The Future of WordPress Theme Development

WordPress can be defined as an open source blogging tool as well as a PHP and MySQL based CMS that operates on web hosting service. The tool comes up with a plug-in architecture along with an archetypical template system. As per a survey that was conducted in the month of August 2013, currently the tool is being used by over 18.9% of around10 million top class websites all over the world. In fact, it is regarded as the most adorable as well as acceptable blogging system.

Experts are of the opinion that WordPress is not only going to stay but it is going to be the future of web designing and development. Let us discuss some of the reasons.

Frankly speaking, WordPress at present is regarded as the best and the most user friendly software when it comes to maintaining, designing or developing a web site. Though it was originally designed and developed for the use of bloggers for creating personal blogs, at present it has become the most popular platform in the world of blogging. Moreover, of late the platform has undergone further facelift as well as development and this has made it undoubtedly the best system for designing or developing websites irrespective of the type or niche. The most fascinating feature of the tool is that it comes free of cost making it all the more popular. This popularity is likely to rise further in days to come.

WordPress started its endeavour with version 3.7. However, with time it got equipped with features like a new process of distributed development along with a smoother as well as nimbler release schedule. Thus it has changed itself with time to make sure that it does not lose its pertinence.

Let us see what the future has in store for WordPress or in other words, what is the future of WordPress.

Improvements in Wiring Options : The writing screen sans any distraction was for the first time introduced in version 3.2. Since then, they have always been improving their distraction-free screen in order to compete with other applications with similar features. With constant R&D under way, more improved versions of screens are to be introduced. That is likely to create a lot of difference to the end users.

Customized Menus : There has been requests to the developers of WordPress themes to design customized menus. Thus, WordPress is likely to come up with customized menu interface very soon. Experts believe that this will really be something that will improve the usability of the tool to a large extent, thus further enhancing its popularity amongst users. The R&D is already under way and very soon they will come up with seamless customized menus that users will really adore.

Revisions: WordPress is very shortly implementing a feature that will facilitate better management of content revision. At present the interface is pretty technical, making it fine for those who are used to using it for long. However, they are coming up with features that will make the code comparison tools better as well as more user-friendly, making them fine for even those who are not that tech savy or are using it for the first time.

Autosave, Post Locking: WordPress is also looking forward to improve its Autosave option. This will minimize the frustrating issue of losing net connection or browser crash every now and then.

Post Format Features of UI : It is likely to incorporate post format User Interfacer features that cut down the take up time of themes to a large extent.

With so many developments in the offing and a constant R&D mechanism under way, WordPress is on the verge of making more amends and thus ready to be smarter enough to suit the changing time for meeting the newer demands of its users.You can hire wordpress developers from top web development companies who can help you customize web app within allocated budgets and time schedules.

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

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

Content 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

WordPress 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?

Instead 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.

10 ‘Must-Know’ Advantages of PHP

As an open source server side scripting language, Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) is widely used by web application developers across the globe. Many developers love using the scripting language to develop powerful, dynamic and interactive web applications within a short span of time. The huge popularity of the language can be estimated from its use in developing some of the renowned business and social networking websites. If you are planning to switch to the innovative and powerful language, it is time to understand some of its key advantages.

10 Features that Make PHP Score over Other Scripting Languages

• Easy to Learn and Use: Many novice web application developers find it easier to learn PHP without putting much effort. As the PHP syntax has similarities to the C and Java, the developers, who have prior experience in writing programs in these languages, can easily migrate to the powerful scripting language. At the same time, a developer without having any prior programming experience can also learn the language after knowing HTML. The clear and easy-to-understand nature of the language makes it popular among all types of developers.

• Easy to Embed in HTML: In comparison to conventional scripting languages, PHP can be embedded into HTML in an easier and hassle-free way. Many developers even prefer learning PHP after being familiar with HTML. The easy to embed feature also help developers to use the scripting language to convert the static websites into more dynamic and engaging websites without putting any extra effort.

• Open Source and Cross Platform: PHP is also popular as an open source and cross-platform scripting language. As it is open source, a developer can use the language without paying any fees. Further, a company can hire a developer having experience in writing C and Java program to start working on its PHP project. Also, as a cross-platform scripting language, PHP works perfectly on various operating systems including Windows, Mac, Linux and UNIX.

• Superior Level of Freedom: As PHP is not operating system specific, the developers enjoy a huge amount of freedom to write code using any of the commonly used text editor. Based on your choice, you can write the code using just Notepad, or some other editors Emacs, jEdit, Bluefish and Notebook++. The no restriction on coding allows developers to develop applications at their own pace and convenience.

• Several Frameworks: Each programmer looks for options to build powerful application without writing longer lines of code. The PHP developers can develop robust application within a very short timeframe using a variety of frameworks like Symfony, Slim, Silex, Zend and Aiki. You can choose any PHP framework based on the requirements of your application. Also, each framework allows you to avail a set of benefits including code reuse, better session management, and database access libraries.

• Smooth Integration with Systems: PHP is used widely by programmers to develop a variety of web applications and websites. According to a number of reports, over 30% of the web is powered by this powerful scripting language. There are also several systems like Memcache, Pusher and MongoDB that are integrated seamlessly with PHP. So you can use the language to develop powerful and dynamic web application for clients belonging to different regions and industries.

• Instant Support: Most developers need help, answers, or tips while writing codes. As PHP is open source, a developer has option to avail the assistance of a large community of developers. You can simply initiate a web search to access the online documentation and resources for PHP. At the same time, you also have option to avail specific solutions through online forums, blogs, social media and PDF. The support makes it easier for you to get instant assistance whenever you are stuck.

• High Scalability: Along with being interactive and dynamic, most web applications also need to be scalable. After deploying a website, the organization has to enhance hosting, databases and coding to boost its performance. The flexible and easy to understand feature of PHP, makes it more scalable. You can use the scripting language to add more servers and feature to increase your cluster size.

• Convenient Access to Third-Party Tools: Most web applications try to improve user experience by using popular tools and applications developed by third-party vendors. For instance, some business applications use Google maps to help users in identifying a location. Similarly, most ecommerce websites use a variety of third-party application like shopping cart software and payment processing gateways. You can use PHP to easily access all types of third-party tools in a fast and hassle-free way.

• PHP Hosting Services: An organization can further avail several advantages by hosting a PHP application through PHP hosting. Along with being inexpensive, the PHP hosting service further effective in boosting the efficiency and performance of application developed using the scripting language.

These features help immensely in PHP application development. In addition to these features, PHP also scores over other scripting language due to its user-friendly nature. Also, the PHP community constantly works on projects to keep the language updated and dynamic enough to meet the latest trends in web application development.

If you would like to outsource php development and would like to hire a php programmer for your needs, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

Is CodeIgniter is the Best Solution for a PHP Developer?

Each web application developer has option to choose from a wide variety of software frameworks. But a developer has to evaluate the pros and cons of each framework to decide the most effective and convenient option to develop powerful web applications. In comparison to conventional software frameworks, the PHP framework is much more popular among the application developers and resellers due to its simple and easy-to-use features.

Along with building applications without putting any extra time and effort, you can use the PHP framework features to easily debug, secure and deploy it using multiple platforms. As an efficient an open source web application development framework, CodeIgniter is widely used by developers to make lightweight and dynamic websites using PHP. Unlike other PHP frameworks, CodeIgniter is loosely based on the Model-View-Controller (MVC) development pattern. Also, it is hugely popular due to its efficiency and speed in comparison to other frameworks. Needless to say, companies offering PHP development services are one of the most sought after ones for web application development.

What Makes CodeIgniter the Best Solution for Developing PHP Web Applications?

Model-View-Controller Architecture: Most developers prefer using MVC architecture as it can be configured and deployed easily. In addition to reducing the amount of time required for completing a project, the architecture further enables developers to keep the codes separated and clean. Most of the conventional frameworks require you to follow certain guidelines. But you can use CodeIgniter to work in a manner that you think is sensible, logical and suitable for your project.

Easy to Understand and Use: Many developers require additional training to migrate to a new application development framework. But one can learn, understand and use CodeIgniter without putting any extra effort. Also, this framework allows you to easily write new libraries, and modify the existing libraries. At the same time, you can further customize the framework to change its overall behavior. As CodeIgniter works seamlessly with both PHP 4 and PHP 5, you can easily make powerful application by availing the advantages of both environments.

A Set of Comprehensive Tools: CodeIgniter also comes with a number of built-in libraries including email, calendar, form validation, zip encoding, sessions, uploading and unit testing. Also, a developer can quickly write codes using default helpers available for a variety of elements like forms, strings, cookies, arrays, directories, and file handling. At the same time, you also have option to make your own libraries, and use the code developed by other members of the CodeIgniter community. The framework also allows you to upload files to a directory by skipping the required installation process.

In-built Features to Secure Your Web Application: Most application developers struggle to keep their web application secure and inaccessible. Some people even use expensive security tools to protect their website from hackers. When you use CodeIgniter, the framework allows you to choose and implement the amount and type of security needed by the individual applications. Along with automatically escaping SQL queries and unsetting all global variables, the framework also enables you to secure you application encrypting cookies and using a database to handle session data.

Easy to Manage Databases: Similar to other advanced software development frameworks, CodeIgniter also support a database abstraction layer nowadays. You can use the feature to easily create, insert, delete and update statements without writing raw SQL queries. Also, you can use the feature to connect your application to several databases including Oracle, Microsoft SQL, MySQL and SQLite. You also have options to use its database forge library to easily create new tables, remove old tables, and modify existing tables by adding or removing columns.

Comprehensive Documentation: CodeIgniter further scores over other web application development frameworks due to its comprehensive and quality documentation. As the framework is backed by EllisLab, a company passionate about making CodeIgniter the most popular PHP framework, the team invests a huge amount of time and efforts in optimizing the quality of documentation to target all types of users. The documentation also acts an impressive user guide for the developers migrating from other platforms. You can further read the documentation on a regular basis to enhance your knowledge and skills.

Support of Active User Community: Nowadays, most developer want assistance to resolve specific problems. Many programmers even use discussion forums to find solutions for a question or problem. One can always use the forum and wiki provided by CodeIgniter through its website. With over 57,000 registered users, these platforms make it easier for developers to get solutions within a few moments of time. You can simply get answers to your question without using the chat channels or group mailing list.

If you want to hire a PHP developer for your PHP web development needs, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.

How to Bake Your CakePHP Development Right?

As an open source web application development framework, CakePHP allows developers to write codes without putting much time and effort. Despite being written in PHP, CakePHP is modeled based on the concept of Ruby on Rails. Also, it supports some of the widely used software design patterns, and software engineering concepts. At the same time, CakePHP also provides a basic structure to the developers to build, deploy and maintain a variety of web applications.

Many developers migrate to CakePHP architecture to build websites in a fresh and innovative way. The architecture, normally, consists of three components, i.e., model, view and controller. You can use Model to interact with various data sources, and use View to manage the web page layout and design of the website. At the same time, the Controller will allows you control the functioning of model and view based on the commands received from end-users.

You can use the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture to build robust and efficient web applications. CakePHP framework also provides a large collection of base classes for your web application development that makes it easier to extend and customize the application. Further, you have option to use the additional classes and objects to reuse the behavior of MVC base classes for various subclasses. So the code can be easily extended and reused by a programmer to develop web application compatible with PHP 4 and PHP 5.

Features that Help in Baking Your CakePHP Development Right

MVC Coding Pattern: The MVC architecture acts as the base of CakePHP framework. The coding pattern further makes it easier for developers to disintegrate the design and presentation of business logic. Each of the three layers controls specific aspect of web application development. You can use Model for database application, View for GUI implementation, and Controller for business logic. Further, each layer can be used independently to make the application development process simpler, faster, and smoother.

Support for Latest PHP Versions: At present, CakePHP fully supports the latest versions of PHP programming language. The support for PHP 4 and PHP 5 can be used to develop the next generation of web applications. Also, you can easily incorporate specific features and functionalities to meet the varying demand and choices of your clients. Some of these options will further help you in improving the user experience for the application.

Use the Fast and Flexible Templates: No one can deny the effectiveness of templates in making web application more comprehensive and efficient. CakePHP is hugely popular among developers due to its large collection of fast and flexible templates. Also, you have option to design custom CakePHP templates to optimize the look and feel of the front end of your web application. You will also find a number of professional CakePHP template developers who offers a variety of customized templates commercially.

Keeping Your Website Secure: CakePHP scores much higher than other frameworks due to its strong security features. You must use its Create, Retrieve, Update, and Delete (CRUD) features to secure the user submission process without putting any extra time and effort. At the same time, the Object Relational Mapping (ORM) framework also makes it easier for developers to streamline SQL queries by presenting tables as base classes. The framework also supports its own shell to incorporate command-line interface.

Additional Features and Functionalities: CakePHP further offers a set of functionalities that makes web application development more convenient and enjoyable. Along with support all database types and database drivers, the framework also allows developers to rich query APIs, shorten URL syntax, and use smarter router prefixes. It also allows you to view helper for JavaScript, XML, AJAX, Forms and Pagination. You can simply use its automated configuration to detect the most preferred setting automatically. So you can easily configure the system without writing lengthy codes.

As CakePHP is licensed under the MIT license, it can be easily used to build commercial web applications. Also, you can use its Clean MVC Conventions get the relevant assistance and guidance in baking your CakePHP application right. PHP development services teams can help you build projects within allocated budgets and time schedules.

If you want to hire a PHP developer for your PHP web development needs, please contact us at Mindfire Solutions.