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Web Development

Weekly recap: Best IT resolutions for 2013, design tips for developers, and more…

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EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on IT resolutions for 2013, design tips for developers, and more. I hope you find them useful:

2012: The year in application development
In 2012, application development experienced some notable shifts. HTML5 became even more popular, mobile app development finally went mainstream in the business world, and much more. …

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Top 8 tech stories of 2012 for IT pros and developers

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EducationWhen you look back at 2012, what stands out in your mind? As an IT professional, what are you going to remember the most about the past year? As I think back on 2012, several stories and events really stand out as shaping the year (and possibly beyond) from a business technology perspective.

While there are too many stories to list, I looked back over the past year and pulled out the news, stories, and events that were of significant importance to IT pros and developers in 2012. Feel free to add anything I missed in the comments, but here’s my list of the top IT stories of 2012: …

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Want to cut your development time in half?

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ProductivityHere are a few questions for you as we head into 2013: Do you want to cut your development time in half? Do you want to automate mobile development? Do you want a way to quickly build new features into your current software?

If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, here’s a video you’ll want to watch. This short, 2-minute video explains how m-Power answers each one of the questions above, and even walks you through a sample build process. I hope you enjoy it.

Weekly recap: 5 ways to prepare IT to drive productivity, BYOD risks, and more…

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EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on IT productivity, things you need to know about javascript, and more. I hope you find them useful:

10 things you need to know about Javascript
If you do any type of web development, you’ll likely need to understand Javascript. This article lists some of the most important aspects of Javascript that any developer must understand. …

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5 most common IT money-wasters

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Save MoneyTell me, is your IT department wasting your company’s money? That’s a tricky question to answer. Nobody wants to waste money, yet despite best efforts to the contrary, many IT departments unwittingly waste money every day.

How so? While I couldn’t possibly cover every way in one blog post, I’ve put together a list of some of the most common ways that IT departments waste money. If you’re looking for ways your company can save money, start by investigating these 5 areas: …

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5 new skills necessary for modern development

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EducationThe rapid rate at which technology evolves is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, new tech trends give companies new opportunities to improve their business. For instance, the rise of mobile apps is already helping all types of companies in many different ways.

On the other hand, keeping up with new tech trends is no easy task, as new tech trends require a new set of skills. For example, take a look at the ever-changing world of application development. Business application development is becoming more complex, driven in part by recent trends like the web, mobile, and the cloud. While these new trends expand business opportunities, they also require an ever-expanding skill-set.

How exactly have these new tech trends changed application development? What new skills are required for modern application development? To help you understand how development has evolved, I’ve created a list of 5 new skills that are essential for modern application development. …

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Here’s a new way to save time on development (and more)

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Save TimeWhat if you could save time on development, gain more control over your applications, and make your users happier…all at the same time? Sound interesting? Let’s learn how you can make this happen.

I’m going to tell you about a relatively new feature called “user rights and privileges”. It might sound technical (and a little boring), but it’s insanely useful. What is it? Here’s a basic definition: It lets you assign custom variables to any user, and then use those variables in any application.

Does that sound too technical? Here’s another way to look at it: Think of it like a data table or a spreadsheet that contains a list of user names. You can create and assign any variable to any user, and then access those variables anywhere. For example, take a look at the image below: …

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How one IT department completed a 1,000-hour project in 300 hours

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Save TimeHere’s an inspirational story for any IT department facing impossible project deadlines. It’s about an IT department that had a huge web development project with an immovable deadline…but faced one big problem.

They weren’t sure how they were going to do it.

They estimated that it would take 1,000 hours, but with only one web developer on staff, completing the project on time seemed impossible.

What did they do? They found a way to let the rest of their staff develop web applications, and managed to complete the project in just 300 hours. To learn how, you can read the whole story right here.

7 things to look for in a web application development tool or IDE

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EducationThe difference between good and bad development tools/IDEs is like night and day. A good development tool will reduce development time and turn anyone into a web developer. A bad development tool will cause headaches, restrict your options, and even harm the company.

With so many options, how can you distinguish the good from the bad before you buy?

The key to success is finding the development tool or IDE that provides the most options and the fewest limitations. While that decision is largely based on your company’s needs, here are 7 essential elements that you should look for in any development tool or IDE: …

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Build a web (and mobile) app in 30 minutes without programming

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ProductivityIf your company plans on building mobile apps this coming year, or if you just wish there was a faster way to develop enterprise web applications, you should really try the newly revamped m-Power Trial.

The m-Power Trial was recently updated, and now also lets you build a mobile web app. In roughly 30 minutes, you will create an enterprise web app, along with tablet and smartphone versions of that web app. The best part: Everything is done without programming!

You can try it here: m-Power Trial

How to build a secure customer portal in one day

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Save TimeBuilding a customer/vendor portal (also called an extranet) is a tricky task. Typically, one portal must display different data to different users. If one user logs in and sees data that they shouldn’t see, you’ll have a big problem on your hands.

For example, suppose that your product pricing varies by customer. If one customer logs in and sees pricing meant for another customer, you’ll have problems. Or, suppose that your customers have different levels of users which require different permissions. For example, the CEO must see different data than the salespeople, and the salespeople from one region must see different data than those from another region, and so on…

All in all, it’s an extremely complicated application. Fortunately, extranets are actually easy to create with the right process. If you’re planning on building an extranet/portal, this video explains how to build a secure extranet in one day.

Turning COBOL programmers into web developers

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Save MoneyBack in 1997, Gartner estimated that 80% of the world’s businesses ran on COBOL. These days, the numbers are a little more uncertain. Some say that number is down to 70%. I’ve also seen surveys that put it right around 62%. Regardless of the figures, one thing is clear: COBOL is still widely used in many businesses.

However, many of these businesses find themselves in a tough situation. They have their COBOL programmers on staff to maintain their current apps. But, they don’t have the skills necessary to build modern web apps, and can’t afford to bring in new employees. …

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3 questions to ask before buying a development tool

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ProductivityOpinions of development tools vary widely in the IT industry. Some people swear by them. They couldn’t imagine working without a development tool. Others refuse to use them. Typically, these people have had a bad experience with a development tool, and assume that all development tools are alike. (Hint: They’re not.)

A good development tool can drastically increase productivity and let anyone in your office develop web applications. A bad development tool can be a waste of time and money. How do you know which is good and which is bad? Ask the right questions. Here are 3 of the most important questions to ask before buying a development tool: …

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Build 2 web apps in 45 minutes (without programming)

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Save TimeCreating enterprise web applications doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming. We’ve set up a free m-Power trial that will walk you through the process of developing enterprise level web applications without programming. The on-screen tour will guide you through the creation of a simple web application, and the whole process should only take about 5-10 minutes.

Get started right here>>