How To Choose The Right IT Software Company For Your Startup
Regina Fox
Regina Fox is a writer and editor with a passion for music, books, and technology that makes daily life just a little bit easier (she'd quite literally be nowhere without her phone GPS).
How To Choose The Right IT Software Company For Your Startup
Doing business these days is nearly impossible without some type of software. When customized to a company’s unique needs, these products help keep teams productive and organized. But without investors pouring in money or ample resources, obtaining a software solution can be a heavy lift for startups. It all starts with choosing the right IT software company. That may seem like the easiest part, but don’t be fooled! This initial step can make or break your startup’s future. Having a precise plan of action to secure the best development team. So, we’ve put together a list of questions you should ask yourself—and your potential partner—in order to choose the right IT software development company for your startup.
Blueprint Phase: What are your goals?
Before starting your research, it’s good to have a list of well-defined business goals. What problem do you want to solve? What are you trying to achieve? Maybe you want to stay in closer contact with your customers, or net a new batch of consumers. Perhaps you align with most business owners and have a desire to increase revenue. No matter what your goals are, you must determine if they can be achieved through an IT software company. To better understand how startups can benefit from custom software development, check out this article.
After completing this exercise, you may find that implementing a CRM system like Salesforce or HubSpot is the solution to your small business problem. Or maybe a new hire can help you reach your goal of more sales. But, if you determine that custom software is the best or only way to accomplish your objective, then you are one step closer to choosing the right IT software company for your startup.
Vetting Phase: Have you shopped around?
There’s a reason “first time’s a charm” isn’t a saying (or at least a popular one). It’s unlikely that you’ll find the perfect fit right from the jump of your journey. Block out plenty of time in your schedule to research several IT software company candidates. Perform initial Google searches using keywords like, “IT software company near me,” or “custom software development company for small businesses.” Then, surf company websites for more information. Do they have customer reviews? Have they been recognized for any awards? Do they display beautiful work samples? These are all questions you can answer before even reaching out.
At this point, you’ll always want to get some of your burning questions answered. Make the tumultuous task of information gathering less tedious by utilizing website chatbots if applicable (bonus points to companies that employ these technological helpers, here’s why). Keep your initial inquiry brief, and collect as much info up front as possible. Naturally, the strongest companies will begin to rise to the top, impressing you with their communication and professionalism. But it’s not time to settle just yet!
Critiquing Phase: Is the company experienced in startups?
Now that you’re in talks with a handful of promising IT software companies, it’s important to start really critiquing them. What you’re really looking for is a tailored, trusted experience that has been proven to work. And as a small business, you can’t truly know that unless they’ve worked with other small businesses. Check their work portfolio and search for startup projects. Ask your contact for a reference so you reach out to a former client.
Discover + Design Phase: Can they give you what you want—and only what you want?
At this point, you’re likely leaning towards one or two standout partners. These companies are working to dazzle you with their pitches, and impress you with the bells and whistles they have to offer. But as a small business, do you really need all the trappings? And, more importantly, can you even afford them? You’ve identified your business goals and need to stick to a certain budget. Finding an IT software company that is willing to build you a solution to solve your problems—and only your problems—will be key to success.
However, there are a number of software fundamentals that your chosen partner needs to deliver on:
- Cross-Platform Capabilities: Maybe you’re a Mac/iOS company. Or perhaps a PC/Android company. You could even be a PC/Android company that switches to a Mac/iOS company! No matter your technological carrier, your product has to be suitable with your systems.
- Speed: The objective of hiring an IT software company is to solve your issue, not create a new one! A slow product will cause headaches and unproductiveness. Speed should be a guarantee.
- Security: It almost goes without saying, but embedding the most robust security in your software solution is imperative. With identity theft and security breaches at an all-time high, your product can’t perform to its potential if you’re constantly battling systematic vulnerability. Don’t put your hard-earned business in a position to be compromised by not investing in top-notch security.
Long-Term Phase: What sorts of services, beyond the product, does the vendor provide?
A powerful, well-suited product is only part of the challenge when choosing an IT Software company. Your relationship with the vendor shouldn’t stop once the sale is made. The right partner will transcend the discovery, designing, development, and delivery phases to offer you a broader spectrum of services. Check out their customer reviews on Google and Clutch. Are they favorable? Do they have a positive reputation? These questions could make or break your final IT software company choice. Then there’s the issue of continued IT support. As a small business, it’s unlikely you’ve got a coding guru on your team. Therefore, it’s important to lock in the services of the IT software company for regular maintenance beyond deployment.
Starting Your IT Software Company Journey
So, there you have it! Armed with this handy list of questions, you’ll ace your IT software company journey. Next thing you know, your startup will be operating better, faster, and stronger than ever! But, if you’re still unsure of how to proceed with a software solution, we’re always here to help.
Sunflower Lab can help you develop custom software that can meet your requirements and expectations. Our engineers have expertise in various technologies and we have worked with all kinds of organizations small and large, and have built various types of custom software. Our range of clients includes companies from sectors like finance, healthcare, insurance, local governments, educational institutions, electronics manufacturers, logistics & transportation, packaging and various others.
We guide our clients right from the discovery phase to design and development of the software. Our designs are futuristic and simplistic that can help the end-users in using the software without giving in too much thought. We also offer support and maintenance services to keep your software bug free and update it with the latest technologies whenever required. Contact us and our experts will help you build a custom software development as unique as your business!
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How To Build An Outstanding Mobile App [Flutter Dev Tools]
Now that flutter is gaining popularity for its performance and speed exponentially, there are thousands of developers working each day to make an application. You can be just one of them or you can stand out. What can a developer do to make the application that s/he developed standout? Well, here is your answer – “Flutter Dev-tools“.
So now you may ask what exactly is this dev-tools? Dev-tools is set or collection of different features that will help us check how our app is working for different criteria. Right now, it is in beta state but the good thing is it’s in very good active state. So hopefully we can have a stable version soon enough. As I mentioned before Flutter Dev Tools is not just a single tool but set of tools which includes:
- Timeline view
- Memory view
- Performance view
- Network view
- Debugger
Each of these tools has its own purpose and behaves in a very different way. If used correctly each tool will show us how our app is performing in each criterion. For example, if our app is using too much memory, memory-view will warn us about it so that we can improve that and manage our application footprints properly.
At the end what all tools will do is make our application somewhat better in their own way. So, at the end of the day the app we have will be much better than we had before using dev-tools.
Enough with the explanation let take a deeper look at some of the tools so that it will make it easier to understand. But to use them in our application, we first must know how to install them right?
Well, the process is different in all IDEs. We will see two of the widely used IDEs that is Visual Studio code and Android studio.
ANDROID STUDIO
Go to android studio, open marketplace. Search marketplace for Flutter plugin. Once we find it just download and install. But to use the flutter dev-tools we need an app in running state in a connected device. Because it is on beta state right now, we cannot use it on an emulator right now. We can hope that it will be available soon.
So, make sure we have a device connected and app in running or debug state to use different tools. Once application is in one of those state go to Run -> Open DevTools or for android studio only there is a shortcut available on Flutter inspector-view. Just click on more Actions and we will find Dev–Tools over there.
VISUAL STUDIO CODE
It is easier to use Dev–Tools in visual studio code all we need to do is install dart plugin. But I hope it is already covered as we are about to test the application. We should have already installed flutter extension as well but if not, let’s see how to install it.
Well hard part is done now all we have to do is run the application. Now open visual studio command palette (Ctrl + Shift + P). Type “Dart: Open DevTools”. This will show Dart DevTools in your status bar. Now we are good to go.
COMMAND PROMPT
If none of them is working for us, what we can do is install it with help of your command prompt. The procedure is quite lengthy and may be little bit confusing as well. Flutter docs had this procedure covered in details which can be found over here:
https://flutter.dev/docs/development/tools/devtools/cli
Now that installation part is covered and we are ready to use the tolls. Let’s take a deep dive in some of the tools available right now. First tool we are going to cover is one of the most commonly used tools that is Performance view.
PERFORMANCE VIEW
Do you want to record how well your application is performing on CPU? Do you want to record a session of your application in a particular time and then profile it? Well, here is the tool we all need.
The tool we are going to use is called CPU profiler. What CPU profiler does is once you press start recording button it will start recording different data and store them in Virtual Memory once you press the stop button it will grab all the data and it will display it in different forms and you can see it in profiler views. There are three different type of chart available which displays different data.
1. FLAME CHART
The flame chart is considered as top to bottom chart. Where each entry is called a stack. The meaning of this is top most stack is parent for all the stack below them. In other words, top stack calls the stack below it. Now that covers the vertical part of the chart. What is the meaning of it horizontally? So, width of each stack is the time it spent on CPU. The higher the width, higher the time it spends on CPU.
Now once we have recorded for some time what we can do is find out which stack is taking more time than it should and try to modify it somehow and cut the time it spends on CPU. This will improve your performance quite drastically.
Here is the screen shot for the small app running in the device. We can also download a JSON file for this chart by pressing the Export button on the top right corner. This will download a JSON file which you can share with your colleagues. This is just an overview you can zoom-in on any part in your chart to see them more clearly.
2. CALL TREE
For this one the name is self-explanatory. What this does is it shows you the hierarchy of method calls. We can expand any of the method to see the call made by it or in data structure language its child. In short, it’s a top-bottom profiling same as flame chart but in text representation.
As you can see in example There are three categories for each method.
- Total Time shows total time spent by this method and its children.
- Self-Time shows time spent on CPU by only that method. This doesn’t include time spent by children
- Method shoes name of the method. We can click little expand icon beside the name of the method to see its child.
3. BOTTOM UP
In some way bottom Up is same as call tree but only in reverse way. What this means is method on the top was the last method in CPU. Again, in data structure language method on top is leaf node and the method below it is its patent. Otherwise categories displayed are same as call-tree. Here is a screen shot of the same application.
So, this pretty much concludes everything in Performance view. But one part left in this screen is granularity. There is one option to select granularity. What granularity means is how quickly samples are recorded. If the granularity is set to high performance view will take samples in quick succession and if it is set to low it will wait for some time before taking next sample.
That’s how you measure CPU performance and after reading it we can do some quick changes. Let’s jump to the next tool which is Network view.
NETWORK VIEW
In the era of IoT most of the applications are using internet. So, there is very high percentage of chance that application that we are going developed will use internet as well.
Now we don’t want our application to make too many requests or download large amount of data every time page is changed. This will make our app feel less responsive and there will be some latency between app and our user.
So, we should keep usage of network request in limit and keep a good track of them. For all these need dev-tools provide a tool and that is network tool.
Network tool allows you to monitor all the HTTP and HTTPs request the application is making. Not just request but if you want to check the information about socket usage network tool is your go-to guy.
This screen shot shows a simple GET request. In details you can find time took to get response, type of request, status, port number, connection type and many more useful details.
MEMORY VIEW
The main purpose of the memory view is to check how memory allocation is going on inside the heap. One of the most common problems is memory leak. If we want to find out memory leak in our application this is the best tool for it.
Memory tools have so many options available to explore that it is out of the scope of this article. Unlike other tools we have seen before we don’t have to start recording of the memory. It will automatically starts recording once we go to memory view page. It is possible to pause it from control panel.
The blue graph on the top shows the memory used by your app over selected period of time. This time can be 1 minute, 5 minute or 10 minutes, which can be selected from the top. We can click on legend to see more information about memory at that particular point.
Data on X-axis shows the time at which record of the heap was taken. While Y-axis represents the size of the heap or memory that application was using on that particular time period.
If you are running on the android device memory view will collect data from Android Debug bridge which is displayed in purple graph in the screen shot.
FLUTTER INSPECTOR
Getting confused between how you expect your widget tree vs one you are seeing on screen? Well, your savior is here. Flutter Inspector is a helping tool rather than performance measurement tool like all those we have seen before this.
Flutter inspector will show us our exact widget tree. This will help us understand our current tree and find out the issues that may cause your UI to looks different or not same as your expectation.
Here we can see perfect hierarchy of our widget tree. It is easier to find out which widget is out of position or causing some problems. Once we determine which widget is part of the problem, we can just click the name of the widget on right hand side and tool will automatically take you to definition.
FLUTTER LAYOUT EXPLORER
Impressed by all the tools you have seen till now? Well, I’ve been keeping the best one for the last and that is Flutter layout explorer. It is currently under development and because of that it only supports Row, Column and Flex widget but still very powerful and useful tool.
I am sure as flutter developer you have faced the issue of pixel overflow error. It simple most of the time but sometimes it can be a head scratcher. Well flutter explorer lets you see how your widget will be rendered in real time. We can adjust size of widget, position, alignment, flex etc. so that you can fit your widgets according to your needs and all that with all functionality we saw with flutter inspector.
It is kind of difficult to explain this tool with just help of static image. Just give it a go, it’s very easy to understand and very powerful tool.
In the world of thousands of flutter developer, give yourself an edge. Use all these powerful tools to standout and improve quality of your application drastically.
REFERENCES:
- https://flutter.dev/docs/development/tools/devtools/overview
- https://flutter.dev/docs/development/tools/devtools/android-studio
- https://flutter.dev/docs/development/tools/devtools/inspector
- https://flutter.dev/docs/development/tools/devtools/timeline
- https://flutter.dev/docs/development/tools/devtools/memory
- https://flutter.dev/docs/development/tools/devtools/performance
- https://flutter.dev/docs/development/tools/devtools/network
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11 Reasons To Hire A Mobile App Development Company
Regina Fox
Regina Fox is a writer and editor with a passion for music, books, and technology that makes daily life just a little bit easier (she'd quite literally be nowhere without her phone GPS).
Why You Should Hire A Mobile App Development Company
Mobile apps are all the rage right now. Businesses are growing rapidly by shrinking their businesses to the size of their customers’ palms. From improving customer experiences, to earning more revenue, to beating out the competition, the benefits of mobile applications are plentiful (and quite convincing, if we do say so ourselves). However, it can be time-consuming, expensive, and frustrating to navigate the first steps. So, we’re going to cut right to the chase. With a customized experience from start to finish, beautiful and powerful products, and experience to back their promises, hiring a mobile app development company is the correct and only first step. Don’t believe us? Read on to find out more.
Offer More Value To Customers With A Mobile App Development Company
The #1 reason to hire a mobile app development company is to offer more value to your customers. Offering a mobile application can greatly expand your visibility. It can also offer a convenient way for your customers to access your business 24/7. But, if you’re going to put your business out in front of more customers, then it ought to be beautiful.
Stunning Design
The appearance of your app is the first thing customers are going to see. Guarantee a great first impression by hiring a mobile app development team. These folks are up to date on all the latest trends in mobile app design, and are equipped with all the tools necessary to translate your branding into your product. It’s important that your app be an extension of you and your business. Don’t risk muddying the image of the company you worked so hard to create by cutting corners with design. Tantalize your users’ visual senses with a professional and aesthetically-pleasing application! But, beauty is only UI deep. For a truly successful app, it has to be high-performing.
Team of Experts
Recruiting your IT team to YouTube their way through app development can lead to a whole slew of issues—wasted money, security breaches, malfunctioning frameworks, weak design to name just a few! Hiring experts to build your mobile app means you are getting a team of well-trained technicians dedicated solely to your project. These highly-skilled professionals undergo rigorous training programs in order to solve your most difficult technical issues. With years and years of combined experience, the technologists at mobile app development companies possess the talent and confidence to get the job done well and on time.
Get Continued Support With A Mobile App Development Company
After teaming up with a mobile app development company, you’ll never have to go through the process alone. Your experienced team of experts will always stand behind you and your business to tweak your app’s performance, massage any kinks in the operating system, and make sure it is offering the best possible experience to your users. Remember: support and maintenance are key to the long-term health of your application.
Customization
A major benefit of hiring a mobile app development company versus purchasing an off-the-shelf product is customization. From discovery to deployment, a mobile app companies take a personalized approach to your software solution. You have the power to choose an appropriate security package, pick which features you want, and decide on the right framework to suit your specific needs. Don’t sell your business short by going with a one-size-fits-all product.
Scalability
Not only can a mobile app development company deliver a beautiful, high-powered, product for your current company, they can design it to suit your future business, as well. Whether downsizing or expanding is in your long-term business plan, development companies have the ability to leverage scalable technology into the build of your application.
Reputation
When shopping around for the perfect mobile app development company to hire, be keen on customer reviews and recognitions. What are their clients saying about them? Do they publicize their customer satisfaction rate? Have they been recognized for any award or achievement? An established mobile app development company will have a reputation that proceeds them. You will gain confidence in their work before you even contact them.
“Sunflower delivered professional service and quick turnarounds with updates. The team created a very clean responsive iPad app for us. Great work!” - Nationwide Insurance
Deciding on a Mobile App Development Company
As you can see, hiring a mobile app development company offers a bevy of benefits. Now, the only decision you’re left to make is who you will partner with. Allow us to narrow it down for you: Sunflower Lab. We have worked with dozens of industries to help solve their unique problems. We have mastered the development life cycle, and offer unmatched customer service along the way. There is only one place to find the top mobile app development New York, New Jersey, and Ohio has to offer, and that’s at Sunflower Lab. Sunflower Lab is now providing result driven android app development services, ios app development services, robotic process automation services with a history of helping clients solve their toughest technology issues, we exist to build a better and brighter tomorrow.Let us turn your app dream into a reality today!
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Mobile App Design: Trending Features For 2021
Regina Fox
Regina Fox is a writer and editor with a passion for music, books, and technology that makes daily life just a little bit easier (she'd quite literally be nowhere without her phone GPS).
Mobile App Design: Trending Features For 2021
2020 was far from typical. Our professional and personal lives were flipped upside down. From shopping to taking meetings, we’ve had to adjust to a new “normal.” But, one thing that has prevailed, and nearly single-handedly carried us through this pandemic, is technology. While other industries have unfortunately suffered, the tech sector is not only surviving, but thriving. So, as we look ahead to next year, we’d like to explore all the emerging trends in mobile app design for 2021.
Mobile App Design Trends 2021 #1: Cloud Services
Over the past decade, cloud services have increased in popularity for its storage, networking, and technological capacity offerings. It has also been revered as being fast, flexible, and cost effective. In spite of all these benefits, it is predicted that cloud services will be used for mobile app design more often in 2021 to reduce business expenses and enhance mobile app user experience.
Mobile App Design Trends 2021 #2: Augmented Reality Inclusion
Augmented Reality (AR) is the hottest thing for mobile app design and development companies. AR apps are based on virtual data and real life so users can interact with the virtual world while being in real space. The automotive industry and restaurant business were early adopters of AR-equipped apps to give their customers a “try-before-you-buy” experience. It can be the “wow” factor that sets your app apart from your competition.
The talented designers at Sunflower Lab challenged themselves to architect an AR app for fast food. This app displays beautiful 3D images of food that users can interact with, along with ingredient details.
Mobile App Design Trends 2021 #3: Rise in Wearable Technology
From the basic fitness trackers and highly-advanced sports and smartwatches, to virtual and augmented reality headsets, wearables are everywhere. The devices use sensors to connect to human users. The sensors collect data that can help you to multitask, reach your fitness goal, improve your sleep, make you a better employee, and so much more. With more people seeking comfort and convenience, wearable technology is being used in mobile app design more than ever.
Mobile Apps for 2021: The Basics
Users will come for the bells and whistles, but they will stay for the fundamentals. For mobile app design in 2021, the most important things to remember are the essentials. The overall performance of the products of mobile app development companies determines whether or not it’s adopted in the marketplace. There are three main factors when it comes to app performance:
iOS/Android
When you finally launch your mobile app development, the hope is that every smartphone user will download it! Now, that’s not a likely scenario, but it would be impossible if you only offer your app to one operating system. Making your app available to both iOS and Android users will increase its popularity.
Speed
Mobile app users are often multi-tasking. So, if an app takes too long to load or to perform a function, users will switch off and do something else instead.
Security
It almost goes without saying, but embedding the most robust security in your mobile app is imperative. With identity theft and security breaches at an all-time high, your app can’t perform up to its potential if you’re constantly battling systematic vulnerability. Don’t put your hard-earned app in a position to be compromised by failing to invest in top-notch security.
Mobile App Design For The Future
As mobile app design continues to evolve, it is important to stay abreast of the latests trends in technology. Adopting a mentality of a life-long learner is key to staying relevant in the competitive field of mobile app design. However, it is equally as imperative to stay true to the fundamentals of mobile app develop. After all, having an unbreakable foundation is more important than flashy features! To ensure your product is both up-to-date an mechanically strong, you must team up with a trusted and experienced mobile app development company.
Sunflower Lab is an award-winning mobile app, web app, and custom software development company. We have served many different industries ranging from healthcare, to entertainment, to industrial, with a customer satisfaction rate of 96%. We would love to help you reach your professional goals through the power of technology. Start the conversation today!
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11 Benefits of Mobile App Development
Regina Fox
Regina Fox is a writer and editor with a passion for music, books, and technology that makes daily life just a little bit easier (she'd quite literally be nowhere without her phone GPS).
What is Mobile App Development?
Mobile application development is the process of creating software applications that run on a mobile device. This allows businesses to transport themselves out of their websites and brick-and-mortar locations and into their customers’ pockets! And with more than 3 billion people owning a smartphone, it’s safe to say mobile app development is the hottest and most lucrative thing in technology. Here are 11 benefits of investing in mobile app development:
1. Customization
In the competitive field of mobile app development, it’s important to never approach a problem with a one-size-fits-all solution. At Sunflower, we celebrate what makes each of our clients unique! We offer completely customizable developments, giving you the power to choose your own framework, features, and design. Sunflower Lab offers three different types of mobile apps—Native Mobile Apps, Mobile Web Apps and Progressive Web Apps, and Cross-Platform Mobile Apps—built to make your company a competitive player in the ever-growing digital universe.
2. Proven Mobile App Development Process
Software development is a delicate, highly-sophisticated process. To successfully complete the software development life cycle, all skill sets must be utilized: design, development, marketing. A software development company must pull together and support the MVP: the final product. Design thinking is another helpful practice in the app development process. It allows the development team to capitalize on opposing ideas to create new solutions, optimize the desirability, technical feasibility, and economic viability of a product or a design, and offers a new way of tackling the problems.
3. Push Notifications
Push Notifications are messages that pop up on an app users phone. They can take the form of a sports update, flash sale, or required update. They are an excellent way for mobile app development companies to stay in contact with their users. They also serve as gentle reminders for customers to use the application.
4. Invention
Since the software is totally customized, you have the option to decide what kind of technology and framework to use to design your own app. You have the power to decide and opt for trend-setting technologies, or stick with the tried and true fundamentals.
5. Convenient Customer Experience
Consumers today aren’t going to jump through hoops for what they want—they’re going to opt for the fast and easy option every time. Something as little as opening Safari and typing in a website can drive business away. Attract more customers and increase revenue by making your business accessible with only one tap of an app!
6. Provide Value for Customers With Mobile App Development
To reiterate, today’s shoppers are not going to go the extra mile. Rather than expecting your clientele to tote around paper coupons, or surf the web for a promo code, mobile apps can make any loyalty program digitized. The result of this will be greater downloads and more returning customers.
7. Stay Relevant During Digital Age
More and more business is being done online. In fact, e-retail sales surpassed $3.5 trillion worldwide in 2019.
Mobile commerce sales are expected to account for $710 billion in commerce sales by 2025.
Meet your customers where they are with mobile app development. Don’t get caught behind the pack by refusing to adopt new and innovative ways of doing business
8. Save Money on Operating Expenses
Speaking of the digital age, mobile apps can greatly reduce the cost of operating expenses for business owners. Cut down on the cost of overhead associated with a traditional brick-and-mortar storefront by shifting towards an online-only business model with mobile app development.
9. Uniqueness
Each business is unique; there’s no standardized solution as far as business processes are concerned. Having a software tailor-made to suit your unique requirements can complement your working model. Mobile app development also helps to support your “unique” identity in the market.
10. Exclusiveness
What works best for one business doesn’t necessarily work for another. You may be following certain processes which others don’t. Software that is developed exclusively for you ensures that all of your activities and processes are properly addressed to and automated exactly as per your requirements.
11. Security
Security is a major concern for many B2B and B2C companies as data access and security concerns affect many end-users in the market today. Generic off-the-shelf mobile app developments or ones built in-house are almost never equipped with a robust security package. This results in a dangerous platform for transactions to be made, and the loss of customers. With custom mobile app development, you have the power to decide which data-security technology or protocol is ideally suited for your business and integrate that in your software.
Mobile App Development Is Here To Stay
The number of smartphone users is expected to surpass 3.5 billion by the end of 2020. Pair that with the increasing amount of online-only businesses, mobile app development is on the rise with no sign of slowing down anytime soon. Not only that, but mobile applications offer a slew of benefits baked right in! Now that you’re convinced of the power of app development, you’re tasked with choosing the right company to partner with.
Get a FREE estimate for your project today.
Our team of experts will review your project and give you a quote at no cost.
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Employee expense receipt management is the perfect process for RPA because it is logic based and redundant. Let’s look
Bootstrap 5 - Everything You Need To Know
As we all know Bootstrap is the most popular front-end framework for building responsive websites. Bootstrap released a new beta version Bootstrap 5.0.0-alpha1 on 17th June 2020. It has introduced some of the very useful features. Let us take a look at what Bootstrap 5 has to offer!
Bootstrap no longer depends on jQuery and has dropped support for Internet Explorer. They are sharpening their focus on building tools that are more future-friendly, and while they are not fully there yet, the promise of CSS variables, faster JavaScript, fewer dependencies, and better APIs certainly feel right.
New look and feel
Docs page are no longer full-width to improve readability and make the site feel less app-like and more content-like. Also, they have upgraded sidebar to use expandable sections for faster navigation.
They have come up with a brand-new logo! Just B in a rounded square. Inspired by the CSS that created the very beginnings of this project, logo embodies the feeling of a rule set—style bounded by curly braces
jQuery & JavaScript
One of the very major changes that bootstrap underwent was removing jQuery. As a result, project size will be lighter than in v4 projects. It is mentioned that they have made significant changes in JS for v5.
One of the other larger changes was dropping the bulk of Button plugin for an HTML and CSS only approach to toggle states. Now toggle buttons are powered by checkboxes and radio buttons and are much more reliable.
A handful of other changes and enhancements to JavaScript in v5 that focus on code quality and bridging the gap between v4 and v5.
Browsers and devices
Bootstrap supports the latest, stable releases of all major browsers and platforms. This also includes the latest version of Legacy Edge (EdgeHTML layout engine).
Bootstrap have now dropped the support for IE. So, if you have to use bootstrap on IE, you will be limited to v4 of Bootstrap. It has been done keeping in mind to use CSS custom properties and other new features.
Desktop browsers:
Mobile Devices:
For Firefox, the latest Extended Support Release (ESR) version is also supported.
However, Bootstrap should look and behave well enough in Chromium and Chrome for Linux, and Firefox for Linux, though they are not officially supported.
CSS custom properties
With Bootstrap 5, people will now be able to use custom CSS. In previous versions, CSS custom properties were only included in a limited set of root variables for colors and fonts. But with version 5, they are available in components and layout options as well.
Bootstrap has included many CSS custom variables in its compiled CSS. These provide easy access to commonly used values like theme colors, breakpoints, and primary font stacks when working in your browser inspector, a code sandbox, or general prototyping.
All the custom properties are prefixed with bs- to avoid conflicts with third party CSS.
Take for example our .table component, where we have added a handful of local variables to make striped, hoverable, and active table styles easier:
Forms
With v5, they have gone fully custom with form controls — checks, radios, switches, files, and more. These new form controls are all built on completely semantic, standard form controls — no more superfluous markup, just form controls and labels.
Form controls expand on Rebooted form styles with classes. Be sure to use an appropriate type attribute on all inputs (e.g., email for email address or number for numerical information) to take advantage of newer input controls like email verification, number selection, and more.
Grid system
Bootstrap has updated the grid system. Here are the listed changes on their website:
- We have added a new grid tier! Say hello to xxl.
- .gutter classes have been replaced with .g* utilities, much like our margin/padding utilities.
- Form layout options have been replaced with the new grid system.
- Vertical spacing classes have been added.
- Columns are no longer position: relative by default.
Icons
While Bootstrap does not include an icon set by default, they do have their own comprehensive icon library called Bootstrap Icons. We can use them freely or any other icon set in our project.
Bootstrap Icons is a growing library of SVG icons.
Alternatives:
Below icon sets are tested as preferred alternatives to Bootstrap icons.
- Font Awesome
- Feather
- Octicons
Third Alpha is out with loads of updates with components, utilities, docs, form, JavaScript and more!
Components
There are few improved components in this release.
New accordion
They have dropped the .card based accordion for a brand new .accordion component. New accordion still uses the Collapse JavaScript plugin, but with custom HTML and CSS to support it, it is better and easier than ever to use.
Support for a flush accordion (add .accordion-flush) is included to remove the outer borders, allowing for easier placement inside parent elements.
New Block Buttons
They have dropped the .btn-block class for .d-grid and .gap–* utilities. This allows for the same behaviour and style, but with much greater control over spacing, alignment, and even responsive layout options.
JavaScript
There are a few updates to the plugins.
- Simplified dropdown placement.
- Removed redundant polyfills since they have dropped IE and Legacy Edge.
- Fixed the carousel data-interval bug by checking for data-interval on the first slide.
- Removed Manipulator.toggleClass to simplify some code since it was only used in one place.
Utilities
There have added some new default utilities to make life a little easier:
- Added .d-grid for display: grid
- Added .fs utilities for font-size
- Renamed font-weight utilities to .fw
- Added .rounded-1, .rounded-2, and .rounded-3 for new small, medium, and large border-radius utilities
- Added .overflow-visible and .overflow-scroll utilities
Forms
Forms now have floating labels as a fully-fledged form layout option and a new file input.
Floating labels
Floating labels include support for textual inputs, selects, and textareas.
New file input
They have dropped custom .form-file class for additional styles on the .form-control class. This means we no longer require additional JavaScript to make our file input styles functional—the new form file is all CSS!
Input group rounded corners
There is a new addition class to fix the rounded corners on input groups when using validation. Add the .has-feedback class to the .input-group to enable validation messages inside input groups without any visual regressions.
Few more…
- Removed explicit height from most of our form controls.
- Fixed the disabled checkbox toggle buttons.
- Added docs examples for disabled .form-control, .form-select, and .form-range elements.
- Moved preferred CDN from BootstrapCDN to jsDelivr.
- Dropped support for Legacy Edge.
- Removed obsolete prefixes in our CSS.
- Added cursor: pointer and heights to color inputs
- Removed background-clip on .btn-close so the background-image is no longer clipped.
- Improved sans-serif font selection in Ubuntu.
- Fix inconsistent whitespace in breadcrumbs.
Bootstrap 5 is still in its alpha version and not fully stable, so I suggest you wait until they release a stable version to update your existing projects with v5. But if you like to test new things, you are most welcome to. Migration from v4 to v5 will apparently be very easy.
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Mobile App Development Company New York
Regina Fox
Regina Fox is a writer and editor with a passion for music, books, and technology that makes daily life just a little bit easier (she'd quite literally be nowhere without her phone GPS).
Mobile App Development Company New York
New York is and always has been on the cutting-edge of technology. As an emerging hub for young and curious technologists, entrepreneurs, and forward-thinkers, NYC is revered as the second-largest startup ecosystem in the world, as well as a trendsetting city for jobs using digital technology. Pair these characteristics with the smartphone era, you’ve got fertile ground for a mobile app development company. When it comes to choosing a mobile app development company, the choice is clear: Sunflower Lab. Here is why we are a top mobile app development company in New York.
Software Development Life Cycle
Smart customization starts from pre-development strategies and ends at full custom development. In between, there are many alterations that take place, developers have to adjust the code, and customers need to be kept informed. All these things are done in a way that doesn’t go above budget. This process is called the software development life cycle. We’ve spent years perfecting the cycle, and we’re pleased to announce we’ve mastered it! We follow a specific development path in order to guarantee a successful final product and client relationship:
- Planning
- Design and prototype
- Build and test
- Deploy
- Measure and market
Diverse Project Portfolio as a Mobile App Development Company New York
At Sunflower Lab, we serve startups and Fortune 500 companies alike. With over 10 years of experience designing mobile applications and robust frameworks, Sunflower Lab is a leading mobile app development company New York. We have been of service to numerous satisfied clients over the years, including businesses in the retail, e-commerce, manufacturing, finance, healthcare, and real estate industries. We’ve also worked in the following business segments:
- Manufacturing Automation
- Hospital software
- Construction software
- Education Software
- EMR Software
- Payroll and HR Software
- Workflow Automation
- Web and Mobile integration
- Financial software for offices
Custom Solutions
In the competitive field of mobile app development, it’s important to never approach a problem with a one-size-fits-all solution. At Sunflower, we celebrate what makes each of our clients unique! We offer completely customizable developments services like Android App Development Services, and ios app development services, giving you the power to choose your own framework, features, and design. Sunflower Lab offers three different types of mobile apps—Native Mobile Apps, Mobile Web Apps, and Progressive Web Apps, and Cross-Platform Mobile Apps—built to make your company a competitive player in the ever-growing digital universe.
Award-Winning Mobile App Developments
The skilled team of developers and designers at Sunflower Lab has gained a reputation for consistently delivering high-quality products and services to our clients. And we are proud to say our excellence has not gone unnoticed. Sunflower Lab has been recognized by the likes of GoodFirms, TopDevelopers.co, Mobile App Daily, and Clutch for our exceptional mobile app development. We look forward to watching our trophy shelf grow through mobile app development New York.
Finding the Right Partner for Mobile App Development New York
New York offers a burgeoning environment for mobile app development enthusiasts. There are ample opportunities for inventors to bring their ideas to life. However, finding the right mobile app development company to team up with can be a difficult choice. But, Sunflower Lab makes it easy. We have worked with dozens of industries to help solve their unique problems. We have mastered the development life cycle, and offer unmatched customer service along the way. There is only one place to find the top mobile app development New York has to offer, and that’s at Sunflower Lab. Let us turn your app dream into a reality today!
Get a FREE estimate for your project today.
Our team of experts will review your project and give you a quote at no cost.