The online world keeps growing and growing. Nearly exponentially it seems. A thousand or so new websites appear on a daily basis. More and more shoppers are relying on handheld devices to purchase products or services they want.

Consequently, website design has become more demanding than ever. To keep up with the competition a website has to be responsive, it has to be fast, and it has to be user-friendly in every detail.

Most of the popular WordPress themes are great at helping website builders get a site up and running quickly. Many if not most do not require any special design or coding skills. And many, though by no means all, are sufficiently customizable and responsive.

The best way to ensure a website will be able to stay ahead of the competition is to select one of the best WordPress themes that has the features you will need. It needs to have a proven track record, and to be ranked highly by those who should know. Add 100% responsiveness and you have a theme you can place your confidence in.

Here are 10 such great WordPress themes – the best of the best.

1. BeTheme – The Biggest Multipurpose WordPress Theme with 650+ pre-built websites

Given its more than 240,000 satisfied customers it is safe to say that since BeTheme has such a large and devoted following there must be a reason for it. There are several in fact. This biggest WordPress theme of them all gives you all the tools, options, and flexibility you need to build a website that will leave the competition in the dust.

• Be features a library of more than 650 pre-built websites that cover all the major website types and niches and many of the smaller ones. These pre-built websites are responsive, customizable, and extremely user friendly.
• Be’s Live Builder is fast and a pleasure to work with given its outstanding assortment of powerful page-building capabilities. You’ll find the popular Muffin Builder, Header Builder, and Shortcode Generator in the package, and Be is Elementor ready as well.
• Creating a shop? The WooCommerce Builder will take care of that for you with its single product page builder and multiple customer-centric options.

Users receive free lifetime updates. Click on the banner to learn more.

2. Total WordPress Theme

A wealth of design options and customizer settings coupled with a selection of layout choices, navigation options, dynamic template functionality, and the popular WPBakery frontend drag and drop page builder enables Total WordPress theme users to create stunning responsive websites with ease.

• Design options include Live Customizer Theme settings, Unlimited Styling, page builder blocks and extra modules, Post entry cards, animations, and custom backgrounds
• Layout options include boxed and full-width layouts, dynamic layouts, one-page sites, page and post designs, and advanced page settings
• Navigation features include 8 preset header styles, local scroll menus, mobile menu styles, and a simple mega menu

Click on the banner to see why 48,000 Total customers are happy customers.

3. Avada Theme

Sales figures can at times be a legitimate factor in choosing a WordPress theme. A well-established theme with a poor sales record tells you one thing. A WordPress theme like Avada, with 45OK+ sales that make it the #1 best seller of them all tells you something quite different.

It tells you that with this theme, you can build a website that will leave the competition in the dust!

Avada’s Fusion core addresses your need for website responsiveness, performance, and attractiveness with its –

• Fusion theme and page options and professionally crafted design elements
• Fusion Slider, Fusion Builder, a Mega Menu, and Dynamic Content System
• 40+ slick one-click importable demos

Avada is optimized for speed, it is 100% WooCommerce ready, and it gives you complete control over your design. Click on the banner to learn more.

4. Uncode – Creative & WooCommerce WordPress Theme

Uncode is a pixel perfect WordPress theme that would be an ideal choice for building creative and WooCommerce websites. Uncode has more than 90,000 sales to date.

Key components include –

• A powerful Frontend Editor, a WooCommerce Custom Builder, and more than 450 Wireframe section templates.
• The Content Block enables you to create replicable headers, footers, and content sections, while with the Dynamic Contents feature it is possible to create personalized custom templates and design elements.

5. WoodMart

The WoodMart WordPress theme may well be one of the most reliable and dependable ThemeForest eCommerce themes to hit the market.

• Its many useful features include some you won’t find in most eCommerce themes
• They include trendy selections of premade websites, templates, and special pages together with a nice assortment of shop and product page display options

Check out WoodMart’s landing page. It demonstrates why this popular theme belongs in the top 10 themes for 2022.

6. TheGem – Creative Multi-Purpose & WooCommerce WordPress Theme

TheGem offers the ultimate in WordPress toolboxes for building business and eCommerce websites as well as portfolio, blogging, and magazine websites.

This ultimate toolbox features –

• Elementor and WPBakery page builders with extended features
• Awesome WooCommerce demos, features & tools for creating high conversion online shops
• 400+ beautiful pre-built websites and templates and 300+ premium pre-designed section templates to speed up your workflow – a website building game changer
• Flexible customization and boosted webpage performance along with premium plugins like Revolution Slider and WP Rocket, included in TheGem.

7. Rey Theme for WooCommerce

Rey takes building a WooCommerce site to the next level thanks to its powerful integrations with Elementor, WooCommerce, and of course, WordPress’s sophisticated engine.

• Rey is easy to set up
• Rey features the popular and powerful Elementor page builder together with a useful selection of Elementor widgets to cover almost any situation
• Ajax Navigation and Filters streamline page browsing and navigation
• Rey is performance oriented, SEO and developer friendly, and (obviously) responsive

8. Impeka – Creative Multipurpose WordPress Theme

Picking the wrong theme can make building a shop a complicated affair. Choose Impeka can make doing so a piece of cake.

• Impeka is easy for a beginner to use; yet it contains features advanced designers tend to look for. For either type of user the end result will be a fast, SEO friendly, and totally responsive website
• Impeka offers Elementor, Gutenberg, and WPBakery page building and editing options

Impeka does not require special design or coding skills to create an impeccable WooCommerce site.

9. Litho – Multipurpose Elementor WordPress Theme

It’s creative, modern, highly flexible, and built with the Elementor page builder. What more could you ask for? Responsiveness of course, and Litho features that as well.

Other reasons for selecting Litho include –

• Slider Revolution, 37+ home pages, 300+ templates, and 200+ creative elements
• Single-click demo import
• Easy access to WordPress Customizer

Documentation and customer support are great as well and your sites will be fast, 100% responsive, and SEO friendly.

10. XStore – Best Premium WordPress WooCommerce Theme for eCommerce

It’s popular, available at a bargain price, and features 110+ ready to customize shops. What else could entice you to purchase a copy of the XStore WooCommerce theme?

• If you have your content at your fingertips, you can get your shop up and running quickly
• WPBakery and Elementor page building support is at your fingertips together with carefully selected product features and product page layout options

$500 worth of plugins are included to seal the deal.

*****

Given the thousands of awesome WordPress themes that are on the market there are several approaches you can take to find one you can work with –

• The quickest would be to take a chance on one that “looks good” and hope for the best.
• If you have (lots of) time to spare, you could take a deep dive into checking out and comparing a wide variety of cool WordPress themes.
• The best approach would be to seek advice from a source of expertise on what to look for and why to look for it, and what some good candidates might be

Number 3 is the approach you have found here.

Read More at 10 Great WordPress Themes to Use in 2022

Today we are going to talk about Kickstarter projects with an amazign design

that are useful and unique!

During our search for innovative projects on Kickstarter.com we stumbled upon some really cool products that would make your life easier. Kickstarter has been promoting ingenious ideas for over 9 years now, and has funded over 145,000 projects. 145,690 to be more precise. The American corporation’s goal is to  “help bring creative projects to life.” The projects they’ve helped to fund include journalism, video games, films, music, technology, comics food, stage shows-related projects. The largest successfully completed project of all time is Pebble Time – Awesome Smartwatch, No Compromises by Pebble Technology. The project has been funded 4,067%, receiving $20,338,986 from 78,471 bakers. A real success.

There are thousands and thousands of other projects waiting to be sponsored, but we chose some of the coolest, most creative Kickstarter projects with an amazing design out there.

1. Titanium Perpetual Ring Calendar by Athlone Designs

Titanium Perpetual Ring Calendar by Athlone Designs is an incredibly innovative calendar. The Planetary Calendar is made out of Aluminum or Solid Titanium, carefully created. It features a heavy steel star for balance that moves around the ring as the moon surrounds the earth. Its minimalist looks give any office or desk a futuristic touch that will intrigue any passer-by.

2. KUPLETTO : Modular Chair Design

This amazing design of the chair got its inspiration from the Yin Yang symbol. “Kupletto offers at least 3 different combinations: it can be a coffee table, a cupboard (or pedestal table or 2 separate chairs. You can also have 3 combinations (or more) with the 2 low-stools.” It’s great for when you try to save some space in your home.

3. FlexPack | The Best Functional Anti-theft Duffle & BackPack

It is sad when you think that we need these type of products, but amazing to know that they are available for those who carry important objects around all the time. The modern-looking bag has a triple anti-theft protection, micro USB input that lets you charge your phone, and a double layer zipper that’s explosion proof. “We created the FlexPack Go and FlexPack Pro as a result to combine security, storage, convenience, comfort, and beauty.” – Korin Design

4. Consodi – A beautiful diamond speaker made out of concrete

When you want to give your activities room a modern touch, this diamond shaped speaker made out of concrete will do the job. “Our concrete sonority diamond – consodi – is worlds first design speaker made out of concrete and shaped like the most expensive gem.” – Mobilificio

5. THE SPHERICON: Geometric perfection becomes art

Now that the fidget-spinner fever has gone, it’s time to find another stress-relief object. These sphericons seem to be the perfect alternatives mainly due to their various paths. Depending on their shapes, they “dance” on any flat surface to the entertainment of their owners. “Curves and edges expressing geometric simplicity in a desk sculpture that synthesizes art and science.” – Miguel Duran

If you enjoyed this post and you want to see more, make sure you visit our blog daily for amazing design-related posts. Do you have a favorite kickstarter project or product? Let us know in the comment section below!

Read More at Amazing Kickstarter Projects with an Amazing Design

In this glorious/terrifying digital age we live in, there truly is an app for everything. We’re talking ordering pizza, operating a drone, learning a new language, even checking out what it would look like if we were to merge faces with Danny Trejo (pretty unsettling, FYI).

There are literally millions of downloadables floating around, a handful of which claim to be able to help us refine our style, but which ones are actually worth having?

To save you from cluttering up your smartphone finding out, we’ve compiled a rundown of the apps we think no stylish man should be without.

Instagram

Instagram isn’t just a place to share pictures of your lunch or funny snaps of your dog – this platform is filled with fashion and style inspiration for men of all ages and tastes.

Not only have global brands flocked to the social media network since its inception back in 2010, but the very best menswear bloggers, street style photographers and publications like us can also be found amongst its millions of profiles.

Available free on iPhone and Android.

Depop

eBay is great and all, but for those who find the process of making a listing a tad arduous, Depop might just be your new best mate.

Best summed up as an Instagram version of the auction site, simply take a few quick snaps of the item you want to sell, fill in some basic details, and your clothes will be listed as images in grid form for all to see and buy at the push of a button.

Available free on iPhone and Android.

Read More at Best Fashion Apps for Men

The US presidential election is right around the corner. While some candidates are leveraging their eccentric personality and their bold attitudes to gain followers, and yes, I’m talking to you Mr. Trump, some of them invest massively in their online presence.

Which brings me to Hillary Clinton.

Intro

Hillary Clinton’s campaign staff knows exactly how to approach an audience, and they go all in to do so. In every single aspect of her digital campaign, you sometimes see tiny details that contribute on creating actually engaging content. From “God’s” voice (Morgan Freeman) in her bio video, to the awesome and bold logo with the subliminal-ish arrow symbolizing forward thinking, action and progress.

Speaking of small details, you can find the logo even in the source code of her website.

Her digital marketing campaign is hands down, one of the best I’ve seen in a while. Her logo, the quality of her videos, and the methods she used to tackle certain subjects is simply mindblowing. To be honest, I don’t know much about politics, but I can safely assume that she is digitally addressing most of the controversial topics built around her. From the enduring email problem to the Benghazi case and everything in between, Hillary’s staff defended herself with creative and professional copy and compelling visuals.

But enough with the political crap. Let’s cut it to the chase and talk about the things that actually interest us, the designers. Her website’s design.

Design

Right off the bat, the first thing we see on Hillary’s homepage, is a pop-up asking you to agree upon the fact that Donald Trump is one dangerous man. Although the pop-up’s design is rather simple and with a clear and distinguishable Call to Action, some people are not very happy about the straightforwardness of it.

“When I land on the website, I’m immediately met with a popup that wants my email if I disagree with Donald Trump. It doesn’t mention why it wants my email or what it’s going to do with it – it just wants it.” – Max Robinson, Aims Media Web Design, http://www.aimsmedia.co.uk

The reason why Hillary wants your email so badly is obvious. I full heartedly believe in the power of email. I happen to manage Bannersnack’s email marketing campaign and we leveraged email to convert old users, keep in touch with the customers and even run contests and surveys. Now, although they aren’t a Saas product, they are using email marketing exactly the same. They are constantly reminding you to support Hillary and help defeat the dreaded Donald.

Attacking Donald is the smartest marketing campaign and they know that. They are using email, video, and any available channel to bash and emphasize who Donald Trump is and why he would be a bad choice.

Hillary’s website changed a lot in the past months, and man they are really trying everything. It takes just one trip down the memory lane of the internet (Wayback Machine) and see all the changes on her website. The mesmerizing thing is that if you want to see the web design trends from a specific year, just take a peek at how her website used to look like that year.

From 2015 until a few months ago, the Hero image has been a crucial element of her website. Depending on the social-political events, the image kept changing trying to convey the message Hillary believes in and what she stands for, or who stands for her.

A few weeks ago they ditched the hero image and went for something more popular andmore powerful.

Video

Just like the way they’ve been changing the hero image, the video plays an important role in illustrating certain changes, beliefs and causes she fights for. The thing that surprised me the most is how much they are leveraging the video format in order to convey the right message. While writing this article, in the past three days the main video changed three times and they’ve just redesigned the whole homepage. They’ve ditched any other elements that could distract you from the important items of the website, namely, the video, the donation box and the image of her with the “If you’re with her, chip in to support Hillary now” message.

From a leads perspective, the site does a good job of enabling the capture, the email addresses of visitors. There are at least two form fill pop ups that come up before you can advance to the site. Only when clicking on the small logo on the top left are you able to bypass the first form fill (which populates the entire screen when you first land on the site.) Clearly, the site’s primary purpose is to gather leads. So, that’s well done.

However, there are a few inconveniences that shouldn’t be left unnoticed.

From a user’s perspective, it is a bit off-putting that I can’t just browse the site without being asked for my email address. For the swing voter who is just browsing and doesn’t want to be placed on an email list, this could get them to bounce before they even get to the content.

Another thing that changed drastically is the footer. Every single social media channel was listed in the website’s footer and then a minimalist box emphasizing the “PAID FOR BY HILLARY FOR AMERICA” slogan.

And then this happened…

I’m not saying it’s bad, it is just a bit too much. The call to action is a bit confusing, and the bulky social media text could’ve been easily replaced with some minimalistic icons. On the pros side, placing secondary navigation to less important areas of a website is also a great way to utilize the footer, as it can help declutter the main navigation, which in turn aids usability.

Conclusion

The site’s design is a good mix of visuals and content. It’s clean, photo and video heavy, and easy to navigate. It’s the right site for the audience they’re trying to reach which are voters who want to know what Hillary stands for and what are they going to get if she’s elected president. They’ve done a good job of letting the photos and content drive the site, and not slick design.

Read More at A Few Things Web Designers Can Learn From Hillary Clinton

Mobile devices can not be ignored. People are using them to visit websites instead of their desktop computers. If your site isn’t easy to view on a mobile device, you are decreasing your chances to get more visitors and increase usage of your site.

What’s the difference?
Responsive is fluid and adapts to the size of the screen no matter what the target device. Responsive uses CSS media queries to change styles based on the target device. This “fluid grid” resizes the page width and/or height to adapt to different screen sizes and show correctly.

Adaptive design uses several distinct layouts for multiple screen sizes, and the layout used depends on the screen size used. Adaptive works to detect the screen size and load the appropriate layout for it.

How do responsive and adaptive compare?
Responsive design is the more difficult choice since it requires extra attention to the site’s CSS and organization to make sure it functions at any possible size. It can be daunting making one layout that can work in any screen size.

Adaptive designs are less flexible, only working on as many screens as its layouts enable. If a new device with a new screen size is released, you may have to edit your design or add a new one. Responsive sites are flexible enough to keep working on their own, but Adaptive sites will likely need some occasional maintenance.

Should I use responsive or adaptive design?
Responsive is the safer option to go with for your site in most cases. It functions well regardless of screen size, improves loading times and is usually well worth the extra initial design time.

Read More at Responsive vs. Adaptive, What’s Best for Designers?

As I’ve mentioned before, Card Design is taking over! What makes it even more refreshing is the different takes you can use to achieve the card style and how adaptable it has become. From tiles, stack, to layers, here are four examples of different ways to use card design in a layout from Eyal Zuri on Dribble.

Floating Cards

Tiles

Stack

Layers

Read More at The Different Styles of Card Design Layout

There are so many different topics to cover under the umbrella term of interface design. Both web and mobile designers are professionals at balancing between aesthetics vs interactions. One balancing tool in this arsenal is motion. When elements move and react naturally to user input, it gives the interface a sense of life.

For this article I’d like to share a few handy concepts for designing interfaces with clear-cut animation. Although animated effects can prove useful and exceptionally powerful, there is such a thing as “going overboard”.

But everything should turn out fine as long as you stay true to the design and keep a focus on the user experience. It’s vitally important to manage a consistent user experience by placing a focus on how people interact with the site, and how animated effects improve the interaction.

Content in Motion

Perhaps the most subtle addition of animation is within page content. Animated page elements could range from navigation links to photo galleries. Most websites don’t even bother with animation so including any type of motion in your design is already a huge benefit.

But it is important to consider how the interface actually feels while in use. Never sacrifice usability for cute little animation effects. This is a surefire way to push visitors off your website and leave visitors confused. Instead, opt to include animation when it enriches the experience or draws attention to a particular segment of the page.

For example the creative agency Graf Miville has lots of moving content on their homepage. Some are graphics and hover effects found within bits of content. Others are animated numbers which display statistical information about the company.

Perhaps my favorite part of this website is the navigation hover effect. When moving your mouse cursor along the links a small red border will follow your motion. The animation uses a bouncy easing effect as if the red border was made of a stretchable material. This naturally gives off a sense of vitality and life in an otherwise professional layout.

A starkly contrasted example can be found on the UK Energy Guide webpage. This page uses a series of gradients and colorful imagery to instantly draw attention. The whole layout reads like a dynamic infographic coded into HTML/CSS. There are so many different moving parts that it’d be difficult to expound upon all of them.

But instead of looking at each individual animation I’d like to point out a bigger perspective. Try to see the forest for the trees, AKA look over the composition as a whole for each of its parts. This site does an excellent job with background transitions, animated graphics, and content animation. Everything comes together into one seamless experience that just feels great.

Animated Graphics

Looking beyond typical page content there’s also a case to be made for animated page graphics. These are less common in typical web design because the technique requires a very particular set of skills. However animated graphic design can prove very useful for in-site branding effects.

I love the homepage design of Blue Acorn which is already such a fabulous website. The header and color scheme is organized and easy to use. At the top of the page you’ll notice an animated vector graphic of a cityscape. The whole thing is built using layered PNG images animated through JavaScript. Try hovering over the individual blips in the graphic or switching between tabbed links at the top.

Although this doesn’t add a whole lot into the branding, it does add a sense of professionalism. The graphic draws attention and offers some detail that Blue Acorn has a very competent design team. Since graphics are meant to enhance content there is no absolute right or wrong when it comes to animation. Ss long as the page still functions, you could apply motion graphics into any part of a website.

Mobile Touch Effects

In the realm of mobile app design there’s a much more substantial focus on animation. This almost becomes the lifeblood of an application interface because users want to feel the interactivity. With a mouse & keyboard there’s a greater sense of reassured confidence with each motion.

But mobile apps rely solely on touch. Taps, swipes, flicks, and other interactions are the only way to communicate. This means that animation should become a by-product of this interactivity. Let a user know that their swipe effect was recognized by animating an element across the screen.

Touch effects should be used to your advantage through colors, tones, shadows, and of course motion. If you’re not into mobile design these ideas won’t always translate nicely onto the web. But keep this in mind when designing a touch-sensitive responsive layout because users always want to feel in control of the experience – and the quickest method of expressing control is through a reactionary animation effect.

Parallax Layouts

Naturally I have to cover parallax design since it’s such a popular trend. Animated parallax interfaces have become a staple among single-page layouts. If all of a website’s content can be squeezed down into a single page, then why not? It’ll save the visitor’s time and make everything easier to access.

When talking about parallax animation the subject is varied and full of differing opinions. Some designers like the extravagant animations that take up most of the page. Others prefer a much simpler experience that focuses primarily on the content. As with a lot of things you really need to take these ideas on a case-by-case basis.

For example the Kraftwerk homepage uses a lot of parallax scrolling and animation within the background. Content is readable and stands out clearly against the dark background. Yet I still feel a little distracted by the interface as a whole. Not that there’s too much animation, but the animation wants my attention more than the content.

To see a different style check out the Resanova website. Their layout uses parallax scrolling with individual sections split up by different background colors. The animated elements add onto the content and don’t seem as distracting. To phrase this another way, the layout behaves more like a traditional website compared with other parallax designs.

I certainly wouldn’t claim there’s a right or wrong process to this. Ultimately it comes down to the userbase and how they feel about the design. Parallax layouts can get tricky but as long as the animation is relatable then it should rarely become a problem.

Prototyping Features

If you’re a designer then learning how to design for animation is a huge plus on your resume. Most professionals who have worked in web animation would recommend After Effects as the premiere editing suite. This is some truly powerful software that can generate animated effects for videos, vectors, or just animated GIFs.

In fact Dribbble is full of these cool effects for mobile and website layouts. If you plan to work with a team or creative agency then it’s worth learning how to use After Effects. Designers who already understand the concepts behind Photoshop & Illustrator will gain a lot from the software. Plus you’ll be able to create animated design comps for all of your ideas.

My favorite part about prototyping is the immense value it offers to the entire project. Right from the early design phase you can wireframe sketches of how animation should behave. This might turn into a detailed prototype which can then be carried over into graphics editing software.

Then once you have a solid plan it becomes even easier to convert these ideas into JavaScript. Most frontend animation is created through JavaScript or alternatively a JavaScript library. CSS3 is another option, although it has less support in older browsers.

If you can get into the habit of prototyping animation the creative process will flow a lot smoother. The later stages of development will be completely straightforward coding from a structured and organized mockup. Animation can be created entirely in code, but it always helps to have a solid idea beforehand.

Closing

There is no easy route to learning interface animation. Although digital software has enhanced the process, it still requires a lot of trial and error. I hope these tips and suggestions will help people who have been curious to dive head-first into the process of digital animation. It all feels very intimidating at first – but once you start messing around it becomes really fun and surprisingly educational.

Read More at Designing Interfaces with a Focus on Animation