347: Using Notion

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Rachel and Chris dig into the many, many ways in which we use Notion at CodePen. Heads up, Notion has sponsored a couple of episodes of CodePen Radio lately, but not this. It’s just a tool we heavily use and this podcast is all about that sort of thing. Heck, this podcast itself was planned in a calendar database on Notion, which deals with dates, publication status, sponsors, and all sorts of stuff. And it’s probably one of the least involved Notion setups we have. Much more involved is stuff like project planning and our individual structures for our company-public weeknotes.

Time Jumps

  • 00:28 Topic introduction
  • 01:21 Tools we’re using for CodePen
  • 04:51 Getting buy in from the team
  • 07:57 What is Notion?
  • 10:55 Multiple views of the same data
  • 13:58 What does CodePen actually use Notion for?
  • 20:04 Sponsor: Jetpack Backups
  • 21:27 Second brain storage
  • 23:44 Roles and permissions in Notion
  • 31:14 Other features of Notion
  • 36:37 Fav Notion recent feature

Sponsor: Jetpack Backups

The big news from Jetpack is that all backups are realtime now. Realtime backups are awesome. Anything that happens on your site, it’s backed up immediately. That makes backups extremely useful as there is no risk you have to miss three-quarters of a day of content, purchase, comments or anything else because all you have is daily backups.

The post 347: Using Notion appeared first on CodePen Blog.

Web Design Trends for Business Websites in 2022

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Are you looking toward updating or upgrading your business website in the new year? Then it’s a great idea to dig into the latest and upcoming trends in web design, not necessarily so you can simply follow the trends, but also so you can see what else is out there as well as draw inspiration and come up with the best decisions for your own business website. In this article, we’ve gathered some of the most relevant web design trends for business websites coming in 2022, along with some examples, including some from the premiere business website design service IONOS.

Vibrant Color Schemes

In the past, business websites tended to skew towards using muted blues and greens, but more recently the trend has been to utilize bright, vibrant colors from across the rainbow. Bright colors grab the visitors’ interest immediately upon arrival, and they can communicate the company culture and make it stand out. Creativity through color will give a business a leg up on the competition.

Web Design Trends for Business Websites in 2022

Web Design Trends for Business Websites in 2022

Large Typographic Hero Images

While not necessarily new in web design, corporate websites are new to this trend. Full screen hero images with large-scale typography is another way to grab the user’s attention and immediately give them an overview of the business with a catchy tag line, a call to action, or anything else needed to get them to investigate further.

Web Design Trends for Business Websites in 2022

Web Design Trends for Business Websites in 2022

Web Design Trends for Business Websites in 2022

Button Gradients

Adding gradients to buttons can increase conversions because they can potentially stand out more significantly than single-color buttons. Paired with a vibrant color scheme, as mentioned above, while utilizing colors that contrast with and stand out from the rest of the site’s colors, gradient buttons can draw the user’s eye to the CTA. Again, this trend is not necessarily new, but it is one that business websites are just recently beginning to adapt.

Button Gradients

Button Gradients

Oversized Fonts

Similar to large typography in a hero image, using oversized fonts for headings throughout the rest of the pages is a trend that can direct and guide the user’s attention while making it simpler to communicate the more important messages. In this age of attention deficits, where people tend to read less and skim more, oversized fonts can capture the user long enough for them to read what may otherwise be skipped past.

Oversized Fonts

Oversized Fonts

Oversized Fonts

Accessibility

Website accessibility for the disabled is all the rage these days, and corporate websites are no different. While any solid business website should already be making sure their website is accessible, those that aren’t will be moving in that direction in 2022. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) were created to provide the standard for what is considered accessible and compliant. These guidelines can also inform larger design decisions as well.

Micro-interactions

Micro-interactions are things that happen when a user performs an action, like clicking a button. The button may animate when clicked, for instance. Think about what happens when you click to like a post on social media. The human tendency to expect feedback through a micro-interaction has been fueled by their constant use in mobile apps and now websites. Business websites can improve their user experience by employing micro-interactions that help the site visitor feel comfortable once they use them.

What are Retail SEO and Retail SEO Services?

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Search engine optimization is the method of optimizing individual parts on a site or page to boost its possibilities of ranking well in search engines. It's an associate degree in progress process and needs to change the positioning often so as to remain current with formula updates and searcher behavior. For retail sites with tons of pages and perpetually dynamical products, those updates are generally a lot extensive.

Some tips for Retail SEO are mentioned below:

  1. Use relevant keywords
  2. Create more pages
  3. Optimize images
  4. Make your content shareable
  5. Mobile optimization

What are SEO Services?

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SEO services that are being used by different companies to boost up their presence and to increase their traffic organically, SEO services play an important role in the business in which the goal is to increase the traffic of the website by organic means.

Some search engine optimization services that should be tailored to the users business needs:

  1. Gola Defination
  2. Technical Site Audit
  3. Keyword Strategy
  4. Content Strategy
  5. On-page optimization
  6. Off-page optimization
  7. Reporting
  8. Website support
  9. Competitors Analysis
  10. Content Analysis

The surprising behavior of !important in CSS custom property values

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Huh! I did not realize that CSS custom properties had their own resolution behavior for how !important works in their values. Uh, despite writing a guide about them. 😬 But hey it’s now updated.

Stefan Judis documents it clearly. The deal is that !important is not at all used in the final value. So:

div {
  --color: red !important;
  color: var(--color);
  color: yellow;
}

It kinda feels like red should win, but because !important is ultimately stripped from the custom property value, yellow wins it out. And it’s not because the color declaration comes last — if color: red !important; was the first declaration, then red would win.

But it’s not like !important is just stripped and ignored; it’s used in a scoped way, affecting which custom property value wins. But then !important is gone when that value is applied. Stefan’s example:

div {
  /*
    `!important` overrules the
    other `--color` definitions
  */
  --color: red !important;
  color: var(--color);
}

.class {
  --color: blue;
}

#id {
  --color: yellow;
}

This feels weird (to me) as you’d think yellow declared on #id would win because it has the highest specificity. But that’s the deal with the scoped behavior — !important makes red the winner, then is applied to the color as such.

To Shared LinkPermalink on CSS-Tricks

10 Tips To Keep WordPress Clients Coming Back

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10 Tips To Keep WordPress Clients Coming BackLet’s say you own a WordPress agency providing services and products to clients from one hemisphere to the other. You work your butt off to drum up your business, including writing top-notch content, launching marketing campaigns, joining WordPress meetups to introduce your services, etc. Through blood, sweat, and tears, you finally get it off the […]

The post 10 Tips To Keep WordPress Clients Coming Back appeared first on WPExplorer.

How to Add a Simple User Password Generator in WordPress

Wp Plugins

Do you want to add a simple user password generator in WordPress?

Many WordPress users end up using weaker passwords for the sake of convenience. These passwords can be easily cracked by hackers, which makes your WordPress website vulnerable.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily add a simple user password generator in WordPress. This would allow you or other registered users on your website to generate a strong password.

Adding a password generator in WordPress

Why Use a Stronger Password Generator in WordPress?

By default, WordPress allows you to choose a password for your user account, but it doesn’t require that the password be secure.

The built-in password generator appears during WordPress installation, on the user registration page, and on the user profile page.

By clicking on the Generate Password button, users can generate a new strong password.

Similarly, when changing a password by editing their user profile, users can click on the ‘Set New Password’ button to generate unlimited combinations of unique strong passwords.

Generating strong passwords in WordPress

However, you’ll notice that it allows you to skip the password strength check by checking the ‘Confirm use of weak password’ option.

Strong password can be escaped

Similarly, any users registering on your website can also escape the strong password requirement by checking this option on the user registration page.

If you run a membership site or online store where many users have accounts, then this can seriously affect the security of your WordPress site.

Generate password for new user registration

That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily enforce secure passwords and require users to use the strong password generator instead.

Method 1. Enforce Strong Password Generator in WordPress

First, you need to install and activate the Password Policy Manager for WordPress plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit Password Policies page in WordPress admin area and click on the Enable Password Policies check box.

Set up password policy for all users

After that, you can set a site-wide password policy for all users. You can choose minimum password strength, enforce special characters and number usage, expire passwords after a period of time, and more.

Below that you can set additional advanced options for password security.

For instance, you can automatically reset passwords for inactive users, prevent users from reusing old passwords, or disallow users from resetting passwords on their own.

Advanced password security options

The plugin also allows you to limit login attempts to prevent brute force attacks. You can choose the number of login attempts a user can make, after which their account will be locked and login will be disabled for 24 hours.

Block login attempts

You can also set a lock duration after which the accounts will be automatically unlocked. Alternatively, you can choose to manually unlock accounts by an administrator only.

Set Password Policies Depending on User Roles

The plugin also allows you to set different password policies based on user roles.

For instance, you can set different password requirements and security settings for authors, subscribers, customers, or members on your membership website.

Set password policy for user roles

Seeing the Password Generator in Action

The plugin will now automatically display a strong password generator on registration, profile, and password change screens in WordPress.

Password enforcement in WordPress

It will also prevent users from setting weaker passwords or bypassing your password policy.

Password policy enforced

Method 2. Strong Passwords in Custom User Registration and Login Forms

The password policy method above works well for default WordPress user registration and password reset forms.

However, if you are using a custom user registration and password reset form, then users may still find ways around your stronger password requirements.

One easy way to enforce strong passwords is by using WPForms. It is the best WordPress form builder plugin and allows you to easily create any kind of form including custom user registration and login page forms.

First, you need to install and activate the WPForms plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Note: You’ll need at least the Pro plan to access User Registration addon.

Upon activation, you need to visit the WPForms » Settings page to enter your license key. You can find this information under your account on the WPForms website.

Enter WPForms license key

After that, you need to visit the WPForms » Addons page and click on the Install Addon button under the ‘User Registration Addon’.

User registration addon

You are now ready to create your custom user registration and login forms.

Simply head over to WPForms » Add New page. First, you need to provide a title for your form and then choose the user registration form template.

User regisration form template

This will load the form builder where you can edit form fields.

Simply click on the password field to edit and turn on ‘Enable Password Strength’ switch. Below that you can choose minimum password strength and set it to ‘Strong’.

Require strong password

You can now save your form and exit the form builder.

WPForms makes it super easy to add your forms anywhere on your website. Simply edit the post or page where you want to display your custom user registration form, and add the WPForms block to your content area.

Add WPForms block

After that, you need to select your custom user registration form under the block settings.

WPForms will then load a live preview of your form inside the editor.

Select custom user registration form

You can now save and publish your post / page and preview your custom user registration form.

You’ll notice that as users fill in the password field they will be asked to use a stronger password. The form will not be submitted with a weaker password.

Strong password required error

We hope this article helped you learn how to use the simple user password generator in WordPress and enforce stronger passwords on your WordPress website. You may also want to see our step-by-step guide on how to properly move from HTTP to HTTPS, or our expert pick of the best WordPress plugins for small business.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Add a Simple User Password Generator in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

Maybe there kinda is background-opacity?

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I was reading Jake’s “Cross-fading any two DOM elements is currently impossible” which is a wonderfully nerdy deep dive into how there is no real way to literally cross-fade elements. Yeah, you can animate both of their opacities, but even that isn’t quite the same. Turns out there is a Chrome/WebKit-only CSS function call called -webkit-cross-fade() that does the trick. MDN says it’s specced, but the implemented version differs, so it’s a bit of a mess… but it does exist:

.el {
  background: -webkit-cross-fade(url(img1.svg), url(img2.svg), 50%);
}

I didn’t even know that was a thing.

The first thing I thought of was: if one of the images was just a blank transparent image, wouldn’t that apply partial transparency to the other one? And thus it’s kind of a proxy for background-opacity (which doesn’t exist but feels like it should).

I gave it a test to see if it would work:

It seems to work! This is the meat of it:

.el {
  background-image: -webkit-cross-fade(
    url(image.jpg),
    url(data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7),
    50%
  );

That’s a 1px transparent GIF Base64 encoded.

It doesn’t work in Firefox but it does in everything else. Plus, you can test for support right in CSS and do something different if this isn’t just an enhancement.

@supports (background: -webkit-cross-fade(url(), url(), 50%)) {

  /* Only apply the idea if supported, do the Firefox fallback outside of this */

}

That’s baked into the demo above.

Still on the fence about hiring an SEO? Here are 10 benefits that might persuade you to hire one.

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Introduction:

Are you still on the fence about hiring an SEO? Here are 10 benefits that might persuade you to hire one.

An SEO company can be of great help in increasing your site’s visibility and getting it to rank higher on Google page searches, plus, there are tons of other benefits to hiring a search engine optimization agency.

Check out these 10 advantages of hiring an SEO Agency before you make up your mind!

 

1) Increased traffic:

When visitors come from search engines like Google, they’re ready for conversion; when they come from non-search sources, then not so much. Search engine optimization is all about giving potential customers what they want when they need it most – which is now!

 

2) More business opportunities:

A strong website presence is good for business – it gives more opportunities to potential customers. According to research, 93% of consumers who searched on Google said they looked for more information before making a purchase decision.

 

3) Cost effectiveness:

SEO is not as expensive as you might think – especially if you hire an agency or consultant to do the work versus trying to learn about SEO yourself. Plus, outsourcing your SEO ensures greater accuracy and scalability. For some businesses, hiring an expert might even cost less than the resources they’d have to invest if they tried it themselves. Plus, when clients find you because of the SEO efforts, it pays for itself.

 

4) Improved website design:

Today’s best practices for website design are based on conversions rather than aesthetics, which can be different from what has worked in the past. Utilizing an SEO company can be especially helpful when it comes to designing any new content or making changes to your existing site.

 

5) Sharper business focus:

As an expert in search engine optimization, you’re not just focusing on the website – you’re focusing on what makes money for the business overall. You’ll see which products or services are selling best and where they need improvement, which will help improve customer retention levels over time.

 

6) Getting found is easier than ever:

Now more than ever, consumers start their purchase research with a major search engine like Google (82%) before doing further research online (79%). Plus, close to 75% of people believe that companies should make information available especially if they appear high in the search results. That means you’re reaching a huge market if your business is easily found on Google and other search engines.

 

7) Improved website performance:

Regular SEO audits can help improve user experience and site functionality – leading to better conversions overall. Your site might be slow, with old out-of-date content or broken links, which hurts your SEO efforts over time. A strong web presence starts with a website that works well for visitors and google bots alike!

 

8) You’ll know how your online investment is doing:

It’s important to track your website’s progress as it relates to SEO efforts because there are so many factors involved in rankings. Plus, it has been that an increase of just one position in rankings can have a positive impact on traffic, leads, and conversion rates.

 

9) You’ll know when you’re ranking well:

SEO companies will be able to share their insights with you about how your site is doing in organic search results – which keywords are working for you and what to focus on next. Having this information not only saves time but it ensures that your SEO efforts aren’t going to waste because they’re working toward specific goals and milestones!

 

10) It’s all part of the service:

An SEO company or consultant might offer additional services like website design, PPC management, reputation management, and social media marketing and can do those simultaneously – it’s just included as part of getting found online. Since these services all work together, it’s more advantageous for your business to have everything done by one company instead of hiring different experts for every job.

 

Conclusion:

Hiring an SEO company can be one of the best decisions you make for your business – these 10 benefits are just a taste of what they can do! Still on the fence? Do some more research and see if an SEO agency is a right choice for you. Thanks for reading!