Creative Essentials: Professional Tools That Make My Work Better

My name is Suzanne Scacca and I am a tool snob.  Before I became a writer, and before I entered the world of marketing and web design, I was a long-time project manager. And although I could’ve stepped into any of my project management jobs and simply executed the tasks employers asked of me, I… Continue reading Creative Essentials: Professional Tools That Make My Work Better

How Page Builder Plugins Make It Easy to Create a WordPress Website

Page builder plugins make it easier for both novices and experienced developers to build websites faster. With a page builder, you don’t need to know how to code—you can build your site with drag and drop.  There are many free and premium WordPress page builders in the market. In this post, I’ll show you the… Continue reading How Page Builder Plugins Make It Easy to Create a WordPress Website

How to Create a Landing Page in WordPress Quickly

While a website is a great way for your business to get noticed, a WordPress landing page is an even better way to promote a specific offer. When you create a landing page in WordPress, you can easily focus all your marketing efforts on one offer, marketing campaign, product or service, drive signups to that… Continue reading How to Create a Landing Page in WordPress Quickly

10 Web Design Principles Every Designer Should Know

There are several things that determine how the web design will be seen on a website. These things include the form and appearance, function of the website, as well as the information presented in it. Every designer has to know how to combine these things to create a quality website. By failing any of them,… Continue reading 10 Web Design Principles Every Designer Should Know

5 Things That Significantly Improve User Experience

There are some truly stunning websites out there. But just because something looks pretty, doesn’t mean it will be functional and drive your target customers to action.  “Most client web design requests will begin with a request for stellar web design, not a fully-functional one,” says an article from the digital marketing agency Active Web… Continue reading 5 Things That Significantly Improve User Experience

8 Ways to Kickstart a Design System

Recently, I was part of a 3-person team of consultants who in 12 weeks built the foundations of a new design system. That design system is now used in multiple products and is contributed to by other developers and designers. In this post you’ll find some of the techniques we used to make the project… Continue reading 8 Ways to Kickstart a Design System

Balance Between Content and Web Design: How to Reach It

Just recently, I was given a very hard task – to find the perfect balance between web design and content. I have plenty of experience with both, but the combination of the two always gives me a lot of trouble. Still, for a website to be a success, it has to have the perfect balance… Continue reading Balance Between Content and Web Design: How to Reach It

What’s New for Designers, July 2019

It’s hard to stay focused this time of year. With vacations coming up (or having recently passed) it’s easy to get distracted from work-related tasks. For that reason, this month’s roundup is full of design tools plus a few design diversions that you can have fun with. 404 Illustrations Have you ever wanted to create… Continue reading What’s New for Designers, July 2019

How to Build an SEO Tool from Scratch

A quick Google search of the term “SEO tools” will give you a list of countless apps and software all claiming to help you get higher rankings. For SEO specialists and digital marketers, this can be both good and bad news. Good, because it’s a sign that the industry is constantly evolving. Bad, because finding… Continue reading How to Build an SEO Tool from Scratch

Rethinking the Exploration Phase of Design

Starting off a project is often described as being the exploration phase of a design process–during this phase, you quickly diverge with lots of ideas, generating many potential leads on concepts and hypotheses to test with customers. However, the notion that conceiving creative ideas is more akin to sudden unexpected flashes of brilliance obscures the… Continue reading Rethinking the Exploration Phase of Design

The Ultimate WordPress Page Builder: WPBakery

Web development and design come at a high price.  For many entrepreneurs just starting out or who are in the early stages of their business, they will have difficulties finding developers and designers who will build their website on this low budget.  Thankfully, WordPress plugin developers have seen this need for fast and cost-efficient ways… Continue reading The Ultimate WordPress Page Builder: WPBakery

50+ InDesign Templates Every Designer Should Own

If you’re planning to put together a magazine, book, or brochure, Adobe InDesign is without a doubt going to be your tool of choice. This software is perfectly tuned for creating complex layouts for print and digital, but sometimes you need a bit of a helping hand.  These 50+ InDesign templates, from catalogs to letterheads… Continue reading 50+ InDesign Templates Every Designer Should Own

To Make Your Multi-Vendor Platform

Selling your products online has never been easier thanks to WordPress and numerous eCommerce themes. But what if you don’t have products to sell and want to make some additional income?  That’s where creating an online marketplace similar to Etsy or Ebay comes in. The beauty of a marketplace is that your role is to… Continue reading To Make Your Multi-Vendor Platform

Easier Apps With Ionic Templates, Frameworks, and Tools

One of the biggest problems in development is the idea of “limitless” possibilities. How do you choose what app to build when you can create anything? Which choice to get from point A to point B is the right one, when there are so many combinations on how to get there? This holds true when… Continue reading Easier Apps With Ionic Templates, Frameworks, and Tools

10 Best Directory Plugins for WordPress

Directories are a popular and profitable kind of website. Directory websites list products and services for users to browse. They are databases that deliver information based on location and category. They can contain a large amount of data in the form of listings under different categories.  Directory websites come in all sizes and shapes: complex,… Continue reading 10 Best Directory Plugins for WordPress

Designing Websites Around Colorblind Users

Colorblind users are more common than you might realize. It’s not hard to design your website to make it easy for colorblind visitors to use. In fact, it will often make your designs more effective for all users, not just those with atypical sight conditions. Learn how to design your website around colorblind users to… Continue reading Designing Websites Around Colorblind Users

How to Create a Realistic Embroidery Text Effect in Adobe Photoshop

What You’ll Be Creating In this tutorial, I will show you how to create a realistic embroidery text effect in Photoshop using stitch brushes and layer styles. The end result will be a font that look like it’s embroidery!  This is part of my embroidery effect Photoshop action, which is part of Embroidery and Stitching Photoshop… Continue reading How to Create a Realistic Embroidery Text Effect in Adobe Photoshop

Mastering UX Writing With UI Powered Tips

UX writers create the copy that users interact with when using software, apps, and other products. This includes button text, error messages, policy and terms documents, help text, prompts, and instructions. Good UX writing improves user experience by making your product easier and more enjoyable to use. The best UX writers understand the ways in… Continue reading Mastering UX Writing With UI Powered Tips

20 Best Small Business WordPress Website Themes for 2019

If you want to effectively market your small business and reach more potential clients, you need a website. Given that most of us turn to the internet for everything nowadays, a WordPress small business website will increase your chances to be found organically, and will ultimately lead to more clients and greater revenue. When it… Continue reading 20 Best Small Business WordPress Website Themes for 2019

10 Best Restaurant WordPress Plugins

With the evolution of online shopping, more and more shoppers are buying food and groceries online. But in order for your restaurant website to stand out, you need the right plugins. In this tutorial, we are going to review some of the premium best restaurant plugins on CodeCanyon, and some great free plugins you can… Continue reading 10 Best Restaurant WordPress Plugins

How to Embed and Protect PDF Files With a WordPress Plugin

PDF files are a very popular way of sharing formatted documents due to their flexibility and lightweight nature—they work on most devices and operating systems. In this post, I’ll show you how to use a WordPress PDF plugin to embed and protect PDF files in your WordPress posts and pages. Why Use PDFs? PDFs can… Continue reading How to Embed and Protect PDF Files With a WordPress Plugin

Top 10 Things You Need to Know Before Using WordPress

As one of the best content management systems (CMS) on the internet, WordPress attracts many users from different levels of expertise. Whether you are a newcomer or an already established internet user, WordPress could be the best CMS to fit your needs. But so far, how well do you really know about this platform? Listed… Continue reading Top 10 Things You Need to Know Before Using WordPress

How to Create a WordPress Child Theme

If you’re using a theme you downloaded from the free WordPress theme repository, or maybe one you’ve bought from ThemeForest, you may want to make some tweaks to it. Maybe you want to register a new font or add a new template file. Maybe you want to add some code from one of the tutorials or… Continue reading How to Create a WordPress Child Theme