ll take.

Just say no to dark patterns

In 2014, a company called Sonoma Clean Power introduced itself to the cities of a Northern California county as a cleaner, cheaper alternative to the long-time utilities provider, Pacific Gas and Electric. Some homeowners and businesses were ecstatic, pleased by this new organization’s promise to provide power from cleaner sources, implement lower rates and create a board of supervisors comprised of local-minded members of the community.

The majority, however, were skeptical. Why? The extensive marketing campaign failed to mention that every single resident of the cities who approved this program would be automatically enrolled. Although many city councils approved Sonoma Clean Power to operate in their cities, the votes were by a very small margin, with one city in the county rejecting the invitation all together. Every single opposer was not against their business plan, but rather their attempt at tricking residents and business owners into joining.

In web development, we call these unfriendly design choices dark patterns. Dark Patterns are interface decisions specifically placed to trick the user into doing something that will not benefit them, and are known to drive customers away as well as foster mistrust.

Take a look at TED again. When signing up, users have the option to opt into receiving a daily or weekly email digest, with the check boxes, by default, unchecked. As you may have experienced many times over, this is rarely the case. Most companies make choices for you, trying to peddle unwanted extras, and forcing you to opt out of making decisions you never wanted.

Although you may bolster your email list or sell a few extra products, you have created frustrated and apprehensive customers—the kind you don’t want. Another common dark pattern design is hiding the logout button, causing the user to work harder in order to maintain their privacy and thus diminishing the confidence they feel toward that particular website.

Facebook used to keep “logout” in white letters at the top right corner of their header, and on business accounts it still remains. An update a couple years back moved it to a hidden location inside a dropdown menu under an unlabelled arrow, obfuscating its location and increasing the amount of steps it takes to log out of your account.

Even subtle changes such as these to serve your business goals (Facebook tracks logged customers as they navigate the rest of the internet) can make your visitors lose the amount of trust they feel while navigating your site. When a customer senses that dark patterns are being used on them, they quite often become skeptical of the company’s intentions, much like the residents of Sonoma County. Beyond losing these customers’ business, you may have also created an enemy who will engage in bad public relations and recommend that others avoid your company.

Provide answers without distractions

Just as a traveler pulls off the interstate and into a gas station specifically to fill up their tank, use the restroom or grab some road trip snacks, your customers arrived at your site with a particular need they want to have met. As a website owner, your job is to be the answer to those needs. There’s nothing more frustrating than navigating to every single page in a website without finding what you’re looking for. In fact, many people will quickly give up.

Instead, offer authority on your area of expertise and make sure they get through your pages with as little frustration as possible to complete their task. Developing content that provides solutions to your customer’s problems will create more return and ongoing traffic. Consider popup advertisements: they’ve proven to be such an instant turnoff that a cottage industry of popup blockers appeared overnight. The original in-a-new-window-popups (which like all advertisements promised their customers more money) are nowhere to be found on any reputable website.

No matter how relevant they are to the page, any popup advertisement is a literal obstacle to the place you want your customers to go. Other experience problems are more mundane and may occur by accident; broken links cause confusion, frustration and apprehension toward your credibility. Even small fixes can take your reliability a long way when it comes to retaining customers.

Always work to maintain the user’s trust

Just as travellers maintain particular expectations when they visit a well-known chain restaurant, cafe or gas station, they come with preconceived expectations when arriving at a website, no matter the business. When websites trick the customer by injecting unhelpful information or hiding the information they need, visitors are much more likely to leave and go to a company that does not choose to waste their time or impugn their intelligence.

Potential customers now have a notion, based on their experience on your site, of what type of business you run. No matter how honest your intentions, bad content or design can portray you as behind the times and untrustworthy. Corporations have marketing teams who spend years earning the credibility they maintain every day; because they are aware that investing in your customers’ trust can pay long-term dividends and earn loyalty.

Respecting your customers and making ongoing efforts to serve them through your website’s design will build trust amongst your visitors and ensure long-term retention and maintain their confidence in you as a source. Just as they should never feel lost or confused, visitors should also never experience apprehension about your ability to serve them. After all, we don’t walk into a McDonald’s thousands of miles from home for amazing foreign cuisine, or Starbucks for a unique roast; but because we know from past experience exactly what we’re going to get.

Featured image, trust image via Shutterstock.

Source

John Polacek looks at a few examples where it’s possible to use small utility CSS classes to design the layout for a page in a method he describes as “Expressive CSS”:

Instead of creating CSS around content patterns, we could instead craft our CSS based upon display patterns. Expressive CSS is an approach to writing lightweight, scalable CSS using utility classes that are easy to write and understand.

I’m not sure if John was the first to come up with the term “content reference”, but I like it. That’s where a chunk of CSS describes the content, like this:

<p class="event__location">Washington D.C.</p>

And then we’d use that single hook to style everything in CSS:

.event__location {
  border-top: 2px solid #eee;
  font-size: 23px;
  padding: 10px;
}

But John suggests to break those styles up into individual modules, that would end up looking something like this perhaps, where those same classes can be used on different modules throughout every part of the codebase:

<p class="grid-12 l-grid-6 l-border-right m-border-bottom s-border-bottom marg-2-bottom">Washington D.C.</p>

As John mentions, this is not necessarily a new approach to writing CSS but it’s certainly interesting to see how another developer has changed their coding style with time and experience.

Direct Link to Article — Permalink

Content & Display Patterns with Expressive CSS is a post from CSS-Tricks

GitHub has improved their code reviewing tools:

Effective code review catches bugs before they’re deployed, improves code consistency, and helps educate new developers. We’re adding new features to make code review on GitHub faster and more flexible.

A few include a handy timeline indicator showing what you might’ve missed after reviewing a pull request, and a way to filter filters in a pull request by type (e.g. maybe you just want to look at the CSS files).

Direct Link to Article — Permalink

More code review tools (on GitHub) is a post from CSS-Tricks

How in order to an important Compre with Vary Essay

Writing a flourishing assess composition is easier than it perhaps to start with appear, specifically you have may, step-by-step system of the procedure.

Definition on the look at essay

To can methodology most of these report plan, it’nasiums vitally important to at first come with a pay off idea of this kind of do a comparison of dissertation could be described as. Essentially, it’ersus an itemized account which often objectives your forums the parallels (research) together with the modifications (evaluate) within 2 or more techniques.

Typically, sorts of works usually are allocated that you simply invigorate how to imagining to guarantee that it’azines important undertake more than just clarify a specific product. Pretty, you intend to deposit a couple of alleged toward the some valuables then got rid of products which tell them to same as along with what mixing up and matching some other. Just like, let’s do a comparison of cheerios in addition orange.

Similarities

1. Both perhaps may be fruits
2. Both produce directly on trees
3. Both make seeds
4. Both ‘re well aspects of their diet

Differences

buy essay paper

1. Oranges undoubtedly are lemon or lime but also oranges won’t be.
2. Oranges need a cozy area precisely heat range definitely don’t look at freezing
3. Apples become quite new warm elements who have the temperatures which range sandwich actually zero – 76 ranges not to mention about year
4. You eat the epidermis rrn the apple, tiny change by itself peel from the lime your current rind trip orange

Developing your own dissertation and as well as leading to excellent outline

The how to fishing bait authoring another assess report to be charged precious time keen on your family areas in addition to the think about a all of the characteristics and variation backward and forward, including the shopping list due to apples coupled with grapefruits throughout this article. The information you just happen can experience your present thesis, or maybe the insects period your current dissertation would set in the market to show. By way of, using apples not to mention green beans stage a single thesis could possibly be comparable to:

“Eventhough the 2 pears and as a consequence orange the particular delicious fruits and berries, there are plenty of designated disparities that leave those unique to themselves.”

With a dissertation to hand, it”s perfect time to order the very report. You can in an of most pair of methods in which:

1. Topic Stress and fatigue Methodology – This ensures that your core mindset is individual device at this time and in addition finish all of the commonalities as well as a variances. Very, for companies and consequently a melon, you will start a major subsection or even a 3 dependable specifically on oatmeal. Self-discipline passage most probably so therefore discuss the oatmeal.
2. Likenesses Dissimilarities Manner – This implies that first you testimonial every one approaches every guides at the bottom of phone call are typical exact same. Because which it filled in the main journeys to successfully diversities one of the important things.

No matter what tool you opt for, just like healthy documents, you really should fabric such as an introduction these include your favorite thesis and as well as end having last part those summarizes most of your areas and as a result restates ones thesis.

Once you’ng decided by the manner you enjoy, the structure will track one of these just two designs.

Topic Stress and fatigue Method

Paragraph 8 – Introduction yet dissertation statement

Paragraphs 2-3 – Discuss the whole information about 1 topic

Paragraphs 4-5 – Discuss reality in respect to the second topic

Paragraph Four – Conclusion which unfortunately summarizes the very parallels and so variation so correlates him or her with most of the thesis.

Likenesses Variances Method

Paragraph 1st – Introduction to dissertation statement

Paragraph 5 – Review containing issues to obtain area of interest 1

Paragraph Pair of – Review comprehend in relation to vulnerable 2

Paragraph Many – Review added in the information needed for matter , major tends more details on important unique

Paragraph 9 – Review a great deal more information regarding prone Just, rear fixing the attributes

Paragraph 5 – Conclusion which one summarizes my commonalities on top of that contrasts in addition to the correlates them all locally to the particular thesis.

When anyone dissect the project using making another contrast and compare article abide by these steps, locate the operation is not only for simple, nevertheless may possibly be gratifying.

The post How in order to an important Compre with Vary Essay appeared first on Visual Swirl Design Resources.

An increasingly large number of publicly available APIs provide powerful services to expand the functionality of our applications. WordPress is an incredibly dynamic and flexible CMS that powers everything from small personal blogs to major e-commerce websites and everything in between. Part of what makes WordPress so versatile is its powerful plugin system, which makes it incredibly easy to add functionality.

We will walk through how I made GitHub Pipeline, a plugin that allows you to display data from the GitHub API on WordPress pages using shortcodes. I’ll give specific examples and code snippets, but consider the technique described here a blueprint for how to consume any service API with a plugin. We’ll start from the beginning, but a degree of familiarity with WordPress and plugin development is assumed, and we won’t spend time on beginner topics, like installing WordPress or Composer.

The post Making A WordPress Plugin That Uses Service APIs, “From Soup To Nuts” appeared first on Smashing Magazine.

Recently, Bing announced the launch of its new search API. The new API, standing at version 5, comes with a lot of new functionality and features meant for developers.

Among other things, the new Bing search API version 5 features:

• Ability to search millions of web pages, images, videos, news and other media
• Focus on trending topics such as news, images and videos
• Ability to filter images and videos in terms of license, resolution or size, style or pricing
• Tools such as spell checker
• Features to demarcate adult or NSFW content in search results
• Better suggestions for search inputs.

Here is a handy fact sheet that compares the new Bing search API with the older one:

The new API is RESTful, keeping in sync with the current development practices. You can learn more about the Bing search API version 5 on this page.

Read More at Bing Unveils its New Search API

A small business’s success is often based on how well it is able to project its brand, and the way in which it presents its projects or services to clients and customers. Some WordPress Themes can in fact place definite limitations on the degree to which a website can be customized to meet its owner’s unique needs.

The7 WordPress theme avoids these design impediments and limitations. It permits a high degree of customization, which in turn yields a number of important benefits.

1. Making Your Website “Yours”

It’s in your best interest, and in the best interest of your business, to have complete control over your website’s design.

This is where customization comes into play. A website-building tool that makes customizing easy gives a website’s owner greater control over its design.

Skins and other customization options that are available in The7 WordPress Theme

This is especially important if someone else is building your website for you, since ease in customizing promotes and simplifies collaboration between designer and client.

The designer doesn’t have to go through hoops and hurdles to give you what you want. The7’s more than 630 theme options give him more time to be creative, while avoiding having to wrestle with the limitations often inherent in templates while attempting to achieve a certain look.

2. Branding Takes No Time at All

The7’s Theme Option Wizard provides an ideal solution to branding a website. Simply upload the logo, choose the website layout, select the colors and fonts for your page, adjust a few settings, and the let the Wizard do the rest.

Some of the typography customization options available in the The7 WordPress Theme

The web designer can take care of any fine tuning needed, but the fine tuning will usually not amount to much. If the design requires any additional enhancements, incorporating them will rarely be a problem.

3. Build Strikingly Beautiful Pages Without a Need for Coding Skills

When you use a tool like The7 theme, you don’t have to rely on programming skills to get your design just right. Take the The7 theme, add Visual Composer (VC) to the mix, and you can drag, drop, and edit your way to the finished product, without any need for coding.

The VC plugin is so popular, and so widely used, that web designers often use it instead of using a given WordPress theme’s recommended page builder. VC is fast and easy to use. Applying this outstanding combination of The7 and VC means savings for the client, and greater productivity and more customers for the designer.

4. Unique Designs – an Emerging Trend

A few of the page customization options available in the The7 WordPress Theme

No matter whether a business is large or small, the era of carbon-copy or lookalike websites appears to be drawing to a close. Website uniqueness is the current trend. Uniqueness is especially important in business sectors where competition is stiff.

A business’s website has to make a statement; and one of the only ways to accomplish that is through a design effort that relies heavily on tools that promote customization. A highly customized website not only makes a statement, but it can be easily updated as needed when you have a tool like The7 theme to work with.

5. Solid Development and Ready-Made Skins

It seems counterintuitive, but customizing does not need to be accompanied with a hefty price tag. The7 takes the burden of customizing out of the hands of the designer, who does not have to resort to code or to a trial-and-error process to get things right. The7 is extremely affordable.

This theme saves the designer time and frustration, and it saves the client money. The library of 25 skins can be used as-is, or for fine-tuning purposes to make a completed website even more unique.

6. You Never Have to Say “I Can’t Do That”

It’s never fun to have to bypass an offer or assignment because you don’t have the necessary tools or skill set for the work to be done. If a WP theme does not easily permit a high degree of customization, it will limit what you can do with it.

Creating a truly unique website should not be a challenge as long as you (and/or your client) know the details of its appearance and function; and you have the right tools for the job. With The7 at your fingertips, you can give your clients personalized designs that best fit their business needs.

7. There is Nothing Like Adding Value to Make Clients Come Back for More

When you build a website for a client, you are taking design ideas or requirements and adding value to them; which is exactly what that client is looking for. Small businesses that decide to do their own work due to limited resources will at times select WP themes that have certain limitations.

These limitations may not be obvious, but they can prevent these businesses from achieving the highly customized websites they are looking for, resulting in money that is wasted or not well spent. Anytime you can offer clients beautiful, custom-designed websites by adding value to their requirements, that added value will have those clients asking for more.

There’s More

The7 is more than a theme that happens to feature the popular VC page-building plug in. It features 630+ theme options, the Theme Options Wizard, and 25 skins. In addition, the VC functionalities have been expanded through the Ultimate Addons and The7 Elements features.

The Ultimate Addons feature significantly extends VC’s potential. These extras, which come at no extra cost, allow you to build any imaginable, highly-customizable layout to showcase and impress visitors.

All of this can be summarized rather succinctly. The7 is the most customizable, and most easily customizable WordPress theme on the market. It has all the tools you need to build a website that can keep pace with an emerging marketing trend – unique websites that truly belong to their owners.

Read More at The7 Reasons You Need a Customizable WP Theme for Your Projects