Best Free Web Browsers: Apple Safari Review

Apple Safari is a lightweight and sleek browser known for its intuitive usability. It works on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and PC. This visually appealing browser comes with a large number of security and browsing features to give you a better experience. Some experts believe that Safari is the fastest and most efficient browser for Windows and Mac.

The browser is easy to install and has a user friendly interface. Navigation options include a location bar, a search box, preferences menu, current page menu, and Back and Forward buttons. Its latest versions feature a Reading List panel that gives you easy access to web pages that you want to revisit and read later. Even though Safari lacks parental and zoom controls, it has some unique features that aren’t available on any other browser.

Safari’s start page displays your favorite websites. The browser offers built-in support for Apple’s Voice Over screen reader. The most recent versions feature enhanced keyboard navigation, full-screen web pages, private browsing, and advanced developer tools. Here are the key characteristics of this browser:

• Extremely fast page rendering
• HTML5 support
• High performance
• Reading list
• Built-in RSS reader
• Top Sites page
• Coverflow history view
• Private browsing
• Built-in progress bar
• Password manager
• Useful add-ons
• Custom style sheets
• Full screen web pages
• Visually appealing interface
• Advanced developer tools

Apple Safari offers tabbed browsing. Users can move the tabs back and forth on the bar. The browser’s address bar displays history suggestions for any text that you start typing. One of its main features is the Top Sites page, which shows your most visited websites as graphical previews. Apple was the first to offer the Auto-Click function for bookmarks. This feature allows users to automatically open all the bookmarks in a folder into different tabs. The browser’s performance remains its strongest selling point because of the DNS prefetching and hardware acceleration.

Another notable feature is the Safari Reader mode. This function removes non-essential elements of a web page, so you can focus on the text. It also blocks ads automatically, which saves you from installing an ad-blocker. Installing an extension in this browser is quick and easy. Safari extensions allow web developers to add buttons, menu items, and toolbars to the app window. With a simple interface and innovative features, Safari offers a more pleasant browsing experience. The browser is free to download and can be found on the Apple official website.

Grails + AngularJS = Better JavaScript

In addition to being the most popular client-side programming language, JavaScript is also currently being used together with HTML5 and CSS3 for development of responsive websites and web-based mobile apps. But the developers still need to use various JavaScript libraries and frameworks to build quality web applications quickly. Many programmers prefer combining JavaScript libraries with other web frameworks to enhance the web application's functionality and performance. A number of reports have highlighted that many web developers nowdays prefer using AngularJS and Grails framework together.

Grails Framework

Grails is a web application framework which is designed for the Java platform but uses Groovy programming language. It aims to make programmers more productive by supporting software development paradigms like Convention over Configuration (CoC). At the same time, Grails also comes with features like integrated ORM, support for NoSQL, and dependency injection powered by Spring. The users can further extend the framework by using a number of built-in plug-ins additionally. Grails further allow programmers to work with several popular IDEs and text editors like Sublime, Eclipse, and Texmate.

AngularJS

As a structural framework, Angular makes it easier for programmers to create a variety of dynamic web applications. It is used broadly by developers for creating single-page websites. While using Angular, the programmers have the option to use HTML as a template language. They can simply extend the syntax of HTML to express the application's components in a clear and readable format. As the framework keeps the view and data model of the application synchronized the developers are not required to manipulate the document object model (DOM) manually. Angular can also be integrated with a number of libraries. The users can further customize the framework according to their specific needs by making changes to its features.

How to Combine Grails and AngularJS?

The developers can use a specific plug-in to add AngularJS resources to the Grails application. The plug-in will add services, controllers and other resources of AngularJS to the Grails application. At the same time, it will also generate several AngularJS modules like angular-animate, angular-touch, angular-cookies, angular-messages, angular-sanitize, angular-route, angular-loader, angular-resource, and angular-aria. These modules help developers to add functionality to the Grails application without putting any extra effort.

Alternately, the developers can also combine AngularJS and Grails by converting the AngularJS code into CoffeeScript code. However, this method is recommended only for users who are familiar with CoffeeScript. They can simply use the plug-in provided by Grails to convert JavaScript code into CoffeeScript code. As CoffeeScript aims to make JavaScript code more readable, it will be easier for programmers to manipulate the code from the Grails applications.

Why Combine Grails and AngularJS?

The developers can combine AngularJS and Grails in a number of ways. So they can combine the two frameworks without any hassle. After combining the two web frameworks, they can make each to take care of certain tasks. So they can split the common task between the two frameworks to enhance the applications performance and functionality significantly.

In comparison to Grails, AngularJS is more effective in handling single-page websites. So it can handle the changes made to a single page more efficiently. So the developers can use it for handling single-page changes like DOM manipulation and client-side data binding. Likewise, AngularJS can also be used for making AJAX calls and organizing client-side JavaScript development code. It will further make it easier for developers to perform client-side unit tests through the Jasmine. The developers can also take advantage of the client-side dependency injection (DI) provided by Angular JS.

On the other hand, features and functionality of the Grails can be availed to manage large-scale websites more effectively. It can be used effectively for providing RESTful services, and mapping URL for full-page transition. Grails will further help programmers to manage application concerns such as client-side and server-side dependencies, command control centers, overall file layout, and packaging and building. Likewise, Grails will help users to perform unit, integration and functional testing on the server-side. They can even use Spring to manage server-side dependencies more efficiently.

On the whole, the developers can combine AngularJS and Grails in a number of ways. After combing the two frameworks, they can avail their features to effectuate common client-side and server-side activities. However, they still need to divide tasks between the two frameworks based on their individual features and functionality.

Best Free Web Browsers: Midori Browser Review

Midori is a lightweight browser designed for Linux. Its interface is designed to be intuitive yet powerful. The page rendering is based on WebKit. Some key features include full integration with GTK+ 2, private browsing, tabbed navigation, ad filtering, and speed dial. Midori is a lot more configurable than other web browsers.

This web browser is very portable and should run on all platforms. It is based on WebKit, the same rendering engine used by Safari. Midori is surprisingly fast and includes all basic browser features. Tabs are shown below the address bar, as opposed to Google Chrome that displays them above. The menu items, input boxes, and toolbars are laid out much like you would find on other browsers. Midori puts emphasis on speed and simplicity. It loads pretty fast, depending on how many tabs you have opened.

Some Linux distributors are offering Midori as a default browser. One of its main features is the trash icon on the main toolbar, which allows users to see tabs that they have recently closed and reopen them from the list. Other notable features include:

• Mouse gestures

• Password management

• Customizable and extensible interface

• Full integration with GTK+ 2 and GTK+ 3 support

• No installation required

• Easy to use

• Speed dial

• Web application support

• HTML5 support

• Customization options

• High speed

• Standards compliant

• Configurable web search

• User scripts support

• Private browsing

• Tabbed navigation

• Extremely light

The bookmarks window is accessible via the “Edit” menu. The browser’s latest versions feature a feed panel, cookie management, form history, and Maemo integration for mobile devices. Aesthetically it may not be able to compete with some of the most popular browsers out there, but it has all the functionality necessary to act as a primary browser for everyday use. Midori comes with a wide range of customization options and offers great support for HTML5. This lightweight browser also supports extensions like Adblock and mouse gestures.

What makes Midori so appealing is that it’s lighting fast. Moving from one tab to another is very easy even with a large number of tabs. The address bar has a history searching feature that allows quick access to previously visited sites. If you like trying out new software, give Midori a try. It is a surprisingly capable browser with a lot of clever design behind it. The developers who created Minori are now offering a Windows installer, which is an added bonus.

Top 5 Mobile Application Development Tools Trending in 2017

This is an undeniable fact that today’s mobile app development sector is growing at a rapid pace. Along with it, varieties of application development tools are evolving. Application developers always look for such tools that would help them to devise feature-rich apps in the utmost efficient way. Here is a list of some robust and highly functional mobile application development tools that are ruling the industry.

#1 Xamarin

With time, this tool is becoming immensely popular in the recent striving app development industry. Name any platform Android, iOS, Windows – with the help of Xamarin, developers can effortlessly devise mobile apps on any platform just using simple shared C# codebase. Here are some of its alluring features that are making Xamarin extremely popular among the developers.

  • Provides own tool for interface development
  • You can test the apps on multiple devices using the excellent cloud service provided by Xamarin
  • Offers native API access
  • Mentionable backend integration
  • Forms code sharing interfaces

#2 PhoneGap

Another widely popular tool that is trending in the market is PhoneGap. Apart from regular mobile app development platforms like Android and iOS, using PhoneGap, you would be able to devise applications for Palm platform and Symbian as well. Here are some of its remarkable features and functionalities for which most of the developers are preferring to use PhoneGap as their application development tool.

  • It is an open-source framework
  • It is available for free of cost
  • It is unbelievably easy to develop applications using JavaScript and standard HTML

#3 Appcelerator

In today’s tech-savvy business market, due to its plenty of handy features, popularity of Appcelerator is accelerating in the market. Go through the below-mentioned features to understand the business-driven benefits of using Appcelerator.

  • Extremely convenient to develop apps for HTML5, Blackberry, Cross-platform apps apart from regular iOS and Android
  • Easy to devise applications with real-time mobile analytics using single code-base of JavaScript
  • Able to develop hardware based app
  • You can store data either in cloud or in the device
  • Easy to come up with a prototype

#4 Sencha

The newly released version of Sencha is Ext. JS. This version is booming in the market as creating applications in HTML5 is remarkably easy for the developers using this app development tool. More interestingly, you can avoid the hassle of devising cross-platform application development using the latest version of Sencha.

#5 iFactr

Worried about speedy app delivery? With the efficient help of iFactr, you can easily overcome this issue. According to the iFactr, this tool is so easy-to-use and so effective and smooth that the app developers can start their respective development process just after two to three training days. If you want a quick feedback, you can put your trust on this application development tool as it would cater you to come up with a feature-rich prototype within a very short span of time. The more alluring fact about iFactr is that it uses Xamarin to develop Android and iOS applications. Other than that, the solution supports PhoneGap as well.

Using these above-mentioned application development tools, you can diminish the burden of app developers to some great extent.

5 Definitive Approaches to Responsive Web Design

The rate at which the mobile web is growing makes people to equip their websites to welcome users from a diverse range of devices and screen sizes. Responsive design takes the lead here and saves you from worry. It renders the content, images and structure of the website with precision regardless of the device used.

But following some concrete methodologies to make a flexible and working responsive site is crucial. The following techniques will shed some light on the ideal practices to be adopted for responsive web designing:

Mobile Users Deserve It Too

The prime rule when creating a responsive design site is ensuring that the browsing experience is the same for all users across the platform. The site’s appeal and structure should not alter creating function and content losses for users of different devices and screen sizes. The browsing experience for a desktop user must be the same as for a visitor coming in through their tablet. This means anything and everything must be flexible – image, content, grids, etc.

Keep Your Design Responsive-friendly

If you want your site to be mobile-friendly, your design has to be responsive-friendly. When framing your site layout, choose layouts that are perfect for responsive design over those which are not. This means keeping your design simple yet functional with as simple HTML codes as possible. Using simple structure for components like navigation, menu options, using HTML5 doctype and a crisp core layout ensures your design fidelity. Avoiding unnecessary complex elements in your design will just make things easy for you.

Minify Your Codes

Remove unnecessary characters from your source code without changing its functionality to optimize website performance. Enabling Gzip compression is also another method. This helps improve loading time. Along with minifying your code, combining your CSS and JavaScript into single files minimizes HTTP requests, which benefits you in more than one way.

Keep a Check on Your Images

Tackling images in responsive design can be tricky. But with the following, you can make them flexible to a greater extent:

  • Opt for scalable vector graphics over pixel-based ones
  • Use high resolution images wherever possible
  • Use best image compression practices

Dump Redundant Content

Even though we seldom agree, some content and elements were never meant to be used in a mobile context. Identify such elements and discard them at once for mobile platform. This can be achieved by adding a.not_mobile class to specific elements that are to be removed when your site loads on a mobile platform.

Remember, as Da Vinci said, simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication. If you want a perfect responsive design site that functions well, you need to keep it simple, organized, and brief.

Logo and Website – The Basic Requirements of Any Online Business

Time has changed and technology has enhanced. These days, in order to have a successful online business you need to stay ahead of your competitors and cope with the latest technology. For a successful business at the present time a business should have an appealing and attractive logo and an interactive and dynamic site. For the logo design, you would need to acquire the logo design services of a design agency that has a good reputation and track record of providing fantastic and satisfactory logo design service to clients in the past. Logo design service is actually a part of the brand creation and management services offered by agencies. Your logo represents your business in the most effective way and an intelligently and creatively designed logo can convey your message to your targeted audience. It is vital that you choose the right logo design services provider for the design of your logo so that you could have the most professional and custom-made logo for your business.

The next important factor for a successful business these days is a dynamic web site. These days the significance of responsive web designs has increased radically. The need for responsive web designs increased due to the increase in the tendency of people using internet through their smartphones, tablets and netbooks instead of personal computers. First, it is important that we explain what we mean by a responsive internet site. By responsive site we mean a website which has adjustable layout and scalable images so that the website could be accessed easily on any latest technology smartphone, tablet, etc and all the functionalities of the website work perfectly. Due to the advancement of technology this tendency of people using smartphones for internet browsing is increasing day by day and this year we should be expecting an increase in the number of websites which would be more interactive and dynamic. Dynamic and sophisticated are specifically intended for internet-users who would be visiting the website through smartphones and tablets. By making our website responsive, interactive and dynamic we can simply make our website easily accessed and we can increase the number of site visitors as compared to normal static websites. The user interface design of a mobile website and a normal site are created entirely differently.

When a responsive and interactive mobile site is designed, fluid images are changed with context aware images. The most contemporary technology of design is used for mobile websites and it is due to this sophisticated technology that the images of the site can adjust automatically for different resolutions. This means that the internet user can visit the site from a smartphone, personal computer, tablet, netbook and the website adjusts according to the size of the screen. HTML5 is the perfect markup language for creating an interactive and responsive site. Software companies that excel in HTML5 development are able to develop more sophisticated and interactive websites. HTML5 development is more advantageous for sophisticated sites because the features and capabilities of HTML5 are much better than HTML4 and it is more specifically focused for the development of web applications and mobile applications.

Why Hybris Online Corporate Training Is Essential

Medium and larger enterprises are adapting the Hybris ecommerce platform for their online B2B and B2C markets. There are several advantages to using Hybris. It is agnostic in the front end, adapting to HTML5, CSS3, Spring MVC and integrated jQuery, which gives developers freedom of implementation and it also has a set of omnicommerce connect API for RESTful web services. The Spring Framework is service oriented and modular allowing developers to come up with simple or extended solutions as may be required. Hybris is the total solution for ecommerce that includes catalogs, shopping carts, integrated payment, order management, full text search, social networking, deployment across various devices, data feeds and live video chats.

It is this complexity and diversity of modules that can create stumbling blocks for IT personnel engaged in Hybris development in corporate environments. Hybris online corporate training is the key to helping them overcome whatever issues that face and become more proficent in their chosen tasks. Empowered by training in Hybris they can be speedy in their work and contribute to faster development of projects or parts of the projects that are tasked with.

Here is why companies should seriously consider Hybris training for their employees if they are using this platform.

Empower employees : It is assumed that IT employees have sufficient background and expertise because of their education. In reality, this may not be so. What they learn is mostly theory and real life situations different. Training they have received may be cursory. What happens then is that when faced with issues that spend time to resolve them resulting in delays in completion of projects. There may be errors and the output may not be quite as polished as is expected.

Instill confidence : In a scenario where an IT person is not sufficiently knowledgeable about the specific module and when he does not possess sufficient knowledge about the various abilities of Hybris, he will tend to choose the easy way out and will not take on challenges because he has deadlines to meet. Lack of knowledge can lead to less utilization of capacities of Hybris. This, absolutely, is the employer's loss.

Employers can not leave it to IT personnel to complete hybris training on their own. They have to take the initiative. At the same time, if they have staff working in multiple locations, it may not be practical to have onsite training. In such cases online training from specialists is the way to go. Experts in hybris training offer modular courses to suit roles of personnel and to bring them up to speed. Employers benefit because, by being empowered, their staff can do so much more. They can complete tasks with speed, introduce more refinements and advances and deliver far better solutions.

Website Templates – To Improve Your Business Performance

Gone are the days when only brick and mortar stores served the purpose of your business! In this digital era, it is vital for any organization to own a dynamic website that propagates the philosophy of the organization, along with selling the company’s product or service. Initially, building a website was a time-consuming and costly affair. Fortunately, with the initiation of Website Templates, it has now become easy for business enterprises, without hiring a developer or possessing the knowledge of coding.

Especially, if you are a start-up or a small business entity, creating a good website is imperative to establish yourself in the market. As per one of the researchers, nearly 70-80% of people research a company online before visiting the small business or making a purchase decision. With many companies offering cost-effective One Page website templates, any layman who wishes to have a website for their specific requirements can have it in a hassle-free way.

Not just for business entities, to save time and be more productive, many developers and designers have started templates. In the competitive market, where everyone is vying against each other to win the client’s trust, using Website Templates can speed up the process and a developer can accomplish the work of many clients within the deadline given. Or else, when the custom websites are to be made, it is a too long and tedious process, involving heavy expense too from the side of the businessman.

From the companies designing such templates, it is a lucid process to a download website templates, install them and put the content as per your preference. You can add text, images, video, animated effects, widgets of your choice, that disseminates accurate information persuading the visitor to know more about your product or service.

There are companies who provide HTML5 Website templates that are responsive and can be operated on multiple devices. Whether it is a mobile or tablet, the website will not lose its charm and will be equally engaging for the user. Using color and fonts of your choice is also possible while using these templates.

This HTML 5 Website templates are designed as per different themes catering to different markets. An arduous research is carried out pertaining to a particular market and after a brainstorming session between the designer and the developer, a theme is decided upon that will not just make the website look captivating, but also serve as the most effective medium for businesses to represent themselves in the digital world.

There are numerous advantages of using the Website Templates to build your online identity. First of all, you will not have to begin your website building from scratch, thereby you can focus your time and energy on other resources to take your business to the next level. Other than being compatible, these templates are highly functional and boast of style designed as per the current trends. On your behalf, they have studied your market’s choice and preference, and have designed it accordingly to let your company speak for itself in a creative manner.

Things to Consider Before Going for Web Development

The process of web development is such a big task, that it cannot be completed within a day. It can always be termed as a never-ending effort, which moves ahead with time and energy. A lot of focus and labor is what it usually demands. Once you start with the development process of your website, there are a few things which you should figure out and plan, before even getting started with the initial stage.

Each and every single point mentioned below has equal importance and thus you must be able to remember all of them while planning to start with the process of web development. Most of the people are mis-conceptualized with this process and they bother to look into it, only after completing with website development. But, if you keep these below-mentioned points in your mind before starting the process, for sure you’ll have a website helping you in setting up success on your way. Web development is generally very important and time-consuming work for every business, and for a business website to succeed, you must follow these points.

I. Domain Name: One of the basic things before starting with web development is choosing a name that people can remember well and easily. Along with it choose wisely and appropriately, whether you will be using.com or.net, or something else.

II. Hosting Provider: The speed and working of your website would be dependent on the hosting service you choose. So it’s always recommendable to choose a reliable hosting service provider and look at how much capacity you need and thus accordingly choose one which suits your needs.

III. Latest Technology: Always keep in mind to use the latest technology for web development like HTML5, CSS3, PHP, JQuery, JavaScript, etc. Nowadays, all web development companies use the best and latest technology.

IV. Colour & Layout: An eye-catchy color can always be termed as the best option for your website. As it’s said that colors affect the feel of your website, it is best to choose the best color for your website. A neat & clean layout is always preferred by visitors. And not to forget about the header and footer. It must be attractive, but at the same time even simple and not too shiny.

V. Have clear Purpose: Now when you have started the process of web development, you must have a clear and precise idea regarding it. Knowing your purpose even includes knowing about your aim and like. Along with it, one should even ask this question to himself like what’s the need of a website for your business, corporate, e-commerce or something else? This would gradually help you to build a good and relevant website for your business.

VI. Site Map: Prepare a clear Site Map in the beginning of development, so that once you start the process of developing the website you are not left with a big question mark and as a result, even your time won’t be wasted.

VII. Use of Content: Make sure that your website provides a good and informative content to the users who visit your website. While choosing the content, even try to target certain keywords to rank high in search engines so as to finish with your SEO work. The type of content like language, video, picture etc you choose will have a direct effect on your site speed i.e., how slow or fast the website will load.

VIII. Use of Advertisement: Don’t push and try to avoid the use of too much advertisement on your website. Only put an advertisement wherever it’s necessary.

IX. Pop-Up: Prevent the use of Pop-Up Messages. This could be one of the biggest reason for slow loading and can even turn to be the most annoying type of advertising as at times users can’t even close them.

X. Design: When we talk about design, all it needs is attractiveness. A good website must be always simple and professional enough.

XI. Buttons: Make “call to” action buttons a bit eye-catching so as to get more and more clicks, like buy now or download now. Using bright colors like yellow or orange could always be a better alternative.

Always try not to forget with the above-mentioned points, and keep them in mind before beginning the process of developing a website, and thus it would lead to having a simple yet best website. One of the key solutions for it is to choose one of the best web development company for your website. By choosing the best web development company you will experience good results within no time from your website.

Significant Tools For Responsive Website Design

The significance of a responsive web design has increased dramatically in the previous years. At the present instead of personal computers people are increasing using smartphones, tablets and netbooks for browsing internet. When we say a responsive website, we mean that scalable images and adjustable layouts should be used so the people using smartphones could straightforwardly and easily access your website. Thanks to the advancement of technology this trend is increasing day by day and this year we will be seeing many more websites that are being designed to be more interactive and dynamic. These types of dynamic and sophisticated websites can be accessed more conveniently through smartphones and tablets. This means that the website would become more widely accessed as compared to normal internet sites. The graphic design of a standard site and a mobile website is created differently.

In an interactive and responsive graphic design, the images are actually fluid images that are changed with context aware images and an updated version is applied for improved designing. Due to this sophisticated technology the images adjust for diverse resolutions and it can be easily viewed through larger screens and smaller screens. When we talk about responsive and interactive websites, we should discuss the several tools which can make the project of creating such a website possible. These tools are mentioned below.

Adobe Device Central CS5 is the latest version of the Adobe Device Central. It is a software program which effectively makes the task of producing interesting and innovative content for mobile phones, tablets and other devices very simple and easy. This software lets the designer plan, preview and test different designing experiences and then delivers these experiences on a smartphone. The exclusive features of the Adobe Device Central CS5 include online library of device profiles, advanced device input emulation and compete HTML5 development support. The Golden Grid System is a fantastic tool that every designer who has created responsive and interactive sites knows about. With this tool the designer is able to split the screen into 18 equal columns and two of those columns in the extreme ends would be the outer margins. The remaining sixteen columns would be further folded in eight columns for tablet screens and in four columns for smartphones. Zoomable baseline grid, elastic gutters and Golden Gridlet are other features of the Golden Grid System.

FitText is one of the jQuery plug-ins that inflates web type and fluid or responsive layout so that the scalable headlines that fill the width of a parent element are achieved. FitText basically makes the size of the fonts flexible and in this way a site can be easy accessed from screens of different sizes. Gridless is a fantastic solution when you are designing an interactive and responsive internet site. It is a cross-browser and open source tool which can efficiently facilitate a responsive site with striking typography. It facilitates CSS3 and HTML5 development.

One important factor which stays with every type of internet site is the logo. Whatever technology is used to make an internet site, the logo of the business should be there. So before you continue with designing of your website, it is important that you first have an affordable logo design created for your website. An affordable logo design is also important because the development of an interactive and responsive website might be expensive so you have to ensure that everything stays within your budget.

Freelance Web Designer | Web Design | WordPress | Hong Kong