As you dive deeper into the world of React, it’s important to continually strive for excellence in your code. To assist you in this endeavor, I’d like to share four tips that have been invaluable in helping me write better React code. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or just starting out, I believe you’ll find something of value in these tips. So, let’s dive in and take your React skills to the next level!

1. Return functions from handlers

For those of you who have a background in functional programming, you’ll likely recognize the concept of “currying”. Essentially, it involves setting some parameters for a function ahead of time. By implementing this technique in React, you can streamline your code and make it more efficient. So, let’s delve into the world of currying and see how it can improve your React code.

We have an explicit problem with the boilerplate code below. That technique will help us!

export default function App() {
  const [user, setUser] = useState({
    firstName: "",
    lastName: "",
    address: ""
  });

  // First handler
  const handleFirstNameChange = (e) => {
    setUser((prev) => ({
      ...prev,
      firstName: e.target.value
    }));
  };

  // Second handler!
  const handleLastNameChange = (e) => {
    setUser((prev) => ({
      ...prev,
      lastName: e.target.value
    }));
  };

  // Third handler!!!
  const handleAddressChange = (e) => {
    setUser((prev) => ({
      ...prev,
      address: e.target.value
    }));
  };

  // What if we need one more input? Should we create another handler for it?

  return (
    <>
      <input value={user.fisrtName} onChange={handleFirstNameChange} />
      <input value={user.lastName} onChange={handleLastNameChange} />
      <input value={user.address} onChange={handleAddressChange} />
    </>
  );
}

Solution

export default function App() {
  const [user, setUser] = useState({
    firstName: "",
    lastName: "",
    address: ""
  });

  const handleInputChange = (field) => {
    return (e) => {
      setUser((prev) => ({
        ...prev,
        [field]: e.target.value
      }));
    };
  };

  return (
    <>
      <input value={user.firstName} onChange={handleInputChange("fistName")} />
      <input value={user.lastName} onChange={handleInputChange("lastName")} />
      <input value={user.address} onChange={handleInputChange("address")} />

      {JSON.stringify(user)}
    </>
  );
}

2. Separate responsibilities

Making a “God” component is a common mistake that developers make. It’s called “God” because it contains many lines of code that are hard to understand and maintain. I strongly recommend dividing components into sets of independent sub-modules.

A typical structure for this would be:

• UI module, responsible for visual representation only.
• Model module, containing only business logic. An example of this is a custom hook.
• Lib module, containing all required utilities for the component.

Here’s a small demo example to help illustrate this concept.

export function ListComponent() {
  // Our local state
  const [list, setList] = useState([]);

  // Handler to load data from the server
  const fetchList = async () => {
    try {
      const resp = await fetch("https://www.example.com/list");
      const data = await resp.json();

      setList(data);
    } catch {
      showAlert({ text: "Something went wrong!" });
    }
  };

  // We want to fetch only on mount
  useEffect(() => {
    fetchList();
  }, []);

  // Handler responsible for deleting items
  const handleDeleteItem = (id) => {
    return () => {
      try {
        fetch(`https://www.example.com/list/${id}`, {
          method: "DELETE"
        });
        setList((prev) => prev.filter((x) => x.id !== id));
      } catch {
        showAlert({ text: "Something went wrong!" });
      }
    };
  };

  // Here we just render our data items
  return (
    <div className="list-component">
      {list.map(({ id, name }) => (
        <div key={id} className="list-component__item>">
          {/* We want to trim long name with ellipsis */}
          {name.slice(0, 30) + (name.length > 30 ? "..." : "")}

          <div onClick={handleDeleteItem(id)} className="list-component__icon">
            <DeleteIcon />
          </div>
        </div>
      ))}
    </div>
  );
}

We should start by writing our utils that will be used in the model and UI modules.

export async function getList(onSuccess) {
  try {
    const resp = await fetch("https://www.example.com/list");
    const data = await resp.json();

    onSuccess(data)
  } catch {
    showAlert({ text: "Something went wrong!" });
  }
}

export async function deleteListItem(id, onSuccess) {
  try {
    fetch(`https://www.example.com/list/${id}`, {
      method: "DELETE"
    });
    onSuccess()
  } catch {
    showAlert({ text: "Something went wrong!" });
  }
}

export function trimName(name) {
  return name.slice(0, 30) + (name.lenght > 30 ? '...' : '')
}

Now we need to implement our business logic. It simply will be a custom hook returning things we need.

export function useList() {
  const [list, setList] = useState([]);

  const handleDeleteItem = useCallback((id) => {
    return () => {
      deleteListItem(id, () => {
        setList((prev) => prev.filter((x) => x.id !== id));
      })
    };
  }, []);

  useEffect(() => {
    getList(setList);
  }, []);

  return useMemo(
    () => ({
      list,
      handleDeleteItem
    }),
    [list, handleDeleteItem]
  );
}

The final step is to write our UI module and then combine it all together.

export function ListComponentItem({ name, onDelete }) {
  return (
    <div className="list-component__item>">
      {trimName(name)}

      <div onClick={onDelete} className="list-component__icon">
        <DeleteIcon />
      </div>
    </div>
  );
}

export function ListComponent() {
  const { list, handleDeleteItem } = useList();

  return (
    <div className="list-component">
      {list.map(({ id, name }) => (
        <ListComponentItem
          key={id}
          name={name}
          onDelete={handleDeleteItem(id)}
        />
      ))}
    </div>
  );
}

3. Use objects map instead of conditions

When it comes to displaying elements based on specific variables, you can use this powerful tip to simplify your code and make it more intuitive. This approach helps make your components more declarative and easier to understand, while also making it easier to extend their functionality in the future. So, whether you’re working on a complex project or just starting out, implementing this strategy can have a significant impact on the overall quality of your React code.

Problem

Don’t forget to subscribe and stay up-to-date with the latest tips and tricks for Frontend development! With new information being shared regularly, you won’t want to miss out on the opportunity to continue improving your skills and producing high-quality React code.

function Roles({type}) {
  let Component = UsualAccount

  if (type === 'vip') {
    Component = VipAccount
  }

  if (type === 'admin') {
    Component = AdminAccount
  }

  if (type === 'superadmin') {
    Component = SuperAdminAccount
  }

  return (
    <div className='roles'>
      <Component />
      <RolesStatistics />
    </div>
  )
}

Solution

const ROLES_MAP = {
  'vip': VipAccount,
  'usual': UsualAccount,
  'admin': AdminAccount,
  'superadmin': SuperAdminAccount,
}

function Roles({type}) {
  const Component = ROLES_MAP[type]

  return (
    <div className='roles'>
      <Component />
      <RolesStatistics />
    </div>
  )
}

4. Put independent variables outside of React lifecycle

One important concept to keep in mind is separating logic that doesn’t require the React component lifecycle methods from the component itself. This approach can greatly improve the clarity of your code by making dependencies more explicit. As a result, it becomes much easier to read and understand your components, leading to more efficient and effective development. So, make sure to keep this technique in mind as you continue to work with React and improve your code.

Problem

function useItemsList() {
  const defaultItems = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50]
  const [items, setItems] = useState(defaultItems)

  const toggleArrayItem = (arr, val) => {
    return arr.includes(val) ? arr.filter(el => el !== val) : [...arr, val];
  }

  const handleToggleItem = (num) => {
    return () => {
      setItems(toggleArrayItem(items, num))
    }
  }

  return {
    items,
    handleToggleItem,
  }
}

Solution

const DEFAULT_ITEMS = [
  10, 20, 30, 40, 50
]

const toggleArrayItem = (arr, val) => {
  return arr.includes(val) ? arr.filter(el => el !== val) : [...arr, val];
}

function useItemsList() {
  const [items, setItems] = useState(DEFAULT_ITEMS)

  const handleToggleItem = (num) => {
    return () => {
      setItems(toggleArrayItem(items, num))
    }
  }

  return {
    items,
    handleToggleItem,
  }
}

In conclusion, there are many ways to improve your React code and make it more efficient, effective, and user-friendly. Whether it’s through currying, separating logic from components, using variables to display elements or some other technique, it’s important to stay up-to-date with the latest tips and tricks in the world of Frontend development.

I hope, you found this article useful. If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave comments. Your feedback helps me to become better.

Keep these tips in mind, and never stop striving for excellence in your code.
Don’t forget to subscribe
Happy coding!

With thousands of free and premium WordPress themes available, it is very hard for beginners to choose the best WordPress theme for their needs.

Note: Some of these themes are even older than 2020, but they have remained highly popular due to their incredible design, features, and updates.

Selecting the right is a very difficult job. I struggled a lot when I started my blogging career in 2011. But now we have many awesome options where you can pick perfectly SEO optimized themes.

The Most Common Traits of All Popular and Best WordPress Themes

WordPress themes are either niche-based or multipurpose in terms of features and options.

You can use a niche-based theme for your industry (for example, a restaurant theme). Alternately, you can choose a multipurpose theme that’s designed to be flexible and works for any kind of website.

Regardless of the type, all the best WordPress themes have the following features and traits:

Mobile-responsive design: The theme designs are responsive and retina-ready, so your WordPress website looks great on all screen sizes and devices.

SEO optimization: The theme follows the best SEO practices, so your website can rank higher in search results.

Page builder support: The theme is compatible with popular WordPress drag and drop page builders. It helps you create custom landing pages whenever you need them.

Speed and performance: Your theme plays an important role in the speed and performance of your website. You should look for the theme with faster page loads and optimized user experience.

Selecting the right is a very difficult job. I struggled a lot when I started my blogging career in 2011. But now we have many awesome options where you can pick perfectly SEO optimized themes.

Here are some of the themes which I highly recommend if you want to start a professional blog.

#01. GeneratePress

GeneratePress has a free light version theme. It gives you awesome basic editing options to start your professional blog.

It is:

• Secure and stable
• Total size is less than 30kb
• Search engine optimized
• Easily customizable

#02. Astra Theme

Astra is another FREE WordPress theme which you can pick to start your blog. They have all the awesome features which any good theme should have. If you want more functionality, you can buy the premium version.

Astra is a modern WordPress theme designed to create any website. It works with all the popular drag and drop page builders seamlessly.

The theme comes with several starter sites that you can use to launch a website quickly. These ready-made websites are perfect for small businesses, blogs, and WooCommerce stores.

It has tons of amazing features, including page headers, mega menu, multiple layout choices, Google Fonts, unlimited color options, separate blog page layouts, and custom widgets.

Astra theme also offers powerful integration with the WooCommerce plugin to create an online store. Their WooCommerce theme features infinite scrolling, quick product view, shop page, product gallery, and cart options.

Astra has built-in SEO optimization to help rank your website in the search engines.

#03. Divi Theme

Divi is one of the most popular WordPress themes and an ultimate page builder. It has multiple visual elements and modules that help you create a beautiful website.

The theme comes with hundreds of free ready-made layouts for multiple industries and niches. It allows you to import a website layout with the 1-click demo importer which helps you quickly get started.

With the built-in drag and drop page builder, you can move elements, save and manage custom designs, and use global styles on all website pages.

Divi gives you complete control of the layout design, inline text editing, and custom CSS. It is highly flexible and easy to use.

#04. Themify Ultra

Themify Ultra is a powerful WordPress multipurpose theme built to help you easily make a website. It comes with dozens of ready-made sites for lifestyle, magazine, restaurant, photography, fashion, and more.

It also includes the Themify page builder that you can use for customization. It has several builder addons to add advanced elements like progress bars, counters, pricing tables, audio players, and more.

Other notable features include smart layout options, color choices, crisp typography, section-based scrolling, image filters, and portfolio options.

Themify Ultra is also an ideal theme to start a WooCommerce store. It is easy to set up and customize with the live WordPress customizer.

#05. OceanWP

OceanWP is a free WordPress multipurpose theme. It comes with a 1-click demo content importer and hundreds of ready-made sites to launch a website instantly.

The theme has multiple extensions to add features to your website like a login popup, an Instagram feed, a sticky footer, a featured posts slider, and more. It is translation ready to create a multilingual website.

The OceanWP theme supports WooCommerce out of the box. It has built-in SEO features to help in improving your website rankings.

#06. Newspaper

#1 Selling News Theme of All Time | Loved by 100,000+

Newspaper is a WordPress theme that lets you write articles and blog posts with ease. We offer great support and friendly help!

Create a great news website with our newspaper template. This bestseller theme is perfect for blogging and excellent for a news, newspaper, magazine, publishing or review site.

It supports videos from YouTube. AMP and mobile-ready. GDPR compliant, the theme is fast, simple, and easy to use for a cryptocurrency, fashion, food, lifestyle, modern, personal, travel, luxury, viral, minimal, minimalist projects, web development, and more.

Integrated with Instagram, bbPress Forum, BuddyPress and WooCommerce, it uses the best clean SEO practices. Newspaper supports responsive Google Ads and AdSense.

#07. REHub – Price Comparison, Multi-Vendor Marketplace, Affiliate Marketing, Community Theme

#1 Multi purpose Moneymaking Theme

REHub is a modern multipurpose hybrid theme. Theme covers many modern Business models for profitable websites. Each part can be configured and used separately or you can combine them all in one site. We used most actual trends and the best unique SEO instruments to build advanced WordPress functions which you will not find in other themes. Models are:

• Social Community with submit option
• Business Directory with Locators, Custom Search filters, and custom specifications
• Price or product comparison theme with dynamic price updates (with help of Content Egg or bulk import tool)
• Product comparisons (supported dynamic comparisons for multi-category sites)
• Reviews with extended user reviews and table constructors, top review constructors
• Highest Conversion pages (versus pages, specification comparison, Offer hub, Top set pages, Price range pages)
• Multi-Vendor shops and simple shops, support for multi-vendor per product
• Deal sites and deal communities
• Magazines and News sites

#08. Newsmag – Newspaper & Magazine WordPress Theme

#Top Selling Magazine WordPress Theme, Engineered for Success | Loved by 15,000+ Happy Customers

Newsmag is a modern WordPress theme that lets you write articles and blog posts with ease. They offer great support and friendly help!

The Newsmag template is excellent for news, newspaper, magazine, publishing, or review site. It also supports videos from YouTube and features a rating system.

It uses the best clean SEO practices, and on top of that, it’s fast, simple, and easy to use. In addition, News mag supports responsive Google Ads and AdSense.

#09. JNews – WordPress Newspaper Magazine Blog AMP Theme

JNews is a theme designed to provide an “all-in-one” solution for every publishing need. With JNews, you can explore endless possibilities in crafting the best fully-functional website. They provide 50+ demos that perfect for your News site, Magazine site, Blog site, Editorial site, and for all kinds of publishing website. Also provided automatic import feature to replicate one of the demos you like just by one click.

Customizing your website with JNews is easy & fun. You can lively see the change you made and create a landing page with ease by utilizing drag and drop Header Builder, WPBakery Visual Composer, Elementor & Customizer. They fully integrate all elements of WPBakery Visual Composer, including Frontend Visual Composer Editor. You also can use JNews theme with the free version of Elementor or Elementor Pro.

Optimized & lightweight codes to load blazingly fast and make it Google-friendly. Tested with top cache plugins, so it’s possible to get a high score on several website speed tester including Google Page Speed through right setting and content. For the mobile device, JNews fully support Google AMP and Facebook Instant Article that will make your website load faster on all mobile devices.

SEO performance becomes one of our main concerns. They show that commitment by utilizing JSON LD which is recommended by Google for the best SEO result. Not only that, but we also provide compatibility with many SEO Signal. The deal is to create a platform for your SEO content performance fly.

They also provide several ways in which you can generate revenue from JNews. From advertisement with Google Ads & AdSense, Online Shop with WooCommerce, or you can also use Marketing Affiliate link or referral using JNews Review system. With a fully responsive Google AdSense feature that ensure your ads will display properly across on all devices and screen sizes.

#10. Gridlove – News Portal & Magazine WordPress Theme

Gridlove is a creative WordPress theme with a focus on news, newspaper and magazine websites. With many predefined grid & masonry layouts and templates you’ll have an extraordinary website up and running in no time – no coding required!

• Hundreds of beautiful layouts – Choose from a wide range of predefined layouts to match your personal taste, all with a few clicks
• Build a highly flexible homepage – Display unlimited number of post groups chosen by specific criteria, and easily organize them on the page with our drag and drop modules system
• Highlight posts and widgets – Give accent to most popular, sponsored or any other special posts – make them stand out by displaying them in a different styling
• Multiple header layouts – Make your website unique with one of our carefully designed header layouts
• Diverse categories – Each category on the website can have its own layout and color
• Customizable single post layouts – Give your articles a personal touch with many different layouts available
• Unlimited fonts and colors – Gridlove provides options for unlimited fonts and color combinations, as well as dedicated sections to upload your logo and icons
• Monetize your website – Easily place a banner ad on the homepage, archive pages or single post. Usefull for adsense advertising or affiliate marketing website.
• Optimized for high speed – Built-in performance options will ensure that your website loads fast, and runs smoothly
• Responsive design – Your content will scale seamlessly on all of today’s modern devices including desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile phones.
• Advanced theme options panel – Setup your website in 5 minutes with our easy-to-use theme options panel
• Support for Co-Authors Plus WordPress Plugin – Now you can easily set multiple authors for a single post
• Inject custom content in post modules – Replace posts in modules with content like text, ads, newsletter forms and more
• Support for custom post types in modules – If any public custom post type is registered it will be automatically detected in modules
• Unlimited sidebars – Add as many sidebars as you need. Then assign specific sidebar to any post, page or a category.
• Sticky sidebars – Widgets placed inside sticky sidebars will always be visible while you scroll through the website content.
• Infinite scroll loading on single posts – Posts content loads continuously as the user scrolls down the page, eliminating the need for pagination.
• Four Pagination Types – You can have a classic Older Posts/Newer Posts navigation, Numeric Pagination, Load More buttons or Infinite Scroll. This feature is not limited to a global setting either, you can apply different pages with different pagination types wherever you like.
• Custom Widgets – Alongside the standard WordPress widgets, Gridlove features several custom widgets that further extend its functionality.
• Post formats support – This theme supports Video, Audio, Image and Gallery Post formats. Most common WordPress embed features are also supported.
• Paginated / multi-page posts – For maximum monetization potential via ads on your new website, Gridlove includes a very intuitive design for Posts which are split into multiple pages. A great way to boost your page views with ease and increase your passive earnings!
• Post views support – Gridlove also supports Entry Views WordPress plugin, which is used to count views for each post. Smart options are also available so your Posts can be filtered by number of views.
• Shortcodes – Add complex elements to your content easily with 12 flexible shortcodes. Shortcodes are small pieces of code that you can insert into any Page or Post to create beautiful columns, separators, highlights, dropcaps, buttons, pull quotes, progress bars, social icons, tabs, toggles and accordions with minimal fuss.
• WooCommerce support – Add a fully functioning shop to your new website, with the advanced features offered by the WooCommerce WordPress plugin!
• bbPress support – Need to run a forum? Your new website will run with the industry standard Forum Plugin bbPress, seamlessly integrated and tested to run smoothly.
• RTL support – Gridlove fully supports Right-To-Left oriented reading which is an essential requirement when you are running a website with global reach! Simply turn this option on in the Theme Options Panel.
• Built-in translation – Easily modify or translate any text on your website through the theme options panel.
• One-click demo content import – Demo content is included, so you get a website similar to our demo, ready to start tweaking!
• One-click updates – You can connect your website with the Envato official API to be notified about upcoming updates through your Admin Dashboard. Every time a Gridlove update is released, you can update with a single click, just like you would for any other theme hosted on the official WordPress repository.
• Setup guide – Learn step-by-step, how to setup Gridlove and all of its options, quickly and easily with our comprehensive documentation.
• Get help from WordPress experts – Do you have questions, issues or feature ideas? Do not hesitate to contact us! We usually respond within 24 hours.

Conclusion:

I hope you got a lot of tools by reading this article, which you can use to build your business.

If you found this article helpful, please share it with your friends so that they can also use some of these tools and make their blogging journey better.

Check out some best articles related to this

• Best FREE Blogging SEO Tools to Amplify Your Growth in 2020
• 2020’s Most Popular and Best Responsive WordPress Themes (Expert Pick)

Thank you for reading, and let’s connect!

Thank you for reading my blog, feel free to subscribe to my email newsletter, and ask questions and give your valuable suggestions.

This platform gives you so much freedom that you can leverage your skills and passions and convert them into money by writing stunning & user-friendly articles.

Where many pro bloggers suggest using premium tools for the quick growth in blogging, here I have listed the top 101 free tools which I have personally used to grow my blog with a series of blogs.

These FREE blogging tools can help you to build your blogging business in your initial days.

So let’s start a discussion with the first category that is mandatory in the blogging journey. This article is mainly focused on the SEO tools that you need to use to grow your blog.

FREE SEO Tools

SEO is a favorite subject of every blogger, that’s why we have listed all the SEO tools at the very first article. These are some of the best available SEO tools which you can use and build a really awesome blog by using them on a daily basis.

#1. AnswerThePublic

AnswerThePublic is a great FREE tool to generate awesome ideas around any given keyword. These can generate many long-tail keywords and FAQs around you seed keyword and you can cover them in your blog posts to write a mega article.

#2. ScreamingFrog

Screaming Frog is a small tool having so many awesome features. It can help you do a free audit of your blog and help you see all the errors. This is a software that you can install on macOS as well as Windows operating system.

Just enter your website URL and it will start crawling your URL. In just a few minutes, it will create a report for you showing all the errors on the site. You can download the excel file and optimize the links with errors.

#3. UberSuggest

Uber Suggest is the FREE keyword research tool recently bought by Neil Patel. This tool lets you do the keyword research for free and you can see the top ranking websites of your competitors.

#4. LSIGraph

LSIGraph tool will help you to collect all the LSI (or related) keywords around your seed keyword.

#5. Keyword Tool

Keyword Tool is a paid tool but it gives you 3 searches free per day. They have created the research tool for Bing, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, Instagram, and Twitter.

#6. Domain Authority Checker

If you want to check the domain authority of many URLs in the bulk quantity, this tool can help you do the job.

You can check 250 URLs for free with the tool.

#7. Google SERP Preview Tool

Have you ever worries how your article would look in Google SERP when it would rank? Well, this tool can help you see the previous just by adding small information.

#8. URL Builder

URL Builder is a free tool that can help you to add various parameters in your URL so that you can track the performance when you are running Google Ads.

URL created by this tool can be used anywhere to track the performance from various traffic sources.

#9. Mozcast

Mozcast is an unofficial tool that shows you the status of Google algorithm updates on a daily basis. Just by seeing the Moz bars, you can see the impact of any Google algorithm.

#10. Schema Generator

If you want to create any specific Schema and use it on any custom-built platform, this tool can help you create the Schema for you. Just select the type of Schema you want to build, enter the required data and at the end copy-paste the code in your website.

#11. FAQ Schema Generator

FAQ Schema Generator is a free tool to generate JSON-LD Schema. Simply add all your questions and answers in the boxes and copy-paste the generated code in your blog post.

#12. XenuLinkSleuth

This is one of the most effective tools to find the broken links on any website. They have very simple to use UI where you can find the broken links and download the reports easily.

#13. Moz Link Explorer

Moz created Domain Authority and Page Authority. You can open the link above and check the DA/PA of any website at free of cost.

#14. Robots.txt Generator 

Robots text is one of the most crucial files on your server. One mistake in that file can break your whole website and it can bring disastrous consequences. With this tool, you can create a customized robot text file and use it on your website without any issue.

#15. The hreflang Tags Generator Tool 

If your website in different languages, you can use this tool to generate hreflang tags. Just select the languages which you want to use on the website and create tags in different languages.

#16. 301 Redirect Code Generator

If you are running your website without any CMS then it becomes difficult to create the 301 redirects. This tool will help you to create 301 redirects which you can implement on your website just by copying and pasting a small code.

#17. XML Sitemaps

Do you want to create an XML sitemap of your site in just a few clicks? This website will serve the purpose by giving you a quick option to create the sitemap.

#18. Website Penalty Indicator

This will show your website’s traffic stats as well as Google algorithm changes in one graph. So just by seeing the graph, you can analyze that when your website was affected during various updates.

#19. Google Search Console

Google Search Console is the first-ever friend of every blogger. The chances are that you are already using this tool to track the performance of your blog for free. If you are not using this tool, just go and create your account right now.

#20. Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is an awesome FREE tool to do the keyword research. If you are just starting your blogging career and don’t want to invest money on the expensive tools, GKP is your best friend.

#21. Google Analytics

This FREE Google tool lets you see the number of visitors on your blog, see how many people are visiting any specific page and which are top traffic driving countries.

#22. Meta Title Length Checker

#23. SimilarWeb

SimilarWeb is an awesome tool to see the stats of any website. You can check top traffic-driving posts, traffic sources, top categories, top external links etc. with this tool.

#24. Website Down Checker

This free tool lets you check any URL and show you if the URL is down only for you or it is down worldwide.

Conclusion:

I hope you got a lot of tools by reading this article, which you can use to build your business.

If you found this article helpful, please share it with your friends so that they can also use some of these tools and make their blogging journey better.

Check out some best tools

• 2020’s Most Popular and Best Responsive WordPress Themes (Expert Pick)

Thank you for reading, and let’s connect!

Thank you for reading my blog, feel free to subscribe to my email newsletter, and ask questions and give your valuable suggestions.

The social media share buttons are a very important part of your website. They allow you and your users to quickly share your content across social media, expanding your audience in seconds with just a few clicks. While it is a small feature to be implemented, you can be creative with it and make the social share buttons interactive in a way that adds a unique experience for your visitors.

One of the ways of doing it is simply using the CSS hover feature. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to do that.

You can use any kind of image file you want for your icons such as PNG or SVG. In this tutorial, we wanted to keep things simple and used an icon font, FontAwesome.

This method saves time as you don’t have to individually download icon images and set their sizes individually. It also cuts down the lines of code on your HTML or CSS file. With FontAwesome, you can simply add the CDN below to add icons to your website.

We’re also using Bootstrap to organize our grid layout. Please insert the external links below on your HTML file to get started:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.1.3/css/bootstrap.min.css" integrity="sha384-MCw98/SFnGE8fJT3GXwEOngsV7Zt27NXFoaoApmYm81iuXoPkFOJwJ8ERdknLPMO" crossorigin="anonymous">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css">

HTML

The code below is straightforward.

We have a ul list that contains each of the social media links as a list item. If you’d like to add more social media links, all you have to do is create another li item and add your icon inside the i tag.

We’re using Bootstrap’s list-inline class which automatically makes a list horizontal so we don’t have to add additional lines on the CSS file to make our list items inline.

<div class="col-sm-5 col-md-4 col-lg-3 social-links text-center">
    <ul class="list-inline mt-5">
        <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="#"><i class="fa fa-facebook social-icon" aria-hidden="true"></i></a></li>
        <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="#"><i class="fa fa-twitter social-icon" aria-hidden="true"></i></a></li>
        <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="#"><i class="fa fa-linkedin social-icon" aria-hidden="true"></i></a></li>
        <li class="list-inline-item"><a href="#"><i class="fa fa-envelope social-icon" aria-hidden="true"></i></a></li>
    </ul>
</div>

CSS

After we’re done with building the structure of the social media share list, let’s get to how we can display them beautifully with interesting hover effects. Copy and paste the code below in your CSS file:

.fa,
.fas {
    font-family: 'FontAwesome';
}

.social-icon {
    color: #fff;
    background: #221B14;
    font-size: 1em;
    border-radius: 50%;
    line-height: 2.2em;
    width: 2.1em;
    height: 2.1em;
    text-align: center;
    display: inline-block;
}

li:hover {
    transform: translateY(-4px);
    transition: 0.3s;
}

FontAwesome comes with the default .fa or .fas classes. We need to select those classes and set their font-family as “Font Awesome”, otherwise, the icons will show up as blank squares. 

In order to put the icons in a circular border background, we need to give a specific value to the icon font-size, line-height, and the circle width and height. First, we make the border circle by giving setting its radius as 50%. The icon font size is up to you. Just make sure that the line-height, width, and height values are about as twice as big as the font-size. That way your icon will be well placed in the center, both horizontally and vertically.

Once we ensure that every element in our list is aligned nicely, we can get to the fun part, the hover effect. We’re making each of the icons move up 4px on hover. All we need to do is select each list item add a :hover after it and write transform: translateY(-4px).Then, while this is optional, we set the transition to 0.3s to so that when we hover over the icon, it will move up gradually in a smooth way rather than move up abruptly.

There we have it. You can hover over the icons on JSFiddle below to see how they move on hover:

Thank you for reading, and let’s connect!

Thank you for reading my blog, feel free to subscribe to my email newsletter, and ask questions and give your valuable suggestions.

Regardless of your industry, communicating with your audience in a timely manner has never been more important. Over the years, we’ve developed a library of simple yet highly effective tools for transforming your website into a crisis communications resource – and we’re sharing them with you to help fight COVID-19.

This will be a series of articles with each installment focusing on a separate tool and teaching you how to implement it. In Part 1, we’ll show you how to add an alert bar to promote breaking news, updates, instructions, and other key information to your customers during a crisis situation.

Adding an Alert Bar to the Top of Your Website

Alert bars – also known as sticky bars, floating bars, notification bars, or hello bars – are a flexible, easy-to-use tool that span the whole width of a webpage. Adding an alert bar is a perfect way to capture your visitors’ attention and keep audiences about your COVID-19 response strategy. A few tips on the usability of alert bars:

• Place the alert bar on top of the page where it will always be visible
• Make sure the color of the alert bar is different than your website’s main colors so that it immediately stands out
• Once an emergency is over, turn off your alert bar so it provides a disruptive presence when used in the future

While ideal for communicating your COVID-19 news and updates, alert bars can also be used for a variety of non-emergency applications, including:

• Changes to hours of operation or contact info
• Service changes for transportation authorities
• Limited-time sales promotions or offers
• Scheduled website maintenance

Regardless of your message, an alert bar is incredibly effective because it grabs a visitor’s attention without interfering with the rest of your website content.

This tutorial walks you through how to build out and customize an alert bar on your website. Below are the HTML and CSS required.

HTML

Add the HTML snippet to your templates or webpage, preferably at the top above any navigation or header so that it has prominent positioning.

<div class="covid-alert">
    CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) ALERTS: <a href="#">Click here for the latest information</a>
</div>

CSS

Customize the background color and text/link colors by modifying the hexidecimal colors.

body {
    margin: 0px;
    min-height: 75px;
    overflow: hidden;
}

.covid-alert {
    background: #cc0202;
    color: #fff;
    width: 100%;
    padding: 15px;
    font-size: 16px;
    text-align: center;
    font-weight: bold;
    font-family: Inter, sans-serif;
}

.covid-alert a {
    color: #fff;
    text-decoration: underline;
    font-weight: 400;
}

Result

Thank you for reading, and let’s connect!

Thank you for reading my blog, feel free to subscribe to my email newsletter, and ask questions and give your valuable suggestions.

Every website should have an FAQ, and there are three big reasons why:

First, the concept of an FAQ is well-recognized across the web. The “Frequently Asked Questions” format originated in 1982 and has matured from offline to online. People know what it is, and they seek it out when they need information in a simple, easy-to-digest format. But it’s also well-understood by Google and other search engines, allowing them to index your content more effectively. As a result, just having an FAQ page can be an instant rocket booster for your SEO.

Second, an FAQ page can help improve your overall customer experience. The more helpful your FAQ content is, the fewer clicks a website visitor needs to convert. This also translates into greater productivity for you and your team by reducing the number of calls, chat sessions, or e-mails you receive with basic questions. 

Finally, having an FAQ gives your website visitors a rapid resource for information during an emergency. As we’ve seen with the COVID-19 pandemic, websites have become an essential tool for keeping audiences up to date on guidance, instructions, and other critical information. A good FAQ page can help support your strategy and should have an easy-to-use backend manager for making quick revisions about closures, hours of operation, online services, and more.

In this article, we’ll give you the code and guidance to add an efficient FAQ section on your website. We’ll be using an accordion, which allows you to feature lots of questions while “hiding” the content below each entry, making it less cumbersome. This lets your audience browse questions and view answers on the same page with a single click.

Getting Started

To build this FAQ section, we’re using Bootstrap and FontAwesome for the icons. Copy and paste the links below in the head section of your HTML file:

<!-- Bootstrap CSS -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.4.1/css/bootstrap.min.css" integrity="sha384-Vkoo8x4CGsO3+Hhxv8T/Q5PaXtkKtu6ug5TOeNV6gBiFeWPGFN9MuhOf23Q9Ifjh" crossorigin="anonymous">
<!-- FontAwesome CSS -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.css">
<!-- jQuery first, then Popper.js, then Bootstrap JS -->
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.4.1.slim.min.js" integrity="sha384-J6qa4849blE2+poT4WnyKhv5vZF5SrPo0iEjwBvKU7imGFAV0wwj1yYfoRSJoZ+n" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/popper.js@1.16.0/dist/umd/popper.min.js" integrity="sha384-Q6E9RHvbIyZFJoft+2mJbHaEWldlvI9IOYy5n3zV9zzTtmI3UksdQRVvoxMfooAo" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script src="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.4.1/js/bootstrap.min.js" integrity="sha384-wfSDF2E50Y2D1uUdj0O3uMBJnjuUD4Ih7YwaYd1iqfktj0Uod8GCExl3Og8ifwB6" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>

HTML

The main structure below is made with Bootstrap’s accordion component. Bootstrap’s accordions are simple JavaScript enabled card components that enable showing and hiding elements with a click.

They restrict the card components to only open one at a time. That means when a user clicks on a question, the answer will be revealed but when they click on another question, all other answers will be collapsed. By using the accordion-style, your users can easily scan through many questions and find the information they’re looking since there will be much less clutter on the page.

The other benefit is the users won’t have to go to another page to see the answer. In the code below, we only included a paragraph as an answer but you’re free to replace and supplement the answer content with any content you’d like such as text, images, or even videos.

<div class="text-center">
    <h2 class="mt-5 mb-5">FAQ</h2>
</div>
<section class="container my-5" id="maincontent">
    <section id="accordion">
        <a class="py-3 d-block h-100 w-100 position-relative z-index-1 pr-1 text-secondary border-top" aria-controls="faq-17" aria-expanded="false" data-toggle="collapse" href="#faq-17" role="button">
            <div class="position-relative">
                <h2 class="h4 m-0 pr-3">
                    What if I want custom gear?
                </h2>
                <div class="position-absolute top-0 right-0 h-100 d-flex align-items-center">
                    <i class="fa fa-plus"></i>
                </div>
            </div>
        </a>
        <div class="collapse" id="faq-17" style="">
            <div class="card card-body border-0 p-0">
                <p>Custom gear can be ordered through our contact form. Additional fees may apply.</p>

            </div>
        </div>

        <a class="py-3 d-block h-100 w-100 position-relative z-index-1 pr-1 text-secondary  border-top" aria-controls="faq-20" aria-expanded="false" data-toggle="collapse" href="#faq-20" role="button">
            <div class="position-relative">
                <h2 class="h4 m-0 pr-3">
                    What is the best email to reach you at?
                </h2>
                <div class="position-absolute top-0 right-0 h-100 d-flex align-items-center">
                    <i class="fa fa-plus"></i>
                </div>
            </div>
        </a>
        <div class="collapse" id="faq-20">
            <div class="card card-body border-0 p-0">
                <p>The best email for any inquiries is email@email.com!</p>
                <p>
                </p>
            </div>
        </div>

        <a class="py-3 d-block h-100 w-100 position-relative z-index-1 pr-1 text-secondary  border-top" aria-controls="faq-21" aria-expanded="false" data-toggle="collapse" href="#faq-21" role="button">
            <div class="position-relative">
                <h2 class="h4 m-0 pr-3">
                    Where can I read more about this company?
                </h2>
                <div class="position-absolute top-0 right-0 h-100 d-flex align-items-center">
                    <i class="fa fa-plus"></i>
                </div>
            </div>
        </a>
        <div class="collapse" id="faq-21">
            <div class="card card-body border-0 p-0">
                <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit!</p>
                <p>
                </p>
            </div>
        </div>

        <a class="py-3 d-block h-100 w-100 position-relative z-index-1 pr-1 text-secondary  border-top" aria-controls="faq-22" aria-expanded="false" data-toggle="collapse" href="#faq-22" role="button">
            <div class="position-relative">
                <h2 class="h4 m-0 pr-3">
                    What is the best time to call?
                </h2>
                <div class="position-absolute top-0 right-0 h-100 d-flex align-items-center">
                    <i class="fa fa-plus"></i>
                </div>
            </div>
        </a>
        <div class="collapse" id="faq-22">
            <div class="card card-body border-0 p-0">
                <p>The best time to call is 24/7! We are always available to answer any questions.</p>
                <p>
                </p>
            </div>
        </div>
    </section>
</section>

CSS

The CSS code adds colors, font type, and size. Copy and paste it in your stylesheet and change the styling to match your own website:

.text-secondary {
    color: #3d5d6f;
}

.h4,
h4 {
    font-size: 1.2rem;
}

h2 {
    color: #333;
}

.fa,
.fas {
    font-family: 'FontAwesome';
    font-weight: 400;
    font-size: 1.2rem;
    font-style: normal;
}

.right-0 {
    right: 0;
}

.top-0 {
    top: 0;
}

.h-100 {
    height: 100%;
}

a.text-secondary:focus,
a.text-secondary:hover {
    text-decoration: none;
    color: #22343e;
}

#accordion .fa-plus {
    transition: -webkit-transform 0.25s ease-in-out;
    transition: transform 0.25s ease-in-out;
    transition: transform 0.25s ease-in-out, -webkit-transform 0.25s ease-in-out;
}

#accordion a[aria-expanded=true] .fa-plus {
    -webkit-transform: rotate(45deg);
    transform: rotate(45deg);
}

And here it is. Check out the JSFiddle below and click on the FAQ questions to reveal the answer:

Thank you for reading, and let’s connect!

Thank you for reading my blog, feel free to subscribe to my email newsletter, and ask questions and give your valuable suggestions.

All too often, the path for visitors is less than straight – and that impacts everything from page bounce rates to the overall customer experience.

You only have a few seconds to grab a user’s attention and guide them to the next step in their journey. That’s why Quick Links are a great way to connect your visitors to the most frequented or highly trafficked pages on your website. They’re simple, intuitive, visual, and more clickable than your average link. 

By utilizing Bootstrap’s column structure capabilities, you can dynamically handle the styling of your Quick Links, making it easy to add new links in a well-organized grid that’s easy on the eyes.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you how easy it is to create a Quick Links section using Bootstrap, HTML, and CSS.

Getting Started

Since we’ll be using Bootstrap, copy and paste the Bootstrap CDN links below in the head section of your HTML file:

<!-- Bootstrap CSS -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.4.1/css/bootstrap.min.css" integrity="sha384-Vkoo8x4CGsO3+Hhxv8T/Q5PaXtkKtu6ug5TOeNV6gBiFeWPGFN9MuhOf23Q9Ifjh" crossorigin="anonymous">
<!-- jQuery first, then Popper.js, then Bootstrap JS -->
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.4.1.slim.min.js" integrity="sha384-J6qa4849blE2+poT4WnyKhv5vZF5SrPo0iEjwBvKU7imGFAV0wwj1yYfoRSJoZ+n" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/popper.js@1.16.0/dist/umd/popper.min.js" integrity="sha384-Q6E9RHvbIyZFJoft+2mJbHaEWldlvI9IOYy5n3zV9zzTtmI3UksdQRVvoxMfooAo" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script src="https://stackpath.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.4.1/js/bootstrap.min.js" integrity="sha384-wfSDF2E50Y2D1uUdj0O3uMBJnjuUD4Ih7YwaYd1iqfktj0Uod8GCExl3Og8ifwB6" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>

HTML

Below, we have a Bootstrap grid structure and 8 boxes for links. Each box is sized using Bootstrap’s column structure and have the classnames col-xl-3 col-lg-4 col-sm-6 col-12 meaning in large desktop screens, there will be four boxes laid out horizontally, in regular desktop screens three, on smaller screens two and on mobile screens, each column will take up the entire width.

The total width is made up of 12-columns. You can adjust the number of columns by changing the numbers, for example, if you’d like to display only three columns on large screens, you can change the col-xl-3 value to col-xl-4 and have three equal-width columns across.

<section class="section mt-5 mb-5">
    <div class="container">
        <div class="row">
            <div class="col-12">
                <h1 class="text-center mb-5">More Information</h1>

                <div class="row">
                    <div class="col-xl-3 col-lg-4 col-sm-6 col-12">
                        <div class="box-information mx-0">
                            <a href="">Asteroid <br>packages</a>
                        </div>
                        <!-- .box-information-->
                    </div>

                    <div class="col-xl-3 col-lg-4 col-sm-6 col-12">
                        <div class="box-information mx-0">
                            <a href="">Space excursions</a>
                        </div>
                        <!-- .box-information-->
                    </div>

                    <div class="col-xl-3 col-lg-4 col-sm-6 col-12">
                        <div class="box-information mx-0">
                            <a href="">Five-star & <br>menu options</a>
                        </div>
                        <!-- .box-information-->
                    </div>

                    <div class="col-xl-3 col-lg-4 col-sm-6 col-12">
                        <div class="box-information mx-0">
                            <a href="">Orbital entertainment</a>
                        </div>
                        <!-- .box-information-->
                    </div>

                    <div class="col-xl-3 col-lg-4 col-sm-6 col-12">
                        <div class="box-information mx-0">
                            <a href="">SpaceJet Flex <br>ticketing</a>
                        </div>
                        <!-- .box-information-->
                    </div>

                    <div class="col-xl-3 col-lg-4 col-sm-6 col-12">
                        <div class="box-information mx-0">
                            <a href="">Shuttle <br>Locations</a>
                        </div>
                        <!-- .box-information-->
                    </div>

                    <div class="col-xl-3 col-lg-4 col-sm-6 col-12">
                        <div class="box-information mx-0">
                            <a href="">Transit Services</a>
                        </div>
                        <!-- .box-information-->
                    </div>

                    <div class="col-xl-3 col-lg-4 col-sm-6 col-12">
                        <div class="box-information mx-0">
                            <a href="">JetPet program</a>
                        </div>
                        <!-- .box-information-->
                    </div>
                </div>
                <!-- .row-->
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
</section>

CSS

Customize the background color, hover color, and text/link colors by modifying the hex values.

.section h1 {
    font-size: 37px;
}

.section .box-information {
    height: 115px;
    border: 1px solid #dbdbdb;
    margin-bottom: 30px;
}

.section .box-information a {
    font-size: 21px;
    line-height: 29px;
    font-weight: 600;
    padding-left: 20px;
    padding-right: 20px;
    display: flex;
    align-items: center;
    height: 100%;
    position: relative;
    color: #222;
    border-bottom: 4px solid #d60e96;
}

.section .box-information a:hover {
    transition: all, 0.4s, ease;
    background: linear-gradient(135deg, #ff9024 1%, #ff705e 44%, #ff5a85 55%, #ff2cd6 100%);
    color: #fff;
    text-decoration: none;
}


/* Media Queries */

@media (min-width: 768px) {
    .section h1 {
        margin-bottom: 8px;
    }
}

@media (min-width: 992px) {
    .section .box-information {
        margin: 0 5px 30px;
    }
}

@media (max-width: 767.98px) {
    .section .box-information {
        height: 85px;
        margin-bottom: 15px;
    }
}

And there it is! Check out the JSFiddle below to see how the quick links look before committing to its use.

Thank you for reading, and let’s connect!

Thank you for reading my blog, feel free to subscribe to my email newsletter, and ask questions and give your valuable suggestions.

Video remains one of the most popular forms of content marketing around — and it’s certainly one of the most beneficial for a website.

Here are some of the key benefits to adding video to your website: 

– Increased engagement. By the very nature of the video, it invites engagement. Study after study has shown that people are more likely to watch a video about a topic rather than read a blog about the same topic. People simply love visual elements — especially if those elements move and capture a viewer’s attention. 

– Excellent ROI. Video content elements aren’t always a priority for content marketing teams, but organizations that use them swear they’re worth it. Over 83% of businesses report that their investment in video elements are worth it.

– Improved SEO. This goes back to our first point. Videos naturally increase the time people spend on your website. Longer exposure builds trust with your website — and not just for the human viewers engaging with your content. Longer times and lower bounce rates tell Google that your site probably has viable, relevant content to certain queries. Some studies have indicated that websites are 53% more likely to show up on page one results if they have embedded videos.

– Boosted conversions. Studies have shown that putting a video on a landing page can improve conversions by nearly 80%.

Here’s how to create a popup video element utilizing Magnific Popup is a responsive lightbox:

So, We start with the coding of HTML

HTML

The HTML uses just some default bootstrap classes, including the Bootstrap responsive embed classes:

<div class="container">
  <div class="row">
    <div class="col-sm-12">
      <h1 class="text-center display-4 mt-5">
        Solodev Web Design & Content Management Software
      </h1>
      <p class="text-center mt-5">
        <a href="#headerPopup" id="headerVideoLink" target="_blank" class="btn btn-outline-danger popup-modal">See Why Solodev WXP</a>
      </p>
      <div id="headerPopup" class="mfp-hide embed-responsive embed-responsive-21by9">
        <iframe class="embed-responsive-item" width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qN3OueBm9F4?autoplay=1" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
      </div>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

CSS

We only need some CSS to control how the embed and popup overlay interact:

#headerPopup{
  width:75%;
  margin:0 auto;
}

#headerPopup iframe{
  width:100%;
  margin:0 auto;
}

JS

Some simple JavaScript that initializes Magnific Popup on click:

$(document).ready(function() {
  $('#headerVideoLink').magnificPopup({
    type:'inline',
    midClick: true // Allow opening popup on middle mouse click. Always set it to true if you don't provide alternative source in href.
  });         
});

Want to see how it all looks before committing to its use? Check out the JSFiddle below.

Thank you for reading, and let’s connect!

Thank you for reading my blog, feel free to subscribe to my email newsletter, and ask questions and give your valuable suggestions.

The internet has a lot of tools developed by the community to ease our lives as front-end devs. Here is a list of my favourite go-to tools that have personally helped me with my work.

1. EnjoyCSS

To be honest, although I do a lot of front-end dev, I am too much good with CSS but instead of doing custom CSS styles I prefer this tool to work smart & fast. This very simple tool is my savior in hard times. It lets you design your elements with a simple UI and gives you the relevant CSS output.

2. Prettier Playground

Prettier is a code formatter with support for JavaScript, including ES2017, JSX, Angular, Vue, Flow, TypeScript, and more. It removes your original styling and replaces it with standard consistent styling adhering to the best practices. This handy tool has been very popular in our IDEs, but it also has an online version — a playground where you can prettify your code.

3. Postman

Postman is a tool that has been in my developer toolset since the beginning of my dev career. It has been very useful to check my endpoints in the back end. It has definitely earned its position on this list. Endpoints such as GET, POST, DELETE, OPTIONS, and PUT are included. You should definitely use this tool.

4. StackBlitz

StackBlitz allows you to set up your Angular, React, Ionic, TypeScript, RxJS, Svelte, and other JavaScript frameworks with just one click. You can start coding in less than five seconds because of this handy feature.

I have found this tool quite useful, especially when trying out sample code snippets or libraries online. You would not have the time to create a new project from scratch just to try out a new feature. With StackBlitz, you can simply try out the new NPM package in less than a few minutes without creating a project locally from scratch. Nice, right?

5. Bit.dev

One basic principle of software development is code reusability. This enables you to reduce your development, as you’re not required to build components from scratch.

This is exactly what Bit.dev does. It allows you to share reusable code components and snippets and thereby allows you to reduce your overhead and speed up your development process.

It also allows for components to be shared among teams, which lets your team collaborate with others.

Components are your design system. Build better together.

Bit.dev

As quoted by Bit.dev, this component hub is also suitable to be used as a design system builder. By allowing your team of developers and designers to work together, Bit.dev is the perfect tool for building a design system from scratch.

Bit.dev now supports React, Vue, Angular, Node, and other JavaScript frameworks.

6. CanIUse

This online tool can be very handy, as it allows you to find out whether the feature you are implementing is compatible with the browsers you are expecting to cater to.

I have had many experiences where some of the functionalities used in my application were not supported on other browsers. I learned the hard way that you have to check for browser compatibility. One instance was that a particular feature wasn’t supported in my portfolio project on Safari devices. I figured that out a few months after deployment.

To see this in action, let’s check which browsers support the WebP image format.

As you can see, Safari and IE are not currently supported. This means you should have a fallback option for incompatible browsers. The code snippet below is the most commonly used implementation of WebP images to support all browsers.

Conclusion

I have tried to fit the best tools I have encountered in my dev career. If you think there are any worthy additions, please do comment below. Happy coding!

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But there are times when a little extra money on the side is much appreciated. Be it because you are still in college or university, you want to start to work for yourself rather than for others, you have a child and want to spend more time with them, you still need to make some cash or you’re doing it just for the fun of it.

Here is the good thing: As a programmer, you have everything you need to increase the cash flow. Your brain, your laptop — that’s all you really need. Interested? Check out the following strategies and decide what fits best for you.

Start to Freelance

Freelancing can be a great thing. No (real) boss, a tremendous amount of projects to choose from, high daily rates for specialists, as many holidays as you want…the list goes on.

However, it requires a lot of discipline and effort to find clients and projects. The biggest advantage to me is that you can start freelancing next to your permanent job, be it in the evenings or on the weekends.

Platforms like Upwork or Fiverr seem to offer a lot of opportunities especially for doing things on the sidelines but be aware of the competition over there.

Additionally, rates are pretty low so I would only recommend this if you just want to dip your toes into the water for the first time or are satisfied with only a little bit of additional income.

A better strategy would be to work on your LinkedIn profile, contact recruiters and past clients from your network, go to conferences and meetups, and look out for platforms that match up remote workers with companies.

Participate in Coding Contests

Yes, this is a real thing. There are dedicated platforms that organize programming contests for real prize money.

One of the biggest is Topcoder with more than a million members and a lot of competitions. They have three main focus areas: design, data science, and development.

You would work on real projects initiated by more than 2000 companies or single matches against opponents. Fun is guaranteed, so is a fast learning curve.

And other lots of sites available like, CodersRank, HackerRank, CodeChef and lot more.

If you like challenges, this might be something for you. However, there is competition and you cannot count on a steady flow of income so make this one a lower priority.

Start to Write

In my opinion, writing still is one of the best ways to reach a broad audience. There are plenty of opportunities for you to start writing and make money out of it:

• You can start your own blog and monetize with ad revenue.
• You can write books or ebooks and sell them online.
• You can write on platforms such as Medium and participate in their Partnership Programs.
• You can write guest posts for established sites like CSS-Tricks that will pay you a fixed amount if your article is accepted.

There is nothing wrong with trying things out and seeing how people react to what you write.

However, some things that you should consider are to choose a niche where you have a special interest in (keeps you motivated), to keep writing consistently (it takes time to get recognized), and to constantly improve your writing skills to deliver high-quality articles (people will thank you, there is more than enough low-quality stuff out there….).

Record and Sell Online Courses

Being able to teach people online is one of the best things that emerged over the last decade and will be around for at least another decade if not longer, in my opinion.

The benefits for both students and teachers are massive. Students can choose from a wide range of offerings and learn on their own schedule. Teachers reach 1000s or 100,000s of people with their content.

If you have experience with programming, ideally expert knowledge in a language like JavaScript or Python (or any other popular language or framework) or even in niche penetration testing and you are able to and have fun teaching others, creating online courses could be your thing.

There are many platforms available for your courses to be published on. Udemy, for example, has round about 75 million visitors a month and anyone can join them.

Other platforms like Frontend Masters or Pluralsight are invite-only but if you have a reputation or a good network — why not?

However, there are a few things to consider when recording your courses:

• Invest in good gear: good microphone and webcam are a must!
• High-quality content is king. Competition is increasing steadily so you need to convince people that you can teach them valuable things.
• Practice speaking loud and clearly.
• Always rework your recordings.
• Create additional material like a GitHub project, presentations, coding examples…

And even if it seems appealing that once a course has been recorded and people start buying it, it will create passive income for you, that is only true to some extent. The best teachers constantly update their courses because technology changes all the time!

Conclusion

There is one last thing I want to tell you that is relevant for each of the above options:

Consistency is king.

No matter what you start — pursue it, stick with it. Most things won’t work overnight. It is hard work, you have to invest time and energy. 99% give up too early. Be among the 1% that are successful!

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The valid domain name must satisfy the following conditions:

1. The domain name should be a-z or A-Z or 0-9 and hyphen (-).
2. The domain name should be between 1 and 63 characters long.
3. The domain name should not start or end with a hyphen(-) (e.g. -learnbeginner.com or learnbeginner.com-).
4. The last TLD (Top level domain) must be at least two characters and a maximum of 6 characters.
5. The domain name can be a subdomain (e.g. hindi.learnbeginner.com).

Examples:

Input: str = “hindi.learnbeginner.com”
Output: true
Explanation:
The given string satisfies all the above-mentioned conditions. Therefore it is a valid domain name.

Input: str = “-learnbeginner.com”
Output: false
Explanation:
The given string starts with a hyphen (-). Therefore it is not a valid domain name.

Input: str = “learnbeginner.o”
Output: false
Explanation:
The given string has the last TLD of 1 character, the last TLD must be between 2 and 6 characters long. Therefore it is not a valid domain name.

Input: str = “.com”
Output: false
Explanation:
The given string doesn’t start with a-z or A-Z or 0-9. Therefore it is not a valid domain name.

Approach: The idea is to use Regular Expression to solve this problem. The following steps can be followed to compute the answer:

1. Get the String.
2. Create a regular expression to check valid domain name as mentioned below:
   
   regex = “^((?!-)[A-Za-z0-9-]{1, 63}(?<!-)\.)+[A-Za-z]{2, 6}$”
   
   Where:
   ^ represents the starting of the string.
   ( represents the starting of the group.
   (?!-) represents the string should not start with a hyphen (-).
   [A-Za-z0-9-]{1, 63} represents the domain name should be a-z or A-Z or 0-9 and hyphen (-) between 1 and 63 characters long.
   (?<!-) represents the string should not end with a hyphen (-).
   \\. represents the string followed by a dot.
   )+ represents the ending of the group, this group must appear at least 1 time, but allowed multiple times for subdomain.
   [A-Za-z]{2, 6} represents the TLD must be A-Z or a-z between 2 and 6 characters long.
   $ represents the ending of the string.
   
3. Match the given string with the regular expression. In Java, this can be done by using Pattern.matcher().
4. Return true if the string matches with the given regular expression, else return false.

// Java program to validate domain name. 
// using regular expression. 
  
import java.util.regex.*; 
class GFG { 
  
    // Function to validate domain name. 
    public static boolean isValidDomain(String str) 
    { 
        // Regex to check valid domain name. 
        String regex = "^((?!-)[A-Za-z0-9-]"
                       + "{1,63}(?<!-)\\.)"
                       + "+[A-Za-z]{2,6}"; 
  
        // Compile the ReGex 
        Pattern p = Pattern.compile(regex); 
  
        // If the string is empty 
        // return false 
        if (str == null) { 
            return false; 
        } 
  
        // Pattern class contains matcher() 
        // method to find the matching 
        // between the given string and 
        // regular expression. 
        Matcher m = p.matcher(str); 
  
        // Return if the string 
        // matched the ReGex 
        return m.matches(); 
    } 
  
    // Driver Code 
    public static void main(String args[]) 
    { 
        // Test Case 1: 
        String str1 = "learnbeginner.com"; 
        System.out.println(isValidDomain(str1)); 
  
        // Test Case 2: 
        String str2 = "hindi.learnbeginner.com"; 
        System.out.println(isValidDomain(str2)); 
  
        // Test Case 3: 
        String str3 = "-learnbeginner.com"; 
        System.out.println(isValidDomain(str3)); 
  
        // Test Case 4: 
        String str4 = "learnbeginner.o"; 
        System.out.println(isValidDomain(str4)); 
  
        // Test Case 5: 
        String str5 = ".com"; 
        System.out.println(isValidDomain(str5)); 
    } 
}

Output:

true
true
false
false
false

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As we all know JS stands for JavaScript.

It is a lightweight, cross-platform, an interpreted scripting language. It is well-known for the development of web pages, many non-browser environments also use it.

JavaScript can be used for Client-side developments as well as Server-side developments. JavaScript contains a standard library of objects, like Array, Date, and Math, and a core set of language elements like operators, control structures, and statements.

JS version release year chart:

JS Structure:

<script type="text/javascript">  
    // Your javaScript code 
</script>

Characteristics of JS:

• Dynamically typed languages: This language can receive different data types over time.
• Case Sensitive Format: JavaScript is case sensitive so you have to aware of that.
• Light Weight: It is so lightweight, and all the browsers are supported by JS.
• Handling: Handling events is the main feature of JS, it can easily response on the website when the user tries to perform any operation.
• Interpreter Centered: Java Script is built with interpreter centered that allows the user to get the output without the use of the compiler.

Advantages of JS:

• JavaScript executed on the user’s browsers not on the webserver so it saves bandwidth and load on the webserver.
• The JavaScript language is easy to learn it offers syntax that is close to the English language.
• In javaScript, if you ever need any certain feature then you can write it by yourself and use an add-on like Greasemonkey to implement it on the web page.
• It doe’s not require compilation process so no compiler is needed user’s browsers do the task.
• JavaScript is easy to debug, and there are lots of frameworks available that you can use and become master on that.

Disadvantages of JS:

• JavaScript codes are visible to the user so the user can place some code into the site that compromises the security of data over the website. That will be a security issue.
• All browsers interpret JavaScript that is correct but they interpret differently to each other.
• It only supports single inheritance, so in few cases may require the object-oriented language characteristic.
• A single error in code can totally stop the website’s code rendering on the website.
• JavaScript stores number as a 64-bit floating-point number but operators operate on 32-bit bitwise operands.

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In modern browsers, we can use the font-display function.

Font Display options

• auto: This is the default value, and leaves the decision up to the browser, in most cases, it will be block
• block: This tells the browser to hide the text until the font has fully loaded. This is the flash you see when it swaps on some sites.
• swap: Swap, as the name suggests, will start with the fallback font and swap once the font is loaded.
• fallback: This is a compromise between auto and swap. It will start by hiding the font for a brief period and then go into the swap routine.
• optional: This is much like the fallback method. It tells the browser to start with a hide and then transition into the fallback font. The nice option here is that it allows the browser to see if the custom font is even used at all. If, for instance, a slow connection appears, they are less likely even to see the custom font.

How to use font-display

As seen in the previous example, we can use it as such:

h1 {
  font-size: 40px;
  font-family: 'Amatic SC', cursive;
  font-display: swap;
}

What is a fallback font?

So we talked about fallback fonts quite a bit, but what are those even?

h1 {
  font-family: 'Amatic SC', 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;
}

So in the above example, the custom font is Amatic SC the system font is Times New Roman or Times, so in the case of using swap, we will first see Times New Roman and when the custom font has loaded it will show Amatic SC.

Browser Support

Not all browsers support this, but I encourage you to use font-display. The browsers that don’t support it will decide for you.

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Finding your Google Font

To find a cool font, we can go to the Google Font library and pick one we like.

Once you have found the one you want, open it up you will see the whole set’s letters and Styles. Google Fonts will allow you to include on our more styles on your website. In my case, I’m using Amatic SC Bold. Click the Select this style button for each style you want. You will see a side menu on the right. It will have a Review and Embed section; in the embed, we can get the code.

Embedding the Google Font in your website

There are two ways of embedding the font into your website

• <link> attribute; this sets a link like any external stylesheet
• @import this imports it directly in the CSS

The Google Fonts website will also show you which font-family rule you must apply to each element you want to have this specific font.

Should I use Link or @import?

This is a question that keeps floating around on the internet, and Steve Souders did an excellent job of comparing the two. As his article title suggests,is the best way to go according to him and Yahoo.

Using the Google Font on our website

<head>
  <link
    href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Amatic+SC:wght@700&display=swap"
    rel="stylesheet"
  />
</head>

We embed the Google Font in the head of our HTML file using the following code. This is the code you get from Google Fonts.

Then in our CSS we can do the following:

h1 {
  font-family: 'Amatic SC', cursive;
}

It’s important to use the name as stated in Google Fonts website.

What to think about

So important to note when using Google Fonts, they tend to load slowly, the more you use, the more load time it will add. And Google itself will not like that very much. My suggestion is that you keep it to one custom font. We can use font-display: swap to not interfere with the load, more on this in another article!

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After lots of research & case studies, some question coming into screen related to programming. So I decide to make one simple and easy RoadMap of Coding for beginners.

Frequently asked questions of programming.

• Should I learn Python or JavaScript?
• Data Science vs Web Development vs App Development, which one should I choose?
• Why should I learn Web Development when there are popular Web Developing tools like Wix & WordPress?
• Is NodeJS better than Django(python)?
• All these points made me confused ? about what should I do?

So before starting with the questions Here’s something about who I am and What makes me qualified to answer such questions?

I’m a gradiot (an idiot who did his graduation and who has wasted money and time getting zero skills from college while there’s an actual opportunity to learn everything online for free).

Yes, I am a CS graduate. During my college years I came across multiple technologies from PHP to JavaScript, Python, flutter you name it. I tried to learn and understand various technologies not due to college curriculum, but due to my desire to learn more and google ?.

Should I learn Python or JavaScript?

This is the Clash of the Titans!!

To understand the above question correctly, it is important to know more about JavaScript and Python as well as the reasons for their popularity. So let’s start with JavaScript first!

Why is JavaScript so popular?

JavaScript is a high-level, interpreted programming language that is most popular as a scripting language for Web pages. This means that if a web page is not just sitting there and displaying static information, then JavaScript is probably behind that. And that’s not all, there are even advanced versions of the language such as Node.js which is used for server-side scripting.

JavaScript is an extremely popular language. And if my word doesn’t convince you, here are the facts!!!

According to StackOverflow Developer Survey Results 2019, JavaScript is the most commonly used programming language, used by 69.7 % of professional developers. And this is a title it has claimed the past seven years in a row.

In addition to that, the most commonly used Web Frameworks are jQuery, Angular.js, and React.js (All of which incidentally use JavaScript). Now if that doesn’t demonstrate JavaScript’s popularity, what does?!

So now the question arises… Why is JavaScript so popular?

Well, some of the reasons for that are:

• JavaScript is used both on the client-side and the server-side. This means that it runs practically everywhere from browsers to powerful servers. This gives it an edge over other languages that are not so versatile.
• JavaScript implements multiple paradigms ranging from OOP to procedural. This allows developers the freedom to experiment as they want.
• JavaScript has a large community of enthusiasts that actively back the language. Without this, it would have been tough for JavaScript to establish the number one position it has.

Can Python Replace JavaScript in Popularity?

Python is an interpreted, general-purpose programming language that has multiple uses ranging from web applications to data analysis. This means that Python can be seen in complex websites such as YouTube or Instagram, in cloud computing projects such as OpenStack, in Machine Learning, etc. (basically everywhere!)

Python has been steadily increasing in popularity so much so that it is the fastest-growing major programming language today according to StackOverflow Developer Survey Results 2019.

This is further demonstrated by this Google Trends chart showing the growth of Python as compared to JavaScript over the last 5 years:

As shown in the above data, Python recorded increased search interest as compared to JavaScript for the first time around November 2017 and it has maintained its lead ever since. This shows remarkable growth in Python as compared to 5 years ago.

In fact, Stack Overflow created a model to forecast its future traffic based on a model called STL and guess what…the prediction is that Python could potentially stay in the lead against JavaScript till 2020 at the least.

All these trends indicate that Python is extremely popular and getting even more popular with time. Some of the reasons for this incredible performance of Python are given as follows:

• Python is Easy To Use
  No one likes excessively complicated things and that’s one of the reasons for the growing popularity of Python. It is simple with an easily readable syntax and that makes it well-loved by both seasoned developers and experimental students. In addition to this, Python is also supremely efficient. It allows developers to complete more work using fewer lines of code. With all these advantages, what’s not to love?!!
• Python has a Supportive Community
  Python has been around since 1990 and that is ample time to create a supportive community. Because of this support, Python learners can easily improve their knowledge, which only leads to increasing popularity. And that’s not all! There are many resources available online to promote Python, ranging from official documentation to YouTube tutorials that are a big help for learners.
• Python has multiple Libraries and Frameworks
  Python is already quite popular and consequently, it has hundreds of different libraries and frameworks that can be used by developers. These libraries and frameworks are really useful in saving time which in turn makes Python even more popular. Some of the popular libraries of Python are NumPy and SciPy for scientific computing, Django for web development, BeautifulSoup for XML and HTML parsing, sci-kit-learn for machine learning applications, nltk for natural language processing, etc.

Data Science vs Web Development vs App Development, which one should I choose?

If you are reading this, you might be knowing very well the pay of a Data Science and ML engineers as compared to a Web Developer or an App Developer.

All this huge burst about AI is the future and might very well draw you towards thinking that even I should learn Data Science for a huge package and a job opportunity.

Here’s the ugly truth, it’s hard to get a job in Data Science since companies will prefer a person having the Domain knowledge and usually majoring in Mathematics and statistics, you should at least have Masters or Ph.D. for getting a job in this field.

For Example – A fintech company will choose a CFA or Finance major rather than a CS engineer and teach them Data Science since python is easy and it’s the efficiency that counts. So, the person with finance knowledge is well suited for the job. However, As I said It’s hard to get a job, not impossible.

Some CS grads have got into data science and are earning handful. All you need to learn is python and some libraries and mathematics.

Now, As I said before, data science is a service-based skill you are not technically a developer you’re an engineer who is figuring out solutions for a given problem.

On the other hand, being a web or app developer means developing products. You can create applications and websites and release them to earn using ad revenue, selling them, or even creating and maintain them for companies that way you don’t have to rely on companies to give your services.

I suggest you to first, learn web development and then Data Science while earning through your web dev skills. That way you will have a decent skill set, portfolio, and a budget to start experimenting into the world of machine learning where processing power is everything.

Why should I learn Web Development when there are popular Web Developing tools like Wix & WordPress?

WordPress and Wix are popular content management systems.

They are best for creating small websites and blogs. Yes, they made it easy for anyone to create websites but that doesn’t mean web developers’ jobs are gone.

You can’t create Amazon, Netflix, Twitter, and large fully functional websites using them. So, if you are trying to be a low-level web developer, you can pretty much say goodbye to developing websites.

You can google top trending tech skills in demand and you will find AngularJS, ReactJS, NodeJS developers in demand.

Not only websites but you can also create native applications for android and iOS using React-native and games using ThreeJS a JavaScript library.

Possibilities are endless, all you have to do is START. I’ll suggest you start with MERN stack just my personal opinion but you can research and pick whichever stack you like.

Is NodeJS better than Django(python)?

The two best tools which are quite helpful in building a powerful web application in Node JS and Django.

Compared to Node.js, Django is a beginner-friendly tool, if compared to Node.js. The main reason behind putting this statement is the programming language upon which the frameworks are based.

You will get a comfortable experience in both JavaScript & Python, but for an impressive, stable, scalable work you can use Django over Node.JS.

Node JS and Django, they both are the free framework to use! Moreover, you will not face any kind of licensing issues as they both are open-source software in web development application industry.

Both web development frameworks are great to create web applications; however, there use cases makes them different from each other.

For example, Django is an excellent choice for your web development project when you use a relational database. The presence of extensive external libraries and top-class security build the web application project quickly.

In the case of Node JS, whenever you require an asynchronous stack, a great performance, and web building features from scratch for the server-side, Node.js helps you a lot and does the heavy client-side processing.

Here are some of the big fishes and the backend tech they preferred for their development.

Uber, Twitter, eBay, Netflix, Duckduckgo, PayPal, LinkedIn, Trello, Mozilla, GoDaddy are some big names using Node JS as their backend technology.

Pinterest, Instagram, Eventbrite, Sentry, Zapier, Dropbox, Spotify, YouTube are also some big names using Django as their backend technology.

Notice the trend here, Uber, Twitter, and Netflix are some of the applications that priorities performance whereas Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube requires a lot of space and thus scalability is their priority.

So, the choice is upon you what you want scalability or performance.

All these points made me confused ? about what should I do?

First, ask yourself what do you enjoy doing. Do you like to create games, apps, websites? What intrigues you? What sparks your curiosity? I have listed some of the questions depending upon the choices you make.

• GAME Development – If you want to get into the game development industry, you will have to learn C# or C++ for hardcore game development. You can create web games using ThreeJS or any other library but you won’t be exactly a game developer.

• App Development – You can create an application using JAVA for android or Swift for iOS. Further, you can use React-native (by Facebook Inc) or Flutter (by Google Inc) for creating apps that would run on both android and iOS. If you want web apps, you can use Ionic as well.

• Web Development – There are many stacks (a set of technologies that suits well with each other) you could choose to learn like MEAN stack, MERN stack, LAMP stack, etc. You can create a website from WordPress or Wix as well. Develop an interactive portfolio for yourself with the stack you find interesting.

• Data Science, ML, AI – Start with python and take courses on data science, mathematics, machine learning, from popular websites like Udemy or LinkedIn. Start competing on Kaggle and maintain your Kaggle profile.
  
  Second, do yourself a favor and start learning algorithms and data structures in the language that fits your answer to the above question.
  
  Third, Start applying for internships with some projects and try to make an exemplary portfolio. Maintain your GitHub, LeetCode or HackerRank or any other profiles which you can include on your resume.