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Google Web Designer Beta Now Available – Build Beautiful Html 5 Creative With Ease

08/01/2014 13:19

HTML5 developmentContent websites have come a long way since their inception a decade or so back. Today web designs, animations and advertisements are all inseparable parts of modern content websites. The state of the art technology that is required to create all these creative elements is generally based on HTML 5. Perhaps this is the reason why HTML 5 is regarded as a universal language that is indispensable for creating or engaging contents compatible with desktops, smart phones, tablets, iPhones and the likes. 

 

Over the last few years, Google has come a long way and has made web based technologies really user-friendly besides making them powerful as well. At present, this search engine giant has come up with layouts of Double Click studios or Ready Creatives. These studios help the users to create HTML 5 in no time. Let us discuss some of the salient features of this tool.

 

  • The beta version of this web designing tool, christened Good Web Designer, is the latest in the series. Let us discuss the ways in which this Beta version Google Web Designer Tool is distinctive from the others in business. Unlike the other tools that are available in the market, Google designs tools that are expert in catering to both the extremes – seasoned as well as experienced professional designers and the amateurs or the ones who are just into web designing. The features of this tool are meant more to design ad banners than anything else though it ideally comes up in the market as a web designing or motion graphics tool.

  • Technically speaking, the new Beta Web designer tool has been designed to give the advertising professionals or other users a wide range of powerful as well as user friendly options of creating interactive and vibrant contents for web sites. The application also provides these professionals new tools which help them to take the help of HTML 5. It also prepares contents of web pages in an accurate way. Moreover, it helps them to display the contents on a variety of screens as well as formats depending upon the type of the device used. As per the experts, the application will lure the designers to prefer HTML 5 environment, which is bound to be more adorable as well as popular than Flash in days to come. 

  • The new Google Web Designer Beta version will also enable the designers or users in creating animated creative contents through HTML5 that are compatible with every device. It would also allow the users to view as well as edit all the code at the background of their designs. They can also have a look at the changes that they have made instantaneously. They will also have the option of building ad contents with 'AdMob' along with 'DoubleClick'.

  • The application comes up with two modes – Quick Mode and Advanced Mode. While the quick mode helps the users in building animations in a scene-by-scene sequence by utilizing automation, the later one would help them to animate various individual elements with the use of layers. They can also follow it up by changing the locations of these elements within the respective stacks.

  • Besides, users can manipulate as well as create 3D contents by utilizing a wide range of tools along with CSS3 while rotating objects and 2D designs along the plain of any axis. It also helps to visualize the 3D transformations as well as translations while creating contents.

  • Users can also switch between Code View and Design View. This helps them to see the changes they have made almost immediately. They also have the option of importing components from other creative platforms and suites. They can also use built-in illustration applications or the tools in creating vector style artworks. This will allow them to avert duplication of works that have already been created.

 

Now all these are extremely pertinent and effective features that the users will really enjoy. There are many other features, the efficacy of which will come into forefront as more and more people start using it. Experts are of the opinion that very soon Google Web Designer Beta will surpass all the other applications in terms of usability or popularity and will soon set new bench marks for the future applications to catch up with and overcome. You can hire HTML5 developers from top Web development companies who can help you build html5 web apps within allocated budgets and time schedules.

 

We provide HTML5 development services. If you would like to know more about the expertise of our certified HTML5 developers, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

The Future of WordPress Plugin Development

04/01/2014 15:53

WordPress CMS customizationWordPress has now become the perfect trend of the current times and it is for us to see where the most popular CMS of the world is heading. After extensive researches, feverish digging and going through a fair amount of trends related to the plugin and theme development, you can identify the key innovations in the factors shaping up for WordPress in the future. WordPress is a major CMS platform in web development. It is one of the most popular and best CMS as it is extremely customizable in terms of providing wide support in the development platform. You can also improve the performance of WordPress site by adding different WordPress plugins having amazing features. These make websites SEO friendly through improved database along with faster loading to provide security. 

 

There are particulars regarding how WordPress needs to adapt to the changing environment. The web platform including both mobile and social is now having a much greater influence on people’s internet browsing as well as content creation behavior than ever before.

 

How Plugins define the future trends of WordPress

Plugins are another solution like Visual Composer, that replace the Word Press post or page editor. The Visual Composer interface allows you to drag, drop or re-size various modules onto your page, each having contrasting functionality. Some of the modules are highly powerful as they help you create a completely novel page design with tweets, columns, sliders, tabs, even all of your post excerpts or everything within any theme. It is hence much more flexible than a dedicated approach of the theme.

 

It replaces the post as well as page editor, and it is for this reason if you make any changes, only the primary content part of your theme will be affected. The sidebar, header and footer remain entirely untouched unless you choose a blank page template. For the customization of an existing theme, Visual Composer is ideal as the theme look and feel is retained, while you change the content any way you like.

 

Essential Features of WordPress Plugin Development

WordPress is extensively used by bloggers as well as web designers. The current version is newly released WordPress 3.8 that helps the webmaster to go for faster and better management. Many advanced plugin versions are used to save your time by detecting track-back spam as well as comments automatically.

Many WordPress plugins for SEO optimization are easy to use as well as understand. Some of the features include:

  • Meta and link elements

  • Page Analysis

  • Creation of XML site maps

  • RSS optimization

  • Breadcrumps

  • Editing of .htaccess and robots.txt file

  • Scanning comments for spam with quick configuration

  • Highlighted links in the comment body

  • Spam and Unspam reports with information of the spammers

  • Free API key for personal websites

 

A revolutionary experience for WordPress on Mobile

Though it is difficult to develop blog posts on tablets or smartphones, yet the smartphone is identified as an essentially easier way for blogging out your life. The smartphone can simply take photos as well as video much easier than your laptop ever could. The only trouble with creating posts on a cellphone is with writing the text. However, voice dictation can easily solve such problem, with applications like Siri becoming far better at transcribing or recognizing voice. Once that happens, most of the content including text, photos, videos will then be created on a tablet or smartphone. 

 

New integration with different services includes large amount of content sharing besides tweeting, liking, pinning etc. Today’s web users engage in these service platforms for WordPress to offer new tools improving the chances to share posts with other services. WordPress CMS customization teams can help you customize web app within allocated budgets and time schedules.

 

We provide WordPress customization services. If you would like to speak to one of our expert WordPress developers, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

Is HTML5 Be The Future of Web Development?

03/01/2014 15:38

HTML5 web developmentInstead of jumping on to talk about whether HTML5 is shaping up to be the future of web development, let us instead discuss what actually HTML5 is and what its advantages are. Perhaps that will create a perfect backdrop which will make understanding of the topic of this discussion much easier. 

 

HTML5 can be defined as a typical markup language that is used for framing and presenting modern web contents. It is the fifth generation of the language (hence the name HTML5) & is specifically designed to make it compatible for the latest multimedia devices. The language goes a long way in making these devices more user-friendly for the users, especially the ones who are not that tech-savvy.

 

There is no prize in guessing that the language comes up with a lot of advantages - a fact that gives it a substantial edge over other contemporary languages available in the market. Let us discuss some of them.

 

Mutuality: The first & foremost property that makes this language so special is its mutuality. We cannot deny the fact that the websites these days are getting more & more interactive with the incorporation of technologies like stream videos, fluid animations and various social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & the likes. Till recently, the options available to the developers for integration of these technologies with the websites were limited to use of tools like Flash, Javascript, Silverlight or Flex. However, with the introduction of HTML5, they have now the option of embedding high resolution videos, audios, charts, animations and images as well as a lot of other high end contents with the use of any third party programs or plugins whatsoever. Now, that from the technological point of view is a giant leap that has been made possible by HTML5.

 

It's the best one for the mobile phones: This is another highly important factor that makes the language so very adorable these days. HTML5 makes life easier for the designers when it comes to designing web pages exclusively for the modern iPhones and mobiles. One should not forget that majority of the modern mobiles are unable to access Flash and here the language plays a pivotal role in delivering videos & various other multimedia contents to all these devices.

 

Better Semantics: The tags in HTML5 are designed in a more specific manner and this makes it easier for the users to ascertain which part of a particular page is a header, or a footer, or a navigation and the likes. Besides, it also helps the users in understanding the meaning and the purpose of the site – a fact that understandably increases the acceptability of the web pages. Hence, use of this particular language improves the semantic value of a web page, more so with the help of standardized codes.

 

Geo-location: This extremely important feature makes this particular language so popular & effective in terms of usability. With the help of this feature, users are able to directly locate it on any application or browser that is compatible with the language, irrespective of the location at any given point in time.

 

Improved Storage: One of the most vital factors that make HTML5 so very adorable is its new storage capacity as well as its related feature(s). The language can be termed as a perfect amalgamation between the traditional cookies and the database used by the clients. This helps in storing data over multiple windows. This in turn helps in better performance as well as security even after a browser is not in use. This understandably, also goes a long way when it comes to data safety and security.

 

OfflineApplication: Thanks to the offline application cache that the language comes up with, users have the option of using & accessing various applications even when they do not have their networks connected and working.

 

Help in Mobile gaming: No modern mobile comes without the option of high end gaming. The language gives the option of developing games with the help of <canvas> tag. This makes the games and the related applications more user-friendly as well as compatible to the modern mobiles, thereby making these devices extremely popular to the modern users. Naturally, this contributes to the betterment of the market of these devices.

 

HTML5 – set to bring in a revolution in web development: All the above-mentioned features along with a lot of others ostensibly make the language surely the one that will bring a revolution in the world of website development.

 

If one takes into account all these features not to mention the ones that are not discussed as well as the usability or acceptance of the language amongst the developers, one should not think twice before drawing this conclusion that the language is all set to bring in a revolution in the realm of web site development and programming. 

 

With a constant R&D already under way, this can well be stated that this language is a trend setter in taking web development to an altogether new height. You can hire HTML5 programmers from top Web development companies who can help you build html5 web apps within allocated budgets and time schedules.

 

We provide HTML5 web development services. If you would like to know more about the expertise of our certified HTML5 developers, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

ASP.Net Shopping Cart – Effectual option for e-Commerce Sites

02/01/2014 16:01

asp.net web developmentMost companies as well as individuals now bank on ASP.NET, especially if they have ecommerce outlets online. Thanks to Microsoft, it helps pages with dynamism and high end activity like never before. Thus it is imperative to have active server pages as an integral part of .Net. Sources also say that it is an important tool for those who indulge in development tactics too. With ASP, it is easy for them to come out with pages as well as websites, full and thriving, using web based apps on a large scale. This is why it is so advantageous to think of this platform of shopping cart as an effectual option for e-commerce sites.

 

ASP is a hit because…..

Popularly known as a software device, ASP helps clients browse items on a list at online e-stores. Clients can then choose items which they would like to buy. In this day, every reputed online store uses ASP carts since it brings in the money along with playing an important role in the success story of the venture online. Businessmen thus find it useful having such effective tools to use, so that they can provide their clients with the best experience whilst shopping online. The market is flooded with varied types of shopping carts, however, ASP shopping carts are the best amongst them all to use, since it is user-friendly as well as reliable.

 

Talking about shopping carts being user-friendly or reliable, one must also understand that clients now have easy access paved for them towards the page which helps with billing using the ASP tool. Payments are dealt with efficiently as well as securely at this stage. The cart also allows for plenty of flexibility, where customers can add, edit or even delete any of the items they have put into the cart, all prior to the main billing being done. In addition to that, client’s details or information would be auto saved in the database for future use. 

 

Customers shop online because they get to save a lot of energy as well as money. Plus the choices are a plenty to choose from, home delivery, cash on delivery etc., all of which makes online shopping a hit. With the right use of e-commerce solutions such as ASP shopping carts in place, why would a customer then think of visiting brick- mortar outlets, when they can save themselves from traffic as well as money wastage using online shopping methods?

 

Build your site using ASP

Business owners online should know it is important to be a pro at building their e-commerce sites online. The site needs to be customer friendly along with options that would make the customer feel happy, wanted, at home too. The site should also express the feeling of safety as well as security, this is why using ASP shopping carts online would be the best thing to do, say experts. It has plenty of security features, and that’s what all customers are happy about.

 

With such shopping carts in place, page submissions, data entry and more happen sooner, as well as with more efficiency. High performance delivered and with utmost security as well in place, ASP thus takes the cake which is unmatched and superior by nature.

 

With the help of the right ASP.NET code being used, business owners now have the best options given to them for e-commerce outlets they run online. There are reputed ecommerce consultants who would be able to give you statistics and in-depth reports on how other competitors around have used ASP shopping carts and have made it big. Speak to service providers and vendors around, ask them for quotes, portfolios and statistics, and then make a decision for the same. Let them know the blueprint of the ecommerce site you have in mind, so that they can exceed your expectations when it comes to delivering the output. ASP.NET allows for customisations as well, hence your business design for the website or ecommerce you run online wouldn’t be hampered.

 

With ASP.Net shopping cart solutions, the best only is in store for the e-commerce venture you run online. What you would have is a site that looks great, functions efficiently and with pages that are dynamic and those that can be updated instantly and easily too. You can hire developers from top ASP.Net web development companies in India who can help you build web apps within allocated budgets and time schedules.

 

We provide .net application development services. If you want to hire .net developers for your projects, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

Is massive parallel regression testing for embedded software a dream or reality?

19/12/2013 15:50

QA testing servicesSoftware product line technology is an approach to render cost effectively tailored products to customers as well as markets, utilizing common services or components in a planned manner. Over the past few decades, product lines have been applied to recently introduced software engineering field. For software evaluation, productivity gains are generally related to the development process. In particular, regression testing experiences challenges in the large number of variants or versions of software products that originate from a software product line and are to be tested while facing the risk for redundant testing. Companies propose a visualization approach for helping test managers in improving communication about testing to efficiently utilize test resources.

What is Regression Testing?

It is the method of testing changes to computer programs and it is intended to make sure that still the older programming works with these new changes. In larger companies, regression testing is a common concern of the program development process and it is done by code testing experts. Code test scenarios as well as exercises are developed by test department coders as these are meant to test new code units after these have been written. Such test cases form the test bucket. Before a new software product version is released, to ensure that all the old capacities still work the old test cases are run against the new version. They might not work and it can be due to adding or changing new code to a program. Moreover, errors may arise within the code.

Purpose of Parallel Regression Testing for Embedded Software

The purpose of automation testing is to find unexpected faults and especially those which occur because the developer could not understand fully the correlations of the internal code while extending or modifying code. Every time the code is used or modified in a new environment, regression tests should be applied in order to check the integrity of the code. Ideally, this process is performed nightly (at the time of automated builds) for ensuring that errors are detected or fixed at the earliest.

This regression testing should be closely linked to functional development, and are to be built from the successful test cases used or developed in functional analysis. The test cases, that verified an application's functionality or behavior are then rerun on a regular basis as parallel tests, hence they become the means for verifying that the application keeps working correctly as the new code is being added. During such tests, specified test cases are run and latest results are compared to previously-recorded results. You will be alerted to any sort of discrepancies between control responses and current responses. Subsequent software test runs to remind you of variances until the application returns the expected outcome.

Regression Testing Policies

Software development companies with effective regression tests policies significantly improve the efficiencies of their software development specialists along with the success rate of their projects. Early determination of problems that code modifications introduce, has the ability to save countless hours spent resolving or chasing software errors and thus allowing the team to modify as well as maintain the application without the fear of breaking previously-correct functionality.

An efficacious regression testing for software product line involves the guideline definition for regression system usage, and then the implementation and integration of those guidance in addition to supporting configurations and technologies into your software application testing life-cycle in order to ensure that your team applies the policy regularly or consistently. It requires means to measure as well as monitor the data along with application of the policy it is tracking. Inconsistent utilization may cause new errors getting introduced or existing errors going undetected because of unchecked changes to the code over time.

We provide QA testing services. If you want to hire software testers for your testing needs, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

Windows Azure OS update: Guest OS Family 4 now available

05/12/2013 14:14

.net developmentWindows Azure is a platform for internet scale computing and services and it is hosted in the Microsoft data centers. This includes various features including corresponding developer services that can be used together or individually. This flexible as well as open cloud platform enables you to quickly deploy, build or manage applications throughout the global network of data centers managed by Microsoft. You can easily build applications using any tool, language or framework. Hence, now with latest updates, integrating your public cloud application with the existing IT environment becomes easier.

 

Advantages of Windows Azure Cloud Services

  • Windows Azure provides an on-demand infrastructure which adapts and scales to your ever-changing business needs. Whether it is about running existing applications or creating new applications, it offers best-in-class price performance with end-to-end support.

  • Windows Azure Cloud Services (Worker or Web Platform/Roles as a Service), help developers easily deploy or manage application services to delegate the manage underlying Software System and Role Instances to the Windows Azure Platform.

 

Guest OS Versions: Future, Present and Transitional

  • This area lists the presently supported Guest OS versions. Guest OS versions as well as families with an official expiry date are reasoned "in transition". These are still backed up until the expiration date gets recorded in the table. The authorized expiration date is when any version will be removed from a system. If Cloud Services still run on any version when it expires, the same will be instantly stopped or deleted. It can also be force upgraded to a newer version counting on the support status as well as different other policies.

  • Guest OS family 4 has substantial compatibility with Windows-Server 2012 R2. This version also supports the .NET Structure 4.0, 4.5 as well as 4.5.1.

  • The family 3 is substantially congenial with Windows-Server 2012 and hence it supports the .NET Framework 4.5 as well as 4.0.

  • Guest OS family 2 is considerably congenial with Windows-Server 2008 R2 SP1. It supports the 3.5 and 4.0 .NET Framework.

  • The family 1 is considerably compatible with Windows-Server 2008 SP2. It supports the 3.5 and 4.0 .NET Framework but does not support 4.5 or later version.

 

Technical Facts about Guest OS Family

The Guest OS version refers to a fundamental Windows Server Operating System version which is applied in Windows Azure Cloud Services. This family is based on released Microsoft Windows versions. These are the underlying operating system which Cloud Services run on. Each Operating System contains a version, family and release. This family often refers to a Windows OS release which a Guest operating system is based on. For instance, family 3 is based on Windows Server 2012.

 

This version is a family system software image along with particular MSRC (Microsoft Security Response Center) patches available just after the new version is produced. All patches may not be included. A number starts at 0 while incrementing by 1 every time latest updates are added. If necessary, trailing zeros are only displayed. The 2.10 version is different and much later version as compared to version 2.1.

 

A "Guest Operating System release" always includes at least the same base image along with a set of MSRC patches as earlier releases. In some cases, one or two additional patches may be added. The latest release always supersedes any previous releases. A re-release often occurs if issues that crop up during testing necessitate it. The current release is meant to supersede any previous releases. It always testifies to the fact that if release 3 is out, you being a customer will not be able to choose release 1 or 2 of the same operating system version.

 

You can hire developers from top ASP.Net web development companies in India who can help you build web apps within allocated budgets and time schedules.

 

We provide .Net development services. If you would like to speak to one of our expert ASP.NET developers, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

Visual Studio 2013 is released- whats new in it?

29/11/2013 14:40

.net web development

The launch of the recent version of VS 2013 is aimed for developers. The version has many improvements in user interface and a whole lot of smarter tools which make the using of this software a pleasure. Visual Studio Online has been launched as well which has development services that run on Windows Azure and focus on support for Azure, agile team collaboration and Application Lifecycle Management.

 

CodeMap- Visual Debugging- During debugging sessions in Visual, there is an option known as Code Map which is found in debug toolbar. When you click this in Debug mode a window will open showing the execution flow's visual representation. This window can be called Visual Call Stack, showing invoked method sequences. This debug toll will help out in the better visualization of code structure and the debugging pace will speed up as well. Existing codes can be grasped easily by newcomers as well. Other things that can be done are adding comments, grouping items, highlighting references to method box, changing colors of method boxes, etc.

 

Roaming settings- This is a cant-miss feature as during the launch of the studio you will be prompted to sign-in with live.com, hotmail.com or any other Microsoft account. After signing in your settings will be synced with the Microsoft account. When using the studio on some other computer, using that account for signing in will lead you to find the very same settings that you had applied. So, there is no need to waste time in configuration if you are using different computers.

 

Browser link- Close to Start command there is an icon which hosts a brand new feature known as Browser Link which provides you with two-way links between your browsers and Visual Studio. The basic functionality is allowing the refreshing of browser window running the web application within the studio.

 

UI Icons- Contrary to the previous versions which used blacks and whites mostly, the new version is lot more colorful. Some icons have been replaced with colorful icons.

 

Notifications and feedback- Feedback related to the product can now be easily given to Microsoft just by using a simple flag-like icon. The area beside the icon shows things like notifications related to product updates, etc. when you click the icon a separate pane will open which contains all the notifications in a list.

 

CodeLens- Information from Team Foundation Server 2013 and project metadata is used by CodeLens for placing of decorators on each information showing methods the code has. You will be able to get all sorts of data and information and you can even jump quickly into data like referenced codefile or last person to have worked on the code, etc by just clicking on it.

 

Peek Definition- The Peek definition feature is a new one that makes the entire coding experience in the studio an enhanced one. It enables developers to edit and view code definitions that are there in other files- all this without any lose of context. Developers can have an option to view inline the file that defines the target symbol as part of current document.

 

Agile Portfolio management- Visual Studio gives a team the option of managing work in portfolio backlog providing insights into projects that are spread across several other agile teams with the help of this feature.

 

Kanban board- Development teams can now take advantage of Kanban board for tasks related to planning, tracking of a project's flow and managing of tasks. Insight into various tasks' flow is provided by the iteration board which are related to bugs and product backlog items.

 

The newly released version of Visual Studio 2013 is packed with features which has marked the start of a new era of Visual Studio. You can hire developers from top ASP.NET web development companies in India who can help you build web applications within allocated budgets and time schedules.

 

We provide .Net development services. If you want to hire dot net programmers for your projects, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

Top Things Web Developers should Know about the Visual Studio 2013 Release

28/11/2013 14:32

.net web developmentWith Microsoft releasing the Visual Studio 2013, there is a lot of speculation among the developers regarding the usage of the new features that come with this highly integrated development platform. Now, the integrated development environment, by virtue of several of its features such as that of CodeLens and so on, promises higher level of productivity and more efficient way of work. Having said that, the developers must learn about the most important things about this integrated development environment in order to be able to make the most out of it. Here is a quick overview of the top things the developers must know regarding the release of the VS 2013.

  • Though a basic aspect, many are unaware of the fact that the VS 2013 is actually available for download on both the MSDN subscriber as well as the respective site.

  • VS 2013 is integrated with the newest version of the ASP.NET, which further includes SignalR 2.0, ASP.NET MVC 5, Razor 3, Entity Framework 6 along with the ASP.NET Web API 2.

  • This latest version of the integrated development environment works as a perfect editor for all kinds of web files such as CSS, HTML, JavaScript, LESS, Markdown, Handlebars, Angular, Knockdown and so on.

  • The VS 2013 is also incorporated with a brand new identity system, new templates that are based on Bootstrap and a new scaffolding system. Developers must be aware about these core features in order to exploit the platform in the most desirable manner.

  • The 2013 version installs simultaneously with that of the 2012 version and hence, facilitates easy round- tripping between the VS versions. Thus, developers are not required to commit to a switch for the purpose.

  • The recent releases of ASP.NET put utmost focus upon One ASP.NET and this ensures that the web tools along with the core features work in very much the same manner across the various platforms.

While the above- mentioned points are certainly on top of the list of the most important things developers must know about the Visual Studio 2013, there are other features that are worth taking note of.

The VS 2013 has work item charting facility that enables developers to form charts rather quickly while also visualizing the data from the work item queries. In fact, various charts can be created such as that of the tasks, bugs and user stories from the work item queries.

Quite similarly, creation as well as management of the modern business applications becomes quite hassle- free with the newest version of the integrated environment. These applications extend the Office 365 experience and help people interact better with the artifacts, business processes and other systems.

Last but certainly not the least, the new version has a security feature called the ASP.NET Identity. This Identity system comes across as the new membership system for the different types of applications. The primary features of the identity system, some of which are mentioned below, are also important points to be considered by the developers all over:

  • Social Login Providers

  • Easy control over data storage

  • Easy control of user and profile schemas

  • Support for claims-based authentication

  • Testability

Alongside the already mentioned features and characteristics of the Visual Studio 2013, there are many things that the developers are expected to know when it comes to exploiting this platform. The newest version of this integrated development environment is meant to be of several benefits though these advantages can be derived only by ensuring the perfect use of the same. Keeping track of the way the features work and then handling them is of immense necessity for the developers in this regard. You can hire developers from top ASP.NET web development companies in India who can help you build web applications within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide .Net development services. If you want to hire dot net programmers for your projects, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

Why is Microsoft developing web apps?

20/11/2013 14:12

ASP.NET application developmentThe experience of using Microsoft Office can now be extended to your web browser with the use of Microsoft Office Web Apps which will enable you to work with your documents right on the document-storing website. These can be used personally in SkyDrive, on SharePoint sites by organizations installing and configuring the apps and they can also be used by businesses and professionals who have subscribed and selected the services of Office 365. Almost all widely used browsers support them.

Documents presenting information through collection of thoughts can be created by Microsoft Office and these documents are generally stored on computers or servers or removable storage device. But you can now store those documents in a new way so that viewing and editing them can be easily done in the browser with the help of these apps. This is in a way, almost as functional as Google Docs and according to analysts it is indeed aimed for countering the Docs in short term. However, there have been no clear long-term indications on the strategy for these apps.

It must be remembered that real-time collaboration made Docs popular and Office did not possess that feature. It is only recently that Microsoft has started to roll out enhancements to these apps which included collaborative real-time document editing. Before this you edit documents but the changes had to be saved first before they could be seen by others. With the introduction, Microsoft has to maintain a fine line between offering too much functionality and not offering enough so that it can compete well with Google.

The Web Apps are free of charges but Office 365 which is a subscription-based software service also include them. This collaboration acts as a defense against defections of customers to Google Apps which are mainly used for business purposes at $50 per year per user. On the other hand Office Web Apps and Office 365 plans cost around $60 annually for small businesses and $96 annually for larger firms. However, except as a counter for the Docs the main purpose behind the introduction is debatable as little has been done on the promotional front during its initial phases. In fact, few people knew about its existence.

It has been implied by officials of Microsoft that it has intentions of using the Web Apps eventually as substitute for Office. However, this implication is not feasible according to most experts as Office is an extremely powerful tool which acts as a pillar of a profitable business, a franchisee that generates a core revenue involving many other products as well. So the apps will no doubt be important but it will be better if they remained as complements to Office. According to some this step is to add more value, power and relevance to SharePoint. Others however argue that this step is to maintain the relevance of Office, especially for those consumers who have not installed Office. Those consumers may be prompted by browser-based programs to look for some more storage space which is sold by Microsoft as SkyDrive. This addition adds value to SkyDrive with some perhaps even becoming paid customers of it.

However, despite the many functions of these apps there are some problems associated with them which should be rectified. Word Web app should have auto-save feature ad not document-recovery feature. The connection problems should be fixed as well; there are times when the documents cannot be saved or during typing you find a problem with the spell-checker. There are a few other minor problems which when fixed will truly make the user-experience a memorable one and make them at par with Google Docs which seems to be the main competition.

You can hire developers from top ASP.NET application development companies in India who can help you build web apps within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide ASP.NET web development services. If you would like to speak to one of our expert ASP.NET developers, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

Movin’ On Up – A SharePoint 2013 Migration Case Study Collections

10/11/2013 12:57

SharePoint developmentMore and more companies are migrating to SharePoint 2013 to avail a set of advanced features. Microsoft has also made it easier for enterprises to migrate to the latest version of the content management system without putting any extra effort. It also offers several strategies to make it easier for companies to migrate to SharePoint 2013, including in-place upgrade, database attach, and hybrid approaches. However, many companies are still skeptical about the effectiveness of the new technology. If you are still not sure about migrating to the latest version of SharePoint, it is time to know about some of the companies who availed many benefits by migrating to the new platform.

 

Case Study I : Most enterprises find it a daunting challenge to access and manage content and information stores in many databases. Further, the amount of data will vary according to the size and nature of business. Similar problem was being faced by a Paris-based company managing popular civil air ports. The organization was struggling to optimize its existing content management system by aggregating and optimizing 2 TB of data stores in over 70 databases.

 

At the same time, the company was also looking for efficient options to make the data searchable for all its employees and clients. As the organization was already using SharePoint 2010, it decided to migrate to the latest version of the platform to avail advanced search features. The tech lead of the migration project mentioned that the migration process was fast and smooth due to the SharePoint 2013 Community Site.

 

Case Study II : Most companies also look for more cost-efficient ways to store, manage and access the data stored across different databases. Further, an organization uses several databases to store information based on their category. An UK based company recently evaluated the advanced content management system to consolidate its data stored on over 80 databases into a single repository.

 

The single repository will make the information accessible to employees, vendors and clients without increasing operational expenses. The management opts for SharePoint 2013 to consolidate data along with sharing the data collaboratively. The organization has to still invest some additional funds to migrate to SharePoint 2013. But the investment made it easier for the organizations to deploy a series of SharePoint portals to make the data accessible to all concerned parties.

 

Case Study III : A constant increase is noted in the number of organizations adopting Cloud computing. The innovative and new way to store, manage and access data is also popular due to its effectiveness in making the content accessible to users on the go. But most companies find it difficult to transfer the huge volume of data available for public consumption into Cloud environment.

 

Recently, a popular car manufacturer migrated to SharePoint 2013 to make the huge volume of information and content available in Cloud environment. In addition to making the data accessible to concerned parties, SharePoint 2013 further made it easier for the company to administer and maintain the data without deploying dedicated IT staff. Further, the migration enabled it to customize its portal by targeting all types of users without putting any extra effort and funds.

 

Case Study IV : The rapid expansion of a business also makes it essential for it to migrate to an advanced content management system. A large financial corporation based in Virginia realized the problem when it started providing services to clients located in other regions. As the company was formed with the intention of providing local banking services to the Virginia community, initially it did not feel the need for an advanced content management system.

 

But consistent growth made it a daunting task for the organization to choose an information system that complements its extended operations and needs. The financial organization opted for SharePoint 2013 after evaluating several technologies and solutions. The latest version of SharePoint made it easier for the company to build a social intranet solution to meet its diverse needs. Also, the SharePoint training provided to its employees ensured that its core business is carried out more efficiently.

 

As SharePoint 2013 can be used for a number of purposes, a business can always customize the platform according to its specific needs. Microsoft further allows enterprises to pick from a number of SharePoint site migration options according to its specific needs and budget.

 

We provide SharePoint development services. If you would like to speak to one of our certified SharePoint developers, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

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