livebooks blog

The liveBooks platform is all about creating the most beautiful websites one can imagine. So what happens when the online portfolio of your dreams is a clean page where your images are the only actors? No header, no navigation items, no footer. It’s more than a minimalist approach to visual aesthetics.

Today, we will focus on the ability to hide elements from your page that we otherwise take for granted: the header, the navigation and the footer. Hiding the header and the navigation bar will put the elements in that page in full focus. You will create a distraction-free environment for your clients to enjoy your work.

Don’t worry! You can still help your visitors return to a previous page, say Homepage, by adding a link at the bottom of your gallery. This can be an image, a block of text or a simple button.

To hide the header, navigation and footer from a specific page, you must:

1. Access your Design editor.
2. Click on the page you wish to edit and select Page in the right-hand panel. 
3. Click the gear icon and check the boxes you want to hide. 
4. Save.
5. Publish.

If you feel that your content is too close to either end of your screen, adjust the padding of the container(s). Also, make sure you check how your website will look on all devices by switching the preview from the options at the top of your editor.

It’s your choice which of the three elements you want to hide, and as always, we encourage you to be consistent in your editing. For example, if only one of your three portfolio pages have a hidden header, your clients could get disoriented and begin to ask themselves if the missing piece is a bug or some other flaw in the system. That’s why you should keep the same settings for the same type of pages.

The more you will look into the content and design editor of our platform, the more possibilities emerge. Don’t have a website of your own that you can play with? Start a free trial today and get two weeks free.

There are many reasons to use PDF files on your site. PDFs can be used for content that you’d like to allows customers to download and/or print. PDFs also provide you with an easier way to display you licences, diplomas or other certificates that set our clients apart from the norm. Don’t forget to keep SEO in mind – check out best practices for optimizing PDFs from the Search Engine Journal.

Here’s an easy guide on how to add PDFs to any liveBooks site:

1. First, you need to upload the PDFs. Go to any page and add a Resource block.

2. Add the PDFs from your computer to the Resource block. This will automatically save them in the Resource Library.

3. Now that your PDFs are uploaded, you must add links to them on your website. Switch to the Design editor and go to the page you’ve been working on. The PDFs will appear all in one column. You can leave them as they are, or you can link them to Buttons, Text or Images.

To link PDFs to your media you will need to:

A. Open the PDF in a new tab and copy its address.

B. Go to your Content editor and add the way you want to link to that PDF. In our example we’ve used a button. Paste the link address in the top field and add a title that will be written on the button. (Note! The default setting opens links in the same tab. We recommend having your links and PDFs open in a separate tab. To enable this just press the button situated at the right end of the link; it will turn blue.)

C. Delete the PDF you’ve linked to the button and preview your page. Depending on the template you’ve chosen, your button may appear differently. Feel free to edit the appearance of your buttons in the Design Editor – Sitewide – Controls – Buttons.

Deleting a PDF from a page will not remove it from the website. To remove a PDF from your website go to your resource library and delete it from there.

Want to see more liveBooks features and how they can help your business grow? Start with a free trial today!

If you’re in the process of building a website for your business or redesigning your website, the homepage is typically the first place you start with.

Your homepage needs to provide visitors with a quick rundown of your business; think of it like your elevator pitch. Who you are, what you do, and why they should be interested. It’s important to sum up the important parts of your business and to “hook” the users so they want to keep scrolling and check out every page.

Need a little guidance? Here’s a brief checklist of the top things every website homepage should include.

Logo

First and foremost, give your website a piece of your brand identity with your logo. Your business logo needs to live at the top of your homepage in order to stay top of mind to your visitors.

Logos let consumers know more about you and gives them something to remember and identify your brand with down the road, so it’s an essential part of your homepage that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Give your brand identity and website some thought to figure out the best placement for your logo — maybe it’s the top corner, maybe it’s front and center. Either way, make sure it leaves a lasting impression on your website visitors.

Introductions

This is your chance to quickly communicate to a new visitor who you are and what you do. While you can save the details and backstory for your About page, the intro on your homepage should hone in on exactly what you want your brand to represent — this is where your tagline or brand statement should go.

Include a heading and a subhead to give consumers a bite-sized idea of what your business is, who it’s for, and what they can get out of it.

Navigation

Your website should provide a good user experience, and this is especially important when designing your navigation menu. The navigation on your homepage should feel intuitive; it should flow easily, guide visitors from page to page and take them where they need to go.

The navigation bar is often the first place users check out so they can get a feel for what the rest of your website has in store for them. Be strategic when thinking about how you want your navigation bar organized.

Products/Services

You will likely have a separate page that lists your products or services and into more detail, but the homepage is your chance to highlight a few of them.

If you have an online shop, this is where you can feature your recent products, a new collection, or seasonal picks. Use this page to draw them in and give them a sneak peek of your product offerings.

If you have a service-based business, use the front page to talk a little bit about each service you offer, and link it to the page that goes into more detail.

Contact Information

Once potential customers or clients have scrolled through your homepage, have a solid idea of what your business is, and are attracted to what you offer, they will be looking for a way to contact you.

Whether you have a brick and mortar address or you solely operate online, include your contact information on your homepage.

As a business, the last thing you want is for a potential client or customer to struggle to find a way to reach you. Make it easy for the user by having a space on the homepage clearly dedicated to your contact information or including a button that links to your contact page.

Start Designing Your Website Today!

liveBooks offers mobile-responsive, customizable website templates for creative professionals and businesses worldwide.

The best part? Our website designs are ready for search engines and look great on any mobile device!

We’ve also got a top-notch support team who’s here to help you every step of the way. Start for free here.

Design and layout consistency matter when presenting your work to your online audience. Whether they are new visitors checking out your portfolios or long established fans of your work, roaming around your website should feel like a cohesive experience. The unification of style, colors, visual elements and tone of voice in your writing are elements that define your brand, albeit a small part of it. Check out this article for more details on how to enhance your brand.

So how does duplicating a page help your brand? When you duplicate a page, you create an exact clone of it on your website. This means that all the structural elements and design specifications will be transferred over to your new page. So will all your content from the duplicated page; all you will have to do is replace the copies with your content of choice.

We encourage all clients to add features and experiment with all the design editor has to offer. In this respect, we find page duplication an important feature for all our clients, because when you’ve come to the ideal setup for your page, all that’s left is to duplicate it, fill in the content and publish your work.

We make page duplication sound very easy, and it is: right now you are four clicks away from creating a new page with the same structure. Before we start, make sure your targeted page is set to visible. You can change this setting back after you’ve duplicated it.

1. First click on your content editor to see the list of all your pages.
2. Select the gear icon on any page that you wish to duplicate.
3. In the black modal popup, select the blue Duplicate page link. 
4. Select the green Yes button when prompted. Your new page will appear right under the target page and it will have the same title. 

That’s it! Now all you have to do is change the content in your new page. These two pages are not synced, so should you make any structural or design changes in one, the other will remain the same.

Don’t have a website to try out this wonderful feature? You can sign up for a free trial today!