How to Implement A/B Testing?

Sergei — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 09:42:03 +0000

During project development, situations often arise where clients or the dev team have differing opinions about which functionality would be more or less effective for the user and the project.

To solve such problems there is A/B testing technology, which allows you to test and find the most appropriate and best option.

The essence of A/B testing is simple: all users of a web product are divided into certain groups, and each group works with a different version of the site. However, each group has one common goal. This goal can be a simple click on a button, adding a product to the basket or making a purchase on the site.

In A/B testing, achieving the goal is crucial. Therefore, clearly defining the goal is essential, as it needs to be measurable and achievable within the test parameters. The ideal goal can be achieved within a single user session.

There are already a large number of different tools that allow you to run, modify behavior and track AB test goals. One of the most common tools was Google Optimize. But as it is no longer available as of September 30, 2023, marketers and website owners are left searching for a reliable A/B testing solution. VWO offers a similar suite of features, including intuitive test creation, audience segmentation, and goal tracking, allowing you to seamlessly continue your optimization efforts.

So, to set up an AB test you need to:

Create a new A/B test in VWO or its analogue.
Specify the website URL where the A/B test will run and integrate the service's script.
Specify the required target. By default, there are several goals, such as opening a certain page, clicking on a button or clicking on a certain link.
You can also create a custom goal that will trigger the required event on the client side.

gtag('event', 'AB_TEST_EVENT', {...event_data});

Add the required variants A and B (there can be more than 2 variants) and make the necessary changes.
Specify the audience distribution between the specified variants.
Run A/B test.

After setting up your A/B test, you can use incognito mode to preview how the different variants will display to users.

In conclusion, A/B testing eliminates guesswork by providing data-driven insights. Define a goal, utilize a tool like VWO, and analyze user behavior to identify the most effective solution. This empowers you to make informed decisions and optimize your project for success.

Upgrade from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9

Sergei — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 09:34:50 +0000

Drupal 7, released in 2011, and will reach the end-of-life in November 2023. The need for migration is obvious. The migration from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 can be exhausting and time-consuming. You might be curious about what the upgrade process from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 looks like.

Let's dive into the topic and see how SmartApp made this migration seamless and what the advantages of Drupal 9 are.

Why upgrade to Drupal 9?

Many of the things that required contributed modules in Drupal 7 are now in the core in Drupal 8/9. This is one of the main advantages of Drupal 9 over Drupal 7. The obvious benefits of Drupal 9 are the following:

Tools that are significantly easier to use - a well-structured content-based system;
New cutting-edge features; improved keyboard navigation and accessibility;
Personalization of every aspect of the page, creation of your own layouts;
An easy upgrade for future platforms;
Improved experimental administration theme;
Improved Claro;
The new experimental front-end theme, Olivero, features a modern and flexible design that conforms with WCAG AA accessibility guidelines;
Integrated configuration management system;
Higher speed and scalability;
Support for JSON: API.

What to think about before migration?

Before planning migration, one should take these into consideration:

Budget resources,
Time constraints,
A programmer's expertise

The scope of work may vary if you intend to improve your website's architecture, features, or design or simply migrate to a more modern and secure platform.

Before you embark on a Drupal 9 upgrade process, it will be advisable to conduct an assessment of your current Drupal 7 site to determine what you want to keep and what you can let go. You might delete some features that are not used or enhance the design. It is an excellent opportunity to make useful changes.

How to migrate from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9?

Migration algorithm:

Update all contributed modules and the core to the latest version.
Install Drupal 9 latest version.
Install used contributed modules.
Start the migration. (Migration of settings and content.)
After the main migration run the view migration.
This process is necessary due to the fact that, in the main stage of migration, views are not transferred. You can try to use: https://www.drupal.org/project/views_migration module, but it does not give a 100% guarantee.
Themes and custom modules transfer.

One of the migration steps.

Migration did not transfer views, forms.

Conclusion