Posts

Accessibility in Web Design: The Practical Standards I Build In From Day One

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This article is adapted from the Prateeksha Web Design blog . Accessible web design gets treated as an afterthought on a lot of projects I audit, usually because it's assumed to mean a slow, expensive compliance exercise. In practice, most of what makes a site accessible also makes it faster, clearer, and easier to use for every visitor — not just people using screen readers or keyboard navigation. That's why I build these standards in from the first wireframe rather than trying to retrofit them after launch. Colour Contrast Is Non-Negotiable Low-contrast text over busy background images looks stylish in a mockup and becomes unreadable the moment someone views it on a phone in daylight, let alone for a visitor with low vision. I check contrast ratios against the WCAG 2.1 AA standard as part of the design review, not after a client complains they can't read their own site. This one habit alone fixes a surprising number of usability complaints that have nothing to do wit...

Ten Questions I Would Ask Before Hiring a Web Design Agency

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This article is adapted from the Prateeksha Web Design blog . Hiring a web design agency is easier to get wrong than it should be, mostly because most businesses only find out what a good process looks like after they've already been through a bad one. Rather than list warning signs after the fact, I want to give you the opposite: a structured framework of ten questions to ask before you sign anything. Ask these on the first or second call, and you'll know within twenty minutes whether an agency has a real process or is winging it. 1. What Does Your Actual Process Look Like, Step by Step? Ask for the stages in order — discovery, wireframes, design, development, testing, launch — and how long each typically takes. A serious agency can walk you through this without hesitation because they run it on every project. If the answer is vague or jumps straight to we will design something you will love that's a gap worth noting before you commit. 2. Who Owns the Code, the Domai...

How to Audit Your Google Business Profile Against Your Top Mumbai Competitors

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This article is adapted from the Prateeksha Web Design blog . Most Mumbai business owners check their own Google Business Profile and stop there. They glance at their star rating, maybe check a competitor's once, and call it research. That's not a Google Business Profile competitor audit — it's a glance. A real audit means placing your profile next to the businesses that actually outrank you and comparing every field, photo, and signal until you can name the exact gaps costing you the map pack. This is the process we run before recommending local SEO work, and it ends in a 20-point audit table you can fill in today. Step 1: Find Your Real Local Competitors — Not Who You Assume The businesses you consider competitors and the ones Google treats as your competitors are often two different lists. This audit starts by finding out who actually shows up when your customers search — not the three names you happen to know off the top of your head. If you haven't yet worked...

Google Business Profile Conversion Optimization: Turn Maps Views Into Calls & WhatsApp Leads

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This article is adapted from the Prateeksha Web Design blog . Getting views and getting calls on your Google Business Profile are two different problems. Google Business Profile conversion optimization is the practice of turning people who already see your profile — checking hours, reading reviews, comparing you against three other businesses on the map — into people who call, message, or book. Most Mumbai businesses treat their profile as a listing to fill in once and forget. The ones that convert treat it as a landing page that happens to live inside Google Maps. If you've already ruled out visibility problems and know people are finding your profile, this guide covers exactly what to change — the call button, the booking link, the photos, the offers, the WhatsApp journey, and the landing page your profile sends traffic to — so more of those views turn into paying customers. Fix the Call Button First The call button is the highest-intent action on your Google Business Pr...

Website Browser Compatibility Checklist: What Should You Test?

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This article is adapted from the Prateeksha Web Design blog . A website that looks perfect in Chrome can break silently in Safari. A form won't submit. A font never loads. A checkout button hides behind a layout that collapsed on one screen size. A website browser compatibility checklist is the only reliable way to catch these failures before your customers do — and it needs to check function, not just appearance. This checklist gives you 36 specific things to test across every browser your visitors use, grouped into 13 categories. For the full walkthrough of how cross-browser testing works — tools, browser/device matrices, and workflow — read our complete cross-browser testing guide first. This post is the checklist you run once that process is set up. Why a Checklist Beats "Just Looking at It" Most browser bugs are invisible unless you interact with the page the way a real visitor does. A visual scan catches maybe a third of real compatibility issues — the res...

News Website Design: Homepage, Article & Category Page Layouts That Work

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This article is adapted from the Prateeksha Web Design blog . A news website has about three seconds to prove it belongs to a reader who just clicked in from Google, Twitter, or a WhatsApp forward. News website design is the discipline of arranging headlines, images, and navigation so that reader finds the right story instantly, trusts what they're looking at, and keeps reading. Get the layout wrong and even the best reporting sits unread below a cluttered fold. This guide covers the actual layout decisions: what goes where on the homepage, how an article page should be structured from headline to related-stories module, how category pages should organize a flood of content without becoming a wall of links, and what changes on mobile. If you're planning the full build — CMS, hosting, monetization, SEO setup — for the full step-by-step build process, see our complete guide . This article is about what the reader actually sees and clicks. Homepage Anatomy: What Belongs Abov...

Understanding the True Cost of Running a Shopify Store in India

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When planning to launch a Shopify store, many Indian businesses focus heavily on the initial setup cost, often overlooking the ongoing expenses that accumulate over time. At Prateeksha Web Design, we emphasize a comprehensive approach that considers the real total cost of ownership (TCO) — which extends far beyond the build price. This means budgeting not only for the initial development but also for recurring platform fees, app subscriptions, transaction fees, and maintenance costs throughout the store’s lifecycle. Why Look Beyond the Build Price? A common misconception is that the build quote represents the full cost of a Shopify store. However, Shopify’s pricing structure centers around recurring monthly fees rather than a one-time purchase. Ignoring these can lead to unexpected budget shortfalls down the line. The initial build is truly just the starting point; ongoing fees continue as long as your store operates on Shopify’s platform. Choosing the Right Shopify Plan Shopify of...