Codal is a full stack mobile app
development and UX + UI design
agency with over 9 years of
industry experience.

Music Festivals Need An IoT Tune-Up

I don’t mean to make you feel old, but we’ve reached a point where there are people alive right now that do not remember a time without smartphones. There are children, teenyboppers, and even some

Storytelling Through Web Design

Narrative has long been ingrained into the DNA of web design. We organize and design by what we know, and everyone knows the layout of a story. A protagonist, a conflict; a beginning, a middle, an end

Emerging On-Demand Industries

App development agencies are continuously being introduced to new ideas from clients who strive to build an application that is the next uber for their particular industry or vertical.

Amazon, Whole Foods, And eCommerce’s Final Frontier

By now we’re sure you’ve heard the news: Amazon announced last Friday they’ve acquired organic grocery giant Whole Foods Market in a $13.7 billion deal—not bad for a company that, just twenty

The Biggest E-Commerce Stats of 2017: An Infographic

The growth of e-commerce just in the last five years has been astronomical; a growth that will only to continue to exponentially grow in the coming years.

The Psychology of Choice In UX Design

As the ends to a UX designer’s means, the concept of a “user” is scrutinized and dissected so often that it’s almost dehumanized. Will users click this? How can we attract users to this page?

3 Major Things Social Media Can Teach Us About UX

“Most users spend their time on other websites.”

Here's What You Need For Your Business to Succeed

Keval Baxi, Codal's CEO was recently interviewed by BizCastHQ on what it takes to run a successful business.

Using Dynamic Content To Fish In Your Users

One of the most difficult challenges user experience designers face is also one of their chief responsibilities. In fact, it’s right within their job title. The word ‘user’ is somewhat problemat

Kotlin: What You Need To Know About The New Language

The survival of any language, whether a human or computer one, depends on repeated, recognized use. Its rules must be mutually agreed upon by the community speaking it, and it must be used in everyday

3 Mistakes Your Mobile App Marketing Site Is Making

Before we get into the common design errors of app marketing sites, a piece of good news: the absolute worst mistake you can make is not having a website at all. So if you’re reading this, congrats�

The US Government Is In Need of a Digital Experience Overhaul

In terms of national pride, no country can touch the United States and its fervent patriotism. American’s devout belief that they’re citizens of the greatest nation on Earth has garnered them a lo

What You Need To Know About Mobile Payments

The greatest conqueror of the 21st century is not a man, but a device. Like the insatiable explorers that came before it, the smartphone has not just invaded our everyday lives—it has almost complet

How IoT Can Revolutionize CTA Transit

There are few public transportation systems more famous than the CTA and its ‘L’ trains. Ranking in the top ten transit networks in the country, the CTA carries 1.6 million riders a week, making i

What’s Wrong With Your Website & Why It’s Costing You

Everybody has a website: Your barber, the local little league team, your grandmother. It’s not enough anymore for your business to just “have” a website, when just about everyone does. The basel

eCommerce Is Ushering Agriculture Into A New Era

As ecommerce has solidified itself as a permanent fixture of the modern economy, we’ve seen it originate completely new sectors, and change the way existing industries conduct business as well. Medi

5 Common WordPress Mistakes & How To Fix Them

If you own and operate a website, there’s a fairly good chance it’s powered by WordPress. A 26.4% chance to be exact, though it’s even higher now (that statistic is from March of last year). 500

4 Things to Consider While Writing Content for Short Attention Spans

A few years ago, Microsoft conducted a study on the human attention span that ostensibly yielded some alarming results: the average human attention span had dropped to 8.5 seconds, a half-second less

The Internet of Things is Changing How Restaurants Operate

Slowly but surely, the line separating the physical realm from the digital one is becoming further blurred and obfuscated. More physical objects and entities are interacting with the Internet than eve

5 Tips for Building a Professional Yet Effective Newsletter

Email marketing is an exclusive communication channel with your audience, in which you contact people directly in their inbox. That’s why you want your newsletters to look professional, remain engag

How Instagram Is Transforming The Creative Industries

Since its launch in October 2010, Instagram has morphed from simple photo-sharing platform to social media giant, an everyday essential for nearly all smartphone owners. This is no hyperbole—as of D

Will Pop-Up Ads On Your Mobile App Affect Conversions?

Spoiler alert: the short answer to this question is “yes”. Pop-up ads in your mobile app will have an effect on conversions. If that effect is positive or negative however, is a point of contentio

How Beacon Tech Can Change The Face Of Real Estate

At first glance, it seems like there’s not much room for modernization in the real estate sector. It’s an industry that relies so heavily on face-to-face, physical interactions, like talking to a

UX, Color, And You

When we talk about UX, we’re almost always referring to websites, apps, or software—modern technologies that have shaped the human experience since their invention. But in reality, ‘UX’ isn’

Should You Integrate IoT With Your School?

The Internet of Things, or IoT, is the infrastructure of connectivity–a network between users and their physical environment.It describes not only communication between humans and devices, but a

PHP: Why You Need To Consider Phalcon

It’s not hard to see why PHP MVC is so popular with and developers: PHP can be seamlessly embedded in HTML, and when an MVC framework is implemented, the detachment between the front- and back-end l

How to Increase Conversion Rate with Smart Product Recommendations

Making the customer’s decision process easier is one way to increase your conversion rate on your eCommerce website. Working with a UX design agency that focuses on improving the user experience, ev

Chicago Tech: Look Out For These Startups In 2017

In just a few short years, Chicago’s startup scene has blossomed from humble beginnings to one of America’s largest hubs of innovative industry, especially in the technology sector. From the young

Without A Mobile App, Your Retail Store Is Falling Behind

Take a deep breath. I’m about to hit you with some game-changing, groundbreaking information: your customers use their mobile phones. A lot. Maybe you knew that already. But did you know just how ex

How to Skyrocket Conference Engagement

So you’re ready to plan your conference — to realize your vision of a fresh, innovative space conducive to the exchange of ideas, the forging of connections, and the merging of the mightiest minds

Connect With An Experienced Agency At Shopify Unite, We’d Love to Chat

At the end of April, The Codal team will be making it’s way out to San Francisco for Shopify Unite, the largest gathering of Shopify Plus experts in the world.Shopify Unite is a partner and deve

What’s it like to work with Codal?

Starting a project with Codal and wondering what it will be like to work with us? Or are you simply just interested in how we do things? You’ve come to the right place. Here’s a short guide to tel

Codal Ranked One of the Top Web Designers In Chicago by Clutch

On March 23rd, 2017, Clutch announced a report recognizing the top web design agencies in Chicago; Codal was ranked #2.

How To Digitally Reach Millennials In 2017

Millennials are changing the game in which companies interact and operate in more ways than one. Since millennials are the biggest generation in US history (even bigger than baby boomers) they have a

Women in Tech: Landscape in Chicago

The perception that women are making strides of gaining equality in the workplace is significantly skewed in regards to technological positions.

You've Got Mail: Email Marketing 101

The time that “Baby Got Back” was a hit song was also the time email was just starting to get popular. Sir Mix a Lot and email both have the commonality that they both give off the impression of b

5 Most Common Misconceptions of Website Push Notifications

Web push notifications are considered as new and high converting marketing channel that can significantly increase sales for online businesses. And even though the adaptation of web push is expanding

The Rise of Company Culture

Company culture refers to the values and attitudes of the employees in an organization. The last decade has witnessed the growth of importance in company culture of a business. As greater emphasis is

Six eCommerce Tips for Explosive Conversions

When it comes to running a successful online store, many retailers place a big focus on boosting traffic to generate more sales. While this is important, many retailers forget that providing a seamles

The Slowest Industries to Adopt Advanced Technologies

It can be extremely easy to get completely stuck in your existing workflow, not thinking about how technology can improve your process of work.

A Beginner’s Guide to Prototyping

Whether you are developing a website or mobile application, one of the most crucial steps before the full development process is prototyping. A prototype is an interactive representation of a website

Chicago Tech: Big Brands That Started in Chicago

Chicago is one of the major metropolitan areas in the United States where many digital companies are headquartered. More and more technology based companies, ranging from startups, to mobile app devel

How To Start An Affiliate Program

More and more businesses are beginning to recognize the benefits of affiliate marketing. But when it comes to starting an affiliate program, many companies can find themselves overwhelmed or confused.

An Expert Guide: “Should I Use This Shopify App?”

Ecommerce has been the answer to the prayers of entrepreneurs around the world. It's convenient, cost-effective, and a great way to reach customers. But sometimes your store can feel a little "basic",

IoT is Changing the Face of E-Commerce

The term IoT (Internet of Things) was first coined in 1999 by technologist Kevin Ashton and defines a network that connects both people and the objects around them.

Succeeding in The Highly Competitive On-Demand Economy

On demand apps have come to define the 2010 era of "next gen" technology. Uber launched in San Francisco in 2010. By 2015, the Uber company was valued at $50 billion in Forbes magazine.

Why Start with an MVP

When it comes to starting a new mobile app business, one of the safest routes to go is starting with an MVP [Minimum Valuable Product].

User Experience Starts with Seamless Operations

According to a survey by Experienced Dynamics, around 95% of the respondents agreed that “good user experience just makes sense.” With this figure in mind, it is important to note that user experi

PHP: The Language Buried Alive

The PHP programming language is much like the Latin language in that both dialects are referred to as "dead". Nonetheless, both of these languages still have a purpose.

Four Signs That Your UX Design Needs a Revamp

Are you satisfied with the user experience design of your website? Before you answer, take a look at some data.

Save Money on Server Fees with Amazon's Elastic Cloud Computing

Amazon's "Elastic Cloud Computing" (better known as EC2) platform for on demand computing servers ensures that web and app developers always have access to enough servers to ensure that your clients d

Protect Your Company With an MDM (Mobile Device Management) Solution

In the application development industry, Mobile Device Management (MDM) typically refers to software that protects information that employees access on their devices. It allows the distribution of of

Navigating the 3 C Languages

In the computer programming world, it's vital to know at least one of the C languages. Most colleges require computer science majors to learn two of the three C's for their bachelor degree.

How Much Does It Really Cost to Build An App?

Here at Codal, businesses and individuals ask us all the time, "How much does it cost to build an app?" Probably a very common question at any app development agency.

SQL: Mastering the Most In-Demand Query Language

Structured Query Language (SQL, pronounced sequel) is a versatile language that is designed for analyzing data from Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS).

Do You Need to Learn Google’s Programming Language?

The relatively young Go programming language (commonly referred to as Go Lang or Google Go) was created by a team of three Google employees in 2009. Although the open source language was released in v

Understanding UX and SEO Will Increase Your Traffic

According to the site NN Group, the user experience refers to the "overall experience of a person using a product (website)". Factors in user experience include the different emotions that may be invo

UI: Designing for Different Age Groups

Users of the internet are incredibly diverse.On one end, you have software development martyrs, like Ara Karim, certified by Microsoft who aren't even old enough to attend high school. On the oth

Don't Let Your WordPress Website Get Hacked

For any website owner, having your website hacked is a major nightmare. If you don't have your WordPress development team on hand, it can take a few days to get your website where it was before it got

How to Fit Your Heavy Content on a Concentrated Webpage

Quality content can often be the difference between a truly engaging user experience design, and a simple collection of bells and whistles. Indeed, content can even be assessed in terms of it's own ov

Mobile Mondays

Welcome to Mobile Mondays! Check back every other Monday for an updated post, with new Mobile Monday content!

Why You Must Annotate Your Wireframes

Wireframes are a crucial part of the web development, and web design process. This is where the website starts to become more than just an idea.

Go Mobile: Business on the Move

Back in the 20th century, all you really needed to run a small business was a phone number. Things are different now, and if you're expecting to have a successful small business, building a mobile app

eCommerce Revenue Boosters: Cross Selling and Upselling

Have you ever been asked to upgrade your burger and fries to a meal?

(How To) Improve Revenue with Effective Calls-to-Action

In many cases, marketing is only successful if it inspires someone to buy a product. You can throw all types of statistics at a consumer, but until the money comes out, marketing is ultimately unsucce

Increase Conversions With Shopify's Buyable Pins

Since 2004, Canadian based e-commerce company Shopify have all but mastered the point of sale platform.

8 Mobile Application Development Stats That Will Probably Surprise You

In 2020, the gross annual revenue for mobile applications is expected to be at $44.8 billion, and the number of smartphone users should be up to 6.1 billion users.

The App Development Toolbox for Startups

Not long ago, the only type of online presence necessary for a small business owner was an online homepage.

User Interface Across Borders

Cultures are different. One Size does not always fit all.

5 Rookie Mistakes in Usability Testing

Remember when iTunes first came out, and nobody could figure out how to get their music from their computer to their iPod?

Is Big Data Really Worth the Time?

Well, at least according to Andrew Oliver of InfoWorld.

DoGo Maps: Reading Them, and What to Do With Them

This example of Dogo Mapping is courtesy of UX Mag . Each page of the website is represented by an index card, and the lines connecting the cards are potential paths through the website. These index c

Why the Competition Doesn't Stand a Chance: Shopify vs. BigCommerce vs Volusion

It can often be very difficult to choose an eCommerce platform that fits your needs. Shopify Plus, Magento, BigCommerce, and Volusion are all leading platforms in the eCommerce world, but even these m

You Can Grow Limitlessly with Shopify Plus

Businesses grow—provided they are given the right amount of attention and help.

Our Top Ten Shopify Plugins

Three Reasons to Switch from Magento Enterprise to Shopify Plus

When Shopify introduced Plus in early 2014, their plan was to take on the titans of enterprise ecommerce. But what could Shopify--a brand known for being the top choice among mom and pop shops--have t

eCommerce Header Design Tips

There are a host of factors to take into consideration when designing the header for your eCommerce website. Like all web pages, the header plays a critical role in the way that users navigate, percei

How Technology Companies are Changing “Brick and Mortar” for Good

Brick and mortar has been a staple of commerce since the days of desert-crossing caravans and flea market bazaars (even though there weren't any bricks or mortar back then). Remarkably, physical store

What's the ROI of UX?

When it comes to investments of time and money, ROI is a fundamentally important metric. No practical businessman would want to make an investment, however large or small it may be, and see it go to w

UX Designers Library: A Wealth of Books for the Eager UXD

Freelancers Are Scary: You Should Probably Work With an Agency

Finding a person, or a company to design or develop your project can be difficult, and very frustrating because you have so many choices. One of the biggest issues people have, is making the decision

Using Cache to Turbo-Charge Your WordPress Site

When it comes to web content, the name of the game is speed. If I have to wait for my content, I'm not going to be happy. According to KISSmetrics, every second of delay during page load can result in

Connected Experiences at Adobe Summit 2016

Adobe Summit 2016, an annual digital marketing conference, wrapped up on Thursday with an array of intriguing speakers, sponsors, and attendees. This year, Summit was moved from Salt Lake City to Las

Automation is the Future, and So Are Robots

Robotics are becoming an integral part of the society that we live in. They are now starting to affect our daily lives into our schools, workplace, doctors offices, and in our neighborhoods. Every day

WordCamp Mumbai 2016

As a multinational software development agency with substantial WordPress expertise, we believe that we ought to maintain an active role in the WordPress community—that's why we do our best to send

Why Do Software Development Agencies Lose Projects?

If you are involved in any way with the client acquisition process, then this is a discussion that you cannot avoid. Every design and development agency ought to know the answer to this very introspec

How Will You Host Your WordPress Blog?

If you are building a site with WordPress, you are inevitably going to have to address the question of finding a hosting provider. Instinct will tell you that finding one shouldn't be too hard—a qui

Our Top 5 (Mostly) Free WordPress Plugins

WordPress is a powerful, user friendly platform for building and maintaining custom websites. Its power, however, lies not in the benefits of its native functionality, but in the endless possibilities

WordPress Plugins: Finding Your Balance

If you are just now arriving on the WordPress scene, doe-eyed and ambitious, you probably ought to arm yourself with some plugin know-how, so that your business doesn't suffer. We'll begin with one si

MWC 2016: The Focus of Wearables, Smartphones, and IoT

This month, Codal will be making it's way back to Barcelona for the 3rd year in a row, to exhibit at Mobile World Congress. We're looking forward to learning about new technologies, networking with li

From 2015 To 2016: Trends That Are Here to Stay

A gesture is primarily a hand movement, such as pinch-to-zoom, double-tap, or swipe. It is a known fact that when a user swipes, it will usually bring them to the next item, or when they pinch the scr

Global Project Management: The Offshore Visit

One of the roles of a project manager is to keep a working relationship with all the team members he or she works with. In a globalized domain it is a bit more difficult, but entirely doable.

IoT & UX: Investigating Smartwatch User Experience

The smartwatch is one of the most noticeable implementations of the Internet of Things today. The hardware used in a smartwatches is quite diverse, however Apple seems to be one of the biggest players

UX and UI Are Not The Same

Potential clients ask me all the time:

1871 Overtakes Entire Nation at Startup Incubation Global Benchmarking Conference

90% of startups fail, according to Forbes. Fledgling businesses need good support--it's a well known fact. So when entrepreneurs think about where to start their company, it helps to know that an ind

Techweek LA: Move Over, Silicon Valley

Techweek LA is fast approaching, and for the first time, Codal will be making it's way out of frigid Chicago to attend the conference. For the past few years, Codal has partnered with Techweek Chicago

FUND Conf: #JoinTheFUND

This week has been another busy one at Codal! The Codal team attended FUND Conference, which started on Tuesday. The objective of the conference was to bridge the gap between early stage investors and

Global Project Management - From Dusk 'til Dawn

Popular culture likes to lament about how the US and developed countries are outsourcing all their jobs to other countries out of cost necessity. This can be accurate but it is vastly over exaggerated

Beacon Technology - What You Need to Know [Infographic]

Although beacon technology has yet to emerge as a mainstream technology, it is already beginning to revolutionize the customer experience model. At Codal, we believe that beacons will change the way c

What's So Great About PHP? [Infographic]

As a server side scripting language, PHP is the most widely used language across the web. At the same time, it is one of the most hated languages by developers. Over the last few years, we've seen an

Funding Your App: Venture Capitalism

A finance professor I had in college once told me:

How to be Agile: A Guide to Agile Scrum Development

Everyone talks about being an Agile development firm, but what does that really mean? As a client, you ought to arm yourself with knowledge to help you discern the real thing from the misguided. Busin

Apple’s iOS, Then+Now: Survival of the Fittest

In 2007, Apple ushered in a new era of digital communication with the debut of the iPhone–although nobody knew it yet. This was a time before the App Store, multitasking, and homescreen pages, when

Mobile Application Tracking [Infographic]

Our phones, computers, and tablets are home to a great deal of personal information, that we ourselves share occasionally--other times, your mobile apps share it without you knowing. The mobile apps t

Pre-Launch Website Checklist

The design is complete, the CMS is ready, the content has been completed, the client is happy—is the website ready to be launched? Launching a new website can be both stressful and overwhelming, eve

Funding Your App – Grants

Grants come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, and are typically awarded to projects that are involved in matters of public interest. Most grants are awarded to nonprofit and community oriented or

Swift Ahead of the Curve: Why You Should be Using Swift

Swift is a multi-paradigm programming language developed by Apple for iOS, OS X, and Watch OS. It was designed to be a very modern language, with features that are found in other languages including R

5 Reasons Apple Rejected Your Mobile App Submission

Every major and mainstream app store has its own set of protocols and standards. As ecosystems mature and attract more app developers, new and evolving submission standards become inevitable.

Top Tools for Responsive Web Design Part II: Testing and Prototyping

InPart 1, we discussed the importance of responsive front-end frameworks and icon fonts. While these are undoubtedly critical factors in fostering a fully responsive design, there are other considerat

CSS Preprocessors: A Guide to Efficient Stylesheets

Cascading style sheets give web developers the ability to organize basic html content in a beautiful and robust way. On it's own, CSS has many powerful features, however it can often be inefficient wi

Techweek Chicago 2015

Every year in late June, some of the finest tech companies in Chicago set up shop at Techweek Chicago to showcase their involvement in the world of tech. Some companies partner with Techweek, others h

Django 101: The Python Web Framework

So you've decided to write a web application. You have picked out a responsive front-end framework, and you have decided that you would like to code the backend using Python. You have heard good thing

The Web 3.0 Debate

From its humble roots as a scientific, military, and academic data transfer protocol, the Internet has attained almost unfathomable ubiquity and importance, worldwide. Yet, even as it's popularity soa

Funding Your App - The Bank Loan Round

If you have ever taken out a personal loan or used a credit card, you know how convenient - and dangerous - borrowing from the bank can be. As an entrepreneur, funding your app may not be as easy as l

Top Tools For Responsive Web Design Part 1: Responsive Frameworks and Icon Fonts

Is Responsive Design Right For You? Whether you're building your first website or planning a redesign of an existing site, you ought to consider the question of mobile configuration. Modern web desig

Funding Your App – The Crowdfunding Round

What is Crowdfunding?

Node.js 101

What is Node.js?

IoT World 2015: A Codal Report

One could get lost amid the bustle of over 4,000 attendees, 250+ industry thought leaders, and over 150 exhibitors at IoT World 2015. The annual conference promised to focus on the monetization of the

Funding Your App - The Friends and Family Round

This is part one of our mini-series on how to fund your app. Be sure to check back next week for part two.

Do You Have a Healthy Relationship with Your Website?

The rate at which we consume information today can be staggering. In the era of instant information and communication, an efficient and robust web presence is paramount to the success of your business

Mobile UX – Current Best Practices & Future Considerations

There are many metrics by which one can gauge the success of a mobile app. The versatility of the code, the quality of the UI, and the utility value of the app, are just a few examples of this. Collec

How to Write Effectively for the Web

If you have tried writing for the web, you know how daunting it can be to produce original content. Not only are writers competing for the attention of their audience, but they are likely under pressu

IOT: Let’s Talk Numbers

Determining trends versus sustainable industries is an ancient affair. The tech world is a sustainable industry with countless fading trends flowing through. Identifying what stays sustainable in the

Javascript MVC Frameworks: Your Choice is Your Future

As a web developer, you have likely delved into the exciting world of JavaScript, with great success. However, as your client-side web app design becomes more responsive and UI heavy, you will notice

Make Your Application Apple-Watch Friendly

Back in the day a secret spy watch was the mandatory imaginary accessory for any little kid. James Bond is a great example of how many tools and applications can be run from a wrist. As technology fin

MWC 2015: From Hardware to Hand Wear

Codal had the opportunity to visit Barcelona last week in time for Mobile World Congress 2015. We previously covered it here, but have a great report coming back from our delegates! The big theme was

A Codal Report: Mobile World Congress 2015

Codal will be making it's annual visit to Barcelona this week to learn, engage, and contribute to Mobile World Congress. With nearly 85,000 attendees over a four day period, Codal is excited to partic

Mobile UX Design: The Rule of Thumbs

In development the user experience is crucial to the lasting usability of an application, be it mobile or desktop. During the developmental research phase of any build the functionality on the front e

Codal to Award $10K at #NYCSTARTSUP

Sept. 29, 2014 - New York City, New York — Codal will be partnering with 212 NYC and The New York Times at #NYCSTARTSUP 2014. The role that startup investment and incubation plays is central to Coda