GWT Blog – GlobalWorldTech

A web site header is the first thing that visitors see when they visit your website, you can say it is the cover page for your website, and just like any cover page of a magazine it has to look interesting, beautiful and informative.

People usually say that a picture is worth a thousand words and i believe that to be true because a header say a lot about your website in more than a thousand words at first glance and gives your webpage a theme.

People tend to get more attracted by pictures rather than words so if one uses a good website header then visitors will enjoy the experience of visiting your website and will want to come back again.

Website headers can be categorized either by the type of image and graphic effects used or by the size they occupy on the website page. There are six types of website headers based on the type of image used information displayed and visual effects used:

1. Stationery or Static headers

These are headers that display pictures and texts that have no motion i.e. they are not animated. Pictures used are mostly in GIF, JPEG or PNG format. They can be designed using graphic design software like Adobe Photoshop, Gimp and Corel Draw.

They are not that much catching to the eyes, it’s like looking at a television set that displays a single image all day, but if used effectively they can really create a big impression. So one needs to look for a qualified graphics designer who knows how to bring out the best effects on static photos to properly display your information using texts.

2. Animated headers

These type of headers are created using animated pictures and texts. They can be designed using graphic design software like Adobe Photoshop, Corel Draw, Gimp and Adobe Illustrator.

The pictures are then imported to animation creation softwares like adobe fireworks to change them from static to motion headers. Pictures used in these type of headers usually are in the GIF picture format. These are usually fun to watch but animations usually tend to not have smooth transitions.

3. Illustrated characters

These type of website headers employ the use of animated characters to add friendliness to your website since visitor can interact with the characters by playing with them or asking them questions.

4. Flash headers

Flash animated headers are created using graphic design software then the static images can be imported to flash creation software such as adobe flash to be converted to animated text and pictures.

They tend to have a smoother transition and have rich graphics. Flash headers can further be categorised into two based on how the animations start and continue showing:

• Start up animations

These are animations which are displayed immediately after the website header loads and terminate animation after one loop.

• Continuous animations

These are animations that which start animating immediately after the start up animation has stopped. They usually keep on looping until when one leaves the webpage.

5. Portfolio headers

This header can be used to display the works that your company has done by displaying different screenshots of your work either using static images or animated images.

6. Web app headers

Web app headers are used to display screen shots of your company's product and services. They can be very attractive if used properly and one can integrate a call-to-action button that coaxes the user to find out more about the products being offered or end up signing so as to get access to your company's services.

Based on the size they occupy on a web page website headers can also be categorised into the following:

• Fixed size headers

These headers occupy a certain fixed size on your web pages on your visitors browser the choice of size is yours. But it should not be too big until it makes the whole webpage look ugly.

• Extendible size headers

These headers extend their size across the whole webpage irrespective of the screen resolution used by the visitor.
 

In the process of software quality assurance (QA), software testing is one of the key elements without which it cannot be ensured whether a software is compliant to certain standards or not.

Software products are deemed "fit for use" once they have been tested and have acquired a software quality assurance (QA) certificate.

According to the most notable software testing trends of 2012, the software testing industry will look much more different in the future.

Software development has considerably changed as a means of support the changes and transformation occurring in business projects.

Thus, new trends have shown up in the software testing industry such as:

• Service Oriented Architectures (SOA)
• Software as a Service (SaaS)
• Test Driven Development (TDD)
• Web based applications
• Service Oriented Architectures (SOA)

Soft testing trends have momentously changed as a result of Service Oriented Architectures (SOA), which is among the latest software technologies that have recently emerged. Various major conclusions can be drawn from SOA as to how software testing can be designed and performed.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Another entirely different view of software testing is also presented in the form of Software as a Service (SaaS), which has also become a software testing trend. In SaaS, a service provider or a vendor hosts a software application, and customers are able to access the software over a network like the internet.

Thus, software testing has to be carried out accordingly. These two modern complex technologies are among the biggest trends in the software testing industry of today.

Test Driven Development (TDD)

Another latest methodology in software testing that among the most notable current software testing trends is Test Driven Development or TDD. In comparison to conventional software testing methodologies, TDD makes it possible for the software source code to be thoroughly unit-tested, which is the reason it has become so trendy these days.

Testing first software development and refactoring are combined in TDD. Using tools for the improvement of code coverage is among the optimizations to TDD. Since detecting defects in software and fixing them becomes possible with the TDD methodology as soon as software source codes are written, therefore, this method has become very popular.

Web Based Testing

One of the most popular current software testing trends is web testing that focuses on the testing of web-based applications. Web applications these days are being developed at a very rapid pace and web testing seems like a convenient way of dealing with issues in a web-based software system before it becomes available to the public.

Since the integrity of business operations often depends on the web applications that are accessible to a huge audience. Thus, web testing seems like a convenient way of ensuring that a web application is fully functional without any faults.

It is apparent of how the software testing industry is changing and how it might get altered in the coming future. These were some of the most notable recent software testing trends that have not only increased the importance of software testing and quality Assurance but have changed the method of software testing too.
 

During software development a client will give and set condition on how he wants his project to be during project presentation.

So the software designer has to ensure that all the condition the client has given has been met and no errors are detected in it.

The final project should also include all the changes the client made during project development.

So the software developer should be keen on what the client wants else he might be forced to undo what he has developed.

Software testing is where by a software developer:

Validates The Software:

the developer should check the system he developed if it is correct and is it how the client required it to be developed. He should ask himself if "are they building the system right"

Detects Errors:

The reason why developers test the system is to find out if there are any errors in the system and any error detected should be removed. Through error detection, developers will know when something should happen and when they shouldn't.

Verifies The System:

this is whereby the developer test and check the items in the software to find out if the system built is working according to the initial request by the client. The developer should ask themselves if "they are building the right system"

All this testing requirements while building a system are important else developers will end up building the wrong system and the clients will lose confidence in their work.

Therefore the reason why we test software is to be able to verify the system, detect the errors in the system and validate the software so that the problem found in the system should be repaired.

The Best Way To Test Software:

Before submitting the system to the client, the system should have undergone a series of testing. The testing should begin from the beginning of the development. When a developer understands the purpose of the project, it will enable him to understand the testing required.

The system developer should also go through the entire requirement before writing test cases. When they find any ambiguity, they should clarify from the business before doing any assumptions.

When a client come up with other changes or update to the software, it should be changed immediately. The document that has the test case should be able to cover all requirements even if some of those requirements cannot be tested.

These items which cannot be tested should be recorded as non-testable items. The document containing the test case should identify clearly the test case arrangement. The test case should be clearly described by writing down the description.

Even for small project developments, it is good to write down a system plan which may not contain all the details but should contain the most important the scope, the risk, testers etc.

It is advisable not to do your testing manually because manual testing may take a lot of time and even resources and it is very difficult to manage. It is better to do the testing automatically using test tools.

Finally, it's very important after you think you have finished testing the system you should do retesting when the problem has been fixed.

It really is essential to update internet sites often to launch new releases, media, and technology. For this you will need a firm that designs software for for internet businesses.

There are firms that not only offer the service of constructing and maintaining websites but will also offer software improvement, e-commerce options, portable application development, localization, internet marketing solutions and program development.

The coding experts of these businesses are updated with the knowledge of changing modern data technologies. They also take the time to acquire details about the most recent technologies and fads to allow them to give you the finest quality of work.

For a business person, offering internet business services, truly cuts down on the price of business because you get the chance to build brand awareness, increase sales and boost customer loyalty.

Web application development company offer three types of services – Consumer Services, Business Services and Information Services. They are familiar with a number of technologies, like Adobe Photoshop, Macromedia Flash, Macromedia Dreamweaver and Adobe Illustrator and so on.

Data source technologies used include MS SQL, MY SQL and MS Access, while coding specialists use NET, ASP, JAVA, CSS, PHP, HTML, JavaScript and Ajax.

A web application development company offers you a way to communicate with your customers, share videos with their customers and post their reviews.

These have benefited many industrial sectors like the property market, health and wellness, education and learning, entertainment and mass media, consumer banking and financial, legal and web start-ups and many others.

Contact us when you need the right web application development company for your web-based business.

© GWT

There are many ways for brick and mortar businesses to leverage the power of the Internet to get new clients and to keep up with existing ones as well.

Facebook has a stronghold on the business space in social media, at least for now and this has caused a rush of business to FB fan page creators.

The fact is that a paradigm shift is happening right now rather you can see it or not and if you want to jump in before the whole herd moves, now is your chance.

Google Plus is the wave of the future and if your company is an early adopter you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Finding new ways to get local listings and emphasize your existing ranking in Google search should be your number one goal as you move forward with promoting your business on the Internet.

There are hundreds of search engines and hundreds of sites offering local listings, but we suggest you don't waste time majoring on the minors.

The simple fact is that there are more searches and more business done through the Google eco-system than anywhere else on the Internet.

• Google Plus for Business

Why it’s essential for your business should be obvious. The search giant has made a move to take on the social giant and so far they are exploding right out of the gates.

Google Plus has grown larger faster than both Facebook and Twitter. We are talking about exponential growth that will only continue to astonish other social networks for the months and years to come.

If your business is ready to position themselves for success on the web in the future, this is where you need to be spending your time and other resources.

One of the most important features about Google plus is the automatic integration of YouTube, Google Maps and the +1 button. All of these big traffic generating Google services are tied into one when you utilize a Google Plus page as a hub for your business online.

Google has pumped millions and millions of dollars into this project to make sure that there social network is here to stay and there is no reason not to start taking advantage of all that it has to offer today and continue to grow your business using these powerful Google services.

Instant search integration has just recently been implemented as well. If you are not a google user, you may not have noticed the new social search feature on their search engine.

Now, when you search you will see results of web sites, pages and online content that your Google Plus acquaintances have shared, +1’d or commented on. This means that your presence on Google Plus is not an option if you want to dominate Google in its future iterations.

The main layout of the Google Plus network is still in its infancy. However, there is no doubt that it is and will continue to give its users a boost in search rankings and in their local listings on the Google Maps web architecture.

© Global World Tech

Image source

Facebook is the largest social networking website till date with an enormous user base of over 500 million. The development has constructive and over time it has developed into something of a social networking.

Not only it is a splendid place to meet new people, but it also provides a great opportunity to business owners. Developing Facebook applications holds the key to success. Facebook allows developers to develop applications that can be accessed by members, in return endorsing the brand.

If you own a small business and want to venture into developing Facebook applications to boost your revenue, there are a number of things you need to know at the outset.

There are two different platforms offered by Facebook to help you drive traffic: Facebook applications and Facebook connect. You must go through their policy documents to understand which applications are permitted and which aren’t.

Advantages Of Developing Facebook Applications for Businesses

• Get more exposure

With these applications you can get more exposure to your small and medium sized businesses than any other conventional medium.

Facebook is an incredible place to make your business popular and widely known. If your application is directed in right direction and touches the right chord, you will find large numbers of users hooked to your application.

• Interactive

Most Facebook applications are highly interactive. This is the reason for their success. While developing an application you should keep in mind that you app is user-friendly. If your users find it boring, they’ll leave and may never return.

• Cost effective

The unique and cost effective characteristics of social media marketing makes Facebook applications a powerful tool for small businesses to take on large firms.

• Provides several ways to generate revenue

There are CPM revenues available for page views of your application. Subscription model can also be implemented into the application for higher revenues.

You can also earn money by monetizing digital goods that members of an application will pay real money for.

• Provides many options for app developers

Creativity is the only thing which can limit your application. The more creative and inventive you app is, the more famous it’ll become.

All should do is at the initial stage is to examine your competition and competitors, and then you’re prepared for the market. With such a huge user base, it provides a lucrative marking ground for application developers and marketers.

For example, everyone using Facebook is aware of Zynga, which gained a lot of recognition following the popularity of games such as Mafia Wars and FarmVille.

There are few more application developers such as Mensing and Wooga, who have made their presence felt through their respective applications developed on Facebook.

Undeniably, Facebook applications are a new and improved way to enhance brand image and exploit new brands.

They provide a platform that is being utilized and implemented by various companies and individuals to promote products and services and present new marketing and advertising campaigns to consumers.

Developing Facebook applications can get your to clients to interact and engage with your brand in a stimulating manner that conveys your message and makes them believe in your business.

© Global World Tech

Image: David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

By developing custom iPhone and Android apps for your restaurant business, you can open the doors for some of the best promotional strategies.

You can develop various mobile applications to help your restaurant business attract more customers within a shortest time. You just have to be more innovative in this to offer convenience and facility to your customers through your mobile apps.

Custom restaurant apps give you 24/7 access to your customer base. This can not only help in increasing your business as compared to your competitors, but will also increase your customer loyalty.

Here are a few ideas for custom mobile applications to help your restaurant business attract more customers:

1. In-App Reservations

Customers can be provided with convenient feature within your restaurant app which allows them to make reservation, receive confirmation through email with date, time and party size and also turn-by-turn directions to your restaurant location.

This will allow your customers to make reservations anytime convenient to them. Your customers can even call you with an easy one-touch button on the landing page of your custom app.  

2. Digital Menus

You can impress your customers with a “digital menu”. Definitely your customers will astounded by the way they are served by you before their welcome drink. By offering them a facility to choose their menu on iPad or tablets, you provide them a sophisticated way to choose their dishes and meals.   

These types of apps allow then restful attention, as they can easily search for their favorite cuisines and dishes. This digital menu can be simple, yet strategically stimulating and directional.

You can help your customers with suggestive themes with a segregated layout that can work wonders for you. Imagine placing a screen in front of them, which offers a simple selection module with a separate section for both non-vegetarian and vegetarian and other cuisines!  

3. Google Maps-Based Apps

You can integrate Google map in your restaurant app to help customers in reaching your restaurant or its different branches using Google map.

You will also be tagged and will show up in results when somebody will search for the restaurants or keys in some word that suits your parameters in the chosen locality.

4. Promotional Apps

You can interact with your customers directly and keep them updated 24/7 with promotional offers, discount offers and special offerings. You can also encourage your customers to refer more people and offer them auto generated privilege offers and loyalty points.

5. Update Apps

You can share amazing videos and pictures of your restaurant. Party space, events, celebrity visits, food, hospitality, occasional decorations and food can be shared with the guests and customers.   

With mobile apps, it is also possible to share chef’s special advice, video testimonials, information on different branches, proclaimed services, facilities and birthday celebrations that are available as a part of your extended services with the help of intuitive videos.   

6. Payment Apps

You can make payment by your customers easy with a module that interactively asks them to pay their bill through card or cash. With the help of mobile apps, you can offer them loyalty points, cross-promotional offers and additional privileges.

Your customers would love this even more when they would get innovative features such as comparison of their current bill with the bill that they would have paid if they had visited your restaurant during happy hours or other schemes, or a simple tip calculator!

© Global World Tech
 

Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Cloud computing is the buzzword that is being frequently discussed in the information technology circles for some years now.

The total market value of cloud computing is expected to exceed 241 billion by the year 2020.  

What exactly is cloud computing and what does cloud computing mean for your business?

Cloud computing refers to off-site services that provide software, processing and file storage for your information technology needs.

The resources are provided as a metered service (pay-for-what-you-use) over the Internet.

The applications that are delivered over the Internet are accessed by end users via web browsers.

Data and software are usually stored in remote servers and are accessed when required.

Infinite storage is available without any hassle whatsoever. The hardware needs of the client are drastically reduced and so are pesky maintenance problems.

The staff requirement to maintain the IT department can be reduced to a minimum.

In totality, this facility allows for shared services, faster installation and use of applications, and businesses and companies have the convenience of scaling their IT resources according to demand.

For technology companies and start-up businesses cloud computing provides the advantages of installing cheap new IT services, helping to  keep the start-up costs to a minimum.

The costs of setting up a web-based business is drastically different from what it was a few years ago. For a large business, utilization of such services have far reaching implications.

Capital investment can be drastically reduced. The operating expenditure is immensely scalable.

Though there are security concerns and other technical challenges that may accompany the shift, the overall savings in terms of time, effort, and money are worth the shift. It also provides a great opportunity for entrepreneurs to set up cloud-based software solutions sold as a service.

Security is an important issue to be addressed both by the company that provides cloud computing services and those that utilize the services. Many are not comfortable with entrusting business data to a third party.

However, end users would essentially would have to do this. Companies that offer cloud computing services offer data security through encrypted authentication.

Data needs to encrypted from point to point. The service providers need to install server farms and a superfast network bandwidth, and ensure high availability guarantees.

Cloud Computing services upgrade their software seamlessly. Many of the cloud computing services have introduced versioning procedures that enable businesses to go back to old files.

The main drawbacks of cloud computing are as follows:

• Security concerns that crop up on handing over your business data to a third party.

• If the cloud computing services go down, then your business is affected. However, experts are of the opinion that the costs are much less when compared to using desktop software.

• Cloud computing services charge for usage spikes which could lead to unpredictable costs.

The typical costs of cloud computing services stand at $0.100 per gigabyte, even less for reduced redundancy when your application is not critical, and $0.150 for high availability.

Using cloud computing services is thus a means of upscaling the IT needs of your business with minimum cost implications.

© Global World Tech

Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It's by nature that practically all products go through a number of quality checks before they're launched for public use as well as consumption. This is also true for software items and the procedure is known as GUI testing.

GUI signifies graphical user interface. This signifies the graphical aspects of a particular software program. Instances of those are the menus, textboxes, scrollbars, and others.

You may question the reason why both developers and consumers have to check GUI. The explanation for this is straightforward. Mistakes are something which can't be avoided, as a result it pays to evaluate any item of work.

It should be noted that software programs can also be susceptible to flaws. There can be complex codes there that might lead to some unpredicted conflicts inside the application. Keep in mind that one shortage of the GUI might be a disaster. Just think about an application with no open button.

Therefore, screening the GUI would certainly prove helpful to the operator and most particularly for the developer. Software companies will be cautious with this matter, because they don't want to displease clients.

You will find 5 major reasons for assessing the GUI:
• Consistency
• Effectiveness
• User-Friendliness
• Functionality
• Significance

Consistency is extremely important. The position of the GUI components within your software package have to be consistent during the running status from the application.

Examining the functionality of all of the GUI elements contained in your program is another must do. This means you have to test out all control buttons and menus to see if they are in a working state.

The 3 functions that all interact with each other are:
• Relevance
• User-Friendliness
• Performance

The actual explanation here is anytime a menu will be by itself successful, then naturally it's good for that user. Reviewing significance would likewise lessen the presence of unneeded or unnecessary GUIs within your application.

At the same time, the operation of testing GUI can be quite tedious and it typically takes a lot of time before it's accomplished. This is when automation with the test process will come in.  It is considered that automation decreases the long procedure for the standard testing period. Even so, separate software programs are required for this to manifest.

An independent body has to be developed to check up on every factor of the application. The automatic GUI test program will resemble real utilization of the application. This sort of GUI test will examine every case. The procedure certifies the regularity and wholeness from the program.

It should be documented though that automatic GUI tests can't operate independently because they require the blueprint from the software to allow them to work. This particular blueprint refers back to the application manual,  that contains information on why this application exists and also exactly what the user would like. Additionally, it consists of data on the way to run and sustain the application.

In summary, there exists a great requirement for software applications to endure GUI testing. Whether or not it is automated, programmers continue to be responsible in guaranteeing the strength of their products.

Contact us for your GUI Testing and Software Development requirements.

© Global World Tech

Image credit Flickr

Any kind of software testing which searches to discover new bugs or regressions in an ongoing program or application after amendments were made to it as a part of purposeful development or patch is known as Regression Testing in Software Development.

Regression testing concentrates on detecting flaws after changes are made to the main coding of software. It functions to reveal software failures as well expose old bugs that reappear.

Software regression takes place when the applications that were functioning properly suddenly stop its normal operation. Usually, such breakdown or regressions crop up uninvited when the existing programs are updated with newer versions.

The coding in the new version of the software fails to operate in the desired manner when it integrates with the previous version’s code.

General techniques of regression testing in software development comprises of repeating tests that were formerly performed on the software and observe to see if the software glitches that were resolved earlier have recurred.

The intensity of the testing is determined based on the stage of the software release and the risk involved in the updated features.

For example : to enable your Windows operating system to run smoothly and securely, Microsoft releases software patches to incorporate latest security updates, performance enhancement and feature enrichment.

 Such patches undergo extensive regression testing to check if the software operates efficiently in conjunction with all the software and hardware that are installed on windows.

This process holds true for all operating systems, software programs or applications and includes updating mobile phone firmware as well.   

In the business world, software regression testing has been conducted since a long time by a team of software quality assurance after the software developers finish their task of building the software.

The glitches detected during this phase involve lot of expenses. This issue is currently being attended to by the unit testing.

As a component of the development cycle, the developers write test cases however; these cases are usually unit tests or functional tests that authenticate the planned outcome only.

 The developer mainly concentrates on unit based testing and consists of positive as well as negative test cases. Functional tests are carried out on the entire program using numerous inputs whereas; unit tests are carried out on single functions.

Regression testing is performed not only to verify the precision of the program, but also to monitor the quality of its functionality.

For example, after creating compiler software, regression testing is done to check extent of the code, time taken for simulation and test suite cases.

The regression test suite covers three special modules of test cases:

a) A mock test of a replica of the actual software that has all the functions of the real software.

b) Further tests on the functioning of the software that can possibly be influenced by any alteration.

c) Tests that concentrates on the specific software sections that are modified.

Though regression tests can be executed via manual testing methods by employing software programming procedures, it is also performed by means of automated testing software or tools.

An automated test suite has a software tool that lets the testing mechanism to complete the regression testing in software development automatically.  

Programming projects are often connected to automate systems that run the regression tests after a specified period of time (daily, weekly, monthly and so on) and highlight software malfunctions.

© Global World Tech
 

Image source Flickr