DEV Community: Christina Jane

Top Frameworks for E-Commerce Store Development

Christina Jane — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 12:51:52 +0000

A software framework is a platform for developing software applications. It serves as a foundation for building an application. With this framework's help, a developer can design and develop an application with the required features.

An e-commerce framework is similar; it helps in building e-commerce applications. The e-commerce frameworks are exclusively designed to build e-commerce applications. There are many factors to be considered before making your e-commerce application.

E-commerce business is multiplying these days. So the prominence of these frameworks is also more. In the blog, we talk about seven top e-commerce frameworks available now:

Top 7 E-commerce frameworks

Shopify

It is one of the most popular e-commerce frameworks now. Shopify has an open-source template language known as Liquid to support the platform. With Shopify, an online store can be run with minimum effort and almost no technical knowledge. Another highlight is the developer does not have to stress about the technical part. It is also feature-rich, which enhances the user experience further. It gives the user beautiful design and theme options too. Shopify, without any doubt, has proven to be one of the best available e-commerce platforms to date.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is the best-suited e-commerce framework for beginners and amateurs. It gives you the best output without too much effort. WooCommerce is known for its simplicity to create robust and beautiful designs. Shopify and WooCommerce are the most popular e-commerce frameworks in the current days. WooCommerce helps you create beautiful user experiences. It is WordPress based, which means you will have a lot of features and plug-ins to choose from.

WooCommerce has gained a lot of popularity as it is elementary to use. And it still allows you to create beautiful and responsive user interfaces.

Magento

It is one of the best frameworks to design your e-commerce app. It has a rich collection of themes and templates. It has both open source and paid versions available. The open-source version also has tons of features and themes available. So even without the paid version, you develop a beautiful design. Magento also has a vast collection of plug-ins which makes the design even more attractive. A strong community also supports it.

Zend

Zend is considered one of the most technically strong e-commerce frameworks of the time. It is an open-source framework that is PHP based. It is also a new member of the family. The highlight of the platform is that the model-view-controller is compatible with the standard debugging tool Xdebug. It lets the designer create a smooth and error-free user interface.

Zend is apt for creating strong web-platforms for your e-commerce. It offers a high-quality user experience and smooth performance. So currently, it is the best available e-commerce framework. Zend gives you an excellent user experience.

Drupal Commerce

It is an open-source e-commerce framework that focuses on community developers. It offers a high performing and flawless web-platform for your e-commerce business. One main feature that gives Drupal Commerce an edge over its competitors is its security system. Drupal Commerce has the luxury of its security system, making the e-commerce web design super safe and secure.

Another benefit of Drupal Commerce is that it allows the designer to install and integrate various plug-ins for payment gateways, social media, etc. So with this e-commerce framework, the designer can create user-friendly and flawless designs with seamless performance without worrying about the cost of e-commerce app development.

PrestaShop

PrestaShop is a freemium model e-commerce framework; it has both free and premium versions. It is known as a simple, designer-friendly platform which makes the process easy. The designer can quickly develop a web-platform and maintain it. The platform also gives an enriching user experience to the customers. This, in turn, will help in improving the conversion rate.

PrestaShop also allows the easy management of the e-commerce web-store. Managing the orders and payments is not a headache anymore with PrestaShop. It promises you a beautiful web-store with happy customers and high conversion rates.

OpenCart

The name says it all, and it is a free and open-source e-commerce platform. It has every feature in it to improve your e-commerce business. It helps in improving the conversion rate and gives the user's a good user experience. It is a powerful e-commerce framework with tons of themes and designs to add to your web-platform.

OpenCart promises a flawless user interface with a beautiful user experience. It gives a smooth experience to the designer as well. OpenCart is one of the famous and easy to use e-commerce frameworks.

The Bottom Lines

The e-commerce industry is one of the fastest-growing businesses of the time. The trend became more popular during the lockdown time. And it looks like it will continue even in the post-pandemic time. One main objective is to make the e-commerce store mobile-friendly. We all know today most of the surfing happens through phones, so making the store mobile-friendly is essential. There are many mobile app development frameworks available now. The developer can choose the best available one.

Here we have talked about the seven most popular and best e-commerce frameworks. The designer has to choose the framework according to the requirements. Once the owner is clear about the kind of need the web store wants, the designer can choose the right option for the development.

The process requires a lot of attention to details and making sure it is user-friendly. It will help to improve the conversion rates. The blog will help in shedding light on choosing the right e-commerce platform.

How to Master in Design Thinking?

Christina Jane — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 08:52:50 +0000

UX Designers are focused on developing creative problem-solving techniques to meet the needs of users. Design thinking is one such practical approach that designers use to create user-centric designs.

Design thinking is different from other methods in the sense that in this process, the sole focus is on users. It is all about understanding the users and finding solutions for their problems rather than researching the problems and trying to decipher the complexities involved.

The beauty of this method is that it encourages new thoughts. It is natural for the human mind to be limited due to various conditioning factors. Design thinking helps designers grow out of that. It empowers them to look beyond tried and tested methods and find new perspectives.

To master in design thinking, there are five main areas that you need to understand in detail. Let us take a look at them one by one.

Empathize
Empathy is the foundation of the design thinking process. Because the focus of this method is on users, understanding their behavior, wants, and needs is critical. To build empathy, designers interact with real users through various UX research methods like interviews, focus groups, card sorting, etc.

This step helps designers to build their design based on real insights rather than on assumptions. It also helps them to connect to users on an emotional level, which they can translate into their design to create a bond with the users. When a design touches users' feelings, they naturally tend to use that product or service more. Contrary to popular belief, effort spent on research is never wasted. In fact, in the long run, it helps you save time and money.

Define
This is where you define the problem based on all the information you have collected from the research methods. Here you try to figure out the problems that users might face. For this, it is ideal to create user personas- fictional characters that will help you in decision making from the user perspective.

To define the problem, create a problem statement. A problem statement is a statement that is framed from the user perspective and is action-oriented. Putting the problem in words will help designers see the steps that they should take in creating the solution. It helps to identify the gap between needs and goals.

For example, a good problem statement will look like "Help the commuters plan their travel better" instead of "We need to devise strategies to ease routine travel-related problems."

Ideate
With an understanding of users and a clear problem statement, the next step is towards developing solutions. This is the step where creative and innovative ideas take birth. Here designers sit together and carry out various techniques like brainstorming, mind mapping, and debates to come up with all sorts of solutions.

They also try to visualize their ideas through methods like sketching, storyboarding, etc. It is a very challenging step and requires everyone involved to be open-minded and not limited by their personal views. By the end of this stage, designers will have a set of ideas which they will try out to find the best among them.

Prototype
To find the best idea among a set of ideas, we move on to prototyping. It is basically an experimentation step where designers try out different ideas and see how they work. A prototype is a low scale version of the original product. It can either be drawn with pencil on paper or built using prototyping tools to function like a real product.

The goal behind creating prototypes is to make sure whether the design is on the right path or not. These prototypes are given to users and stakeholders to use and gather feedback. Depending on the feedback, it goes through various iterations. Throughout this stage, the prototype goes through changes and redesigns until a solution that works perfectly is found.

Test
The testing step usually begins with a high fidelity prototype of a design. It is done to make sure that the design works as intended and there is no bug. Depending on the results of the testing, changes will be made to the original solution. Testing can be carried out by in-house teams, target users, or by experts like UX consultants.

Testing helps designers validate their design and see if the product they have built goes on to satisfy the user expectations from the user research. Sometimes, the result of this step will take designers back towards previous steps. They might go back to redefine the problem statement or include extra features in prototyping, depending on the test results.

To master the design thinking process, you must carry out these five steps well. It is essential to remember that design thinking is not a linear, step-by-step process. It needs constant moving back and forth until you create the design that's best suited for your audience.

How to Choose Right Staff Augmentation Service?

Christina Jane — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 10:40:19 +0000

Businesses are always on the lookout for reducing operational costs wherever possible. Thus, the availability of expert skills at reduced cost will always create an enticing prospect. That is why they often rely on staff augmentation services to meet their resource needs.

Staff augmentation is a flexible staffing model that combines the best of outsourcing and in-house recruitment. It is often employed by IT services to hire skilled resources for long or short term requirements.

Sometimes, your organization might need an expert resource for a particular phase of a project. Or, to meet a project deadline, you might need some developers on a short term contract. Staff augmentation is the right solution in such scenarios.

But there are a few things you must know before choosing a staff augmentation service for your business. In this blog, we are going to take a look at those.

Be sure about your staffing needs
Before you begin your search for a staff augmentation service, you have to know your exact staffing needs. Are you looking for a specific skill? How closely will they be working with your in-house team? Is it a long-term requirement or a short-term?

It is necessary to resolve these matters so that you can find the best partner for your staffing needs. Augmentation services may differ in the type of services they provide. So when you are clear about your staffing needs, you can easily find the best IT staff augmentation services for your organization.

Ensure the staffing partner's experience and expertise
Whatever your staffing needs be, in the end, you are hiring resources to work for you. So you have to ensure that they come from a reliable source.

So just as you would ensure the credibility, expertise, and experience of a permanent employee or an outsourcing company, you substantiate the authenticity of the staff augmentation services.

To do this, you can review their credentials, portfolio, and previous works. You can talk to their previous clients and enquire about their quality of work. You can read reviews and testimonials about the staffing firm on their website or platforms like Google reviews, Clutch, etc.

Evaluate their reach
It is possible that the skill requirements you have is rare to obtain locally and might need a better reach. Sometimes, employees with your required talent may only be available internationally. In such cases, it is necessary that the staffing partner you hire has a good reach.

Only if your staff augmentation partner has good connections and an infrastructure in place to recruit and manage international staff can they satisfy your augmentation needs? Otherwise, it will create a lot of complications and waste time and effort of both parties.

Take notice of language and cultural differences
When you are working with a remote team, language and cultural differences play a significant part in coordination and communication. Challenges in communication will lead to frustrations in collaboration and result in inefficient outcomes.

So while you hire developers, it is important to make sure that the cultural differences will not cause any friction in working. Either your organization should be capable of managing with the linguistic/timezone/workstyle differences, or the employee you are hiring should be adaptable and resourceful to work irrespective of all differences.

Verify the security
Because you will be sharing sensitive information with the staff augmentation services, security is a crucial concern while choosing a staffing partner. It is necessary that they commit to establishing a confidential work environment.

The employees that they provide should be ready to sign Non-Disclosure-Agreements if needed. They should be well informed about data security procedures, know how to handle client data, and use cybersecurity tools. Safeguarding your organization's valuable data must be a key priority when hiring outsourced staff.

Clearly define contract type and delivery schedules
Once you have found a staff augmentation service that matches your requirements, before you make things final, you have to clearly define the contract type you are looking to employ as well as outline delivery schedules.

If the staffing partner cannot give a customized contract to your organization, it means they might not be able to commit a hundred percent. Ideally, they should consider your organization's operating schedule and guarantee prompt delivery without any interruptions.

Contract type and delivery schedules should be fixed beforehand so that in between partnership or by the end of the project, it does not cause issues.

Conclusion
These are the general things to keep in mind while choosing a staff augmentation service. The augmentation requirements of each organization are different from each other, so it is difficult to tag any service as best. What might be best for another organization need not have to be the best for you. It all depends on your needs and the level of management you can ensure from your side. So, keep these points in mind, explore different vendors, and choose the right service for your organization!

Top Digital Workplace Trends of 2021

Christina Jane — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 04:50:54 +0000

Organizations worldwide will remember 2020 as the year of disruption. Covid-19 threw businesses off-track, leaving them to find new ways to deal with the new normal.

And looking back, businesses have adapted really well to the change. Although the times were indeed challenging, the last year has brought the most digital transformation in the whole of the past decade.

The traditional workplace and associated norms are long gone. Today, businesses realize that to stay productive and relevant in the future, it is crucial to implement the latest workplace trends. So what are the digital workplace trends that will rule 2021? Let's take a look!

Hybrid working arrangement
Covid-19 made employees at all levels shift to work-from-home for some time. Although offices plan to restart by 2021, we will be looking at a hybrid workplace scenario, where employees could work from home or office as per their choice.

With the help of platforms like Microsoft Teams, Slack, Sharepoint Intranet software, creating a workplace that is unrestricted by physical boundaries isn't hard to achieve. These tools help in collaboration and communication and simulate an office environment virtually. Their ease of adoption, usage, and security benefits make these tools reliable, empowering the hybrid workspace culture.

Enterprise mobile apps
This will be a very popular trend in 2021, considering its relevancy and demand. More and more employees today like to stay connected with the workplace on the go. It is a very beneficial attitude as it helps in increasing the productivity of an organization.

Enterprise mobile apps can help employees access data when away from work and manage work-related information easily. With push notifications for important updates, it can help employees stay on top of their work schedule. Also, managing information like timesheets, leave, etc., can be done more efficiently with enterprise apps.

Cloud-based software
With a flexible workplace environment being the future normal, legacy software systems will no longer be enough. These on-premise software does not support collaboration and are difficult to manage when dealing with a distributed workforce.

Cloud-based software will become a must-have for the digital workplace in 2021. Since they are cloud-based, they can be accessed from anywhere without any restrictions, making it easy to collaborate, share, and manage work. Further, they are cost-effective and easy to maintain and upgrade as compared to traditional systems.

Sharepoint DMS software is one of the strongest cloud-based document management systems that are used by organizations of all scales and all verticals to meet their business needs.

Desktop as a service (DaaS)
Since remote working is set to become normal in the future, it could create some difficulties during the employee onboarding process. To make sure that the new employees have all the necessary apps and software required will be a headache for the HR officials.

DaaS is a virtual computing technology that helps to alleviate this problem. With Daas, employees can access virtual applications on an organizations' desktop from anywhere. It is a cloud-based service, so it requires internet connectivity. But it is a very secure way to manage multiple users in a cost-effective manner.

Automation
Manual and paper-based processes have always given organizations headaches. Now with employees being scattered at different geographical locations, it is impossible as well. And this, finally, is causing organizations to embrace automation.

Automation makes workflow management very easy, efficient, and quick. When all the paperwork is replaced with automated software, it increases the productivity of employees tenfold. A load of repetitive, manual processes will be taken off from employees, and they will have time to focus on other important tasks.

With automation, finding information, sharing, updating- everything can be done in less time and with less effort.

Conclusion
Keeping up with digital workplace trends are critical for the survival of your organization. As we are moving towards a more flexible and distributed work culture, implementing these digital trends are essential to make up for the lack of physical proximity.

The best part is they are beneficial both for employees and employers. In a remote working scenario, without collaboration and communication, there might be a lack of connection in employees towards the organization. These digital trends will ensure that employees can enjoy a positive work atmosphere even in a remote working scenario.