Here at Galaxy Weblinks, we realize it can be tough to balance high impact app development while also staying afloat in a weak global economy. That’s why we’re here to help! We’re a web and mobile app development firm that’s been in the game for over two decades. With over 1000 projects under our belt, we have the technical expertise and know how to help your business achieve its goals. All of our clients appreciate our dedicated project management style and how we communicate effectively in all of our projects. Whether you need Android, iOS, or Hybrid app development, we’ve got your back!
In light of our accomplishments, we’ve been considered one of the top companies for app development in Massachusetts by Clutch, a B2B market research authority. They employ a one of a kind ranking formula to compare leaders in the business services sector. Clutch’s work helps interested buyers find and partner with the vendor of their dreams!
We couldn’t have earned this award without our wonderful clients! They took time out of their day to engage with the Clutch team to assess our performance. We were evaluated on the basis of quality, attention to deadlines, fairness of cost, and overall ability to drive results. We’re happy to report, we’ve earned a lovely 4.8 out of five stars on Clutch! Take a look at our most recent review below:
“We are thrilled to be listed in top 15 companies in Massachusetts for web and mobile development by Clutch”
Varun Bihani, partner Galaxy Weblinks.
We’re over the moon to be recognized for our accomplishments! Thank you to our clients and to the Clutch team for making this award a reality. Drop us a line today if you’re interested in learning more about how Galaxy Weblinks can help your business thrive!
In 2024, web development is projected to reach a staggering $488 billion industry, with over 1.8 billion websites worldwide. These interesting statistics emphasize the significance of the web in our digital age, where every click, tap, and interaction hinges on this global platform. Yet, behind the scenes, it’s the uncelebrated heroes, the backend frameworks, that power the seamless experiences we often take for granted.
The significance of choosing the right backend framework cannot be overstated in 2024. In this article, we’ll explore the top 8 backend frameworks for 2024, providing a comprehensive overview of each framework, along with real-world examples, key metrics, and the importance of making an informed choice about the best backend framework suited for you.
The Backbone of the Web: Backend Frameworks
Backend frameworks form the backbone of the web, ensuring that applications and websites function smoothly. They provide the infrastructure for data storage, retrieval, and the logic that drives the user interface. In short, they are the invisible architects behind every online interaction.
Now, let’s explore the top 8 backend frameworks for 2024 and gain insights into their unique strengths and applications.
Node.js
Node.js continues to be a strong contender in backend development. Because of its event-driven, non-blocking architecture, it is a great option for real-time applications. In 2024, it remains a reliable option for scalable, high-performance backend systems.
Netflix utilizes Node.js to deliver seamless streaming experiences to millions of users simultaneously. With an active community and thousands of packages, Node.js remains a solid choice for backend development.
Django
Django, written in Python, is known for its simplicity and robustness.It has several built-in features and complies to the “batteries-included” principle. For startups and rapid development, Django is a wise pick. For instance, Instagram relies on Django’s capabilities to handle its massive user base and data. Django’s readability and versatility continue to attract developers worldwide.
Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails (RoR) advocates convention over configuration, which leads to faster development. RoR is perfect for startups aiming for quick prototypes and scaling in the future. Airbnb, GitHub, and Shopify owe their success to RoR’s efficiency and developer-friendly syntax. RoR powers some of the world’s most popular platforms, reflecting its reliability.
Express.js
Express.js pairs beautifully with Node.js to create a minimalistic and flexible backend. It is well-regarded for its speed and adaptability, making it a favorite for microservices architecture.
It is considered ideal for creating APIs and single-page applications, contributing to a smoother development process. My Fitness Pal uses Express.js to deliver a seamless fitness tracking experience to its users.
Spring Boot
Spring Boot simplifies Java backend development. With built-in features like security and database access, it streamlines the development process. Ticketmaster relies on Spring Boot to handle high traffic and ticket sales during events. Spring Boot’s track record with major enterprises attests to its high-performance capabilities.
Flask
Flask, another Python-based framework, emphasizes simplicity and minimalism. For smaller projects and startups, Flask’s lightweight nature provides a nimble development experience. For instance, Pinterest utilizes Flask for its recommendation algorithms and content discovery. Flask’s growing popularity within the Python community reflects its appeal.
ASP.NET Core
Microsoft’s ASP.NET Core is a robust and versatile framework for building cross-platform web applications. With a focus on performance and security, it’s a reliable choice for enterprise-level projects. Microsoft’s own products, like Azure DevOps, rely on ASP.NET Core’s capabilities. The trust of major companies and its cross-platform compatibility highlight ASP.NET Core’s reliability.
Laravel
Laravel, based on PHP, is celebrated for its elegant syntax and developer-friendly features. It works great for creating cutting-edge APIs and web apps. 9GAG’s backend is powered by Laravel, ensuring a seamless user experience. Laravel’s rich ecosystem and successful projects showcase its appeal.
Factors to Consider Before Choosing the Right Backend Framework
Selecting the right backend framework is pivotal for your project’s success. It’s a decision that can significantly impact your project’s efficiency, scalability, and long-term viability. Pay close attention to the following elements in order to make an informed decision:
1. Project Requirements:
Real-time vs. Batch Processing: Determine whether your project requires real-time data processing or if batch processing is sufficient. Real-time applications, such as chat platforms or live tracking systems, demand frameworks optimized for low-latency performance.
API-Driven or Full-Stack: Decide whether your project is primarily focused on providing APIs for other applications or if it’s a full-stack application. Some frameworks excel in API development, while others are better suited for building complete web applications.
Scale and Complexity: Evaluate your project’s size and level of complexity. Large-scale platforms, such as e-commerce websites or social networks, have distinct requirements compared to smaller applications. Ensure your chosen framework can handle the anticipated workload and complexity.
2. Team Expertise:
Programming Languages: Evaluate your team’s expertise in programming languages. If your developers are proficient in a particular language, it may be wise to choose a backend framework that aligns with their strengths. This familiarity can significantly accelerate development.
Framework Familiarity: Consider your team’s experience with specific backend frameworks. Using a framework they are comfortable with can lead to faster development cycles and fewer errors.
3. Scalability:
Future Growth: Plan for the future. Your chosen backend framework should be capable of scaling alongside your application’s growth. It should accommodate increased traffic, data volume, and feature enhancements without major overhauls.
Scalability Patterns: Understand the scalability patterns that your framework supports. Horizontal scaling, vertical scaling, or a combination of both may be required depending on your project’s needs.
4. Community and Support:
Community Activity: A vibrant and active community around a backend framework is a valuable asset. It indicates ongoing development, timely bug fixes, and a rich ecosystem of plugins and extensions.
Support Channels: Investigate the availability of support channels. Are there official forums, documentation, or community-driven resources that can assist your team in troubleshooting issues or learning the framework?
5. Performance:
Load Testing: Conduct load testing to assess the framework’s performance under conditions that mimic your project’s expected load. This helps identify potential bottlenecks and performance limitations.
Benchmarking: Compare the performance of different backend frameworks using benchmarking tools. Real-world performance metrics are crucial for making an informed decision.
6. Security:
Built-in Security Features: Examine the framework’s built-in security features. Robust authentication, authorization, and protection against common security vulnerabilities (e.g., SQL injection, cross-site scripting) are essential.
Security Patching: Consider how quickly security patches are released and implemented within the framework’s community. Timely security updates are vital to protect your data and users.
Benefits of Using Backend Frameworks
Backend frameworks offer several advantages like:
Efficiency: Frameworks provide pre-built components, reducing development time.
Security: Many frameworks include built-in security features.
Scalability: Frameworks often offer scalability options to accommodate growth.
Community: Access to a community of developers for problem-solving and updates.
The Future of Backend Development
As we step into 2024, the future of backend development looks promising. The relentless march of technology continues to redefine how we approach backend development, with several noteworthy trends shaping the landscape:
1. Serverless Computing:
In 2024, serverless computing stands at the forefront of backend evolution. This shift allows developers to focus on code, leaving infrastructure management to cloud providers. Scalability, cost-efficiency, and reduced operational overhead are driving the adoption of serverless architectures.
2. Containerization:
Containerization, epitomized by technologies like Docker and Kubernetes, remains a pivotal force. Containers offer portability, consistency, and efficient resource utilization. They simplify deployment and orchestration, making it easier to manage complex backend systems.
3. Microservices:
The microservices architecture continues to gain momentum. Breaking applications into smaller, independently deployable services promotes agility and flexibility. This approach enables rapid development, easier maintenance, and the ability to scale individual components as needed.
4. Edge Computing:
With the proliferation of IoT devices and the need for low-latency processing, edge computing emerges as a game-changer. Backend development is extending to the edge, allowing data processing closer to the data source. This revolutionizes real-time applications and reduces latency.
5. AI and Machine Learning Integration:
AI and machine learning are becoming integral to backend development. These technologies empower applications with predictive capabilities, data analysis, and automation, enhancing user experiences and decision-making.
6. Enhanced Security Measures:
As cyber threats grow in sophistication, backend development focuses on bolstering security. Advanced encryption, threat detection, and authentication mechanisms are integrated into frameworks to safeguard data and user privacy.
Future Of Backend Development
The future of backend development promises increased efficiency, scalability, and responsiveness. It’s a landscape where technology not only meets the demands of modern web applications but also anticipates and shapes them. Backend frameworks are evolving to embrace these trends, offering developers the tools they need to create cutting-edge, high-performance applications.”
In this dynamic environment, staying informed and adaptable is paramount for developers, ensuring they harness the full potential of these advancements to create robust and innovative backend solutions.
Your choice of backend framework lays the foundation for your project’s success. Node.js, Django, Ruby on Rails, Express.js, Spring Boot, Flask, ASP.NET Core, and Laravel all offer unique strengths for 2024. Assess your project’s needs, your team’s expertise, and your scalability requirements to make an informed choice.
At Galaxy Weblinks, we understand the evolving landscape of backend development. Our web development and backend services are tailored to meet the needs of modern businesses. Get in touch with us right now to find out how we can support your digital journey.
In the dynamic world of web development, making informed decisions is the key to unlocking the future of your digital ventures in 2024 and beyond.
This article is an assessment and comparison of the popular content management systems WordPress, Drupal, and Craft. We’ll dig into each CMS platform’s features, ease of use, the types of businesses that are best suited to the platform, and more. We’ll also walk you through the use case scenario of each CMS and will help you understand which one could be right for your business and goals.
Before we explore the nuances of each CMS, let us quickly introduce the three stalwarts in the CMS arena.
WordPress
WordPress is an extremely versatile CMS that facilitates users (even non-developers) to create feature-rich websites and ecommerce portals. It is completely customizable, mobile-optimized, and SEO friendly. It’s also open-source, making it completely free, redistributable, and offers unlimited validity.
The most popular CMS platform powers more than 40% of the websites available on the internet. It also offers thousands of free and paid themes and plugins that the developers can choose from.
Drupal
Drupal’s open-source model encourages continuous improvement and innovation through the support and passion of the Drupal community. With a pool of diverse experts regularly working to make Drupal better, the possibility to create exceptional digital experiences expands far beyond what a single team of proprietary software developers could dream up.
Recent versions of Drupal have also prioritized user experience (UX) to empower everyone from the site editors to content creators and to build powerful customer experiences.
Craft
Craft CMS is a content management system similar to WordPress. The interface is a simple, more stripped back version of WordPress, built and tailored to the needs and requirements of the business. This simple view makes updating and adding content a much more seamless experience.
For some, this adds an increased level of comfort when migrating over to Craft due to the out-of-box understanding developers, designers, and writers are likely to have.
Comparison — WordPress, Drupal, & Craft CMS
Below are the brief use cases for each CMS, showcasing when and how the three of them are being used to help you decide which one suits your business needs, size, and scalability.
WordPress
One of the common misconceptions about WordPress is that it’s mainly for creating blogging sites. WordPress was developed as a blogging platform, but that is ancient history now. The platform has evolved radically with the various new releases over the years.
The good news with WordPress is that it is extremely flexible. It can be adapted for ecommerce websites, corporate websites, communities, and forums. WordPress is an ideal fit for startups as well, as it allows them to start small and then scale up to run even enterprise level organizations that span many countries and continents.
All you need are suitable plugins and themes. So, for instance, if you wanted to make an online portfolio for your web design business or even a blogging site, you could go with the provided themes. You can alter its source code to customize your website’s look or functionality!
You have a choice of adding extra oomph to your website by opting for customizations.
For example,
You may have a website that includes a design that should be converted to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript — being three different “technologies”, and be mobile friendly as well. That design is then integrated into a WordPress theme. Whereas all dynamic components such as menus, sidebars, footer widgets, and general content areas should be connected and coordinated with the backend.
Several custom features are then built as custom plugins by a back-end developer, who should be aware of the front-end specifics and business needs through a manager. That final product is packaged and then hosted on a specific server environment.
It will require an extra pair of hands further when it comes to security (having more people able to tackle an assignment and a project manager in charge), having potentially higher code quality when a bunch of people carry out code reviews. This process includes automated testing and ongoing scalability given the diverse expertise of our WordPress developers.
In addition to that, WordPress might be free but it is common for businesses to pay the experts to design a logo for you or adjust some of the CSS code on your site. Whereas, other WordPress users are keen on keeping graphic designers or maintenance experts on call.
So, it all depends on your experience and the scale of your website.
Drupal
Drupal is the best choice if you are building a website that needs complex data organization, that needs to be customizable.
For instance, when you’re building an advanced website, you can choose from among many technologies. Usually, the first choice is the programming language (ASP.NET, Java, Python, PHP, etc.) and then we decide whether we should code everything from scratch or use a framework to do all the heavy lifting.
There is also a third choice, a more comprehensive solution, CMF (content management framework). Drupal 9 is one of these frameworks/systems.
And by large and advanced, we mean one that is changed frequently. Content changes are carried out by at least one editor, supported by at least one developer (along with a QA tester and a sysadmin), who’s responsible for fixing the bugs, continuous development of the website, adding new functionalities, and so on.
Some examples of large and advanced websites are:
A corporate website of a medium or large production or service company.
An informational website, for example, run by a paper or magazine.
An organization’s employee portal for managing processes in the company, such as a CRM system.
A system feeding content to other systems — an API with content for other websites and mobile applications.
Besides, Drupal has almost everything you need out-of-the-box. But more often than that, you may need a functionality that is not a part of the Drupal core yet. And to fulfill that need, you need modules. Modules are bundles of code that can extend or add the functionality of Drupal websites. For example, Drupal Commerce provides everything required to sell products, services, or files online.
Craft
With Netflix, Moz, Duck Brand Duck Tape, Salesforce, PBS, and countless other brands running Craft websites, it’s a mature and competent content management system. At the same time, one of the most important things about Craft is that it is among the newest CMS solutions.
Craft CMS has ditched the traditional CMS systems that come with pre-built themes, CSS frameworks, and ready-to-go websites. It provides a bespoke solution to developers. Craft CMS neither offers posts or pages nor does it offer any bootstrap features and themes to spin up the frontend.
Everything is coded and designed from scratch which allows creating a unique experience specific to your project. And a fluent, sensible content management experience is the result.
Craft specifically targets developers responsible for building complex websites for companies with large budgets.
The primary reason for what makes Craft successful is that CraftCMS gives web professionals and developers control over websites they build.
There are many key tools in CraftCMS that are managed through the control panel of the CMS that illustrates how Craft supports and favors developers of your business:
Hundreds of Craft mediated plug-ins
Live preview during the website build
Regular releases and bug fixes
Complete control over the content and categories
An ability to manage multiple sites with one Craft installation
Custom templates
Allowing developers to write and use their own HTML
Why does it matter to your business?
When we boil this down to value for your business, all three CMS ensure a robust and feature-rich website with fewer maintenance costs, faster publishing, and quicker onboarding of new people.
The flexibility and features they offer are out of the box, along with their content-first approach, and make them our go-to for nearly every custom web project.
It’s a crucial part of our web design and development capabilities. Intrigued? Get in touch with us and we’ll be happy to talk about how they can make your site great.
Vue 3 is here and everyone is looking forward to catching up with the upgrade ASAP.
Vue JS is the best client-side framework out there! It has improved its bundle size and performance under the hood, making this new version appealing to the developers.
What’s the catch? Some breaking changes, deprecations, and new syntax might make your migration plan slightly harder than expected. Let’s dive in and see what you should expect.
In this article, we’ll look at how you can upgrade your Vue.js 2 application into Vue 3, and what are the breaking changes you should expect in Vue 3.
How to upgrade from Vue 2 to Vue 3
Let’s assume a scenario where you have a usual Vue.js project. You would also have a main.js file where you import the Vue router and Vuex configuration and set it to the Vue instance.
Using the CLI
Now to upgrade a Vue.js 2 project to Vue.js 3 project, you can simply add an official CLI for Vue projects, the Vue-next plugin. Besides deployment and development tooling, it simplifies the upgrade to a one-line command:
This plugin upgrades and installs the new dependencies for Vue Router, Vue, and Vuex. It also modifies the code to be compatible with Vue 3 version.
So it becomes important to create a backup of your project at the very start.
Installing Dependencies
Installing the plugin upgrades the packages @vue/test-utils, eslint-plugin-vue, vue-router, vuex, and vue to the new version. Also, a new package appears among the development dependencies, named @vue/compiler-sfc.
It helps in compiling the new Vue single file components into runnable Javascript code. Now, you can use your source control panel to see and compare all the changes.
Code Comparisons
The first thing you will notice is that the way of instantiating and configuring your application has changed. It looks and works much better than before.
Same for the Vue router. If you take a look at the configuration file, a new VueRouter becomes a call to createRouter, and the global plugin setup must be left. Instead, you’ll be using some functions from this library.
The same goes for the Vuex Store. You can use the new ‘createStore’ function to create a new instance and set the store configuration.
Breaking Changes You Would See in Vue 3
The above modifications are done automatically by the Vue CLI.
All you have to do now is to start experimenting with all the below new features that Vue 3 offers for which you will need experienced developers. Let’s understand this better.
Vue Filters and Eventbus are deprecated in the new version. EventBus was there in the Vue development whenever you’re facing a situation where you need to make a shortcut to emit events from a child to parent, or vice versa. Whereas, filters were there to help you ‘format’ your value, for example: to short URL, add currency, uppercase, etc.
You will need experts in complex cases to make the required changes in your application code and refactor both of them.
You should expect a more maintainable, smaller, faster version with the new features. Most of them are additions and improvements over the existing API.
Composition API
Composition API is Vue 3’s biggest feature so far, which provides an alternate syntax for using TypeScript, reusing code across components, and writing larger components.
This is an alternative syntax and not the new way we code components in Vue 3. You might choose to use it based on the above three reasons.
Another good thing is that the existing Options API is not deprecated. Everything is for handling advanced use cases and mainly replace mixins usage that admittedly has caused a lot of problems in large scale applications.
Mounting
As we mentioned before, the first thing that you will notice is the difference in initializing your app. In Vue 2 you use Vue constructor with the $mount method and a render function like this:
In Vue 3, you will find a more elegant syntax
Fragments
In Vue 2, multi-root components were not supported. The solution was to wrap your code in a wrapper element.
In Vue 3, components can have multiple root nodes now. This removes the use of wrapper elements and enables writing a cleaner markup.
Teleport
Having part of your component mounted in a different position in DOM than the Vue component hierarchy has been seen as a difficult situation to solve.
The teleport feature helps in creating a component that includes a full-screen modal. In most cases, you’d want the modal’s logic to live within the component, but either it starts requiring a change in component composition or the positioning of the modal quickly becomes hard to solve through CSS.
You can still interact and pass props to it like being inside the component!
Conclusion
If you want your Vue.js application to become faster, smaller, more maintainable, you should upgrade to Vue 3 with an easier approach to target native.
If you want to wait for Vue.js Migration Build release for the whole upgrade process, you can still stick to using Vue.js 2, as it’s stable and it works with any third-party library or tool.
If planning for migration, we recommend that you hire experts who can assist you with a proper migration plan and ensuing and development process, especially as the supporting libraries are still getting updated.
Contact us for your new custom or single-page application Vue.JS project.
About Galaxy Weblinks
We specialize in delivering end-to-end Vue.js software development services, apart from other popular JS frameworks. Our team of skilled and dedicated Vue.JS developers provides initial consultation, migration plan, and the final Vue.JS web app development & support. We deliver powerful front-ends, real-time applications, and single-page apps (SPAs) with on-time delivery with an agile & devOps approach.
Building robust web solutions that transform businesses into online management tools facilitate Galaxy Weblinks to embellish amongst the top web service providers in Massachusetts at GoodFirms.
View the Galaxy Weblinks’ GoodFirms’ profile to know about its robust services and other parameters that enable them to thrive in the cutting-edge competition in the web industry.
Overview of the Company
Galaxy Weblinks incepted in 2000 is a new generation of e-business solutions based in Massachusetts, catering to clients of different enterprises. The team develops robust web solutions that convert businesses into online administration tools. From startups to authorized companies, the expert developers’ team at Galaxy Weblinks helps people turn their web presence into an asset by creating competitive advantages through e-strategy, development, rapid deployment, and continuous management. The professionals at the company believe that the future belongs to those who prioritize variation in their business applications.
Furthermore, the team is looking into the digital horizon to explore the opportunities. Since its inception, Galaxy Weblinks has remodeled many businesses into vibrant Portals, Vortals, and Profit Gateways.
Besides this, the team also helps small to medium size companies leverage their inherited strengths and technologies to take full advantage of e-business by profiting on the growth and productivity that can be accomplished by blending many companies into common marketplaces. Moreover, expert professionals continuously strive to exceed customer expectations in all engagements with an optimal mix of technical intensity and performance capability while ensuring high employee spirit. The company holds expertise in varied technologies such as – PHP, core PHP, Laravel, Yii, WordPress, Drupal, Craft, Magento, .Net, Java, NodeJS, Spring, React, Hibernate, Angular, Python, MYSQL, AJAX, HTML5, Android, iOS, WebRTC, and data analytics.
GoodFirms’ Research Process
GoodFirms begets more than 15k legitimate reviews from verified purchasers from different companies & software. Furthermore, GoodFirms holds more than 9000 services and businesses listed with their accurate data. These listed firms are judged based on the three fundamental principles – Quality, Reliability, and Ability. Likewise, GoodFirms also evaluated Galaxy Weblinks and asserted it to the best web development, mobile app development companies in Massachusetts, and New York, respectively, at GoodFirms. It also concluded that the company would soon thrive amongst software service providers at GoodFirms.
The in-depth evaluation report of the research process for the Galaxy Weblinks conducted by GoodFirms is as follows:
Builds Modern Websites that Scale
The full-stack web development services empower different businesses across various industries in curating everything from a simple website to complex business websites, e-commerce portals, and SaaS applications. Websites developed at Galaxy Weblinks are easily connected to multiple third-party services, starting with payment gateways and ending with business automation services. Moreover, expert developers focus on making the websites highly secured by executing role-based permission systems, transactions, and data sharing protection. The professional group developed websites that are of high-speed performance, scalability, reliability, easy maintenance, 24/7 availability, and are delivered at a lower cost, which makes cloud platforms an excellent choice for web apps. Besides this, the team strives to produce mobile-responsive websites so that the users can access the functionality and content of websites at any time and from any place and device. All the data are synchronized in real-time. Thus, backed by the team of such professional web developers endows Galaxy Weblinks to burgeon amongst the top web development companies in Massachusetts at GoodFirms.
The review obtained at GoodFirms is confirming the quality of websites developed at Galaxy Weblinks.
Mobile Applications Build with a Focus on Business Growth
At Galaxy Weblinks, the app developers craft mobile apps that empower a team to engage with clients’ brands and meet their demands faster. The professional team will build highly performant and scalable mobile apps using the most advanced programming languages and frameworks. The app developers’ expertise is not limited to traditional native apps like iOS, Android, Windows, and cross-platforms but includes the most advanced technologies such as IoT, AR, and VR. Excellent outcomes catered to the clients are the result of continuous research, unceasing creativity, and scrupulous execution performed by the experts.
Moreover, the in-house app development team helps businesses to design, develop, and launch their iOS application cost-effectively and within the time-frame. Besides this, the in-house team is also well-acquainted in Android app development by using clear workflows that will help clients to reach the goal. Android applications developed at Galaxy Weblinks bring strength, creativity, and innovation. Thus, the team of mobile app designers and developers and quality assurance specialists follow clear workflows to deliver solid and fully functional mobile apps. This approach opted by the app developers team accredits Galaxy Weblinks to tap into the list of leading mobile app development companies in New York amongst the enlisted ones at GoodFirms.
The review displayed below given by one of the service-seekers listed with GoodFirms proves the potentialities of app developers at Galaxy Weblinks.
Custom Software Solutions that Boosts Clients’ Business
The expert software engineers at Galaxy Weblinks builds software that aligns with clients’ processes and workflows instead of picking up off the shelf solutions. Custom software developed at the company will provide flexibility, minimizes security risks, and increases the revenue of the clients’ business. The dedicated software engineers’ team renders a strategic solution to the most complex custom software application provisions. Moreover, the expert team adept at developing products that utilize innovative technologies for solving challenges that demand modern new-world solutions. The group helps clients automate their processes so that they can free up resources and focus on delivering better services to their users. Once the team at Galaxy Weblinks has scoped the requirements, they adopt responsibility for project implementation to deliver the best possible software solutions that enhance clients’ business resulting in high profits. Thus, looking to the dedication for delivering high-end results, the GoodFirms team believes that Galaxy Weblinks would soon get dubbed as one of the top custom software development companies in the USA at GoodFirms.
To confirm the quality service offerings, one can check the review displayed below obtained at GoodFirms.
About GoodFirms
Washington, D.C. based GoodFirms is a maverick B2B research and reviews company that helps in finding the web development, mobile app development, and software development companies rendering the best services to its customers. GoodFirms’ extensive research process ranks the companies, boosts their online reputation and helps service seekers pick the right technology partner that meets their business needs.
About the Author
Anna Stark is presently working as a Content Writer with GoodFirms – Washington D.C. based B2B Research Company, which bridges the gap between service seekers and service providers. Anna’s current role lingers to shape every company’s performance and critical attributes into words. She firmly believes in the magic of words and equips new strategies that work, always in with ideas, something new to carve, and something original to decorate the firm’s identity.
We are all aware of how APIs connect different devices and applications and allow us to place an order, book a flight, or make a reservation.
Since software products are becoming more and more about a bunch of micro-services and third-party APIs mashed together, it is critical to get their structure in order. Plus, as the number of APIs continues to rise, the lack of global API standard risks slowing down innovation and limiting collaboration.
That’s where specification comes in the picture.
An API specification is a document that describes an API.
It is stored in a machine-readable form such as JSON or a YAML file and can be converted to human-readable API documentation.
What is Swagger and OpenAPI Specification?
Swagger is a tool for designing, building, documenting, and mocking APIs. It uses the OpenAPI Specification (also known as OAS) to describe requests, responses, and any other details about your RESTful APIs.
(RESTful APIs enable web applications that are built on various programming languages to communicate with each other.)
Swagger and OpenAPI specification lets developers design and develop REST APIs seamlessly and effortlessly. These specifications help in describing the structure of a REST API so that machines can read and mock them.
For instance, to access a REST service, the client needs to know the REST API of that particular service. You would also need to write the code according to that documentation.
With OpenAPI, this step is automated.
There exists a machine parse-able file that explains to computers how a REST API works. It tells code what replies to expect and what requests exist. To quote from the OpenAPI description:
“The OpenAPI Specification (OAS) defines a standard, language-agnostic interface to RESTful APIs. This can be used by documentation generation tools to display the API, code generation tools to generate servers and clients in various programming languages, testing tools, and many other use cases.”
. . .
Developing APIs with Swagger and OpenAPI
The Swagger toolset includes a mix of open source, free, and commercial tools, which can be used at different stages of the API lifecycle while using OpenAPI spec.
These tools include:
Swagger Inspector: API testing tool that generates OpenAPI definitions from an existing API and lets you validate your APIs.
SwaggerHub: API design and documentation, built for teams working with OpenAPI.
Swagger Editor: Swagger Editor lets you preview documents in real-time, and edit OpenAPI specifications in YAML inside your browser.
Swagger UI: Swagger UI is a collection of CSS, Javascript and HTML, and assets that dynamically generate beautiful documentation from an OAS-compliant API.
And others…..
For instance,
Writing your first specification? You can use editor.swagger.io which loads petstore samples.
The left side shows OpenAPI specification and the right side shows OpenAPI documentation which is generated based on spec. Initially, developers used to create documentation from the code.
Adding a step of specification while creating an API helps in sharing it with different teams who are going to work on these APIs or use these APIs in their application. That’s when the design and documentation of APIs come in handy.
So if you have an OpenAPI implementation and an OpenAPI description file of a REST API, you can feed that description file to the OpenAPI implementation.
And this implementation now knows how to use the REST API, it can even auto generate code to use the REST API in different languages or can generate human readable documentation for you.
. . .
Why OpenAPI Spec for developers?
As shown above, many developers find it valuable to work with a specification to automatically generate and improve their documentation, as this improves consistency and saves time.
Also, it enhances the developer experience as it makes it easier to try out and explore an API. As it helps other developers to consume your API, and having a well defined/documented API will have a great impact on it. You can focus on the API consumers need beforehand.
Secondly, it enables independence between teams, e.g, QA, Backend, and Frontend engineers know how the API is supposed to do, so they are all aligned on it.
Removing these dependencies speeds up the release process because different teams can do their tasks at a much faster pace.
Conclusion:
The OpenAPI Initiative is part of the Linux Foundation, which makes it a bit more trustworthy and at least looks like it won’t go away soon.
Whereas, Swagger tools are convenient because you can manage files in the repository and send it out as specifications with one command.
Whatever your approach to building APIs, we can help you in having a trusted and consumer friendly tool to orchestrate your API lifecycle, which can be a crucial game changer in your application development.
Whether you have recently started learning Node.js or thinking about using it in your next project, this blog will help you in understanding the main reasons why it has become so popular, and the use cases of Node.js that you can implement for better opportunities.
Node.js is an open source, cross platform Javascript run-time environment for running web applications outside the client’s browser.
That fits in a basic scenario while creating a web application, like this —
The usage of Node.js is not only limited to building web applications, but also for implementing various kinds of services.
Microservices
Developing API
Backends and servers
Scripting and automation
Frontends
The ethos of Node.js is that it uses an asynchronous, event-driven, and non-blocking I/O model. This creates lightweight and efficient real-time applications that run across distributed devices – perfect for data intensive applications.
I know you didn’t come here after escaping the never-ending research loop only to get stuck again with event-driven, asynchronous, and other jargon.
Let’s get to the basics to understand how these terms are solving age old problems — and also are the main reason why Node.js is heavily used among programmers and companies today.
Here’s where Node.js shines
Single Threading
Traditional web-serving techniques use each connection (request) to spawn a new thread (the time and resources to execute a small unit of instructions). This takes up system RAM and eventually maxing-out at the amount of RAM available.
Whereas, Node.js environment is carried out by one computer processing thread that runs through a queue of events.
That’s because Node.js is single threaded that executes each event one by one in that queue. And you also don’t have to start a new thread for every new user and make them wait.
I/O refers to input/output. It can be anything ranging from making an HTTP request to an API, to reading/writing local files.
I/O takes time and hence blocks other functions.
Node.js is non-blocking I/O, which means:
The server will keep attending requests.
The main thread will not be blocked in I/O operations.
You can initiate the requests of 2 users in parallel without waiting for the response to the request for the first user. This non-blocking I/O eliminates the need for multi-threading since the server can handle multiple requests at the same time- making the whole process fast and scalable.
Asynchronous request handling
An app database can be crashed with a huge data load.
Receiving a high amount of concurrent data can make the database congested and result in the crash of the application. Also, it becomes expensive to queue data and maintains concurrency because of the huge data load.
The asynchronous nature of Node.js helps in handling huge data load.
Asynchronous processing allows requests to be processed without blocking the thread. This helps Node.js make the most of single threading, resulting in short response time.
Due to its single-threaded, non-blocking, asynchronous nature, Node.js is a popular choice for video conferences, chats, online gaming, or any solution that requires constantly updated data.
And that’s what leads to our next section of existing use cases of Node.js.
Popular use case opportunities in Node.js
Node.js stands out for its speed, intensive data exchange, application scalability, etc. and that is why it has been used by NASA, Netflix, Paypal and other companies.
Below are the examples of when Node.js can and should be used:
1. Chats/Chatbots:
The chat application is a popular example of Node.js. It helps in creating a data-intensive (but low processing/computation), high traffic, lightweight application that runs across distributed devices.
2. Microservices:
When building and deploying microservices solutions, Node.js is the technology of choice. Companies are using two frameworks for microservice architecture. The restify is used by npm and Netflix, while the Express framework lists Uber and IBM among its users.
Whereas, Walmart’s shift to microservices architecture with Node.js resulted in saving up to 40% on hardware and 20-50% on overall operations.
3. Data streaming
Netflix chose Node.js for application scalability and intensive data exchange.
Node.js helps in processing files while they’re still being uploaded, as the data comes in through a stream and we can process it in an online fashion. This could be done for real-time video or audio encoding and proxying between different data sources.
4. Real time data
There is a need to plan out extra resources to execute all the operations without failing to meet any service-level agreements if your web app is running live 24 x 7.
Node.js is a good fit for building real-time web apps by using push technology over web sockets (a two-way communication between the clients and servers).
Some applications function within a time frame that the users recognize as current and immediate. For example, collaborative web apps (Trello, Google Docs), live chat, instant messaging, and online gaming are real-time apps that benefit from Node.js architecture.
Wrapping Up
In conclusion, if your use case does not access any blocking resources nor contain CPU intensive operations, you can exploit the benefits of Node.js and enjoy scalable and fast network applications.
If you want to enter into the real-time web or create a data intensive application with Node.js, Contact us.
Single Page Applications(SPAs) are all around us. Industry leaders like Google, Trello, Facebook, Gmail, Github, vouch for it.
Their structure is considered the best for seamless user experience and resonates well with the native app-like experience on browsers. However, there are many more reasons that have made SPAs so popular in the developers’ community. Read on to find out more.
Advantages of choosing SPA
– Fast and Flexible Approach
SPAs load only the user’s requested content instead of reloading the entire page repeatedly. Other sources like DOM elements, CSS, HTML are loaded only once at the beginning of the application. Only data is exchanged between the server and the client afterward.
This improves the page loading speed and lessens the waiting time for the users. And given how user’s attention span and patience levels are decreasing day by day, this is a noteworthy feature.
– Works on Lower Network Bandwidths
SPAs can work well in lower network bandwidths. Even when your users are present in remote locations with slow internet speeds, SPA-based solutions will not hinder the overall user experience.
– Enhanced User Experience
You can give your users a simple yet aesthetic experience. This is possible because of transition effects and parallax scrolling. This makes the websites interactive and provides a simple linear website for the users for limitless scrolls, helpful for the mobile experience too.
– Caching Mechanism
Caching of all local data is very efficient in SPA. A single request is sent to the server and all the data gets stored in one ago. This stored data can then be used even when your users are offline.
– Easy Debugging
Debugging is easy in SPA, thanks to Chrome and the apps used to develop it, namely, AngularJS Batarang, React Developer tools, etc. Most of these frameworks have their debugging tools for Chrome. The life of developers is a little less bumpy in the SPA’s debugging in comparison to MPA’s debugging. You can also monitor network operations, look into every page element, and the data associated with them.
SPAs have a lot to offer. However, there are some drawbacks as well! Let us see what they are.
Where SPAs Lack
– SEO troubles
SPA structured apps are believed to be ranked lower in the search results page. They run on Javascript and the data is downloaded on the client’s request only. Thus, these single page apps don’t reload new pages with unique content and URLs making it difficult for the search bots to find and crawl it.
– Security issues
The rage about the security of data is at all times high! SPAs do have security risks associated with them. It is said that SPA is prone to cross site scripting attacks. Via this, hackers can push client side scripts into your web app.
Developers need to be alert with the information sent in the initial page load. Any slip here can lead to data leaks and information may end up in the hand of hackers.
All this said and understood, there are places where opting for MPA is said to be a better option. But in case you are wanting to see if SPA is the answer you are looking for, refer to the next section.
The Ideal Scenario for an SPA
As mentioned earlier, SPAs are not the most optimal option when it comes to SEO optimization. But if you are looking to build a social network like Facebook or Linkedin (both are based on SPA), you can opt for it.
Next in line are closed community groups and SaaS platforms, SPAs are said to be the go to choice for these two categories as well.
SPAs take the spotlight when it comes to building native app experience for browsers with less load time. If you are building a dynamic personal or company website having small data volume then also you should go for SPA.
There are many frameworks that you use to build SPAs. The preferred ones are Angular, Meteor, Ember JS, React, Vue, Backbone JS.
The end choice of course needs to align with your business needs and future perspectives. Feel free to consult with our experts here.
Even though there is no word on Angular 10’s release and to be honest it’s too early to expect a release, the developers and community has blessed us with 6 RCs and a taste of what Angular 10 could become.
Here are the tweaks/changes that Angular 10 could sport for improved performance and stability.
Angular 10 will be lighter in size than previous versions.
Developers will receive suggestions for components that are defined in the libraries, now that dependency information and ng-content selectors are added to metadata.
Type-checking performance improvements have been made to the compiler-cli.
TypeScript 3.8 and the previous versions support has been removed, thus making 3.9 version a featured one.
In this update, any warnings with regards to unknown elements will be logged as errors. This ensures there is no unknown error that will keep developers awake at night.
Performance improvement via reduction in size of the entrypoint manifest and tweaks in caching technique.
To improve the performance of ngcc, developers can now immediately report a stale lock file. Also, a cached copy of a parsed tsconfig can be stored and is reusable in case tsconfig is the same.
Multiple translation files merging is now supported as against a single translation file allowed per locale. Users will be able to specify multiple files per locale. And with the help of messaging ID, the transactions will be merged from each file.
Several bugs are fixed, like the core avoiding any migration error in case a non-existent symbol gets imported and proper identification of modules which are affected by overrides in TestBed.
It seems that we’ll finally get to see a trimmed version of Angular which is smaller in size but just as fast. It’s still too early to say what part of these updates will make it to the production version of Angular 10 but it will be exciting to see how it turns out.
We try to keep up with the latest happenings of the Angular community so that we are up to speed with the prerequisites and hurdles that might come during a migration or upgrade. And for stable released versions of Angular you can get in touch with us and kickstart your development projects.
Editor’s note: If you are still wondering ‘Do I really need to upgrade to Magento 2’, we recommend reading our 5 reasons why you should migrate to Magento 2 blog. Alternatively, you can take a leaf out of the book of Land Rover, Helly Hansen, Byredo, and thousand other brands who upgraded their Ecommerce websites to Magento 2 way ahead of time.
Migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2 is tricky, as it involves a lot of manual tasks. No doubt the data migration tools do make the task easier!
But what about the prerequisites? Or existing traffic?
You can’t afford the bummers because of a lack of proper planning.
Here’s an ideal migration process for Magento 2 for a successful, hassle-free, and safe migration.
Cut down all the complexities before making the move
Here’s why?
You might start with setting a plan that includes deadlines, efforts required, and then end up with hair-pulling frustration by making unnecessary changes.
Mark down: The amount of time and effort depends on the number of customizations, complexity, and the number of extensions running on the existing store.
Here are the initial practices that should be taken into account before migrating to Magento 2:
Prepare full backup
Make sure you have a complete backup of your Magento 1 store and the required database, files, and folders.
Check compatibility
Check if your current extensions, custom code, and themes are compatible with Magento 2.
Analyze the data
Review what needs to be kept or removed from the new Magento 2 website.
Staging environment
Do not migrate when your website is live. Transfer the data from the copied database of the Magento 1 store.
SEO analysis
To avoid losing traffic, perform SEO analysis to retain best-performing URLs, keywords, and fix other possible issues.
You are ready for migration after you review and account for your existing site’s extensions, customizations, website design, and the data stored within your Magento 1 installation.
5 necessary steps for successful Magento 2 migration
1. Theme and extension migration
First, you need to check whether the themes and extensions are compatible with the Magento 2 version or not. If it’s compatible, then you can install the same theme and extensions in Magento 2. This will automatically make the migration process a lot easier for you. If not, then you need to head towards the next step…
2. Custom code migration
Magento 2 follows new approaches and architecture for developing themes and extensions.
Existing extensions, themes, and customizations are unlikely to work with a Magento 2 installation. Therefore, you will need to build them if they aren’t available as out-of-the-box functionality.
If you have installed a third-party theme for the Magento 1 site, then you have to check with the vendor whether the current theme will support Magento 2. You would need to create a custom theme and migrate this custom code using Magento toolkits.
3. UI and Design
During the redesign stage, you should consider which features and functionalities should be carried over, removed, or added to your new website.
Just like extensions, Magento 1 UI can be incompatible with Magento 2. It’s because the Magento 2 uses modern architecture and has different back-end and front-end requirements. This may make it impossible to convert Magento 1 theme and design code.
You’ll need a front-end developer to create a custom theme and templates from scratch if you want to create something unique and memorable to your retail business.
4. Data Migration
Next, start your engines!
The migration process starts with setting up a development environment by moving Magento 2 on a new server. Make sure to install a fresh copy of Magento 2 on the same hosting server where your Magento 1 store is located.
It is recommended to migrate data from a replicated Magento 1 database instance. You may be required to suspend all the activity on your Magento 1 admin panel, and stop Magento 1 cron jobs, except for the order management functions.
With the help of Magento data migration tools or back-end developers, you can migrate critical settings and data such as:
Settings: Websites, stores, system configurations like tax settings, payment, shipping, etc.
Data: Products, orders, wish lists, customers, categories, ratings, etc.
Magento offers a tool to assist in Data Migration. It can help you in importing product and customer data to the new 2.0 version.
Advantages of using Magento’s Data Migration Tool:
Migrating configuration settings
Migrating main data in the database
Transferring incremental data updates to the storefront and admin panel
You’ll need to vigorously test the Magento 2 site to make sure there aren’t any issues before going live.
The internal testing involves whether the website and any new functionality have been completed as per the specification or not.
Run through a predefined list of user stories to ensure that there are no issues with the site’s usability and functionality. Once the website has passed all the quality assurance guidelines, you can go ahead with the SEO audit phase.
Complete an SEO audit to ensure that all content has been migrated over to the new site. Remove any thin or duplicate content, and ensure that all of your pages are optimized with relevant meta content, heading tags, alt text, and structured data.
Make sure that 301 redirects have been set up to direct users to your new pages.
And you are all set to go live!
It’s about User Experience!
Migration is the perfect opportunity to refresh your website and rethink about – “How can I offer the best customer experience?”
It’s not just a migration phase for your Ecommerce website. It is also the best time to review whether you need more advanced functionality in your Magento store.
If you want to create a high performing Magento 2 website or put together some initial mobile-first designs in it, reach out to our team of Magento developers here.
About the Author
Vinod Khajja is an Ecommerce expert at Galaxy. He is a firm believer of AI and it’s possibilities with Ecommerce. As a Senior Project Manager he has multiple ecommerce successes under his belt
