In 2021, it is expected that about 27.2% of the world population will shop online at least once.
A lot of potential customers out there, right?
As eCommerce is becoming the new norm, digital businesses seek out ways to thrive in this competitive landscape and position themselves as leading trend-setters.
To do that, companies need to realize the power of digital transformation and how they can embrace it in order to support the modern demands of speed and accessibility that customers require today.
This starts with leveraging the right tools for building robust digital assets. One of these tools is represented by eCommerce platforms, which are getting increasingly popular for businesses that seek to deploy an eCommerce system.
Drupal Commerce and Magento are two of the leading eCommerce solutions on the market and are often seen as direct competitors in the industry.
This article provides a side-by-side comparison of these two platforms in regards to technical capabilities, development, costs, scalability, security, and mobile responsiveness. Hopefully, this information will help you narrow down your choice in order to ensure that you choose the best fit for your business needs.
Key eCommerce Capabilities Enabled by Drupal and Magento
Drupal Commerce was released in 2011 and offers an open-source application framework that supports retailers in building and managing inventory, track orders, or handle payments.
Magento's initial release was in 2008. This PHP-based eCommerce site provides high levels of PayPal protocol integration and supports 12 worldwide payment gateways.
Both platforms offer, through native features or third-party add-ons, the following benefits:
Intuitive, easy-to-use user interface and control panels. No technical knowledge is required to customize and edit basic features.
Full-featured CMS that supports social sharing.
Business-centric structure for online stores.
Native integration of inventory-driven advertising material
Integration capabilities with third-party analytics, invoicing, or quoting solutions
One thing to keep in mind is that neither of these eCommerce platforms is a "plug and play" solution and making the most out of their potential may require further expertise.
Headless eCommerce
The headless version of Drupal Commerce has been in the spotlight in the last few years. This new initiative is an eCommerce solution that stores and delivers content without a front-end delivery layer. It's an API-driven implementation that transforms eCommerce functionality, making it available across a wide range of potential host environments.
A headless eCommerce model inclines towards a more SaaS-oriented, platform-agnostic solution that allows for better employee adoption and considerable time savings across IT departments.
When it comes to Magento, the open-source eCommerce platform, headless eCommerce is equally prioritized. Both Drupal Commerce and Magento are supporting headless models as the future of eCommerce.
Pricing
Drupal eCommerce's technical cost of entry is free. However, depending on scope and scale, the costs of developing and maintaining performant and secure eCommerce servers might reach tens of thousands of dollars.
Drupal Commerce project costs are directly proportional with a business needs for specific development architecture, module integrations, custom theme styling, or particular feature integrations.
Magento's newer modules are not offered as open-source and upgrading from Magento Open Source to Magento Commerce might be challenging.
From this financial point of view, Drupal Commerce seems to be a clear winner.
Scalability
Drupal Commerce has relevant capabilities of staying highly performant at scale. However, this CMS platform does not provide out-of-the-box database sharding and it can only be implemented on a third-party basis.
Drupal Commerce has lower requirements than Magento Commerce when it comes to the web server—the minimum required RAM for PHP is 64 MB and production systems usually require 128 or 256 MB.
Drupal Commerce-based implementation splits the eCommerce experience across three related Drupal domains. As a result, scaling is better, bottlenecks are eliminated, and the content and purchasing experiences are efficiently separated.
On the other hand, Magento's cloud hosting solves a large number of scalability issues, although at a higher price. The minimum RAM requirement of 2 GB will probably not scale well and distributed networks or caching may need to be deployed with greater care to keep up with the heavy load.
Security
Drupal is proven to be the most secure CMS and Magento's infection rate is much higher than Drupal's. From the point of view of security, Drupal Commerce is a winner for businesses that want to prioritize secure platforms.
Source: Sucuri.net
Mobile Responsiveness
As most websites transition to a mobile-first approach, eCommerce platforms that prioritize mobile responsiveness are a must.
Fortunately, both Magento Commerce and Drupal Commerce provide robust mobile capabilities to satisfy the need for accessibility and performance.
Drupal Commerce's themes allow building a fully responsive design for eCommerce websites and offer screen flexibility for creating versatile experiences.
The most popular themes like Corolla or eStore provide:
Multi-level responsive header menus
Custom layouts and color options
Box shadow and background textures
Custom field additions
Magento Commerce is close to Drupal when it comes to mobile optimization capabilities. Its responsive web design features help users create optimal viewing experiences for multiple devices. Magento Blank or Luma are out-of-the-box themes that deliver a fully responsive design.
Who's the winner for eCommerce?
While both Drupal Commerce and Magento Commerce are reliable options for a digital company that wants to thrive in the eCommerce market, every business has its own unique needs and requirements. Choosing the software that best supports these needs is a process that involves a lot of research and planning.
If you want to speed up this process and ensure that you reach the right decision, don't hesitate to contact Optasy for professional Drupal and Magento 2 services in Toronto.
Discover which platform is most suited to provide a robust eCommerce experience for you and your customers.
Photo credit: Mark Konig on Unsplash.
Raluca Olariu / Apr 06'2021
Here's a riddle for you: What has (at least) 9 lives besides cats? Well... the ever dying and always resurrecting PHP, of course! But joke aside: what about PHP in 2019?
Will it fade away? Will it still be relevant for building web apps, content-packed and dynamic websites? Or, does it risk (once again) to get retired due to other emerging, hard-to-resist-to technologies rivaling it?
Does “aged” mean "deprecated" in its case?
And if, so they say, PHP is not a “good-looking” language... why are we still using JavaScript then? JS frameworks don't necessarily excel when it comes to... elegance?
In other words:
“Why would you still be interested in using PHP (other than nostalgia or... pure habit) for building your websites and applications in 2019, as well?”
Here are some of the strongest reasons:
1. Some of the Leading CMSs Are Built on PHP
Just think WordPress, think Drupal, powering the most high-trafficked and content-packed websites out there. Think Joomla...
They're all PHP-based and they make the best guarantee that:
You get to use PHP in 2019 to build content-loaded websites that are conveniently easy to update. Website admins, even the less technical staff, will be empowered to easily make changes and manage their content.
Here, think of the overwhelming collection of PHP-based themes and plugins developed for WordPress only. Right at your disposal, to just grab and use for breathing life into your web projects...
Now, here's another example for you:
Think Magento, another widely used PHP-powered CMS. Website owners get to focus their resources on... boosting their sales, since they get a platform working right out of the box, instead of getting tangled up in code.
And that's just one of the strong reasons why you'd still want to use PHP next year, too.
2. It's Conveniently Easy to Update
And when it's a PHP website carrying thousands of pages that you're working on, instant updates become critical.
Being a server-side scripting language, PHP handles all updates from the server side (obviously!). The result: boosted security!
3. It's Quick and Simple to Deploy
With or without a framework, PHP in 2019 will still lead as the quickest server-side back-end programming language.
Moreover, it scales like no other, as well.
And to those doubting its scalability capabilities:
Think Wikipedia, think Facebook!
4. PHP Comes “Packed” With A Heavy Load of Libraries and Extensions
Lots and lots of them, so you can easily handle:
blogging pages
shopping carts
WebSocket server (Ratchet, ReactPHP, Swoole, which performs faster than rival Node.js itself)
And let me briefly highlight some of the key tasks that you'd be streamlining when leveraging some of these libraries that PHP spoils you with:
handling syntax
error display
code debugging
Not to mention that PHP provides you with a simple, easy to use API, ready-to-use functions for whatever web services you might need to use. And that it simplifies integration, too.
Note: take Composer, a reliable, reputed package manager, then choose any of the provided framework agnostic packages and simply incorporate them into your web project.
5. PHP in 2019 Goes Beyond Web App Development
Like it already has, actually.
You're free to:
“team it up” with .net languages via PeachPie
use it in GUI applications
use it to power your IoT projects with (particularly in edge/gateway)
6. PHP Documentation Simply... Stands Out
And this is no exaggeration, but a fact that even those who already buried PHP a few years ago would agree on.
PHP's documentation support still makes an excellent go-to resource for both newcomers and experienced PHP developers.
And here I cannot but mention the PHP document generator and all the richly documented elements such as:
hooks (actions and filters)
classes and their properties
inline comments
class method and functions
file headers
7. High Availability of Senior PHP Developers
I'm not talking here about so-called “experienced” developers, who've been working “intensively” with PHP for about ... about 2-3 years.
I'm referring to professionals with +10 years experience in leveraging PHP while working on various types of web development projects.
And this high availability of PHP experts can only translate into:
accessible and high-quality support and maintenance services (PHP website admins will never run out of options when it comes to calling an expert to come to their rescue whenever they're facing a technical hurdle)
low(er) development costs, with all those open source projects to use as valuable resources and the high availability of PHP professionals on the market
8. It Enables Developers to Build Dynamic Websites Easily
Data gets accessed and executed... dynamically with PHP. When it comes to building dynamic websites the easy way, there's still no other language rivaling it.
Furthermore, it's's built to run multiple threads/handle multitasking. To execute remarkably well on multi-core systems (unlike its “competitor”, the so very popular Node.js).
And I shall “abruptly” end here my list of top reasons why you would still use be interested in using PHP in 2019. Of course, I could go on outlining its versatility, it's rich syntax, the “shiny and new” PHP 7's significant improvements boosting its performance dramatically. Instead, I stop here.
How about you? What are your own main reasons for “stubbornly” sticking to PHP (if that's the case) when working on your web development projects next year?
RADU SIMILEANU / Dec 21'2018
Feeling stuck? Can't seem to put a finger on at least a few clear differences between PHPStorm and WebStorm? And you need to choose the most suitable IDE software for web development?
There sure must be some strong differences, other than:
PHPStorm doesn't provide JavaScript-oriented plugin support right out-of-the-box like WebStorm does.
Now, before we go “hunting” some key differences between PHPStorm and WebStorm, I'd like to add one last recommendation to consider when you select the right IDE for you:
It all comes down to evaluating various solutions and identifying not THE BEST, but the application that's perfectly suited to your specific needs.
That being said, without further ado, let's evaluate the “candidates”!
I'll be highlighting their key features (all while outlining the key differences between them) while you set them against your business requirements and specific feature needs, OK?
First of all: A Few Words About PHPStorm and WebStorm
Both IDE software products (Integrated Development Environment) are built on top of JetBrains IntelliJ platform. And geared at web development.
This has to be the most concise, yet comprehensive shared definition of our two “candidates” here. Let's move on to putting the spotlight on each of them, in turn...
PHPStorm: Key Features
If I am to turn a text definition into a mathematical formula, it would have to be something like this:
WebStorm + Database support + WebStorm = PhpStorm
Or, if I am to stick to a “conventional”, a standard text definition, it would go something like this:
PHPStorm incorporates all the functionality that WebStorm comes equipped with (CSS, JavaScript HTML), PLUS full-fledged PHP support (and databases support).
Also, sticking to the very purpose of this blog post — pointing out the key differences between PHPStorm and WebStorm — I should add that PHPStorm doesn't support JS like WebStorm does.
It doesn't provide built-in support for JavaScript plugins like its “competitor” does.
Now when it comes to its main functionalities:
start PHP code editor
HTML & CSS editor
Code navigation
JavaScript editor
Code quality analysis
Database & SQL
Debugging
Smart PHP code editor
Testing
Intelligent coding assistance
As for the integrations that PHPStorm supports, here are the most notable ones:
some of the most popular PHP test frameworks: Behat, Codeception, PHPUnit, PHPSpec
Composer Dependency Manager; this way you get to manage your project's dependencies right from the IDE
the webpack module bundler
React; it's perfectly equipped to assist you in linting, debugging, editing, running and configuring your apps
various compilers: Less, CSS, Sass, SCSS
Angular (Angular 2); it streamlines the process of building your desktop, web or mobile applications
WebStorm: Top Features
As already mentioned here: WebStorm “spoils” you, right out of the box, with support for JavaScript-oriented plugins.
Whereas, if you opt for PHPStorm, you'll need to install the needed JS plugins manually for achieving specific functionality.
And now, returning to its top features, here are just a few:
Extensive Navigation & Search capabilities
Support for React Native, PhoneGap, Cordova, Ionic and Node.js.
Unified UI for working with many popular Version Control Systems
Coding assistance for JavaScript and compiled-to-JavaScript languages, HTML, Node.js and CSS
Built-in debugger
Code quality tools
Built on top of the open-source IntelliJ Platform
Advanced coding assistance for Vue.js, React, Angular and Meteor
Spy-js tool for tracking JavaScript code
Simple unified UI for running Gulp, Grunt or npm tasks right from the IDE
… and the list of key features and tempting functionalities goes on.
Now another one of its main strengths, besides its built-in JavaScript-centered functionality, is given by all the integrations that it supports:
Spring
AcquiaMicrosoft
Google
Acquia
… a “detail” you sure don't want to underrate if you just consider the time and effort you'd be saving when working with an IDE that supports multiple integrations.
It will streamline the transfer of information between teams and services and cut down the valuable time otherwise invested in migrating from one software to another.
Choose WebStorm If...
... you're a front-end, JavaScript developer or, better said:
A “hardcore” one, depending on robust HTML, JavaScript and CSS-oriented features, such as JSUnit or Node.JS.
Go With PHPStorm If...
... you're having trouble choosing between PHPStorm and WebStorm, the most obvious proof that the first IDE (PHPStorm) is the one for you is the following:
You're a full stack back-end developer
And so, your work depends greatly on specific features, such as refactoring PHP code and built-in debuggers.
Final Word: Differences Between PHPStorm and WebStorm
It goes without saying that there's no such thing as IDE software ideally equipped to meet ALL your requirements.
Basically, when deciding between PHPStorm and WebStorm:
defining your specific needs (JavaScript-oriented or PHP-centered) is the very first thing to do
going for the IDE that integrates well with other programs is something that you'll need to consider, given the benefits that derive from there
So, have you got your answer yet? Judging from these key differences between PHPStorm and WebStorm, which one caters to your specific requirements?
RADU SIMILEANU / Apr 10'2018
How many web development challenges can the Laravel PHP framework help you solve? How much easier/faster does it make it for you to tackle common developer tasks?
These are the 2 main questions that we'll try to answer in this blog post here.
For the faster you'll be solving inevitable problems rising during your web app's development process, the more time you'll gain for sparking your creativity working on the app-specific logic!
So, speaking of the common development challenges and how they can make the best criteria for choosing your most suitable web framework, let us enlist them! Outlining, as well, how precisely Laravel can help you easily overcome them:
1. Addressing Technical Vulnerabilities
The challenge you're facing: fixing technical (and therefore “security”, as well) vulnerabilities that will inevitably “infiltrate” your web app during its development process (e.g. cross-site scripting, SQL injection etc.)
Laravel's solution:
it comes equipped with a shield against all major security vulnerabilities
its codebase has been constantly examined and monitored by hundreds of developer eyes
it restricts unauthorized users' access to your apps' crucial data or paid resources
2. Error and Exception Handling
The challenge you're facing:
configuring your app so that it properly handles errors (data-entry forms being the most frequent “error generators”)
triggering prompt notifications (error messages) to let the user know that he/she has entered incorrect data
Laravel's solution:
error handling is already configured
moreover, the PHP framework already incorporates the Monolog logging library, a powerful support for a multitude of long handlers
it runs regular updates in order to minimize errors on your website/app
3. Creating a Custom and Secure Authentication and Authorization System
The challenge you're facing: putting together an user authorization and authentication system so that unauthorized users shouldn't gain access to your app's paid resources/critical data
Laravel's solution:
it puts at your disposal, right out-of-the-box, everything you need for building your authentication system
in addition, it makes structuring your authorization logic very simple
it grants you full control to all the needed resources
4. Separating Client Side/Presentation Code from Server-Side/Business Logic Code
The challenge you're facing:
helping your web designers “grow independent” from their developer co-workers by making all the needed changes to your web app's HTML layout themselves
also, by drawing a clear line between presentation and logic from an early stage in the web development process you'll be enabling developers, too, to fix bugs and to add on new features a lot faster
Laravel's solution: being an MVC framework, the “presentation logic-business logic separation issue” is solved by default!
5. Configuring a Scheduler and Managing Scheduled Tasks
The challenge you're facing: putting in place some sort of task scheduling system (and by “task” we do refer to automated database table cleanups, to regular emails to be sent out automatically to subscribers from your list etc.)
Laravel's solution:
its built-in command scheduler enables you to configure your schedule from within Laravel
just one Crone entry on your server will be more than enough
6. Configuring Delivery Delays, Managing Queued Messages
The challenge you're facing:
putting together a message queue mechanism in the early stage of development for better handling that “heavy” load of requests (per second) that your web server's challenged with
a queue mechanism that should minimize risks of data loss and improve page loading time by speeding up web requests
Laravel's solution: its queue services “spoils” you with a unified API, irrespective of the queue back-end type
7. Scheduling Automated Tests With Laravel PHP Framework
The challenge you're facing: initializing automated testing sessions, which are much more time-effective and usually more accurate than the standard manual ones
Laravel's solution:
luckily for you the Laravel PHP framework comes with out-of-the-box PHPunit tests and a phpunit.xml file
moreover, it's equipped with functionalities enabling expressive testing by simulating common user behaviors (link clicking, filling out forms and so on)
8. Configuring URL Routing
The challenge you're facing: defining a clean and simple URL routing so that your app should clearly understand the user's intention, specifically which page he/she'd like to navigate to
Laravel's solution:
you'll find all your Laravel PHP framework's routes in its app/Http/routes.php file (don't worry, it will load by default)
the basic ones accept Closure and URI, allowing you to easily configure your routes
9. Integrating Your Web App With Mail Services
The challenge you're facing: building a system sending out notifications to your subscribers following key events
Laravel's solution:
it provides a simple, yet powerful and clean API over the SwiftMailer library
it also provides you with drivers for Mandrill, SparkPost, Mailgun, SMTP, Amazon SES, Sendmail, PHP's mail function; a “plug and play” solution for your app to instantly send out emails either via a local or via a cloud-based service
it also offers you support for sending out notifications (so not just emails) via multiple channels: Slack, SMS via Nexmo...
10. Integrating Backend Caches for Boosting Performance
The challenge you're facing: boosting your web app's performance by integrating it with cache back-ends
Laravel's solution:
Laravel PHP framework supports robust cache backends such as Redis and Memcached
it's built to use the file cache driver by default (storing the cached components in its file system)
moreover, it's even configured to efficiently handle multiple cache configurations
Summing Up
The Laravel PHP framework does streamline your basic development tasks (turning them from “challenges” into simple “to Do” tasks) helping you gain priceless time! Time that you can invest in “crafting code”.
Now we're more than curious to read your own thoughts about this web framework!
Adrian Ababei / Sep 15'2017
There, there, no need to get yourself stressed out over all the new Javascript libraries trying to lure you with their irresistible features. It's impossible even to test all of them!
Why should you allow this whole array of equally tempting choices to “sabotage” your efficiency by keeping you from creating new amazing websites and innovative web apps?
So, how can you keep your focus? By keeping a close eye on these 10 (lesser known) JavaScript libraries that we're convinced that will gain popularity and become the 10 most influential ones in 2017.
Find out what our predictions rely on!
1. Node.js
A bit sick and tired of hearing everyone in the web community keep talking about Node? No wonder it's one of their main topic:
it's one of those JS libraries that keeps on growing and growing at a mind-blowing speed, no doubt about that
it makes that reliable “boost”, the ideal environment, for any developer to get his web development project started with
it turns local packages management into a “child's play” in the command line
it eases your unit testing (in Mocha.js) work
it puts the Sails.js framework at your disposal for building your front-end interface
2. Riot.js
Now here's another JS library that will be wrapped in glory in 2017! Mostly front-end developers will get all excited around it!
Where will the excitement come from? Its helps you create powerful digital interface libraries!
But what makes it a strong alternative to React, one that you should even consider?
Here are just 3 answers to this legitimate question:
the whole community of developers backing up Riot.js, that you get to rely on, will make getting the answers to your questions much more time-efficient
its simple syntaxh makes it easier for you to control it while you're access DOM
it makes the perfect choice for customizing the elements of your app
3. Keystone.js
We could say that Node.js “passes on the torch” to Keystone.js.
Once you've used all of Node.js' capabilities in your web development process, reach out for Keystone. It will empower your website/web app with a 100% JavaScript, full-scale CMS engine!
4. D3.js
What do you currently rely on for creating eye-pleasing visualizations of your data?
Whatever you're using, you should definitely let D3.js stir your curiosity.
It has no rival among the JavaScript visualization tools. It will help you add the modern edge to your graphs, dynamic visualizations and charts in no time.
Give it a try! Don't let the trends in the big data industry pass you by, be the one who crafts the trends!
5. Create.js
On a constant look for the best toolkit to rely on when you create all your web animations and digital media “awesomeness”?
Well, you should consider Create.js for the role of “assistant” in your work. It's so much more than just “another JavaScript library”: it's a whole collection of libraries in fact. Each one of these “sub-libraries” spoils you with certain features and help you target certain parts of your digital media projects, so that that you should pick the ones that specialize on what you want to achieve in 3D.
For instance, one library/feature will help you build custom animations for the web, while others will help you handle the HTML5 canvas elements. Got the idea?
6. Meteor.js
What's your future web development/web design project? And your second one? How about the third one in your schedule?
Well, learn that you can practically build all these platforms on Meteor! All of them, plus the ones that are still in the phase of ideas populating your imagination!
Being an open source project, it empowers you with unlimited freedom of creation and innovation. From chat apps, to social media platforms, from custom dashboards to social voting website you can build anything from the ground up on Meteor and React.
Unlimited possibilities? Who could say no to that?
It's true though that Meteor is for the skilled web developers, it's not one of the easiest JS libraries to learn! Therefore, expect to have your brain muscle challenged a bit before you get to play with its whole array of great features!
7. Vue.js
Are you in the Angular fans team or in the Ember addicts team?
Now what if I told you that a new “actor” will be stepping on the stage and stealing the spotlight: Vue.js?
For front-end developers it will be more than just “lucky no. 3”. It's a MVVM front-end framework and it's Javacript (how else!)! Therefore, it steps away from the standard MCV architecture.
Although learning it might turn out to be quite a challenge, don't let that discourage you: this is going to be the two typical front-end frameworks' (Amber and Ember) big “rival” in 2017, so you'd better be one step ahead of trends and start learning it now!
8. WebVR
How's your VR projects coming along?
JavaScript comes to streamline your workflow with its' new API made for VR in your browser.
It's still under testing (and being an open source you can just imagine the “army” of developers testing all its weaknesses, checking how it works on VR devices and in the latest browsers), but even so, dare and rely on our prediction: you want to keep an eye on it in 2017!
9. Chart.js
Name a type of chart that you need to integrate in your website/web app and we'll tell you that you can easily put it together with Chart.js.
Besides the cool data graphs that you can build, we've put this Javascript library on our list due to its other tempting features:
it's so easy to customize
it's easy peasy to set it up, too
it comes already upgraded with great options for animations
it's an open source, meaning that you gain access to helpful documentation, too!
10. Three.js
And here's a more than useful JavaScript resource whenever you feel the urge to pull off some:
unbelievably realistic motion-sensitive backgrounds
mind-blowing 3D effects
amazing 3D web graphics
Don't you look forward to 2017 now, knowing what cool JavaScript libraries will get perfected and ready to help you enhance your full potential as a developer?
Adrian Ababei / Nov 24'2016
Every expert from every field has his or her own tools of the trade and web development is no different – web development tools are one of the most important factors to every project and these tools could mean the difference between finishing your project on time or passing multiple deadlines. Luckily enough, plenty of top web development tools are available for just about every platform. Here is our list of OS X apps which you should include in your web development tools box:
Browsers for web development
One of the most important tools for web development is a browser – you’ll need to view your website after you created it right? But it’s not so simple – you will need to test your website for many browser versions, including beta and nightly builds. With that taken into consideration, you’ll most likely need Opera Next, Chromium, Chrome Canary, Firefox Aurora, and Firefox Nightly.
Koala
Koala, apart from its cute name, is another nifty web development tool which is used to compile CoffeeScript, Compass, Sass, and LESS into a browser-compliant format. If you’re using any of these techs, Koala is definitely a must.
Anvil for web development
Anvil is an interesting free app which allows web developers to create .dev domains. You’ll see it as a new icon in the OS X menu bar and you can turn it on or off, create domains or add your projects to it. If you’re looking for a tiny web development tool to manage or work on your local websites with, Anvil is perfect.
Keka
When handling multiple files, you need a reliable compression service to help you along. Most web developers may use ortar, rar or zip but Mac has its own built-in feature to extract and manage these formats – this service is rather limited so you’re better off with Keka. Keka is a free open source OS X app for file compression and extraction.
Keka supports zip, rar, ortar, ISO, DMG, Tar, Gzip, 7z and it can extract to PAX, CAB, EXE and RAR formats. Keka allows you to split compressed files into different parts of specified sizes, apply password restrictions or automatically delete source files after extraction or compression.
Web development & Web Sharing
Since Apple removed the Web Sharing option from the OS X system preference, you might want to install the Web Sharing plugin. This little plugin will allow you to host local websites under the local host address. Once you install it you’ll be able to see a new panel in System Preferences – here you’ll be able to switch web sharing off or on.
File compression, One of The Very Top Web Development Tools for Mac OS X
We talked about Keka before but there are two ways you can use it to compress files. You can either download this small web development tool and install the services contextual menu or you can drag and drop your files directly into the Keka app window.
Sequel Pro
MySQL is one of the most popular databases in the world – plenty of websites rely on MySQL for storing and managing databases. If you are using OS X, Sequel Pro is a must-have for web development. It’s a native OS X app built in Cocoa and it also features a nice and friendly GUI. With Sequel Pro you can create, filter databases, import, export, remove, create users and execute MySQL queries.
The iPhone Emulator
All web developers need to take mobile users into account when building their websites, hence the need for a web development tool that can be used to test websites for specific platforms. Devs can use physical tablets or phones or they can go for the easier option – a simulator like iPhone Simulator. All you need to do is just install Xcode from the AppStore and you’re done – you have another web development tool in your little toolbox.
Icons8
If you’re looking to use icons, Icons8 is one of the top web development tools that you can use. Just install Icons8 and you’ll be able to search through its over 2800 collections of icons. Once you find something you like, you’ll be able to copy it to Finder, Xcode or Photoshop.
Github and SourceTree
Even if you’re building a small website or a presentation website, you’ll need a control version system to track your revisions and changes to the project’s code. Github is the most popular service for version control and you can install it on OS X as well. SourceTree is another mentionable service – both of these services are the backbone of any respectable web development agency.
Poedit
Poedit is the best web development tool you can use for translating websites into multiple languages. Not only that but you can translate plugins and Wordpress Themes as well with this little app.
Automator
Automator is a web development tool that’s pre-installed with OS X. This little app allows users to automate tasks such as cropping multiple images at once, creating thumbnail images, changing file extensions and renaming files in batch.
Dash
Dash collects documentation for a lot of the popular programming languages, including LESS, Sass, jQUery, CSS3 and HTML5. Users can search through code snippets, functions, syntax, and other valuable information.
Adrian Ababei / Apr 28'2016
PHP has been the fourth most popular coding language in the world for seven years straight. More than 200 million websites and around 82% of public websites are powered by PHP.
PHP 7 Released
PHP took a huge leap forward with the release of the first major update since 2004. PHP 7 boasts massively improved performance – up to three times better performance than PHP 5.6 when running WordPress.
PHP 7 boasts other changes as well - return type declarations, reduced memory usage, the spaceship operator and many more.
PHP also features some breaking changes such as the removal of magic quotes and the PHP safe mode as well as a number of new reserved keywords.
Web apps such as WordPress needed a few touches in order to be able to support PHP 7 but now it’s fully compatible with the new programming language.
While PHP 7 has been released very recently, it may take a few years until it’s widely adopted by the majority of websites. Most applications tend to take a few years to adapt to upgrades but we hope that the increased performance will make these upgrades come sooner.
PHP 7 comes with a new and improved version of the Zend Engine, featuring numerous perks such as:
General performance: The new PHP 7 is up to three times as fast as the older version
Zero cost asserts
Anonymous Classes
Return and Scalar Type Declaration
The null coalescing operator
Removal of old and unsupported SAPIs and extensions
Secure random number generator
Many fatal errors converted to Exceptions
Improved Exception hierarchy
Consistent 64 bit support
Abstract Syntax Tree
Memory usage is significantly reduced
Adrian Ababei / Apr 05'2016
Most web development start-ups have the same problem – What programming language to pick? Which language should we specialize in? Technology selection can be a real drag, especially when dealing with larger teams of specialists with different favourites in mind. Here’s food for thought: do successful companies become successful because of the technology they used or the technology itself becomes popular because it’s used by a successful company?
Currently, PHP is not a popular choice for web development start-ups – most web development teams opt for Django or Ruby on Rails but in recent years PHP technology has evolved substantially - even to the point of becoming a direct rival for Ruby on Rails or Django.
PHP is actually an incredible tool for web development start-ups – it offers all the functionality of RoR at a much lower cost. PHP is great for web development projects which involve multiple components and rely on multiple tech solutions. Here is a list of reasons why PHP is a great tool for web development start-ups:
PHP allows fast web development
PHP is actually one of the fastest programming languages which you can use to code, deploy and execute. The whole language was designed on finding the fastest and shortest solutions to any web development problems. Apart from that, PHP’s lovely community has been moving it towards modular design.
PHP frameworks offer libraries and bundles which are ready to use, mouldable and easily configurable. If you’re interested in using PHP for web development you should definitely check out the Sonata Project for the Symfony framework – it offers ecommerce tools, content management features, technical utilities and admin bundles which in turn enable web development companies to lower their work load and shorten their path to the finished product.
PHP is cost effective
Web development companies won’t have any trouble with finding replacements for their team members, hiring new members or project stuffing. PHP developers are much cheaper than developers specialized in other programming languages – this can lead to a more affordable and competitive finished product. Certain very useful tools are free for use with PHP – these include integration tools like Deployer, Phing Project, Capifony, the PHPUnit framework and the Composer dependency manager.
Programming quality
PHP offers plenty of educational materials and best practices materials regarding common or complex programming tasks. While some may voice criticism of PHP unpredictability and inconsistency it’s good to remind users that these are problems of the past. The newest versions of PHP offer great frameworks such as Symfony and Laravel and great efforts have been made to define precise basic coding standards and guidelines.
Conclusions
PHP is a great tool for any web development start up, given its guidelines, processes and conventions. A solid team with plenty of experience will get your start up going in no time!
Adrian Ababei / Mar 25'2016