INP tracks how quickly your website responds to user input, for example, how soon after a visitor clicks on a button they will see the effect. It’s probably no surprise that a fast reaction is preferable.

To help you figure out how to ace this part of Core Web Vitals, just like for Largest Contentful Paint, Cumulative Layout Shift, and First Input Delay, we have put together a detailed guide on how to optimize Interaction to Next Paint in WordPress. In this article, we’re going to walk you through what it is, why you should care about it, how to measure INP, and, most importantly, how you can improve it.

What is Interaction to Next Paint (INP)?

Interaction to Next Paint (INP) is a performance metric that’s becoming increasingly important for web developers. It’s set to replace First Input Delay (FID) as part of Google’s Core Web Vitals by March 2024. 

INP starts measuring the moment a user has their first interaction with a web page. An interaction is, for example, a mouse click or key press. The measurement continues until the page visually responds to that input. In that, INP is a much more comprehensive way of looking at a site’s responsiveness than what FID offered.

The key difference of the two metrics lies in their scope and depth of measurement. FID quantifies the delay from the first user interaction to when the browser begins to process the request. INP goes further. First of all, it measures the entire process from user interaction to the next time the page updates from the visitor’s perspective. This includes the full cycle of input delay, processing time, and presentation delay.

In addition, Interaction to Next Paint observes the latency of all qualifying interactions throughout the user’s visit to a page, not just the first one. The metric reports the worst 2% of UI responses, focusing on the slowest response times. This approach ensures that INP reflects the most realistic measure of a page’s worst-case user experience.

Why Is It Important?

INP is vital for understanding and improving the user experience on websites. It’s a more reliable indicator of overall responsiveness than FID. Good INP values indicate quick visual responses to user interactions. A poor score, however, can lead to a frustrating user experience.

INP’s significance also lies in its impact on SEO rankings. With its incorporation into the Core Web Vitals metrics, Google emphasizes the importance of user experience in website performance. Websites that exhibit quicker visual feedback following user interactions are likely to find favor in search rankings. But that also means the opposite is true: websites with significant delays may see a negative impact on their rankings.

What Causes INP?

A variety of factors related to a webpage’s responsiveness to user interactions influence the Interaction to Next Paint (INP) metric. You can broadly categorize the factors into three phases: input delay, processing time, and presentation delay.

• Input Delay: This phase is primarily impacted by so-called long tasks in JavaScript. If a user interaction occurs while the browser is already busy, it must complete the task before processing the interaction, leading to a noticeable delay.
• Processing Time: This phase covers the time the browser takes to respond to a user’s input. Delays here often result in frustration, sometimes manifested as “rage clicks,” where visitors repeatedly click on the same page element due to the lack of immediate feedback.
• Presentation Delay: The final phase is the time from the completion of event callbacks to when the browser can render the next frame showing the results of the interaction. 

Main Factors for High INP

Multiple things can cause delays throughout the entire INP measurement period, including: 

• When JavaScript tasks exceed 50 milliseconds, they are considered long tasks. These can block the main thread, delaying the browser’s ability to process the user’s next interaction.
• When interactions have been processed, the browser must render the next frame to reflect the changes. If a web page is large or complex, or if there are issues like layout thrashing (where the browser recalculates styles and layouts excessively), this can delay the presentation of the next frame.
• Pages that require a significant amount of resources to load and become interactive can experience delays in INP. This includes pages with large images, videos, or heavy use of CSS and JavaScript.
• The use of third-party scripts and tools, such as tracking and analytics scripts, can add to the load time and processing time, impacting the page’s responsiveness.
• Slow network connections or high latency can have an impact, too.

How Do You Measure INP?

Measuring Interaction to Next Paint (INP) is key for understanding and improving the interactivity and responsiveness of your WordPress site. Thankfully, there are several tools available that can help you figure out how your website performs here:

• PageSpeed Insights — You are probably familiar with this one. When you enter your page URL, you receive a detailed report including your INP value.
• Chrome DevTools: Built into Chrome by default, the browser developer tools provide a detailed breakdown of INP, including input delay, processing time, and presentation delay. 
• SpeedVitals Core Web Vitals Checker: This tool offers a Core Web Vitals Checker that measures various performance metrics including INP. It provides field data from real-world users via the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX) API. 
• Lighthouse: Another tool available within Chrome DevTools, Lighthouse can be used for an in-depth analysis of website performance.

Most of the above solutions simply show the INP score for easy access.

When measuring, it’s important to consider both lab data (synthetic tests performed in controlled environments) and field data (real-world performance data from users). 

This comprehensive approach will give you a clearer understanding of your website’s INP performance across different scenarios and user experiences.

What’s a Good INP Score? 

The Chrome team offers clear benchmarks for determining a good Interaction to Next Paint (INP) score. These guidelines categorize INP scores into three distinct ranges to indicate the level of a webpage’s responsiveness.

As you can see above, an INP of 200 milliseconds or less is considered ideal. If the INP falls between 200 and 500 milliseconds, it means there’s room for enhancement. Any INP score above 500 milliseconds is flagged as poor.

These scores are derived from an assessment of the entire lifespan of a user’s visit to a page, considering all click, tap, and keyboard interactions. Again, the INP metric focuses on the worst (or slowest) interaction to provide a realistic measure of a page’s interactivity.

How to Improve INP on Your WordPress Website

Improving Interaction to Next Paint on your website involves several key strategies that can optimize how quickly and efficiently your WordPress site responds to user inputs. Let’s take some time now to look at these strategies and offer tips for implementing them effectively.

Improve General Performance 

Sometimes, you can improve INP considerably by attending to basic site improvement tasks. Before you do anything more complex, make sure the following are attended to: 

• Opt for reliable and efficient hosting services: This can help to ensure faster delivery of website resources and improve INP. 
• Carefully choose themes and plugins: Those you pick should contribute to your website’s speed and efficiency, not detract from it.
• Keep the number of plugins on your site as low as possible: Fewer plugins mens less code to load. Also, regularly update your website and its plugins to maintain optimal performance.
• Use caching strategies and compress data: This will speed up the loading process and improve the user experience.
• Use a CDN: Using a content delivery network (CDN) can lead to faster file delivery and reduced loading times.

Optimize Main Thread Availability

The main thread is what you call a browser’s work pipeline. All necessary processes for rendering and running a website go through it.

It is therefore critical for processing user interactions, and optimizing its availability for this purpose is vital. Here are some strategies to do so:

• Split Large Tasks: Break down large JavaScript tasks into smaller, manageable chunks. This prevents any single task from blocking the main thread for too long, allowing for quicker processing of user interactions. Using techniques like setTimeout or requestIdleCallback can be effective in scheduling tasks during idle periods, thus reducing input delay.
• Avoid Thrashing: Thrashing happens when your code repeatedly forces the browser to recalculate styles or layout, usually within a loop. Minimize the number of DOM manipulations and style recalculations to avoid thrashing. Batch your DOM read and write operations to reduce reflow and repaint cycles.

(P.S. if you don’t really understand what the above means, it would probably be best to talk to a developer about it.)

Add Lazy Loading

Implementing lazy loading can significantly boost performance. It delays the loading of non-critical resources at page load time, such as images or scripts not needed until later in the user journey.

This reduces the initial load on the main thread, allowing it to handle user interactions more efficiently.

Optimize or Remove JavaScript

JavaScript execution can heavily impact INP. To optimize JavaScript:

• Remove Unnecessary Code: Anything that is no longer on your site can not block it. So, take the time to remove unused JavaScript and CSS to improve INP and overall performance.
• Minify JavaScript Files: Reducing the size of JavaScript files by removing unnecessary formatting and comments makes them load faster, thus freeing up the main thread sooner.
• Use Efficient Code: Optimize your JavaScript code for performance. Avoid unnecessary computations and long-running tasks.
• Defer Non-Critical JavaScript: Load non-essential scripts asynchronously or defer their loading until after the main content is rendered. Prime examples for this are the aforementioned analytics scripts.

Find the Root Causes for Slowdowns

Identifying the root causes of slowdowns is really the key to effective optimization. Use tools like Google’s Lighthouse or PageSpeed Insights for a detailed analysis of your site’s performance. They can help pinpoint specific areas that need improvement, such as large DOM sizes or inefficient script execution.

Helpful WordPress Plugins to Improve INP

The above are general tips to improve your website’s INP score for a more responsive and user-friendly website experience. To improve Interaction to Next Paint (INP) in WordPress specifically, you can also try out these helpful plugins:

• WP Rocket: Known for its caching capabilities, WP Rocket also offers code optimization, file minification, and database optimization.
• Flying Scripts: This plugin makes it so you can delay when non-critical scripts are executed to a time when users aren’t trying to complete tasks.
• NitroPack: This plugin provides advanced options for WooCommerce, server-level caching, and generates critical CSS. It’s user-friendly for those less familiar with technical optimization.
• Asset CleanUp: This is another great option for minifying Javascript, delaying scripts, and performing a whole host of other optimization tasks.
• WP-Optimize: This plugin combines database cleanup, image compression, and caching functionalities. It’s particularly useful for its database optimization feature.
• Perfmatters: While Perfmatters works best alongside an all-in-one tool like WP Rocket, it handles many smaller performance tasks efficiently, making it a good complement to other plugins.
• W3 Total Cache: Offering a range of caching methods, W3 Total Cache is a more technical plugin that allows detailed control over various optimization aspects.
• Autoptimize: Handles basics like image optimization and minification. Pair it with a caching plugin for best results.

Final Thoughts: Optimizing Interaction to Next Paint in WordPress

Interaction to Next Paint (INP) is emerging as a super important aspect of Core Web Vitals, representing the responsiveness of web pages. 

It’s all about creating snappy, engaging experiences online, which is something everybody values. And by optimizing for INP using the methods discussed here, you can do your site a lot of favors in boosting the user experience, search ranking, and overall performance. It’s not just a matter of making technical adjustments. It’s also a way to ensure a pleasant, smooth experience for your audience. 

But remember, optimizing for INP is an ongoing process that requires regular monitoring and adjustments based on user interaction patterns and website updates. It’s not a one-and-done sort of thing, but the above steps should get your site to a good place. 

Do you have any additional insights or tips on improving Interaction to Next Paint in WordPress? Feel free to share your experiences below.

The post Interaction to Next Paint (INP): WordPress Optimization Guide appeared first on Torque.

In this post, we’ll look at everything the new default theme has to offer. We’ll examine what’s new, what’s carried over from Twenty Twenty-Three, as well as the theme’s pros and cons. That way, you can decide if it’s an option for a present or future website project.

Concept and Design Philosophy

Twenty Twenty-Four shipped with WordPress 6.4 and heralds a significant shift in the conceptualization of WordPress themes. It aims to be universally adaptable and suitable for any type of site and topic. For that, it delivers less of a single coherent theme and more of a large collection of design patterns and aesthetics you can combine according to your needs.

Departure From Past WordPress Default Themes

In the past, WordPress default themes often had a more niche or narrowly focused design. For example, in Twenty Nineteen, the focus was mostly on typography and the theme worked both for blogging or as a template for a static business website.

Similarly, Twenty Twenty, with its focus on readability and clarity, was perfect for writers and publishers. It provided an excellent framework for textual content and big visuals. On the other hand, it lacked the versatility needed for portfolios or multimedia sites.

Twenty Twenty-One embraced minimalism and was primarily aimed at bloggers and small businesses. Its simplicity was ideal for content-focused websites and a clean, straightforward layout. However, the default subdued color palette wasn’t really suitable for any type of website.

These themes, while effective within their specific scopes, were somewhat limited in their usability for a broader range of website types. Each had a distinct design philosophy that, while appealing, did not necessarily translate across other kinds of websites.

Twenty Twenty-Four Has a Wider Scope

Twenty Twenty-Four, on the other hand, caters to a broader range of use cases. It specifically targets three key user groups: entrepreneurs and small business owners, photographers and artists, as well as writers and bloggers. This tri-focus approach comes with templates and patterns that are versatile enough to suit various professional and personal website needs.

Comparing Twenty Twenty-Four to its direct predecessor, Twenty Twenty-Three, reveals a clear evolution in design philosophy. While Twenty Twenty-Three was a minimal version of Twenty Twenty-Two, focusing mainly on community-submitted style variations, Twenty Twenty-Four puts a spotlight on the latest WordPress design features.

Its approach is less about pushing a single overarching design. The focus is more about providing an invisible framework that empowers users to bring their creative visions to life.

Customization Options and Flexibility

Twenty Twenty-Four brings a rich palette of customization options to the table. It comes with seven distinct global style variations, offering you the freedom to choose and switch between different design aesthetics.

Default

The default style of Twenty Twenty-Four comes in a light color scheme with a not-quite-white background color, dark grey accents, and a simple elegance. It uses two font families, Cardo for headings and Inter for body text. It also offers ten colors, twelve gradients, and five duotones as part of its options.

Ember

The Ember variation presents a fresh and dynamic appearance of the new default theme. It adds a bright orange overlay to images and switches to Jost and Instrument Sans, both non-serif fonts, while using soothing background colors to offset the lively color splashes.

Fossil

Next up, we have Fossil. It turns the original typography on its head by using the serif font for body text while using the serifless typeface for headings. Color wise, it goes with earthy hues (offering five different ones) and uses rounded buttons for a more organic outlook. I could see it as a great option for a wellness-related website.

Ice

This style variation closely aligns with the default theme design and uses the same color palette. However, it showcases a system font for headings and the Inter font for body text. Together, they create a clean and sharp aesthetic that echoes the theme’s original setting with a solid range of color and gradient choices.

Maelstrom

Maelstrom revolutionizes the default style with a multitude of enhancements. Using a blue and white color palette, it has a similar approach to typography as the Fossil variation. The only difference, it uses Jost for body copy. The result is a design that looks elevated yet modern.

Mint

The Mint style introduces a refreshing twist by incorporating changes in color palette and font families. It showcases Instrument Sans for headings and Jost for the body copy. This results in a distinct and contemporary visual aesthetic that sets it apart from other variations. It also makes you hungry for mint-chip ice cream.

Onyx

Onyx, the dark version of the default style, introduces a more elegant color palette (with a whopping ten colors) as well as gradient and duotone combinations. It caters to users who seek a refined and sophisticated online presence, with its classy color scheme and visually captivating elements.

Rust

Finally, the Rust style variation adds a sandy color scheme of just three hues while otherwise maintaining the original design. It’s a great theme variation for adding more lively colorization while maintaining the understated nature of Twenty Twenty-Four.

Twenty Twenty-Four: Available Page Templates

Twenty Twenty-Four comes equipped with a comprehensive set of built-in page templates, each designed to accommodate different aspects of website design and functionality. These templates are:

1. Single Posts — A standard template for individual blog posts.
2. Page With Sidebar — Similar to the Single Posts template but includes a sidebar, offering additional space for widgets or extra information.
3. Search Results — This template is responsible for the display of searched content.
4. Pages — A basic template for standard pages.
5. Page With Sidebar — A variation of the page template that includes a sidebar.
6. Page With Wide Image — This template offers a wider image at the top with the title and content in two columns below.
7. Page No Title — A page layout without a page title, offering a cleaner look for certain types of content.
8. Index — The default template for the home page or main blog roll. It also functions as the fallback template for all pages according to the template hierarchy.
9. Home — Specifically designed for the homepage, this template can be customized to create a unique first impression. It’s also the sample homepage you’ve seen throughout this Twenty Twenty-Four theme review.
10. Archive — This template neatly organizes and displays content in all archive pages such as for categories and tags.
11. Page: 404 — A template for the 404 error page, allowing for a custom design instead of a generic error message

Patterns and Template Parts

One of the highlights of Twenty Twenty-Four is its collection of nearly 40 design patterns, which you can find under Patterns in the Site Editor. These are pre-designed blocks you can easily customize to create pages or posts without having to do so from scratch.

Patterns come in two flavors: section patterns and full-page patterns. The first variety includes things like banners, calls to action, different ways to display blog posts, and media galleries.

In addition, the theme also comes with eight full-fledged page patterns. They range from the Business home pattern that is visible on the default Twenty Twenty-Four homepage over a project overview to an about page and more.

In addition to these templates, Twenty Twenty-Four also includes template parts, however, they are few in number. There is exactly one header and two general template parts. Officially, there is also only one for the footer, however, you can find three additional footer designs among the patterns.

Nevertheless, with these templates, template parts, and patterns, Twenty Twenty-Four simplifies the editing workflow. The theme allows you to build entire websites with minimal customization if you want to, thanks to its comprehensive range of templates and the flexibility offered by its patterns and parts.

This approach not only makes it easier for beginners to create professional-looking websites but also offers experienced designers a solid foundation to build upon and customize.

Typography and Aesthetics

As we have seen earlier in the style variations, the Twenty Twenty-Four theme likes to play a lot with typography. One of the central pillars here, which is responsible for the sophisticated look of the default style, is the Cardo font. It’s an Old Style serif typeface that adds a bit of refinement to the site’s appearance.

This font choice reflects a contemporary design trend that prioritizes aesthetic sophistication while maintaining a classical touch. This makes it particularly suitable for sites aiming for an elegant and polished look.

For paragraph text, the Twenty Twenty-Four default style uses the Inter font, ensuring text is clean and easy to read. This choice enhances the overall readability of the website, making content more accessible and engaging for visitors. Inter complements the elegance of Cardo, balancing sophistication with practicality, and contributing to a modern and user-friendly interface.

In addition to those two typefaces, Twenty Twenty-Four also includes the Jost and Instrument Sans font families in some of its style variations. These fonts further allow you to choose typography that best fits your site’s personality and design objectives. Plus, you can also pick from a sans-serif and serif system font.

Overall, the default color palette of Twenty Twenty-Four is light, offering a fresh and inviting appearance right out of the box. This light palette enhances the site’s visual appeal, creating a welcoming and modern atmosphere.

The carefully curated style variations mentioned above all work beautifully with the theme’s patterns and templates. They provide you with plenty of choices for personalizing your site’s design, ensuring that Twenty Twenty-Four can adapt to a wide range of visual preferences and needs.

Challenges and Limitations

As seen in this review, the Twenty Twenty-Four theme brings a host of impressive features and capabilities to the table. Yet, it’s important to recognize that no theme is without its challenges or limitations. Here are some key aspects to consider:

• Comparative Complexity — Twenty Twenty-Four, with all of its customizable options and advanced features, might present a steeper learning curve compared to its predecessors. This could be particularly challenging for WordPress beginners or those accustomed to simpler themes.
• Balancing Flexibility and Simplicity — The theme’s flexibility, while a strength, can also create issues for some. With more options to choose from, some people might find it more time-consuming to set up their site exactly as they want it — or just not as obvious how to proceed. It’s a case of having too many options.
• Feature-Rich vs. Speed — While the theme offers a range of features and customization options, these could potentially impact the site’s loading speed and overall performance. This is especially true for those who may not be well-versed in optimizing site speed alongside feature-rich designs.
• One-Size-Fits-All Approach — While the theme aims to be multipurpose and adaptable to various niches, it may not meet the specific needs or preferences of all users. Certain niche websites might require more specialized themes to effectively convey their unique brand or message.

Performance and Optimization

When assessing a WordPress theme, performance is a critical factor. A theme that looks great but loads slowly or hampers site efficiency can negatively impact user experience and SEO rankings.

With the forming of the Core Performance team, the WordPress project has recently re-emphasized the importance of making loading speed a front-and-center feature. This was also a consideration during the making of Twenty Twenty-Four. Contributors noted and addressed performance issues.

Apparently successfully so. A quick performance test on a temporary website did not reveal any glaring speed issues. GTmetrix gave it a B in performance with an ok Largest Contentful Paint of 1.8 seconds. For a pretty long, completely unoptimized homepage with numerous images, that is acceptable.

Sure, this isn’t really a representative sample since page loading speed depends on a variety of factors but it does point to a solid base for a well-performing website. It’s also important to note that even more performance enhancements and fixes are promised for the WordPress 6.5 release.

Put the Twenty Twenty-Four Theme to the Test

As we wrap up our review of Twenty Twenty-Four, it’s clear that this latest WordPress default theme is a bold step forward. It offers a blend of sophistication and versatility and legitimately stands out for its wide range of customization options.

The thoughtful use of fonts like Cardo and a flexible color palette add to the aesthetic appeal. The multitude of templates and template parts included cater to diverse website needs.

Overall, the theme is a great demonstration for the capabilities that WordPress offers for theme and website design. It invites users of all skill levels to take advantage of them.

Are you planning do your own review of Twenty Twenty-Four? Share your thoughts and plans on embracing this new default theme in the comments below!

The post Twenty Twenty-Four Theme Review: All the Features, All the Facts appeared first on Torque.

For website owners, theme and web designers, developers, and other Internet professionals, it’s crucial to stay on top of what modern web design looks like. This way, you can adjust your website projects and marketing measures accordingly.

Doing so helps show your clients and visitors that you know what is trendy and stay in the loop with the latest developments. It also simply allows you to take advantage of the latest technology and create websites that perform and look good and achieve their goals.

Ready to see what web design trends 2024 has to offer? Then let’s get started.

1. AI Everywhere!

Ok, first let’s talk about the giant robot elephant in the room. Ever since the unveiling of ChatGPT, there is no escaping artificial intelligence. It’s increasingly moving into all areas of life, including web design and web content. As one of the design trends of 2024, expect to see more things in your browser that have been created using it.

Written AI Content

This currently appears to be the main application for artificial intelligence in creating websites. I have written about this before when I tried to outsource my job to ChatGPT.

With the power of AI at almost everyone’s fingertips, we’re seeing a lot more content where AI played a role at least partially, if not outright. Blog posts, landing pages, website content, social media updates, it’s all fair game.

You can even use it in WordPress already. I recently talked about the freshly released Jetpack AI, which brings the power of ChatGPT directly to the WordPress editor.

A trend that will likely continue in the new year. To the point that Google has published new guidelines for content. They stress first-hand experience as one of the new main markers of quality besides E-A-T. We’ve also seen a bunch of core updates in recent months possibly related to that.

AI Images

Our new AI overlords don’t just stop with text; they’re also adept at producing visuals. We saw the release of Midjourney 5 in the first half of 2023 and Dall-E 3 is available on ChatGPT Plus. Services like Canva also come with its own image AI. As a consequence, you can use more and more tools for creating images without a graphic designer.

There are also WordPress companies, like Elementor, who have started offering AI image creation inside their products.

Thus, instead of stock photos, one of the web design trends we can expect to see more of in 2024 is unique images that have been created with prompts, not Photoshop.

AI Chatbots

Yes, we have talked about chatbots as a web design trend in past years. But with AI improving in leaps and bounds, customer support is another area in which it finds its way into websites.

This includes WordPress. At WordCamp Europe 2023, there was an entire panel on this topic.

The panelists spoke about the different ways that WordPress companies are already using AI and customer support was an important topic for that. There are also plugins like Chatbot ChatGPT for WordPress and AI Engine that allow you to bring the power of ChatGPT for chatbots and other functionality to your site.

So, next time you find yourself clicking on one of those ubiquitous “chat with us” buttons, be prepared that there might not be a human on the other end.

AI Code

AI can not only write prose text, it’s also capable of writing functions and code. While at the seminar dedicated to this topic at WCEU 2023, the results were mixed for more complex undertakings, for simpler CSS or JavaScript functions, you can absolutely rely on language models like GitHub Copilot or ChatGPT to help you out.

Of course, the challenge remains to have sufficient development skills so you can actually ask for what you need and troubleshoot problems. However, it’s probably going to be more and more common to have websites that run on code created by AI, at least in part.

AI Web Design

Finally, another way that artificial intelligence will find its way into web design in 2024 is by doing the actual web design. We already have offers out there where you can get a website built automatically with a few prompts.

Website builders like Wix are experimenting with it, you can use Unbounce for landing pages, and for WordPress, there is CodeWP AI or AppyPie.

2. Animation, Motion Effects, and Videos

Video content is one of the most popular forms of content out there. Just look at YouTube and TikTok, which are among the most visited websites in the world. In addition, many social sites have jumped on the bandwagon with their own video offerings, like Instagram Reels.

Due to its popularity, it’s no wonder that moving images are also a trend in web design.

Something that’s driving this development is the increase in CSS functionality that can accommodate animations, transitions, and complex hover and scroll effects. You don’t even have to know JavaScript. 

Loading animations or microinteractions are additional options that allow you to create more immersive and seamless website experiences beyond the usual page reloads. As technology advances and browsers become even more capable, we can also see more web designers and developers take advantage of this trend.

However, you can also introduce movement to websites in other forms such as animated illustrations, videos, or looping GIFs. The latter are especially reminiscent of what users of short-video platforms consume every day.

3. Large Hero Typography

Besides animations, another way to make main typography stand out is to oversize it. This is something that is visible on more and more websites. It’s a great eye catcher and, depending on the font you use, can transport a lot of personality right away. You can use it for your brand name, heading, unique selling point, etc.

Large font is also a great alternative to images. It takes less to load and has a similar effect.

Plus, it’s very easy to implement in a block theme and the WordPress Site Editor. Use the Create Block Theme plugin to add the font face of your choice to your website.

After that, use the built-in options to make it stand out extra large. For example, you can use the Cover block to create a hero image and then adjust the look of the text to your liking with the native typography settings.

4. Gradients

Gradients are having a bit of a resurgence, not only since Instagram revamped their logo. They are a great way to add a splash of color to website design. You can use them for images, backgrounds, buttons, and many other elements to make them stand out and introduce colors in a very soft way.

What’s cool is also that WordPress has a lot of functionality for that already built in. The block editor allows you to add gradients in many places, especially as backgrounds.

So, if you want to jump onto this web design trend in 2024, you can do so with very little hassle.

5. Kinetic Typography

Kinetic typography is a way to make text on your website more exciting by combining it with animation. One of the most common applications for it is to use it in the hero image for your brand name or slogan.

Kinetic typography is very effective in directing attention and making sure visitors read what you want them to. Plus, it’s very easy to implement in WordPress. You can easily add it in the form of GIFs or videos in the editor.

The problem is creating the animations. It helps if you are familiar with tools like After Effects. If that’s not your thing, you can give websites like Typomotion, OFFEO, and Canva a try.

6. Bento Grids

You might not be familiar with the term, but most likely you have seen them. Championed by Apple in both their website and mobile operating system, it’s a type of grid with borders reminiscent of Japanese lunch “bento” boxes.

In the end, they are simply rounded corners, however, they are an exciting design trend that a lot of people are jumping on. You can find more examples at Bento Grids.

Visible grids and borders in general are a trend you can see more of in web design in 2024. They provide clarity and structure, making websites easier to navigate. Plus, they help with responsive design as they help visualize how elements will rearrange.

If you are interested in doing something similar, look into flexbox and CSS grid.

7. Accessibility

This trend is nothing new, we have talked about how to implement accessibility in WordPress years ago. However, there is a renewed focus on this topic with new standards coming out and increasingly being written into law.

So, accessibility is likely also going to be a trend in web design in 2024 and beyond, which is a good thing. Building websites that are accessible to all users should be the default.

8. Retro 90s/Y2K Design

If you were born early enough to be conscious in the 90s or early 2000s, you might be surprised to see that some of the fashion trends of your youth are currently making a comeback.

However, it’s not just in street fashion where these trends are resurfacing. Online, a lot of elements that those of us who experienced the early days of the Internet tried to forget are making a comeback. Thankfully, we’re not talking about blinking marquees a la MySpace. Instead, get ready for retro illustrations, noisy background images, neon colors, and big typography. 

Other hallmarks of this aesthetic include:

• 3D shapes
• Flashy color schemes like pink, purple, and orange
• Glitter and metallic

In short, get ready for more retro vibes going forward into 2024.

9. Data Visualization

If the COVID pandemic taught us anything, then it is understanding large amounts of data visualized online. With very little else to do, refreshing case numbers in your own or other countries became a national sport. 

However, something good that came of it was the increased ability of web designers to display large amounts of complex data on web pages, even in interactive form! This is a web design trend you can expect to see more of in 2024. 

10. Interactive 3D Content

Finally, thanks to advances in technology and the skills of web designers, seeing three-dimensional content online that you can interact with is becoming more prevalent. For example, you can look at the latest iPhone from any perspective you want by playing with it in your browser.

Or have you been thinking about building a kitchen with IKEA lately? You can also do that in a Sims-like environment without going anywhere near a Swedish furniture shop.

Finally, there is the insane example by Bruno Simon who built his CV/portfolio as a 3D online game you can play and also get to know his skill set. You know, in case the website itself doesn’t convince you.

With browsers and computers getting more powerful, expect to see more such website examples in the coming year.

What Are Your Favorite 2024 Web Design Trends?

As a web designer, developer, or simply a trend-conscious website owner, it’s important to stay on top of what is going on in the web design sphere. By understanding the visual and technological trends that will dominate web design in 2024, you can make sure you stay on the forefront of what is happening.

While, as in every other part of life, artificial intelligence dominates much of the discussion, there are also other exciting developments to keep an eye on. From gradients and animations to typography trends, visible borders, accessibility, interactive 3D content, and data visualization, there is much to look forward to. Don’t you agree?

What web design trends are you looking forward to in 2024? Anything we missed? Let us know in the comments!

The post Web Design Trends 2024: A Sneak Peek Into What’s Hot Next Year appeared first on Torque.

In order to help you get the most out of the WordPress Site Editor, in this post we will go over some features you might have overlooked. Some of them are bigger, some smaller. However, all of them can help you build better designs and customize your site more effectively — if you know about them.

1. Change Style Variations

Le’s start off with style variations. While these are a fairly central feature of the WordPress Site Editor, if you are not aware of them, you are missing out big time. Therefore, let’s cover them quickly.

So, what are they? If you open up the Global Styles menu (the black and white circle icon in the upper right corner), you find an option at the top that says Browse styles.

Here, theme developers are able to include one or more style variations for their themes. For example, in the Twenty Twenty-Three theme, you will find a whole list of available variations right there.

Click on one and the site preview on the left will immediately take over its style presets.

We are talking font, font style, background colors — the works. Save it and your site will adopt the same design. Basically, you can change the entire look of your theme with a single click. This gives you great variety for your site, inspriation, and several starting points to add your own flavor.

2. Edit Styles for Individual Blocks

In the Global Styles menu, you also find another option that is sometimes a little neglected. Under Blocks at the bottom, you can make changes to individual types of blocks that will apply sitewide.

That can be anything from changing fonts and font styles, to assigning colors to backgrounds, links, and buttons, and making layout changes.

For example, want to make sure all Post Title blocks on your site use the same font style and color? Nothing easier than that.

First, search for it by name or in the list.

After that, make any changes to the typography and color settings you need. Once done, they will apply wherever this block occurs on your site (unless overwritten on an individual basis).

Beats having to do updates manually across different templates.

3. Work With Page Templates from the Post/Page Editor

This technically doesn’t happen inside the Site Editor but its cousin, the Template Editor. However, the two are so closely related that we will let it slide for the moment.

You might not be aware of it but when editing posts and pages, it’s possible to edit their individual templates or even build custom templates without the need to go back to the main Site Editor.

You find that option when you click on the name of the current page template on the right. It is located under Template in the options menu on the right.

Pick a template from the drop-down menu and click on Edit template at the bottom to make changes to it. Alternatively, there is also the icon in the upper right corner for adding a new custom template. Either of those will take you to the Template Editor below.

It’s a pared down version of the Site Editor, however, equally powerful. You can perform tasks like switching the position of your featured image and title, moving around elements, or even inputting a new header or footer. Upon save, the changes will apply to any page on your site that uses this template.

4. Customize Block Templates

One of the features of the Site Editor, and the WordPress block editor in general, is that they come with a bunch of blocks that, upon further inspection, actually consist of several other blocks. Examples include the Comments or Post Content blocks.

If you look at them in list view, you can see that they actually have many parts.

This gives you the flexibility to determine the order and layout of the elements that. For example, if you want to invert the order of Post Featured Image and Post Title, you can do so in the usual ways (e.g. via drag-and-drop or using the arrow icon).

The powerful thing about this is that, any changes you make here, apply to all site elements built with this block. For example, making changes to one of the articles in your Query Loop block will automatically do the same to the rest of them.

5. Install Blocks on the Fly

Ever found yourself in the Site Editor thinking something like “man, I wish I had an XYZ block”? Maybe you would like a table of contents block, an image slider, or a popular-posts widget.

There are plenty of Gutenberg block plugins to add this kind of functionality to your site. However, WordPress also features a a way to install singular blocks right inside the Site Editor.

For example, say you are looking to add the aforementioned table of contents. For that, go to the block inserter (the blue button with a plus in the upper left corner) and type that keyword into the search field at the top. While you might not find anything available on your site, you will quickly see a section called Available to install at the bottom with relevant block results.

If one of them sounds promising, simply click it to install the block on your site. It also immediately inserts the block into the current page where you can test drive and configure it.

Neat, right? Plus, if it turns out that one or more of the newly installed blocks don’t really do it for you, you can always deactivate and delete them from the plugins menu.

6. Import Blog Patterns via Copy and Paste

A second feature that creates a lot of flexibility is the possibility to easily import block patterns into the editor. We have already written about this in detail in our pattern directory tutorial, so here is the short version.

Go to the WordPress pattern directory and look for a block arrangement that you like. The filters and search field are useful for that.

Once you have found something, click on it to get to the pattern page. Here, simply click the Copy Pattern button at the top.

Then, go back to what you are working on in the Site Editor. Place the cursor where you want the pattern to appear and paste.

That’s it. The pattern is now in your content, complete with any images belonging to it. If you think you will want to use it again later, don’t forget to make a reusable block out of it.

7. Switch Your Post Display Between Grid and List View

This is one of those WordPress Site Editor features that’ really small but is still worth mentioning because a) it makes a big difference in the display of your posts on the page and b) it is easy to overlook.

What am I talking about?

When using the Query Loop block to display a list of content anywhere on your site, you can switch it back and forth between a list and grid design in the top toolbar.

It will either arrange posts as a vertical list or in a pattern next to each other.

A small option that can make a big difference.

8. Show Last Modified Date in the Post Date Block

Another very small option that, however, can have a big impact. It regards the Post Date block, which is most often a default of the Query Loop. What’s easy not to notice is that it also has an option to show the last modified date. You can find it in the settings on the right when the Post Date block is active.

After you switch on the slider for Display last modified date, whenever you update your older content, WordPress will automatically show the new date on the page instead.

This is a great way to signal to search engines that you keep your content fresh. It’s also one less thing to think about when you do.

9. Move the Block Toolbar to the Top

If you have used the Site Editor or even just the Gutenberg post editor before, you are probably familiar with the fact that a toolbar with extra settings appears whenever a block is active.

The problem is that it can sometimes be hard to reach, depending on your scrolling, or get in the way. What typically happens to me is that I double click a word in a paragraph just at top of the screen to mark it. Then the toolbar appears on the first click so the second immediately activates something in it.

Again, not a big thing but it can get annoying. If you find that it interrupts your workflow too much, in the Options menu (the three dots in the upper right corner) there is a menu item called Top toolbar. Click it, and from now on the toolbar of any block you choose will always appear on top of the editor. That way, you always know where to find it.

10. Export Modifications as Custom Themes

The final somewhat hidden because unassuming Site Editor feature is the Export function. You find it in the Options menu.

When you click it, you get a download prompt for your theme files. These include all the modifications you have made to both design and templates. You can use those to install the same theme on any other WordPress website and get the same styling.

While this might just seem like a normal feature, it’s actually a huge deal. It basically means that, with the Site Editor, you now have the possibility to build custom themes visually, without any coding, and make them available for other people. That’s something that, in the past, was purely in the realm of developers. Now, basically anyone can do it.

If want to get more granular about this, check out the Create Block Theme plugin. It allows you to export block themes, child themes, and style variations easily.

What Hidden Site Editor Features Did You Find?

The Site Editor is a powerful piece of software that offers a wide and growing variety of options to make changes to the design and layout of your WordPress site. Because of the amount it has to offer, you can be forgiven if you don’t know every single one of its features.

Above, we have gone over a few that you might not have been aware of before. From instantaneously changing your theme design with style variations, global styles for single blocks, the ability to install blocks on the fly, or simply small things like switching the post display from list to grid view and vice versa — there is a lot to discover.

Hopefully, learning these will motivate you to go spelunking around the available settings by yourself and improve your skills further.

What’s your favorite Site Editor feature that you have discovered? Please let us know in the comments below!

The post 10 WordPress Site Editor (FSE) Features You Didn’t Know About appeared first on Torque.

In order to dispell any doubts you may be wrestling with, in this post, we will discuss how to use images in blog posts in depth. We will talk about why you should do so in the first place and then give you detailed tips on how to best use blog images.

In the end, we want you to feel like you know how to use visuals in your blog content in a way that enhances it and makes it more effective.

Can you already picture it? No? I’m drawing a blank as well. Sounds sketchy? I’m just trying illustrate a point. (My deepest apologies. Please leave your favorite image-related pun in the comments).

Why Should You Use Images in Your Blog Content?

You are most likely aware that using images in blog content is a good idea. However, let’s go over quick refresher why, so that you are more motivated to implement the advice below.

Humans Are Visually Oriented

The first thing to remember is that humans are visual creatures. We are much better at remembering visual information than mere facts. It’s the reason why many memory techniques are based on turning information into images so that you can remember it better.

As a consequence, we are much more drawn towards visuals than just text. It’s the reason why video content has exploded in recent years. 82% of Internet traffic are predicted to come from video in 2022.

Need further proof? In 2021, the short-video platform TikTok managed to become the most frequented domain in the world, removing Google from the thrown in the process.

In addition, you know what’s the second largest search engine in the world? It’s YouTube (though with some caveats).

Visuals Make Content Easier to Consume

So, people are visually oriented. So far so good. However, in addition to simply being a thing that we as humans are into, visuals in your blog content also offer other benefits:

• Make scanning easier — According to a study by Nielsen, only around 20% of visitors will end up reading your entire blog post, the rest skim. Consequently, since images transport a lot more information, you do the majority of your audience a great service by including them.
• Break down long stretches of text — Images make your blog posts more exciting than simply a wall of text. Together with proper formatting, that makes your content more pleasant to consume and easier to comprehend.
• Add personality — Good use of images can further accentuate the personality of the writer and the tone of the article.
• Affect SEO — Images also play a role in SEO. Using them is a great way to add more information for search engines to your content.

Convinced yet? Then, let’s talk about ways to put this knowledge into practice.

How to Properly Use Images in Blog Posts

Here are our best practices for how to use blog images on your site.

1. Use a Lot of Them

The first step for increasing the effectiveness of your blog images is to use a sufficient number of them. As mentioned, the job of visuals is to keep readers on the page. Think of them as breadcrumbs that guide your visitors along.

So, how many is the right number?

Well, a BuzzSumo study showed that articles with an image every 75-100 words are shared almost twice as often as those with fewer images.

However, if you don’t want to go ahead and start counting words, a good rule of thumb is to use enough images so that, no matter where a visitor is on your page, they always have a visual element in their field of vision. Besides images, that can also be embedded videos, embedded social media posts, etc.

2. Choose Images That Are Relevant and Add Value

While it’s important to use a lot of images, it’s just as important to not simply include them just for the sake of it (e.g. because we say so). Any image appearing in your web content should both be relevant and add to what the text is saying.

For example, if I were to add an image of a piece of broccoli in this post, it would confuse you rather than add to your experience.

Sure, here it also functions as a negative example but, aside from that, it doesn’t really contribute anything to the post. On the other hand, the quote image below is both on topic and further expands on a point I am already making.

Makes a lot more sense than the broccoli, doesn’t it?

For that reason, whenever you think about adding a visual to your content, always ask yourself the following questions:

1. Is it relevant to the topic of the piece overall?
2. Is it relevant to the part of the article it is located in?
3. Does it add value for the reader?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, it’s usually better to omit the particular image. In addition, you may consider whether an image fits your existing color scheme and visual language. All of the above is especially important for the featured image.

3. Make Use of Charts and Graphs

Charts and graphs are a great way to pack a lot of information into very little space. Here is one that explains how HSV color space works from our article on declaring colors in CSS:

They not only make articles more compelling to look at but also reinforce your points and act as proof for your claims. In addition charts and graphs help visualize data in an easy-to-grasp way that mere text often can’t. Consequently, if you can find any that fit with the content of your article, be sure to use them!

They are also relatively easy to create, e.g with Imgflip, Canva, or Visme. Even Excel or Google Sheets are able to produce graphs that you can easily screenshot.

Plus, there are other options for data visualization, like diagrams or infographics. The latter also work especially well on social media. If you can produce a valuable and good-looking infographic, it can bring in tons of views and traffic.

Finally, charts, graphs, and other data visualizations are highly reusable. You can use them in several articles to make the same or a similar point. They are also a great way to gain backlinks, since they are so popular.

4. Include Images of People

Humans are social animals. We are hardwired to look at people and – in particular – faces. Eye-tracking studies show that our gaze is magically drawn to them.

That’s one of the reasons why about pages are often one of the most visited pages of websites. We want to connect with real people, not faceless (pun intended) websites. Therefore, including images of people on your site or blog when it makes sense should definitely be part of your best practices.

You can also go one step further and use them to direct your visitors’ attention. Another thing that studies have shown is that we direct our attention where other people look.

You can use this to get your visitors to focus where you want them to. More about that in our science-based web design tips.

5. Take Advantage of Screenshots

Screenshots are super useful when you write tutorials or any kind of instructions that help readers do things on their computers.

They make instructions much clearer than if you describe the same thing only in words and they are also perfect for scanning. Plus, screenshots are very easy to produce.

If you are a Firefox user, your browser has the functionality built in. Simply right-click on a page and choose Take Screenshot. You can also place a button for the same thing in the toolbar at the top.

In Chrome, there are browser plugins like Awesome Screenshot for screengrabs. In addition, computers come with the ability take them as well. On Mac, you can capture the entire screen by pressing Cmd+Shift+3 and grab a selection with Cmd+Shift+4. On a Windows PC, use the Windows button plus Print instead.

Finally, to annotate your screenshots, a good tool is Skitch (you can also find Windows version), which provided the annotations in this article. Snagit is a another, paid option.

6. Create Your Own Images

Besides taking screenshots, it’s generally a good idea to try and create your own images. This is especially since we have become quite adapt at filtering out stock photography.

Therefore, among the best practices to stand out from the masses is to make your own blog images. Here are a few options for that:

• Take your own photos — Especially if you run something like a food or travel blog, this is par for the course. Readers expect you to provide self-made image material.
• Use professional photos — I once worked with a client who had a stock photo on their About page. I only realized it when I found the same image on a stock photo site. Until that point, I thought those were actual employees and the office interior. Imagine my disappointment. Don’t do that. Hire someone to take actual photos of the people in your company.
• Turn quotes into images — If you need avisual to spruce up your content and you don’t have anything handy, why not turn the text itself into one? You can always take a meaningful quote from your article make a picture out of it. There are several tools that make this really easy, such as Pablo or the aforementioned Canva. You can also do this for social media using your headline.
• Try your hand at illustrations — If you are marginally talented with pencil and paper, you can also consider creating your own illustrations. Draw, scan, polish digitally, and you are ready to go. A website that does this really well is Enchanting Marketing.

Of course, there are other ways to create your own unique images, not least if you are a designer and know your way around Photoshop or Illustrator. For the rest, there are still the tools mentioned throughout this post.

7. Include Videos With Attractive Thumbnails

Using visuals in your articles is not limited to just images. As already demonstrated, videos and their thumbnails also fulfill the same role.

However, make sure that the video is a) relevant and b) has a good-looking thumbnail. If it’s from your own YouTube channel, even better!

8. Go for Gifs and Memes

If you spend any time around popular entertainment sites such as Reddit, you will quickly figure out that gifs and memes have pretty much become the currency of the Internet. There’s something about them that people simply seem to love and Internet users appear to be in constant competition to create the best ones.

The good news about this is that you can use this for your content. A well placed gif or meme (better yet, a meme gif) can really deliver a punch in a way that few other content types can.

The challenge here is that it requires literacy in the medium. Especially memes have turned into their own kind of language and you really need to know their meaning to avoid coming off as cringy.

However, with both memes and gifs it’s also important not to overdo it. They are both pretty high impact, so if you overload your blog posts with them, it can detract completely from the actual content.

9. Observe Usage Rights Licenses

When using blog images, one of the most important best practices is not to forget that images are intellectual property. That means, they are protected by copyright unless the author has granted a license that permits their usage. For that reason, it’s important to know how to find images that are free to use without getting sued.

One option is to go for sites that are specifically built to offer free-to-use images like Unsplash, Pixabay, Pexels, or Flickr Commons (though in the latter, be sure to check what license is actually granted by the author).

Even Google has the possibility to set their image search to only show pictures that have a Creative Commons license. You find it in the image search under Tools > Usage Rights.

Seriously, don’t use images that you don’t have the license for! There are companies that specifically scan the web for these and it’s not worth the legal trouble.

10. Use High-Quality Images and Optimize Them

What did you think when you first looked at the image above? You probably thought that surely someone made a mistake, right? That nobody in their right mind would use such a blurry image in their finished blog post.

Well, now you know what your readers think when you use low-quality images in your content. So, the first lesson here is: don’t. It makes you look amatuerish and introduces doubt about the quality of your content as a whole.

At the same time, don’t use full-width, super high-resolution images in your posts either. Doing so increases page weight, bandwidth usage, and reduces site speed (if that is an issue on your site, you can find out via speed testing).

The challenge is to find a sweet spot between image size, quality, and performance. Important tools here are using the right file type, size, and taking advantage of image compression. Plus, don’t forget to use a file name that makes sense and add an ALT tag for both visually impaired readers and search engines. You can find detailed tips for that in our dedicated article on image optimization.

Final Thoughts: Blog Images Best Practices

When using images on your blog, it’s important to know how to do it right. That way, you can make sure that they have the most impact and don’t detract from your content or – worse – land you in legal trouble. Above, we have gone over a number of best practices for blog images designed to help you do so.

In the end, images are just as important as your text. They can make or break an article, so don’t skimp on them. Otherwise, you might find yourself out of the picture soon. Figures, doesn’t it?

What other best practices for blog images do you think are most important? Please share your thoughts (and worst puns) in the comments below!

The post Blog Images Best Practices: 10 Ways to Use Images in Blog Posts appeared first on Torque.

To make sure you stay up to date on what’s going on in the blogging game, in this post, we will examine five of the trends you can expect to encounter this year. Knowing this allows you to stay current on the latest practices as well as gain inspiration what you could do better or differently on your own blog. Either way, here are the latest blogging trends 2023.

1. Custom Visuals are a Huge Trend in Blogs this Year

Visuals have always been a key part of blog content. They provide your readers with necessary breaks from long walls of text, present information in a different medium, and make your content more pleasant to consume. Need proof? Orbit Media found that bloggers who use ten-plus images in their posts report higher rates of success.

So, do we agree that using visuals is good? Good. However, why the need to go for custom graphics and not more generic images?

First of all, because we as humans have gotten pretty good at filtering out certain imagery on the Internet. For example, eye tracking studies show that stock photos are all but ignored these days.

One of the biggest advantage of tailored graphics is in branding. With custom-made visuals, you can use color palettes and fonts that resonate with your blog’s design and philosophy. Doing so makes sure your posts and pages look coherent and not pieced together. You can also create visuals that refer directly to the content they are part of, like charts, graphs, or infographics.

But what if you’re not a designer? Can you still take advantage of this blogging trend?

Thankfully, you do not need to be a Photoshop master (or hire one) to get the ball rolling. Tools such as Canva, Visme, and Prezi are perfect for beginners who don’t know much about design. These tools come with pre-built templates, color palettes, and fonts that make putting together custom graphics easier. They also have the option to create/import your own color palettes and fonts.

2. Another Blogging Trend in 2023 is Increased Interactivity

From twelve seconds in 2000 to only eight seconds in 2015, human attention span has drastically dropped over the years. In a world where your audience’s attention span is shorter than that of a goldfish (nine seconds), how do you keep them interested? The answer: interactive content.

With built-in interactivity, your readers get a chance to engage with your content in new and innovative ways. If you are looking to add some, here are a few good options.

Videos

Embedding videos in your content has always been one of the easiest ways to boost audience interaction. The rise of visual content in the last few years (TikTok anyone?) has only intensified consumers’ thirst for moving images. As a consequence, up to 86% of businesses already use videos for marketing in some form in 2022 and it’s a good idea for your blog to be among them.

While just including videos in your content already makes your blog posts more interactive, you can even go a step further and add interactivity to the videos themselves. This can be in the form of hotspots and time triggers, such as popups and CTAs, that prompt viewers to move their pointer to certain areas of the video in order reach a particular time stamp. Vimeo is a video platform that can do this out of the box.

However, it is also possible make YouTube videos more interactive, for example in the style of a choose-your-own-adventure approach.

GIFs

If you want to add a sprinkle of fun and interactivity to your blog, GIFs are another way to go. These animated images can add a spark of color and humor to your content and make it less boring.

If you want to dip your toe into this, websites such as Giphy are a great place to find GIFs. Once you’ve chosen one, inserting it into your content is fairly simple – either use autoembeds (like in the image above) or add it via an image block.

Quizzes are a Big Blogging Trend in 2023

Have you seen those Buzzfeed quizzes about all sorts of weird topics?

Say what you will about Buzzfeed but their formula seems to be working. And you can use it for yourself as well. Adding short exams to your content is yet another way to make it more interactive. It does not just engage your readers — it also lets them test out their knowledge!

If you want to do the same on your blog, WordPress plugins such as Quiz And Survey Master or Quiz Maker can come in handy. With these plugins, you can create quizzes for different topics, categories, and pages.

3. Originality

It’s easy for websites in a niche to become echo chambers that repackage the same information over and over again. In such a landscape, being original can immediately make you stand out. Originality does not just add freshness to your blog, it also establishes your thought leadership and displays your commitment to your readers.

There are different ways to make your content original. You can talk about a unique topic, provide an uncommon perspective, or do your own research. In fact, the third option is the easiest way to level up your blog — with authentic research, chances of success rise by up to 41%.

However, we get it — not everyone has the bandwidth to conduct original research. If you want a quick way to boost your content’s originality, another way is interviewing Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). This allows you to enrich your content with the latest information in the industry and add a unique flavor to it.

There are several tools available to reach out to SMEs. Examples include Help A Reporter Out (HARO), Help a B2B Writer, Terkel, and Qwoted. You can also reach out to people in your industry and conduct your own surveys using Google Forms and Typeform. Lastly, another easy way to talk to an expert is to tweet about your queries with the hashtag #JournoRequest on Twitter.

4. Focus on Content Experience

One of the bigger blogging trends in 2023 is the shift from consuming content to experiencing it.  Running a successful blog no longer means simply delivering accurate information to your readers. You also have to consider other factors to make the content more appealing.

But how can you enhance the overall content experience? By focusing on core web vitals and improving your overall content ecosystem.

Core Web Vitals

Imagine clicking on a blog post to read it and encountering countless issues with the page. It’s taking forever to load, every click and scroll takes minutes to process, and the page is constantly shifting and jumping.

With reader attention span at an all-time low, this nightmare can quickly make your audience lose interest. To counter this, Google introduced core web vitals in 2020. These are measurements of key aspects of page speed and user experience that also influence search ranking.

If you want to learn more about this topic, check our article on how to improve core web vitals.

Your Content Ecosystem

Your content is not detached from the ecosystem that it is part of. Even if your writing is brilliant, if you present it in an environment that sends readers running for the hills screaming, it won’t perform well.

Besides lack of core web vitals above, what are examples of a bad content ecosystem?

• Masses of popups or other interruptions and distractions (multi-step cookie notices anyone?)
• Autoplaying videos or audio (seriously, who still does this in 2023!?)
• Low contrast or other web design problems
• Bad website or information architecture that leaves visitors clueless about what to do

In short, the goal is to make sure that each piece of content is part of a larger puzzle that makes sense. To create such an ecosystem, it helps to be clear on your audience’s journey. That means possible entry points and how to push readers further. Aside from that, look into building content clusters.

5. Cross-Channel Promotion

Simply churning out blog posts was once enough to be successful on the web — but that’s no longer the case. These days, you also need to invest your efforts in other marketing channels like SEO, email marketing, and social media.

Therefore, one of the blogging trends that will be dominant in 2023 is cross-channel promotion. This marketing strategy integrates all your marketing channels and unifies their plans, data, and goals across the board.

This is different from multi-channel marketing, which also uses several channels to attract customers. However, here, each channel works independently. In contrast to that, cross-channel promotion uses all channels to push out the same message at the same time.

How can you do that?

The first thing you need is a Customer Data Platform. CDPs can help unify, consolidate, and organize consumer data from all your channels in one place. Some good candidates to check out are Bloomreach, Insider, and Segment.

After that, you can carry out micro-segmentation and group your audience according to different demographic details, characteristics, and buying behaviors. This can help you hyper-personalize your content and marketing channels to meet prospects where they are in their journey.

For example, you can open emails with a reader’s name, adjust the mailing frequency to their preferences, craft content that targets their needs, and otherwise cater to what your audience is looking for. In an environment as saturated as the online space, this kind of personalization is a good way to stand out.

Hop on These 2023 Blogging Trends Right Away!

Even an established medium like blogging still sees trends come and go. Being aware of the developments above allows you to decide which ones you want to partake in and which you want to ignore.

As you can see, many of the trends above heavily focus on user experience. Therefore, if you want to follow any trend this year, let it be figuring out how to better serve your audience with the content you provide. This goes both for what you write about and how you present it.

If that is your main takeaway, you can make sure you end up with a better blog at the end of 2023 than you started with.

With 2023 upon us, what blogging trends do you consider most important? How are you planning to improve your own blog this year? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Top 5 Blogging Trends of 2023 You Definitely Shouldn’t Ignore appeared first on Torque.

WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg introduced Twenty Twenty Three in his State of the Word address. This theme aims to be fast, lightweight, and accessible, with a focus on simplicity and easy customization. In other words, it’s the perfect blank canvas for your next WordPress project. But what sets it apart from previous years? An intense focus on community involvement.

For that and other reasons, let’s take a closer look at some of the key features of this theme in our Twenty Twenty-Three review.

A Focus on Community

From the very beginning, the strong community has always been a huge asset for the WordPress project. That’s one of the things that makes it so special. And with Twenty Twenty-Three, they’re doubling down on that commitment.

This theme is the result of months of feedback and collaboration from the WordPress community. In fact, they even held a series of workshops to gather input on what people wanted to see in the new default theme.

The end result is something that feels like it was made by the community, for the community. It’s a beautiful example of what can be accomplished when we all work together.

Simplicity Dominates the Design

When it comes to the design of Twenty Twenty-Three, simplicity is the name of the game.

The team behind it focused on two things: speed and accessibility. As a result, they’ve created a clean and minimalist design that does away with anything superfluous. And since it’s essentially a simplified version of the Twenty Twenty-Two theme, it’s already familiar and easy to use.

This focus on simplicity extends to both the front-end and back-end design. The goal was to make it as easy as possible for anyone to get started with WordPress, whether they’re building their first site or hundredth.

In that regard, we think they’ve succeeded. Twenty Twenty-Three is beautiful and uncluttered, easy to use, and easy on the eyes. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s take a closer look at simplicity in action.

Barebones Layouts Aimed at Flexibility

One of the things you’ll notice right away when you review Twenty Twenty-Three is that there aren’t a lot of pre-built layouts to choose from. In fact, there’s pretty much only one. Open any of the templates, you see a blank canvas and a handful of blocks to work with. From there, it’s up to you to build the layout that you want.

The focus on simplicity means that each layout is easy to understand and customize. And since they’re all based on a grid system, they’re also simple to change on the fly.

If you want to add a new column or move an element around, all you have to do is drag and drop it into place. No need to worry about messy code or breaking things — everything is flexible and straightforward to change.

This might sound like a recipe for disaster, especially if you’re used to more complex designs, but it’s actually quite liberating. It gives you the freedom to create any kind of layout you can imagine, without being constrained by pre-existing choices.

Layout Options

While there is only one default layout, Twenty Twenty-Three does include the usual options to adjust it. Access these by clicking on Layouts in the Styles menu on the right-hand side of the screen.

From there, you can select different widths for the main content area and create different spacing, padding, and block spacing choices.

Color Settings

In addition to the layout options, Twenty Twenty-Three also includes functionality to adjust the theme’s colors. You also find them in the Styles menu under Colors.

Here, you can select different hues for the background, text, links, headings, and buttons to change up the look and feel of your site. The theme’s default color styles include shades of white, green, and black. But you can definitely customize this to your liking with the usual settings.

Typography

Next up, let’s review the typography choices that the Twenty Twenty-Three theme includes out of the box. Naturally, you find these by clicking on Typography on the right-hand side of the screen.

Twenty Twenty-Three comes with a handful of font families, as well as a few different font weights and styles. The supported typefaces include:

• DM Sans — A straightforward sans-serif font that would work great for body text.
• Inter — Another sans-serif font with softer curves. Also a suitable option for body text.
• IBM Plex Mono — A sans-serif font with mono-spacing featuring a typewriter style. Could go well for either titles or body text.
• Source Serif Pro — A delicate serif font that would look fantastic as quotations or titles.
• System Font — The fallback option should your browser not support one of the above font choices.

Typography in the Twenty Twenty-Three theme focuses heavily on the concept of fluid typography. That’s a fancy way of saying that the font size will adjust automatically to best fit the device it’s being viewed on.

This is a great feature, as it ensures that your content is always easy to read, no matter what device someone is using. And you can use it to establish a minimum and maximum font size value for your site if you wish to give it some parameters.

In addition to fluid typography, Twenty Twenty-Three also includes support for fluid spacing. This means that the distance between lines of text will also adjust automatically to best fit the user device.

Features like these are essential in a time when mobile viewing is at an all-time high. It’s simply inexcusable for a site to not look good on a mobile device in this day and age.

Style Variations

In addition to the individual typography and styling options, Twenty Twenty-Three also includes a few style variations. The are the real highlight of the theme and were created with the contribution of community members.

You find them in the Global Styles menu under Browse styles. Let’s go over them real quick.

Pitch

This is essentially a dark version of the default theme.

Canary

This style variation sports a yellow color scheme by default and utilizes a single type size and narrow columns.

Electric

Here’s another interesting option that features a gray background with a bold-colored text.

Pilgrimage

Another dark spin on the base theme.

Marigold

Marigold offers a softer color palette and straightforward layout.

Block Out

Living up to its name, this theme applies a duotone effect to your images by blocking out a portion of them.

Whisper

This style variation includes a border around the page and some unique styles for buttons and links.

Sherbet

Sherbet is bright and colorful — and it relies on a gradient background, meaning it’s right on trend.

Aubergine

If you’re looking for something darker, Aubergine might be a good fit. Its split-color background is definitely eye-catching.

Grapes

And lastly, there’s Grapes, which is a subdued option that would serve a text-heavy site well. You can see all of the style variations in action for yourself on Figma – as well as snag a copy of the base theme.

How to Create Your Own Style Variation

You can also use the Create Block Theme plugin to create your own style variations. After downloading the plugin, use the WordPress Site Editor to create a custom layout, change colors, typefaces, and make any other changes you’d like.

Then when you’re done, all you need to do is create a style variation out of your settings selections. To do this, go to Appearance > Create Block Theme then on the next screen select the bubble next to Create a style variation.

Give it a name then click Create Theme to automatically generate a new .json file on your site.

Available Templates

While Twenty Twenty-Three doesn’t include a lot of pre-built layouts, it does come with a handful of templates to help you hit the ground running. You find them in the Templates menu, which you can access by clicking on the logo in the upper left corner of the Site Editor.

From there, you can select from one of the following:

• 404
• Archive
• Blank
• Blog (Alternative)
• Home
• Index
• Page
• Search
• Single

Many of these are default WordPress templates anyway. Those that are unique to Twenty Twenty-Three include Blank, Blog (Alternative), and the one for the 404 error page. You can access the files for these templates in the templates folder as well.

Template Parts

There are four template parts available:

• Comments
• Footer
• Header
• Post Meta

These are pretty self-explanatory and accessible via the Template Parts menu or in the parts folder for the Twenty Twenty-Three theme.

Potential Uses for the Twenty Twenty-Three Theme

Sometimes it’s helpful to put a WordPress theme into a usage context to get a sense of whether or not it’s a suitable choice for your needs. So, what kind of sites would benefit from using the Twenty Twenty-Three theme?

It’s a pretty versatile theme, so it’s suitable for a variety of different types of sites. Here are a few examples:

1. A portfolio site for a photographer or other type of visual artist. The theme’s focus on images and its various style options make it a great choice for this type of site.
2. A personal blog. The simple layouts and easy-to-read typography make Twenty Twenty-Three ideal for content-heavy sites.
3. A corporate website. The clean, professional look of the theme would work well for a company site, too.
4. An online store. The WooCommerce integration means that this theme can also power a beautiful online shop.
5. A news site. The various layout options and styles make this theme a good choice for a site that relies heavily on text.

As you can see, the Twenty Twenty-Three theme is a versatile and flexible option for a variety of different types of sites. So, if you’re looking for a theme that to create a beautiful and modern website, this one is definitely worth considering.

Final Review of the Twenty Twenty-Three Theme: Is It Worth a Look? 

So, does the Twenty Twenty-Three theme measure up?

If you’re in the market for a new WordPress theme, then the answer is definitely yes. The theme is packed with features and options, and it’s every bit as flexible and customizable as you need it to be. Plus, with its focus on images and various style options, it’s a great choice for a wide range of different types of sites.

In addition, the fact that this theme was derived from community involvement gives you all the more reason to give it a try. After all, ideas from devs actively working in WordPress served as the foundation of this slimmed-down theme. 

So, if you’re looking for a new WordPress theme, be sure to check out Twenty Twenty-Three. It just might be exactly what you need as we move into 2023 and beyond.

What’s your personal review of the Twenty Twenty-Three WordPress theme? How do you feel about style variations? We’d love to hear your feedback below!  

The post Twenty Twenty-Three Theme Review: Flexible and Community Driven appeared first on Torque.

Fortunately, WordPress makes it easy to add tables of contents to your posts. For instance, you can use a dedicated plugin or create your tables manually in the Block Editor – no coding knowledge required!

In this post, we’ll take a closer look at tables of contents and discuss the benefits of using them in your posts. Then, we’ll show you three different ways to create them in WordPress. Let’s get started!

An Introduction to Tables of Contents in WordPress

A table of contents is a list of your post’s headings and subheadings. Each heading contains an anchor link that takes the reader to that section in the post.

For example, if a user wants to read about a particular topic in your article, they can simply click on the relevant heading in the table of contents:

This way, readers can jump to the sections they’re most interested in and skip the rest. They don’t need to scroll down the page and skim through the post to find what they’re looking for.

Plus, a table of contents gives users a quick overview of the article so they know what to expect. For example, if you’ve written a post about visiting London, readers can quickly see what’s included in the guide (e.g. where to stay, best restaurants, things to do, etc).

Therefore, a table of contents can help improve the User Experience (UX) and make your posts more readable. This may in turn help you rank higher for relevant search terms. 

How to Add a Table of Contents in WordPress (3 Ways)

As we have seen, using tables of contents in your posts can help improve your site’s performance. Fortunately, creating them is easier than you might think. Now let’s look at three simple ways to add a table of contents in WordPress!

1. Install a Table of Contents Plugin

Adding a table of contents plugin to your WordPress site can be a quick and easy way to make your content more navigable. While there are many options to choose from, we recommend Easy Table of Contents:

This plugin enables you to insert a table of contents into your posts, pages, and custom post types. Plus, it can automatically generate the tables for you!

Once you install the plugin on your site, navigate to Settings > Table of Contents in your WordPress dashboard. Under the General tab, you can select the type of content you want to create tables for:

You also have the option to automatically insert them into your posts and pages:

If you’d rather add them manually, you can copy the shortcode and embed it into your posts:

For example, you might only want to add a table of contents to specific posts. In this case, you’ll need to uncheck the boxes in the Auto Insert section and use the shortcode to add the table to your preferred content. 

In the Appearance section, you’ll find several customization options for your table of contents. You can change the font, select the link colors, and more:

Now, let’s see what the table of contents will look like to your readers. If you’ve selected the auto insert option for your posts, you can open a random article on the front end:

By default, the table of contents will appear below your title and introductory paragraph, and before the first H2 heading. However, you can change this in the plugin settings. 

This plugin is an ideal option if you want to automatically add a table of contents to all of your posts. However, if you only want to use the table on some of them, you may want to consider an alternative. 

2. Use Custom WordPress Blocks

You can also add a table of contents as a block. This way, you can insert it directly into your posts and customize it within the WordPress Block Editor.

At the time of writing, the Block Editor does not offer a table of contents block. However, you can use a plugin like Spectra to add this feature to your site: 

Spectra adds a selection of practical blocks to your site, including a table of contents option. Once you install the plugin, navigate to Settings > Spectra to view a complete list of added blocks. 

Make sure that the Table of Contents block is activated:

Then, you can open a post in the Block Editor and add the block anywhere you want on the page:

As with any block, you’ll get access to some customization settings. For example, you can choose the heading tags that you want to include in your table of contents:

To customize the appearance of your table, click on the Style tab. Here, you can change the typography and colors for the title, headings, and more:

Using a Table of Contents block can be a more efficient option if you want to apply the table to certain posts, rather than all of them. Additionally, you can save it as a reusable block, so you won’t have to re-apply the same customization settings every time you use the table in a post. 

However, you may choose to create custom tables for each post. For example, you might want to include all heading tags in some posts, but only display H2 and H3 headings in others. 

With the Easy Table of Contents plugin, you’ll have to use the same table for your posts. Therefore, you might prefer Spectra if you want more freedom over the design of your tables. 

3. Create Your Table Manually in the Block Editor

You may also choose to create your table of contents manually. Perhaps you want to avoid installing another plugin on your site as you only need to create a table for one or two posts.

While adding your table of contents manually can be a little tedious, the process is quite simple. First, you’ll want to add a List block to your post. Then, type in your headings and use the Indent option as needed:

Next, you’ll need to create anchor links. This way, when a user clicks on a heading in the table of contents, they’ll be taken to the relevant section.

To do this, select the Heading block. Then, navigate to the settings panel and click on the Advanced tab. In the HTML anchor field, enter a unique name for this heading, such as “heading1”:

Now, go back to the list, select the corresponding item, and click on the Link icon in the toolbar:

Next, you’ll need to type in the name that you entered in the HTML anchor field, adding a hashtag at the front. In our example, this will be “#heading1”:

Once you enter the anchor link, you’ll be able to click on that item to navigate to the corresponding section. You can repeat the same process for the other items in your list.

When you’re ready, you’ll want to test the anchor links on the front end to make sure they work: 

Remember to add a “Table of Contents” heading above the list. Additionally, you may want to group the heading and list blocks and customize them from the settings panel:

As you can see, you don’t need to install a plugin to create a table of contents. However, if you want to add tables to multiple posts, it may be more efficient than creating them manually.

Conclusion

Adding tables of contents to your posts can make it easier for readers to find what they’re looking for. This can help improve the user experience and reduce your bounce rate, which may in turn lead to better rankings in search results.

In this post, we looked at three ways to add a table of contents in WordPress:

1. Install a plugin like Easy Table of Contents.
2. Use a tool like Spectra to add a Table of Contents block to your site.
3. Create your table manually with the List block. 

Do you have any questions about adding a table of contents to WordPress? Let us know in the comments section below!

The post How to Add a Table of Contents in WordPress (3 Ways) appeared first on Torque.

Besides, allowing your site to fall behind the times can make it look dated and out-of-touch. That’s not exactly the impression you want to give to potential customers or clients.

What follows is our in-depth examination of some of the most popular web design trends for 2023. They will give you a clear idea of what’s coming as well as how to prepare yourself for them.

1. Illustrations

One of the biggest trends we’re seeing for 2023 is a move away from traditional photography and towards illustrations and graphics. This is likely due to a few factors. Chief among them is the need to stand out in an increasingly crowded online landscape.

With more businesses than ever before launching websites, it’s becoming more difficult to assert your own space. That’s where illustrations come in. Adding a unique and visually-appealing element to your site can help it sit head and shoulders above the rest.

What’s more, illustrations can inject personality into your site, something that is often lacking in today’s online world. This is no more apparent than in the resurgence of the use of cartoon characters on websites. It’s a trend that is sure to continue into 2023.

2. Dark Mode

Dark mode is an increasingly popular way to view content online, and one likely to continue its rise in popularity in 2023. For those unfamiliar with the term, dark mode refers to a color scheme that uses light-colored text on a dark background.

There are a few reasons why dark mode has become so popular. For one, it’s easier on the eyes, especially when viewing content in low-light conditions. Additionally, it can help conserve battery life on devices with OLED or AMOLED screens.

What’s more, dark mode can also make a website look more modern and sleek and less energy hungry. As such, we expect to see more and more sites adopt this trend in the coming year.

3. Minimalism 

If you’ve been involved in web design at all over the past several years, you’re familiar with minimalism already. This trend is all about stripping away unnecessary elements and focusing on the essentials.

The goal of minimalism is to create a clean, clutter-free look that’s easy on the eyes and easy to navigate. This happens by using simple, clean designs and layouts with plenty of white space.

Minimalism is especially popular with businesses that want to convey a sense of sophistication and professionalism. However, you can use it on just about any type of website to great effect.

4. Neo-brutalism

Neo-brutalism is a style characterized by its use of stark, geometric shapes and bold, primary colors. It takes its cues from the architectural movement of the same name.

While neo-brutalism has been around for a few years, it only recently started to gain traction in web design. This is likely due to the fact that it offers a refreshing alternative in terms of appearance.

If you’re looking to make a statement with your website, then neo-brutalism is definitely worth considering. Just be aware that this style is not for everyone. It’s best suited for sites that are willing to embrace a more avant-garde look.

5. Skeuomorphic Design

Skeuomorphic web design was a strong trend nearly a decade ago but looks set for a full-blown resurgence in 2023. The name refers to the use of real-world objects and textures in digital designs.

This trend gained traction in the early days of mobile app design, when designers sought to make digital interfaces more intuitive and user-friendly. However, it has since been adopted by web designers as well.

One of the benefits of skeuomorphic design is that it can make a website feel more immersive and realistic. Additionally, it can help users better understand how to use a site or interface, making it ideal for first-time visitors. Plus, it essentially bridges the gap between digital and physical spaces.

6. Monochrome Color Palettes

The monochrome color palette trend involves using a single color for the entirety of a website’s design.

While this may sound like a recipe for disaster, monochrome designs can actually be quite striking. When done correctly, they can create a look that is both modern and sophisticated.

What’s more, monochrome designs are also incredibly versatile. They suitable for just about any type of website, from personal blogs to corporate sites. Plus, using one color means the rest of your design elements get a chance to shine.

7. Gradients

If you’re looking to give your website a fresh, modern look, consider adding gradients.

Gradients consist of two or more colors that gradually blend into each other. They’ve been gaining popularity in web design over the past few years.

This trend was popular in the early days of HTML and CSS. Designers used gradients to add color and visual interest to their designs. However, it fell out of favor recently as flat design became more popular.

Yet, gradients are making a comeback now because they offer a way to add depth and dimension to a design without sacrificing simplicity. Additionally, they can create a sense of visual movement. This can be particularly effective on landing pages with parallax scrolling.

8. 3D Characters 

3D-rendered characters are appearing more frequently as a popular design choice and look to be among the web trends of 2023. This involves using three-dimensional images of people or creatures instead of traditional digital illustrations on websites.

3D characters can fulfill a variety of purposes. From adding a sense of fun and personality to a site, to helping users navigate their way around a complex interface.

They offer versatility as well and can skew toward a fun and cutesy style or a more realistic and lifelike look, depending on the needs of the project.

9. All Things Neon

The use of neon colors in web design is also something you see more of recently. This involves using bright colors as part of a website’s aesthetic. It’s often accompanied by either the look of neon signs or by other retro-inspired designs.

Neon colors add a sense of fun and personality to a site. They can also help users navigate their way around a complex interface and divert attention to key content areas.

Neon colors are also great for invoking retro styles. So, if you’re looking for a way to add a bit of 80s or 90s nostalgia to your website design, this trend is definitely worth exploring.

10. Interactivity

Another web design trend that looks set to continue heavy use in 2023 years is interactivity. This trend involves making a website’s design more interactive and engaging for users, giving them a more immersive experience.

You can add interactivity to a website in several ways. From incorporating games and quizzes to adding chatbots and other forms of artificial intelligence.

What’s more, interactivity also has the ability to create a more personalized experience for users. For example, you could use data from a user’s previous interactions with your site to customize the content and design of your pages.

Micro-interactions are on the rise as well. This involves adding small, interactive elements to a website’s design, such as hover effects and animated buttons.

Adding interactive elements to your website can liven up the user experience and provide a more pleasant way for users to engage with your content.

For instance, when you add an item to your shopping cart on the Threadless website, you’re greeted by a micro-interaction that confirms the action was a success.

11. Video Backgrounds

If you’re looking to stay ahead of the curve, consider using video backgrounds for your website design in 2023. This growing trend uses video footage as the background instead of a static image.

Use video backgrounds to add excitement and motion to a website or help users understand complex ideas.

In addition, video backgrounds are perfect for creating a realistic experience. If used correctly, they can make a user feel as if they are in the middle of whatever is happening on-screen.

12. Integrated Storytelling

Tell your story through web design with integrated storytelling, a trend set to dominate in 2023 and beyond.

There are several methods of adding integrated storytelling to a website, such as videos, animations, and interactive elements. Basically, anything that takes the site visitor along for a journey, step-by-step (or click-by-click) through a narrative of some sort.

13. Animation

Animations appear more frequently in web design — so much so this is becoming a trend to keep an eye on in the coming year. As you might’ve guessed, this trend involves incorporating animated elements into a website’s design.

Animations are not only for entertainment purposes; they’re helpful in explaining difficult topics or challenging concepts as well. If used well, users feel like they are in the heart of the action, creating a sense of immersion.

14. Smart Content Loading 

If you want your website to be trendy and efficient, consider smart content loading. This design technique only loads the information a reader needs, making it both faster and more user-friendly.

There are a number of benefits to using smart content loading, from reducing page load times, to saving data usage. Or, you can ise it for personalizing each visitor’s experience.

For instance, if you were to take the hair quiz on the Aveda website, the content you see on your next visit will adapt based on your previous input.

15. Horizontal Scrolling

Horizontal scrolling isn’t new but it has seen a resurgence. This trend can create a more immersive experience for users as they scroll through a website’s content.

From adding a sense of movement to a site to helping users navigate through a large amount of content, horizontal scrolling is effective because it catches most site visitors off-guard and holds their attention.

16. Artificial Intelligence 

Artificial intelligence in web design is nothing new. However, it’s a trend that looks like it’ll only become more and more popular as time goes on. Using AI to create custom experiences may involve the use of chatbots or taking past user interactions into account.

Not only can artificial intelligence improve efficiencies on your website, but it can also automate tasks like customer support or lead generation. This makes it a great tool for businesses of all sizes.

Take the chatbot, Tidio, as an example. It relies on AI to generate life-like conversations for customer service situations.

Set Yourself Up for Success by Following These 2023 Web Design Trends

As you can see, there are a number of exciting web design trends set to take off in 2023. You certainly don’t need to implement all of them on your site. However, by keeping up with the latest trends, you can ensure that your website is always fresh and up-to-date.

So, if you want to stay ahead of the curve, make sure to keep these trends in mind for your next website design project.

Are you keeping up with the latest web design trends? Will you be adding any to your site in the coming year? Please let us know below! 

The post Web Design Trends 2023: A Preview of the Future of Web Design appeared first on Torque.

Fortunately, it’s easy to customize your WooCommerce checkout page and make it more user-friendly for shoppers. Using the Checkout Field Editor plugin, you can add, edit, and rearrange checkout fields as needed.

This post will discuss why the checkout page is so important and what to consider when customizing a WooCommerce checkout page. We’ll then provide a step-by-step guide to help you get started. Let’s jump in!

Why Your Checkout Page Is So Important for Sales

The checkout page is the last step in the sales process, and it must be user-friendly to keep shoppers engaged until the end. After all, up to 17% of customers will abandon their carts due to complicated checkout processes.

There are several ways to improve the user experience of your checkout page and reduce cart abandonment. For instance, consider making the page visually pleasing, the form fields easy to fill out, and the payment process streamlined and straightforward.

You might also focus on eliminating ‘friction’ that prevents users from checking out quickly. This friction might look like having a multi-page checkout process and not allowing visitors to check out as guests.

This checkout page shows design best practices, with simple form fields, multiple payment methods (including express checkout), and prominent branding:

Your checkout page doesn’t need to look exactly like other retailers. However, there are some tips you can use to encourage customers to complete their purchases.

Things to Consider When Designing Your WooCommerce Checkout Page

We’ve already established how vital your checkout page design is. Now, let’s discuss what to consider when creating your own.

Ideally, your checkout page should look good and reflect your brand. If it seems like an afterthought, customers may question your credibility as a retailer.

You can make your checkout page look cohesive by using your brand colors, fonts, and logo. Additionally, consider utilizing a minimalistic design with plenty of white space. These features can minimize distractions for the customer so that they can focus on completing their purchase:

User-friendliness is also an essential consideration. For example, the input fields should be easy to read and fill out. It’s also worth limiting the number of fields so that customers don’t have to spend much time filling out information. You might also consider using columns to break up the form fields.

Moreover, your Call to Action (CTA) should be clear, prominent, and in your brand colors to stand out from the rest of the page. This button could say something like “Complete Purchase” or “Place Order”.

Customers should also feel confident that their personal and financial information is secure. You can do this by ensuring that your SSL certificate is up to date and that your payment processor is PCI compliant. Then you can add security logos or symbols to your checkout page to show your store’s commitment to security.

Finally, you should consider offering multiple payment options to your customers. These might include popular choices like credit cards, PayPal, and online wallets. For example, WooCommerce Payments provides several different payment gateway options to choose from.

How to Customize a WooCommerce Checkout Page (In 3 Steps)

Now, let’s jump into how you can customize a WooCommerce checkout page. We’ll be working with the Checkout Field Editor plugin for this tutorial.

Checkout Field Editor enables you to easily add, edit and remove fields from the checkout form. It also lets you re-order the fields and add custom sections. Overall, it’s a handy tool that’s useful for many different types of eCommerce stores.

Before we begin, you’ll need to install and activate the Checkout Field Editor plugin. For more details, you can read our guide on how to install WordPress plugins.

Step 1: Customize Your Basic Settings

After you’ve installed and activated Checkout Field Editor, head to WooCommerce > Checkout Form. This will take you to the main settings page for the plugin:

You should see two settings tabs: Checkout Fields and Advanced Settings. We’ll just be dealing with the first tab for the moment.

You should also see three sub-options for Billing Fields, Shipping Fields, and Additional Fields. You can move these fields around by dragging and dropping them using the icon on the left. Furthermore, by checking the checkboxes, you can mass enable or disable via the buttons above.

All the fields in the section are listed, and you can easily see what details have been inputted. By clicking Edit, you can change any of these:

Here you can change the type of input field, the label, the placeholder text, the default value, and the class. You can also make the field required so that customers can’t proceed without filling in the information.

There are various improvements you can implement here to streamline your checkout page. For example, you might remove the phone number field since a customer email address is usually sufficient.

Moreover, if your online store specializes in B2B, you might make it compulsory for customers to enter a business name. Conversely, you can delete the address field if you’re selling digital downloads such as eBooks or audio files.

Step 2: Add New Fields to the Checkout Form

Returning to the main Checkout Fields screens, you can add a new field by clicking on +Add Field. Here you can select the type of input field, the label, the placeholder text, the default value, the CSS class, and whether the field is required:

After clicking on Save & Close, the new field should be added to the list, and you can drag it into place on your checkout page.

You have several options for adding new fields to your checkout form. For example, you might include a phone number if you’ll need a quick way to contact the customer when their delivery is due. However, make sure not to add too many extra fields, or you could annoy customers who just want to check out quickly.

Step 3: Explore the Advanced Settings

Finally, the Advanced Settings tab contains various options for customizing your checkout page even further. They let you enable:

• Label override for address fields
• Placeholder override for address fields
• Class override for address fields
• Priority override for address fields
• Required validation override for address fields

This default data is automatically pulled from the database. However, the advanced settings enable you to override the default data with your custom inputs:

Typically, WooCommerce will change the format of your customer’s address fields depending on their country. However, overriding these settings means all your customers will see the same address format. However, you probably don’t need to play around with these settings unless there is a known issue with deliveries to shoppers in particular areas.

Make sure to Save Changes after all your edits, and that’s it! You’ve now successfully customized your WooCommerce checkout page. We recommend previewing it on the front end to ensure it looks exactly like you want it.

We also recommend keeping an eye on your online store’s analytics to ensure that the changes you’ve made positively affect your conversion rate. If not, you can always revert to the original checkout page or try a different approach.

Conclusion

A well-designed checkout page can be the difference between a customer completing a purchase and abandoning their shopping cart. By following the tips in this article and using the Checkout Field Editor plugin, you can customize your WooCommerce checkout page and create a better user experience.

In this article, we showed you how to customize a WooCommerce checkout page using the Checkout Field Editor plugin:

1. Customize your basic checkout page options by clicking on the Checkout Fields tab.
2. Add fields to the checkout form by clicking on the +Add Field button.
3. Explore the Advanced Settings tab to customize your checkout page even further.

Do you have any questions about customizing your WooCommerce checkout page? Let us know in the comments section below!

The post How to Customize a WooCommerce Checkout Page appeared first on Torque.