Archive: 2018
Server-side vs Client-side Development
Server-side, client-side? Front-end, back-end? What's the difference and why does it matter? While the differences can be easily defined (we'll do that in a minute), there are several important factors that affect how we decide which one to use for a certain task. For the scope of this post we will only be talking about web development as server/client relationships exist in many other areas of IT as well.
Client-side / Front-end
Mobile Apps Part 2 (Types of Apps)
Last week we looked at the advantages and disadvantages of having a mobile app for your business. This week we'll look at the various types of apps and what is different between them.
Hybrid
Mobile Apps Part 1 (Advantages/
Many companies wonder whether they need a mobile app or not. It's an especially appropriate question if they already have a website properly optimized for mobile use. What value would a mobile app bring that their website can't or isn't currently providing? What type of mobile app is best for them?
First, let's take a look at what value a mobile app can bring that a mobile website just can't deliver. Probably the most obvious is that phones and tablets have certain features that are only accessible to apps and not websites. The list of these features is shrinking but apps that rely heavily on the device's native hardware such as games and augmented reality just wouldn't work on a mobile website. In this case, a mobile app is necessary regardless of other factors.
Website, Landing Page, Microsite? What's the difference?
There are many types of websites, our clients ask us about them a lot - microsite, landing page, web app, etc. What are they and how are they different from each other? Which one(s) should you have? We'll look at each of them from the simplest to the most complex.
Landing page
Web Security in 2018
We're now well into 2018 and it's clear that this will be a big year for web security. For years the industry has been pushing for the ubiquitous use of encryption for websites (i.e. that all important s in https://). But we think that this is the year that will see the largest changes for websites that don't use this technology. We'll cover what this encryption actually is and is not, why these changes are happening, and what you should know about the future changes coming up this year.
The web as a whole has been moving toward encrypted browsing for a while. First, browsers started highlighting encrypted sites with a green security symbol in the address bar so highlight them favorably to internet users. Next, search engines started ranking sites higher that used encryption, giving a them a modest advantage. Now, this year in July we're going to see Google go a step further and mark all non-encrypted sites as insecure in Google Chrome. This will drastically reduce the number of users visiting these un-encrypted websites and will most likely almost completely cut-off any potential user engagement.
