The organizers of WordCamp Asia, a brand new regional WordCamp, have published a proposal for making Bangkok, Thailand, the host city for a 2-3 day event in early 2020. They are currently planning for February or March to avoid clashing with other regional WordCamps (WCEU, WCUS). The camp has been informally discussed since 2015 while organizers focused on growing new city-based WordCamps across the region.
“WordCamps in Asia have reached a critical mass that will enable a successful regional WordCamp,” Jon Ang said in the introduction to the proposal. “We believe that running this WordCamp will contribute directly to long term efforts in fostering WordPress interest in countries that lack it.”
WordCamp Asia organizers are being mentored by lead organizers of WordCamp Europe and have created an official proposal based heavily on the one submitted by WordCamp Nordic organizers. They have submitted it to the broader WordCamp community leaders for review before submitting and official application to WordCamp Central.
Asia has many vibrant and diverse WordPress communities across distant geographical areas. It technically includes Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey, Israel, and Iran, as well as all of Russia and India and everything in between.
Hugh Lashbrooke commented on the proposal, asking if it is actually a “WordCamp South-East Asia,” given all the currently listed organizers are from this region, or if they intend to include other countries beyond this area. Ang said that the event will certainly include leaders from India and Pakistan and they have discussed forming a global team with two representatives from each country. The leaders currently listed in the proposal are those who were specifically involved in drafting it.
Bangkok is proposed for the first host city due to its relatively affordable location, the ease of obtaining a visa on arrival for attendees from many Asian counties, and the availability of inexpensive flights to most major cities in Asia. The local WordPress community is also experienced at running large WordCamps (500+ attendees) and Bangkok’s local meetup group has more than 1,500 members. WordCamp Asia organizers are planning for 750-1,000 attendees.
The Quebec government will be introducing legislation that prohibits public employees from displaying religious symbols while at work. This would include items such as crucifixes, kirpans, turbans, hijabs, yarmulkes, etc. Even though there is majority public support for this legislation ther has been a strong backlash with the claim that this impinges on religious freedom. If anyone is interested, I'd like to start a discussion on this. I'm on the "public service positions should at least have the appearance of neutrality" side of the debate. I hear interviews where I wish the interviewer would ask certain qquestions, or respond to answers with specific follow up questions. That's why I'd like a discussion. I am open to dissenting opinions. Any posts that descend into name calling will be deleted. Let's keep it civil, reasonable and logical.
I will show you how we built an iMessage extension by writing a bridge for our React Native-based mobile app. This approach took our team around two weeks to explore and might save you significant time if you have a similar intention. This is part one out of two of the walkthrough.
When we set out to build an iMessage extension for Lisk Mobile using React Native, we immediately hit an exciting challenge. As it turns out, when it comes to third-party applications, Apple likes developers to play by their own rules. If a company wants to benefit from the tech giant's operational systems and rich user base, it needs to be built using Apple's own tools and programming language. iPhone's iMessage is definitely worth this hassle. It has proven to be a big hit since its release in 2016. Within the first six months, iMessage has generated thousands of innovative in-messenger extensions, including those created by Airbnb and Dropbox. Late in 2018, Mark Zuckerberg admitted this feature is one of Facebook's 'biggest competitor by far.' Since the release of Lisk Mobile during Lisk's Berlin meetup in October 2018, our team has been busy implementing features such as Face ID Authentication, as well as developing blockchain-specific solutions. Identifying the opportunity to extend the iMessage option for our users, we got to work on our own integration.
The iMessage extension was included in Lisk Mobile 0.10.0, which was released in February 2019. Our users can now request and send LSK tokens straight from the iOS-based messenger without opening our app. However, the journey to implement this feature wasn't straightforward.Lisk Mobile is written in JavaScript using React Native, while iMessage requires development in native iOS. During our research, we have found there is just a handful of resources available to help with using React Native to build iOS extensions available out there. There was no clear way to proceed. After thorough deliberation, we have decided to try a different approach by building our own bridge implementation. We found it a very educational and motivational journey for our team to develop the feature in this way. We will show you how, by breaking the solution down into native and React Native parts, and describing how to bind these separated parts together.
Fan of Apache Spark? I am too. The reason is simple. Interesting APIs to work with, fast and distributed processing, and, unlike MapReduce, there's no I/O overhead, it's fault tolerance, and much more. With this, you can do a lot in the world of big data and fast data. From "processing huge chunks of data" to "working on streaming data," Spark works flawlessly. In this post, we will be talking about the streaming power we get from Spark.
Spark provides us with two ways of working with streaming data:
There has been much buzz about micro front-ends as of late, but have you been wondering what it is? Well, allow us to explain. Simply put, a micro front-end is akin to the concept of microservices, just applied to a web app's front-end. With micro front-ends, web apps are integrated into modules to achieve a specific business-related need that is owned by various teams. Also, every team develops the feature end-to-end, from the UI, all the way to the database and backend. As you can see, the concept remains the same as with microservices — you make smaller independent services work in unison to serve a more significant application.
More often than not, when organizations take on a microservice architecture on the backend, the front-end apps are left as monoliths. What is that, you ask? Well, unified architecture refers to when you use a single team to build web apps with unique technology, and all of the development is completed altogether. Here the backend is organized following the business's needs, but the front-end continues to be jammed into just one app. It can throw up various issues over time. Thankfully, micro front-end architectures allow the entire application to be divided up across the complete stack according to the business domain. It provides the front-end development teams with similar levels of speed, testability, and flexibility as the ones available to the backend team via microservices.
The best writers, speakers, trainers, leaders, teachers tell stories.
A brand that is engaging is easier to remember and easier to process than others in the same category. Over time, it manages to establish a connection with potential customers, which directly contributes to a relevance in the market.
An emerging brand can evolve into a strong brand.
The most accessible tools for brands to become strong are words. Words create a story, and the story is what manages to capture the attention of any user. Stories portray emotion, and emotion attaches us to everything.
Story
To build your brand’s story, you have to answer two questions:
1.What is the purpose of your brands existence?
An excellent example of storytelling that can easily answer this question is represented by non-profit organizations (non-governmental organizations). In NGOs, we choose to invest our money and time without receiving a specific product or service in return.
They promote a cause, we become attached to that cause through emotion, and we choose to give them money.
If brands would address the communication process from an NGO perspective, helping the consumer first and selling second, they would all be more successful.
2. How does your brand differ from others?
The importance of a brand’s offer, whether it be a product or service, has diminished over time. On a constantly growing market, competition is unavoidable, and what makes the biggest difference is how a brand promotes the offer. Why does the brand choose to do what it does? What drives us to do what we do regarding the brand?
How to turn your story into a tool
To turn a story into an effective tool for your brand, it must be narrated in a transparent and authentic way. It must have a core belief (the moral of the story) and help the target audience reach the happy ending they hoped for.
The stronger the moral of the story is, the more significant of an impact it makes, the stronger the relationship between brand and consumer. However, the moral of the story can not be the same for all audiences. Brands need to understand this and create different approaches if they want to identify themselves with a larger audience of individuals.
Advertising. Storytelling. Engagement.
Every brand tries to create a connection with the audience to which it addresses, but this goal is not always met as expected. Most brands create user personas to help them better understand the kinds of people that usually buy from them. By doing this, you can also understand who isn’t buying from you, and develop strategies to reach those people.
Over 75% of emails received from companies are not open and over 99% of banners end up being ignored. The main objective of advertising is to attract long term attention. Another objective is to engage customers on a personal level. Make them feel at home with your brand, and develop a relationship that fortifies their decision in choosing you.
In advertising, the story is not just an entertainment tool, but the basis for changing a decision, attitude, or behavior. That’s why brands need to invest time building relationships to help them integrate the target audience into the brand story.
The conclusion
Storytelling is a key element in advertising. It’s not enough anymore to simply sell a product. You have to sell your story. You have to make these potential customers believe in what you believe. They have to understand why you do what you do, and the journey you took to get there. A story is more than a tool for a brand, but the brand itself.
The evolution of a brand involves all these elements, based on two fundamental concepts: creating a story and transmitting the narrative. They aim to establish a long-term connection with the target audience in order to build relationships, and generate not just customers, but loyal and happy customers.
HackerRank is known for its invaluable research into the lives of those who make the tech world go round, and this year’s Women in Tech Report is no exception. Filled with numerous important insights into the skills and motivations of the youngest female developers entering the workforce, it is an absolute must-read for any hiring manager looking to bring on the best and brightest of this uniquely savvy generation.
So you’ve been listening to podcasts, and realized how popular they have become. Now, you are toying with the idea of starting a podcast. The problem is that, there is a reluctant voice inside your head asking, “Can I really do this? Where do I start? Would someone even listen to my podcast?” Don’t fret. […]
I had the opportunity to meet with Ronell Hugh, Head of Product Strategy and Marketing for the Adobe Experience Platform during Adobe Summit 2019 to discuss the results of research they conducted with 1,000 U.S, IT decision makers.
The idea behind most of web applications is to fetch data from the database and present it to the user in the best possible way. When we deal with data there are cases when the best possible way of presentation means creating a list.
Depending on the amount of data and its content, we may decide to show all content at once (very rarely), or show only a specific part of a bigger data set (more likely). The main reason behind showing only part of the existing data is that we want to keep our applications as performant as possible and avoid loading or showing unnecessary data.
If we decide to show our data in "chunks" then we need a way to navigate through that collection. The two most common ways of navigating through set of data are:
The first is pagination, a technique that splits the set of data into a specific number of pages, saving users from being overwhelmed by the amount of data on one page and allowing them to view one set of results at a time. Take this very blog you're reading, for example. The homepage lists the latest 10 posts. Viewing the next set of latest posts requires clicking a button.
The second common technique is infinite scrolling, something you're likely familiar with if you've ever scrolled through a timeline on either Facebook or Twitter.
The Apple News app also uses infinite scroll to browse a list of articles.
We're going to take a deeper look at the first type in this post. Pagination is something we encounter on a near-daily basis, yet making it is not exactly trivial. It's a great use case for a component, so that's exactly what we're going to do. We will go through the process of creating a component that is in charge of displaying that list, and triggering the action that fetches additional articles when we click on a specific page to be displayed. In other words, we’re making a pagination component in Vue.js like this:
Let's go through the steps together.
Step 1: Create the ArticlesList component in Vue
Let’s start by creating a component that will show a list of articles (but without pagination just yet). We’ll call it ArticlesList. In the component template, we’ll iterate through the set of articles and pass a single article item to each ArticleItem component.
Now we need to create a method that will load the next page, the previous page or a selected page.
In the pageChangeHandle method, before loading new articles, we change the currentPage value depending on a property passed to the method and fetch the data respective to a specific page from the API. Upon receiving new data, we replace the existing articles array with the fresh data containing a new page of articles.
The component will accept currentPage and pageCount properties from the parent component and emit proper actions back to the parent when the next or previous button is clicked. It will also be responsible for disabling buttons when we are on the first or last page to prevent moving out of the existing collection.
That was the easy part. Now we need to create a list of page numbers, each allowing us to select a specific page. The number of pages should be customizable and we also need to make sure not to show any pages that may lead us beyond the collection range.
Requirement 2: Allow the user to go to a specific page within a range
Let's start by creating a component that will be used as a single page number. I called it BasePaginationTrigger. It will do two things: show the page number passed from the BasePagination component and emit an event when the user clicks on a specific number.
In the script section, we need to add one more method (onLoadPage) that will be fired when the loadPage event is emitted from the trigger component. This method will receive a page number that was clicked and emit the event up to the ArticlesList component.
Requirement 3: Change the range of page numbers based on the current page
OK, now we have a single trigger that shows us the current page and allows us to fetch the same page again. Pretty useless, don't you think? Let's make some use of that newly created trigger component. We need a list of pages that will allow us to jump from one page to another without needing to go through the pages in between.
We also need to make sure to display the pages in a nice manner. We always want to display the first page (on the far left) and the last page (on the far right) on the pagination list and then the remaining pages between them.
We have three possible scenarios:
The selected page number is smaller than half of the list width (e.g. 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 18)
The selected page number is bigger than half of the list width counting from the end of the list (e.g. 1 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18)
All other cases (e.g. 1 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 18)
To handle these cases, we will create a computed property that will return an array of numbers that should be shown between the next and previous buttons. To make the component more reusable we will accept a property visiblePagesCount that will specify how many pages should be visible in the pagination component.
Before going to the cases one by one we create few variables:
visiblePagesThreshold:- Tells us how many pages from the centre (selected page should be shown)
paginationTriggersArray: Array that will be filled with page numbers
visiblePagesCount: Creates an array with the required length
Scenario 1: The selected page number is smaller than half of the list width
We set the first element to always be equal to 1. Then we iterate through the list, adding an index to each element. At the end, we add the last value and set it to be equal to the last page number — we want to be able to go straight to the last page if we need to.
Scenario 2: The selected page number is bigger than half of the list width counting from the end of the list
Similar to the previous scenario, we start with the last page and iterate through the list, this time subtracting the index from each element. Then we reverse the array to get the proper order and push 1 into the first place in our array.
We know what number should be in the center of our list: the current page. We also know how long the list should be. This allows us to get the first number in our array. Then we populate the list by adding an index to each element. At the end, we push 1 into the first place in our array and replace the last number with our last page number.
And we are done! We just built a nice and reusable pagination component in Vue.
When to avoid this pattern
Although this component is pretty sweet, it’s not a silver bullet for all use cases involving pagination.
For example, it’s probably a good idea to avoid this pattern for content that streams constantly and has a relatively flat structure, like each item is at the same level of hierarchy and has a similar chance of being interesting to the user. In other words, something less like an article with multiple pages and something more like main navigation.
Another example would be browsing news rather than looking for a specific news article. We do not need to know where exactly the news is and how much we scrolled to get to a specific article.
That’s a wrap!
Hopefully this is a pattern you will be able to find useful in a project, whether it’s for a simple blog, a complex e-commerce site, or something in between. Pagination can be a pain, but having a modular pattern that not only can be re-used, but considers a slew of scenarios, can make it much easier to handle.
Brad Frost wrote about a recent experience with a website that used <input type="number">:
Last week I got a call from my bank regarding a wire transfer I had just scheduled. The customer support guy had me repeat everything back to him because there seemed to be a problem with the information. “Hmmmm, everything you said is right right except the last 3 digits of the account number.”
He had me resubmit the wire transfer form. When I exited the account number field, the corner of my eye noticed the account number change ever so slightly. I quickly refocused into the field and slightly moved my index finger up on my Magic Mouse. It started looking more like a slot machine than an input field!
Brad argues that we then shouldn’t be using <input type="number"> for “account numbers, social security numbers, credit card numbers, confirmation numbers” which makes a bunch of sense to me! Instead we can use the pattern attribute that Chris Ferdinandi looked at a while back in a post all about constraint validation in HTML.
It's worth mentioning that numeric inputs can be more complex than they appear and that their appearance and behavior vary between browsers. All good things to consider along alongside Brad's advice when evaluating user experience.
Also:
<input inputmode="numeric"> is the way forward for mobile numeric keyboards (paired with `pattern="[0-9]*"` on iOS pending inputmode support).
This article is useful for experienced Angular developers. This article explains how to export Angular components from your project to bit and importing existing components from bit to your new project.
Angular is a component-based framework. Components are the main building blocks of the Angular framework. Using bit export/import we can avoid writing code for components, again and again, thus following DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) principles.
Logstash plays an extremely important role in any ELK-based data pipeline but is still considered as one of the main pain points in the stack. Like any piece of software, Logstash has a lot of nooks and crannies that need to be mastered to be able to log with confidence.
One super-important nook and cranny is the Logstash configuration file (not the software’s configuration file (/etc/logstash/logstash.yml) but the .conf file responsible for your data pipeline). How successful you are at running Logstash is directly determined from how well versed you are at working with this file and how skilled you are at debugging issues that may occur if misconfiguring it.
There are thousands of tales spread throughout the world about blockchain. It is true that this technology is premier among all. Not only did it give birth to cryptocurrencies but it also resolved various security issues.
As I mentioned, a number of tales are there, but the most questioned and discussed tale is the immutability of a blockchain. In this post, I am shedding some light on this aspect. So, let's take a glimpse.
In a world where we are constantly hit with digital stimuli, we all just need to take a moment to relax. Mobile apps might seem like unlikely allies in silencing all that noise, but in fact, the self-care trend in mobile apps is booming. One of the apps leading the charge is Headspace.
Headspace is the brainchild of former Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe, who returned from a Tibetan monastery with a drive to spread the word about meditation, and advertising executive Richard Pierson, who needed a way to relax from the stress of his job. They decided to do a skill-swap, and Headspace was born. The Headspace app now ranks as one of the top 10 apps in the Health & Fitness category and has over 30 million users and 1 million subscribers.
WordPress has been around for more than a decade and a half now, and a lot has changed since the very beginning in 2003. The platform has seen several User Interface (UI) advancements, for example, and is forging ahead into 2019 with the new Block Editor. We’ve also started seeing the rise of mobile responsiveness as a key feature in the default WordPress themes.
Rundown Of Gen Z: What Does This Mean For Mobile Designers?
Rundown Of Gen Z: What Does This Mean For Mobile Designers?
Suzanne Scacca
Just a few years ago, design blogs were all abuzz with tips on how to build websites for the millennial consumer. At this point, however, that’s old news. We know what millennials want from the online experience and have, for the most part, been able to meet their expectations.
But now we have a new generation of consumers to worry about: Generation Z.
Are they all that different from millennials?
As an old millennial myself, I can tell you that this next generation is one I don’t feel much of a connection to. I can remember a time when the most exciting part of my day was when my mom got off the phone and I was able to finally connect to the Internet with our dial-up AOL account.
This next generation doesn’t understand any of that. They weren’t caught between worlds the way many millennials were, which means they have a whole different set of expectations when it comes to the technology they interact with on a daily basis.
Consider this your quick and dirty guide to designing mobile websites for Gen Z.
What You Need to Know About Designing Mobile Web for Gen Z
According to Reality Bytes, a report published by WP Engine and The Center For Generational Kinetics, Gen Z cannot live without Internet access. More specifically:
55% won’t go more than five hours without it.
27% won’t go more than one.
Now, what’s really interesting about this particular generation is that, despite their attachment to the Internet, 61% of them prefer to shop on websites instead of mobile apps.
Considering how long they’ve had smart devices in their hands, it’s surprising that they’d gravitate towards browsers over native applications. That just goes to show you that native apps aren’t necessarily the best way to reach a mobile audience (especially if you want to make money from your app).
But all this is good news for you. Mobile apps are expensive to build and time-consuming to maintain. Plus, it’s quite difficult to convert users on mobile apps. If you were nervous about having to make the leap into mobile app development, or about losing money to those working in that field, don’t be. Generation Z wants your clients’ websites.
Now that you know which experience Gen Z is more likely to lean towards, it’s time to discuss designing for it.
Entertain Them
Before you do anything else, think about how to engage Gen Z visitors with entertainment.
According to Reality Bytes, entertainment is the primary reason why they visit the Internet:
Generation Z overwhelmingly prefers to be entertained online over anything else. (WP Engine) (Large preview)
Until now, the primary reason why consumers flocked to the Internet was for informational purposes. But that’s not all bad news for you as it means you have an excuse to reach out to older clients and say:
“Hey, times are changing! Here’s what’s on trend now and what your website needs in order to reach these new consumers.”
Just be careful: even for the most relaxed and youthful company, you don’t want to go over the top with adding entertaining elements into a mobile website. Just because 66% of Generation Z consumers name gaming as their #1 hobby doesn’t mean you need to build a mobile game and put it on your site. (Leave that to the gaming app developers.)
Instead, look at subtle ways to surprise Generation Z with something unexpected and engaging.
The first place to start? Video.
KFC has a great example of this right on its home page:
KFC shares its well-known and hilarious video ads on its home page. (Source: KFC) (Large preview)
There’s a number of reasons why this video example is so awesome.
First, every visitor to the website — both on desktop and mobile — will see it right away. On mobile, visitors can’t even scroll down the home page. What you see above is what you get.
Next, this ensures your visitors get a taste of the brand’s humor and personality. Whereas content-driven sites or blogs can do that with GIFs and memes, Gen Z might not take the time to read content. Video makes sure they won’t miss out.
Also, this video is totally on brand, showcasing KFC’s humor in video form.
Even if you don’t have a humorous mascot to trot around, show off your client’s CEO or other engaging brand ambassador. Video is a great way to quickly suck Gen Z visitors in and let them know this is not going to be a dry or unmemorable experience.
If you don’t have video to play with, that’s okay. Think about adding humor as you educate visitors. Old Spice demonstrates:
Old Spice’s informative, yet funny Ingredients pages. (Source: Old Spice) (Large preview)
Old Spice is another company that’s known for its entertaining video ads. However, their website also contains some humorous gems where you’d least expect them:
In the Ingredients section.
Visitors that are concerned about the ingredients within their deodorant can visit this page to learn more about what goes into each of the products. But read those descriptions closely. Not only are they transparent about what’s inside, but they also do it in a casual and playful way which says:
“Hey, we’re taking your concerns seriously. But don’t sweat it. We got you.”
Another way you can appeal to the entertainment-loving Generation Z is to add a social component to your site.
Don’t worry about building your own social network, community or forum either. Gen Z is going to flock to their favorite social platforms for that purpose: YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, etc.
Instead, think about what it is that makes those environments so engage-worthy. Here’s an example from the Gymshark Central blog:
Gymshark uses social media-like reactions to improve blog engagement. (Source: Gymshark) (Large preview)
The blog post looks like any other. However, at the bottom of each post is this emoji reaction system. That’s pretty unique, right? Plus, this type of engagement doesn’t require much work from the reader. Simply click on the recognizable and well-labeled emoji and let the writer know what you thought of the content.
Another reason why this works so well is because Gymshark actively targets Gen Z customers. If you look on their website, you’ll see a section where they give discounts to college students.
So, if your client’s website needs to reach a younger audience, take a lesson from Gymshark. There’s no need to do a complete overhaul and convert an otherwise well-designed website into a superficial social network. Instead, add the most engaging elements from social networks and encourage your Gen Z visitors to interact more.
Personalize It
Think about what makes video games and social media so attractive to Gen Z. There’s obviously the fun aspect of it, but there’s another force at play that keeps users returning time and time again:
And that’s personalization.
This is something you should already be designing your mobile websites for as you target millennial consumers. However, if you haven’t bothered to add personalized touches to your sites, yet, you’re going to need to take this more seriously now.
Forbes Agency Council and YPulse worked together to find out what Generation Z really wants in terms of personalized experiences. Here’s a snippet from their findings:
“71% of the 3,000 respondents ages 14–29 said they prefer to receive offers that are customized to their location. In the same survey, 80% said they expect tailored onscreen experiences that not only target location but also recognize their interests and habits — who they are and how they self-identify.”
With 44% of Gen Z more likely to give up their personal data than other generations, you can’t afford to ignore this one.
One way to deliver a personalized experience based on what Gen Z visitors want is through push notifications. The only problem is, whether you have a mobile website or a progressive web app, push notifications are not supported on iOS devices.
While you can still use them to connect with Android users, consider other means for personalization that will help you connect with 100% of them.
Take, for instance, something as seemingly simple as what Amazon does with data:
About ¾ of the Amazon mobile home page contains personalized information. (Source: Amazon) (Large preview)
As you can see here, Amazon has saved a whole bunch of information about me:
My name and account information;
My cart items (which were not put there on this shopping trip);
My delivery location.
I also happen to own a Fire TV Stick, so this top ad is super relevant to me. Overall, I’m quite pleased with how tailor-made this first step inside the mobile website feels.
If you’re building a registration or membership system into your client’s website, make sure you’re leveraging user data to provide a personalized experience for them.
And if you don’t have a reason to ask mobile visitors to log in, that’s okay. You can still gather information by placing simply designed email subscription forms on the mobile website — preferably above the fold or at the very bottom. And most definitely on the home page.
inkbox uses a subscription form to start collecting information on visitors. (Source: inkbox) (Large preview)
inkbox has done a nice job with this subscription form. Even if mobile users scroll past the content on the page, they’re likely to see that white box screaming back at them, begging them to sign up.
Because there’s such a low commitment compared to the potential for such valuable rewards (like information on new products and access to exclusive discounts), Generation Z visitors will love this. Like I said earlier, they’re more than willing to give you their personal data if you can make it worth their while.
For mobile websites with a brick-and-mortar presence, geolocation features are non-negotiable. Generation Z shoppers often use their mobile devices while in-store, so this would definitely take their experience to the next level.
One of the easiest ways to implement this is with geolocation sensors like the ones used by The North Face:
The North Face auto-populates search parameters based on the user’s location. (Source: The North Face) (Large preview)
The above screenshot is what happens when I use the Find a Store feature on the mobile website. What’s great about this is it detected my location (which is currently Boston) and it auto-populated my search query with a nearby store.
Mobile users don’t have time to waste and Gen Z certainly won’t take kindly to a website that forces them to do all the work. Take what you know about your user — even if all you can detect is a location — and make their job of connecting with you easier.
Make Them Feel Special
Now, there’s a difference between adding personal touches to a website and taking it up a notch so that Generation Z visitors feel special. They’re going to need you to make them feel like their money and opinions and faces are worth more than anyone else’s.
You have to remember, this is the generation that grew up with reality TV and smartphone cameras pointed at their faces. That’s why it’s no surprise they’re known as the “influencer” generation.
On a related note, this makes Generation Z much more likely to build a relationship with brands as there’s the hope that, someday, they’ll reward their loyalty with a public-facing partnership.
Your clients will ultimately have to decide how far they want to take this. After all, affiliate partnerships and influencer marketing won’t make sense for everyone. That said, there are other ways to reap the advantages of having a generation of consumers willing to “help” a brand out.
According to data from the IBM Institute for Business Value and the National Retail Federation, 44% of Generation Z consumers said they’d be happy to share ideas for product design. That makes sense as that level of contribution will make them feel like they have more invested in the relationship with the company.
While your clients need to decide if consumers have any say in the shaping of their offering, you can do something about this from the web design side of things.
Check out what the Panera website is doing to solicit visitors for feedback:
Panera calls attention to its redesign and asks visitors for feedback. (Source: Panera) (Large preview)
These “Feedback” tabs are a somewhat new feature on the web, but more and more websites are certainly taking advantage of it. With this intro pop-up from Panera, it’s looking as though they want to make sure their visitors take notice, too.
This is a smart move in terms of trying to appeal to a younger audience. You let them know, straight out the gate, “We made some changes!” and then ask them to provide feedback. But that’s not all. Panera is saying: “Thanks for your help.” This implies that they want customers to take a greater part in shaping both the online experience and the brand itself.
There are other ways to make Generation Z feel like they’re more than just the average customer.
Sephora has created something called the “Rewards Bazaar” to layer on top of its more traditional BeautyInsider loyalty program:
Rewards Bazaar is Sephora’s point-based rewards system that can be used to buy products and experiences. (Source: Sephora) (Large preview)
The Rewards Bazaar program works similarly to credit card points or airline miles programs. In other words, the more money customers spend with Sephora, the more points they accumulate.
And points don’t just buy them more Sephora goods. Points buy them experiences, like an Algenist R&R sleep retreat in Tucson, Arizona. They can also get “swag” bundles full of makeup and body products, clothes, artwork and more.
Sephora is rewarding their loyalty with celeb-like treats.
If you want to go crazy and actually encourage Gen Z customers to act like the influencers they so desire to be, take inspiration from this American Eagle example:
American Eagle asks customers to become unofficial influencers with AE x ME. (Source: American Eagle) (Large preview)
Generation Z customers already have their cameras ready to snap the next Insta-worthy photo, so why not give them a reason to put it to good use?
American Eagle has created an influencer-like program called AE x ME. Really, this is nothing more than a brilliant ploy to ask customers for user-generated content that American Eagle can then use on its website and beyond.
Whereas brands usually have to dig around for these types of photos or videos featuring their products in action, American Eagle is saying:
“You’re going to take pictures of your awesome new duds anyway. Why not let us show them off to a much larger audience for you?”
That’s not the only reward American Eagle dangles in front of influencers. While most of the people featured get a unique URL that features their Instagram handle and some information about them, there’s a profile at the bottom of this page that suggests there might be a greater opportunity here.
Daevin tagged American Eagle in one of his posts and then was flown out to become one of the faces in an upcoming campaign for the famous clothing brand. If that’s not living the dream for Gen Z influencer wannabes, I don’t know what is.
Keep It Real
One last thing to keep in the back of your minds as you design websites for Generation Z is the “keep it real” component. Anyone else remember this Dave Chappelle gem?
Dave Chappelle struggles to keep it real, long before Gen Z had a say in it. (Source: Giphy)
Gen Z has very high standards when it comes to the authenticity of a company. And, not only that, they expect brands to be socially good, too.
Reality Bytes reports that:
79% of Gen Z consumers respect brands more if they keep their images Photoshop-free.
84% of them trust companies that put real customers in their ad campaigns (see American Eagle’s example above).
69% of them will buy from companies that give money to and support good causes.
Really, what all of this data points to is this:
Generation Z wants to know that they’re engaging with genuinely good and honest people; not just a brand name.
That’s why, if your clients have a strong mission and values, their websites need to have one page specifically dedicated to them.
One way to do this is with a partnership highlight page like eos has:
eos touts its recycling initiatives and partnership with TerraCycle. (Source: eos) (Large preview)
The eos website actually has two pages dedicated to this recycling cause. The first is called “Social Responsibility” where the company discusses its mission to build clean products. The second is called “TerraCycle” where it goes more into the recycling partnership.
For consumers looking to buy from companies that take causes like this seriously, these landing pages may be all they need to convince them to convert.
Samsung does something similar on its About Us page, except the key difference is that it calls out social responsibility and sustainability as part of its core company values:
Samsung makes it its mission to make the environment a priority. (Source: Samsung) (Large preview)
This way, it’s not just Samsung telling customers where their products come from or where they end up. Instead, their entire identity becomes synonymous with this mission to create a better world.
When you compare them to companies that prioritize profit before anything else or who have been accused of being dishonest for the purposes of driving up their bottom line, Samsung stands out as a shining example of what to do.
Another way to stand out with this concept of social goodness is by showing customers how they’re contributing to a good cause by giving their business to them.
The Giving Keys is a brand that’s built its entire concept around this.
The Giving Keys isn’t just a website to buy jewelry from. This is a place where consumers can make a difference in more ways than one. It works like this:
Customers purchase a piece of jewelry and add a personalized inscription to the key charm.
They then give the inspirational message jewelry to someone who needs it. (The website features a section where customers can “Share Your Story” to talk about who they gave it to and why.)
In turn, the company uses a portion of the sale to help create jobs for the homeless.
This is the kind of thing that makes Generation Z stop and think twice about giving their money to a money-hungry mega brand instead of a smaller company that backs a good cause.
Wrapping Up
It’s an interesting thing, isn’t? Raise kids in a certain timeframe and environment and they’ll turn out to be completely different shoppers than the generations before them.
Thankfully, the same kinds of technologies that have powered Generation Z’s lives are the ones we can use to learn more about them. And we’ve certainly learned a lot. As you go about designing websites for clients in the future, don’t forget to bring up the Gen Z question to them. Even if they’re not selling to them now, someday in the not-so-distant future, they will.
I will show you how we built an iMessage extension by writing a bridge for our React Native-based mobile app. This approach took our team around two weeks to explore and might save you significant time if you have a similar intention. This is part one out of two of the walkthrough.
