But why should you even consider Magento Commerce Cloud as an option for your e-commerce store in the first place? What makes it any better than JetRails or Rackspace or even... Magento Commerce?
What are its biggest selling points?
And are there any reported downsides so far? Any drawbacks to consider and to weigh against its upsides before making your final choice?
Now, let's get you some answers:
1. What Is Magento Commerce Cloud? How Is It Different/Better than Magento Commerce?
Some might just reduce it to this basic formula:
Magento Commerce + bundled hosting (or cloud infrastructure)
Yet, I'm not one of “some”, so my definition would be:
It's a full-managed, automated hosting platform for Magento Commerce — the once Enterprise Cloud Edition — that ships with some additional powerful features.
Now, let me try and point out some of these features:
integrated source control management system (GIT), which translates into automatic build, deploy and management; it provides you with development, staging, and live production environments
streamlined development cycle
quick and continuous deployment
entirely customizable components
enhanced security: the inherent security benefits of cloud computing + using WAS (Amazon Web Services) as the underlying infrastructure platform + tapping into the shared responsibility security model + leveraging the Fastly Web Application Firewall +...
continuous availability: a particularly important feature for online stores, with a huge impact on user experience, the overall traffic and the level of security that your eStore guarantees its customers
2. 10 Main Reasons Why You'd Want to Run It on Magento Commerce Cloud
Now, let's put its biggest selling points into the spotlight! Those benefits powerful enough to influence your decision and to make you opt for this cloud-powered e-commerce solution:
2.1. It's a Centralized Point of Management & End-to-End E-Commerce Solution
Of all the Magento Commerce Cloud features, this must be one of the most “luring” ones:
you get to orchestrate your whole “infrastructure” of online stores from one single centralized point/store
from marketing to analytics, to commerce across industries, it allows you to handle every specific operation, every aspect of the customer experience delivered on your e-commerce website
2.2. Inventory Order Management
No more “out of stock” scenarios.
At least not on your web store, since this feature allows you to always be one step ahead of customer demand and to... restock.
2.3. A Vast Ecosystem of Third-Party Extensions to Explore
Another one of Magento Commerce Cloud's biggest selling points is its impressive marketplace of extensions.
From:
Amazon Sales Channel
to Google's Smart Shopping
to lots of machine learning-based extensions
… you get to select from a huge ecosystem of add-ons to create a feature-rich, highly interactive shopping experience across your store.
2.4. It's Perfectly Equipped to Power Your PWAs
Thinking about reaching out also to those potential customers who don't (always) benefit from fast-speed internet connection? Thinking about building a PWA for your online store?
Good news: MCC is designed precisely with such a challenge in mind. It makes the best option for powering a PWA development plan.
2.5. High Scalability
The hosting platform's built to accommodate the needs of both big retailers and small e-commerce businesses.
And, in this respect, I should add 2 specific features that translate into enhanced scalability:
being a cloud environment, it grants you the freedom and the flexibility to allocate more memory and CPU, when needed
it ships with an ece-tools package
2.6. It Supports Intuitive Experiences for Both Store Admins and Customers
All the enhancements that Magento Commerce Cloud comes packed with bubble up to the user experience: both the “staff” user and the end-user.
Meaning that all the tasks included in the store management process and the shopping process are well thought-out to be... highly intuitive.
2.7. Designed to Power Multi-Site Architectures
Planning to go... global? Don't let your hosting platform stop you!
In this respect, Magento Commerce Cloud allows you to:
update an entire ecosystem of online stores from one centralized point (I know, I've already pointed out this powerful feature)
“conquer” new markets fast and surprisingly easy, with no major intervention from a tech-savvy team
tap into the local knowledge expertise that Magento provides and to create some highly personalized, ideally localized experiences for multiple audiences
exploit the advantage of the +150 languages available
And you get to run all your “globalization through localization” type of operations, to orchestrate your entire multi-site architecture, from one single point of management.
Note: speed and agility are 2 additional benefits that you can “reap” from using a cloud-based hosting platform; they become crucial when you want to enter new markets at high speed.
2.8. Built-in B2B Quote Management Feature
Just imagine: a tool incorporated into your hosting platform “in charge” with everything... quotation-related.
You can skip that time-consuming sequence of operations aimed at setting a price for a product.
2.9. Built-in Image Optimization Tool
Magento Commerce Cloud provides you, right out of the box, with a tool to optimize your images and to boost your page loading speed...
2.10. It Easily Integrates With Fully-Managed Services
Another great news is that it “plays well” with full managed services. From Redis to MySQL, to RabbitMQ, to Elasticsearch, it allows you to easily incorporate the service of your choice.
3. 3 Main Downsides Reported by Magento Commerce Cloud Users
For, although this managed platform is still relatively new and so we can't yet be talking about a whole “pile” of user reviews, the reported drawbacks gravitate around the same issues:
slow support
certain limitations of the underlying technology: Platform.sh
the need to invest time and effort to get everything live
3.1. Support... Could Be Better
Most of the Magento Commerce Cloud users have signaled it: support is slow. Therefore, expect to be put on a lengthy waiting list till you can actually get hold of a hosting engineer.
Do you need permission changes? Is there a hosting issue that you're “grappling with” and you need the support of someone with expertise in platform.sh?
You might need to invest a bit more time than predicted to get the support you need.
3.2. Running Updates and Upgrades Takes too Long
Not everyone's thrilled about the Platform.sh technology that MCC runs on.
Quite enough users have reported that each time they need to:
add new CSS
upgrade their e-commerce stores
run certain feature updates
… the underlying system takes too long to process. And, during all this time, their online stores are... down.
3.3. It Takes More to Get Everything Up and Running
More time and "X" times more effort. At least that's what some of the users say.
The END!
Does this answer your question(s)?
Are these benefits and drawbacks solid enough to help you decide whether Magento Commerce Cloud is the best option for your online store?
Optasy can help you make up your mind. Check out our professional Magento development services for more information.
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Adriana Cacoveanu / May 23'2019
After working with clients of all different sizes, we can tell you they all want us to do the same thing: develop products with their end user in mind. Whether we’re building a mobile app, a website, or a custom software solution, we know that if the end user finds the final product to have great functionality and great design, it will leave both them and the client happy. As a digital agency and Drupal firm, we strive to achieve this on every project which is why Clutch has us listed as one of the top Drupal developers in Canada in 2019.
Clutch is a B2B ratings and reviews website based out of Washington, D.C. Their platform also makes it easy for clients to find and connect with the service providers that they think will provide the best partnership on their project. The site also ranks the vendors according to their focus and ability to deliver. The focus score depends on the services they offer while the ability to deliver is determined by a few different factors such as client reviews, work experience, market presence, and awards. Clutch analysts interview previous clients about past projects to verify client reviews. They are conducted either on the phone or online with an in-depth questionnaire to get all of the details regarding the project.
Currently, we have 8 total client reviews on our profile, and we’ve averaged a nearly perfect 4.8/5-Star rating! Take a look at our most recent reviews:
“I appreciate how detail-oriented they are. That’s not a strength everyone has.” – President, GSATi
“They were able to perform the work quickly and professionally and gave us exactly what
we wanted.” – Technology Manager, Mary Macleod’s Shortbread
“From Day 1, the communication has been the hallmark and has been phenomenal.” –
Technology Coordinator, Regina Public Schools
In addition to their main site, Clutch runs two more platforms that help connect businesses together. The first site is called The Manifest and publishes business news, insights, and best practices to help companies achieve their goals. We are also found on their list of the top Shopify developers in Canada in 2019. Their other site is Visual Objects. It hosts business portfolios so that mobile app development companies like ourselves and other creative firms can show off their past work.
We look forward to growing our presence on Clutch throughout the rest of 2019. If your business is interested in creating an app or a new website, contact us We can’t wait to hear from you!
Adriana Cacoveanu / May 22'2019
Ready to discover 5 more world-famous brands that are tapping into Magento's capabilities — scalability, robust built-in features, high level of customization? 5 more high-trafficked online stores running on Magento?
From Seat to Canon, from Helly Hansen to Jaguar and NGC, here some of the globally-known companies “advocating” for Magento through their own e-commerce stores:
6. Helly Hansen
The e-commerce website of the highly-reputed Norwegian manufacturer of textile and sports gear, trusted by professionals worldwide, is the perfect example of:
Globalization through localization...
And here's what I mean by that:
we're talking about an “ecosystem” of 30 online stores (of +30,000 products each)
6 different languages
a unified look for the whole “cluster” of stores, yet the customer experience delivered on each store is highly personalized, with multi-language and multi-currency features implemented
See what I mean?
We're talking about a worldwide retailer leveraging Magento's robust features to the full to:
provide its shoppers with multiple payment and shipping methods
make its product available in 19 different countries
Furthermore, Helly Hansen's Magento cloud project has been one of the most notorious ones back in 2016.
7. Sergio Rossi
Another one of those worldwide known online stores running on Magento. Sergio Rossi's leveraging Magento's full potential to:
“awe” its online customers with visually-striking, beautifully designed product pages
enrich their shopping experience with engaging features like the on-page “heel height” selector
8. Seat
The Spanish car manufacturer turned to Magento with some specific needs in mind: to deliver a fast and friction-free mobile experience to its young customers.
Luckily, Magento's perfectly equipped with mobile-responsive functionality, which bubbles up to the user experience provided on Seat's mobile version of the website:
fast-loading pages
a contrasting color palette that enhances readability
intuitive website navigation
efficiently structured and visually-appealing text blocks
9. Canon, One of the Most Popular Online Stores Running on Magento
Did you know that the Australian division of the giant brand of consumer and professional-level photography equipment faced quite a challenge when they decided to make their products available online, as well?
Well, they're currently running their e-store on Magento, which helps them deliver a feature-rich and highly interactive experience to their customers:
users can check products' compatibility, a critical feature particularly for amateur photographers
in addition to the “bulky” product catalog, users can go through an impressive collection of photo books, helpful tutorials, useful reviews of specific products...
the services provided there include “immediate assistance”, as well, for anyone passionate about photography, who's thinking about... getting started and needs at least some sort of professional guidance
the cross-sell functionality integrated into their online store guides photography “enthusiasts” towards buying the perfectly compatible items
That, instead of leaving a beginner to deal with N types of lenses or N types of memory cards alone, trying to figure out which one's compatible with the items he/she's already selected/bought...
10. Jaguar and NGC
Did you know that the e-commerce website where customers could buy the first fully-electric Jaguar car was Magento-powered?
The giant automotive brand is capitalizing some of the platform's powerful capabilities to deliver a fully interactive experience to its users. And here, I'm thinking of the four-step progress bar available on their e-store, which allows customers to select:
their preferred model of electric Jaguar
their preferred design features
This way, they can witness the “birth” of their entirely-customed cars.
Where do you add that they get the price at every phase of the self-design cycle and that they get to select both the dealer and the payment method of choice, as well?
In short, the brand takes full advantage of Magento's high level of customization. Moreover, it transfers it to its own online customers, “tempting” them with multiple options and the chance to... design their own prototypes of Jaguar.
The END!
These are 10 of the worldwide-known online stores running on Magento.
10 giant brands tapping into this e-commerce platform to power their complex, feature-rich e-stores and to create some unique experiences for their online customers.
What other brands would you have added to the list?
Image by 200 Degrees from Pixabay
Adriana Cacoveanu / May 20'2019
It's flexible, it grants users total freedom of customization, it's robust enough to power large, complex e-stores, it ships with a heavy load of powerful built-in e-commerce features and it's backed by a large, thriving community. And still, there are no better advocates for this platform than all those world-famous brands having their online stores running on Magento, right?
But which are these global brands more precisely?
And I'm sure that their big names alone wouldn't be enough to inspire you, right? You're looking for leading e-commerce websites that:
deliver an outstanding, highly interactive customer experience
have a visually-striking design
With these 2 main criteria in mind, here's a top 10 worldwide-known Magento e-commerce websites:
1. Liverpool FC
The globally-famous, century-old football club is using Magento to power its online store...
And it exploits the e-commerce platform's robust features to the full for crafting highly immersive, rich user experiences:
it leverages the power of storytelling on its front page
it personalizes the services provided to its customers
it “bids on” user-generated content to engage and to secure its online fans' loyalty
In short, the team behind Liverpool FC's online store taps into Magento's high level of customization to create some unique experiences for its customers.
2. Nike, One of the Most Trafficked Online Stores Running on Magento
The world's giant manufacturer and supplier of sportswear is exploiting Magento's robust features to run its high-trafficked e-store.
And when it comes to the customer experience delivered there, there's one particular feature that stands out: the product configuration tool.
Basically, any shopper can select a product from the catalog and design it himself/herself. He can get creative and style it so that it perfectly meets his preferences.
Moreover, users can see the results live, in real-time...
3. Ford
Ford Motor's yet another global brand that decided to partner with Magento for powering its own ideas of personalized online customer experiences.
Speaking of which, here's but one example from the company's e-store:
Say a potential shopper selects a specific car model on the front page. Next, Ford's product catalogue will adapt to that particular selection, displaying results accordingly...
Personalization at its best, to say the least...
4. Kurt Geiger
The major challenge for the well-known UK-based shoe retailer has been to efficiently “joggle with” multiple languages and currencies.
And they turned to Magento for that...
With its built-in multi-lingual support, Magento makes the ideal e-commerce platform for their localization requirements. Now, here's how this functionality is being leveraged on the Kurt Geiger online store:
Once a customer selects a country, he/she'll get accurate delivery time and shipping fee displayed across the website...
Note: search functionality and layered navigation are another 2 aspects where this e-store rocks supreme, thanks to the e-commerce solution that it is leveraging.
5. Paul Smith
Another one of those highly popular, most-trafficked online stores running on Magento. On Magento 2, to be more accurate.
And the stellar customer experience delivered on this e-store makes the best proof that... Magento suits it:
lightening fast checkout process
thought-out main navigation layout
a “Model Wears” functionality integrated into the product detail pages that enable users to shop/steal a whole look featured in an image
END of Part 1!
These are just 5 of the 10 most popular online stores running on Magento.
5 leading brands whose unique ways of implementing certain features of this robust e-commerce platform are great sources of inspiration for anyone still thinking about getting started with Magento.
To access professional Magento services in Montreal or Vancouver Magento web design services contact Optasy.
Image by Megan Rexazin from Pixabay
Adriana Cacoveanu / May 17'2019
Here I am, as promised, with 5 more important criteria to use when running your Magento vs Shopify 2019 evaluation and weighing these 2 e-commerce platforms' pros and cons.
Or, better said: weighing the benefits and limitations that result once you've put their features against your own particular needs and use-specific priorities.
So, without any further ado:
6. Extensions and Add-Ons Available
The ratio between the 2 platforms is of +100 vs +5000. There's no question about it: Magento reigns supreme in this category...
And with no surprise, if you remember that it's an open source e-commerce platform, backed by a thriving community of developers.
As for Shopify, it might not provide as many apps and add-ons, yet it provides some perfectly curated ones:
you don't need to worry that you'd be implementing buggy, risky extensions on your e-store
from email marketing to loyalty programs, to accounting, you'll find apps and add-ons for pretty much any type of functionality that you might need to integrate to your online store...
7. Magento vs Shopify 2019: The Price Factor
When using the pricing strategy as a criterion for your Magento vs Shopify 2019 analysis you'll realize that:
Shopify doesn't charge any fee for e-store setup and installation; moreover, it grants you a 14-day free trial
Magento is, by definition, a free e-commerce solution; and yet, you'll still need to pay for your hosting and payment gateway
Speaking of transaction fees, you should know that Shopify comes with zero costs if you decide to use their out-of-the-box payment gateway. Whereas in case of Magento you'll need to pay the fees charged by your gateway provider.
No extra costs from Magento in this case, but no built-in payment gateway either...
In short: Shopify charges you a monthly fee, that covers both the hosting platform and the payment gateway for your e-store. On the other hand, Magento's a free, open-source platform, that still “surprises” you with inherent hosting costs...
8. Inventory Management
Another “tricky” category, since it looks that both Magento and Shopify allow you to enter an unlimited number of products into your e-store. And to easily manage your inventory...
Nevertheless, you'll still identify some key differences:
in Shopify, you're limited to fewer options when it comes to administering your inventory
Shopify integrates easily with third-party dropshipping inventory apps (e.g. Oberlo)
since Magento doesn't provide the hosting of your e-store, as well, adding too many items to your store might, at some point, have a negative impact on your host server's performance (and, implicitly, on your page loading speed...)
9. Customization Opportunities
Once you've reached this criterion while running your Magento vs Shopify 2019 evaluation you'll realize that:
Shopify scores better when it comes to its highly intuitive theme editor; you can easily drag and drop content elements across your website
Magento grants you total freedom of customization — you can fine-tune every single aspect of your e-store — but at a cost: you depend on a team of experienced Magento developers to do all that customization work.
In other words, while both platforms are designed to power complex customization scenarios, Magento scores better since it's open source. Therefore, it allows you to custom-tune the look and feel of your online store and to extend its functionality any way you want to.
While both platforms ship with user-friendly, thought-out UIs that empower you to edit your HTML/CSS code directly, Shopify comes with a menu-driven editor. One that you can use to play around with fonts, colors and other attributes of your theme.
10. Multi-Lingual Support
While Magento provides you with multi-lingual support right out of the box, Shopify depends on third-party apps for this type of functionality. Or, you can always custom-write your code to include multilingual features...
Localization, based on a “cluster” of multilingual online stores, is not one of Shopify's strong points, that's for sure.
The END!
What do you say now: judging by your own Magento vs Shopify 2019 analysis, which e-commerce platform best suits your feature needs and best serves your priorities?
Do you value ease of use more than... freedom of customization? Is an impressive collection of advanced e-commerce features more important to you?
Image by Ryan McGuire from Pixabay.
Adriana Cacoveanu / May 15'2019
It's either one or the other: you're either planning to set up your eStore or to port it to a new platform. So, the question “haunting” you right now must be: "In a Magento vs Shopify 2019 debate, which one's the most suitable for my e-commerce website?"
For, it's a “no-brainer”:
There's no such thing as “the best” eCommmerce platform, but "the best suited one for one's specific e-commerce feature needs". For his/her particular niche specifications and business requirements.
In this respect:
on one hand, you have the “all-in-one” Shopify, a hosted e-commerce solution, famous for its ease of use and high level of convenience for novice e-store owners
… basically, if you have no coding skills or a dedicated web development team and it's a small-medium size store that you have in mind, Shopify empowers you to set it up quick and easy
while on the other hand you have powerful Magento shipping with a heavy load of extensions and advanced eCommerce features, perfectly equipped to power complex, large eCommerce stores
A simple, intuitive UI vs a rich collection of built-in robust features. Ease of use vs a high level of customization... A paid e-commerce solution or a free, open-source one, but with auxiliary costs (e.g. hosting)?
Now, here are the 10 most important criteria to properly evaluate the 2 e-store creation and management solutions.
Note: with each factor that you'll consider, do keep in mind to always look at those results against your own feature requirements, priorities, and limitations.
1. Basic Web Store Functionality
From checkout modules to shopping carts, to product pages, both e-commerce platforms provide you with the essential functionality that you need to get your store up and running.
And still, there are differences that you'll most likely identify when evaluating them based on this criterion:
Shopify is easier to use; thanks to its simple, conveniently intuitive user interface, you can create your new e-Store, unlock and leverage all that basic functionality in no time
Magento goes far beyond the basic functionality that you need to get everything set: it provides you, right out of the box, with all those advanced features that, in case of Shopify, you can benefit from only after you've first added the corresponding extensions
2. Available Themes and Templates
Any Magento vs Shopify 2019 comparison would reveal to you that: both e-commerce platforms are “spoiling” their users with their rich theme and template collections.
And I'm talking here about responsive templates, as well (both free of charge and... with a price tag on).
In this case: how do you rank them differently?
First of all, although Shopify provides fewer free themes than Magento, they're considerably more modern, more visually appealing, compared to Magento's free themes...
Furthermore, there's also another factor that sets them apart: while Shopify provides premium themes starting from $80, Magento's premium themes are way cheaper (starting from... $1)
3. SEO Capabilities
This is one of the categories in this “duel” where... there's no winner.
Both Magento and Shopify ship packed with extensive SEO-friendly features, that you can power your e-store with and... give your rankings a boost.
4. Magento vs Shopify 2019: Supported Payment Gateways
A category from this “competition” of the 2 most popular e-commerce platforms where Shopify seems to outshine its... competitor.
It supports +70 payment gateways, while Magento could only reach that record via integrated 3rd party apps.
5. Ease of Use
Another aspect where Shopify steals the spotlight away from its “rivaling” platform.
Although both of them ship with well-designed, intuitive user interfaces, Shopify:
provides you with a wizard to help you set up your e-store in no time; no web development experience needed
is a fully-hosted, fully-managed e-commerce solution; unlike Magento, that requires you to find your own hosting and to approach it with some level of technical expertise in order to set up your store...
END of Part 1.
Stay tuned, for I have 5 more important criteria to share with you.
Criteria that will allow you to run an accurate “Magento vs Shopify 2019” evaluation and to identify the most suitable e-commerce platform for your specific needs and priorities...
Image by suju from Pixabay.
Adriana Cacoveanu / May 14'2019
May 13-15, Las Vegas. You don't want to miss these dates if you're: an eCommerce expert, a Magento merchant, a Magento developer, a marketing technology provider, a Magento partner or an e-business owner... The Magento Imagine 2019 is just around the corner and is that annual gathering of the members of the eCommerce community across the globe that... you can't afford to skip.
Take it as:
an opportunity to get inspired by some of the biggest innovators in eCommerce
a great chance to network and mingle with industry leaders
the chance to be among the first to learn about the latest Magento news right from the company's executives...
the annual event where all those who've excelled as Magento merchants, brands or branded manufacturers get spotlighted and honored
1. What To Expect?
“3 days jampacked with breakout and special sessions, live keynote sessions, customer panels, and networking events”.
There'll be 3000:
Magento merchants
agencies
technology providers
developers
partners
... from +60 countries “flocking” to Vegas for this annual gathering. Therefore, expect an “avalanche” of shared best practices, innovative ideas, unique Magento experiences, and “steamy fresh” Magento news and updates.
And speaking of shared Magento experiences, here are just some of the big names in the digital commerce arena coming to... inspire you, as speakers:
Troy Brown, President of North America at Zumiez Inc.
Jules Pieri, The Grommet's Co-founder & CEO
Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia & Chairman of VaynerX
2. Magento Imagine 2019: The Excellence Awards Categories
Ok, so we've got this settled: the Magento Imagine Awards recognize and reward successful and creative merchants and partners all over the world.
“But what are the awards categories, more precisely?”, you might ask yourself.
They range from:
“Best-in-class omnichannel experience”
to “Best B2B innovations”
to “Best digital experience”
to “Best mobile commerce experience”
… and the list goes on, as there are 15 different categories of excellence in digital commerce.
3. Why Would You Attend It?
Let's say you're not one of the nominees: why would you want to attend Magento Imagine 2019?
What's in it for you?
Here's how it benefits you:
you'll be the first to learn all the “juicy” news and updates about Magento, the latest platform developments and opportunities in eCommerce to explore and... to exploit
you'll get the chance to learn and to grow your own e-business: from best practices presentations to inspiring case studies, to training opportunities and to the latest products in Magento sponsors' marketplace, it makes an event “packed” with... growth opportunities for you to leverage
you'll be networking and mingling with senior executives, eCommerce innovators, marketers, developers from the Magento ecosystem, so expect a “flood” of creative ideas, strategies, and technologies coming through, from all the biggest innovators in the digital marketing arena...
3 full days of learning, letting yourself be inspired and collaborating from/by/with everyone in the Magento community who aims for excellence in their field...
Image by Tumisu from Pixabay
Adriana Cacoveanu / May 08'2019
Looking for a Drupal 8 rating module that should be:
easy to install
easy to configure
easy to use
conveniently flexible
and user-friendly?
And maybe you “crave” for some nice-to-have features, as well:
enabling users to add a short review
multiple ratings: enabling users to vote on several aspects of your product/service, such as price, quality, ease of use?
What are your options? What working (and stable) modules for rating and reviewing are there in Drupal 8?
We've done the research for you, evaluated all the modules for rating in Drupal 8, and come up with a list of 6 best... rated ones:
1. Voting API
Keep in mind that this Drupal 8 rating module doesn't provide a voting mechanism, packed with all the key voting features. Instead, it structures the voting data for other rating modules to leverage.
What it does provide you with is a standardized API and voting data storing schema. Therefore, it streamlines the whole process of retrieving and organizing the voting results for various pieces of content on your Drupal 8 website.
Top features:
multi-criteria voting
caching the voting results (and it does that in a highly efficient manner, with no need to recalculate them...)
enables users to rate any type of content on your Drupal site (users, comments, nodes)
automatic tabulating of the voting results
Note: keep in mind that, for now, we only have a pre-release version of the module for Drupal 8...
2. Flag Rating, A Highly Popular Drupal 8 Rating Module
An extension of the Flag module, that allows you to either:
use the default SVG icon
upload your own icon (jpg, SVG or PNG) for each flag
Furthermore, you even get 2 templates to override to your liking:
flag-rating.html.twig
flag-rating-icon.html.twig
3. Star Rating Form Display
A Drupal 8 rating module that you can use to turn the “select tag” option of the Star Rating module into a more user-friendly, clickable icon.
To “unlock” its functionality just:
navigate to Structure > Content type
select the “Manage form display” option
scroll down to your star rating field
click “Star rating clickable”
in the Settings screen, configure the custom display to perfectly fit your needs
4. Star Rating
If you're looking to integrate a voting functionality exclusively for the authors of the articles submitted on your website (hence, not for the end users), Flag Rating is the module you're looking for.
Take it as a simple, yet useful module that provides you with a display formatter and a star rating field. In short: with the “bare necessities” for the authors to be able to rate the uploaded articles.
Say you have a review website — a hotel review website — and you want to add multiple star ratings to a node:
customer service
en suite and private facilities
food, etc.
... with a different icon for each node. Then, you just need to use the star rating field that this module provides...
Top features:
built-in support for the Views module
it doesn't require other modules (e.g. the voting API module) to work
it allows you to add a different icon type per field and per view mode
5. Vote Up/Down
The Drupal 8 rating module that simplifies the entire voting process: it encourages users to express their votes through an intuitive thumb illustration.
Top features:
code voting support for your pre-defined products/services
interchangeable themes for your voting widget
the possibility to set up your own custom widgets using ctools plugins
The END!
These are your 5 best options when it comes to working Drupal 8 rating modules that should be both easy to configure and easy to use.
Have you discovered other ways of integrating a reviews feature to your Drupal 8 website?
Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
Adriana Cacoveanu / May 07'2019
Disliked by users, controversial, yet a constant presence on WordPress websites and a holy grail of high conversion rates if leveraged in the right context... But how do you know which of the best popup plugins for Wordpress is the perfect match for your own use case?
Well, you first identify your expectations in pop-ups. What exactly are you looking for in a popup plugin?
out-of-the-box responsiveness?
a handful of highly customizable templates and design features to choose from?
smooth integration with the software that you're currently using on your WordPress website?
a dead easy to use, drag-and-drop popup builder?
page selection and trigger option features?
that it should be conveniently lightweight and fast?
real-time analytics?
advanced targeting options?
A/B testing functionality?
Once you've articulated your needs, start digging into this shortlist of 5 best rated Wordpress popup plugins in 2019:
1. Ninja Popups
If you're looking for one of the best popup plugins for WordPress that should:
provide you with a solid, yet conveniently lightweight drag-and-drop-builder
… one that enables you to easily set up and fine-tune your popups in the slightest detail (even if you have zero coding experience)
ship with tons of features to choose from
allow you to either create your custom popup from scratch or to choose out of a large collection of built-in popup themes
… then Ninja Popups is the plugin that meets all your specific requirements.
It's powerful, loaded with advanced features and flexible enough to empower you to customize your popup till it perfectly fits your needs. You even get to select the color and size of your popup.
Other key features:
A/B testing
responsive
highly flexible
enhanced customization
a data-rich analytics page
+74 animation options
+73 pre-built themes
an easy to use visual builder
Note: if lots of customization power is too overwhelming for you, you can always opt for its more lightweight builder and simply place your text inside one of its pre-made templates...
2. Elementor Pro
Elemenentor Pro makes another great option if the popup that you want to create is more complex than... an email opt-in, for example.
Just like the Ninja Popups plugin, this one, too, allows you to build both:
popups from scratch, from a... blank slate, that you're free to custom-tune to your exact needs
popups on top of one of its already pre-made templates (and it ships with +100 of popup templates...)
Full control over your popup and unmatched flexibility, thanks to all its robust features, from which its trigger/targeting options help it stand out.
For example, you get to configure it so that it triggers your popup:
after a defined number of sessions
after a defined number of page views
based on scrolling, exit intent, clicks, inactivity, page loading
Furthermore, you to target specific content on your WordPress website where your popup should get triggered:
specific blog posts
specific post formats and types
certain authors, tags, categories
specific devices
user logged-in status
Also, the types of popups that you get to build with Elementor Pro range from:
modal forms
to full-screen overlays
to top/bottom notification bars
to slide-ins
And the list of options doesn't end here. It's not for no reason that this is one of the best popup plugins for WordPress. It provides you with an extensive range of styling options and widgets to include in your popup:
registration forms
buttons
contact forms
countdown timers
Notes:
it integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce
you can configure it so that it triggers your popup for non-logged-in users only
its most notable limitation is analytics: it doesn't provide you with A/B testing functionality and built-in analytics tools
3. OptinMonster, One of the Best Popup Plugins for WordPress
“Flexibility at its best” must be the most accurate definition for this popup builder:
it provides you with an extensive range of targeting and triggering rules
… an easy-to-use, drag-and-drop editor
… loads of functionality to scan through and to choose from
Like the other WordPress popup plugins on this list, it enables you to either build your popup from the ground up or to tap into one of the pre-built templates...
Powerful trigger features
exit-intent triggers; and this functionality is its "specialty": it tracks and analyzes your website visitors' browsing behaviors to determine when they're most likely to leave a specific page so that it triggers the popup
user inactivity
time
click (two-step opt-ins)
Advanced targetting features
you can adapt your offers based on whether the targeted user has already converted on one/some of your popups or not; no need to "bug" one of your website visitors with an email opt-in if he/she has already signed in to your list...
you can target your popups by cookie, adblock usage, referrer, page, new vs returning visitors, device
Moreover, its easy to use builder, loaded with tones of advanced features, allows you to create other campaigns, as well, not just popups:
footer bars
in-line forms
floating headers
scroll triggered boxes
welcome gates
slide-in forms
Other "tempting" features:
A/B testing
widgets that you can select from to put together your popup
you even get to configure your popups to be triggered at specific times
it "plays well" with your email marketing software
4. Bloom
It's with the visually-appealing interface that Bloom manages to set itself apart from the other 4 best popup plugins for WordPress here.
But also with the lack of some key features:
it doesn't ship with a popup builder, so you can't use it to create popups from scratch
it's designed precisely for email opt-ins
it doesn't provide an exit-intent trigger option
it offers fewer targetting features compared to the other WordPress plugins listed here
Nevertheless, you can still choose from over 100 pre-built templates and customize the:
text
borders and edges
colors
form details
animations
images
Also, since I've mentioned that email opt-ins are its specialty, here are the 6 ways that you can display them when using Bloom:
as inline opt-in forms
as widger area forms
as automatic popups
as required opt-in for content unlock (you can restrict access to premium content on your website, thus encouraging users to opt-in first...)
as automatic fly-ins
as below content forms
Its most “luring” features:
a great-looking dashboard
it allows you to set up view analytics
A/B testing
some unique trigger options (that I'll talk about in a bit)
Trigger features:
scroll depth
inactivity
time
after purchasing triggers: you can display a popup as soon as the user has completed the checkout process
after commenting triggers: you can display a popup after one of your website visitors has submitted a comment
Content targeting features:
by specific posts
by post types
by post categories
5. ConvertPlus
Another great choice if you're more into tweaking pre-built templates rather than building popups from scratch.
And we're talking about +100 templates to “delve” into. Once you've selected the perfect one for your popup, feel free to leverage the real-time customizer to tweak its:
colors
animations
form field/labels
text
Not really fond of the idea of merely customizing a pre-made template? Then you can always upgrade to Convert Pro and get your drag-and-drop builder...
Now, here are some of the types of popup forms that you can create using ConvertPlus:
email opt-ins
sidebar widgets
notification bars
full-screen popups
slide-ins
top/bottom bar information
sticky boxes
Key trigger options:
exit-intent
user inactivity
time
scroll depth
launch after content (triggering the popup only after the user has reached the end of the content in question)
click (for two-step popups)
Finally, ConvertPlus includes detailed targeting/trigger options, as well as built-in A/B testing and analytics to help you optimize your popups.
Main targeting options:
logged-in users
referrer detection (you can build popups specifically for visitors coming from a partnering website)
device
page level targeting
new vs returning visitors
Other robust features:
+700 fonts to select from
custom CSS, background settings, animations
real-time analytics
it integrates seamlessly with Zapier, WooCommerce, Contact Form 7, WP Registration Form
The END!
These are the 5 best popup plugins for WordPress in 2019. Those that:
ship with tons of powerful trigger/targeting options
grant you full control over the look and feel of your popup
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
Adriana Cacoveanu / May 01'2019