Continuing coverage of our latest recognition on Clutch’s annual report of leading firms in the United Kingdom and Canada, we wanted to dive deeper into what enabled us to achieve this success. While we are proud to showcase our leadership among web, ecommerce, Drupal, Shopify, and Magento developers in Canada, it is important to reflect on the past projects and relationships that drove us to these heights.
Having evaluated our team across various development sectors, Clutch has taken the time to conduct interviews with many of our clients, framing an accurate picture of what it’s like to work with us; their conversations cover an array of questions regarding the challenges, solutions, and results of our time working together. Dedicating much of our success to our clients, we wanted to look back, not only to share some of the things they’ve had to say about our work, but to share how we’ve become a Canada development leader as well:
“They really know their stuff in Drupal, more so than any other development shop I’ve worked with…their team was essentially available at any time to answer our questions, solve an emergency, or fix a mistake that we made,”
referenced the Director of Design & Development for a digital agency. They went on to describe the measurable impact one of our team’s suggestions had on their project’s success:
“After he made the switch, the site’s response time decreased by 53%. Immediately, the site started working faster. The dependencies that the site relied on went from over 200 to under 125. Overall, his recommendation made a huge impact on our business to the point that at the end of 2014, we grew by 400%. By the end of 2015, we were doing about 12 million pages with the website he developed.”
Additionally, the Technology Coordinator for a school division, remarked on our project management expertise:
“From day 1, the communication has been the hallmark and has been phenomenal. There have been no issues whatsoever with project delivery as a whole. They are far quicker than other services we have been involved in.”
Another client, the Technical Product Manager of a sports company, spoke on our dedication to the project and beating expectations:
“Considering what we asked of them, and knowing they didn’t receive our mockups and wireframes until 3 weeks out, it was crazy that we managed to launch. They stepped up in terms of commitment.”
To learn more about our clients’ experiences and how we’ve distinguished ourselves as a Canada development leader, follow our Clutch profile here.
Adriana Cacoveanu / Feb 08'2018
We did it again! OPTASY's got featured on Clutch's latest research on the leading Drupal developers in Canada.
And there's more to it!
Being included in this research is already a confidence-boosting honor in itself. Yet... we can't hide that we feel like jumping for joy (literally) right now since we've also got recognized as “leaders” in web development.
Not just for one, but for 2 industries:
Canada: Top Web Developers (ranked 7th)
Top Canada eCommerce Developers (ranked 6th)
This is — with the risk of making it sound a bit like an inflated speech — the most rewarding recognition of our work as a Drupal 8 agency and Drupal eCommerce agency that we could get! Considering that Clutch's researchers and implicitly its tops, too, are conducted and based not just on the analyzed companies':
expertise in certain industries
presence on the market
ability to deliver high-quality results to clients
… but on their past and current clients' feedback (although we're more fond of the word “partners”). That's why we're “overly” honored by this recognition!
For this cannot but certify that yes: we did succeed to live up to our partners' expectations. And so all the efforts that we've put in:
attracting only one particular type of people into our team: those who're far from “just” knowledgeable in their fields, but... curious and overly passionate about their work
constantly striving to provide irreproachable customer service
always tailoring our approaches — to the web development process itself — to each project's needs and to each partner's particular requirements
… have paid off.
And have made our clients turn into our... advocates! Their recognition of our work is a huge push forward for us, both as a Canadian web development and as an e-commerce development agency!
Moreover, seeing our five-star “neighbors” on those 2 Clutch tops has simply overwhelmed us (another big word, yet we cannot help it)...
Drupal development teams that we've been looking up to, that inspire us and challenge us to grow. And we're right next to them, among all these leaders, on Clutch!
Now since we don't want to turn this post into a boringly long, slightly narcissistic type of award-winning speech, we feel like ending it now with an honest: “Thank you!”.
To all our partnering companies and organizations, who took the time to go on Clutch and to write down a feedback for their overall experience with us. And, of course, to the Clutch team itself for the time and efforts they've invested in this research.
Serge Karpyuk / Jan 29'2018
The world's tiniest laptop, the rollable TV, the world's largest wall TV... all the disruptive “superlatives” in the tech industry are being currently showcased at CES 2018 — Consumer Electronics Show — in Las Vegas (Jan 9-12).
And if you haven't managed to attend the huge tech show and you're in the consumer technologies sector or just an innovative gadgets & technologies passionate, stay assured: we'll be keeping you in the loop!
Here are the:
event's highlights
“steamy fresh” info on precisely those gadgets stealing the spotlight as we speak
news on the most-talked-about innovative consumer technologies at the show
CES 2018: There's Something for Everyone's Taste
That's right, take this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) as a “theme park” overwhelming its visitors with its load of attractions.
Its “visitors” being all those with a keen eye for sleek, next-generation gadgets and a guilty addiction for breakthrough innovations in the tech industry:
There is a high tech “ride” for everyone's taste
From wireless headphones to 8k OLED TVs, from electric cars to monster-sized TVs, robots for commercial use, wearables, high-tech hi-fi, to fingerprint scanning-incorporated mobile phones...
And the list can definitely go on: there sure is something to turn anyone's high tech fantasies into reality at CES 2018!
Everyone had been expecting (since it's a 50 years old tech show after all) both the Las Vegas Convention Center's show floor and the Halls of the Venetian to be “piled up” with... jaw-dropping tech innovations!
With tech manufacturing giants — Samsung, LG, Sony, Acer, Panasonic and Big G itself — as "stars" of the show, this gathering can't turn out to be but... overwhelming, for any show attendee.
Gadgets and Tech Stealing the Show, The Largest Consumer Tech Show
I bet you'd die to take a sneak peek inside.
And even if it's going to be just an imaginary tour of the exhibits, your time is limited, isn't it? So you want to know which are those gadgets and consumer technologies “basking in a rockstar fame”.
Well, get ready for they're about to step into the spotlight, here below. It's a selection of the consumer electronics products gathering the largest crowds these days in Vegas, at CES 2018:
The headphones equipped with translation capabilities
Samsung's monster-sized Wall TV: its 165 inches are getting loads of attention at the tech show, not to mention that the giant consumer tech brand has also unveiled its battle plan of conquering OLED this year
Acer's Swift 7, the world's tiniest laptop (so far): it comes with out-of-the-box 4G LTE connectivity to boot
LG's latest robots designed to assist customers at hotels and shopping centres
LG's 65-inch OLED rollable Ultra HD TV prototype: the future of technology has the shape of a highly convenient TV that you can easily... roll up, just like a newspaper
Blyton's electric car: which has easily managed to stand out from the crowd of SCI-fi-like TVs, mobile phones, and other next-generation gadgets; CES 2018 is sure to make a fantastic “stage” for the Chinese startup to show off its innovative potential to the world
Intel's CPU's with AMD Vega graphics
Asus's MC mini-like Chromebox 3: since “small” is definitely the new big, Asus, too, unveiled its own small-sized product, equipped with built-in support for Gigabit LAN and dual-band 802.11 ac WI-FI (meaning, of course, that it will stream 4k videos... superbly)
End of... tour! Of course, the lights on the global stage of innovation — CES 2018 — are still on. And they'll be on till Friday, the 12th of January. New “superstars” in terms of gadgets will be rising, so take my selection here as a rough guide only!
Adriana Cacoveanu / Jan 10'2018
To go or not to go serverless... This is one of 2018's most asked questions in the IT industry. And it's true that serverless computing has grown from a niche solution, with a somewhat misleading name, into a tech trend guaranteed by all the industry experts.
Yet, you're still a bit hesitant when it comes to replacing your heavy, yet familiar infrastructure with a serverless framework, right? You feel like “dipping a toe into the water” first.
And who could blame you? It's a more than legitimately prudent approach considering the implications of such a switch.
You shouldn't make a move, not until you have some unbeatable arguments at hand. Until you gain a deep understanding of all the benefits that derive from adopting a cloud-native approach.
Well, this is precisely what this blog post is all about:
pointing out all the strongest benefits that you will reap from taking the infrastructure management weight off your shoulders and going... serverless.
But First: What Is Serverless Architecture More Exactly?
First of all, let's get one thing straight: “serverless computing” doesn't mean, by all means, that there isn't a server, out there somewhere, doing its data workload processing work!
It's just that the user (yes, you!):
is no longer burdened with all the server (or fleet of servers) management and monitoring ongoing tasks
doesn't know (or care) where in the world his server is located
You'd be practically running your code right in the cloud, taking out of the picture the need of provisioning servers on your enterprise's end.
"But how does the data processing work on cloud?"
A valid question indeed. Basically, you're enabled to set up your individual API endpoints which will fire code and perform certain actions once triggered.
As simple as that.
And if I am to exemplify, probably the best-known example would be the serverless computing AWS: Amazon's AWS Lambda. It has already managed to “seduce” plenty of IT managers in the industry and its popularity is sure to... explode in 2018.
Why? Because it's a serverless computing architecture which:
scales automatically, granting enterprises the flexibility they need and helping them cut down costs
it executes code only when/if certain events occur, when specific endpoints get triggered
And it's not a serverless framework without “rivals”. Competition is about to get fierce when other frameworks such as Webtask, Microsoft Azure Functions, Google Cloud Functions, IBM OpenWhisk and Iron.io will start to... take off.
It's Horizontally Scalable: Relax and Let It Handle Massive Waves of Traffic for You
In other words: you get to worry less about balancing the heavy load, about the waves of traffic that your site/app might face once certain of your endpoints get exposed. And about rushing in to put together the properly robust infrastructure.
The underlying system will handle it for you!
You're Free to Set Up Each Endpoint in the Language of Your Choice
Or simply put: your API endpoints will be language-agnostic!
You (or your lucky team of developers) get to write each endpoint in a different language runtime. So, you're free to use the one that you're most familiar with or the one that best fits our work scenario.
And this is already a major pro for adopting a serverless computing approach in 2018!
You Only Pay for What You Use: A Strong Benefit of Serverless Computing
Here's another “irresistible” benefit that you can reap from going serverless: you only pay for what you use!
So, there's no need (not anymore) to pile up on T2 small instances and auto-scaling groups... just in case. The “case” here being: “if I ever hit a surge of traffic”.
When you're using a serverless architecture all this comes without a price tag on!
Worry Less About Managing The Underlying Infrastructure: It's Being Taken Cared Of!
Your serverless cloud provider will be managing the entire fleet of servers for you.
And this “management” includes applying security patches as soon as they get released, as well!
So, take all these monitoring and security-related concerns off your back and... focus more on turning great ideas into great digital products!
And this is — all these resources of time and effort that you'll get to invest elsewhere — the main advantage that you'll leverage from switching to serverless computing!
Turn That Great Idea of Yours Into The Next Big Thing Quicker Than Ever!
Just think about it: going from having a great idea to actually turning it into the next big... app (let's say) will take you a whole less time (and effort).
Serverless computing will smooth the path for you and shorten the process, meaning that:
you'll be having your idea production ready a lot quicker
you'll gain more confidence to try on newer technologies, as well
Summing Up... Plus a Forecast for 2018
“Serverless IT will move from the niche corners of the cloud estate into the spotlight as it addresses the three key areas that keep IT admins up at night: speed, cost and risk.” (Jason McDonald, President U.S., Contino)
Yet (for there is a “yet”), serverless computing isn't a “one size fits all” type of solution. It won't scale to all app architectures and needs (like the need to closely monitor and to control how things get configured).
Nevertheless, if we:
go beyond its somehow misleading name
see its strong benefits
consider it only for those use cases that it's best fitted for
... serverless architecture is here to stay and change the way we build software from the ground up!
RADU SIMILEANU / Jan 04'2018
“By our powers combined...” Let's imagine the representatives from all major web browsers saying this line when they joined forces, in 2015, for creating a whole new format for compilation to the web. When the WebAssembly support “revolution” began.
And there's no one in the digital landscape who can honestly admit that they saw this coming!
That after only 2 years all four major web browsers, Firefox, Chrome — the first 2 to enable support for WebAssembly by default — Safari and Edge — that joined the WASM “gang” the past few weeks — would officially run WASM code on the web.
How did it all begin? How did we get this far and (most of all): what can we dare to expect from a WebAssembly-influenced future of web?
An Unexpectedly Promising Start
Let's start with the “I have a dream...” type of beginning!
Work on WebAssembly started in 2015. Its team of engineers' dream (a dream nourished by all other web browsers) was to create a technology/set up a standard (or “format” if you prefer) for rendering application logic as optimized bytecode.
… for compiling JavaScript code into WASM format which injects web apps, even the most complex, “bulky” ones, with high performance and increased security.
With near-native speed!
By the end of 2016 the team of visionaries — the W3C Community Group — had already added the last “strokes of brush” to the new WebAssembly standard's core features.
And only 7 months later, Google, Mozilla and Microsoft were already offering enabled WebAssembly support in their browser previews.
A major boost and a positive shake-up for the development team behind it, which no later than March 2017 was already concluding work on the new standard. And a consensus of all major browser vendors on the initial version of WebAssmely version was reached.
Then, it simply followed its roadmap and started to stir waves in the digital arena:
“Will WebAssembly mark the end of traditional JavaScript-based apps and the new era of native-app-alike... alternatives?” “Is WebAssembly The “Death” of JavaScript?”
From then on, in the months to come, WebAssembly support started to be shipped along with the newest versions of all the 4 major web browsers.
The WebAssembly Standard: Benefits That You Can Reap
And the valid question that you might be asking yourself right now must be:
“And how do I benefit from this new standard? From the WebAssembly support now enabled, by default, in ALL 4 major browsers?”
Here's how:
it will turbocharge your bulky, complex app/modern website with near-native performance (with no need for a plugin); it's proven that the low-level bytecode format that it uses compiles JavaScript code into lighter code: a sustainable use of bandwidth on mobile devices & improved page loading times
it “frees” your development team from “JavaScript's tyranny”, so to say; using WebAssembly as a code compiler they're now “tempted” with a collection of languages to write their code it, wider than ever before... code which they can compile straight to wasm, without the need to transpile it to JavaScript beforehand
the ideally compact WASM format acts as a “turbocharger” which transmits files at high speed over the wire and (most importantly) gets them loaded as JavaScript modules!!!
not only that WASM “was designed from the ground up to be fast” (Jay Phelps, Netflix senior software engineer, said), but also to guarantee you a higher level of protection: the WASM format code is much safer since it executes within the web browser's own security sandbox
bytecode, thanks to its conveniently structured data format, is easier for web browsers to read and parse
What WebAssembly Support in All Browers Means for Developers?
As for your development team, as already mentioned, using the WebAssembly code compiler opens the gates to a whole new world of options: C, C+, Rust...
With more statically typed language support to come!
Moreover, broad Webassembly support at the web browsers' level can only mean that they're free to experiment. Since the great majority of end users now have WASM support automatically enabled in their web browsers of choice.
your team of developers gets to perform their “coding experiments” in a programming language of their choice
compile their code to a bytecode format
… which then the web browser can execute within a virtual machine!
Safari and Edge: The Last 2 Browsers to Join the “WASM” Gang
With Firefox and Chrome as the “early adopters” of the Webassembly standard, it was about time that Apple and Microsoft shipped WebAssembly support in their Safari 11.0, respectively EdgeHTML 16 browser versions, too.
And it's finally a wrap! It's been a few weeks already since all 4 major web browsers are officially capable to run WASM-formated code.
What Next? WebAssembly In the Foreseeable Feature
In other words: what does using the WebAssembly code compiler at its full potential mean?
It's designed to make it possible for any kind of app (the largest ones, with a high demand of CPU, being the main target) to run on the web reaching the same performance as if it would if it was running locally, on the end user's PC. As if it was a native app.
What do you think? Will WebAssembly mark the “birth” of a new kind of native-like apps running on the web instead?
… and developers' “liberation” from the preconception of a “universal language”?
Adrian Ababei / Nov 21'2017
Be there or... be left behind! This is how your invitation to the AI Expo North America should sound like.
It's the world's largest exhibition of next generation AI technologies and conference on artificial intelligence strategies to implement at an enterprise level.
With 4 major AI conferences, sessions covering topics that range from:
enterprise AI apps
to big data
to analytics
to virtual assistants
to AI development
And speakers from companies such as Google, Paypal, Uber, LinkedInb, AirBnB, Kia Motors... the AI-dedicated event in Santa Clara turns into disruptive technologies enthusiasts' and forward-thinking entrepreneurs' global gathering.
AI Expo Santa Clara: Why Attend? What to Expect?
To answer your first legitimate question:
“Because all the market leaders and forward-thinking brands will be there to reveal to you, in case study-based sessions, how to (and which) implement AI techniques across your organization; how to use AI to market more intelligently and to fuel brand loyalty."
Now to give you a more convincing numbers-heavy type of answer: for its 4 AI conference tracks, its 30+ industry-leading speakers and its no less than 300+ exhibitors.
And you should definitely attend it for all the mind-blowing exhibitions of the newest AI technologies that will be showcased at the Santa Clara Convention Center. Look out for:
the Iot Tech Expo
the Blockchain Expo
What to expect, you say?
Expect debates sparking around the advancements in the artificial intelligence sector and their impacts on the enterprise & and consumer sectors.
Expect a global gathering of AI evangelists, start-ups and leaders from key industries ready to share with you their AI-centered success stories and, implicitly, some of their revolutionary AI-focused strategies.
AI Expo North America: AI in the Enterprise & AI for Developers (Nov. 29)
On the first day of the AI Conference in Santa Clara you'll be given priceless advice on how to harness artificial intelligence's full potential across your organization. Along with information on the impact that AI will have on your workforce.
And we're talking here about:
the applicability of AI strategies from an entrepreneur's, a business executive's perspective (the AI in the Enterprise conference tracks)
implementing AI technologies from a developer's standpoint (the AI for Developers conference tracks)
Now if we made a must-attend sessions list, it would have to include the following talks:
AI-Powered Business intelligence: where you'll be learning how to build an AI-first strategy, discovering how capitalizing AI grants you new business value and why you should support your decision-making process on business intelligence analysis
Big Data: Creating Intelligent Data Models, with prominent speakers from PayPal, Tractica, Ancestry, LinkedIn and Airbnb
The Application of Deep Learning Within an Enterprise: discover how some of the world's most valuable brands are capitalizing machine learning within their companies
Connecting Deep Learning With the Internet of Things and Blockchain: learn all about AI technologies' impact on the financial sector and the overall tech system itself; find out why you should and when it's the perfect time to make the move from predictive analytics to deep learning (a session presented by the Vice President of product and strategy, machine learning and AI at BNY Mellon)
…. and our selection of must-see sessions at the AI Expo North America could go on with those covering topics such as next-generation cybersecurity and legal advice for avoiding big data discrimination.
AI Expo North America: AI in Consumer & Digital Transformation (Nov. 30)
“Customer”, “AI-powered customer experience”, “hyper-personalization”, “predictive customer intelligence” will be the words on all speakers' lips on day 2. A day broken down into 2 major conference tracks:
AI in Consumer and Digital Transformation
Bot and Virtual Assistant Development
And we've striven to pick (not an easy task!) the sessions we would add to our own event schedule as a web development team from Toronto attending it:
the Geeta Wilson's (Humana) keynote on leveraging AI in digital transformation
the panel on chatbots, presented by speakers from TGI Friday's, AIMA, MoneyGram and Foursquare
the talk about the role of AI/ML in e-commerce, held by Wayfair’s Associate Director of Data Science
the panel on taking customer experience to a whole new level through the use of the latest AI tools
Bottom Line
Expect a two-day marathon of:
attending inspiring case study-based sessions
one where you'll strive to take a close look at all the exhibits
struggle to assimilate as much insightful content as you can
...and to just... be there, joining the AI revolution, right from the center (at least for 2 days) of the world of artificial intelligence
No chance to get bored at the AI conference in Santa Clara, nor chance to leave “empty handed”!
Adrian Ababei / Nov 16'2017
Just a glimpse at the list of speakers who'll be holding the stage at Web Summit 2017 and we get even more pumped up for it: OPTASY will be there, too! Practically all the titans of the web and... us, a Drupal and web development from Canada, will be at the MEO Arena in Lisbon, Portugal, from the 6th to the 9th of November.
As you can guess, we're already counting the days, literally overwhelmed with excitement!
For it's not "just" leaders in the tech industry who'll gather in sunny Lisbon (Fortune 500 companies and wildly successful start-ups), but "the world's most disruptive technology companies". Leading “minds” and global tech innovators!
And innovation is our own driving force as a company!
It's what helped us grow from a pure web development company into a full-service software provider.
It's our very own “guilty weakness” for emerging technologies the real “culprit” for OPTASY's transformation, over these years (since 2005), from a Drupal solutions provider into a company specialized in full-cycle projects.
We now handle all the phases of complex web projects, ranging from:
site/app structure planning
to custom modules development
to creating new functionalities from scratch
to theming
and post-launch maintenance & support
All the talent and energy that we've gathered in our team, over these years, all the creative minds that came on board, speak best of OPTASY's efforts to create a culture of innovation in-house.
And from all the innovation “addicts” (each one in its own field) in our team, it's Serge Karpiuk, our Head of Sales, Business Developer and Drupal Consultant, who'll be packing his bags for Lisbon (lucky guy!)! We, the rest of the “mortals” at OPTASY can't but secretly “envy” him and... relax. For we're 101% that:
he'll be “absorbing” and mentally storing EVERYTHING; no groundbreaking news or announcement, no powerful tips or high-impact information shared during the talks will “escape” him (and don't worry, we're not selfish: we'll be sharing all the highlights with you right here, on our blog)
he's the perfect embodiment of OPTASY; in order words: in case you'll be attending the Web Summit 2017, too, you'll instantly get a clue of how we are as a company: open to change, open to ongoing learning, open to people (and he definitely is, so don't be shy to come out to him), highly passionate about what we do.
Adrian Ababei / Nov 06'2017
Magento's about to step into... the third dimension of e-commerce!
As you well know, the other 2 are:
responsive e-commerce websites
native apps
And the e-commerce giant is about to make its glorious entrance by launching its Magento PWA Studio! A suite of tools designed to empower developers to... develop (obviously!) online stores as progressive web apps.
That Magento has jumped on this trend is really no surprise at all. But the suite of tools that it's now developing is, for sure, a source of ongoing assumptions, skeptic feedback and expectations.
Here's what we know for sure, right from their post on Magento turning into a progressive web application platform:
that these tools are aimed to turn into “learning tools” for future Magento PWA developers
that they're designed to enable them to build blazing-fast PWA front-ends for their e-commerce Magento stores
that it's a “toolset” that will help them build PWA components and extensions to be reused or even sold on the Magento Marketplace
But before we get into this, before we shed some more light on Magento's new “baby” (that they're developing in collaboration with Google) we should answer the next question:
What's a PWA?
“The “eraser” of all clear-cut differences between the mobile web and native apps”.
Now, in order to give PWAs a less... metaphoric definition, how about “dissecting” the term itself, “progressive web app”, starting from the back:
it's an app (not an applet!): since it installs and runs its code on the customer's own device (PCs here included)
it's a “web” app: an obvious advantage over native apps, since it's not closely “dependent” on one specific platform and on its specific language; it uses “plain” web languages such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript
it's “progressive”: meaning that it progressively loads assets and data as the user scrolls down a specific page in the store or goes from one page to another; so, there's no need for those “surfed” pages to reload, since changes and transitioning happen... gradually
Summing up, progressive web apps:
look like native apps (delivering the same app-like and lightning-fast digital shopping experiences)
behave like responsive mobile websites, since they run in browsers and are written in standard web languages
and yet... they're neither native apps nor JavaScript one-page apps
They're... progressive web apps (a no-brainer conclusion, no doubt about it).
And it's those types of digital shopping experiences of the future that the Magento PAW Studio's tools will help developers create.
Progressive Web Apps vs Native Apps
It's a fact: native apps “rule” in terms of conversion rates and in terms of provided shopping digital experiences.
The mobile web stands no chance to compete with that!
Yet, developing native apps does come with its inconveniences for players in the e-commerce arena (especially for small and medium-sized businesses):
they're expensive to develop
potential shoppers only download and install the apps of those specific brands that they interact with most frequently
And here's how PWAs “dare” to challenge native apps' long-time supremacy:
they're more cost-effective to build since they're developed on open standards (and even so more now, with the Magento PWA Studio soon to be available)
they're equally fast
they run their code right in the mobile web browser, there's no longer a need for a separate installation
Progressive Web Apps vs Responsive Mobile Sites
In short: how are any better (for both online store owners and their customers) than traditional responsive websites?
Here's how/why:
they leverage open source technology
they rely on the new API's, Service Workers, integrated now into web browsers, which allow JavaScript to run in the background: boosted speed + improved usability
And, deriving from this tiny “detail”, there are a plethora of features that make them a huge leap forward into the future of e-commerce. We've pointed out the most significant ones in this post here on PWA's and how they can benefit your business.
What Does The Magento PWA Studio Include So Far?
Now that we've defined PWAs and that we've compared them to the other 2 online shopping channels, let's focus more on Magento's plan to turn into a progressive web app platform.
In this respect, here's what this suite of tools includes for now:
application shell: a basic PHTML file, created in the early phase of the project, standing for the basis for the HTML responses (coming from all routes)
API layer: working on a new style of API and on new API methods, that could provide lighter, more customized responses (compared to those of the REST designs)
application framework: the resulting PWA will be interacting with the “headless” Magento store via API calls
Yet, from all the information that the Magento team shared on their blog, the one with the greatest impact has been that: it's React apps that developers will get to build using the Magento PAW Studio.
It's React-powered front-ends that these apps will have.
Great news indeed, for all front-end developers out there, since there's no point denying that React's riding huge waves of popularity these days.
No wonder that the Drupal core committer team, too, is considering using React JS for building their own administrative user interfaces.
What's In It for You, The Magento Store Owner?
Ok, so we've pointed out how much more enjoyable Magento developers' work is going to be, that they'll be enabled to get their Magento PWAs up and running in no time, but... what about you, the business owner?
Let us point out some key PWA features that easily translate into benefits for you:
PWAs are SEO-friendly: thanks to their JavaScript architecture PWAs are easy to crawl through (by search engines' bots); also, they're lightning-fast, which makes them SEO-optimized right from the start
PWAs run on desktop browsers, as well: that's right, they're not restricted to the mobile web since Service Workers run on desktop browsers, too
PWAs will run on Safari, as well: Apple's planning to “do the necessary” so that PWAs can run on Apple devices, as well, in the near future.
The END! For now, at least, since the Magento WAP Studio is still under development, tests are being run, developers' feedback is being collected and closely analyzed.
Are you looking forward to it? What's your opinion on progressive web apps shaping the future of e-commerce?
You can also check out our Magento website design services in Vancouver.
Adrian Ababei / Oct 12'2017
He proposed it:
“... make some of Drupal's own administrative UIs more powerful and easier to use, I proposed that we add a modern JavaScript to core.” (Dries Buytaert's keynote presentation, DrupalCon Vienna)
... and stirred waves of enthusiasm, of unveiled skepticism and never-ending debates. What would using React JS for Drupal's administrative UIs mean for you?
You, the site builder. You, the content creator?
And this is precisely what we'll try to answer in this blog post as we'll be:
presenting you the context: why is integrating a JavaScript framework right into Drupal core even needed?
pointing our Drupal's long way to becoming “ JS ready”
highlighting the reasons why React's most likely to win this “popularity contest” over other JS technologies
highlighting the challenges to expect and to plan out for (to overcome) if React is, indeed, the “chosen one”
outlining the clear benefits that YOU will get if a JavaScript framework, more precisely if React does get integrated into Drupal core
3 Inconveniences for Currently Not Having a JavaScript Framework in Drupal Core
While headless Drupal 8 has proven to be a powerful content repository for front-end apps, not having a JS framework integrated into its very core has been the cause of certain … limitations:
it kept putting off addressing well-known editorial and site-building UX issues
it made it almost impossible to help Drupal core contributors realize how they could leverage certain JavaScript approaches and advanced practices; how they could transpose them into new modules and new Drupal features
it has been a break on assimilating more JavaScript experts and JS expertise into the Drupal community
From Improving Its Web Services APIs to Being Ready for Integrating a JS Framework in Core
You're closer than ever, as a site builder/content creator, to using React JS for Drupal's administrative UIs. Yet, this didn't happen overnight:
first Dries Buytaert (Drupal CMS's founder himself) and his team decided to stabilize Drupal's web services APIs
then to step up their efforts even more for improving them
and it's just now that they've decided that Drupal's finally matured and 100% ready for this major integration
Meanwhile, Drupal users have done wonders leveraging Drupal 8's web services APIs:
front-end apps have been built alongside Drupal, which has been backing them up as their content repository
… and modern, JavaScript frameworks have been used for powering these apps' front-ends, with no restriction, whatsoever, on the particular JS technologies that web developers chose to use
Now having passed the “decoupled architecture test” and having managed to adapt itself to all JavaScript frameworks used as front-ends, Drupal's ready to... level up!
To incorporate a JavaScript framework in its core.
And, implicitly, it's time for the Drupal community, as well, to commit to a unique framework that will be used for its administrative front-end.
Why React JS?
We'll start by answering the “Why React JS over Angular or Ember?” question:
“Because of its component-based nature.”
And there's a growing “trend” among web developers to create user interfaces by putting together reusable component libraries. Luckily, React makes it easy to build self-contained components and to simply “assemble” them in big-sized apps.
Therefore, the other 2 JS frameworks (focused on MV* specific workflows instead), are off the table.
And now, let's list other reasons for using React JS for Drupal's administrate UIs:
it's backed up and constantly updated with new libraries, new tutorials etc. by a worldwide, active community of developers
it powers large-scale web projects such as Facebook, Airbnb, WordPress, The New York Times
it's this community itself that bundled up an ecosystem of no less than 16.000 libraries around it
its different approach to virtual DOM (Document Object Model): it “detects” precisely those virtual DOM objects that need to be updated and it's strictly those parts of the real DOM that it updates (instead of updating the entire DOM tree); a major performance boost indeed
it poses no problems working with it thanks to its rather straightforward programming approach
it “plays well” with all the other JS frameworks
licensing issues reported in the past have been resolved
it's widely used by the JavaScript developers
Expected Challenges of Working With React JS
For there are challenges that the Drupal's main contributors are planning out for when it comes to using React JS for Drupal's core. And so should you:
modularity, itself, will turn out to be a major challenge to plan out for
Drupal will need to “keep up with” React's much more alert release cycle
Drupal theming for decoupled UIs will never be the same again: React's approach will prevail
Using React JS for Drupal's Administrative Interfaces: What's in It for You?
For adopting a JS framework for Drupal's own administrative UIs (and React seems to be the winning “competitor), does translate into key benefits for you, as well:
whether you're a Drupal site builder or a content creator, using Drupal will get much easier (talking about addressing its old UX issues right?) in a reversible, incremental way
building modern UIs will get a lot more streamlined when you have a modern, JS toolbox right at hand... in Drupal core!
a JavaScript framework would automatically speed up (“app-like speed”) content modeling, configuration tools, content listing
if you're a Drupal developer, you can stay reassured that your Drupal expertise will stay relevant in a JavaScript technologies-centered web
... that, your future React-focused sills will be future-proofed (thanks to this JS technology's high popularity among web developers)
What do you think? Do you find adding a JavaScript framework to Drupal core a good idea or not?
And what about using React JS for Drupal? Would you have gone for another JS technology instead if you could have chosen the one to power your administrative UIs from now on?
Adrian Ababei / Oct 09'2017