Often, as part of their marketing campaign, webmasters will use “coming soon” or product anticipatory pages before launching their websites. To create a successful “coming soon” page, follow these guidelines:-

• Establish Your Identity- Design a powerful “coming soon” page that will establish your corporate identity. Use your corporate colors, logo and fonts in the teaser-page design. Your website design, which is likely to be more extensive and detailed, is bound to look different from your teaser-page; however, using your corporate colors and symbols will help viewers identify your website instantly once it’s launched.

• Tempt Visitors- Include a “sign up” or “subscribe” option in the “coming soon” page to collect customer data. You can promise your subscribers exclusive first-come-first-serve offers post site launch to tempt them to sign up, or offer your subscribers few free and downloadable items on the spot, post subscription. Nothing works like ‘FREE’! Exploit it to collect customer information.

• Convey an Interesting Message- A “coming soon” page is not meant to include your company’s history, instead, is to create anticipation with the help of a short and interesting message. For instance, favmovie.net “coming soon” page says, “This winter only in your browser.” It’s short, but interesting enough to compel users to visit their site once it’s launched.

• Go Viral- Post a video of your company/products/services in the “coming soon” page and include a “share on social media” option. Visitors may share the video if they like what you are offering and this will help your website become popular.

• Design Something Special- Use more graphics than text in your “coming soon” page to make it attractive; use Flash where applicable to make your page interactive. Your “coming soon” page should be interesting, fun and informal. For instance, squidchef.com’s “coming soon” page uses an image of a purple squid with a chef’s hat against a background that looks like an ocean. The imagery goes well with the company name, though the site actually offers WordPress themes.

By using a “coming soon” page intelligently, you can create anticipation for your products/services before they are launched. Hype can go a long way to enhance the popularity of your website. Of course, quality will sustain in the end, so make sure what you offer, gives your customers their money’s worth!

Microsoft, which still rules mainstream PC industry with its popular Windows OS series, is hogging attention these days after unveiling a preview of its upcoming OS, Windows 8. Its CEO, Steve Ballmer, is leaving no stone unturned in wooing users and if early indications are anything to go by, a majority of web developers have already warmed up to Windows 8 from its preview.

Windows 8 is, in fact, more than just an OS for Microsoft; it aims to capture a large share of the fast evolving tablet segment with its 8th version. Windows 8 will rely strongly on web based apps and this may be ideal for web developers who make apps using Microsoft technology. In fact, for a website design company that relies on Microsoft technologies like.Net platforms, Windows 8 will open new possibilities. Much has been said about Metro UI in this upcoming OS which is targeted at touch-screen device users. Therefore, web design professionals making websites and apps for such devices will benefit in the long run from Windows 8.

It is probably still too early to predict the extent to which Windows 8 will appeal developers, but a section of industry veterans think it will be a worthy contender to Apple’s iOS, as well as Google’s Android, both of which dominates the tablet market these days. Earlier, Windows 7 also offered some touch-based features for touch screen device users, but it has not made much dent as a touch-screen OS.

Windows 8 preview has garnered mostly positive responses from the industry. Technology majors that have been Microsoft’s partners in the hardware arena, including HP, have hailed Microsoft’s new move. Developers have also given a thumbs-up to the wide device support capability of Microsoft’s upcoming OS, which will run on ARM CPU powered tablets and also on mainstream laptops and desktops. Windows 8’s final version, which will be released (possibly) by end of 2012, will be fortified with more features.

Analysts are lauding the fact that with Windows 8, Microsoft is poised to take a bold step towards convergence. If everything goes according to plan, Windows 8 may succeed in bringing developers from various segments under one umbrella. This OS is not going to suffer from platform fragmentation, which has been an issue with Android OS.

A section of web developers, however, are not too jubilant about the prospective uses of Windows 8, yet. They prefer to wait and watch until its stable version is released the next year. They agree that in theory, everything looks promising but until the software and devices start rolling out, nothing can be said with finality. Some of them feel that Microsoft still needs to polish its much touted touch UI to make it really lucrative and useful for developers and users. How this Metro UI accommodates existing apps, need to be seen as well.

Human behavior is the result of how we interpret what we see and how we choose to act thereof. Very often, a user’s initial reaction to a website will have no bearing on the site’s merits, but only its appeal. Any user when idly browsing the web will always be attracted to websites with interesting color schemes, layouts, and images than simple websites with neutered designs.

Any action a user takes on a website will be determined by a series of decisions he makes upon visiting that website. The human mind makes highly logical decisions. Most of what users do will be guided by personal preference and habit. It can also be safely concluded, that a user’s action on a site will frequently be misguided by what he has learnt, seen, and is used to doing.

Of course, no two users will think and act the same way. But generalization on user behavior patterns can be drawn nevertheless. This article by no means enunciates hard facts about human behavioral psychology, but only theories honored by time.

1.  Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory

The “silent visitor” makes up the majority of website users. The silent visitor, or lurker, isn’t socially inclined and will not go beyond browsing a few web pages and reading. For a website design to work, it must fulfill visitor needs, although what web users prefer is up for debate.

Abraham Maslow, who was a humanist psychologist, came up with the famous “hierarchy of needs” theory to show what humans require to reach a point where they decide to participate or interact on a website.

At its core, Maslow’s theory speaks about how the average visitor must be infested with a sense of growth and increasing self-esteem upon visiting a website. In other words, a website must treat its visitors with respect to help him reach his ‘pinnacle’ or the point he starts becoming active on the website.

Maslow defined levels of importance that reflect how and what humans prioritize and what they require for ‘self-actualization’, i.e., appreciation of their surroundings and to achieve personal growth.

Based on Maslow’s theory, we can conclude the hierarchy of needs of website users as the following:

• Accessibility: A website that is easy to find and can be used by all.

• Stability: A consistent and trustworthy website.

• Usability: A website that is user-friendly and flexible.

• Reliability: A website that is consistently available, without downtime.

• Functionality: A website with web features that offers value to its users.

• Flexibility: A website that is intuitive and adapts to what its users want and need.

2.    Attractiveness Bias

Your website’s design is neither the sole reason for its success, nor the sole cause of its failure. But beauty is attractive to people. Although content continues to be the most important catalyst in a website’s success, fact remains that a good-looking website will attract visitors before a similar, and perhaps a more resourceful website, with poor design.

Of course, it is important visitors get over their first impression of beauty to dig deeper and appreciate the finer features of your website, like content, usability, flexibility, etc. Point in line, beauty is a temporary attractant that is remarkably useful in drawing visitors to a website. Personality rules in the end.

To establish a long-term relationship with your user, your website must offer value. What lies underneath the glitz and glamour is good old content whose quality will retain visitors.

Yes, if you are an established name in the market, you can make the website as ugly as you want and still walk away with the lion’s share of visitors. Many web designers opine that the success of a website’s design lies with how effective it is and not how attractive it can be. Basically, if websites work, they work, and beauty is only secondary. But it’s also true; the “wow” factor will be responsible for initial appeal.

The solution: a website’s design should be professional and beautiful without overruling the hierarchy of needs of website users. If this is accomplished, your website will attract even those visitors who judge quality by appearance. The integrity of content will emerge once visual appeal is established.

3.    Serial Positioning Effect

Your website’s information structure will determine how well it is remembered. Tables, lists and charts help break large paragraphs of information into manageable chunks. Blocks of heavy text is tiring to read whereas organized information is easily readable.

Hermann Ebbinghaus’ serial positioning effect proposes that positions of items in a list will have direct bearing on people’s ability to remember something accurately. In website design, this most closely relates to visual hierarchy.

Your website may have pages and pages of information, but most people who visit your website will typically be scanning through your content, committing less than 10% to memory. By breaking up your content into small paragraphs, highlighting important text, adding bullet lists, and sub headings, you can present your content in a manner that is useful to people.

4.    Depth of Processing

This refers to the level to which information has to be processed to commit it to memory.  Engaging your users is not enough. You have to ensure they read important details you want them to read. With simple mechanisms such as “I Accept” button under a license agreement, there is a high possibility users will read through before ‘accepting’ and proceeding to the next step. Of course, by applying the serial positioning effect, you can make sure users read all the important portions of your content.

The trick is to find a balance between helping your users remember information and annoying them with questions or calls to action. It’s your website. Use your best judgment to decide which interactive elements would be useful.

Web design is a dynamic field and it adapts new technologies very quickly. For the past few years, we saw a boom in the smartphone market and lots of new tablets have been introduced in the consumer market as well. These devices are internet enabled and they have changed the way we used to view websites. These portable devices have various screen size and orientation. Some even offer both portrait and landscape view of a webpage.

To accommodate these devices, a new website design trend called ‘Responsive Design’ has evolved. The responsive design allows users to view websites on mobile devices. It also made the web design more user-friendly to suit small screen space and multiple OS.

Clients often ask the designers to make the same website for Windows, BlackBerry, iOS, Android and various other OS compatible. They even want a mobile version of their website – one for the Blackberry, another for the iPhone, the iPad etc. The problem for the designer is how he can accommodate so many different platforms and the solution is responsive design.

Responsive web design, what is the big deal? – Responsive web design suggests that design and development should act in response to the user’s actions and environment based on screen size, platform and orientation of the mobile device.

Responsive web design has a combination of flexible grids and layouts, images and a clever use of CSS media queries. This trend has three main designing goals – the website should be flexible with resolution, image size and scripting abilities.

Here is a list of the things you should pay attention to while implementing responsive design.

• Accommodate the user’s device- A responsive website should accommodate iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, and other portable devices. To make the site flexible, you should use a flexible grid foundation. While designing the site and images that are incorporated into the design should be flexible as well. Use media queries to enable the website for landscape and portrait view.

• Flexible grids- To suit a variety of mobile browsers, you should define your own parameters for columns, spacing and containers in the web design. Give special attention to size and spacing to create flexible grid system. For web page measurement purpose, use ems and percentages instead of pixels.

• Customize images- A major feature of flexible web design is that images move and scale with the flexible grid. For a fast loading time, use small size images. Don’t use the width and height attributes to scale them; it may hamper the usability factor.

Instead of scaling, you can crop the images using the CSS overflow property. It crops images automatically as the containers around them shift to accommodate new display orientation. You can have multiple size of the same image and offer them according to the user’s screen space and orientation. If it’s needed, then you can completely hide the images as well, using the media queries.

• Importance of media queries- Media queries permit designers to create multiple layouts using the same HTML document. It allows the web designer to accommodate different window size of the browser. Media queries also handle the screen orientation, screen resolution and color related issues. It’s extremely important in responsive web design as you can build websites that fit different devices.

In conclusion, responsive web design is a great trend for mobile websites. But while using this style, understand that it’s helpful for those sites that have a number of mobile based users.

Many people visit Facebook and Twitter from their smartphones and tablets but the visitors of a corporate website mainly access the site from their desktop or laptop. However, designing a site for both normal PC and mobile devices is a good idea as you can capture an untapped market of these portable device users.

In this age of globalization where marketing makes the final word, it is important that you know the tricks of not only attracting visitors but also turn them into customers. One of the effective ways to have your business soaring new heights of success is to trigger the sinful human desire of indulgence.

Since the start of the universe, human desires have been exploited by many to achieve beneficial outcomes. In website design industry also, the golden rule of survival is to encourage user engagement so that they are tempted about your service and product. Read below and know for yourself how you can twirl the deadly sins of human desire in your favor and generate momentum with your visitors:

1. Pride

Flaunting a little pride being the ‘in’ thing of the age, why stay back when you can attract more customers by promoting your company accomplishments? Everyone wants to be considered the best among others. They want to be associated with things that are branded and impressive. Show off your brand and achievements with pride to your potential customers so that it prompts them to call for action.

2. Greed

‘Unlimited’ is the word that describes human cravings best. Bank on this fact and provide your visitors with more and more functionalities and lucrative rebate offers so that they are tempted to sign up for your product or services.

3. Sloth

With technological developments, customers expect products that are capable of doing all the hard works for them. Hence, products or services that provide with easy access or zero effort solution make an instant hit among customers. Win over your potential customers with easy functionalities and features that are not time consuming

4. Envy

To feel jealous of one’s possession and to crave for the same or better is another prominent human nature. Bank on this human trait and fuel up the desire of your customers to enjoy a momentum in your business website. Stand tall among your competitors by seducing maximum customers to your products.

5. Lust

Though we all are acquainted with the statement that ‘all that glitters is not gold’, it doesn’t hold true for marketing. Human eyes catch anything that is shiny, attractive and exclusive. Tickle your customer’s desire for your products with help of professional photography so that it catches one’s fancy instantly. You will be happily surprised to discover how showcasing of products in splendor and grandeur can help attract more customers.

6. Emotions

Bank on your customer’s emotions to create buzz about your products or services on the web. Know that nothing works better in your favor than a good customer review.

‘Old Is Gold’… it’s an undoubted truth that vintage things have a charm of its own that never fades off. In website design too, retro style is back with a bang as the industry goes digital. Here we have discussed some of the characteristic elements or trends of retro designing that is gaining momentum:

1. Use of Simple Shapes

Simple shapes, especially circles, were most popularly used in traditional designs to brand a company’s product. Take a look through the designs of yesteryears and you will understand how designers of retro age tapped the neglected power of simplicity to the maximum. While some used only simple shapes, others opted for floral background designs in bright colors to reach out to its targeted audience.

2. Use of Two Toned and Limited Color Schemes

Another trait of vintage design that adds prominence and uniqueness was the limited use of colors. As full color prints used to be a very expensive in past days, designers opted for limited color schemes. Two toned coloring was the most favored choice that ruled the roost of the retro industry. Sometimes, to make a design more catchy and interesting, designers used a focal color that was blended with few selected colors throughout the design.

3. Typographic Elements and Trends

Paving the way to numerous awesome designing possibilities, typography played a vital role in the retro age. Designers used simple yet effective techniques of styling such as one pixel strokes, duplicating and repositioning of fonts and many more, to add flavor to a design’s presence.

4. Texture and Noise

A visual pleasure to watch out for, retro designs display subtle and sober use of texture and noise backgrounds. While some designs exhibit a canvas style texture with worn out look, others represent brilliant poster artwork. From stained textures to blend of brush works, vintage designs are a delight to watch.

Attracting users to your website is the ultimate objective that rules the roost in the virtual world. Informative content, fitting graphics and easy navigation are some of the known aspects of website designing. But if you want to mark your individuality among the crowd, something ‘MORE’ is needed to beat the competitive market of today.

An auto search box with aesthetic approach can be one of the best solutions to help your website achieve its required boost. It not only adds to the visual presence of the website but also makes on-site search easier and more effective for users. Here we bring for you some of the best website designs that have used auto search box to its maximum advantage:

Playlist Now: Designed at its best with an excellent gradation of pink as header background, this website is an instant mood refresher. The search box of this website wraps up a major portion of the header which is sure to catch a user’s attention directly. Moreover, the dynamic auto search form used in this website makes for an added bonus. In this search box, matching results are shown spontaneously when a user types his search query, thus making the search easy and enjoying.

Get Satisfied: The bright and vibrant background coloring with auto suggestion search box makes for a prominent attribute of this website. Making things easier and enticing for users, this website’s auto search option not only provides with matching results but also categorizes the results under different companies or product names. Refined and narrowed for maximum user’s help, this on-site auto search undoubtedly beats all in the race.

Guillermo’s MooTools Textbox List: Simple yet elegantly done, this website displays a classic combination of black and white that steals the show instantly. Adding to the ‘wow’ factor of the site, its auto search box is brilliantly implemented with Textbox List which works well for search of tags in both PHP and desktop applications. Moreover the ‘x’ sign at the right side of each token allows users to delete away any of the listed items anytime.

Nature has always been a great source of inspiration for mankind since ages. Its relaxing and serene beauty blended with the vibrant hues of life makes it an all time favorite among designers and creative people.

In website designing too, different elements of nature and its captivating landscapes have been effectively used to create a bridge of communication between the company and its potential customers. Scroll below and view some interesting website designs that display a perfect harmony of natural elegance and splendor:

Go Glamping: Take a glance of the website, and its blend of green shades at the header takes you for a ride through the beauty and liveliness of nature. With its bold and bright texture that has an aura of radiance in it, this travel website is sure to have you craving for a relaxing break in the lap of nature.

Hellenic Holidays: Nothing can beat the esthetic look of this website where nature is captured in its rugged beauty, added with a mesmerizing presence of serenity and tranquility. The natural play of colors is an added benefit of this website that makes the presence of nature prominently visible.

Native Springs: In this website, nature is shown in its chaste form that elucidates a heavenly essence. The blend of greenery with crystal clear water and snow topped mountains marks a soothing and comforting spirit that works for this website.

Weingut Trumme: This website stands out amidst the crowd with its simple and sober designing. The grapevine leaf at the side of the website adds a clean and fresh natural flavor that becomes the highlight of this site.

Website designing is all about creating a web presence that helps attract potential customers to the site. To achieve its ultimate objective, it is the work of a designer to implement proper blend of creativity and professionalism, so that the site stands out amidst the crowd easily and effectively. Though not used widely nowadays, floral elements if used appropriately can add an extra boost to a website design. Often used to emphasize an arty form, floral elements look extremely good in graphic arts. As a designer, you will love to work with floral designs, as it allows you to let your imaginations flow unbound. Here we bring for you some examples of website design that display a brilliant incorporation of floral elements:

Dsignzmedia.com: The bold combination of black and green in its background makes the site uniquely appealing. The floral design at the banner of the website makes it more creatively refreshing and eye soothing to visitors.

Corvusart.com: The bright yellow header of this website with its artistic floral arrangements makes it an instant eye catcher. The body of the website is toned down with a contrasting light shade of yellow ochre that brings a comforting touch to the website. Definitely a fine show of color-play from the designer.

Safarista.com: This site displays a complete bold look with use of bright color shades such as red, yellow and orange. Acting as a relief amidst the bold colors, the light side floral arrangements adds to the beauty and euphoric essence of the site.

Designingfresh.com: Done in white background, the graphical floral arrangement at the side of this site makes it easily attractive. Plain yet elegant in its design, this site holds a gentle simplicity.

Corporate website design is definitely a different ball of wax. You cannot fill it out with fancy images, wacky fonts, characters etc. Everything should be perfect in order and you need to make sure that it represents the brand, which means you need to keep your creative impulse in check as far as possible. Corporate website can have creative touches but they should not overshadow its corporate and professional appeal. It is basically all about maintaining a fine balance and nothing else. Now, if you are still finding it hard to get your grip on it, here are some tips that can help you make your life a little bit easy:

Have a Plan: – Before you start working on a website design project, you need to make sure that the ethos or the brand image of your company is clearly and precisely reflected in it. It will help you avoid last minute hurry.

Define Your Message: – Message of your website has to be simple, straightforward yet strong. You can hire a seasoned copywriter for this purpose. Message should be brief, accurate and interesting of course.

Style Guide: – Chalk out a proper style guide or else face the music. It is as simple as that. Don’t badger the designer to death as it will have detrimental impacts on the look and feel of your design. Create a style guide for your website before anything else.

Use Relevant Pictures: – Add only those pictures that are related to your service. However, the designer has full liberty to use other pictures as long as he/she can relate it to your company.

Keep It Fresh: – When your website is done, you should not rest on your laurels. You need to update it regularly, as it will help your website stand the test of time.

Check out these amazing examples of corporate website design:

Heinz: – With a light color background, Heinz is adding a new dimension to its online presence. Its navigation is simple and it appeals to all users.

McDonald’s: – McDonald is clearly trying to emphasize and promote its product through its corporate website. It uses the entire screen for promoting its flagship program i.e. Burger. Interestingly, its product does not overshadow the menu and other elements.

Starbucks: – The strength of the website lies in its use of gentle and sober colors. Navigational hierarchy is given maximum attention. Alternative destination links are there to access information.

Adidas: – Addidas’ official website looks cool. It is based on grid and surprisingly enough, the rigidity and inflexibility are conspicuously missing here. Dynamic exploration is an added advantage of this website.

Citroen: – Filling a shape with tiny images is not anything new but still, Citroen has gone a step ahead by adding some novelty to a comparatively old technique. On mouse roll over, the particular image expands. An excellently designed landing page that is powerful enough to keep the visitors engaged for a while.