Let me start by asking you this relevant question.

Have you ever struggled viewing any website that it requires scrolling from right to left or magnifying or whatever-else-ing in order to view it comfortably from your smart phone? Many times you get frustrate that you cannot view that entire page, content on the page. you’re too busy adjusting you screen so many times so that you can read the content what’s on that page.
Raise your hand if this happens to you. I have good news for you.

The internet isn’t on your computer screen anymore. This does happens only with smartphones but you struggle viewing in your tablet too.

When you view same page that has a big image horizontal image on top, this easily break layouts.
We are keep adding devices for our ease. With more devices come varying screen resolutions, definitions and orientations. New devices with new screen sizes are being developed every day. When will the madness stop? It won’t, of course. After all we all love technology. We love smartphones. We love to read in tablets while we’re relaxing on sofa. In the next five years, designers need to design for a number of additional inventions.

Recently, a discipline called ‘responsive architecture’ has begun. Which involves resolution-aware layouts. Where the layouts magically adjust itself to more comfortably fit the new width of the browser.
That means, when you look at the bigger top image on top, it will adjust and become smaller while viewing from smartphone. The graphic will rotates from landscape to portrait view. If you’re to fill up a form, the text entry will adjust automatically and flow vertically so that it becomes super easy to fill. The website responds to YOU, rather than making you deal with it.

Almost every clients’ now wants a mobile version of their website. It’s practically essential after all. Until last year, I only heard from clients’ that I want to design a website which is browser compatible. Means, it doesn’t matter what browser you are viewing, it looks; appear the same. when I write the HTML or Jscript code, I am writing for every browser.

Responsive Design. One more addition in designers’ plate. The designers have to keep update themselves. The first rule of become designer to be adaptable and have a knack of embracing all newer technology and trends. Of course writing a code is not as easy as making mac and cheese. So don’t complain that why your website cost you so much or your designer is charging you so much. Every designer has to write more codes in the back end so this appears seamless.

So you might be thinking so who is designing this? everybody. let’s look at some examples.
So next time if you are sitting in work meeting and you want to be seen. Or hiring a web designer or web professional to help you with designing your website, just don’t forget to ask. Is this Responsive Design? Don’t just tell them that I made you aware.

Read more helpful links:
Ethan Marcotte, who wrote an introductory article about the approach
Wikipedia.org/Responsive_web_design

I gave my 10th speech this morning at the Toastmasters club. The Speech objective was to ‘Inspire your audience’. It was 8-10 minutes speech where there is an opportunity to put your feelings about a subject that has deep meaning to you into words and inspire the audience, using all the techniques you have learned so far. Keeping all these in mind, I came up with very interesting and relevant subject: Web Analytics.

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Those of you who know me…I often talk about websites and graphics. That is what I am passionate about and would love to do for rest of my life. And as all of you are helping me brush my communication skills, I would like to return the favor by talking about something that I feel might be relevant to all of us.

You might remember that I’ve given a speech about 10 key points you should keep in mind while designing your personal or business website. Ive also given a speech about list of things you should avoid while designing your logo. Now today I would like to talk about the ‘science of analysis’ – how would you know who is visiting your website, how often they visit, is it a new visitor or same visitor, who is frequently checking your website or interested in reading more about what you are doing! And much more.

I know that few of our members have their personal and business websites. For example, Rob, wouldn’t you be interested in knowing how many clients are visiting your website? Ryan, don’t you want to know that clients who are coming to your website like your architecture photography or nature photography. Ofcourse u do right. I certainly would like to know for my personal website.

The science of finding this out is called web analytics. It is the process of analyzing the behavior of your website visitors. It’s like a page hit counter but provides you very detailed information which helps your business grow.

Leti say for example that you have your own consulting company that provides technical solutions to clients. And now you want to find out what your clients are most interested in or which technology they would like to read more about. For example – cloud computing is hot these days; every one is talking about it, right. By adding web analytics capability to your website, you can find out which pages are the popular.

Instead of just guessing which pages you think are the most popular, web anlytics gives you solid data that tells you which pages are really the most popular ones. Its not just what you think but now what you know.

So going back to our example lets say that the number of hits on the cloud computing page are more than any other page on your website. What if that cloud computing page is one of your inner pages and you have not provided any information on the home page? based on the data, don’t you think It has to be more visible? You might be wasting valuable space by showing links to pages which your visitors are not interested in. the web analytics data shows that your best bet is to move your cloud computing page up front. Remember the 3-click rule that I talked about in my previous speech? If your visritors can not find what they are looking for within 3 clicks, they r likely to get frustrated and leave your website. Since visitors to your websites are very valuable you should try your best to make sure that they stay as long as possible.with web analytics instead of just guessing about what they are looking for you know what they are looking for.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that web analytics is only for big corporations. Its also for small business, its for us. You might be wondering how you can get started. The good news is that its actually quite easy and there are plenty of options. A few of the more popular options include Google Analytics, Adobe SiteCatalyst, WebTrends, and NetMetrics

My personal favorite is google analytics. why?

Well, first It’s cheap actually free for basic reports. Just go to www.google.com/analytics and sign up for a free account. It’s a great way to get started and see the power of web analytics for yourself. If you find out that you really need more than what you get for free then you might decide from the other options available out there. Believe me its worth spending your time.

Mommy, mommy, I am not going to work hard for my exam now… it’s all about luck and I don’t get the best grades anyway!

My son, don’t feel that way, says the Mom and goes on to tell him a story.

A girl was frustrated as series of unpredictable events were happening in her life. Nothing seemed to be working for her and she was feeling that bad luck was on her side. The stars were just not aligning for her.
Her grandfather noticed that she felt devastated and looked miserable.
Having Hinduism roots and his belief in the theory of Karma, he knew the concept well.
‘Just keep doing your Karma and do not worry about return’ consoled grandfather with his hand on her head. Your responsibility is to perform your actions/karma with full sincerity and honesty without expectation of fruits. Work unselfishly but with complete awareness. Just feel that you are only an instrument and that the lord is working through you. Surrender the actions and their fruits to him. He is in control, grandfather added.

So what is Karma? Karma is the Sanskrit word for action or deed. Any physical or mental action is Karma. The whole gist of life centers on karma.

Lord Krishna said, work diligently on your duties but do not expect the fruits thereof. The Theory of Karma is a very important concept in Hinduism and Buddhism. Whatever work we do, it should not be based on a result means there should be no condition attached.
Some of the obstacles and/or rewards in your present life are here to stay. When we are performing an action we associate some kind of expectation with it. This expectation, when fulfilled, gives rise to another expectation, action and so on. We should be aware of each and every action and related expectation. There should be awareness that the goal may or may not be attained. If the goal is attained, think very nice, if the goal is not attained, again, very nice. Law of expectation actually demands from us to accept both happiness and misery in an equal way. We do accept only happiness and mentally reject misery. This is where the trouble lies.

The origin of this concept can be traced all the way back to the Bhagvad Gita, a part of the epic Mahabharata, which was written over 4000 years ago. It describes a conversation took place between Lord Krishna and Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra just prior to the start of climactic war. Responding to Arjuna’s confusion and moral dilemma about fighting with his own cousins. Lord Krishan explains to Arjuna his duties as a warrior and elaborates on different analogies. Basically, you just do whatever you have to do in life and forget about consequence. One has to find out the purpose of life. You don’t question why you do it or what would be the end goal, just do your duties/your karma.
Life is a battle, a test of your willingness to survive and succeed. a battle all must face and one that will last all of one’s life so don’t try to run away or hide or cry or feel that you are the only one is who is struggling…face your battles head on…god has given you the strength. It is inside you…just waiting to be harnessed.

That’s an amazing story Mommy. So, I should just study hard without worrying about my grades. I should be content as long as I know that I tried my best.

Yes, my son. And by the way, this is not just any story. The girl is you mommy… me!

So my son, I have lived and still I am living my life on the theory of Karma and telling you the same what my grandfather has told me years ago.  And at that moment the boy and his mommy share a loving hug with tears of happiness.