Samir's Portfolio

Tag: Website

Project Reflection and Personal Critique

In this blog post, I’m gonna go over one of my projects that I’ve completed this year (animal website project). I will be evaluating different aspects of my work ethics that I put into completing the project, such as challenges faced, my strengths, my weaknesses, & more. Additionally, by evaluating the project, I will go over how I would approach finishing another project in the future.

My overall strengths in the projects were getting things to be how I wanted. If I thought of an idea that I could implement in the website & wanted it in, then I would have little trouble finding a way to get it exactly how I imagined. For example, on an image button, I wanted it so that the image button would ‘pop’ out when a user hovered their mouse over it. I was able to successfully implement this idea & got it to be just as I imagined in my head.

My weakness was getting it done on time & efficiently. The project had a due date that stretched to a month long. I waited the first couple weeks to just not do it at all, and then when the last couple of weeks came along, I sort of started working on it. By the time the last week had came, I was barely done and started cramming the project in time, even staying up til’ midnight to work on it. It was a mess.

Some challenges faced when completing the project was coming up with creative ideas to set things up. For example, when I was making other pages for the website, I had to think of ways I could set the pages up. I couldn’t just use the same layout as I did for the first page I completed, then the entire website would just be bland. I had to try to think creatively as to how things should’ve been to keep variety in the website, & that was probably one of the hardest parts that I faced.

In this project evaluation, I discussed the different aspects in my work ethic that went into completing the project. I stated that I shined when it came to implementing ideas, but coming up with the ideas was a challenge. I had also stated that using time wisely to complete the project was a weakness for me. Based on this evaluation, if I were to complete future projects, I would try to be more open for ideas in my head, taking inspirations from others, thinking outside the box, (etc…) in order to fuel my creativity. Additionally I would also complete the project in a timely manner, starting & finishing the project in time.

May 19, 2024
Brown in Website Design
Color plays a heavy role in influencing people psychologically. Different colors can make us feel different things. For example, colors like black and purple may evoke ominous or mysterious feelings. Similarly, colors like yellow and orange may strike more jolly or bright feelings. When we scheme out colors in our web design, we can sway users feelings and emotions to influence them to do something.

Brown is a unique color when it comes to emotional influence. People usually associate it with warmth, stability, & reliability. Some examples of businesses or companies that use it are
- YMC
- Maggie Rose
- UPS
These big names utilize brown in their web design so as to sway peoples opinion towards their brand.

In conclusion, colors can play a big role in influencing peoples emotions. We can take advantage of this in web designing to sway people towards our brand. The color brown in particular can evoke feelings of reliability, warmth, & stability.
April 29, 2024
Website Owners Beware – Popular Scams

Introduction

In this day and age, everyone uses the internet. It’s used for simple things such as texting, all the way to running something like a business. Behind all of this, some people can try to scam others, including you. These scams can come in all sorts of ways, like emails, websites, & messaging. Scammers might try to offer something too good to be true, but then in the end once you fall for their scam, they don’t give anything back in return(or at least not what you initially expected to get.) They might try to get your personal information, like credit card info, passwords, etc… Website owners need to be extra careful, especially with the growing intelligence & slyness of scams people bring up nowadays. If they do happen to fall for the scams, not only might they lose things that they worked for, but their overall reputation as a website/organization will suffer the consequences. Website owners should try to contact trusted personnel to help them handle things if something seems wrong.

Phishing attacks

Phishing attacks are probably by far the most common type of scams. If you’ve ever seen a questionable email that doesn’t look promising, it’s probably a phishing scam. Phishing is when cybercriminals try to disguise as trusted personnel in emails & try to ask personal or important information out of you. They could pretend to be a sibling, or your boss trying to get your credit card information for some important reason. If you’re not careful, this can prove fatal on many things, whether it personally affected you, or affected your entire business. Always make sure to double-, even triple-check email credentials & presentation before taking any action on it.

Domain Name Scams

Domain name scams are another type of scam attacks. Every website has its own unique name. Like for example, youtube.com, X.com, reddit.com, etc.. Some scammers offer companies a chance to claim a unique domain name for money, but once transactions are met, they don’t meet the agreed trades & run away with the money. Or sometimes they make companies pay money to keep a website domain name, even when they don’t have to at all. This is why it’s important for website owners to make sure they keep their website names secured under their domain. They should make sure that their domain name is being maintained by trusted associates so they don’t fall for any sort of scams.

Deceptive Hosting Scams

Scams can also happen in the form of deceptive hosting offers. In order for a website to be ran publicly on the word wide web, it needs to be hosted. Many hosting services allow for hosting of websites. Sometimes, scammers can offer to host a website, but in the end might not do a good job with it or even try to do wrong with it. They can promise to maintain the website, but not do much to prove it & that can cause problems. This is why it’s important for website owners to be careful with who they’re working with & make sure whoever it is, that they’re honest.

Conclusion

In todays world, scammers are present pretty much everywhere, & we need to constantly watch out for that. Whether it’s in the form of emails, websites, etc.., It can cause a lot of trouble and damage. Website owners need to take extra caution to not fall for these scams, because it could not only damage what they have, but also damage their reputation. They need to ensure that whatever they’re trusting is honest & trustable. That said, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

March 3, 2024
Do You Need A Website Redesign?

Introduction

Nowadays, A good website is more than just a ‘thing’ online. A good website stands as your company or businesses reputation and persona. A good website will often be the first thing faced with a customer that gives them a good first impression of your business and company. In many cases, it will be the first thing they are faced with to buy products or services off of your company/business. Even beyond the looks of your website, the user experience also matters. How you present friendly user-interface can affect the way consumers view your company persona. The website becomes a weapon when it comes to marketing and reputing your brand, especially since many consumers rely on online platforms to exchange goods. So, question for you. Is it time for a website redesign?

UX (user-experience)

User experience is key to having good customer feedback to your website. A good user experience, with proper functionality, navigation, & accessibility can contribute to a customers satisfaction when it comes to viewing your website. When customers can move here and about through the website, have flexible accessibility, and have a feeling of ease at your website, they’re more likely to stay/come back the next time. However, if your website is very poor with bad navigation, poor functionality, and bad accessibility—It can make the customer frustrated and left unsatisfied. It’s less likely a consumer will want to stay at your website for any longer or even come back. In this competitive day and age, where patience and attention spans are short, it’s best to be able to optimize your website for best experience centered around the customer-experience.

Visual representation

How your website looks affects it’s reputation and professionalism for your brands persona. Whatever your website presents for users checking you out for the first time contributes to their first impression. Visually appealing & neatly organized designs can give a user an aesthetically pleasing experience to your website. Consistent designing of recognizable designs, logos, colors etc.. can give your brand a more recognizable reputation & identity for customers to refer back to in the future. Utilizing designs can also help relay ‘messages’ to customers using it. Overall, a good website design can leave users to have a good impression of the site & brand/company overall.

AIRBNB

One example of a website that attained success after redesign is AirBNB. Airbnb underwent major rework on its website design in 2014. The redesign centered around improving navigation, improving visual appeal, user experience, etc… The company utilized call to actions, larger images, and simpler booking processes. The refurbishment led to better user engagement. It was reported that Airbnb had a 30% booking in nights shortly after its redesign. Its new design made it easier for users to navigate, following with better visual presentation of the website. These factors led to more satisfied & trust-built customers. The success of AIRBNB’s website redesign demonstrates the impact a redesign could have on a business.

Conclusion

In this blog we went over the importance of website redesign. Going over how the design of a website plays a critical role in a customers impression on the brand and company. Not only does it build the brands identity, but it also builds trust in the customer to the brand. The Designs can influence the marketing of the businesses by redirecting customers decisions on purchase choices and such. Additionally, we went over how user interface is just as important. Better user interface can lead to better satisfied customers and in turn make them come back. Good interface includes good accessibility, good navigation, and overall good functionality. We went over AirBnB, a company that benefited from website redesign. By improving their design & interface, they were able to up their customer satisfaction and bookings. It demonstrated that website redesigns definitely do have an impact on customers satisfaction & bettering your design can increase satisfaction & your reputation as a brand. So, do you need to redesign your site?

February 6, 2024
How a Website Can Supercharge Marketing.
Introduction

Did you know that over half of businesses in the U.S use digital marketing? Nowadays, since there is such a large population of businesses, it’s hard to stand out from your competitors. But with the mass use of the internet, it can make it easier to get your business across consumers online. Additionally, with the mass income of internet users, a website is almost essential for a businesses digital marketing status. With websites, you can bring your business ideas across to the hundreds of millions of internet users each day. It’s very effective for marketing because consumers don’t have to put any effort to appear physically to consume products. There are so many factors to a business’s website that can drive its marketing. For example, the appearance layout of the website, presentation of products, & call to actions. A website is much helpful to supercharge marketing.

Impacts of websites on marketing

Websites are heavily involved in most of todays marketing. Business cards, social media content, blog posts, sending emails, and even advertisements all usually lead to a company’s website. People use them to learn more information about something, purchase something, or sign up for your website. As you can tell, websites are a heavy involvement in a businesses’ marketing.

Whenever setting up a website for marketing, you should always take first impressions into account. If you want your consumers to have a good first impression of your business, starting with the website is one of the best ways to go. When a customer scrolls through a badly organized, non user-friendly website with bad design, they’re gonna get a bad first impression of your website. It will build the foundation for how they think of your entire website after that point. Some ways to optimize good first impressions of your website can be the following:
- User-friendliness
- Functionality
- Design
- Simplicity
- Mobile friendly (responsive)
- Speed
Bath & Body Works

Bath & Body Works is a good example of a business having impacted good marketing through the use of their website. Let’s say somebody wants to buy some cologne one day. They go to the website, and then they’re greeted with the assortments of items they could buy, and then they realize they also want some branded shampoo. Following this, as they’re scrolling to find the cologne they want, their eye catches on to other items they want. What you just went through was some deep utilization of marketing coming from a website. You may not be aware, but this happens to many people everyday, and it happens in more places than you think! One may argue that this can be achieved without a website and can happen in stores, that’s true but it can come in handy in cases where a person may be too far from their nearest stores. Truly goes to show that a website can intensify a businesses marketing.

Conclusion

Websites can supercharge a business’s marketing in positive ways, and serves a heavy role in many businesses today. In this blog, we discussed that websites can be used for marketing in many ways, including the directory of advertisements, business cards, social media content, and more. We also went over that websites can also be optimized for the best first impressions to its customers if designed correctly. Additionally, “Bath & Body Works” is an excellent example of a business that is succeeding through their amazing utilization of website marketing. So what are you waiting for? Try it out for yourself!
December 21, 2023
The Importance of Website Backups

Scenario

Imagine you’re scrolling through the backend code of your website’s html document until poof. You somehow delete all of the content by accident and can’t retrieve it. You now have no way to redo your mistake and now you’re left with a large chunk of your website gone. This can be a harsh situation to be in, that’s unless you saved a backup of your website. Website backups are a saved ‘checkpoint’ of your website from a certain time. These ‘checkpoints’ contain the information of the website from the given time it was saved. It’s important to ensure that you backup your websites in case it falls into the hands of the scenario you just read (Or even worse scenarios!).

Types of Backups

There are 3 Well-known types of backups. Full, incremental, & differential backups. Full backups are the simplest type of backup there is. Full backups save everything from a certain point of time. Differential backups are backups that save changes since the last full backup, they can be demonstrated on the picture to the right. Incremental backups are backups that save changes since the last backup. This means that incremental backups could really save changes from itself, differential, or full backups. If we were to scale these from most to least ‘complex’, it would go Full Backup–>Differential Backup–>Incremental Backup.

Consequences of an Un-backed website.

There are many consequences to not backing up your website. It can be as simple as accidentally deleting your data and being unable to retrieve it. Sometimes files may corrupt and you’re left with corrupted work. Hackers can also implement malware and hack your website. Honestly, there are just too much consequences of not backing up your website that there’s really no reason to keep it waiting.

The GitLab Incident.

According to this source, a GitLab database administrator deleted data from their main database server by accident in 2017. The deletion resulted in 5,000 projects and 700 user accounts lost. However, it definitely could have been much worse if not for the GitLab team backing up critical client data on other servers. This truly demonstrates that a simple backup could really save you from large amounts of damage, as happened to the GitLab team. Even though they’d just lost a ton of data, they were able to restore the critical client data thanks to backing it up on mirror servers. Really shows how important backing up is.

Conclusion.

Now that we’ve gone over the importance of website backups, let’s recap. A website backup is a saved ‘checkpoint’ of your website data from a certain time. There are 3 types of backups—Full backups, differential backups, & incremental backups. If you don’t backup your website, you risk losing important information from your website. We’ve went over that backing up websites has saved big websites from collapsing, as said in the ‘GitLab Incident’. Now that you know the importance of website backups, what are you waiting for? When it comes to backing up your website, you really have nothing to lose!

December 3, 2023