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So, you have just launched the website of your dreams and have been consistently creating content to entertain and perhaps educate your website visitors. But your site barely ever gets visits! And worse, your content...
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What is the best way to create a digital marketing strategy?
Building successful web products at scale is a multifaceted challenge that demands a combination of technical expertise, strategic decision-making, and a growth-oriented mindset. In Success at Scale, I dive into case studies from some of the web’s most renowned products, uncovering the strategies and philosophies that propelled them to the forefront of their industries.
Here you will find some of the insights I’ve gleaned from these success stories, part of an ongoing effort to build a roadmap for teams striving to achieve scalable success in the ever-evolving digital landscape.
Cultivating A Mindset For Scaling SuccessThe foundation of scaling success lies in fostering the right mindset within your team. The case studies in Success at Scale highlight several critical mindsets that permeate the culture of successful organizations.
Successful teams prioritize the user experience above all else.
They invest in understanding their users’ needs, behaviors, and pain points and relentlessly strive to deliver value. Instagram’s performance optimization journey exemplifies this mindset, focusing on improving perceived speed and reducing user frustration, leading to significant gains in engagement and retention.
By placing the user at the center of every decision, Instagram was able to identify and prioritize the most impactful optimizations, such as preloading critical resources and leveraging adaptive loading strategies. This user-centric approach allowed them to deliver a seamless and delightful experience to their vast user base, even as their platform grew in complexity.
Scaling success relies on data, not assumptions.
Teams must embrace a data-driven approach, leveraging metrics and analytics to guide their decisions and measure impact. Shopify’s UI performance improvements showcase the power of data-driven optimization, using detailed profiling and user data to prioritize efforts and drive meaningful results.
By analyzing user interactions, identifying performance bottlenecks, and continuously monitoring key metrics, Shopify was able to make informed decisions that directly improved the user experience. This data-driven mindset allowed them to allocate resources effectively, focusing on the areas that yielded the greatest impact on performance and user satisfaction.
Scaling is an ongoing process, not a one-time achievement.
Successful teams foster a culture of continuous improvement, constantly seeking opportunities to optimize and refine their products. Smashing Magazine’s case study on enhancing Core Web Vitals demonstrates the impact of iterative enhancements, leading to significant performance gains and improved user satisfaction.
By regularly assessing their performance metrics, identifying areas for improvement, and implementing incremental optimizations, Smashing Magazine was able to continuously elevate the user experience. This mindset of continuous improvement ensures that the product remains fast, reliable, and responsive to user needs, even as it scales in complexity and user base.
Silos hinder scalability.
High-performing teams promote collaboration and inclusivity, ensuring that diverse perspectives are valued and leveraged. The Understood’s accessibility journey highlights the power of cross-functional collaboration, with designers, developers, and accessibility experts working together to create inclusive experiences for all users.
By fostering open communication, knowledge sharing, and a shared commitment to accessibility, The Understood was able to embed inclusive design practices throughout its development process. This collaborative and inclusive approach not only resulted in a more accessible product but also cultivated a culture of empathy and user-centricity that permeated all aspects of their work.
Making Strategic Decisions for ScalabilityBeyond cultivating the right mindset, scaling success requires making strategic decisions that lay the foundation for sustainable growth.
Selecting the right technologies and frameworks can significantly impact scalability. Factors like performance, maintainability, and developer experience should be carefully considered. Notion’s migration to Next.js exemplifies the importance of choosing a technology stack that aligns with long-term scalability goals.
By adopting Next.js, Notion was able to leverage its performance optimizations, such as server-side rendering and efficient code splitting, to deliver fast and responsive pages. Additionally, the developer-friendly ecosystem of Next.js and its strong community support enabled Notion’s team to focus on building features and optimizing the user experience rather than grappling with low-level infrastructure concerns. This strategic technology choice laid the foundation for Notion’s scalable and maintainable architecture.
This best practice is so important when we want to ensure that pages load fast without over-eagerly delivering JavaScript a user may not need at that time. For example, Instagram made a concerted effort to improve the web performance of instagram.com, resulting in a nearly 50% cumulative improvement in feed page load time. A key area of focus has been shipping less JavaScript code to users, particularly on the critical rendering path.
The Instagram team found that the uncompressed size of JavaScript is more important for performance than the compressed size, as larger uncompressed bundles take more time to parse and execute on the client, especially on mobile devices. Two optimizations they implemented to reduce JS parse/execute time were inline requires (only executing code when it’s first used vs. eagerly on initial load) and serving ES2017+ code to modern browsers to avoid transpilation overhead. Inline requires improved Time-to-Interactive metrics by 12%, and the ES2017+ bundle was 5.7% smaller and 3% faster than the transpiled version.
While good progress has been made, the Instagram team acknowledges there are still many opportunities for further optimization. Potential areas to explore could include the following:
Continued efforts will be needed to keep instagram.com performing well as new features are added and the product grows in complexity.
Accessibility should be an integral part of the product development process, not an afterthought.
Wix’s comprehensive approach to accessibility, encompassing keyboard navigation, screen reader support, and infrastructure for future development, showcases the importance of building inclusivity into the product’s core.
By considering accessibility requirements from the initial design stages and involving accessibility experts throughout the development process, Wix was able to create a platform that empowered its users to build accessible websites. This holistic approach to accessibility not only benefited end-users but also positioned Wix as a leader in inclusive web design, attracting a wider user base and fostering a culture of empathy and inclusivity within the organization.
Investing in a positive developer experience is essential for attracting and retaining talent, fostering productivity, and accelerating development.
Apideck’s case study in the book highlights the impact of a great developer experience on community building and product velocity.
By providing well-documented APIs, intuitive SDKs, and comprehensive developer resources, Apideck was able to cultivate a thriving developer community. This investment in developer experience not only made it easier for developers to integrate with Apideck’s platform but also fostered a sense of collaboration and knowledge sharing within the community. As a result, ApiDeck was able to accelerate product development, leverage community contributions, and continuously improve its offering based on developer feedback.
Leveraging Performance Optimization TechniquesAchieving optimal performance is a critical aspect of scaling success. The case studies in Success at Scale showcase various performance optimization techniques that have proven effective.
Building resilient web experiences that perform well across a range of devices and network conditions requires a progressive enhancement approach. Pinafore’s case study in Success at Scale highlights the benefits of ensuring core functionality remains accessible even in low-bandwidth or JavaScript-constrained environments.
By leveraging server-side rendering and delivering a usable experience even when JavaScript fails to load, Pinafore demonstrates the importance of progressive enhancement. This approach not only improves performance and resilience but also ensures that the application remains accessible to a wider range of users, including those with older devices or limited connectivity. By gracefully degrading functionality in constrained environments, Pinafore provides a reliable and inclusive experience for all users.
The book’s case study on Tinder highlights the power of sophisticated adaptive loading strategies. By dynamically adjusting the content and resources delivered based on the user’s device capabilities and network conditions, Tinder ensures a seamless experience across a wide range of devices and connectivity scenarios. Tinder’s adaptive loading approach involves techniques like dynamic code splitting, conditional resource loading, and real-time network quality detection. This allows the application to optimize the delivery of critical resources, prioritize essential content, and minimize the impact of poor network conditions on the user experience.
By adapting to the user’s context, Tinder delivers a fast and responsive experience, even in challenging environments.
Effective management of resources, such as images and third-party scripts, can significantly impact performance. eBay’s journey showcases the importance of optimizing image delivery, leveraging techniques like lazy loading and responsive images to reduce page weight and improve load times.
By implementing lazy loading, eBay ensures that images are only loaded when they are likely to be viewed by the user, reducing initial page load time and conserving bandwidth. Additionally, by serving appropriately sized images based on the user’s device and screen size, eBay minimizes the transfer of unnecessary data and improves the overall loading performance. These resource management optimizations, combined with other techniques like caching and CDN utilization, enable eBay to deliver a fast and efficient experience to its global user base.
Regularly monitoring and analyzing performance metrics is crucial for identifying bottlenecks and opportunities for optimization. The case study on Yahoo! Japan News demonstrates the impact of continuous performance monitoring, using tools like Lighthouse and real user monitoring to identify and address performance issues proactively.
By establishing a performance monitoring infrastructure, Yahoo! Japan News gains visibility into the real-world performance experienced by their users. This data-driven approach allows them to identify performance regression, pinpoint specific areas for improvement, and measure the impact of their optimizations. Continuous monitoring also enables Yahoo! Japan News to set performance baselines, track progress over time, and ensure that performance remains a top priority as the application evolves.
Embracing Accessibility and Inclusive DesignCreating inclusive web experiences that cater to diverse user needs is not only an ethical imperative but also a critical factor in scaling success. The case studies in Success at Scale emphasize the importance of accessibility and inclusive design.
Ensuring accessibility requires a combination of automated testing tools and manual evaluation. LinkedIn’s approach to automated accessibility testing demonstrates the value of integrating accessibility checks into the development workflow, catching potential issues early, and reducing the reliance on manual testing alone.
By leveraging tools like Deque’s axe and integrating accessibility tests into their continuous integration pipeline, LinkedIn can identify and address accessibility issues before they reach production. This proactive approach to accessibility testing not only improves the overall accessibility of the platform but also reduces the cost and effort associated with retroactive fixes. However, LinkedIn also recognizes the importance of manual testing and user feedback in uncovering complex accessibility issues that automated tools may miss. By combining automated checks with manual evaluation, LinkedIn ensures a comprehensive approach to accessibility testing.
Designing with accessibility in mind from the outset leads to more inclusive and usable products. Success With Scale\’s case study on Intercom about creating an accessible messenger highlights the importance of considering diverse user needs, such as keyboard navigation and screen reader compatibility, throughout the design process.
By embracing inclusive design principles, Intercom ensures that their messenger is usable by a wide range of users, including those with visual, motor, or cognitive impairments. This involves considering factors such as color contrast, font legibility, focus management, and clear labeling of interactive elements. By designing with empathy and understanding the diverse needs of their users, Intercom creates a messenger experience that is intuitive, accessible, and inclusive. This approach not only benefits users with disabilities but also leads to a more user-friendly and resilient product overall.
Engaging with users with disabilities and incorporating their feedback is essential for creating truly inclusive experiences. The Understood’s journey emphasizes the value of user research and collaboration with accessibility experts to identify and address accessibility barriers effectively.
By conducting usability studies with users who have diverse abilities and working closely with accessibility consultants, The Understood gains invaluable insights into the real-world challenges faced by their users. This user-centered approach allows them to identify pain points, gather feedback on proposed solutions, and iteratively improve the accessibility of their platform.
By involving users with disabilities throughout the design and development process, The Understood ensures that their products not only meet accessibility standards but also provide a meaningful and inclusive experience for all users.
Promoting accessibility as a shared responsibility across the organization fosters a culture of inclusivity. Shopify’s case study underscores the importance of educating and empowering teams to prioritize accessibility, recognizing it as a fundamental aspect of the user experience rather than a mere technical checkbox.
By providing accessibility training, guidelines, and resources to designers, developers, and content creators, Shopify ensures that accessibility is considered at every stage of the product development lifecycle. This shared responsibility approach helps to build accessibility into the core of Shopify’s products and fosters a culture of inclusivity and empathy. By making accessibility everyone’s responsibility, Shopify not only improves the usability of their platform but also sets an example for the wider industry on the importance of inclusive design.
Fostering A Culture of Collaboration And Knowledge SharingScaling success requires a culture that promotes collaboration, knowledge sharing, and continuous learning. The case studies in Success at Scale highlight the impact of effective collaboration and knowledge management practices.
Breaking down silos and fostering cross-functional collaboration accelerates problem-solving and innovation. Airbnb’s design system journey showcases the power of collaboration between design and engineering teams, leading to a cohesive and scalable design language across web and mobile platforms.
By establishing a shared language and a set of reusable components, Airbnb’s design system enables designers and developers to work together more efficiently. Regular collaboration sessions, such as design critiques and code reviews, help to align both teams and ensure that the design system evolves in a way that meets the needs of all stakeholders. This cross-functional approach not only improves the consistency and quality of the user experience but also accelerates the development process by reducing duplication of effort and promoting code reuse.
Capturing and sharing knowledge across the organization is crucial for maintaining consistency and enabling the efficient onboarding of new team members. Stripe’s investment in internal frameworks and documentation exemplifies the value of creating a shared understanding and facilitating knowledge transfer.
By maintaining comprehensive documentation, code examples, and best practices, Stripe ensures that developers can quickly grasp the intricacies of their internal tools and frameworks. This documentation-driven culture not only reduces the learning curve for new hires but also promotes consistency and adherence to established patterns and practices. Regular knowledge-sharing sessions, such as tech talks and lunch-and-learns, further reinforce this culture of learning and collaboration, enabling team members to learn from each other’s experiences and stay up-to-date with the latest developments.
Establishing communities of practice around specific domains, such as accessibility or performance, promotes knowledge sharing and continuous improvement. Shopify’s accessibility guild demonstrates the impact of creating a dedicated space for experts and advocates to collaborate, share best practices, and drive accessibility initiatives forward.
By bringing together individuals passionate about accessibility from across the organization, Shopify’s accessibility guild fosters a sense of community and collective ownership. Regular meetings, workshops, and hackathons provide opportunities for members to share their knowledge, discuss challenges, and collaborate on solutions. This community-driven approach not only accelerates the adoption of accessibility best practices but also helps to build a culture of inclusivity and empathy throughout the organization.
Collaborating with the wider developer community and leveraging open-source solutions can accelerate development and provide valuable insights. Pinafore’s journey highlights the benefits of engaging with accessibility experts and incorporating their feedback to create a more inclusive and accessible web experience.
By actively seeking input from the accessibility community and leveraging open-source accessibility tools and libraries, Pinafore was able to identify and address accessibility issues more effectively. This collaborative approach not only improved the accessibility of the application but also contributed back to the wider community by sharing their learnings and experiences. By embracing open-source collaboration and learning from external experts, teams can accelerate their own accessibility efforts and contribute to the collective knowledge of the industry.
The Path To Sustainable SuccessAchieving scalable success in the web development landscape requires a multifaceted approach that encompasses the right mindset, strategic decision-making, and continuous learning. The Success at Scale book provides a comprehensive exploration of these elements, offering deep insights and practical guidance for teams at all stages of their scaling journey.
By cultivating a user-centric, data-driven, and inclusive mindset, teams can prioritize the needs of their users and make informed decisions that drive meaningful results. Adopting a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration ensures that teams are always striving to optimize and refine their products, leveraging the collective knowledge and expertise of their members.
Making strategic technology choices, such as selecting performance-oriented frameworks and investing in developer experience, lays the foundation for scalable and maintainable architectures. Implementing performance optimization techniques, such as adaptive loading, efficient resource management, and continuous monitoring, helps teams deliver fast and responsive experiences to their users.
Embracing accessibility and inclusive design practices not only ensures that products are usable by a wide range of users but also fosters a culture of empathy and user-centricity. By incorporating accessibility testing, inclusive design principles, and user feedback into the development process, teams can create products that are both technically sound and meaningfully inclusive.
Fostering a culture of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and continuous learning is essential for scaling success. By breaking down silos, promoting cross-functional collaboration, and investing in documentation and communities of practice, teams can accelerate problem-solving, drive innovation, and build a shared understanding of their products and practices.
The case studies featured in Success at Scale serve as powerful examples of how these principles and strategies can be applied in real-world contexts. By learning from the successes and challenges of industry leaders, teams can gain valuable insights and inspiration for their own scaling journeys.
As you embark on your path to scaling success, remember that it is an ongoing process of iteration, learning, and adaptation. Embrace the mindsets and strategies outlined in this article, dive deeper into the learnings from the Success at Scale book, and continually refine your approach based on the unique needs of your users and the evolving landscape of web development.
ConclusionScaling successful web products requires a holistic approach that combines technical excellence, strategic decision-making, and a growth-oriented mindset. By learning from the experiences of industry leaders, as showcased in the Success at Scale book, teams can gain valuable insights and practical guidance on their journey towards sustainable success.
Cultivating a user-centric, data-driven, and inclusive mindset lays the foundation for scalability. By prioritizing the needs of users, making informed decisions based on data, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration, teams can create products that deliver meaningful value and drive long-term growth.
Making strategic decisions around technology choices, performance optimization, accessibility integration, and developer experience investment sets the stage for scalable and maintainable architectures. By leveraging proven optimization techniques, embracing inclusive design practices, and investing in the tools and processes that empower developers, teams can build products that are fast and resilient.
Through ongoing collaboration, knowledge sharing, and a commitment to learning, teams can navigate the complexities of scaling success and create products that make a lasting impact in the digital landscape.
We’re Trying Out Something New
In an effort to conserve resources here at Smashing, we’re trying something new with Success at Scale. The printed book is 304 pages, and we make an expanded PDF version available to everyone who purchases a print book. This accomplishes a few good things:
Smashing Books have always been printed with materials from FSC Certified forests. We are committed to finding new ways to conserve resources while still bringing you the best possible reading experience.
Community Matters ❤️
Producing a book takes quite a bit of time, and we couldn’t pull it off without the support of our wonderful community. A huge shout-out to Smashing Members for the kind, ongoing support. The eBook is and always will be free for Smashing Members. Plus, Members get a friendly discount when purchasing their printed copy. Just sayin’! ;-)
More Smashing Books & GoodiesPromoting best practices and providing you with practical tips to master your daily coding and design challenges has always been (and will be) at the core of everything we do at Smashing.
In the past few years, we were very lucky to have worked together with some talented, caring people from the web community to publish their wealth of experience as printed books that stand the test of time. Heather and Steven are two of these people. Have you checked out their books already?
Everything you need to know to put your users first and make a better web.
Learn how touchscreen devices really work — and how people really use them.
100 practical cards for common interface design challenges.
Vision AI does not only replicate human vision but can also go beyond that in offering highly accurate accounts of environmental features that are not readily visible to the human eye. However, while edge AI has been around for a while, enhancing edge capabilities with computer vision is still a novelty. Those who have ventured into improving production processes, safety, and quality with the help of vision AI, however, are already reaping the benefits.
When equipped with vision AI, industrial enterprises can take full control of their assets on the edge and build a truly collaborative foundation for a multitude of use cases. This will allow them to tackle the challenges of a dynamic setting that includes many unknowns.
How can you effectively increase your online presence? In today’s digital age, the answer lies in strategic content sharing. With countless brands vying for attention online, standing out requires a well-thought-out strategy. This guide provides...
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Blender is a powerful and free 3D creation suite that has gained immense popularity among artists, designers, and animators. To help you navigate through the vast array of tutorials available, we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 YouTube channels that offer the best Blender tutorials for all skill levels.
Blender Guru, hosted by Andrew Price, is a must-follow channel for anyone serious about mastering Blender. Known for his engaging and in-depth tutorials, Andrew covers everything from basic modeling to advanced rendering techniques. His “Blender Beginner Tutorial Series” is particularly popular and a great starting point for newcomers.
CG Cookie is a well-established name in the Blender community, offering high-quality tutorials on a wide range of topics. Their YouTube channel is an extension of their educational platform, featuring tutorials that cater to both beginners and advanced users. CG Cookie’s tutorials are known for their clarity and depth.
Blender Official is the primary channel managed by the Blender Foundation itself. It features tutorials, news, and updates straight from the developers, making it an essential resource for staying up-to-date with the latest Blender features and enhancements.
If you’re looking for detailed and fun tutorials, CG Geek is the channel for you. Run by Steve Lund, this channel offers a mix of beginner and advanced tutorials, including impressive 3D modeling and animation projects. Steve’s tutorials are well-explained and perfect for those who want to take their skills to the next level.
Blender Studio, also managed by the Blender Foundation, offers behind-the-scenes content, project breakdowns, and advanced tutorials used in professional productions. This channel is perfect for users looking to see how Blender is used in high-end projects.
Grant Abbitt’s channel is a treasure trove of tutorials that range from beginner to advanced levels. Grant has a friendly teaching style and covers a wide range of topics, including character modeling, sculpting, and animation. His step-by-step guides are comprehensive and easy to follow.
CrossMind Studio provides high-quality tutorials focused on various aspects of Blender, including modeling, texturing, and animation. The tutorials are detailed and well-structured, catering to both beginners and experienced users.
Ducky 3D focuses on creating stunning visual effects and abstract art with Blender. This channel is ideal for those interested in the artistic side of Blender, offering tutorials that are both creative and technically detailed. Ducky 3D’s tutorials are easy to follow, making complex effects achievable for users at all levels.
Polyfjord offers creative and visually stunning tutorials on Blender. The channel focuses on unique and artistic projects, making it a great resource for those looking to expand their creative skills with Blender.
CG Boost is known for its clear and well-produced tutorials on Blender. The channel covers a wide range of topics, including character creation, environment modeling, and rendering. CG Boost also runs regular art challenges that inspire and motivate its community.
Josh Gambrell specializes in hard surface modeling tutorials. His channel is perfect for users interested in creating detailed mechanical and industrial models. Josh’s tutorials are thorough and easy to follow, making complex techniques accessible.
SouthernShotty provides engaging and entertaining tutorials on Blender, often focusing on creating stylized 3D art. The channel’s relaxed and humorous approach makes learning Blender fun and accessible, especially for beginners.
Ryan King Art offers a mix of beginner and intermediate tutorials on Blender. The channel covers a variety of topics, including modeling, sculpting, and texturing. Ryan’s friendly teaching style makes learning Blender enjoyable and straightforward.
CGMatter focuses on quick, efficient tutorials that cover a wide range of Blender features and techniques. The channel is ideal for users who want to learn new tricks and tips in a short amount of time.
Derek Elliott’s channel offers high-quality tutorials with a focus on product visualization and animation. Derek’s tutorials are professional and detailed, making them suitable for users looking to create polished, commercial-quality renders.
The post Top YouTube Channels for Blender Tutorials: From Beginners to Advanced appeared first on CSS Author.
Google Analytics is great, but not everyone in your organization will be granted access. In many places I’ve worked, it was on a kind of “need to know” basis.
In this article, I’m gonna flip that on its head and show you how I wrote a GitHub Action that queries Google Analytics, generates a top ten list of the most frequently viewed pages on my site from the last seven days and compares them to the previous seven days to tell me which pages have increased in views, which pages have decreased in views, which pages have stayed the same and which pages are new to the list.
The report is then nicely formatted with icon indicators and posted to a public Slack channel every Friday at 10 AM.
Not only would this surfaced data be useful for folks who might need it, but it also provides an easy way to copy and paste or screenshot the report and add it to a slide for the weekly company/department meeting.
Here’s what the finished report looks like in Slack, and below, you’ll find a link to the GitHub Repository.
GitHub
To use this repository, follow the steps outlined in the README.
https://github.com/PaulieScanlon/smashing-weekly-analytics
Prerequisites
To build this workflow, you’ll need admin access to your Google Analytics and Slack Accounts and administrator privileges for GitHub Actions and Secrets for a GitHub repository.
Customizing the Report and Action
Naturally, all of the code can be changed to suit your requirements, and in the following sections, I’ll explain the areas you’ll likely want to take a look at.
The file name of the Action weekly-analytics.report.yml isn’t seen anywhere other than in the code/repo but naturally, change it to whatever you like, you won’t break anything.
The name and jobs: names detailed below are seen in the GitHub UI and Workflow logs.
The cron syntax determines when the Action will run. Schedules use POSIX cron syntax and by changing the numbers you can determine when the Action runs.
You could also change the secrets variable names; just make sure you update them in your repository Settings.
name: Weekly Analytics Report
on:
schedule:
– cron: ‘0 10 * * 5′ # Runs every Friday at 10 AM UTC
workflow_dispatch: # Allows manual triggering
jobs:
analytics-report:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
env:
SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL }}
GA4_PROPERTY_ID: ${{ secrets.GA4_PROPERTY_ID }}
GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS_BASE64: ${{ secrets.GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS_BASE64 }}
steps:
– name: Checkout repository
uses: actions/checkout@v4
– name: Setup Node.js
uses: actions/setup-node@v4
with:
node-version: ’20.x’
– name: Install dependencies
run: npm install
– name: Run the JavaScript script
run: node src/services/weekly-analytics.js
The Google Analytics API request I’m using is set to pull the fullPageUrl and pageTitle for the totalUsers in the last seven days, and a second request for the previous seven days, and then aggregates the totals and limits the responses to 10.
You can use Google’s GA4 Query Explorer to construct your own query, then replace the requests.
// src/services/weekly-analytics.js#L75
const [thisWeek] = await analyticsDataClient.runReport({
property: `properties/${process.env.GA4_PROPERTY_ID}`,
dateRanges: [
{
startDate: ‘7daysAgo’,
endDate: ‘today’,
},
],
dimensions: [
{
name: ‘fullPageUrl’,
},
{
name: ‘pageTitle’,
},
],
metrics: [
{
name: ‘totalUsers’,
},
],
limit: reportLimit,
metricAggregations: [‘MAXIMUM’],
});
Creating the Comparisons
There are two functions to determine which page views have increased, decreased, stayed the same, or are new.
The first is a simple reduce function that returns the URL and a count for each.
The second maps over the results from this week and compares them to last week.
return {
position: (index + 1).toString().padStart(2, ‘0’), // Format the position with leading zero if it’s less than 10
url,
title,
count: { thisWeek: count, lastWeek: lastWeekCount || ‘0’ }, // Ensure lastWeekCount is displayed as ‘0’ if not found
status,
};
});
The final function is used to determine the status of each.
// Function to determine the status
const determineStatus = (count, lastWeekCount) => {
const thisCount = Number(count);
const previousCount = Number(lastWeekCount);
if (lastWeekCount === undefined || lastWeekCount === ‘0’) {
return NEW;
}
if (thisCount > previousCount) {
return HIGHER;
}
if (thisCount < previousCount) {
return LOWER;
}
return SAME;
};
I’ve purposely left the code fairly verbose, so it’ll be easier for you to add console.log to each of the functions to see what they return.
Customizing the Slack Message
The Slack message config I’m using creates a heading with an emoji, a divider, and a paragraph explaining what the message is.
Below that I’m using the context object to construct a report by iterating over comparisons and returning an object containing Slack specific message syntax which includes an icon, a count, the name of the page and a link to each item.
You can use Slack’s Block Kit Builder to construct your own message format.
const slackList = report.map((item, index) => {
const {
position,
url,
title,
count: { thisWeek, lastWeek },
status,
} = item;
return {
type: ‘context’,
elements: [
{
type: ‘image’,
image_url: ${reportConfig.url}/images/${status},
alt_text: ‘icon’,
},
{
type: ‘mrkdwn’,
text: ${position}. <${url}|${title}> | *${x${thisWeek}}`* / x${lastWeek}`,
},
],
};
});
Before you can run the GitHub Action, you will need to complete a number of Google, Slack, and GitHub steps.
Ready to get going?
Creating a Google Cloud Project
Head over to your Google Cloud console, and from the dropdown menu at the top of the screen, click Select a project, and when the modal opens up, click NEW PROJECT.
On the next screen, give your project a name and click CREATE. In my example, I’ve named the project smashing-weekly-analytics.
In this step, you’ll enable the Google Analytics Data API for your new project. From the left-hand sidebar, navigate to APIs & Services > Enable APIs & services. At the top of the screen, click + ENABLE APIS & SERVICES.
Search for “Google analytics data API,” select it from the list, then click ENABLE.
With the API enabled in your project, you can now create the required credentials. Click the CREATE CREDENTIALS button at the top right of the screen to set up a new Service account.
A Service account allows an “application” to interact with Google APIs, providing the credentials include the required services. In this example, the credentials grant access to the Google Analytics Data API.
On the next screen, select Google Analytics Data API from the dropdown menu and Application data, then click NEXT.
On the next screen, give your Service account a name, ID, and description (optional). Then click CREATE AND CONTINUE.
In my example, I’ve given my service account a name and ID of smashing-weekly-analytics and added a short description that explains what the service account does.
On the next screen, select Owner for the Role, then click CONTINUE.
You can leave the fields blank in this last step and click DONE when you’re ready.
From the left-hand navigation, select Service Accounts, then click the “more dots” to open the menu and select Manage keys.
On the next screen, locate the KEYS tab at the top of the screen, then click ADD KEY and select Create new key.
On the next screen, select JSON as the key type, then click CREATE to download your Google Application credentials .json file.
If you open the .json file in your code editor, you should be looking at something similar to the one below.
In case you’re wondering, no, you can’t use an object as a variable defined in an .env file. To use these credentials, it’s necessary to convert the whole file into a base64 string.
Note: I wrote a more detailed post about how to use Google Application credentials as environment variables here: “How to Use Google Application .json Credentials in Environment Variables.”
From your terminal, run the following: replace name-of-creds-file.json with the name of your .json file.
cat name-of-creds-file.json | base64
If you’ve already cloned the repo and followed the Getting started steps in the README, add the base64 string returned after running the above and add it to the GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS_BASE64 variable in your .env file, but make sure you wrap the string with double quotation makes.
GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS_BASE64=”abc123″
That completes the Google project side of things. The next step is to add your service account email to your Google Analytics property and find your Google Analytics Property ID.
Google Analytics Properties
Whilst your service account now has access to the Google Analytics Data API, it doesn’t yet have access to your Google Analytics account.
To make queries to the Google Analytics API, you’ll need to know your Property ID. You can find it by heading over to your Google Analytics account. Make sure you’re on the correct property (in the screenshot below, I’ve selected paulie.dev — GA4).
Click the admin cog in the bottom left-hand side of the screen, then click Property details.
On the next screen, you’ll see the PROPERTY ID in the top right corner. If you’ve already cloned the repo and followed the Getting started steps in the README, add the property ID value to the GA4_PROPERTY_ID variable in your .env file.
From the Google application credential .json file you downloaded earlier, locate the client_email and copy the email address.
In my example, it looks like this: smashing-weekly-analytics@smashing-weekly-analytics.iam.gserviceaccount.com.
Now navigate to Property access management from the left hide side navigation and click the + in the top right-hand corner, then click Add users.
On the next screen, add the client_email to the Email addresses input, uncheck Notify new users by email, and select Viewer under Direct roles and data restrictions, then click Add.
That completes the Google Analytics properties section. Your “application” will use the Google application credentials containing the client_email and will now have access to your Google Analytics account via the Google Analytics Data API.
Slack Channels and Webhook
In the following steps, you’ll create a new Slack channel that will be used to post messages sent from your “application” using a Slack Webhook.
Create a new channel in your Slack workspace. I’ve named mine #weekly-analytics-report. You’ll need to set this up before proceeding to the next step.
Head over to the slack api dashboard, and click Create an App.
On the next screen, select From an app manifest.
On the next screen, select your Slack workspace, then click Next.
On this screen, you can give your app a name. In my example, I’ve named my Weekly Analytics Report. Click Next when you’re ready.
On step 3, you can just click Done.
With the App created, you can now set up a Webhook.
Navigate to Incoming Webhooks from the left-hand navigation, then switch the Toggle to On to activate incoming webhooks. Then, at the bottom of the screen, click Add New Webook to Workspace.
On the next screen, select your Slack workspace and a channel that you’d like to use to post messages, too, and click Allow.
You should now see your new Slack Webhook with a copy button. Copy the Webhook URL, and if you’ve already cloned the repo and followed the Getting started steps in the README, add the Webhook URL to the SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL variable in your .env file.
From the left-hand navigation, select Basic Information. On this screen, you can customize your app and add an icon and description. Be sure to click Save Changes when you’re done.
If you now head over to your Slack, you should see that your app has been added to your workspace.
That completes the Slack section of this article. It’s now time to add your environment variables to GitHub Secrets and run the workflow.
Add GitHub Secrets
Head over to the Settings tab of your GitHub repository, then from the left-hand navigation, select Secrets and variables, then click Actions.
Add the three variables from your .env file under Repository secrets.
A note on the base64 string: You won’t need to include the double quotes!
Run Workflow
To test if your Action is working correctly, head over to the Actions tab of your GitHub repository, select the Job name (Weekly Analytics Report), then click Run workflow.
If everything worked correctly, you should now be looking at a nicely formatted list of the top ten page views on your site in Slack.
Finished
And that’s it! A fully automated Google Analytics report that posts directly to your Slack. I’ve worked in a few places where Google Analytics data was on lockdown, and I think this approach to sharing Analytics data with Slack (something everyone has access to) could be super valuable for various people in your organization.
This post is originally published on Designmodo: 15 Unexpected Ways AI Technology is Being Used Today
Over the last few years, we’ve been witnessing what previously was only possible in science fiction novels – the dawn of AI technology. Even though it seemingly appeared out of nowhere just a moment ago, it’s already becoming integrated into …
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I tweet technical content that I consider interesting, but the funny tweets are the ones that get the most engagement. I attended the JavaLand conference in March, stumbled upon the Gradle booth, and found this gem:
Of course, at some point, a fanboy hijacked the thread and claimed the so-called superiority of Gradle. In this post, I'd like to shed some light on my stance, so I can direct people to it instead of debunking the same "reasoning" repeatedly.
Did you know you can receive an SMS notification each time a form is submitted on your WordPress site, eliminating the need for constant email or active website monitoring? If you’ve been searching for a practical method to stay updated on new inquiries from your site visitors, implementing SMS notifications from your contact form is […]
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A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is one of the best ways to take down a site fast. For a site owner, it’s devastating. For the attack, it can be a ‘cheap’ computational way to cause chaos to an unsuspecting site. We’d bet that you don’t want to be the malicious user in this case, so we’re going to teach you how to stop a DDoS attack.
Entrepreneurs and project managers need to have tools at their fingertips that manage overlapping responsibilities and initiatives. Nifty presents itself …
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This blog will delve into the nuances of combining the prowess of DataStax Astra with the power of Ray and is a companion to this demo on GitHub. We’ll explore the step-by-step procedure, the pitfalls to avoid, and the advantages this dynamic duo brings to the table. Whether you’re a data engineer, a developer looking to optimize your workflows, or just a tech enthusiast curious about the latest in data solutions, this guide promises insights aplenty. Soon, you’ll be able to use Cassandra 5 in place of AstraDB in this demo — but for a quick start, AstraDB is a great way to get started with a vector-search-compliant Cassandra database!
Vector search is a technology that works by turning data that we are interested in into numerical representations of locations in a coordinate system. A database that holds and operates on vectors is called a vector store. This functionality is coming to Cassandra 5.0, which will be released soon. To preview this functionality, we can make use of DataStax Astra. Similar items have their vector locations close to each other in this space. That way, we can take some items and find items similar to them. In this case, we have bits of text that are embedded. Embedding takes text into a machine-learning model that returns vectors that represent the data. You can almost think about embedding and translating data from real text into vectors.
In today’s digital age, having a robust online presence is essential for any business. A well-designed website not only enhances user engagement but also boosts your brand’s visibility and credibility. However, finding high-quality web design services that don’t break the bank can be a challenge. This comprehensive guide lists the top six affordable web design companies that provide exceptional services without compromising on quality.
Here are the best 6 web design agencies that have affordable and sometimes cheap prices for developing amazing projects and services for small businesses but not only that sometimes for big enterprises.
BlogThemeMachine stands out as a leader in affordable web design, offering solutions that are both creative and cost-effective. Specializing in custom WordPress themes, BlogThemeMachine ensures that even the most budget-conscious businesses can sport a professional online presence.
Services Offered:
Why Choose BlogThemeMachine?
SiteMile is renowned for its turnkey solutions that cater to businesses of all sizes. Their team delivers exceptional web design and development services, emphasizing scalability and customization.
SiteMile excels not only in web design and development but also offers specialized services that span SEO, WordPress customization, mobile app development, and e-commerce development. Their expertise in creating versatile, SEO-optimized websites ensures that your online presence is both powerful and search engine friendly. With a focus on responsive design, SiteMile ensures that websites perform seamlessly across all devices, which is crucial in today’s mobile-centric world.
Additionally, their proficiency in WordPress makes them a top choice for clients seeking a user-friendly yet robust content management system. For businesses aiming to expand into online sales, SiteMile’s e-commerce development services provide comprehensive solutions that include shopping cart integration, secure payment gateways, and an intuitive user interface, all designed to enhance the shopping experience and boost business growth.
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Why Choose SiteMile?
PixelPerfect Designs offers affordable web design services without skimping on the visual appeal and functionality. Their team focuses on creating bespoke websites that are visually striking and highly functional.
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Why Choose PixelPerfect Designs?
SwiftWeb Solutions provides rapid web design services that don’t compromise on quality. Ideal for businesses needing quick turnarounds without the hefty price tag.
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**Why Choose Swift
Web Solutions?**
EcoWeb Hosting stands out by offering environmentally friendly web hosting and design services. Their commitment to sustainability goes hand in hand with their dedication to providing affordable and reliable web solutions.
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CreativeFlow Web Studio excels in providing bespoke web solutions that creatively address your business needs. Their innovative approach ensures your website stands out in a crowded market.
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Why Choose CreativeFlow Web Studio?
Each of these companies offers unique strengths that can cater to various business needs and budget constraints. Choosing the right web design company involves considering not only the cost but also the value they bring to your digital projects. By selecting any of the above-mentioned companies, you can ensure that your business’s online component is in good hands, without exhausting your financial resources.
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After thorough workload prioritization and dedicated team efforts, still feeling reaching nowhere near your goal?
The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule but to schedule your priorities. — Stephen Covey
In an increasingly digital age, the internet serves as a vital resource for information, communication, commerce, and entertainment. However, for the millions of people living with disabilities, navigating the web can present significant challenges. Web accessibility addresses these challenges by ensuring that websites, tools, and technologies are designed and developed to be usable by everyone, regardless of their physical or cognitive abilities.
By implementing web accessibility practices, we not only comply with legal standards but also embrace a broader ethical commitment to inclusivity. This approach enhances the user experience for all visitors, fosters greater audience engagement, and demonstrates a commitment to social responsibility. Understanding and prioritizing web accessibility is crucial for creating a more equitable and user-friendly internet for everyone.
Web accessibility refers to the inclusive practice of designing and developing websites, tools, and technologies so that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the web effectively. It encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the web, including auditory, cognitive, neurological, physical, speech, and visual impairments.
Perceivable : Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive. This means providing text alternatives for non-text content, captions for multimedia, and making content adaptable for different presentation formats.
Operable : User interface components and navigation must be operable. This includes ensuring functionality through keyboard access, providing sufficient time for users to read and use content, and avoiding content that causes seizures or physical reactions.
Understandable : Information and the operation of user interfaces must be understandable. This involves making text readable and understandable, ensuring web pages appear and operate in predictable ways, and helping users avoid and correct mistakes.
Robust : Content must be robust enough to be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. This includes ensuring compatibility with current and future user tools.
Inclusivity : Web accessibility ensures that all individuals, regardless of their disabilities, can access and interact with web content. This promotes equal opportunity and prevents discrimination.
Legal Compliance : Many countries have laws and regulations that require websites to be accessible. In the United States, for instance, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act mandate accessibility for web content.
Wider Audience Reach : Accessible websites can reach a broader audience, including the estimated 15% of the world’s population living with some form of disability. This can enhance user satisfaction and increase the potential customer base.
SEO Benefits : Many accessibility practices, such as using proper HTML semantics and providing text alternatives, also improve search engine optimization (SEO). This can lead to better search rankings and increased web traffic.
Enhanced Usability : Accessibility improvements often enhance the overall usability of a website for all users, not just those with disabilities. Clear navigation, readable text, and intuitive interfaces benefit everyone.
Social Responsibility : Prioritizing web accessibility demonstrates a commitment to social responsibility. It reflects positively on a company’s values and can improve its reputation and brand loyalty.
Using the right website accessibility testing tools can help you identify and fix accessibility issues, ensuring your site is inclusive and compliant with accessibility standards. Here are the 10 best tools to help you achieve that goal.
The post Top Website Accessibility Testing Tools for Inclusive Web Design appeared first on CSS Author.
WordPress remains a top choice for website owners due to its robust features, scalability, and strong SEO capabilities. Successfully optimizing a WordPress site can significantly boost your visibility in search engine results, enhancing both user engagement and traffic. This detailed guide provides an in-depth look at the essential SEO strategies and plugins that will help you improve your site’s search engine rankings.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) on WordPress involves tailoring your site to the algorithms that search engines use to rank pages. By optimizing your site, you’re increasing the likelihood that your pages will appear at the top of search engine results, attracting more organic traffic. WordPress is particularly SEO-friendly from the start, thanks to its use of best coding practices and logical architecture.
Understanding SEO begins with keywords. These are the phrases that users type into search engines when they’re looking for information, and they should guide the content you create on your WordPress site. Effective keyword research can uncover the exact phrases that potential visitors are searching for, which helps in crafting content that aligns with user intent. Tools such as Google’s Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, and Moz Keyword Explorer are invaluable for discovering these terms and understanding the competition and search volume for each keyword.
Proper configuration of WordPress settings is vital for SEO. Simple adjustments can help improve your site’s search engine visibility and user experience. Start by optimizing your permalink settings, as search engines prefer URLs that give them insight into the content of the page. WordPress allows you to easily customize your permalink structure to include categories, post names, or even keywords, which can enhance your rankings and improve site navigation.
Another critical setting is your site’s visibility to search engines. You can check this in the ‘Reading’ settings of your WordPress dashboard. Make sure that the option to discourage search engines from indexing your site is unchecked, as having it selected can make your site invisible to search engines, undermining all other SEO efforts. Additionally, regularly updating your WordPress version, themes, and plugins can protect your site from security vulnerabilities and improve performance, indirectly boosting your SEO.
Take into consideration everything about this field, like: on-page seo, backlinks, content creation and so on.
WordPress’s real power lies in its extensive range of plugins, which can extend the functionality of your site and enhance SEO efforts. Yoast SEO is one of the most popular plugins due to its comprehensive suite of features that guide you through the optimization of your content, images, and meta tags. It offers real-time page analysis, which helps you adjust your content, meta descriptions, and even images for optimized search engine visibility.
Another excellent plugin is the All in One SEO Pack, which is a favorite among WordPress users due to its simplicity and effectiveness. It automatically generates meta tags and optimizes your titles for Google and other search engines. Moreover, it integrates seamlessly with Google Analytics, helping you to monitor and analyze your traffic and optimize your SEO strategies accordingly. Both Yoast SEO and All in One SEO Pack offer premium versions with additional functionalities that can further enhance your SEO efforts.
Here is a more complete list of seo plugins:
The cornerstone of SEO is high-quality content. Your ability to rank higher is significantly influenced by your content’s relevance and engagement levels. Ensure that your content is thoroughly researched and directly answers the questions that your audience is asking. Use the keywords identified during your research naturally within your text to ensure that your content remains both reader-friendly and optimized for search engines.
Furthermore, structure is just as important as content quality. Proper use Jacc of headers, such as H1s for titles and H2s for main headings, helps break down content into digestible sections and aids search engines in understanding the hierarchical structure of your pages. Additionally, every post or page you create should aim to provide comprehensive coverage of your topic, increasing the likelihood that visitors will find your content valuable and share it, which further enhances your SEO.
Technical SEO includes all the non-content elements that impact your site’s performance. For WordPress, this means ensuring your theme is SEO-friendly and that your site is mobile-responsive. Google prioritizes mobile-first indexing, which means it predominantly uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking. A responsive theme automatically adjusts its layout to fit various screen sizes, ensuring a good user experience across all devices.
Speed is another critical component of technical SEO. A slow website can hurt your rankings and turn visitors away. WordPress offers several caching plugins, like WP Rocket or W3 Total In Cache, which can significantly reduce load times. Additionally, optimizing images before uploading them to WordPress can decrease page load times, enhance user experience, and contribute to higher SEO rankings.
Backlinks are fundamental to SEO as they signal to search engines that other websites consider your content credible and authoritative. Focus on earning high-quality backlinks from reputable websites within your industry as they can dramatically improve your SEO performance. Engage with industry leaders, write guest posts, and participate in community discussions to increase your visibility and link-building opportunities.
Moreover, monitor the quality of your backlinks using tools like Ahrefs or Majestic. These tools can help you identify and disavow backlinks that could potentially harm your site’s reputation. Remember, a successful backlink strategy focuses on quality over quantity. Relevance and trustworthiness of linking sites are more important than merely accumulating a large number of links.
SEO is an ongoing process that requires constant monitoring and adjustment. Google Analytics is a powerful tool for tracking your site’s performance, providing insights into user behavior, traffic sources, and engagement metrics. This data is crucial for understanding the effectiveness of your SEO strategies and identifying areas for improvement.
Regular SEO audits are also essential. They can help you pinpoint and rectify issues such as broken links, outdated content, and over-optimized pages. Tools like SEMrush and Moz offer comprehensive audit solutions that analyze your website to detect potential SEO issues and provide actionable recommendations.
Mastering SEO on WordPress is crucial for any website looking to improve its online presence. By understanding the basics, utilizing the right plugins, and implementing effective content and technical strategies, you can enhance your site’s visibility and ranking in search engine results. Keep in mind that SEO is an ongoing commitment; staying updated with the latest SEO trends and continuously refining your strategies will help you maintain and improve your search engine rankings over time. With patience and persistence, you can achieve significant improvements in your SEO performance on WordPress.
The post Mastering SEO on WordPress: Essential Tips and Plugins for Higher Rankings appeared first on BlogThemeMachine.