Miley, Author at Daily Cup of Tech

All posts by Miley

SaaS

Software Support: 9 Compelling Reasons Your Business Needs it

Miley on April 22, 2022

If you think that software support is only for big businesses, think again. There are many benefits of having on-site professional support, no matter how big or small your business is.

Software support makes your business competitive. It also lets you save money over time and streamline your goals. Also, clients want to work with businesses that can keep up with the latest technological trends. In the same way, as getting information becomes faster, you need to work on the tiniest detail that allows you to achieve a faultless performance in real-time.

In this post, we’ll walk you through the seven compelling reasons why your business needs software support and why it is essential in the first place:

1. Address software issues proactively

A lot of software needs to be regularly patched and updated. The nature of software is that new features are constantly added. The user interface keeps getting updated to enhance usability. Security vulnerabilities are always a risk, and issues need to be fixed.

But the most common reason that operating systems and software should be updated is that if the applications that run on or in conjunction with them aren’t updated in a specific timeframe, issues may start to resurface.

2. Get quick and reliable support

Living in this day and age, any issues with your computer systems leads to unnecessary stress.

One of the most frustrating things that can happen to you when running a business is when a computer or network fails or doesn’t work. Any downtime in your network systems can translate to lost productivity, boost overhead costs, unhappy customers, and even revenue loss.

One of the things that you need to consider when it comes to picking technology software providers is support. Whether this is web hosting, cloud services, network services, email hosting, or web design, you must get quick and reliable support.

3. Be prepared for possible outbreaks

With technology-related issues being taken care of by software support, you can then have more time to focus on the most critical parts of your business.

Rather than being tied up with issues that can be otherwise avoidable, you can then devote the time to managing your customers, vendors, and other business processes.

4. Get in compliance with mobility

A lot is happening in the world of technology today. That’s why software vendors try their best to create the most cutting-edge technology solutions.

You don’t want your business not to take advantage of the latest tech trends. To stay on top of the trends, you might want to keep on renewing software maintenance contracts.

5. Uninterrupted access to timely upgrades

What if there has been a bug or an issue with a spectacular feature that can benefit your business? If you didn’t have software support, you couldn’t access these apparent benefits. Interruption and downtime can put you at an obvious disadvantage to your competitors who have this service and keep on updating their system if needed,

If you want to gain uninterrupted access to the latest notifications regarding the software, you need to get support. You gain access to the latest updates, free patches, and bug fixes. Many software vendors release regular patches when they encounter issues and bugs and will quickly distribute this to all of their clients.

6. Enhance productivity to meet end-user delight

If you avail of software support and maintenance, you could reap all the benefits of the latest tech advancements. Thus, you can boost your staff’s productivity. This, in turn, helps your business stay ahead of the competition.

7. 24/7 Maintenance

With ongoing software support, you’ll gain more peace of mind knowing that your systems are being looked after.

Slow Wi-Fi connection, lack of storage, server problems, and failure should also be monitored and resolved efficiently. In the long run, this will keep your business running smoothly and efficiently.

8. Better risk assessment and decision making

Excellent software apps will also give you access to such information that will allow you to make smarter decisions in the long run and take your business to greater heights.

With intelligent data reporting and predictive analysis, you can easily predict whether it’s wise that you go with a particular option that will benefit your business or not.

By doing so, you can avoid any prospective minefields that can disrupt day-to-day business operations.

9. Malware attacks are getting more notorious

Hackers are constantly out there, ready to look for any software weaknesses that they can use for their own gain. Therefore, if your software isn’t updated with the latest version, it can be highly vulnerable to hacks. Once these hackers break into your system, they will get important information about your company and clients.

In the same way, they can also hold your system to ransom. You might need to shell out money to get it up and running again. Therefore, what you need is to get software support and maintenance.

This will protect your system from potential hackers, trojans, viruses, and other malicious software programs. Similarly, your software vendor will constantly be updating, which, in turn, will keep your system secure.

When you commit time and necessary resources to improve your IT systems and your tech support team, this will help you save time and money, which will, in turn, provide you with long-term protection.

Over to You

So there you have it. Software in your business is like the oil that will keep your business running smoothly. When doing its job correctly, it can often be taken for granted. However, as soon as things go wrong, things can go to a screeching halt.

That’s why it makes perfect sense for you to pick software support and maintenance, even if there’s serious cash involved. That’s because the benefits can be difficult to ignore. Not opting for it can also lead to severe repercussions for your business in the long run. It also allows you to save time to focus on the more essential things. Good luck!

Development Insights

Student’s Guide: How to Start Learning Coding

Miley on April 14, 2022

The technology industry is one of the most important industries in the world. We use technology daily to keep us better connected, yet we know little about how it’s all created. As much as it may seem like magic, it was actually made by coders, programmers, and other computer science geniuses.

In this fast-growing industry, you might be wondering how you can get started and become part of it? It may seem difficult to find your initial bearings, but once you make that leap, it will be life-changing.

Why Learn to Code?

There are many benefits to learning to code, here are a few that we think should spark up an interest;

It is a booming industry so a lot of related jobs are in demand. Whether you are looking to work for a company or freelance, there are lots of opportunities.

When coding you’ll find new challenges and be continuously learning. This really boosts your problem-solving and logic skills, giving your left side of the brain a proper workout.

It’s fun! Nothing is more rewarding than seeing your technological creations come to life before your eyes. After you’ve passed the initial stages of getting started you can delve into specific parts you are more passionate about and be more creative.

What Languages are Best for Beginners?

Coding is a vast subject, where there are hundreds of different coding languages, each with a different purpose to what they can do. It’s not always easy to figure out what’s the best one to start with and that’s really because there is not just one answer. There are multiple different languages that work well in the beginning, but it’s best to start with the one that fits in with your coding goals. Below are some coding languages that beginners often start with and a little summary of how they can be helpful.

HTML – used as a foundation of the internet, and can set up content for web pages. HTML is a great starting block for beginners and often you’ll find even when you are more advanced you’ll be referring back to HTML.

CCS – HTML and CSS go as a nice pairing, so often you can learn them together. However, CCS handles the colors, sizing, fonts, and layouts of web pages. If you want to sparkle up a page, this is the one for you.

JavaScript – JavaScript helps make web pages more interactive. You can learn how to add videos, maps, and animated graphics.

Python – Python is another good option to start with as a lot of its code reads more like English so it’s easier for beginners to get a good grasp of. It isn’t built for a specific task, it instead helps build websites and software, automate tasks, and conduct data analysis.

Don’t feel that you have to keep to just one of these, you can switch between a few, and in the next section, you’ll learn more about how best to learn these.

Coding Tutors

The best way to learn to code thoroughly and quickly is with your very own coding tutor. In a one-to-one environment, your tutor can focus on key areas specific to your needs, track your progress, and you will be able to learn at your own pace. Tutor House, a top online tutoring platform, provides online coding lessons for students. Their tutors are highly experienced in many coding languages, and you can opt-in for a free trial call to find out how they will help achieve your goals. Learn at a time convenient to you and get personalized feedback to see a positive improvement.

Online Tutorials

If you prefer to go the longer route and be self-taught, there are numerous online coding tutorials and resources out there for you to pick up on. Tutorialspoint is a coding channel that carefully explains concepts to you and provides beginner tutorials for many different languages such as HTML, CCS, and Javascript. Self-teaching can be tricky, so make sure you go through these tutorials and resources at your own pace and practice each point thoroughly before moving on to the next. This will move you in a positive direction where you can track your own progress.

Books and Podcasts

There are many books and podcasts that can help educate you on topics on coding. Books are a great way of learning more about coding history and how people have developed in the tech industry. Podcasts can inform you on current and specific topics on coding; such as cyberwarfare, and the socio-economic impact of artificial intelligence. This will help you have a deeper understanding of your discipline and find interests in particular areas in your free time. It’s especially useful to read about topics that are difficult and it helps you see things from a different perspective.

Mini Projects

Most importantly, learn coding by doing. Start yourself up on a mini project and challenge and see how well you can adapt. Whether that is through your lessons with a tutor, an online course, or learning with friends. Sometimes it’s easier to learn when you have a particular motivation to create. The more action, the better the results, and it builds up your problem-solving skills along the way.

Have You Learned The Secret Language Yet?

Like with traditional language learning, to learn a coding language, you need to be passionate, you need to be patient, and you need to practice. There is so much you can do and learn in the coding world, you’ll never get bored. That’s why often coders, new and old, can learn from each other as each person learns with a whole new perspective. Coding is worthwhile to learn – don’t miss out!

SEO

Significance of Search Engine Optimization in Small Businesses

Miley on April 4, 2022

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process that helps in navigating web traffic to the websites, by adapting the website to search engine algorithms and subsequently assisting prospective customers in finding you. People will be much more inclined to visit a website that appears higher on the results page rather than other links, so small businesses should use this marketing tactic to appear on the first page of the search engine which means better traffic and traction on the site, as well as improved search engine rankings when compared to their competitors. Thus, there are quite a number of benefits of SEO for small business owners.

Benefits of SEO for Small Businesses

Building Brand Awareness

Now, as websites are an integral part of building brands, with better investments and an increase in digital marketing budgets, small businesses will be able to exponentially improve their accessibility, visibility, and brand recognition. If your website appears on the first page of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP), people will become more aware of your brand presence and hence proper SEO techniques will enable brands to surpass their competition.

Small businesses can build their brand awareness by publishing relevant content that contributes to the niche of their potential customers, furthermore, this content will serve as the voice of your community and establish your website as a credible source.

Convenient and Faster Website

By optimizing the website, small businesses need to establish an enhanced user experience simultaneously improving the rankings, as SEO help in ranking websites that are user-friendly, and higher in functionality than the others. Moreover, people tend to avail themselves of services and buy products when the business websites are convenient and user-friendly, which will directly help the small business to increase sales and build a customer base.

Increased Conversion Rates

Optimized websites which are user-friendly are quite easy to explore, load faster, and are compatible to use on various devices such as mobile phones or tablets thereby increasing the options for users to surf conveniently on different devices. This will also attract users and eventually convert them into organic traffic as they are more likely to revisit the website considering they are intrigued by what the small business has to offer.

Surpass the Competition

Optimization is the key to outperforming your strong competitors and attracting more visitors to your website, thus, investing in SEO not only helps you to improve your ranks but also enables your business to outrank your competitors, if done correctly. The appropriate SEO agency will propel small businesses to get higher in search results, making them a better choice for potential customers.

Finding New Customers

Small businesses adopt various marketing strategies to grow their businesses, be it offline or online. To expand their online presence, they try to invest in various digital marketing tools and try to tap audiences throughout the web which becomes easy on one’s own website. A better website leads to a good user experience which further creates a strong customer base and finally, it helps to increase sales. Thus, a good marketing strategy is pivotal to bringing new customers to the business, and SEO is similar in this aspect except it includes varied methods or strategies.

SEO Tips to Expand Small Business

So, it is apparent that SEO is quite useful for a business to expand its online presence; we present some SEO tips that will help small businesses to implement and grow.

Choose Best SEO Practices to Build your Website

A properly structured website generates more traffic than a website that doesn’t satisfy the needs of your target audience and most small businesses suffer because their website is not designed with keeping search into consideration.

If a website is properly structured, it enables search engines to correctly scan and index the web pages. To check this, begin with your website and navigate through all the main pages, moreover, ensure that any broken (404) sites that are no longer functional are removed from the websites because they squander “link equity” as these links lead nowhere and are considered a dead-end to the search engines.

Mobile-Responsive Site

Make sure that the website is reachable on various devices as many users use mobile phones instead of laptops or computers which makes a mobile responsive website a good user experience, thus generating leads and higher ranks on the search engine.

Prioritizing Keywords

One of the most critical factors in developing an efficient SEO content strategy is choosing the right keywords. Keyword research is optimal as it will enable your business to create content on parallel lines with the terms that people use to search which ultimately induces search engines to increase your ranks thus making it discoverable by the relevant audience.

Create Various Backlinks

When a website is linked to some other, a backlink is established and these backlinks play a key factor in SEO. Small businesses can connect their internal backlinks from local directories such as past articles or blogs too but the true value of backlinks originates from outside sources. Moreover, one effective technique to link back to your website can be through the events posted.

Creating a Calendar

Content marketing is a great way to build a better website; however, it needs to be consistent to ensure good rankings and finer SEO strategies. Posting once in a while would not show authority to the customers or even the search engines and will not generate organic traffic; therefore, consistent posting of content is of utmost significance for small businesses.

Conclusion

SEO Process Diagram — Man is touching the virtual screen with SEO process information represented.

SEO is the need of the hour for small businesses to grow and expand, as it not only builds organic results but also ensures long-lasting growth and strategies. A proper technique of SEO can be an enabler to capture a bigger chunk of the market and a prompt significant surge in sales. This article elaborates the importance of using appropriate techniques of SEO for small businesses and thereafter provides some tips to inculcate in their daily schedule to boost the existing results.

Insights

7 Best Practices to Prevent DDoS Attacks and Protect Your Business

Miley on April 1, 2022

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks have become rampant over the last couple of years, primarily because of the pandemic. Many people are working from home and accessing online services throughout the pandemic.

In a report from NETSCOUT, about 10 million DDoS attacks occurred in 2020. It primarily targets remote and other essential services that are often used to make it through the lockdown.

Industries hit hard by these attacks are healthcare, e-commerce, and streaming services.

What is a DDoS attack?

In a nutshell, a DDoS attack involves bombarding an IP address with substantial traffic volumes. So, if the IP address points to a web server, legit traffic can’t reach it, and your site becomes unavailable.

A flood attack is another type of DDoS attack. Groups of servers are flooded with requests which need processing by victim machines. It’s often generated in huge numbers by scripts that run on compromised machines that are part of a botnet. As a result, it exhausts the server resources of the victim, such as the memory or the CPU.

As networks become more and more diverse, now is the time for network observability. What is network observability? It’s the ability to answer questions about your network quickly and efficiently.

A DDoS works in the same principles except that malicious traffic comes from several sources but comes from one central point. Since traffic sources are distributed worldwide, DDoS attack prevention is more complicated than preventing DDoS attacks from a single IP address.

Fortunately, you can avoid these attacks. Here are some of the best practices for preventing them and protecting your business:

1. Make a DDoS response plan

Do you know what you’ll do in case of a DDoS attack? How do you respond? Having a definite plan right from the get-go will allow you to react quickly and efficiently whenever your network is being targeted.

Creating a response plan can take some planning. The more complicated your site infrastructure, the more detailed your response plan is. Regardless of the size of your company, your goal should include the following:

Systems checklist
A professional response team
Clearly defined notification and escalation procedures
List of internet and external contracts which should be informed about the attack.
Detailed communication plan for stakeholders.

2. Keep security infrastructure up to date

Your network is as strong as your weakest links. You need to know of legacy and outdated systems in your infrastructure since these can be entry points for attacks once compromised.

Your data center and systems should also be up to date. It will help if you patch your web application firewalls and network security programs that you might have. Also, when working with an ISP or hosting provider, a security and data center vendor for implementing advanced protection capabilities is an excellent idea.

Don’t put all your eggs in the same basket. Your data centers should be placed on different networks to ensure that all your data centers aren’t in the exact physical location and on various data centers. You need to ensure that these aren’t places wherein traffic bottlenecks in your network.

3. Identifying your network’s traffic

Every organization’s infrastructure has internet traffic patterns, so you need to know yours. Once you know the typical traffic pattern of your organization, then you have a baseline.

Doing so ensures that you can quickly identify the symptoms of a DDoS attack if any unusual activity happens.

4. Always look out for the warning signs

Again, DDoS attacks come with classic symptoms. The most common symptoms are intermittent site shutdown, spotty internet connectivity, and disconnection.

But the problem is that these warning signs are pretty similar to other issues that you might be having in your system, like a slower internet connection and viruses.

If these problems become prolonged and severe, your network will likely suffer from a DDoS attack and utilize proper prevention actions.

5. Use a cloud-based service provider

Cloud providers are offering high levels of cybersecurity. It includes firewalls and monitoring software protecting your business assets and networks from cybercriminals. It also has much greater bandwidth than most private networks. Therefore, it’s unlikely going to fail with increasing DDoS attacks.

Similarly, reputable cloud providers have network redundancy, duplicating systems, data, and equipment. Therefore, if your services become unavailable and corrupted because of an attack, you can quickly switch to secure access on your backed-up versions.

6. Sufficient server capacity

Hosting — A word hosting is displayed as a central figure of the picture

Since many DDoS attacks work by overwhelming network bandwidth, overprovisioning bandwidth is one way to counter this attack.

Therefore, you need to ensure that your server capacity can handle several heavy traffic spikes by adding bandwidth.

Doing so ensures that you’re ready for any unexpected surges of traffic that are caused by these attacks. Although it won’t completely stop a DDoS attack, it will provide a couple of extra minutes to prepare your defense before all of your resources are used up.

7. Practice good cyber hygiene

You should also engage in the best security practices. It includes regularly changing passwords, securing authentication practices, knowing when to avoid phishing attacks, etc.

The more minor the errors you’ll be committing right from the get-go, the safer it will be for you if there’s an attack.

Over to You

Considering how complicated and devious attacks are, you’ll hopefully follow these best practices to prevent DDoS attacks effectively.

Doing so keeps your web property secure and that you’re more than ready to fight off any of these attacks. Good luck!

Insights

How to Enhance Photo Quality by Removing Your Backgrounds

Miley on March 29, 2022

Did you know 71% of people enhance their selfies? With the rise of social media, users have a need to enhance photo quality quickly and easily. Lucky for the world, there are apps and software for that!

The more tech-savvy users can use photo editing software to make glamorous photos. For the rest of the world, there are many apps available to help you create good-quality images that stand out in social feeds.

Keep reading for easy ways to enhance your photos.

1. Use an App to Remove Backgrounds

Did you know there are apps to remove backgrounds? And once you do that, you can replace it with something else?

For example, let’s say you took an awesome selfie in the bathroom at work. Naturally, you don’t want to have the bathroom in the background, so you can edit it out! You could even replace it with flowers or nature to make it look like you were somewhere else entirely.

Not sure which app to choose? Check out this cool background remover app.

Streamline with Background Remover Apps

For a cleaner and more polished appearance, try background remover apps. Easily eliminate unwanted backgrounds and replace them with more attractive settings, creating standout photos for your social media feeds.

2. Use Image Enhancement Tools

There are so many tools available to improve images! You can use filters on most social media platforms that do this. If you want to step up your game, you can download apps that make it a few steps further.

You can use filters, add text, or insert stickers. You have the option to zoom in on pictures or add an overlay to change the color. There are several enhancement tools that erase red eyes or blemishes, too.

Cropping or creating a collage is another innovative idea to change up your images. Some apps will even add natural-looking makeup to your photos! Many of these apps require subscriptions, but the features are limitless!

3. Color Adjustments

Adjusting the color, saturation, and lighting of a photo can make all the difference. An easy way to enhance photos, using this tool that most phones already have installed is a quick fix. There are several areas you can make adjustments to:

Saturation
Color
Lighting
Brightness
Tone
Contrast
Vibrance
Sharpness
Clarity
Noise

If you aren’t a photographer or an artist, some of these may be confusing. You can click this link to learn more about each.

4. Adjust the Resolution

A good-quality image has a high resolution. If your photo doesn’t have a high resolution, there are ways to fix it! You can use software such as Photoshop or Adobe to improve it. You can also download many photo apps to your devices that will allow you to adjust.

When you have a higher resolution, you have a clearer picture. It’s not blurry and doesn’t look pixelized. The more pixels the image has, the clearer it looks.

Magento Development: is it Still the Best Out There?

Miley on March 25, 2022

Magento is one of the best and most widely used eCommerce app development platforms. Choosing Magento development services for your eCommerce platform is a wise decision.

A plethora of eCommerce or web app development platforms are available in the market, and choosing the best amongst them is a very crucial thing. A lot of deciding factors are there to choose the best platform.

What is Magento?

Magento is mainly an open-source platform that can be used to develop a flawless eCommerce web application. The best Magento development services platform has many options for in-built themes and templates.

It is a platform that provides flexibility, scalability and is expandable. Magento provides three significant varieties of its Magento enterprise edition, Magento community edition, and Magento commerce cloud edition.

Features of Magento

Magento has fantastic features that can be used for developing an excellent eCommerce platform. The features are:

Analytics and reporting
Product browsing
Catalog management
Customer accounts
Order management
Payment and shipping
Search engine optimization
Marketing and promoting tools
Site management
Mobile commerce

Advantages of using Magento

If you still doubt why to use Magento as the best eCommerce app development platform, then here are some of the advantages you can consider to clear your doubts.

It is a flexible management system

Magento is the best choice for an eCommerce platform by contrast with other platforms. The platform has an intelligent and flexible content management system.

It is compatible with every store irrespective of the product they have. Developing an eCommerce platform for various sizes and types is easy to develop with the help of Magento.

Advanced SEO

Every business owner of an eCommerce platform wishes to have a higher ranking for their application or products pages, lead in SERP of every search engine, and even in the top lists.

The owners take all the measures through which their website can rank higher on the search engine optimization page. Due to it, Magento has developed Advanced features SEO to help the owners to improve their ranking.

Extensions

Magento provides a high range of in-built extensions that a Magento developer services provider can utilize to develop an eCommerce platform. It will allow the facility to extend the Magento store feature.

The extension in feature will depend on your targeted audience and what they require. Gradually when your store gets famous, it will need more advanced features to attract users, and extensions will help you.

Highly secured

Magento is one of the most highly secure platforms compared to other eCommerce platforms available in the market. Magento follows the globally accepted security standards.

Business owners who deal with the global market have to worry more about the security of the payment they need to collect online, and according to them, Magento is the perfect fit.

Faster loading time

The main aim of Magento is to provide faster loading of an eCommerce website. According to research, the loading speed of a website plays a paramount role in increasing the users and your business.

As no one likes to wait for the website to load and if the website’s loading speed is low, your eCommerce app can lose users permanently, and if the speed is proper, it can attract more customers to your eCommerce website.

Hosting options

Magento allows various hosting options for business owners to choose from according to their businesses; it won’t be the business to stay with the hosting that is provided by the platform.

Magento allows every eCommerce store owner to select a hosting provider based on their demands openly. It will provide freedom for online businesses to choose their file and the hosting companies.

Why is Magento development the best choice for eCommerce?

Here are some of the reasons that will answer your question and make you understand why to use Magento development services. Let us go through the various reasons deeply.

It is open source

One of the primary reasons to select Magento for the eCommerce platform is that it is open source. It simply means that anyone aware of using Magento can use it easily and can use its advantages.

As Magento has 3 main editions and amongst all the three editions, Magento Community Edition is free to use. You can easily install it for free cost and can use any version of Magento Community Editions.

Magento Community

Another essential reason to select Magento is its vast community that consists of certified developers, bloggers, programmers, project managers, and much more. You can also hire a certified Magento developer from the extended community.

The Magento community assures that everyone stays on the same page. If you are a developer and facing any problem, you can rely on the Magento community to solve your problem.

Compatible for eCommerce platform

Magento is a default content management system that is compatible with online businesses. Magento allows various facilities to the eCommerce store to help the owners improve their business.

Magento also supports multiple store management, which can help the eCommerce website handle multiple stores simultaneously. It also has various payment gateways useful for making in-app payments to provide a smooth purchase to the customers.

Superior support

It is integral to have strong support for running a successful online business, and it is also essential for business growth. So when it comes to online support for the eCommerce store, the technical support team will handle the critical things.

High performance

Magento provides high performance to the eCommerce store with the faster page loading speed, query processing time, and other static and dynamic operations.

It assures high performance for your eCommerce website even by using minimum server resources. Magento understands the disadvantage of the low performance of the website, so it provides such facilities to improve the performance.

Multitasking

Magento enables eCommerce to do various tasks simultaneously, and it will be easy to perform other essential tasks simultaneously while monitoring the Magento website’s performance.

Thus it also helps you to save your precious time. The owners and developers can also handle the items, bills, customer information with just a single admin panel that is user-friendly.

Conclusion

The above blog shows the benefits and reasons why Magento is considered the best eCommerce platform. Magento is the most loved platform for business owners and developers as it provides various facilities to improve the business.

One can hire a certified developer who is willing to have a successful eCommerce website for their business. Magento platform provides a smooth experience to the users for shopping through the website.

About Author:

Rahim Ladhani, CEO and Managing Director at Nevina Infotech, Enterprise Web App & Mobile Application Development Company, helps global businesses grow by the eCommerce website development services.

LinkedIn:- https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahim-ladhani-7841a237/

Insights

Tips to Increase the Longevity of Your Air Sanders

Miley on March 14, 2022

Air sanders play an essential role in getting the best results for any woodworking project. Hence, selecting the best quality product is highly important. But, apart from that, you also need to take special care of the products for better service quality and longevity. In fact, the quality sanders will help you get the best finish as well.

Following are some tips that can help you take care of the air sanders well. So, please read below to know how to do it properly.

Check the RPM

Some orbital sanders are specifically designed to work at 10,000 RPM and 12,000 RPM. But, if you don’t take care of it, then the RPM will reduce with age. So, it is best to check the RPM of your sander regularly. Hence, you can use the Tachometer to know about its speed. So, if the sander is not spinning with the correct RPM, you can go for some oiling primarily.

Detect the Air Pressure

Secondly, air pressure is also one of the essential things to maintain in the sanders. In case there are any sanding marks or swirls, then it’s time to check the air pressure. If the air sanders get the right air pressure, you can get the right RPM. Thus, you can use different tools to check the Air pressure and fix the problem in a swift manner.

Maintain the Backup Pads

Now, people tend to ignore this tip that reduces the longevity of the sanders eventually. So, if the backup pads degrade, you need to replace them with new ones. Hence, if you don’t do that, then you will not get the right finish. So, you need to use proper techniques and clean the backup pads properly. In this regard, replacing them within every 3-4 months is necessary. Also, notice if you are getting the right results to understand if any further action needs to be taken.

Oil the Equipment Regularly

Regular oiling is highly important if you want the air sanders to work properly. With extensive use, the speed can reduce drastically. As a result, it will cause uneven scratches and poor quality of work. So, if you don’t do oiling in a timely manner, it will cause friction which will not be good. Therefore, oiling them regularly can help you get the best results in the long run.

Types of Air Sanders

Now, let us understand different types of air sanders that you can select for different purposes:

Random Orbital Sanders

This kind of sander holds the sandpaper in a circle shape; it vibrates properly. In this way, it reduces the chances of any swirl marks. In addition to this, this machine offers speed control and is much quieter than other sanders.

Detail Sander

This one might be a little noisy but lightweight compared to the other options. This is ideal for any smaller projects through which you can get into tight spaces and corners.

Belt Sander

A belt sander is an aggressive tool. It has a 3-4 standing belt. They are best for smoothening large surfaces like wooden floors. You must choose a model that has a built-in compartment for dust collection.

Drum Sander

The Drum sander is a highly aggressive tool that needs careful handling. It is used for vast areas that require heavy sanding. Hence, it is mainly used to remove the bevels of prefinished flooring, etc.

Edge Floor Sander

This is a comparatively strong sander that is used for smoothening the edges or corners. To use this, you need to lean it at a specific angle which will help in reducing the damage.

Workman is using the special air sander to finish the job

Conclusion

These are some important tips that you need to know to improve the quality of air sanders. Also, make sure to check the sanders regularly to enhance their longevity.

Development SaaS

Why Unit Testing is Important in Software Development?

Miley on March 2, 2022

So finally you have decided to delve into the software development world, great start! I hope you won’t miss out on the penultimate step that is supposed to be taken before the launch of the software product to the market. I am talking about none other than software testing!

Of course, till now it has been pretty common for businesses to ignore this step due to enormous reasons such as it is not budget-friendly or it’s fine what we need is a properly developed software. More or less, I have heard many people saying that this would lead to no major consequences. Well, what you may miss out on is software testing is a must-do thing as it offers a plethora of benefits ranging from enhanced product quality to improved security, detect compatibility with different devices and platforms and a lot goes more.

However, I am not going to get into the details of what software testing is or why one must look into finding relevant software testing services as I am pretty sure there are many posts written on a daily basis. The following post focuses on what unit testing is and why unit tests are a significant aspect of the software testing space. So without any further ado, let’s begin!

Define Unit Testing?

As the name implies, unit testing can be considered as a subset of software testing where components are being tested individually. In any software testing life cycle model (STLC), unit testing is the very first level of testing and it comes prior to integration testing. In other words, I would say that unit testing is a white-box testing method mainly performed by the developer. However, this is not true for each and every case as of now, developers due to time restraints are unable to conduct relevant tests due to which QA engineers have to barge in.

As mentioned earlier, unit testing emphasizes individual units of the software being tested separately. For example, one can test different computer modules to ensure whether they are fit to use or not. This is mainly done to check whether it’s the developer’s mistake or not. Moreover, you can consider it an approach to check how functionally appropriate these modules are individual.

So what is the main objective behind conducting unit tests?

A part of code can be separated
To check whether the code is correct or not
Thorough check through functionality for smooth procedures
Fix errors and easy debugging process to save time, money, and energy
Enhance code reusability

Types of Unit Tests

The ultimate objective of unit testing as mentioned above is to double-check whether things are working as they are supposed to in the first place. But this type of testing is more detailed checking every module individually. You see, the entire system works wonders only if the individual parts are working in great condition. Now there are two types of unit testing: one is manual testing and the other is automated testing.

Now what happens is software testers most of the time tend to choose the automated method. The reason being it’s quick offers accurate results and best when it comes to performance. Here developers are initially asked to write a specific section of test code so that functions can be tested automatically. On the contrary, The manual approach is a bit time-consuming as here one needs to follow a specific procedure for everything to work effectively.

Importance of Unit Testing in Software Development

Now, why is unit testing important? Well, unit testing offers a wide range of benefits in the entire software development process. Hereby performing unit testing software developers won’t be just going through the components of the software individually but also can spot errors in the unit testing phase. Further in case of any error occurs, developers can debug it right away!

Now many of you often get confused between unit testing and test-driven development. Well, there is a difference! There is no specific way of conducting unit tests. I mean one can write them before the code is implemented and even after that. Now when it comes to test-driven development, many of you have this misconception that it is a testing technique. It’s not! This can be considered as a software development practice where different tests are being implemented just to define the code functions. These codes haven’t been written yet! Unlike unit tests, the main goal of test-driven development is to improve the code right on during the development process. Not to mention that unit testing ensures the creation of bug-free code. Now without any further ado, let us begin why it is important to conduct unit testing

1. Unit Tests enhances the code quality

Software developers generally do is they write unit tests first and then write the code. This happens most of the time while conducting test-driven development. And you know what’s the best part, if the code somehow doesn’t meet appropriate requirements or specifications then the code won’t be added. Moreover, here developers can easily modify the code. Yes, even after such modifications there is no change in the functionality of neighboring units. Everything stays the same yet different.

In case, if something happens to the code, nothing can stop developers from identifying the root cause in the given time. Yes, they no longer will be asked to unwieldy go through the codebase to spot the issue. This is the pure magic of unit testing. Now does this mean the code adheres to specified standards? Absolutely!

2. Makes the Agile Software Development Process

Another crucial advantage of unit testing is it makes the development process more agile. Now in a general scenario what happens is when developers try adding more and more features just to make the software more attention-grabbing, they likely or unlikely are asked to change old design and the code. Now, this is a lose-lose situation. On one hand, you are changing the code and on the other hand, you are running out of your budget. As a solution, to refactor things accurately, it is advisable to conduct unit test cases in place.

Unit testing and agile programming are more like chocolate and peanut butter. So to conduct safe refactoring, choose this combo right away!

3. Documentation

Of course, documentation is extremely important whether it’s unit testing, integration testing, or any other software testing type. And unit testing offers very detailed documentation to assist professionals conducting the software development process. In case, if the developers get stuck or misguided, the developers can go through the document at any point in time.

4. Early Detection of software bugs

Issues found at an early stage are the best way to conduct the development process. Now since unit testing can be conducted before and after code is implemented. It becomes pure bliss for developers as they can find issues, fix them and all this happens without interfering with other pieces of code.

5. Changes and Integration Made Easier

Refactoring the application code, Another crucial benefit worth considering here. Here, once unit tests are conducted by professionals can decipher the code that might be hindering the overall app development procedure. By conducting unit tests, the scalability and maintenance of the code automatically improve.

6. Software Is Tested Prior to Delivery

As a developer what is the prime need while writing the code? To ensure that it operates in the best manner possible. And Unit Testing is one such way that can make this happen!

7. It significantly lowers development costs

Now have you ever wondered what happens if the errors are detected later on? Of course, first of all, high loss of money! Then you have to make several system changes. It may quite interest you to know that the price of detecting an error in a unit test is way lower than the price of doing everything right from spotting to fixing errors on other levels of testing. Performing unit tests is all about high-end savings whether it is in the context of time, money, and energy.

8. Design

Psychologically speaking, writing the tests compels a developer to think hard. Most of the time, the life of developers becomes monotonous and they just start working on the process before writing the code. Unit tests won’t let this happen! Apart from making them think, developers can focus more on creating intimidating designs. You only get to know its worth unless it is being tested in time. Similarly, what is the code’s responsibility? This should be your prime concern before you even begin developing.

9. Unit Test improves Performance

What would any business expect from software? That it has to be best in regards to performance, right? And conducting frequent unit tests definitely results in enhanced performance of the product.

10. Provides a Chance for Continuous Integration

Software development is a continuous process where we see a team of software developers working on several features which are cross-cutting concerns. Now if by any chance a developer makes a breaking change and other members are unable to figure that out what could happen? Fortunately, we have a CI server.

CI servers are pretty much beneficial because it not only handles the merging and compilation precisely but also can run your tests whether it’s a functional, unit, integration, etc.

Conclusion

Again I would say all about the software testing realm is very subjective though it does have a brighter side there are certain situations where it might not be a good fit. At the end of the day, it’s the way you make things work. So that’s all for now! In case you have any doubt or issues, feel free to mention that in the comment section below.

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Development Insights

Exit Interviews to Reduce Employee Turnover and the Role of Leadership

Miley on February 23, 2022

1 in 4 people quit their job in 2021. The number continues to grow and is not likely to subside this year.¹ As the “Great Resignation” upsets companies across every industry, employers are searching for ways to reduce employee turnover.

The interest in turnover is more relevant than ever. Unemployment levels and job openings returned to pre-pandemic levels. Losing trained workers requires the organization to invest significant time and money to recruit, interview, train, and onboard new hires. Turnover disrupts an organization because it requires managers, peers, and human resources to divert resources and takes time away from the organization’s primary service goals.

As the pandemic played a huge role in upheaval, more workers now cite on exit interviews the desire to stay working remotely as a reason to resign. The contrast is universal. Many worked increasingly long hours at home. At the same time, higher numbers than ever claim less work-life balance as a result of being “always-on”. The lack of opportunity and growth many employees experienced contributes to the mass exodus from current employers. Whatever their specific reason for leaving, workers are confident enough in their job prospects to try something new. What more than 50% don’t want to change, is going into the office.

How has workplace culture changed today?

The days when managers simply “command and control” employees are gone. Organizations have changed. Employees bring different needs, wants, and expectations than just two years ago. As people rethink what work means to them and how they are valued, how they spend their time has greater consequences. There are not enough people to replace the retirees that permanently left the workforce. The common goal for any company today is to retain the valued employees they have. Managers, even unknowingly, can create an environment that cultivates or hinders employee morale, undermining the investment HR or leadership makes in benefits, reward programs, and training.

Managers are hired for both their subject matter expertise and also their “soft skills”. As stressors rose for them as well, some were not able to translate those valuable assets into managerial communication or employee motivation. A study by Life Meets Work found that 56% of American workers claim their boss is “mildly” or “highly toxic”.² The staff enduring high-stress situations can suffer from emotional exhaustion and recurring anxiety, significantly decreasing performance, creativity, and problem-solving. With strong exit interview reports that compare and contrast microculture experiences, disconnects are clearer to see. A microculture is a mix of demographic and organizational aspects that form a unique cultural envelope for a given population. A single company can have dozens of unique experiences that exit interview analysis reveals.

For example, when employees feel supported at work, they are more likely to indicate a highly fair work environment. According to Gartner, creating a better employee experience will be the most important initiative for HR executives in 2022. “To do this, organizations need to go beyond policies and develop philosophies.” (Brian Kropp, Chief Researcher) One of the challenges is not knowing if these manager breakdowns exist, or where they are most prevalent. Organizations that conduct exit interviews with meaningful exit interview questions about direct supervisors, can unlock hidden insights.

Exit interview — Schematic representation of the procedure of the exit interview

Consider…How well do existing employees trust their manager?

How do those same employees feel about your “employer being a good place to work”?

The negative correlation is high. Employees that don’t trust their manager are less likely to promote that employer to others.

What manager insights are built by conducting exit interviews?

Why do so many great employees leave their job?

Only 27% of those who say they have “good managers” are thinking about quitting in the next 12 months, versus 63% of employees who have a “bad manager”. Manager relationships can more than double the intention to leave.

So, the best exit interview questions include and inform specific manager actions and unearth areas for which an underperforming manager can see gaps to develop. Most helpful on an exit interview template include:

Accessibility
Fairness and equality
Trust
Respect / Appreciation
Nature of feedback
An inclination for career development

The role of supervisors is key to an employee’s job experience. They control the degree of structure and potential conflict in the work itself. Managers provide informal and formal feedback to staff on their work behavior and control rewards and even the job security that the employee may enjoy. All these parts of the job experience are particularly important to employees who are trying to adjust themselves to a volatile environment.

Millennial employees are especially less tolerant of mismanagement. Those who feel stifled by their manager are far more likely to quit. They desire an environment that allows them to grow, accept, and use their ideas. Millennials desire greater freedom and trust, and consistently quit jobs when they don’t feel that with their manager.

Managers must be sensitive to the desires of all generations of workers, not just millennials, and must treat all fairly and with respect to avoid issues such as age discrimination.

How can you prevent staff turnover with exit interviews?

What can exit interviews do to slow staff turnover and retain top talent? Those exit interview questions are a crucial step in the offboarding process. An employee’s experience contains valuable information and is the cornerstone of any long-term retention strategy. Good exit interview questions anchor the data that can drive specific changes across:

Benefits
Compensation
Staff Training
Recruiting
Recognition Programs
Manager Coaching

Exit Interview Action Items

Employee turnover triggers a complex chain of events within organizations. When similar exit interview trends are reported across departments, titles, locations, divisions, we have a compelling argument for change. How do the managers of those departments or locations compare?

Learning the precise gaps in management skills allows leadership to fill those gaps with targeted training and support tools. Helping managers to master interpersonal skills gives them the ability to hone their positive influence as well as curb negative impact. Increase the chance that your managers are one of the 27% who is “good managers”.

Author Bio:

Reka Barna is a Senior Talent Management Associate at Retensa, the world’s leading innovator of employee retention strategies, that provides the tools to predict and prevent breakdowns across the Employee Lifecycle. Her work at Retensa focuses on supporting retention consulting projects on staff turnover, employee engagement strategies, and composing Talent Management research. She is a graduate of Touro College School of Health Sciences, New York, and pursuing her master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

References:

Viser. (2021). Outsmart. Retrieved from Four Things We Learned About the Resignation Wave- and what to Do Next: https://www.visier.com/blog/trends/four-things-we-learned-about-the-resignation-wave-and-what-to-do-next/
Abbajay, M. (2018, September 7). Harvard Business Review. What to Do When You Have a Bad Boss: https://hbr.org/2018/09/what-to-do-when-you-have-a-bad-boss
Retensa. (n.d.). Blog. Avoiding Managerial Dysfunction in your Workplace: https://retensa.com/blog/avoiding-managerial-dysfunction-in-your-workplace/

Everett Spain and Boris Groyberg ( 2016, April) Harvard Business Review. Making Exit Interviews Count: https://hbr.org/2016/04/making-exit-interviews-count

SaaS

How to Become a Pro at Web Designing? All the Dos and Don’ts

Miley on February 7, 2022

What’s the first thing that you notice on a website? Is it the design or the layout? Or are you more interested in how user-friendly the interface is? Priorities of a web design vary according to designers’ preferences. However, there are certain elements that every designer should take care of. Your top priority should be making them fun and enjoyable.

For the newbies in the industry, it can be a bit of a daunting task. If you find yourself lost and aren’t sure what are the dos and don’ts for your web design, you’re in the right place. As the experts of affordable web design services, we have curated a list of all the dos and don’t that will surely help you in your journey as a web designer.

Let’s Talk About the Dos First

1. Keep the Interface Consistent

One of the primary principles of a good UX is to maintain consistency throughout the design. The overall look across the website pages should be similar rather than being majorly different. Consistency of color schemes, navigation, and writing style will positively impact the UX.

Simply put, consider your consistency a double-edged sword. If it’s not designed properly, the outcome will result in a poor design when you try to make the other parts consistent. So, make sure your design is usable and then move forward with consistency.

2. Should be Easy-to-Navigate

Easy navigation is the foundation of usability. When your website is easy to navigate, it acts as the primary interaction technique. Without it, the visitors cannot find what they are looking for and will leave disappointed. Try to keep too-level navigation for the essential navigation options and sub-navigation with clear and specific categorization. You should also ensure using clear labels for better navigation and easy words to ensure everyone understands them.

Furthermore, your website should be built in a way that takes the users to the destination with a maximum of three clicks. If it takes them more than that to reach their desired option, you need to make some improvements. Including navigation options in the footer is also a good idea. When people can’t find what they are looking for in the tabs, they turn to the footer. So, make sure it has all the essential labels.

3. Make Scanning Easy

Truth be told, no one likes to read everything on the website. When someone visits, they expect everything to be right in front of them, and they can find their desired option by quickly scanning through. Your job as a designer is to ensure that everything is clearly visible and the visual hierarchy is top-notch. By visual hierarchy, we mean that elements should be arranged according to their importance, such as where the eyes should focus first, second, third, and so on.

To make scanning easy, here’s what you need to do:

Avoid text walls – rather than stuffing the page with a lot of text, arrange the information in the form of chunks to make it easier to skim through.
Highlight what’s important – you should put more visual weight on the critical elements. For instance, the call-to-action buttons should stand out, so they catch the visitors’ attention right away. You can use different fonts or colors for highlighting.
Stick to a grid – Scattered information won’t do you any good so, try to make a grid layout. A grid will allow you to organize information and make it look more presentable. It will make it easier for the visitors to get the information and prevent them from getting lost.

4. Pay Attention to your Content

The design and visual appeal of your website are not everything. Sure, it helps grab the viewer’s attention, but if the content inside is low-quality, there is nothing that will encourage the visitor to stay on your page. So, to give them something to stay for, you need good content. If you want to make your website a good one, both visuals and content are equally important. Make sure that the web design complements the content and fulfills all requirements.

Only add the content that’s relevant to your website. Irrelevant content will only kill your website’s image and confuse your visitors. Every word should be valuable for the visitors and offer the information they are looking for. You should also avoid the use of unnecessarily complicated terms. The website is supposed to be easily understandable by everyone, and using difficult words won’t make it look fancy.

Now We More Towards the Don’ts

1. Don’t Test Your Visitors’ Patience

Did you know that 54% of people expect a web page to load within 3 seconds? If it takes longer than that, they’re likely to abandon your website, and that’s something no web designer wants. So, if you want to ensure that your visitors stay on the site, you shouldn’t test their patience. Your web page should load in 2 seconds or less. That’s why high loading speed should be your priority. If you pay attention to the loading time, the chances are that 79% of the people will revisit or even share your website!

2. Don’t Confuse Internal & External Links

You might not know this, but visitors expect different behavior from internal and external links. Therefore, you should keep a clear distinction between them both. Your internal links should open on the same page, so the users have the option to use the back button and return to the initial page. Even if you want to direct them to a new tab, add a warning before automatically opening it. The notification can go along the lines of “opens is a new tab.” On the contrary, all external links should open in new tabs so users know that they are now entering a new source.

3. Don’t Include Too Many Typefaces

As a beginner, you might find it tempting to use too many typefaces; don’t give in to your temptations. Using five or six different fonts and uploading your own fonts is a rookie mistake. It makes your interface look childish and doesn’t give it the classic appeal that you want. Keep it classy and simple, as too many variations can be distracting and confusing. Look at your website from a viewer’s perspective, and you will agree that significant variations in the typefaces can be borderline annoying.

Summing it Up

That being said, your website is your brand’s image. If you fail to satisfy the visitors, they will move on to your competitors, and that’s the last thing you want. So, with every decision, put yourself in the viewer’s shoes and then proceed accordingly. When you ensure offering a delightful experience to your visitors, you will thrive as a web designer.

Author Bio:

Sophie Handrix was born in New York & has vast experience in the designing industry. She is working at Adravity.

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Conclusion

So finally you have decided to delve into the software development world, great start! I hope you won’t miss out on the penultimate step that is supposed to be taken before the launch of the software product to the market. I am talking about none other than software testing!

Define Unit Testing?

Types of Unit Tests

Importance of Unit Testing in Software Development

1. Unit Tests enhances the code quality

2. Makes the Agile Software Development Process