Just imagine: a world where you upload a piece of content on one dashboard and it goes live on all your... 300 websites instantly! A world where you can create a new website with just one click... That's the Acquia Cloud Site Factory-governed reality.
And now, back to your day-to-day-reality where:
you lose huge amounts of money with every minute that just one of your... thousands of websites is down
you struggle with the challenge of delivering a unified user experience across multiple websites, legacy systems, geographic regions, languages
you need to have brand new websites/different digital experiences added to the network on the fly, yet you're dealing with huge delays
your development team is... tangled up in mundane editing tasks
your marketing team is fully dependent on the IT department for every single new campaign or website that they might need to spin up
your developers deal with spotty access to your multisite network, so if one of them needs to tackle an emergency issue on one of the websites, another one could be unavailable
And remember: Dries Buytaert's made this prediction back in... 2005.
1. Your Current Situation
Let us guess:
you're a franchise
you're a university managing an entire infrastructure of microsites, in a variety of different designs, content, structures, and features
you're a multinational company about to enter new markets, thus planning to build different new websites for each one of those markets
you're a real estate company planning to create a new website for every property in your portfolio
Or, let's try a more generic profile:
You're an... organization that delivers digital experiences across hundreds or even thousands of different websites.
2. The Main Challenge(s) You're Facing
Now, let us "guess" some of the struggles that you're dealing with while trying to efficiently "joggle" with your multitude of websites:
2.1. Delivering a Personalized Experience on Each and Every Website
We can empathize with that:
Managing multilingual regional websites does translate into major challenges from a personalization and customization standpoint.
For instance: what if you need to integrate a specific payment gateway to just one of your hundreds of websites?
Or you need to incorporate any other functionality specific to an individual market that you're targeting?
With Acquia Cloud Site Factory you can have your regional microsites up and running in no time. Moreover, you can address various issues, like new market-specific features to be implemented, without fearing that you leave other websites in your "cluster" exposed.
With a simple central dashboard at your disposal, adding, creating and delivering a new fully personalized digital experience gets dramatically streamlined. With zero risks of duplication...
2.2. Granting Your Development Team a Unified Access to All Your Websites
Here's a real-life situation:
Your website visitors signal an issue, so one of your developers tries to address the problem. This means that another one would be unable, due to spotty access to the system.
But what if all your developers could get simultaneous access? Wouldn't unified access for your entire development team streamline the whole "issues tackling" process?
2.3. Providing a Unified Experience to Your Content Authors
And you can't possibly provide a unified experience across your multi-site network neither to your editors or to your visitors when you have:
n different branding styles
n different levels of responsiveness
n different codebases with to be maintained individually
n different themes
2.4. Updating The Entire Infrastructure in Real-Time
Let's say that you need to implement a set of regulations at the network level (GDPR, for instance). And we're talking about... thousands of websites.
A "mission impossible" for your current situation, when you have hundreds of databases to update individually, right?
Luckily, the Acquia Cloud Site Factory provides you with a unique database for all your websites. A single source for your entire infrastructure.
Update once and roll out that change across your entire multi-site network.
2.5. Empowering the Marketing Team to Create New Brand Experiences on the Run
Your digital marketers are currently pretty dependent on their colleagues from the IT department for every:
new banner that they'd want to revamp
microsite that they might need to create and align with your marketing strategy
landing page that they might want to put together and distribute
But what if you give them so much freedom that they could spin up new highly branded, media-rich websites based on pre-configured templates?
With Aquia's Site Factory you empower the marketing team to create and deploy new digital experiences... on the fly. Agility at its best.
2.6. Maintaining Brand Consistency Across Your Network
And this must be one of the biggest challenges you're facing: how do you keep and boost brand consistency over an entire network of websites? Especially if we're talking about a global presence.
With your brand experiences delivered in different languages, with the help of multiple distributed teams, across different legacy platforms, with multiple stakeholders involved...
The Acquia Cloud Site Factory platform helps you ensure brand consistency through:
templates that content managers can use to create/duplicate websites
a single source of update (a unique database)
3. Entering: Acquia Cloud Site Factory
It's a multi-site management platform that provides you with:
one central, simple dashboard
a centralized database
a feature-packed site-building environment
powerful workflow tools that give your developers more control over the enterprise digital experience
... and your marketing team more freedom and flexibility
In short: a digital platform where you can build, deploy, update, centralize and manage a huge number of different websites fast and at scale.
And we're talking here about highly branded, content-rich, dynamic websites...
4. But How Would It Benefit Your Own Multi-Site Network?
Why would you move to a single platform?
What are the benefits that you'd "reap" from running your complex infrastructure on the Acquia Cloud Site Factory?
Image source: Acquia.com
4.1. You'd Minimize Site Development and Maintenance Costs
With:
a single database for pushing all your updates to
a whole team of digital marketers free to spin up new websites by simply filling in pre-built templates
... you cut down costs significantly.
4.2. You'd boost brand consistency across all your websites
Fast and consistent updates...That's the "beauty" of having just one database as a single source for pushing changes distributed throughout your entire network.
4.3. You'd Accelerate Time to Market
Launching landing pages and spinning up brand new microsites with just one click reduces time to market dramatically.
4.7. You'd Orchestrate Thousands of Websites Centrally
One dashboard for an entire network of websites...
Now, just think of the resources you'd save and the security threats you'd prevent by centralizing all your multi-site management tasks carried out across multiple:
regions
marketing and design systems
legacy CMSs
products...
4.2. You'd Simplify and Automate All Multi-Site Management Operations
The Acquia Cloud Site Factory platform streamlines all your multi-site management efforts. No more manual work, no more duplicates...
The platform provides developers with a robust set of workflow tools that enable them to grant role-based permissions to the content team.
4.4. You'd Update Faster
And it goes without saying: with one central database you get to easily mass-update your entire network.
4.5. You'd Deliver a Coherent Experience to Your Content Authors and Users
A centralized way of managing your large "cluster" of websites removes the risk of delivering a... disjointed experience to your content managers and website visitors.
4.6. You'd Scale Your Brand... Globally
Acquia Cloud Site Factory is built with above-the-average scalability needs in mind, that's for sure.
Image by Megan Rexazin from Pixabay
4.8. You'd Free Your Developers for More Complex Projects
By taking the marketing team "off their back" you'd lift some of the burden hanging on your developers' shoulders. And allow them to focus on more strategic tasks instead...
Also, the workflow tools that the platform ships with grant them more control over the enterprise digital experiences delivered across your network...
4.9. You'd Grant Your Marketing Team More Flexibility to Innovate
Power to the (marketing) people...
By enabling them to set up new websites and other brand experiences on the fly, you allow them to seize every great opportunity that they might be currently missing. Since updating content and launching new digital experiences is now so discouragingly cumbersome.
The END!
Is it a bit clearer to you now how moving your multi-site infrastructure to Acquia Cloud Site Factory would benefit you?
Main image by Bethany Drouin from Pixabay
Adriana Cacoveanu / Sep 27'2019
What's in a name... after all? Or... in a number in this case. Wouldn't a "Drupal 9 vs Drupal 8" comparison be identical with a "Drupal 8.x vs Drupal 8.y" comparison, except for one number?
So, why is there a need to... change numbers (too)?
Because Drupal depends on the vendor support lifecycles of PHP and Simfony.
As simple as that.
Therefore, Drupal 9 will mark not just the moment when Drupal 8 has been "fully" sanitized of all its deprecated code, but an upgrade to a newer version of Simfony (and Twig).
Note: starting Nov. 2021, Simfony 3, now at the heart of Drupal 8, will no longer receive security patches.
Now, let's have a look at some of the Drupal 9 features in relation to Drupal 8's well-known features, paradigms, and approach to upgrades.
#1 Drupal 8: The Last Version that Breaks with Its Predecessors
The Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 migration was the last hair-pulling upgrade. So they promise us...
Can you sill remember all those high hopes you've had regarding shiny new Drupal 8, its innovation model and all those oh! so tempting improvements?
Then you must surely remember that moving to Drupal 8 quickly turned into an... ordeal. The other side of the "innovation coin" that it seduced us with was that:
It was too different from its predecessors.
So different that... your Drupal 7 contributed modules weren't compatible with it and lots of custom code had to be rewritten.
Well, that was the last cumbersome migration in Drupal.
If you've already got rid of all deprecated APIs by the time Drupal 8.9 turns into Drupal 9, the upgrade will be... silky smooth.
#2 Drupal 9 vs Drupal 8: Expect Simfony 4/5 and Twig 2.0
Image source: Drupal.org
Some of the key differences between the two are the versions of Symfony and Twig that they use/will use.
Since Simfony 3 will go end-of-life in November 2021, Drupal 8, as well, will need to be "sacrificed" for a newer major version of Drupal. One that should use upgraded versions of these PHP projects (Twig and Simfony).
#3 Drupal 9: The First One Backward Compatible with Its Predecessor
Image by MoteOo from Pixabay
And this is a huge difference and leap forward from Drupal 8.
For it's precisely this incompatibility with Drupal 7 that... caused so many headaches during the previous upgrade.
In this respect, Drupal 9's built, from the ground up, to be backward compatible with Drupal 8 from day 1. That, of course, if you keep your current Drupal 8 website up to date and "well-groomed". Cleaned up of all out of date code...
#4 Contributed Modules Will Be Compatible with Both D8 and D9
"The compatibility of contributed modules is historically one of the biggest blockers to upgrading, so we will also make it possible for contributed modules to be compatible with Drupal 8 and Drupal 9 at the same time." (source: Dries Buytaert's' blog)
In short: if you stick to your update routine and keep removing deprecated code, your Drupal 8 contributed and custom modules will be compatible with Drupal 9, as well.
#5 Drupal 9 vs Drupal 8: Without vs With Deprecated Code
There's a major inconvenience that stems from Drupal 8's continuous innovation model:
Innovative features keep... piling up, at high(er) speed.
With every improvement brought to these new features, certain code gets automatically... deprecated and just left there to linger.
So, this is one of the critical differences between the 2 versions: the newer one will be stripped of old code.
#6 Drupal 9 Will Have Updated Third-Party Dependencies
That's right, not only that Drupal 9 will remove support for all code marked as deprecated in Drupal 8, but it will use updated third-party dependencies.
# Final Word
Any Drupal 9 vs Drupal 8 comparison would have to include 2 key differences:
different approaches to upgrades
different versions of the underlying technologies
We're quite curious what's your opinion about the promises made regarding the Drupal 9 release:
that contributed modules will work on both versions of Drupal?
that, since it'll be completely backward compatible, the upgrade will go... uneventful?
Are you confident, sure or skeptical that moving to Drupal 9 will go... hassle-free?
Main image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Adriana Cacoveanu / Sep 23'2019
These days, this is the question on the lips and minds of anyone developing/designing/creating content in Drupal or (just) managing a Drupal website: "What's new in Drupal 9?".
The "fear" is there and it's legitimate...
For the (bad) experience that you've had with upgrading from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 is still haunting you, isn't it? You just cannot forget that the whole process quickly turned into a rewriting of Drupal from the ground up...
Your contributed modules were not compatible with Drupal 8 and there was a ton of custom code to be rewritten...
So, how would an honest "Drupal 9 vs Drupal 8" comparison look like? What completely revolutionary and therefore high-impact features should you expect and... plan for (at least psychologically)?
And I bet that you don't settle for the "The great news is that... there's no breaking news at all" type of answer, either. That's why we've gone beyond this explanation that everyone seems to have embraced by default and dug deeper.
The result? An inventory of all the changes (for there will be, even if not as dramatic as those that we've got used to from the previous major Drupal releases), ranging from:
upgrades of the underlying technology
to a paradigm shift in the Drupal upgrading process itself
to contributed modules that are every likely to get replaced with others
to changes with an impact on Drupal 8's current "load" of third-party dependencies
So, let's dive right in, shall we?
1. Upgrading to Drupal 9 Will Be... Buttery Smooth (Unlike with D8)
And this is the most exciting "no big news, yet a significant mind-shift" type of answer to your "What's new in Drupal 9?" question.
It looks like the Drupal community has learned from its past mistakes... the hard way and it's determined to prevent them. What does this mean for you?
It means that beginning with Drupal 9 all major Drupal software releases will be seamless, painless and... buttery smooth. Basically, Drupal 9 is Drupal 8 stripped off all its deprecated code.
If you've removed all old code and dependencies by Drupal 8.9, upgrading your website to Drupal 9 will be as hassle-free as... any Drupal release.
Image source: Drupal.org
2. What's New in Drupal 9? Newer Major Versions of Symfony and Twig
Ready to say goodbye to Symfony 3? It will get replaced with Symfony 4 or 5 after November 2021.
Also, expect an upgrade to Twig 2.0.
These upgrades can only translate into higher performance, improved developer experience, and enhanced security.
Tip: you might want to take Symfony 4 for a short test drive on your Drupal 8 website, just to see how well it handles the new version.
3. Drupal 9 Drops Support for All Deprecated Code in Drupal 8
Another valid answer to your "What's new in Drupal 9?" question is:
It won't support any code marked as deprecate in Drupal 8.
Tip: since this "sanitizing" process is going to be a long, ongoing one, we suggest you turn it into a routine; keep removing out of date code from your Drupal 8 website to make sure that upgrading it to Drupal 9 will be as... buttery smooth as possible.
Image by Michael Schwarzenberger from Pixabay
4. Contributed Modules: Expected to Work in Both Drupal 8 and Drupal 9
Now, this is definitely a standout change, that breaks away from the "the news is that... there is no news" opinion.
Practically, there are high chances that contributed modules share a single codebase so that they can work both on Drupal 9 and Drupal 8 websites.
And that's...new in Drupal. A whole new paradigm.
5. Drupal 9 Will Cut Down on Third-Party Dependencies
With all deprecated functionality getting removed by the time Drupal 9 gets released, its load of dependencies will get significantly lighter.
6. Panelizer Is Expected to Get Removed and Replaced
"What's new in Drupal 9?" Well, most likely Panelizer will get replaced with the Layout Builder, the "rockstar" module of the moment.
So, you'd better consider letting go of this module.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
7. The Majority of Drupal 8 Modules Will Be Compatible with Drupal 9
Call it a change, a new approach or... just "something" that sets Drupal 9 apart from its predecessor:
By the time it'll get released, all Drupal 8 contributed modules will be fully compatible with this new major version of Drupal. Almost half of the Drupal 8 modules turned out to be compatible with the analysis run in April this year, so... the future looks highly promising.
8. Final Word
The "nothing new in Drupal 9" shared opinion isn't 100% accurate.
Ok, if we compared this upgrade to the previous one, all these mind-shifts and new approaches in Drupal 9 are, indeed, no painfully disruptive changes.
No new dramatic paradigms of development. But they are, nevertheless... changes.
Differences...
Not so much between Drupal x and Drupal 9, but between an old and a new model of upgrading Drupal.
Main photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
Adriana Cacoveanu / Sep 19'2019
What are some powerful Google Site Search alternatives? On-site search solutions that should be:
flexible
effective
versatile (easy to use on any CMS)
quick to set up
easy to configure
cloud-based
AI-powered
… and to provide you with actionable insights on your visitors' search behavior.
How about... Cludo, an internal search engine, and insights generator?
Now, you might want to keep your “feature wishlist” at hand as you evaluate this competitor to Google's custom search solution.
1. But What Is Cludo?
It's a robust on-site search tool that you can easily set up on your website, no matter what CMS you're using.
This way, you add a search interface where you can pull relevant data on your visitor's search behavior.
Its greatest strength? Its ease of use:
It empowers you, irrespective of your technical level, to set it up and to further optimize the content it delivers, quick and easy.
Unlike other Google site search alternatives, with Cludo you get easy access to actionable analytics. With a simple to use dashboard, you can pull powerful data and use it to constantly improve users' site search experience without having to be a... data analyst expert.
2. What Makes Cludo One of the Best Google Site Search Alternatives?
And still:
“Which are those unique features that Cludo provides?”
For there must be other key reasons why it's now rivaling Google's own custom site search solution...
Well, let me highlight just some of its most powerful features:
customizable index: you get to customize the criteria so that certain pages get pushed forward; you even get to specify what type of content should and shouldn't be searchable
machine learning-based autocomplete: it provides users with robust suggestions and corrects their misspellings in real-time
actionable search insights: it provides you with key data on who your website visitors are and what precisely they're searching for; you can tap into this information to deliver engaging and relevant content, to further optimize users' site search experience
an easy-to-use interface: Cludo's UI is designed so that even if you're not a technical user you should still be able to configure your on-site search solution quick and easy
semantic search: it delivers accurate and relevant results even if your website visitors type in words that are totally different from your anticipated search terms; Cludo taps into intelligent semantics, uses bigrams and synonyms to deliver the most comprehensive search results
3. Cludo vs Google Custom Site Search Engine
What if we confronted the two powerful site search solutions?
Which would be the Google limitations that we would see exploited and counterbalanced by robust Cludo features?
3.1. Google Custom Search Engine
Its functionality is pretty straightforward: thanks to the search bar added to your website, your visitors can look for specific content quickly.
Now, when it comes to its limitations, there are a few:
fewer customization options
it doesn't provide you with the tools (e.g. actionable analytics) needed to constantly improve and customize the site search experience delivered on your website
3.2. Cludo
Now, when it comes to Cludo, it does ship with some unique features that come to “exploit” Google Site Search's lack of them:
first of all, it's equipped with all the features you need for customizing the site experience: you get an easy to use dashboard where you can pull relevant analytics on your users' behavior and specific needs
… this way, you can tailor the delivered content accordingly and provide them a fully customized site experience
it ships with a banner analytics feature: you can add banners to your results page for... upcoming events, key search terms, etc.
The END!
Summing up now:
If, when evaluating some of the Google Site Search alternatives, you value particularly those features that enable you to customize the user experience, then Cludo might just be the solution you're looking for.
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
Adriana Cacoveanu / Jul 29'2019
"What are some of the biggest companies using Node.js?" Some Node.js applications trafficked by... millions of users, on a daily basis, processing huge loads of data in record time...
Those globally-known projects that are currently leveraging this JavaScript runtime's most powerful advantages: top performance and unmatched scalability...
A legitimate question to ask yourself if you're toying with the thought of creating your own project on Node.js these days.
In this respect, here are 4 such global players who've switched over to Node.js to get inspired by:
1. LinkedIn
The business-oriented social network, with over +450 million members, has been one of the first global players to feature a mobile app backend built entirely on Node.js.
Why Node.js?
because it scales like no other
because it outshines Ruby on Rails, the technology that the company switched from, from a performance standpoint
because it's the best for calling other services; and it was critical that their app should communicate seamlessly with their database and the platform API
Main benefits for using Node.js:
they doubled their traffic capacity
they speeded up the development process: both front-end and back-end mobile developers can now tap into their JavaScript skills and merge into one single team
they've freed their resources, reducing the number of servers from 15 to... 4
they've boosted their app's performance on the client-side; it now runs up to 10 times faster
2. Paypal
200 million users, transactions in +100 currencies...
Now, that says something about Node.js's built-in capabilities to withstand huge amounts of traffic and to overcome major data processing challenges.
No wonder that this globally-known online payment service is now featuring a client-facing side web app on Node.js.
Why Node.js?
because it enables development teams to use the same language, JavaScript, for both the browser and the server
… and this speeds up the development lifecycle dramatically (removing the need to use Java, on one hand, and JS, HTML, CSS, on the other hand)
Main benefits for using Node.js:
they've built their application 2 times faster
it's one of those Node.js applications that's got significantly lighter; it now includes 40% fewer files and 30% less code
the “new” network app now serves twice as many requests per second
3. Netflix, One of the Highest Traffic Node.js Applications
Netflix's user interface is the perfect example of how Node.js's built to cope with massive loads of traffic and data-intensive streaming scenarios...
In short: you have a global streaming service, a heavy network infrastructure of 130 million users, with its server-side rendering powered by Node.js.
Why Node.js?
because it simplifies and streamlines the whole development process: developers now get to use JavaScript for both client-side and server-side coding
because it ships with a rich collection of modules for any functionality they might need to implement
because it's just... fast; speed and load time sure are some critical aspects to consider in case of a high traffic video content provider like Netflix
Main benefits for using Node.js:
a modular, lightweight and fast application: load time has been reduced by 70%
they've cut down their build times dramatically (with JavaScript now being the only language used for both the back-end and the front-end of their app)
user customization is now possible
Note: Netflix's UI is, no doubt, one of the most successful Node.js projects out there and it's not just their app's skyrocketing popularity that confirms it, but the company's own intention to move their data access layers to Node.js, as well.
4. Uber
Connecting drivers and passengers worldwide, the ever-growing online transportation network dependeds on a system with outstanding data processing capabilities.
And Node.js excels at I/O-intensive tasks...
Why Node.js?
because it scales like no other, coping with an increasing demand for mobile taxi services
because it's designed to support distributed systems sending a heavy load of network requests
because it gets constantly and continuously upgraded by its dedicated open source community
because it's built to process massive amounts of data in record time, risk-free
because it provides quick error analysis and almost instant code deployment; programs get scanned through and new code deployed in... no time
Main benefits for using Node.js:
Uber is one of those Node.js applications processing +2 million remote procedure calls within one second; even when challenged to withstand high spikes of traffic...
The END!
Are these heavy-weight names convincing enough? Are these 4 large scale and top performant Node.js projects inspiring enough for you?
Photo by Marianne Krohn on Unsplash
Adriana Cacoveanu / Jun 25'2019
What does Drupal 8 do that Laravel does not? What key functionalities, that Drupal ships with, do you need to build from scratch in Laravel? And how would opting for Laravel benefit your specific type of project? In short: Laravel or Drupal 8?
“It's like comparing apples to oranges” some might say since one's a framework and the other one a CMS.
Even so, if it's unclear to you what are their particular use cases and their built-in features, you won't know whether it's a CMS or a framework that best suits your project type, right? That best serves your project-specific needs:
to be super fast
to leverage a solid, off-the-shelf content management system for publishing different pieces of content on the website
to feature an easy to scale database
to support multisite
to tap into robust user and content management features that are already implemented
to be built on top of a solid framework acting as a reliable back-end application
to leverage a highly intuitive admin user interface
to be 101% secure
to leverage a mixture of server and client-side logic
Now, keep your list of project requirements and constraints at hand to evaluate these 2 technologies' pros and cons against it:
1. Drupal 8: Top Benefits, Main Drawbacks, and Specific Use Cases
If a robust user and content management system is critical for your project, then Drupal 8 makes the smartest choice. It's that “thing” that Drupal excels at that, which would take you a whole lot more time to do in Laravel.
And it's not just its robustness that might “lure you in”, but the level of convenience that it provides: a lot of the essential features and functionalities that you might need are already built-in.
Moreover, you can easily manage them and custom-tune them via your admin interface...
By comparison, you'd need to build these functionalities, from the ground up, if you chose to go with Laravel.
Top benefits:
you can rest assured that your website runs on a particularly robust, Symfony-based CMS
there's a huge, dedicated community backing it up
you get to create various content types, for different parts of your website, assigned with different roles; unlike basic CMSs, that enable you to write... posts and to create new web pages
you can set up different editorial workflows and assign specific user roles, with fine-grained access control
you can always further extend its CMS-specific functionalities: extensibility is one of the strongest Drupal 8 benefits
Main drawbacks:
you do need a team of Drupal experts (senior-level preferably) to keep an eye on your Drupal 8 website/app and keep everything properly maintained
you can't get away with a “get it up and running and... move on” type of philosophy; Drupal 8 is a more of a long-term commitment: there's always a newly launched promising module to consider adding on, a new update to run...
Specific Use Cases for Drupal 8:
large-scale projects that depend on a robust and reliable content management system; one that withstands an intense, ongoing process of creating, editing and publishing lots of fresh content
Laravel or Drupal 8? Definitely the later if it's a multi-site, multi-language web project that you plan to develop; not only that it streamlines content publishing across your whole network, but it significantly speeds up localization thanks to its server-side caching capabilities
It means that no matter the place on the globe where that your users might be located, they get to access your web pages and have them loaded... instantly.
2. Laravel: Pros, Cons, and Project Types that It's Best Suited For
Laravel stands out as a highly reputed, powerful PHP framework.
If:
maintainability is one of your biggest concerns
you're looking for a robust framework
you need to carry out your project fast enough
you need a framework that ships with all the latest functionalities
... then Laravel is what you need.
Top Benefits:
a fast-growing, devoted community
you can easily integrate LDAP authentication
it leverages the Model-View-Controller architecture
it's just... fast
provides you with a great admin user interfaces
it “spoils” you with intiutive, beautifully written code
it ships with a heavy “toolbox”: scan through and pick the most suitable one(s) for your project
in-built code for social login and sending out emails
everything you might need to set up during the development process is right there, already integrated into your code: cron jobs, database queries, routes...
Main drawbacks:
more often than not identifying performance issues isn't that straightforward
upgrading to the latest version of Laravel can turn out to be quite a challenge: be prepared for “buggy scenarios” and for the need to rewrite code
you can't just jump straight to Laravel: learning the basics of OOPS first things first is a must
Specific Use Cases:
your project needs a back-end application (rather than an off-the-shelf CMS)
when the benefits of the MVC architecture (faster development process, suitable for large-scale projects, multiple views, etc.) are critical for the given project
whenever you need to mix client-side with server logic
whenever time is the main concern for you: you just need your project developed super fast
3. So... Laravel or Drupal 8?
Now, I'm sure that you already anticipate my answer:
The choice depends strictly on your project requirement and objectives.
On your own hierarchy of priorities in terms of features and functionalities.
And depending on these key aspects, that should be clearly defined, one technology will benefit you over the other.
So... what type of project are you looking to build?
Photo by Raquel Martínez on Unsplash
Adriana Cacoveanu / Jun 20'2019
Have you got the chance to apply the simple tweaks and techniques shared with you in the first part of this post? Ready now to further improve the on-site search user experience by focusing on the usability of your internal search results?
For, in vain you make your search box fully visible and usable if the options that the user gets once he/she enters his search phrase are just... irrelevant, unhelpful.
That's why in today's post we'll be shifting focus from the search box to the internal search results themselves:
What can you do, as a website owner, to ensure that your search functionality triggers the most relevant, most useful options only?
5. Improve Your Page Load Speed
“Don't make your website visitors search for the... search bar!” is equally critical as:
“Don't keep your users waiting too long for the search results to get displayed!”
Speed is crucial, so make sure you've applied all the due techniques. And there sure are a lot, ranging from common sense ones to truly sophisticated performance tweaks to keep your page load speed below... 3 seconds.
Note: If loading takes more than 2-3 seconds, just get resourceful. Display a progress indicator or a suitable animation to keep users distracted from the waiting process.
6. Prepare a Back-Up for the “No Results to Display” Scenarios
How are you planning to manage the “empty searches” situations?
For, there will be instances when there's no content on your website that could possibly match the users' search terms.
In this case, you can always apply the 2-step “emergency plan” to improve the on-site search user experience:
first, you make sure that your search functionality has scanned your entire website content: PDFs and other file formats, CMS pages and full copy here included, not just metadata, etc.
you present them alternative search options related, to some extent, to their entered queries: broad matches, contextual category links, etc.
Word of caution: providing a list including all the categories on your website or displaying top searches do not qualify as alternative search suggestions that could boost the UX.
7. Improve the On-Site Search User Experience: Add Filtering Options
Another one of the highly effective internal site search best practices is adding filters that narrow down the user's options to the most relevant ones.
For instance, you could segment their search options into “Blogs”, “Support”, “Products” etc. and thus speed up the search process.
Note: set up your analytics so you get the most of them; the most relevant data that you can then use to constantly optimize your filters
8. Leverage Semantic Search to Provide More Relevant Search Results
Tune the result relevancy and you'll improve the on-site search user experience.
In your quest for relevancy, semantic search makes your most powerful ally:
the whole process taking place “behind the curtains” will be much more than a mere keyword matching, thanks to natural language processing.
you avoid the risk of frustrating the user by returning too many search results instead of displaying the most relevant ones only
you won't convey the message that you have no regard of the user's effort to enter a specific, long-tail query
a semantic search implementation leverages a “context vs intent” formula and generates results that are 100% relevant to the user's search intent...
Note: if you can't make use of semantic search on your website, there's always a better alternative than the free text search box. For instance, you could set up a constrained search and guide the user towards the most relevant search phrase...
The END!
These are the last 4 simple techniques that you can apply to improve the on-site search user experience.
Now, to sum up the key advice that we've shared with you in this 2-part blog post:
search result relevancy should be your main goal
a well-designed UI is worthless without a well thought-through logic behind it
predictive and semantic search should be the pillars that you base your on-site search function on...
Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay
Adriana Cacoveanu / Jun 17'2019
Are you using your website's search functionality to its full potential? Do your users always get the most relevant site search results? Do you think... it could be better and you wonder how you could improve the on-site search user experience?
Now, let me guess: you'd want to optimize it quick and easy, by just incorporating some simple internal search best practices into your optimization routine.
It can be done.
We've already selected 8 easy-to-apply techniques to boost the user experience from the on-site search standpoint.
But first, let's clear up a few key aspects:
optimizing the internal search user experience doesn't mean just checking that your search box gets, displayed on your targetted web pages and that it delivers some... results
opting for an on-site search tool that ships with built-in search functionality doesn't automatically guarantee you the best on-site search user experience
your implemented site search tool won't just work on its own, by default, with no “tweaking” effort from your side
In short: there's more to the user experience than the user interface (the fact that the well-designed search box gets displayed is not enough).
And in this respect, the relevancy of your site search results is key and, in order to achieve it, you need to consider the whole logic behind the UI, as well.
Now, let's pinpoint these 8 best practices that'll help you improve the on-site search user experience. They're aimed at enhancing the usability of both your search box and your search result page.
1. Make Sure Your Search Box Has a Clear Call to Action
Is the user action of your search box... self-evident? Is it obvious for your website users, the instant they land on that page, that that is a... search bar?
Now, here are a few tips to ensure that your search box does have a clear call to action:
support your text prompt with a “Find” or “Search” button or with a magnifying glass icon
pay attention to your search box's design; make sure it leaves no room for ambiguity over what role it serves
enter a placeholder text (“Find events”, “What are you looking for” etc.) in your search bar
2. Give Users Predictive Search Suggestions on Their Entered Queries
Another effective way to optimize the on-site search user experience is by giving them a helping hand with... entering the right input.
Predictive search suggestions and autocomplete drop-down menus will narrow down their search term options and speed things up.
What you can do is to make sure that:
your drop-down suggestions display “in category” search results
your autocomplete suggestions partly disclose specific content (maybe even pairing it with images, as well)
Note: in order to enhance readability, feel free to highlight the matching parts between the user's entered query and the query suggestions provided by your search function.
3. Improve the On-Site Search User Experience: Make It Visible
An apparently insignificant UI improvement like:
making your search box wider
putting it on a more visible section on a web page or even site-wide
… will definitely boost the user experience.
And here are some actionable tips for you to make your search box more visible:
make sure the input field is wide enough to accommodate a minimum of 27 characters
don't “bury” it in a hamburger menu
don't reduce it to a small, easy to miss icon
don't put it too close to boxes triggering different CTAs (e.g. the sign in box)
display it on every relevant web page on your site
And also, a few simple best practices on how to make your search box more... usable, as well:
consider triggering search interface in a separate window if your website's a multiple-category one (e.g. an online store)
consider opting for an overlay search window if you have infinite scrolling functionality implemented on your website
make sure the search bar changes its color/size when the user hovers over, just to signal its functionality
use a flashing cursor to prompt the user to enter his/her query
4. “Train” Your Search Function for Imperfect User Input Scenarios
Another basic, yet effective way to improve the on-site search user experience is by preparing your search function to handle the imperfect search queries... gracefully.
In other words, it should be perfectly adapted to deliver search results even when users enter:
synonyms
stop words
singular or plural variants
casing
numbers
misspellings
… in the search bar.
Note: remember to display the user's original misspelled phrase, as well, and to accompany it with a clear search option, relevant for his/her initial query...
END of Part 1.
Stay tuned, for we have 4 more tips to share with you on how to improve the on-site search user experience. “Tips” that address search result page usability issues, as well.
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Adriana Cacoveanu / Jun 07'2019
“Can I use Drupal for project management?” Definitely.
Given all its content-oriented baked-in capabilities — file management, version control, easy content creation, and editing — Drupal makes the perfect software for:
managing your projects the easy and the... smart way
streamlining communication among your team members and with your contractors
In this respect, Drupal provides its own feature-rich distributions to help you put together your robust setup in no time. “Distributions” that come already packed with a set of useful sub-modules and themes, that all support the core functionality: project management (and smooth collaboration).
And without further ado, here the 2 most popular Drupal distributions for project management and team collaboration for you to evaluate first: RedHen and Open Atrium.
1. RedHen CRM
Loaded with robust and modern features, this Drupal-native CRM is designed with flexibility in mind. Meaning that it integrates seamlessly with the enterprise solution that you're using (Blackbaud, Salesforce) and it supports a wide range of use cases...
And speaking of its functionalities:
engagement tracking and monitoring
data management: information about your contacts, the relationships among them and with your own company (e.g. memberships)
event registration integration
one-page donation forms to custom-tune to your liking
As for those many use cases that this Drupal distribution's built to accommodate, let's pick just a few real-world examples:
It's the best choice if smoothly integrating your CRM with your other enterprise solutions is critical for you
It streamlines tracking interactions with your contacts and organizations. Furthermore, since you can easily integrate it with your website, you get to leverage the provided data in order to adjust the user experience accordingly...
It allows you to customize it and thus to give it a Drupal-like look and feel: to integrate it with modules like Rules or Views, to go for the same field creation UI, etc.
Is your contacts list a huge one? This CRM comes to your rescue with some powerful baked-in tools: an efficient find-and-dedupe interface, an automated filter built in the UI, that you can use to filter your contacts by specific fields, etc.
It automatically syncronizes data in your Contacts list with any newly updated data on your Drupal Users list
In short: RedHen CRM makes one of the top choices when you consider using Drupal for project management purposes. It's a lightweight, self-contained framework, more of a “cluster” of multiple specialized modules:
Organization
Activity
Fields
Organization Group
Dedupe
Registration
and a few more...
2. Open Atrium
Looking for a Drupal-native distribution built around the team collaboration functionality?
One that should be:
convenientyly extensible
“loaded” with robust collaboration and information sharing features?
Then Open Atrium fits the profile in the slightest detail.
Built on top of the Organic Groups and Panopoly modules, it's a framework flexible enough to support discussion configurations by key criteria like team, project, organization...
And here are some more powerful features worth considering when you're still thinking whether you should use Drupal for project management:
an access control system, that grants granular control to certain sections of your project
a drag and drop layout with plenty of widgets to select from for customizing your landing pages and dashboard
file storing and sharing features
built-in Events, Files, Discussions, Issue Tracking, Document Wiki
an easy to customize, responsive theme
The END!
These are but 2 viable answers to your “Can I use Drupal for project management and team collaboration?” type of question. 2 of the options available that best meet some of your main requirements when looking for a project management software:
to be easy to use
to ship with an entire collection of file management and communication features
to be flexible enough and allow quick customization and seamless integrations
Have you tried other Drupal modules/distributions built around this functionality so far?
Image by jessica45 from Pixabay
Adriana Cacoveanu / Jun 06'2019