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Chatbots start to represent the next generation of web services for the modern Internet environment. Chatbots interact with real users, simulating (or should we say emulating?) real people. The code behind a chatbot is complex, and based on AI-related technology. This code allows a chatbot to intelligently interact with a multitude of users via a specific chat voice or text enabled platform, behaving in a human-like way. Technology is advancing fast, and even applications in which two chatbots can communicate with each other emerge.

One of the best things about chatbots is that they can be integrated with virtually any chat system or website, as long as they are designed and programmed accordingly. Important social networking platforms, companies and portals have already embraced the chatbot system. Although the technology is rather incipient, the results are outstanding and users interacting with chatbots show a growing interest in this kind of service.

More precisely, one of the usual chatbot applications is to guide visitors of a particular site or portal throughout its content. They can provide answers and solutions to questions like what product or service best suits a person based on certain requirements. Another useful job a chatbot can accomplish is to make the browsing experience more intuitive and enhance the user’s experience or provide selective advice. Chatbots can also collect data based on user preferences for future website improvements. Chatbot applications cover a wide range services, from sports and weather to complex industry sectors like banking and finance.

As said, chatbots behave in a human-like way, based two distinct technologies: pre-programmed sets of rules and machine learning. Machine learning is an advanced tech, using dynamic AI systems. Chatbots based on this tech are intuitive and can understand language (spoken or written). Since they can “learn” certain user patterns from conversations, they develop new “skills” and can adapt to various situations and resolve particular tasks on the fly, therefore can be integrated with almost any type of website across all popular operating systems, like Windows, Android, iOS and more. Moreover, the code behind chatbots is flexible and can be integrated with the majority of content management systems: Drupal, Joomla, WordPress and others.

These chatbots, based on machine learning technology, are a new niche in today’s Internet environment, but store infinite potential in terms of technology and productivity and definitely represent the future of human-computer interaction.

With the rapid rise of online shops and stores in the internet environment, it was only a matter of time before the market became saturated with all sorts of eCommerce platforms, more or less reliable, created to enhance the experience of users and owners alike.

However, only a few such platforms are indeed ready to meet modern security and usability demands. As a matter of fact, WooCommerce, Magento and Shopify dominate the industry, accounting together for around 70% of the market share. Statistics show that Shopify registered a significant growth in the market share in 2016, while Magento and WooCommerce registered a slight decline. A closer look at the pros and cons of these three platforms will showcase the market’s fluctuation.

Shopify is more than a simple eCommerce software bundle. It is an all-in-one turn-key solution for starting and managing online commerce business generic lexapro. It can be used out of the box, or customized according to specific needs. Shopify is suited for businesses of all sizes, as it is very cost-effective and easy to manage, granting users total control over all buy and sell options.

Pros:

• Enhanced security
• Enhanced speed
• Easily integrates with various CMS platforms like Drupal, Joomla and more
• Various theme options
• Easily integrates with most payment gateways
• Provides physical and digital goods inventory management
• Intuitive inventory import and export options
• SEO friendly
• Intuitive administration panel
• Easily integrates with third party services (email services, site metrics and more)
• Offers mobile-ready commerce out of the box
• Analytics support
• Social media integration

Cons:

• Special customization requires development and coding skills
• Built-in blogging feature is not very well polished
• Initial setup can require a bit of tech knowledge
• Shopify integrated payment system works for a limited number of countries (US, Canada, Australia and UK), but this does not apply to the other payment options
• The Lite plan does not offer very rich online store features

Magento represents a suite of eCommerce platforms, solutions, and CMS software that can be used individually or as a bundle. It can be considered a CMS only to a certain extent, although not as widely used as Drupal, WordPress and Joomla, as it has a specific target audience. Written in PHP, it is strongly focused on e-commerce and used by retailers and online shops.

Pros:

• E-Commerce ready solutions
• Support for multiple stores, carts, languages and currencies
• Good SEO options
• Shipping and tax calculation options
• Flexible template options
• Easy administration panel management
• Easy product creation

Cons:

• Slower loading speeds
• Needs extra customization out of the box
• Paid Enterprise and Premium Enterprise versions
• Potential server hosting issues due to size and loading speed
• Rather difficult development work to enable specific features and options
• Potential update issues
• No default omni-channel option

WooCommerce is a customizable platform designed in form of a plugin. It is the most widely used solution mainly because it is free and it integrates seamlessly with WordPress based sites. WooCommerce offers various extensions and themes specifically built for WP, but it does not work with sites powered by other content management systems.

Pros:

• Free
• Flexible product configuration options
• Integrates perfectly with WordPress
• Various payment options
• Provides good control over taxes, inventory and user accounts
• User review and rating system
• Lots of themes available
• Great option for basic stores

Cons:

• Does not work outside of the WordPress framework
• Custom functionalities coding is costly
• Maintenance and security depend on the site/store administrator/owner
• Compatibility issues when updating site/plugin
• Visual editor is not extremely efficient
• Premium themes and extensions are costly
• No hosting options

Taking into consideration these facts, we believe Shopify to be the most balanced eCommerce solution in terms of scalability and cost efficiency. As WooCommerce is exclusively built for WordPress and Magento offers more expensive business plans, there’s no wonder that Shopify has gained consistent percentages in market share in 2016.

Today’s content management systems are built to adapt to various industry needs and provide the developer and end user with lots of tools for creating and managing websites and web apps. There’s a wide array of content management systems available on the market, but only a handful of them are widely used and extremely popular.

Drupal, WordPress and Joomla alone power more than 70% of all websites across the globe, from simple, personal websites, to enterprise portals, advanced apps and more. Each of these CMSs have pros and cons, based on their scalability, cost efficiency, ease of use and other features. Let’s take a look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of using them, from both the point of view of the developer and of the end user.

Drupal is by far the most versatile CMS when it comes to building complex websites and apps, with lots of custom features. It is extremely scalable and extensible, perfect for corporate websites, intranet solutions, e-commerce sites, NGO websites, mobile apps and more.

Pros:

• Various APIs and third party service integration available out of the box
• Powerful multilingual and translation options
• Intuitive content and user database management system
• Mobile-ready
• Enhanced security and regular updates available
• Modern UI and UX
• Developer-friendly engine
• Feature rich and powerful publishing system
• Content revision system useful for rollback
• Open-source
• SEO-friendly

Cons:

• Requires good server system resources
• Requires good development techniques for optimal customization and configuration
• Some scripts can take longer time to load if not tweaked properly
• Compatibility with older and obsolete systems (hosting server versions, browser versions) requires extra development

WorDpress is the most popular CMS to date, mainly because it is very easy to use thanks to its friendly, blog-like interface. However, WordPress is basically suited for simpler applications, which do not require advanced features, like personal and presentation websites with less content.

Pros:

• Lots of themes available
• Simple publishing and editing system
• Does not require advanced development skills to manage content
• Fast market entry for SMBs and other entities that don’t need a strong online presence
• SEO-friendly
• Mobile-friendly
• Integrated blogging platform

Cons:

• Paid extra features (additional storage space and more complex features)
• Most WordPress sites look the same, with minor differences
• Not enough flexibility to implement specific features
• Compatibility and security issues with several plugins
• Requires numerous updates to prevent security issues

Joomla is another popular CMS. It packs more options in terms of scalability compared to WordPress, but it is still less feature-rich compared to Drupal see it here. Joomla is built on a model–view–controller web app for better flexibility and usability.

Pros:

• Open-source
• E-Commerce oriented
• Flexible in terms of content and structure
• Simple administration interface
• Does not require advanced development knowledge to configure

Cons:

• Limited number of modules and templates available, which equals less possible customization options
• Requires extra server resources
• Paid plugins for extra options
• Plugin compatibility issues
• Limited options in terms of feature development

Wix, Weebly, Webs and others can be considered content management systems only to a certain extent. Wix, Weebly, Webs and other similar solutions (Jimdo, Squarespace) are in fact website building platforms, designed like web based CMS, with ease of use in mind. All of these platforms share virtually common strengths and weaknesses and are targeted towards non-tech savvy users, as they do not require any coding skills or much training to work. These platforms are mostly used for building personal websites, SMB websites or even small online shops, but are not suited for complex solutions.

Pros:

• Out of the box features
• Easy to use drag and drop web-based admin interface
• Fair SEO options
• No technical skills required to set up or work with
• Fair amount of templates available
• Possible integration with third party services

Cons:

• Lack of flexibility in terms of custom features
• Paid subscription plans for extra features
• Ads included with free plans
• Limited template customization and configuration options
• No real control over databases and server configuration
• No extensibility

Drupal remains the top choice for building complex and powerful, yet user-friendly websites and apps, as it is highly scalable and offers a comprehensive set of tools and features for both developers and end-users. It is designed to offer flawless digital experiences across all industries. However, WordPress, Joomla, Magento and web based platforms all have their advantages. The key aspect to consider when building a website remains its purpose and array of functionalities. Defining the end goal is decisive.

Engineered to deliver the best digital experience on the web, Drupal 8, the latest installment of the most widely used and popular CMS to date, comes as a complete set of tools, ready for developers and end users alike.

Drupal 8 packs more than 200 new features and upgrades, guaranteed to boost web development and user experience to new levels. It is an all-round and flexible solution for s successful web presence in the modern internet environment.
Let’s take a look at a few features that make Drupal 8 extremely appealing for developers and users, laying cool and exciting technologies at their fingertips and easing up their work.

Drupal 8 comes equipped with the CKEditor, one of the most versatile text editors available today. No separate modules or libraries need to be installed, no additional coding is required. The CKEditor is also intuitive and easy to use, so it’s perfect for seasoned, as well as les experienced authors and publishers. Complementary, you can edit content right on the front-end if you are logged in.

Responsiveness is built into the core and Drupal 8 is mobile ready. This means significantly less development time for styling images, blocks, menus and other items. The site pages, including media, input fields, interactive items and other features are automatically scaled and adapted to match any screen resolution and display size.

Drupal 8’s multilingual capabilities are vastly extended. More than 200 languages are available and that’s not all. It has 4 key modules built into the core, which allow you translate virtually any piece of content and feature once activated. This feature is perfect for multinational enterprise and corporate websites with multiple admins speaking various languages. The admin interface is also multi-lingual.

A new theme engine, Twig, provides exquisite styling. Twig is based on PHP and highly flexible. Part of the Symfony2 framework, Twig replaces PHPTemplate as the default templating engine, to ensure optimal performance is terms of style and visual appearance through several handy functions. Compared to other engines of this kind, Twig is less complex, but more powerful and ensures better style and functionality for websites and web apps.

A very important aspect is that Drupal 8 complies with the latest web industry standards. It uses top notch PHP 7 standards like PSR-4, namespaces, and traits plus widely used external libraries like Guzzle, Zend Feed Component, Composer, PHPUnit and others. It is also aligned with HTML5, the fifth and current version of the HTML standard for websites.

We could talk time about the numerous features that make Drupal 8 a secure, reliable and viable CMS for all industry sectors and all purposes for a long time but we encourage you to try it. You will love it for sure.

We are proud to announce the launch of YouthREX new research and evaluation platform, ‘the eXchange’. This is a complex site that aggregates and highlights research and evaluation resource and tools in support of all youth sector stakeholders, acting as an extension of YoutREX purposes.

Together with the YouthREX team, VerticalWave Solutions designers and developers created the eXchange platform from the ground up, implementing all the necessary functionalities and tools required by a modern, interactive hub click to read more.

The site features a responsive design and it’s packed with lively visuals like dynamic featured content, interactive tools and media embedding. It hosts a well structured and extensive library, which provides accurate and easy accessible data for users, as well as intuitive browsing.

Moreover, advanced filtering capabilities allow users refine their search based on custom input. A secure back-end management system allows administrators to handle users and resources quickly and precisely.

A custom publishing feature ensures that all the relevant content is available almost instantly, while the blog section lists the latest news and updates. All of these features are powered by the Drupal CMS.

VerticalWave Solutions provides ongoing support and maintenance for the platform and actively adds new functionalities, according to YouthREX requirements.

Shopify is the all-in-one solution designed to make e-commerce better for everyone, from merchants to customers. One of the most versatile features of Shopify is that it can be easily used in online environment, as well as in real retail locations lexapro 5mg. Shopify software is on the market for more than a decade and has been successfully implemented over a wide range of platforms. A huge number of retails stores and e-commerce portals use it to offer innovative and secure ways to sell and buy worldwide.

Some of Shopify’s powerful features include:

• Mobile commerce ready
• Secure shopping cart using 256-bit SSL certificate
• Compatibility with external payment gateways (70 gateways, including PayPal, Bitcoin and other popular ones)
• Shop integration with credit card payment: MasterCard, Discover, American Express and Visa
• Tax calculation based on client location
• Advanced store management, including customer profiles, refunds, dropshipping and more
• Advanced product management, including inventory management, import and export features, product variations, tracking and more
• Easy to use Marketing, Analytics and SEO options

VerticalWave Solutions experts have extensive experience in integrating Shopify with the Drupal CMS to create powerful and secure e-commerce and online store platforms. From setting up a store and organizing products and payments to enhanced customer experience, we offer complete, custom-tailored Shopify e-commerce solutions, fit for the modern market. We provide turn-key integration with all the necessary features to ensure a reliable, secure and robust functionality for your platform whether you want to build it from the scratch up or it’s already set up and needs tweaking.

VerticalWave Solutions is a Certified Shopify Partner with more than 8 years of experience developing e-commerce solutions.

According to Drupal.org, the Drupal 6 platform will no longer be supported by the community, starting with the 24th of February 2016. Drupal 6 has proven to be a versatile CMS, but it has reached its end of life, as the technology around it tends to become obsolete in the modern web environment.

New official projects, documentation, bug fixes or updates will no longer be available and no core commits on Drupal 6.x to the official tree will be performed. At the same time, the security team will no longer provide any support and Drupal 6 releases on project pages will be flagged as not supported.

This means that is high time for Drupal 6 website owners (personal, corporate or government) to consider updating to the modern Drupal 7 and Drupal 8 platforms. This update will ensure full security support for their sites, as well as access to top tier web technology in terms of design and functionality.

A few vendors have announced that they will provide paid support for the older Drupal 6 sites beyond the 24th of February, but this is in fact a costly, temporary alternative. The best solution remains to migrate from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7 or Drupal 8.

The Vertical Wave Solutions team is proud to announce the launch of C.D. Howe Institute’s new website. With the mission to raise living standards by fostering economically sound public policies, the C.D. Howe Institute is a prestigious, independent not-for-profit research organization, considered by many to be Canada’s most influential think tank.

According to the Institute’s requirements, our VerticalWave Solutions team migrated the original website content from an old platform to Drupal CMS, created a fresh and modern look for the new website, as well as improved the administration and content management procedures for the client. The challenge was to create a new, visually appealing website, rich in features and easy to manage, while staying true to CD Howe Institute’s brand and substance. Our team successfully delivered a website that met all these principles.

The new website features a modern, responsive design, which renders perfectly on desktops, laptops and mobile devices, boasting a user friendly front end interface which makes browsing simple and intuitive, and provides fast access to content. The C.D Howe Institute website now integrates complex features like subscription system, advanced search, structured library, event management platform, third party service integration, dynamic featured content and more.

Backed up by a user-oriented and easy to use back-end administration system, as well as by an organized structure, the site can be easily managed without advanced technical skills. We are proud to have put technology in the right form, right at our client’s finger tips.

VerticalWave Solutions also provides ongoing support and maintenance for C.D. Howe.

Considered the ‘next gen’ of web development, MEAN Stack represents a collection of technologies that merge together perfectly in order to offer a a full-stack JavaScript implementation of web applications. Mean Stack consists of MongoDB, Express, AngularJS, and Node.js, hence the acronym MEAN.

These combined technologies allow for easy, intuitive and efficient development of scalable, user-friendly web applications which offer a new level of performance and reliability for the end user. And the flexibility and ease of use make MEAN Stack a powerful competitor against proven archetypal web service solution stacks such as LAMP. Comprised of Linux operating system, Apache HTTP Server, MySQL and PHP programming language, LAMP is still powerful, but starts losing ground in front of the MEAN newcomer.

And there are a few good reasons why MEAN Stack has the upper hand over LAMP in some particular areas. MongoDB is cloud-ready and offers reliable support and automatic replication over the cluster of servers, compared with MySQL, which might provide a strong relational database, but it’s a bit more restrictive, requiring data to be pushed into tables.

Another advantage of the new MEAN Stack is that Node.js simplifies the server layer. It does the work with some JavaScript and having everything in one layer prevents confusion and minimizes the occurrence of bugs. LAMP features multiple layers of navigation with various configuration files and differing syntax, which all combined can make a developer’s work quite difficult at times. Another advantage of Node.js is that it is faster, which makes it perfect for mobile apps.

AngularJS is another advantage of MEAN Stack. It adds consistency and stability by anointing one client framework, by allowing easy migration of code between content management systems and by allowing the coder work without hassle on the client’s side. LAMP benefits from solid PHP-based frameworks that work with MySQL, but has nothing to offer close to AngularJS.

Part of the developer community considers that LAMP might become obsolete in the near future. It’s not the case yet, as LAMP is still a reliable ‘player’, which has proven its efficiency over the years, but MEAN Stack is definitely a new, innovative, cutting-edge technology package that will most likely conquer the market soon.

Benefitting from a large support community, Drupal is one of the most widely used content management systems today. It is the perfect CMS for personal, corporate or government sites and has multiple uses, from simple presentation websites to custom community or e-commerce platforms. Drupal is intuitive, highly secure, SEO-friendly, mobile-friendly, easy to integrate with existing code and more.

One of the major advantages of using Drupal as your content management system is that it can adapt to virtually any browser and operating system without hassle. It saves you time and money when it comes to render your site’s content on all popular browsers like Internet Explorer, Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Opera and on the widely used Windows, MacOS and Linux OS platforms. It also works perfectly on less known and used browsers and operating systems.

The great thing about Drupal is that it is backwards compatible. That means that it can easily adapt to previous versions of a particular browser or OS. Other CMSs have the same feature too, but their compatibility can be limited and require longer development time to adapt to older OS and browser versions. On the other hand, Drupal offers a perfect browsing experience (both in terms of graphics and functionality) with just minor tweaks.

It is always recommended to use the latest OS and browser version available, but many users ignore this recommendation. The use the systems they are accustomed with their favorite plugins to or are not interesting in upgrading. This is why Drupal comes in handy and helps you reach a wider audience. And remember that Drupal offers a superior and user-friendly browsing experience on mobile devices running Android and iOS too.