In the bustling digital landscape of Washington, DC, where businesses strive to stand out amidst fierce competition, having a robust online presence is non-negotiable. Your website serves as the virtual storefront, the first impression that can make or break a potential customer’s decision to engage with your brand. To ensure your online presence exudes professionalism, functionality, and aesthetic appeal, partnering with a top-notch WordPress development agency is paramount.

A WordPress development agency specializes in creating and optimizing websites using the WordPress platform, the most popular content management system (CMS) globally. With its flexibility, scalability, and extensive array of plugins and themes, WordPress empowers businesses to craft dynamic and visually stunning websites tailored to their unique needs.

Bluetext: A WordPress Expert

Here at Bluetext, we’ve designed some of the most impressive WordPress websites on the internet today. For example, our work with The Weather Company was delivered on a WordPress CMS in just over 100 days from inception to website launch. From the project kick-off to the launch date, Bluetext worked at rapid speed and was committed to hitting an aggressive launch date while producing the highest quality deliverables from beginning to end. This included in-depth discovery work (to ensure we understood the business, its challenges, and its goals), as well as intentional content strategy, SEO, wireframes, color comps, motion study/animation, fully responsive website development and QA, content loading, and strategic recommendations throughout the entire process.

Choosing the Right Agency Partner

So, how do you choose the right WordPress development agency in Washington, DC? Here are some key factors to consider:

1. Expertise and Experience: Look for an agency with a proven track record of success in WordPress development. Evaluate their portfolio to gauge the quality and diversity of their past projects. Experienced agencies will understand the intricacies of WordPress customization, optimization, and maintenance, ensuring your website performs flawlessly.
2. Design Capabilities: Aesthetics matter in web design. Seek an agency that excels in creating visually appealing and user-friendly websites. Your website should not only capture attention but also provide a seamless browsing experience across devices, fostering engagement and driving conversions.
3. Technical Proficiency: Beyond design, technical proficiency is crucial. The agency should possess in-depth knowledge of WordPress architecture, coding best practices, and SEO principles to ensure your website is optimized for search engines and delivers superior performance.
4. Client Collaboration: Effective communication and collaboration are essential for a successful partnership. Choose an agency that values client input, listens to your requirements, and keeps you informed throughout the development process. Transparency and responsiveness foster trust and ensure your vision is brought to life.
5. Support and Maintenance: Launching your website is just the beginning. Choose an agency that offers ongoing support and maintenance services to keep your website secure, up-to-date, and optimized for peak performance. A reliable partner will provide timely updates, address any issues promptly, and help your website evolve alongside your business. That being said, don’t feel like you have to rely on an agency partner to maintain your website. If you have the capabilities in house, a good website agency will set you up for success so you can support the website from launch onwards.

In Washington, DC, Bluetext stands out as a premier WordPress development agency, specializing in web design, digital strategy, and branding services. With a dedicated team of experts and a client-centric approach, Bluetext has helped numerous businesses across various industries elevate their online presence and achieve their digital goals.

Take our work with BlueAlly for example. BlueAlly is a technology & IT consulting company that helps enterprises break down barriers to advanced technology and achieve new levels of capability. The BlueAlly team came to Bluetext after the acquisition of N2grate and Netcraftsmen to help build a cohesive brand that could encompass all of their growing capabilities. The project started with our messaging work stream followed by the logo design, CVI creation, content planning, and website development that culminated in the external launch of their new brand and site alongside a powerful brand essence video.

Invest with an Agency, Invest in Yourself

Don’t settle for an ordinary website when you can have an extraordinary one. Partner with a trusted WordPress development agency like Bluetext and unleash the full potential of your online presence. Contact us today to embark on your journey towards digital excellence.

In conclusion, investing in professional WordPress development is an investment in your business’s success. By choosing the right agency, you can create a captivating, high-performing website that captivates your audience and drives results. Take the first step towards enhancing your online presence and propelling your business to new heights with Bluetext.

In the world of website development and content management systems (CMS), WordPress has emerged as a powerhouse, catering to the diverse needs of businesses across the globe. WordPress has humble beginnings as a blogging platform, but has evolved into the world’s most popular CMS with a plethora of capabilities. In this post, we will explore the key features of WordPress and guide you through the process of determining whether it’s the right fit for your company’s website.

Reasons to Consider WordPress

WordPress’s core strengths lie in several key capabilities that make it a great choice for businesses of all sizes.

1. User-Friendly Interface:

At the heart of WordPress is an intuitive and user-friendly backend interface. This ensures that even those without extensive technical knowledge can navigate and manage their websites effortlessly. Content creation, updates, and customization become streamlined processes, allowing you to focus on what matters most – your business.

2. Versatility Through Themes and Plugins:

The real magic of WordPress lies in its extensive library of themes and plugins. Themes dictate the visual appearance of your website, providing a range of options to suit your brand. Meanwhile, plugins extend the functionality of your site, offering solutions for e-commerce through plugins for WooCommerce, SEO, security, and more. This flexibility allows you to tailor your website to meet your specific requirements. Check out some ways Bluetext has integrated e-commerce functionality to WordPress websites.  

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Friendliness:

WordPress is inherently designed with SEO in mind. Its structure and the ability to easily integrate SEO plugins like Yoast contribute to better visibility on search engines. This is crucial for businesses striving to enhance their online presence and reach a wider audience.

4. Scalability:

As your business grows, so should your website. WordPress scales seamlessly, accommodating the evolving needs of your company. Whether you’re a startup or a well-established enterprise, WordPress provides the tools necessary to support increasing traffic, add new content, and create new features and components. Discover how Bluetext has helped clients scale their digital presence with WordPress websites. 

5. Community Support:

The vibrant WordPress community is a valuable asset. With a vast network of developers, designers, and users, the community ensures continuous improvement and innovation. Access to forums, tutorials, and extensive documentation means that help is readily available whenever you encounter challenges.

Is WordPress Right for Your Company?

While WordPress boasts an impressive array of features, it’s essential to evaluate whether it aligns with the specific goals of your company and also with your website’s content. Consider the following factors to make an informed decision:

1. Nature of Your Business:

WordPress is incredibly versatile and can accommodate a wide range of business types. If your website requirements include a blog, portfolio, or e-Commerce functionality, WordPress is an excellent choice. However, if your website has highly specialized needs, such as complex web applications and custom integrations to surface content, an alternative CMS may warrant consideration.

2. Ease of Maintenance:

If you prefer a platform that allows for easy updates and maintenance without extensive technical knowledge or an in-house developer, WordPress is a solid choice. Its user-friendly interface makes routine tasks like updating plugins and keeping your website secure and manageable. Your host provider can also help with this if you do not feel comfortable doing it yourself.

3. Future Growth Plans:

Examine your strategic objectives and anticipate the potential expansion of your business. WordPress’s scalability ensures that your website can adapt alongside your company’s growth, making it a sustainable and prudent choice for the long term.

 

WordPress stands out as a robust CMS with unparalleled versatility and user-friendliness. By assessing your business’s unique requirements, ease of maintenance, and future growth plans, you can determine whether WordPress is the right choice for your company’s website. Let Bluetext help you implement a new WordPress website today. 

Selecting the right content management system, or CMS, can be a challenging decision for many businesses. While there is no one-size-fits-all website CMS, certain criteria can help you downselect potential options of WordPress, Drupal, Webflow and many more. Take our interactive quiz to help determine which CMS may be right for you and your business needs!

We’ve all heard about website accessibility, but what does it really mean, why does it matter, and how can we design and build accessible websites?

What is Web Accessibility?

Web Accessibility is the inclusive practice of making websites usable for all visitors, including those with disabilities such as blindness, low vision, learning and/or cognitive disabilities, deafness or hearing loss, speech disabilities, and physical disabilities.  It’s important to be passionate about website accessibility because it allows equitable access and interaction to your site’s content and functionality.

To be as inclusive as possible (and avoid legal issues), ensure your website doesn’t prevent anyone from retrieving, navigating, or understanding the information and functionality your website shares. Luckily, there are established guidelines by WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) to follow that can help your site’s accessibility.

Understanding WCAG Standards & Guidelines

The most recent WCAG 2.1 standards are based on four main guiding principles known by the acronym POUR: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust. Each of these principles has web accessibility guidelines you should reference and apply on your site.

• Perceivable: Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive. Perceive doesn’t mean just visually; uers who are blind often use screen readers which convert text into speech or braille. The most important and common applications of these guidelines include:
  • Add text alternatives (aka alt text) on non-text items like images, videos, and audio content.
  • Ensure high color contrast. There are free color contrast tools like Stark that check your contrast in Adobe XD before you get into the development phase.
  • Structure content intuitively. Implement proper heading structure and ordered/unordered list elements in the html files.
  • Provide transcripts for audio recordings and ensure video captions are in sync with the audio.
• Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable.
  • Make it keyboard friendly! Some users don’t use a mouse or touchpad, so all functionality of the content should be operable through just the keyboard. A great way to test this is by tabbing through your site. By tabbing through, you should have all items of the menu/navigation accounted for with focus states.
  • Ensure there’s enough time for users to properly engage. If anything has a time limit, users should be able to extend or cancel it.
  • Ensure it’s easily navigable with clear headings, labels, and page titles that relate to the on-page content. The page content should have focus states and navigate in an order that makes sense. The text for links should also make sense based on the context of the content. Breadcrumbs are also key in helping a user identify where they are within the site.
• Understandable: Information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable.
  • Language should be obvious and programmatically determined.
  • Implement secondary education reading level. In other words, make it easy to read. Avoid big, complicated words that some people might not know or some mechanisms might not be able to define/pronunciate/translate.
  • Consistency is key. Implementing a consistent navigation structure and components with consistent functionality provides a consistent and expected user experience.
  • Use error identifications. Ensure that if an input error is detected, that the item with an error is easily identified and described to the user in text. Labels should also be used when content requires user input.
• Robust: Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.
  • The HTML should be clean enough to be parsed so assistive technologies can render its contents into a different format. Elements should have complete start and end tages, should not contain duplicate attributes, and should be appropriately nested.

WCAG is considered the go-to guide for building accessible websites for ADA (American Disabilities Act) or Section 508 compliance, but there are multiple levels of compliance to consider.

Accessibility Compliance Levels

There are three levels of compliance (level A, Level AA, and Level AAA). Level AA is the level that most developers aim to meet regardless of their industry. It is also the level that is legally required for certain sites when tasked with making a website accessible. For example, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires federal agencies to ensure that their information and communication technology (ICT) is accessible to people with disabilities. So government sites need to be at least Level AA compliant, ideally Level AAA, to avoid legal troubles.

When redesigning a website, it’s important to understand the level of compliance the site should have because it will impact the design and functionality. But remember, when in doubt, follow the guidelines for Level AA compliance.

At the end of the day, accessibility is subjective because no one cannot account for every design and development possibility. However, following the guidelines outlined by WCAG 2.1 gives your design and development team the best chance at creating an accessible website.

Web Accessibility Tools

There are many tools (many offering free scans and trials) available to check your accessibility and level of compliance. Some of our favorites include:

• WAVE – Web accessibility browser extension on Chrome, Firefox, or Edge.
• Siteimprove – Industry standard web accessibility checker, especially for OCR (Office of Civil Rights) compliance.
• AccessiBe – AI-powered web accessibility software with source code identification.
• Google Lighthouse – Automated web accessibility tool that runs with javascript.

Hopefully now you have accessed all the necessary tools to design and build an accessible and compliant website. If you want to learn more about accessibility or are looking to partner with a top-tier agency in creating a beautiful, best-practice, memorable, easy-to-use, and accessible website, contact Bluetext to get started.

It’s here! While it may seem like just yesterday that Drupal 9 arrived, the Drupal community has obviously been hard at work releasing Drupal 10 this past December. 

Drupal, an open-source Content Management System (CMS), is increasing in popularity as new versions tout continued innovation and improvements. Coupled with relatively low cost to implement and scalable architecture, its vast features and flexibility meet the demands of today’s modern website requirements for businesses and organizations globally. Let’s take a review of what’s new with the latest version.

In general, most seem to agree that Drupal 10 does not come with major upgrade headaches or a learning curve for content administrators. The upgrade path and UI should feel seamless for current users. But what are the benefits? Here’s what Bluetext website developers are excited about:

• New themes!
  • The administration theme Claro, replacing Seven, provides a modern look while remaining familiar to content editors for ease of transition.

• The new front-end theme Olivero, replacing Bartik, works with the popular Layout Builder and will be WCAG AA compliant.

• The Starterkit Theme, according to Drupal, will provide a theme to be copied for front-end developers to easily start from, while also allowing Drupal to provide more frequent updates to the default markup and CSS shipped as part of Drupal core. Sub-theming will still be possible. 

• Automatic Updates, which will reduce the maintenance burden for core updates as they are automatically integrated as they are released
• Project Browser, though still in its infancy stages, is intended to provide a one-stop shop for exploring and installing contributed modules.
• Enhanced content editing as the WYSIWYG is replaced with CK Editor 5, including cleaner and easier copy and paste functionality from external documents.
• Better decoupled development experience, in particular for menus and URLs, as Drupal lays the groundwork for future headless capabilities. 

This may be enough to sell you on the upgrade now, but if not, keep in mind that Drupal 9 support will end in November 2023. It’s better to begin the upgrade process sooner rather than later to mitigate any risk. At a high level, you’ll need to do the following:

• Upgrade in order. Meaning, if you are on Drupal 8, you’ll need to upgrade to Drupal 9 before 10.
• Test your site for readiness using Drupal’s Upgrade Status tool. The tool will validate your compatibility requirements and provide helpful planning. 
• The Drupal Rector tool can help fix deprecated code and ensure all of your modules are ready.
  • As with most upgrades, a number of core modules and deprecated code with be removed.
  • Some use cases of jQuery will also be replaced with modern JavaScript components in an effort to move away from browser-dependent functionality. 
• Ensure you have also upgraded to PHP 8.1 and Symfony 5 or 6.

Whether you’re looking to upgrade or are considering Drupal for the first time, an experienced digital marketing agency, like Bluetext, can ensure your project benefits from everything Drupal 10 has to offer.  Get in touch to learn more about our website development services!

For many businesses, multilingual or website localization is a critical step to establishing or sustaining a digital presence across global markets. But while localization efforts can pay off in high growth, it does require strategic planning and implementation efforts. As an international business, website localization & multilingual capabilities can be essential to reach new audiences and drive growth.

Website Translation vs Localization

Website translation is the process of changing an original (source) language version of web content such as into a different (target) language by simply substituting words from one language to another—in context. This includes translating copy, changing visuals and images, and adjusting the layout to best suit the target audience. Website localization is a more specialized process of adapting website content to a specific language, culture, and local market. This goes a step beyond multilingual translation services to be tailored for regional or local consumption. Both share a goal of making a website look and feel like it was designed for the target audience, no matter their geographic location. This can go a long way in creating connections with users and encourages further website interactions.

Benefits of Multilingual Websites

Multilingual websites can often be smaller than a company’s main website and focused on one goal; they are usually in less than 5 languages options, and are designed to serve users of these languages with just enough information to help achieve that goal. For example, a startup company that wants to expand into a new country would develop a multilingual page on their website to get the word out about their product, or a business that wants to hire international employees might have a small multilingual section on their career page.

Website localization can provide numerous benefits for businesses. Here are some of the key advantages:

1. Reach new markets: With a localized website, businesses can engage with customers in different countries and tap into new opportunities.
2. Increase sales & conversions: By providing content in the target language, businesses can improve their website’s usability and make it easier for customers to get in contact with sales teams or purchase products and services. This can aid in conversions or lead generation goals.
3. Improve customer experience: By providing content in the local language, businesses can make it easier for customers to find relevant information and interact with their website. This can lead to greater customer satisfaction and loyalty.
4. Enhance SEO performance: Localizing a website can also help enhance SEO performance by accounting for cultural nuances. By optimizing content for the target language, businesses can improve their website’s visibility in search engine results for gloabl audiences.
5. Build trust: Website localization can also help businesses build trust with users by showing they understand their needs and values. This can help increase customer loyalty and trust.

Tips for Successful Website Localization

Localization is when content is translated into other languages and then adjusted for cultural differences in order to better serve multiple markets within that language. For example, a website that serves both American English and British English. This is different from a simple translation because it takes into account the language needs of different cultures and nuances unique to each country/culture. Successful website localization requires careful planning and execution, but here are some factors & tips to help businesses get the most out of their website localization efforts:

1. Audience: It’s important to research and understand the target audience and their language, culture, and local market. This will help businesses create a website that is tailored to their needs.
2. Content: Content is key when localizing a website. It’s important to create content that is engaging and relevant to the target audience.
3. Design: The design of the website should be tailored to the target audience. This includes using visuals, images, and colors that are appropriate for the target culture. For example, perhaps your website imagery reflects the popular cities or cultures of Asia if you are trying to reach Asian markets.
4. SEO: It’s important to optimize content for the target language and local market. Consider spelling differences or slang phrases to improve website’s visibility in search engine results.
5. Testing: It’s important to test the website in the target language to ensure that it works properly. This will help businesses identify any issues before the website goes live.

Multilingual Website Development Services

Businesses can benefit from multilingual website development services to create a website that is tailored to their target audience. These services can help businesses create a website that is optimized for the target language, culture, and local market.

Website translation involves multiple steps and tools. Here’s a brief overview of the website translation process and the tools used:

1. Content extraction: Content is extracted from the source language and prepared for translation.
2. Translation: Content is translated by a human translator or automated translation tool.
3. Editing and proofreading: Content is edited and proofread to ensure accuracy.
4. Localization: Content is localized to suit the target audience.
5. Optimization: Content is optimized for SEO in the target language.
6. Testing: The website is tested in the target language to ensure that it works properly.

The tools used for a website translation process can include translation management systems, automated translation tools, and content management systems. Some of the most popular are WPML for WordPress or GTranslate for Drupal. Automated translation tools are usually the cheapest option, but they may not provide the accuracy and quality of human translation. A website development agency can implement and test automated translation tools, but human eye for editing and refinement by translators is always the best path.

For many growing businesses, multilingual websites & localization options are becoming to reach new markets and drive growth. Businesses of all shapes and sizes can benefit from multilingual website development services to create a website that is tailored and optimized to their target audiences. If you’re looking for help with website localization, contact Bluetext. Our team of experts can develop a website that is tailored to your target audience and optimized for success.

“Should I use infinite scrolling versus pagination on this website?” is a question that many UX designers will ask themselves when starting a new project. Of course, the answer is “It depends.” This article explores the pros and cons of infinite scrolling and pagination to give you the context on when to use each in website design.

Infinite Scrolling

Infinite scrolling is a technique that allows users to scroll through a massive chunk of content with no finish line in sight. The page essentially refreshes as you continue scrolling, making it feel as if there is an infinite amount of content available. There are certainly some contexts for which this works very well but naturally, it does not suit each use case.

Pro #1: User Engagement

Infinite scrolling is best suited for instances where users are in “discovery mode”. When the user does not search for something specific, they need to see a large number of items to find the one thing they like.

The best examples of this are on social media, when users scroll through Facebook or Instagram they are excited to see what the next piece of content has to offer. Infinite scrolling affords exposure to as much information as possible at once, which means more information is consumed. The higher the exposure (in other words, impressions and reach), typically the higher the engagement is.

Pro #2: Scrolling Takes the Cake Over Clicking

Designing for users to click rather than scroll can cause a much longer user experience journey. Depending on the instance, we typically like to see scrolling used for quick actions that should be seamless for the user. For example, if you are looking to employ a tutorial for your new mobile app, you should consider a vertical or horizontal scroll experience to allow a seamless, one-page experience for your user. Clicking will impede their ability to quickly navigate through the tutorial and get to your app. Scrolling allows us to keep the user experience to remain easy-to-use and navigate.

Pro #3: Scrolling is Mobile-Friendly

Infinite scrolling is most frequently used on mobile devices where the screens are smaller. The smaller the screen, the smaller amount of information users can see within one viewport, which provides an excellent use case for infinite or long scrolling.

Con #1: Page Performance

Infinite scrolling requires the page to constantly “refresh” at the bottom to display more content. This scrolling undoubtedly affects your page speed and load time. Various research studies have shown that slow load times result in people leaving your site or deleting your app which results in low conversion rates. For that reason, it may be best to leave the long scroll at the door if you are looking to keep your website ranking high in SEO performance.

Con #2: Item and Search Location

For those looking to shop online or look for a specific resource, infinite scrolling doesn’t provide them the visual cue for where to find the item later. There is no ability to truly “bookmark” their place on the page, which can cause frustration if they go back later to find the same post.

Con #3: Scroll Bar Provides No Context

The scroll bar becomes irrelevant when you employ infinite scroll in your user experience. Users see the scroll bar and assume they’re close to the end of the page when in reality, the page will keep updating to show more content and there is no end in sight. It can be very misleading when users attempt to estimate the amount of data there is to surf through, which can cause frustration for the user and can lead them to leave your site.

Con #4: Absence of a Footer

With infinite scrolling, users will never reach the end of the page. This makes it difficult for them to ever find the footer, where important information and navigation links typically reside. Some ways around this are to make the footer sticky and always visible or collapse the footer into a sidebar. Alternatively, user experience designers can introduce a “load more” button that provides users with the ability to take control of their own experience on the site.

Pagination

Pagination is a user interface pattern that divides content into separate pages. If you see a row of numbers or pagination dots at the bottom of a page, then you are experiencing a site’s pagination.

Pro #1: Good Conversion

Pagination is great for an instance where users are looking for something specific. As we saw before, scrolling is perfect for discovery mode—now’s the time for a solution for identification mode. “Scrolling is a continuation while clicking is a decision” (Joshua Porter)

Pro #2: Control and Item Location

Providing pagination within your website’s user experience, users instantly have a sense of control over the information they are browsing. Providing numbers or icons to click on gives users the sense that they are making a decision for themselves.

In addition, pagination affords users the ability to remember an item’s location and navigate back to it at any time. For example, if you are on your favorite e-commerce website looking for the right sweater to buy this fall and you find one you like but aren’t quite ready to buy, you can take note of which page you viewed it on—maybe you even bookmark it since the URL has the exact item location within the page. Pagination gives us this opportunity to take control of our usage of the website and gives a sense of authority to the user.

Con #1: Clicking Means Extra Actions

When you require your users to click to see more information, you’re requiring them to take an extra step. One way to make this less cumbersome is to allow users to dictate how many items appear within each page so they can scroll through more content up front and then navigate to the next page.

Recap

When considering user engagement within website design, user experience designers should consider the end goal of the user. Are they looking to find a specific piece of content that they can easily refer back to? If so, pagination may be the best option for your website. But if you simply are looking for endless discovery and providing your end user with as much new information as possible, then infinite scrolling may be the best for you.

In the end, it is best to consult a UX design agency, like Bluetext, to recommend the best approach for your business.

Looking for a UX design agency to partner with for your next website? Contact Bluetext today.

A compelling website is the backbone of a brand’s digital presence. A website serves as a channel for business by generating purchases, tracking sales leads, and raising brand awareness. The visual appearance of your website must promote the corporate visual identity and enhance the site’s functionality. Some basic design guidelines can be applied to ensure that the site is both aesthetically appealing and easy to navigate for users. The following 8 principles should be kept in mind when designing user-friendly, effective websites that direct users to the desired outcomes:

Create a Visual Hierarchy

Visitors to a site will skim content to find the information most relevant to them. The visual hierarchy created by typography styling and placement is key to directing their attention to the most crucial information on the site. Using a consistent hierarchy H1, H2, H3, etc. header style aids end-users, but also SEO engines. Google crawlers will look to these assigned hierarchies to identify organic search keywords and prioritize your website higher on search engine results (SERP) so a user can find your website in the first place. Each page should highlight the most important content and de-prioritize supporting information so that a user can more easily pick up on the big takeaways. Bluetext works with clients to identify the key actions or information that a site should showcase, and creates thoughtful designs to make those items stand out to users.

Use the Golden Ratio

The Golden ratio uses the number 1.618 to divide portions of the screen into sections that are visually appealing to users. Rather than dividing areas into equally measured sizes, the width or height of a section should be divided by 1.618 in order to create one larger section, and the remaining area is left in a smaller section. This proportion is easier for users to analyze, as it has a more classical and balanced appearance.

Avoid Possibility Paralysis

Giving users too many possibilities to choose from creates frustration and hesitancy in user actions. Think about the classic supermarket example. The decision between three types of peanut butter is far easier and faster than deciding between fifteen different types and brands. Discerning between choices and identifying the correct one requires a lot of energy from users when they’re bombarded with options. Limiting the choices presented to users eliminates distracting elements, and allows them to interact with the site more seamlessly. 

Bigger Is (Often) Better

Larger items are simply easier for a user to find and click. For call-to-action (CTA) buttons, in particular, making those buttons larger will lead users to click those areas quicker and more often. Unusually large buttons might have the unintended effect of distracting or confusing the reader, but legible, noticeable designs can positively encourage user interaction. For other tips and tricks to designing CTAs, read our blog on the Guide to the Perfect CTA Button. 

Consider Gestalt Principles

A website that exhibits well-executed design will help attract users’ attention before they dive into more detailed content. Overall design principles provided by Gestalt help creators build websites that visually appeal to users. For example, Gestalt’s law of closure ensures that users prefer designs that feel complete, rather than having gaps or empty spaces that break up the flow of the design. Considering users’ design preferences will help the audience feel more connected and engaged with the site. Poor designs could confuse users or distract them from important content. 

Utilize Negative Space

Negative space is the open space created in a design where there is a lack of content. This clear area creates a natural breathing room and is essential to making the design appear clean and modern. A page that is cluttered with information can be overwhelming to users, and this can discourage them from exploring the content. A great example of maximizing whitespace for a clean website design is Bluetext’s work with Sonicwall, an innovative cyber-security company. 

Acknowledge the F-pattern Rule

Eye-tracking studies have shown that users tend to scan screens in an F-shaped pattern, following from left to right across the top of the page, then just scanning down the left side of the page as they scroll lower. The F-pattern reinforces the idea that the most important text or imagery should be placed at the top of the page, or along the left margin. Placing crucial content in these areas will increase the likelihood of users noticing or absorbing this content. 

Consistency is Key

Keeping consistency across design elements is crucial to creating visual cohesiveness across a site. Typography styling and content blocks should be recognizable across different pages. When designing websites, Bluetext developers help clients to create a dynamic component system, where the same components can be modified or rearranged on different pages throughout the site. This component system establishes regularity throughout designs that help users navigate the site more easily, recognizing familiar component structures. 

Investing in your website’s design can drastically improve the user experience and lead to desired business outcomes, such as increased sales, lead generation, or overall awareness of your brand. Need help? Contact Bluetext to get expert support in perfecting your user experience design through thoughtful web design.

Being a technology company can be tough, there is often pressure to appear futuristic, scientific, or impressively complex. The market often expects the latest and greatest features and widgets, especially in website UX and design. However, not every company is the space-age, robotics, AI-generated stereotype that comes to mind with “tech”. But across all technology companies, there is a shared level of expertise in software and computing that may not be found in the everyday website viewer. Technology companies can easily fall into the trap of flexing their brain power a little too strongly, and overachieving the “tech aesthetic”. And while there are a million ways to design an impressive website, there are a couple of practices that stand out as common pitfalls for technology companies. Bluetext recommends the following as what NOT to do in web design: 

Too much content on one page

This is often the result of poor content planning. When a user is overwhelmed with animations, visuals, and walls of text, they lose interest quickly. Focus each page on answering a specific question or describing a specific product, and link out to additional information that you feel is relevant. If there is any “take it or leave it” language on the page, it might be best to leave it.

Too little content on one page

As the saying goes, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. We appreciate minimal site design when it helps a user find exactly what they’re looking for, but barely-there content doesn’t help anyone. Each page should be thoughtfully designed and written and should provide a user with clear next steps in their journey on your website.

Jargon or unapproachable language

Messaging across the site ought to be crystal clear. Just like having too much content, using complicated language and jargon can deter a user from continuing on your site. We recommend tailoring your content to your audience by considering how they would speak during a conference—widely-understood industry terms are acceptable, but should be embedded within digestible, humanized language. When customers can easily understand your product language, they gain confidence in your brand. 

Recently, Bluetext partnered with BigBear.ai to develop a new messaging strategy that frames them as a leader in their field while explaining their highly-technical product with accessible language. As a result of this partnership, BigBear.ai is able to strike a balance between technical and approachable language, and build trust with its audience. To learn more about this project, click here.

Falling into the trap of trends

We see this most often when personal taste takes precedence over user experience. Some trends have staying power and can help you stand out from out-of-the-box websites. Some trends, though, are fleeting. 

When adopting new web design styles, carefully consider the relevance of each trend to your brand and your users. More often than not, the best thing you can do for your users is to be consistent. They want to know what to expect from your website, so as you explore trends, it’s good to meet (or exceed!) those expectations.

No clear CTA

Each page on your site should provide clear, relevant next steps. This could take the form of related resources at the bottom of the page or quick links to associated product pages. Whichever next steps you choose to display, they should proactively provide the user with additional information related to the page they’re on. This practice is also helpful with interlinking content across your website, which can boost your search rankings.

For a great example of CTA placement throughout a site, check out Axient’s website. Bluetext worked with Axient to devise a comprehensive website strategy that would optimize the user journey and maximize conversions. To read more about this project, click here.

Poor mobile experience

More than half of users will leave a page that takes more than a few seconds to load on mobile, according to Google. Given that mobile use is steadily increasing year-over-year, this means that the longer your site takes to load, the more users you could be losing to competitors. 

One solution for the mobile-desktop conundrum, as recommended by Nielsen, is to have a mobile site separate from your desktop site. This will allow you to pare the mobile experience down by removing content and features that are only relevant to desktop users. To see how your site’s mobile experience stacks up, try out Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. 

At the end of the day, the best thing you can do for your website is to design and write with your end-user in mind. A site that works for them is a site that works for you.

To learn how Bluetext can help you avoid these mistakes, get in touch with our web design experts today.

Whether you’re a reader or a listener, we’ve got you covered! Listen to the podcast version of this post for a fresh take.

In any website design, call-to-action (CTA) buttons are key to highlighting the important actions available to users. Buttons make the difference between a general site visitor and a converting sales lead. Pointing out relevant information and next steps to the user can help them navigate your site with less friction, reducing decision fatigue and decreasing bounce rates. Here are six key questions you should consider when designing the CTA buttons to be used on your website.

Should the button style stay the same?

While it’s important for button styling to be consistent across a site, in some cases, there are multiple actions available to a user in a single viewport. To avoid overwhelming users with numerous identical buttons on the screen, you can use different styles to indicate a visual hierarchy. You’re already asking a user to make one decision, therefore, the UX should eliminate any additional, unnecessary decisions in what button to select. For actions that are top priority, bold-colored, solid buttons tend to draw a user’s attention first. Secondary and tertiary button styles should be less emphasized, with unfilled boxes or simply underlined text to indicate less important actions. The styles should be distinct but linked by common elements such as color or shape to make them easily recognizable. Try to use the primary button styling predominantly throughout the site, and avoid creating more than three distinct button styles. 

What colors are best to use for CTA buttons? 

When choosing the fill color of CTA buttons, it may be tempting to rely on your company brand color scheme. The button design shouldn’t diverge from the brand entirely, but the button color should stand out from the rest of the content on your site. Say you have a minimalistic black and white or muted color palette, you’d want your colors to pop against those backgrounds. Using the predominant brand color risks the button competing for user attention, leading to lower clickthrough rates. Color psychology also plays a key role in communicating the meaning behind buttons. It’s usually best to avoid red CTA buttons, because red buttons are associated with dangerous or harmful actions. Blue buttons, on the other hand, have positive connotations for users since blue text (the namesake of the Bluetext agency) has been used to indicate hyperlinks since the inception of the internet. Users are familiar and comfortable with clicking clue hyperlinked text, so why initiate a change? When choosing the color for a group of buttons on the site, assigning different colors to each action can create a higher cognitive load for users trying to distinguish between their choices. It’s best to use the same color for all the buttons in a group, so that users can focus on the text. However, you may want to consider indicating a default action to make one choice stand out, as discussed in the next section. 

Should you highlight a default action? 

If you are showing choices on a screen, and one of the choices presented is more likely to be the user’s preferred action, then it may be best to highlight that option to indicate it as the  “default” to help users choose this option faster. However, if the choices are equal, then highlighting a default action could confuse the user or steer them to click the default choice rather than considering the options equally. When showing two choices next to each other, it’s also important to consider right and left hand placement. Showing an option on the right may make users more likely to choose it due to right hand bias, so it’s best to put the default option on the right. However, if the default action is something irreversible like “delete all,” it may be best to put that CTA on the left to force users to give more consideration to their decision. When presenting multiple options, just consider which option will be chosen the most often, and how quickly you want the user to navigate the decision. 

Should icons be added to the CTA buttons? 

Usually, text alone is enough to communicate clear actions to the user, but when buttons are grouped together, it may be harder for the user to distinguish the difference between the options presented. For example, if a new user on your site sees “Download” and “Contact Us” CTAs right next to each other, they might have to take a second to think about the difference between the two actions. In cases like this, icons can help users to discern the difference between the options faster. When assigning icons to the CTAs, make sure that the icon is helpful in communicating the meaning behind the text. If the icons themselves are too similar or generic, they may only lead to more user indecisiveness. Choosing the right icons can make all the difference in the user experience.

Should designers think “outside-the-box”?

The standard button styling is a rectangular box shape, with rounded corners. While designers could use colors and text styling to flex the brand, the overall button shape shouldn’t stray too far from the norm. The oblong-shaped CTA is emerging in popularity with more rounded, organic brands and is a great example of applying brand elements without feeling foreign. The goal of a CTA is to be instantly recognizable to the user, and in this case, thinking outside the box could lead to users being confused or less likely to interact with CTAs. One way of ensuring standardization across buttons is by adhering to the “common grid” measurements. The grid spacing ensures that buttons have adequate clear space around the text, making them easier for viewers to read and recognize the anatomy. Clean, simple designs also tend to be more palatable, as buttons with numerous effects applied can end up looking tacky and unprofessional. 

What considerations should be in place for accessibility? 

Accessibility is necessary for legal compliance, but it’s also recommended to ensure that designs are easy to read for all users. Font size and color contrast are two of the main considerations for button accessibility. Gradient treatments can also add complications to website accessibility, especially when overlaid with text. As a designer, it’s important to ensure that legibility is never sacrificed for aesthetics. The Importance of Website Accessibility doesn’t go ignored at Bluetext; read more about how we test for accessibility compliance to ensure that our sites are functional for everyone. 

At Bluetext, when designing a site for a client, the number one priority is to ensure that the website will engage users in order to achieve business goals. Experienced designers know that CTA styling is key to capturing users and directing them to the most important content on the site. Thoughtful design can increase brand recognition, improve clickthrough rates, and remedy bounce rates for your site. Contact Bluetext to learn more about our services and how we can address all of your website design needs.