File "<ipython-input-5-e17ca2a1bb52>", line 8 Y = np.array[4,1,0,1,4] ^ SyntaxError: invalid syntax
Syntax error: invalid syntax
Resolving Permission Issue in Multi-node Hadoop Cluster
Sometimes it has been observed that when we configure and deploy multi-node Hadoop cluster or add new DataNodes, there is an SSH permission issue in communication with Hadoop daemons.
This short article aims to explain how we can resolve the permission issue among DataNodes with NameNode while trying to establish the Secure Shell/SSH without a passphrase. By using DataNode Protocol, all DataNodes talk to the NameNode. By design, the NameNode never initiates any RPCs (Remote Procedure Call). Instead, it only responds to RPC requests issued by DataNodes or clients.
Localizing Dates in A Perl Web Application
When we're writing software for a global audience, it's nice if we can provide it according to their native languages and conventions. Translating all of the text can be a huge undertaking, but we can start small by making sure that when we show the day and date it appears as the user expects. For example, to me it's Tuesday, April 20, 2021; to my friend Paul in the UK, it's Tuesday, 20 April 2021 (note the difference in order); and to my other friend Gabór in Israel, it's יום שלישי, 20 באפריל 2021 (note the different direction of the text, different language, and character set).
Thankfully, we have a number of tools to assist us:
- The DateTime::Locale library, which enables our Perl software to represent dates and times globally and contains a catalog of locales. It works with the DateTime library for storing our dates as objects that can be easily manipulated and formatted.
- The HTTP Accept-Language header, which lets a web browser communicate to the server what natural languages and locale variants the user understands.
- The HTTP::AcceptLanguage module, which helps us parse the Accept-Language header and select a compatible locale.
Our sample code uses the Mojolicious framework and is very simple; almost half of it is just HTML web page templates. You could easily adapt it to other frameworks or templating systems.
Google XML Sitemaps vs SmartCrawl Sitemaps – Which is Best for SEO?
The Google XML Sitemaps plugin is extremely popular, well-rated, and free to use. However, are its features better than our own popular, well-rated, and free-to-use plugin, SmartCrawl?
This article will put these two SEO plugins to the test to see which one delivers the best results and if one outranks the other.
Sure, we’re more partial to SmartCrawl, considering she’s, well, our very own SEO plugin. However, with Google XML Sitemaps having over 2+ million active installs compared to SmartCrawl’s 20+ thousand installs, we realize there’s a lot of active users with XML Sitemaps — and there’s a good reason for that.
We will see if they’re comparable, if one has advantages over the other, and what they both include…or don’t!
This post covers:
- What is an XML Sitemap?
- Why Add An XML Sitemap to WordPress?
- SmartCrawl XML Sitemap Features
- Google XML Sitemaps Plugin Features
- XML Sitemaps vs SmartCrawl XML Sitemap – Comparison Chart
By the end of this article, you should clearly understand what plugin is best for you when having an XML sitemaps plugin for your WordPress site.
What is an XML Sitemap?
In a nutshell, an XML sitemap is a file that lists all of your website’s content in an XML format. This makes it easy for search engines like Google to discover and index your WordPress content.
XML sitemaps tell search engines all about the pages on your website. Additionally, it will tell search engines what links on your site are more crucial than others. Plus, it will point out how often you update your WordPress site.
XML sitemaps don’t necessarily boost your rankings, but they allow search engines to crawl your site better. That leads to them being able to discover more content, which results in higher search traffic and enhanced rankings when it comes to SEO.
Why Add An XML Sitemap to WordPress?
From an SEO perspective, sitemaps are very beneficial in several ways.
When you add one, your rankings won’t be affected. However, if you have a page on your site that isn’t indexed, a sitemap provides you a systematic way to inform search engines about the page.
According to Google, XML sitemaps are beneficial for large websites, websites with extensive archives, new websites, and sites that use rich media content.
Though, an XML sitemap is beneficial for any WordPress site. Why? It’s because every site needs Google to easily find important pages and realize when they were last updated.
So, whether your WordPress site is established or brand new, a sitemap will highlight which part of your WordPress site is most important, how often it’s updated, and more — so your site can be indexed according to search engines.
With all of this being said, let’s check out these two plugins in action.
SmartCrawl XML Sitemap Features
As I mentioned earlier (and you may be aware of already), SmartCrawl is our very own free, 5-star SEO plugin.
Along with offering titles & meta descriptions, SEO checkups, leveraging your social media, and much more — she’s got you covered with an XML sitemap generator.
I won’t get too in-depth with all of her features (there’s a ton of them), but unlike the XML Sitemaps plugin, she can do a lot more. For example, check out her schema skills in this article.
But, let’s focus on specific features for XML sitemaps and SmartCrawl. These include:
- Support for all WordPress content
- Automatically notifies search engines
- Inclusions and Exclusions to crawl
- Having no PHP skills and no file changes necessary
- A user interface to customize the parameters
- Multisite compatibility
- Scheduling regular URL Crawl Reports delivered to your inbox
- Being cached for performance
- Includes images from post content
- Can merge sitemaps into a single sitemap
- The capability to add styling to the sitemap
So, let’s take a detailed look at SmartCrawls XML sitemap capabilities.
Right away, once activated, you can start the sitemap with one click.
Once activated, she does a scan of your site, and you’re taken to Smartcrawl’s sitemap dashboard.
In the Sitemap area, you can view your sitemap (via a link), switch to WP core sitemap, choose which post types, archives, and taxonomies you want to include in your sitemap, and add any inclusions and exclusions.
To take a better look at the features here, we’ll break it down into detail.
The link to your sitemap is at the top of the Sitemap area.
You can also choose to switch to the WP core sitemap (which we don’t recommend considering all that Smartcrawl sitemap can do).
From here, you can choose what post types, archives, and taxonomies you want to include in your sitemap.
Have any URLs that aren’t part of your pages, posts, or custom posts? You can add those next. Also, you can exclude any post IDs and URLs from your sitemap in this section.
In Smartcrawl’s Crawler area, start a crawl instantly. This will check for broken URLs, 404s, multiple redirections, and any harmful issues that can reduce your rank.
Just like the Google XML Sitemap plugin, you can schedule automatic crawls. The difference is, Smartcrawl will email you a report straight to your inbox!
Simply click on Run regular URL crawls to get started.
Once clicking, you can customize the recipients and schedule. When scheduling, you can choose between daily, weekly, and monthly. Plus, you can select the day of the week and time of day.
Click on Save Settings will get you all set up!
When we head over to Smartcrawls sitemap Settings, there are some additional tweaks you can make.
To start with, change the Generation Method. This is where you set up your sitemap to be generated as a single file or split into multiple linking files.
Single sitemaps are typically okay for small sites; however, more significant sites will need to be split.
Want to include images in your site map? It’s one click to do so. This will help Google Images index them correctly.
With the Auto-notify search engines option, you can set it up to automatically notify Google and Bing whenever your sitemap changes by selecting Default, or you can opt for manual if you’d like to let them know on your own.
If you’d like your sitemap to be read easier by human eyes, the Style Sitemap button will do that.
You can see some examples of what a stylized sitemap looks like in our documentation.
Also, stay updated with Automatic sitemap updates. Set this to Default (done automatically) or Manual.
In this area, you can also Deactivate the sitemap generator with a click. If you change your mind and want to start using it again, that’s done in a click as well.
Something else to keep in mind is, if you’re a WPMU DEV member, SmartCrawl integrates with The Hub.
This gives you quick and easy access to some key benefits, such as:
- Able to run Crawler & view issues in Hub SEO tab
- Ability to automate scans and check last scan/submission
- Managing multiple sites’ sitemaps from one central location
For more on Hub integration, be sure to check out our article, Easily Configure Your WordPress SEO with SmartCrawl and The Hub.
If you don’t need or want something as advanced as SmartCrawl’s jam-packed feature-rich XML sitemaps or are just looking for a stand-alone XML sitemaps generator (and a separate SEO plugin), then you can always go with the popular Google XML Sitemaps plugin.
It’s a lot more basic, as you’ll see. But it will do the job.
Google XML Sitemaps Plugin Features
The Google XML Sitemaps plugin is no stranger to over a million users. When activated, it will create XML sitemaps that help search engines better index your site. It’s been supported for over nine years and is still going strong.
It supports numerous WordPress-created pages and also custom URLs. Plus, when you create a new post, it notifies all the major search engines you have new content.
This plugin has a good reputation for doing what it’s supposed to do — creating XML sitemaps. And it has a guarantee to “not break your site, slow it down, or annoy you.”
Now that we have the nuts and bolts of what the XML Sitemaps plugin is about let’s dig into its features.
First off, here’s a rundown of some specific features offered with XML Sitemaps:
- Support for all WordPress content
- No PHP skills or file changes necessary
- A user interface to customize the parameters
- Used in many languages
- Calculates a priority for each post that’s based on the number of comments
- Will notify Google and Bing about changes via ping
- It comes with a WordPress filter for other plugins which can add their WordPress pages to the sitemap
- Multisite compatible
The XML Sitemaps plugin, as you can see, can tackle a lot. So now, let’s hop into WordPress and see it in detail.
A nice attribute of this plugin is its simplicity. Everything is in one area in its dashboard.
It’s convenient to have everything in one place.
At the top of the dashboard, it shows you the results of the last ping. This includes the date and whether it successfully notified Google & Bing.
If you click on Notify Search Engines About Your Sitemap, it will notify the search engines immediately (although it may take a minute or two to process).
This pings your sitemap to Google and Bing, and your content will be indexed momentarily.
We’ll now take a look at the Basic Options section. This area controls the basic configurations of the plugin.
The section starts with Update Notification. In this section, you can check the boxes to notify Google, Bing, and Add sitemap URL to the virtual robots.txt.file.
The robot.txt is a file that’s created to communicate with search engine crawlers. It will tell them what to index when guided through your site. It’s beneficial for search engines that don’t support ping notifications.
All this being said, it’s recommended checking all three boxes so it doesn’t rule out any search engine.
As we move along, there’s an Advanced Options area.
Here, you can increase the memory limit and execution time. These two options are pretty redundant; however, you can increase it here if you ever get an out-of-memory error.
You can also configure the XSLT stylesheet. This is where you can upload a new XSLT stylesheet or disable XSLT altogether if you decide you want it to be less readable.
Additionally, you can override the URL of the sitemap. It’s mostly for modifying you have sub-directories.
And finally, you can include sitemap in HTML format (which is suggested to left checked) and allow anonymous statistics.
Scrolling further down the XML Sitemap admin, we get to the Additional Pages area.
The Additional Pages area is primarily for sub-directories and sub-domains. You can add external pages to your sitemap from here.
It’s simple to do. You just click Add New Page, specify the URL, priority, frequency, and date when the URL was last changed.
After this section, you can adjust the Post Priority.
This area is pretty important. It communicates the critical content to search engines, so you want to have this set up well.
Each web page has a priority level that’s scored between 0 and 1, then increments of 0.1.
The best option for this is typically the Comment Count option. Why? It will make your popular posts automatically receive higher priority levels. You don’t want to have a meaningless blog post be the same rank as your homepage, hence the Comment Count option.
Moving on, there’s a Sitemap Content area.
This whole section is devoted to allowing you to decide which items, post types, and taxonomies you’d like to include on your sitemap.
As you can see, I have the essentials checked (homepage, posts, and static pages). You can include more (e.g. author pages). Just make sure these pages have value and are worth appearing.
You also have the option to include Excluded Items.
Let’s say you have specific blog posts you don’t want to include. Here’s the area to do that. You can also exclude specific categories in this area.
There’s also the option to Change Frequencies.
This is good to tweak, depending on how your site operates. For example, if you have several blogs posted daily, you may want to change the “Posts” to hourly. Or, if you rarely update at all and have just a static website, possibly yearly might do.
Finally, you can set up Priorities.
I touched on this early about the specific range of priority levels, so this area lets you set up how important your content is with minimum and maximum values.
For example, your Homepage is probably the most important page on your WordPress site, so having this set at 1.0 will be best.
As you can see, there’s a lot of tweaking and adjusting you can do with the XML Sitemaps plugin. It also is an easy option — where you activate, and you’re all set!
Obviously, there are some similarities between the Google XML Sitemap and SmartCrawl — and also some significant differences!
With all that we just went over, let’s look at them, side-by-side.
XML Sitemaps vs SmartCrawl XML Sitemap – Comparison Chart
This gives you a good view of what Google XML Sitemap and SmartCrawl include.
Here’s the comparison…
SEO…Which Plugin is Better?
After looking at both plugins, which one is best?
They’re both beneficial for you and as a sitemap. But — SmartCrawl does offer additional options in terms of settings, reporting, and caching. It goes beyond the Google XML Sitemap limited capabilities.
Plus, as mentioned earlier, SmartCrawl includes other SEO goodies, such as schema markup, title and meta descriptions, one-click setup wizard, Hub integration, and much more!
So, considering SmartCrawl offers other XML sitemap features AND other SEO tweaks, we’d go with SmartCrawl. However, if you want simplicity, the Google XML Sitemap might be right for you.
They both provide value for your WordPress SEO. And now that you’ve seen the rundown of what both offer, the decision is yours!
SEO, what’s it going to be?
Can anyone help me with this password program?
According to my assignment requirement I wrote this program, but still doesn't work......can someone help.....please
Here is my exercise:
"Write assembly code in ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE to read a password from the keyboard. Display the message ' Enter Password: ' and echo each character that the user types as an asterisk(*). If the user types a backspace character ( which enters as the number 8), erase the last character typed by displaying a backspace. a space and another backspace. You shouldn't erase beyond the beginning of the password so you need to keep a count of the asterisks on the screen."
Here is my code
.model small
.586
.stack 100h
INCLUDE C:\MASM615\Programs\PCMAC.INC
.DATA
MSG DB 'Enter Password: $'
PWD DB 'abcd'
Correct db 'Password Correct!$'
WRONG DB 'Password not correct! Please Enter again!$'
.CODE
PASSWORD PROC
START:
mov ax, @DATA
mov ds, ax
mov di, offset pwd
_Begin
_PutStr msg
GetLoop:
_GetCh noEcho
cmp al, 13
je COMPARE
cmp al, 'a'
jnae EchoIt
cmp al, 'z'
jnbe EchoIt
add al, '*'-'a'
cmp al, 8
je BACKSPACE
BACKSPACE:
mov ah, 0Eh
mov al, 8
int 10h
mov al, 32
int 10h
mov al, 8
int 10h
jmp GetLoop
COMPARE:
mov dl, [di]
mov ah, 8h
int 21h
cmp dl, al
je DONE
jmp NOTCORRECT
EchoIt:
_PutCh al
jmp GetLoop
DONE:
_PutStr Correct
_Exit 0
NOTCORRECT:
_PutStr WRONG
jmp START
PASSWORD ENDP
END PASSWORDOh, Behave! How To Use Behavior Settings In Hustle
Is your website getting maximum value in user engagement? Hustle’s integrated modules allow for the most robust and customizable pop-up experience around…for free!
If you run a successful site for yourself or clients, no doubt you hustle hard. We do too! Hustle is our very own free marketing and lead generation goldmine.
Pop-ups are only the beginning for this plugin powerhouse. It also presents slide-ins, embeds, and social shares — with panache.
The integrated set of tools is feature rich yet a cinch to use. There are tutorials and documentation aplenty, available directly from the WP dashboard plugins page, or right here on our blog.
In this tutorial, we’ll cover the following:
- What are behaviors?
- Meet the modules (Pop-ins, slide-ins, and embeds)
- Making behavior modifications
- Well behaved
Click on the links above to jump to any section of this tutorial.
Alright, let’s get hustlin’…
What Are Behaviors?
Behavior settings in Hustle let you specify when and how your pop-ups, slide-ins, and embeds should appear. They work seamlessly alongside Hustle’s other options — such as Visibility, which lets you specify who your pop-ups should display to.
In this post, we’re going to take a closer look at the Behavior screen, which lets you set up precise triggers for your pop-ups to display when conditions of your choosing are met.
It all begins with creating a module, then we’ll deck it out in eye-catching accessories.
Need help creating a module? Read our article on How to Make the Perfect Pop-up.
Meet the Modules
There are three Hustle modules that have associated behavior parameters: Pop-ups, Slide-ins, and Embeds.
Each module has two possible types: email opt-in, and informational.
- Email Opt-in is ideal for newsletter signups, or collecting user data.
- Informational is perfect for promotional offers with a Call to Action.
While each type suits a different intention, setting them up is much the same.
Modules and Their Associated Settings
Pop-ups
Slide-ins
Embeds
Schedule
Schedule
Schedule
Pop-up Trigger
Slide-in Trigger
Animation Settings
Slide-in Position
Animation Settings
Additional Closing Methods
Additional Closing Methods
Closing Behavior
Closing Behavior
Additional Settings
Additional Settings
Additional Settings
Handy chart showing which settings each Behavior module allows.
Now we’re ready for a deep dive into the behavior settings.
Making Behavior Modifications
Let’s make sure we’re on the same page… figuratively and literally. :)
From the Hustle Dashboard, navigate to the Pop-ups section, and either Create a new or Edit an already existing module.
Click on Behavior, so we can focus on those settings.
(By default, the module landing page opens to Content.)
Now, let’s dig into the elements.
Schedule
Schedule is our initial selector, and strictly uses time for activation. It defaults to start immediately after publishing, and to never end. However, these choices are changeable, down to the minute.
To adjust dates or times, uncheck either blue box (Start or End), then click in the date field. A full editable calendar drop-down will appear, as well as drop-downs for hour, minute, and AM/PM.
Do you want your pop-ups to show up every day, or only certain days? All day, or only during certain hours? Whatever your preference, you can make it happen with Active On.
Click Selected Weekdays, and choose whatever day or combination of days that you want.
Uncheck the blue box next to All Day and the time drop-downs become active.
Even timezones have the ability to be tweaked. The default decides this using your visitor’s server, but you can fully customize it by clicking on Custom, then selecting from the drop-down.
Next, we’ll explore triggers.
Triggers (Pop-up & Slide-in Only)
The point at which a Pop-up or Slide-In module activates is important, and personal preference for these variables can vary widely.
Triggers allow you to decide when, where, and how a pop-up appears, goes away, and/or comes back. There is a lot to unpack in these modifications, so let’s get started.
You can enable any combination of available triggers, or keep it simple with just one.
There are five different Triggers, each with its own subset of options.
- Time
- Scroll
- Click
- Exit Intent
- Ad-Block
Let’s take a look.
- Time modules will appear after the chosen period of time passes.
Adding a custom time delay to your pop-ups is fast and easy. - Scroll modules become active when the page is scrolled by a certain percentage, or when a user scrolls past a designated CSS element. Select the trigger you prefer, then input the settings.
Enter the selector class or id (of any on-page element) to use the CSS trigger. - Click modules display when a specified on-page element is clicked. Both of these click triggers can be used at the same time, as well as having active multiple instances of each trigger, on any page.
Both of these click triggers can be used at the same time, as well as having active multiple instances of each trigger, on any page. - Exit Intent ensures users see at least one conversion option before they leave a site.
Select Trigger once per session to ensure that a module only appears once. - Ad-block will display a module every time Hustle detects an active ad-block add-on or extension in a user’s browser.
Inputting delay time for the Ad-block pop-up.
Need some help identifying your element’s selector or rendering a trigger button? Check out the relevant sections in the plugin’s documentation.
Ok, that covers all the nitty gritty on Triggers. With one final, important note: You must enable at least one trigger for your module (pop-up, slide-in, embed) to appear. Without any triggers, there is no user action that will ‘trip’ it into activation.
Animation Settings (Pop-ups & Embeds Only)
Modules can be animated as they appear and exit the screen. Choose the desired entrance and exit animations from the drop-down menus, and use the Preview button to see what they will look like.
I will note that Pop-ups have options for both entrance and exit animations, while Embeds have entrance animation only.
Twenty-eight different entrance & exit animations to choose from — wow!!
And now let’s bounce right into slide-in positions…
Slide-In Position (Slide-Ins Only)
Where would you like your slide-in to appear from? Click any of the available edge areas to set your designated sweet spot.
Next, we’ll look at some additional closing methods that fall outside of the ones we already covered.
Additional Closing Methods (Pop-ups & Slide-Ins Only)
Most modules require the interaction by a user to trigger their closure. These Additional Closing Methods are intended to resolve instances when users do not interact with the module.
Let’s move on to shutting things down, or as social butterflies might say — knowing when to make a graceful exit.
Closing Behavior (Pop-ups & Slide-Ins Only)
These settings determine how a module will behave when it has been closed.
Closed by
The options that appear here depend on which options are enabled in the Additional Closing Methods above.
Pop-up closed by the visitor by clicking on “x” icon is the default, and it is recommended to leave this enabled, as it provides your visitors with the most familiar option.
You can also choose to auto close based on a timer, or by clicking outside of the pop-up. Settings allow you to select any one of these options, or any combination of the three.
Additional Closing Methods.
Behavior
Your selection here will apply to the Closed By methods you select.
You can choose not to show a message on the post or page, across the entire site, or just keep showing the message.
Moving on to our last set of behavior mods, providing additional settings for other conditions.
Additional Settings
These are a few additional options to give you more control over what happens when users interact with your page and/or module.
Page Scrolling (Pop-ups only)
If enabled, users can scroll a page while the pop-up is displayed.
Visibility after opt-in (Opt-in modules only)
This setting affects the pop-up visibility once a user has opted-in a form.
Visibility after CTA conversion
This appears only if Call to Action is enabled under the Content tab.
You can choose to keep showing, no longer show across site, or no longer show on a specific page/post.
External Form Conversion Behavior
This setting applies to forms or other plugins that have been integrated into a module from external sources.
You can opt to close, redirect to form target URL, or do nothing (used for Ajax Forms).
Annnnd… that concludes our sequence on behavior settings.
Well Behaved
We’ve gone through all the Behavior options in Hustle! You rock.
Continue to tweak the settings to your heart’s content, then publish to activate them, and prepare to behold the power you just unleashed.
As with all WPMU DEV plugins, publishing is never permanent. You can edit, preview, unpublish, or delete any of the modules you created at will.
Also, keep in mind that if your site only requires one or two pop-ups, slide-ins, or embeds, the free version of Hustle should be more than ideal for your needs (you can create up to three modules for each campaign type). For unlimited opt-ins, custom content, and social sharing, we recommend upgrading to Hustle Pro.
For the entire suite of plugins and site management services, including live, 24/7 support for anything WordPress related, give our free 7-day membership trial a go.
Still hankering for more? Check out the full documentation and top tips from our Pros here: Hustle Help AND Get The Most Out of Using Hustle.
7 Ways to Optimize WooCommerce Conversion Rates
eCommerce is a very competitive space. Brands are literally fighting it out to provide the best possible UX to their visitors in order to beat the competition. Combine that with the heightened expectations of modern consumers (50% won’t wait longer than 3 seconds before abandoning a poorly-designed e-commerce site) and you’ll understand why it’s vital […]
The post 7 Ways to Optimize WooCommerce Conversion Rates appeared first on WPExplorer.
What are MTTx Metrics Good For?
Introduction
Data helps best-in-class teams make the right decisions. Analyzing your system’s metrics shows you where to invest time and resources. A common type of metric is Mean Time to X or MTTx. These metrics detail the average time it takes for something to happen. The “x” can represent events or stages in a system’s incident response process.
Yet, MTTx metrics rarely tell the whole story of a system’s reliability. To understand what MTTx metrics are really telling you, you’ll need to combine them with other data. In this blog post, we’ll cover:
Themes Set Up for a Paradigm Shift, WordPress 5.8 Will Unleash Tools To Make It Happen
For much of WordPress’s history, the foundational elements of building a theme have been slow to change. Every so often, developers would get a new feature, such as child themes, featured images, nav menus, and template parts. Each of these was epic in its own way. However, theme authors had ample time to adapt to these single feature introductions.
When the block editor landed, it did so with a bang. Love it or hate it, it shifted how we think about design for the web. It was not one of those one-off enhancements, regardless of how many times we were told it would “just work” with any theme. It sometimes does not technically break things. Support and integration are necessary for an ideal user experience, and theme authors have been slow to catch up.
With WordPress 5.8, theme authors are gearing up for another paradigm-shifting set of changes. Josepha Haden Chomphosy, WordPress Executive Director, announced last week that several Full Site Editing (FSE) sub-components will begin shipping with the next release.
In the latest episode of the WP Tavern Jukebox podcast, Nathan Wrigley hosted guest Anne McCarthy. He asked her to calm people’s fears over upcoming changes. “So, as an example, let’s imagine that we’re a theme developer. We may be getting concerned that themes are going to become a thing of the past, that the livelihood that we’ve created for ourselves is going to disappear before our eyes.”
It is a common question. Since the inception of Gutenberg, particularly its features that fall under FSE, themers have wondered if there would be a place at the table for them. If WordPress is moving toward a grander page-building experience, where do themes fit in? If users can change the layout or manipulate all of the styles, what is the theme’s job?
These questions are finally getting some answers. We can see the real-world changes introduced in recent months. They paint a much clearer picture, defining the role of themes in WordPress’s future.
“And for theme authors, themes are going to be so important in a full site editing world,” said McCarthy. “And one of the things I am so excited about is that there’s going to be a ton of what they’re calling…the idea of these hybrid universal themes that can work with, for example, template editing.”
She is referring to a recent discussion that makes some distinctions between universal and hybrid themes. Essentially, universal themes would work in both a classic or block editor context, depending on what the user chose. A hybrid might support parts of the block experience but have a path to becoming a universal theme that fully caters to any user down the road.
While this does not wholly address theme authors’ concerns, these are the building blocks that Gutenberg contributors are thinking about. First and foremost, they want a solid user experience. However, the discussions show that they also recognize that theme developers need to opt into new things at their own pace, supporting features as they understand them and learn how to implement them. This provides a path forward for traditional themes to transition into the new era and be built from scratch with new tools.
Themes may well be more vital to WordPress’s future than they were in the past.
New Tools Coming in WordPress 5.8
The site editor and global styles features are not planned to ship with WordPress 5.8. However, the upcoming release is set to introduce some powerful tools for theme authors. This will be a pivotal moment for theme development companies that want to make their mark in the space. The right team with a forward-looking mindset stands to disrupt the market and make millions. And, there is room for the authors who just want to build cool stuff.
It all starts with the new template-related blocks that should be enabled in the next major update. In particular, the Query block provides an alternative to what was formerly only possible via code and carefully constructed theme options. Coupling it with existing features opens us to a world of possibilities.
For example, I chose a theme from the most popular list on WordPress.org that looked to have one of the most complex query and loop setups of the bunch. The following is the homepage of EnterNews:
Anyone familiar with theme development can tell you that it would take at least eight different queries to create that homepage design without looking at the code. The only way to build that and allow users to customize which posts appear is through a series of theme options (probably category-based dropdown select boxes).
If the Query block ships with WordPress 5.8 as expected and is also enabled for any theme, this layout is suddenly possible directly from the block editor — no site editor necessary. Via block patterns, users can insert these “sections” of different Query blocks in their page and reorder them. However, it requires buy-in from the theme author.
As I said earlier, theme authors have been slow to adopt block-related features as a whole. Undoubtedly, the system for the EnterNews homepage is already getting the job done. And, if it works for the theme’s current user base, there may seem to be little incentive to change.
However, there are real benefits from a development angle to transitioning to a new system. The most obvious is that it requires little code compared to the PHP needed for building customizer options. Block patterns are little more than HTML with bits and pieces of JSON configuration in the mix. Developers can literally build them from the editor and copy/paste the code part.
By writing less code, it lowers the potential for security issues and other bugs. Theme authors can also be less rigid in their design, allowing users to move pieces of the layout around.
The Query block is not the only one slated for inclusion in 5.8 outside of a block-based theme context. The Navigation, Site Title, Site Logo, and more are ready to ship. Most such blocks are vital components for building an entire page. Theme authors could start handing over the tools for building complex landing pages on launch day this July.
Stepping Stones
Not every theme author needs to step up and attempt to revolutionize the theme space — though I am looking forward to those who do. Others might want to take a more measured approach. FSE is a set of many sub-components, some of which are shipping with WordPress 5.8. Many of these do not require developers to opt into them. They will “just work.” Sort of. Mostly.
Users will be able to switch to a template-editing mode directly from the block editor. From there, they can create entire page templates of their choosing. Theme authors can either stand in their way by not styling for blocks or make the experience more enjoyable.
The widgets screen and customizer will allow end-users of traditional themes to insert blocks in any of their sidebars. Some theme authors will need to account for this in their designs. The HTML output might throw off some layouts. For those who are not ready, they should disable block-based widget support.
The most crucial tool, however, is entirely optional for theme authors. That is the introduction of theme.json support. The theme.json file is the cornerstone of future theme development. It acts as a config file for block settings and styles, allowing theme authors to set up the defaults for anything.
In a nutshell, theme developers can set up any of the block options from this file, and those options are automatically handled in the editor and on the front end.
Themes can also define defaults for block options that do not yet exist in the interface. The system will automatically output these as styles, even if users cannot change them in 5.8.
Again, this means less code work for themers in the long run. While there will likely always be a place for custom CSS, some themes could essentially be built from theme.json configurations. That is not possible today. However, theme authors can start taking advantage of this tool.
Themes are not going the way of the dinosaur. All of that overly complex PHP code work necessary in the past might just be. The shift is putting themes back into their proper place: design. Previously available tools such as patterns and styles coupled with the new pieces like theme.json and template-related blocks will be the backbone of the new system. It is all starting to come together.
The transition will take some time, and each themer will need to decide for him or herself how much they want to take on. But, the time is near. I might even crank up the old code editor and start putting together a project myself. There has never been a better time to be excited about theme development than now.
Still Hoping for Better Native Page Transitions
It would be nice to be able to animate the transition between pages if we want to on the web without resorting to hacks or full-blown architecture choices to achieve it. I could imagine an API that would run stuff, perhaps integrating with WAAPI, before the page is unloaded, and other stuff after the next page loads in. This, with otherwise regular ol’ anchor links and page loads.
We do have an onbeforeunload API, but I’m not sure what kind of baggage that has. We can technically build page transitions now, even without single-page-app architecture, but what I want are purpose-built APIs that help us do it cleanly (understandable functions) and with both performance (working as quickly as clicking links normally does) and accessibility (like focus handling) in mind.
If you’re building a single-page app anyway, you get the freedom to animate between views because the page never reloads. The danger here is that you might pick a single-page app just for this ability, which is what I mean by having to buy into a site architecture just to achieve this. That feels like an unfortunate trade-off, as single-page apps bring a ton of overhead, like tooling and accessibility concerns, that you wouldn’t have otherwise needed.
Without a single-page app, you could use something like Turbo and animate.css like this. Or, Adam’s new transition.style, a clip-path() based homage to Daniel Edan’s masterpiece. Maybe if that approach was paired with instant.page it would be as fast as any other internal link click.
There are other players trying to figure this out, like smoothState.js and Swup. The trick being: intercept the action to move to the next page, run the animation first, then load the next page, and animate the new page in. Technically, it slows things down a bit, but you can do it pretty efficiently and the movement adds enough distraction that the perceived performance might even be better.
Ideally, we wouldn’t have to animate the entire page but we could have total control to make more interesting transitions. Heck, I was doing that a decade ago with a page for a musician where clicking around the site just moved things around so that the audio would keep playing (and it was fun).
This would be a great place for the web platform to step in. I remember Jake pushed for this years ago, but I’m not sure if that went anywhere. Then we got portals which are… ok? Those are like if you load an iframe on the page and then animate it to take over the whole page (and update the URL). Not much animation nuance possible there, but you could certainly swipe some pages around or fade them in and out (hey here’s another one: Highway), like jQuery Mobile did back in ancient times.
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Hey everyone, I’m struggling with a c++ program.
The thing is to create a c++ program which recieve these coordinates x1,y1,x2,y2 in order to build an empty rectangle made of asterisks or whatever. I'm a beginner, so I need your help. Thanks.
Shopify Vs. Wix
Have you ever wondered what the best ecommerce website builder is out of the many options available? We’re here to discuss the differences between Shopify and Wix— two of the most popular website builders on the market today. They both came in as top options when we did a deep dive into the best ecommerce website builders.
Even though Shopify powers over one million online stores and is probably the most popular, Wix is an overall better ecommerce website builder because of its functionality and comprehensive features at such an affordable price.
With smart assistance for website design and free web hosting plus unsurpassed security and reliability, Wix is an excellent option for beginners and veterans deciding to build a website from scratch.
However, both website builders offer extensive support, flexibility, and a range of great templates, so even though we believe Wix is a better option, Shopify is definitely a close second.
Shopify Pros and Cons
Pros
- Extensive app integration
- 24-hour support
- Flexible
- User-friendly and scalable
Cons
- Transaction fees
- Lackluster blogging software
- Slow setup process
- Extensive app integration
- High-quality ecommerce templates
- Affordable analytics and reporting
- Customizable design
Wix Pros and Cons
Pros
- ADIs for design
- Automatic site backup and 24/7 live security monitoring
- Animations tool
- Free extra features
- 24/7 support
Cons
- Templates not interchangeable
- Premium plans are one-site only
- Automates tough choices
- Top customer support
- Custom domain included
- Paid plans start at $14/month
Now that you know both website builders’ pros and cons, let’s look at the most important criteria to consider when investing in a website builder. Which product comes out on top for each?
Ease of use: Wix
Unlike Shopify, Wix is a little easier to use with its intuitive drag-and-drop interface for website building. This interface is important because it’s so easy to use, with the perfect balance of options for beginners to advanced features that veterans can use to completely transform their website presence.
With Wix, you have total design freedom with the drag-and-drop feature. However, if you feel overwhelmed and aren’t sure where to start, Wix lets you fill out its design questionnaire—where its powerful Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) will create a free personalized website for you.
On the other hand, Shopify only gives you the option to edit HTML and CSS within your website, which can be confusing for beginners or anyone who doesn’t know much about coding.
Compared to Shopify, Wix is a simpler option because it’s flexible in the design and setup processes. Some reviewers have said that the initial setup process for Shopify can be slow and that you may need some technical know-how, especially for domain redirection. We think the slow setup can be discouraging to users, where Wix is much better in this aspect.
Like Shopify, Wix lets you hire an expert or freelancer for web design, graphic design, marketing, or web development for an additional fee, which can help those who prefer to work with real professionals instead of the ADI.
Customization: Wix
Again, Wix comes out on top and has more to offer when it comes to customization. With many free extra features, add-ons, and advanced paid features, you have the freedom to optimize your website for blogging, ecommerce tasks, and even take online bookings.
To make it even easier, Wix lets you optimize your website for SEO purposes, and all you have to do is answer a few questions about your website, location, and specific keywords to get a personalized SEO plan.
In terms of design, Wix has more creative options like video backgrounds, scroll effects, and animation. One pro of Wix is the ability to add animation anywhere on your website for added impact and uniqueness.
Unlike Shopify, Wix offers unlimited customizable tasks, where you can drag and drop design features and fonts wherever you want. Yes, Shopify does let you customize your templates in the theme editor menu, where you can view your deconstructed website to add, remove, or move individual sections around. Unfortunately, though, it restricts these sections too much to be helpful.
This means you cannot move everything, which can restrict creatives that want full control over design and customization, which is why we think Wix is a more supportive option.
There are still some similarities between the two, and just like Shopify, you have the option to completely customize colors and fonts through the advanced Wix editor, where you can choose your primary colors, palettes, and themes.
Template Quality: Shopify
Shopify has over 70 premium themes to choose from. We think the features of the Shopify templates offer more benefits to its users than the Wix templates.
Unfortunately, though, there are only nine free templates. It wouldn’t hurt to add a few more options. However, free themes have a wide variety of customizability and design potential for basic and more simple ecommerce websites.
Shopify offers high-quality templates for most industries, from health and beauty to sports and recreation. It does an outstanding job at honing in on the ecommerce side of things in its template designs, with sale optimization and product recommendations.
Wix, however, offers 500+ designer-made templates for every business niche. Even though Wix has such extensive category of templates, it can be overwhelming to try to choose a permanent template.
Unlike Wix, you still have the freedom to choose another one in Shopify. You can then transfer existing data without the hassle of creating a whole new design on your site. Wix is one template forever, or you start over. Shopify is much better for templates.
What’s great about both premium and free templates on the Shopify store is that they include:
- Customizable content sections
- SEO
- Drop-down navigation
- Free updates
- Mobile-friendly design
- Free stock photos
- Social media icons
These are comprehensive features particularly excellent for beginners looking at designs for a new starter online business.
Premium templates cost $180 for Shopify Lite plan users. If you happen to purchase the Shopify Basic plan or above, you get to choose 20 premium themes to add to your account. Both premium and free Shopify templates have something for everyone, with high-quality features and customizable options.
Analytics and Reporting: Shopify
Analytics and reporting tools aren’t deal breakers for an ecommerce website builder. But it is a tool that can help you improve your website and give a breakdown on profits and losses—and we found that Shopify offers this feature a little more affordably than Wix does.
The most comprehensive analytics and reporting come with the Shopify Advanced and the Shopify Plus plans. But, if you can’t afford to fork out more than $299 per month, the Shopify Lite and Basic Shopify plans are still pretty helpful and informative.
With the Shopify Lite plan, you can still view key sales, orders, and online store visitor data with its overview dashboard. You also get access to financial reports and product analytics so that you can see the performance of your products.
If you have a more flexible budget, the Basic Shopify plan offers everything the Lite plan does, plus live view, acquisition, inventory, behavior, and marketing reports.
On the other hand, Wix seriously comes up short. You don’t get access to any of these tools on its cheapest plan, plus only one year free for the visitor’s analytics app on the next cheapest plan. It costs additional fees after that month, but isn’t worth the hassle.
Even though Shopify has an impressive range of analytics and reporting tools, we would only recommend the more comprehensive plans to larger businesses that sell high volumes of inventory. Many tools aren’t necessary for a successful (or small) online store.
Product Offerings
Both Shopify and Wix offer very similar products that help you build your website from the ground up. Here’s an in-depth look at the different products they both offer and which website builder is better:
Domain Registration: Wix
Wix certainly offers a more inclusive and all-in-one solution for domain registration than Shopify does. First and foremost, Wix offers a free domain for one year with any plan, for as low as $10 per month, whereas Shopify does not. You can expect to pay $14 per year for an individual domain with Shopify, which is around the same price as purchasing a domain from a third-party provider.
Both Wix and Shopify have some form of domain protection and privacy. However, Wix practices private domain registration, which means you’ll avoid identity theft, unwanted solicitations, and domain hijacking.
We found that choosing a domain with Wix is much more seamless than choosing one with Shopify. This is mainly because Wix offers free web hosting with every domain registration, making it easy to set up your website to its full potential.
It’s a little less seamless with Shopify, as it offers subdomains and subdirectories that can impact your website’s URL structure and decrease the SEO value of your main website if you choose a subdomain.
Overall, Wix is more affordable and easy to navigate when registering for a domain. It is especially great for beginners or small business owners on a budget, as you receive a domain for free while getting bonus features from the Wix plan.
It’s not ideal for new users to pay $14 per year, on top of a website builder’s payment plan like you do with Shopify.
Website Design: Shopify
Although we think Wix is a tad more powerful when it comes to customization, Shopify has an overall better website design because of its clear and narrow features. Even though HTML and CSS can be confusing to some, we think it’s a better trade-off than a stubborn template—which is the bulk of your design.
Having such an extensive range of templates to choose from with Wix is more of a downside, but this is only because its templates are not interchangeable.
If you’re building a website, you want to have the freedom of choosing multiple designs to see how they look—but unfortunately, with Wix, you need to manually transfer all of your data onto each template you select. This is a significant downfall for Wix’s design department, which is why Shopify is more accommodating.
With Shopify website design, you have more functionality using Liquid templating language and complete control over all HTML and CSS code that keeps your chosen design intact.
Another cool feature of Shopify’s website design is that you can create customer groups, customer accounts, detailed customer profiles, and custom gift cards—so your customers have access to everything on launch day.
Mobile App: Wix
The last most helpful product offering is the mobile app. Wix offers the most extensive and complete mobile app on the market, which is an excellent option for remote teams that are managing or building a website together.
Although Shopify’s mobile app also lets remote teams work from wherever they are, Wix has a more expansive range of tasks you can complete via mobile.
For example, you can build and edit your entire website through your mobile device, which is incredible in terms of remote access. You can also manage your online store and take payments, complete customer orders, and add tracking numbers.
A few other tasks you can do on Wix’s mobile app include:
- Run your blog
- Stay connected to members
- Let clients book and make payments
- Chat live with visitors with automated greetings
- Track analytics in real-time
What about Shopify? Well, its mobile tasks include:
- Manage your products
- Process orders
- Respond to staff in real-time
The difference is staggering, and users who utilize the Wix mobile app are sure to feel more supported. The Wix mobile app is jam-packed with features that will help grow your website and generate more leads on the go.
Final Verdict
- Automates tough choices
- Top customer support
- Custom domain included
- Paid plans start at $14/month
Overall, we think Wix and Shopify are both great ecommerce website builders. For four of the seven criteria and product offerings that we looked at, Wix came out on top. At number one on our list of free website builders, we feel that Wix is a very solid all-in-one business solution.
As the more affordable option of the two, Wix offers excellent products, features, and tools that will help you build and improve your online business and presence. With impeccable customization options and an easy-to-use interface, Wix lets you have full freedom of your website.
Wix also keeps your site up and running with its impressive 99.98 percent uptime rate. Your site is always protected with Wix 24/7 team of live security professionals constantly monitoring and thwarting any cybersecurity threats.
Users don’t need to worry about the technical side of things, like domain registration or web hosting, because Wix takes care of all the nitty-gritty. Users have a more seamless and positive experience investing in Wix than any other website builder on the market.
Sticky Headers: 5 Ways to Make Them Better
Page Laubheimer says that if you’re going to do a sticky header…
- Keep it small.
- Visually contrast it with the rest of the page.
- If it’s going to move, keep it minimal. (I’d say, respect
prefers-reduced-motion.) - Consider “partially persistent headers.” (Jemima Abu calls it a Smart Navbar.)
- Actually, maybe don’t even do it.
I generally like the term “sticky” header, because it implies you should use position: sticky for them, which I think you should. It used to be done with position: fixed, but that was trickier to pull off since the header would move in-and-out of flow of the document. Using sticky positioning helps reserve that space automatically without JavaScript or magic numbers.
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Skyflow’s Payment Data Privacy Vault Provides API Access to Zero-Trust Financial Processing
Skyflow, a privacy startup that takes an API-first approach to data security, has announced the launch of its new Payments Data Privacy Vault. This service provides API access to a zero-trust repository that enables fintech companies to store payment data, process identity verification, and conduct financial transactions while protecting personal data.
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I'm here to learn C++
Daily API RoundUp: ArtPI, Adobe, WhoisFreaks, SharpCloud
Every day, the ProgrammableWeb team is busy, updating its three primary directories for APIs, clients (language-specific libraries or SDKs for consuming or providing APIs), and source code samples.
Mux Partners With Maestro on Interactive Live Streaming Tech, Highlighting Benefits of API First Design
Dialpad Meetings Review
Dialpad Meetings is an easy-to-use conference call service. With robust call recording tools and a host of great features, it’s one of the best free conference call services. There are a few areas where competitors surpass it, such as the call audio quality, but it’s still better overall than most other conference calling services.
Dialpad Meetings Pros and Cons
Pros
- Free plan available
- Call recording included at all levels
- Easy to use
- Screen sharing included
Cons
- Limited features in free plan
- Less-than-optimal audio quality
Compare The Best Conference Call Services
We reviewed dozens of conference call services and narrowed them down to the best options.
See Top Picks How Dialpad Meetings Compares to the Best Conference Call Services
Dialpad Meetings holds up well against the other conference call services on the market, particularly those that are free. With its top call recording tools, its free plan is easily one of the best offerings available for individuals who want to jump right in, although some of its competitors’ paid plans beat it in a few areas.
The call audio quality, for one, isn’t quite as good as it is elsewhere. Still, this is an excellent conference call service with plenty of useful features and a dedicated mobile app that impressively comes as standard on the free plan.
The best conference services overall are RingCentral and GoToMeeting. RingCentral provides top video, screen sharing, and messaging features, and it’s free for up to 100 participants. Meanwhile, GoToMeeting is another top-notch conference call service known for HD video conferencing, 24/7 customer support, and Salesforce integration.
Dialpad Meetings Call Recording
The ability to record calls is a vital feature of any good conference call service. I’m pleased to see Dialpad Meetings offer it, allowing companies to record their business calls for the unbeatable price of free. Recording calls can be essential to improving customer service, allowing employees to learn where a call might have taken a wrong turn or understanding which places they could have directed a customer to instead. Of course, you might want to record calls to confirm details too.
Dialpad Meetings allows companies to set up their system so that every call that comes through—whether through the main line, call queue, or department—will be automatically recorded and stored. These archived calls can then be listened to with select access to them when needed.
That’s one way of recording calls with Dialpad Meetings. The other is to manually click Record on the on-screen menu once a call has started. You can also choose to record specific bits of a call and stop it by clicking the button again.
For all recording methods, the call is converted into an MP3 file. This is then downloadable from a folder for personal use. It’s worth mentioning that MP3 files often take up little storage space—you can rest easy there.
How does Dialpad Meetings stack up against its competitors? The answer is very well overall, though Dialpad didn’t make our top list of best call recording software. It’s not unusual to see some services charge users for call recording. Not only that, but the system here is easy to use, flexible, and the file size of the calls isn’t a problem. Some long-term users have experienced issues with their call quality, but this is few and far between. Dialpad Meetings excels in this area.
Dialpad Meetings Number of Participants
The number of participants is a significant factor when it comes to using conference call services. The limit on the number of participants almost always changes based on plans. For example, with Dialpad Meetings, the free plan is for 10 participants, but the paid version allows for a much greater number at 100.
How important this is, of course, comes down to what you need, and a small remote team would be well-served with Dialpad Meetings’s starting plan. On the other hand, a larger business might find this limit detrimental, leaving it unable to hold a call with everyone it needs to at a given time.
As you can see from the picture below, Dialpad Meetings also limits the calls to a duration of 45 minutes on the free plan. Meanwhile, the paid tier allows calls to go on for up to five hours at a time.
Against the competition, Dialpad Meetings’ offering here is generally satisfactory, although some of the other conference call services allow for more participants in a call on their starting plans. Another factor here is call duration. For example, Google Hangouts allows 25 people to be part of a call for free, and the call times are unlimited. Dialpad Meetings’s starting plan doesn’t match up to this, so keep that in mind when deciding on the best service for you.
Dialpad Meetings Video and Audio Quality
Regarding the call quality, we’re talking about both the video and audio here. Dialpad Meetings’ audio quality isn’t one of the greatest strengths of the service. Some customers have mentioned that audio calls can be uneven, with the quality varying between perfectly fine to difficult to understand what the other person is saying. It’s clear this isn’t a case for everyone, but the service isn’t faultless in this area.
In terms of video quality, there is more consistency here. The video calls, which support resolutions up to 720p, are often stable throughout, although some people have mentioned it can occasionally be choppy. It’s fair to say that this can also depend on a user’s internet speed and quality. Dialpad Meetings recommends a bandwidth of at least 1.2-1.5 Mbps up / down for 1:1 calls, and for group calls, a rate of 1.2-1.5 Mbps up and 3 Mbps down.
Compared to other conference call services, Dialpad Meetings does a good job overall, but it won’t be the highest quality service on either an audio or video level. For example, RingCentral offers consistent HD quality audio and video calls, and customers very rarely have any problems with either. It’s also worth noting that Dialpad Meetings doesn’t provide much in the way of extra features such as echo prevention, which, as the name suggests, can be helpful to prevent echoes during crucial meetings.
Dialpad Meetings Voice Intelligence
Dialpad Meetings features powerful Voice Intelligence (Vi) functionality that can accurately transcribe a call you’ve had with others. This can be an essential part of driving sales, gaining valuable audience insights, or improving customer service. The calls are transcribed mostly word-for-word, although occasionally there are a few minor issues concerning the accuracy. The calls are then generated in an easy-to-read format.
Perhaps most impressive is the machine’s ability to learn and expand how successful it is at transcribing calls. Like something from a science fiction film, Dialpad Meetings’ call transcripts will increase in accuracy over time, and the VI system can process subtle nuances in conversations the more it’s used. It can determine different voices, too, allowing the transcripts to be easily read and understood. The ultimate aim here is to eliminate time-consuming tasks, so you can spend more energy elsewhere.
Some extra features include the software being able to capture and highlight key “action Items” from your conversations and the option of searching the transcripts for specific keywords. A helpful post-call summary also includes vital details, such as searchable transcription and the overall meeting sentiment.
Dialpad Meetings’ Voice Intelligence is undoubtedly a compelling offering then, but you may be wondering where it stacks up against its competitors. For instance, GoToMeeting can record the notes from a call automatically, and similarly, can transcribe key sections.
The bottom line? There isn’t a massive difference in the capabilities on offer with Voice Intelligence and those offered by other top conference call services, which means Dialpad Meetings stacks up pretty well vs. competitors. Some users have noted VI being a particular highlight of the service, and it’s definitely a feature you’ll get a lot of mileage out of if you do choose Dialpad Meetings.
Dialpad Meetings Screen Sharing
Having the functionality to share your screen with others is a vital part of remote working. It can help you run through a task with your team and enhance the sense of collaboration between colleagues. Dialpad Meetings offers screen sharing in a simple and easy-to-use form. Users can share a screen by clicking the share screen button and can then choose whether to share a window or their entire screen with their audience.
The even better part is that you don’t have to be an organizer of the call to share your screen—it’s available for both organizers and participants. While you can only share a single screen at any one time, different screens can be shared throughout the call in succession if needed. You’ll also be able to access conference controls, such as the mute feature, during a screen share. If you’d merely prefer to share a document or file, then that’s also an option.
There’s no doubt this is a great feature, and I think it’s something all conference call services need to have as a standard to stay up to date with the modern world. The general capabilities on offer here are similar to what’s available elsewhere, and many services offer the ability to share screens. Dialpad Meetings isn’t providing users with something revolutionary then, but it’s a fundamental feature all the same, and users note it works very well on the platform.
Dialpad Meetings Custom On-Hold Music
Dialpad Meetings allows its users to upload and choose their on-hold music. Or, if they’d prefer, they can pick from a selection of music that’s ready to go. This feature might not seem like the most pressing of concerns, but it can have a powerful effect on customers while they wait. Many users of Dialpad Meetings have stated their customers have often brought up the on-hold music, mainly in a positive light, so it can be a novel way of adding some personality to your company image.
There’s a distinction on what users can do between the plans. On the free plan, you’re stuck with the pre-recorded music. It’s only users of the paid-for business plan that get to upload their own music. This is only true for MP3 files, but naturally, you’ll be able to upload any song you desire as long as it’s in that format. They do have to be smaller than 10MB in size, though. Of course, you may feel it necessary to not use on-hold music at all, in which case, you’ll also have the option to make customers wait in silence.
This functionality isn’t a unique feature to Dialpad Meetings. For example, RingCentral allows you to choose your on-hold music too, and it can be up to 20MB in size or the .wav file format in addition to MP3s—so there’s a bit more flexibility there. That said, this is one of those features that can, in some cases, be quite effective at creating the desired mood, so it’s great to see Dialpad Meetings offer it. Just keep in mind the paid plan alone allows you to upload your songs.
Dialpad Meetings Calling and Routing
Calling and routing capability is a critical part of a conference call service and covers a somewhat extensive range of features. For a start, Dialpad Meetings offers its users the option to quickly transfer an incoming call to another individual with a single click. You’ll ask the potential recipient of the call if they can take it and can send it to voicemail if not.
Other notable features include the ability to create a three-way call, so another person can join in the call if need be. A dial-by-name feature allows incoming callers to speak with the required individual they’re trying to reach by using the keypad to dial in their name. There’s a handy call flip feature that moves live calls from one device to another, so imagine moving a call from your laptop to your tablet and back again without a customer knowing about it. That’s without mentioning spam call blocking and transferring calls to a “parked area” to allow others on a different extension to pick up the call.
There’s a multitude of features here that will satisfy Dialpad Meetings users. While many of these features aren’t unprecedented, they are still expected by most companies. I think they all help to make Dialpad Meetings a complete package.
Compare The Best Conference Call Services
We reviewed dozens of conference call services and narrowed them down to the best options.
See Top Picks Summary
If you’re looking for a simple, straightforward conference call service, then Dialpad Meetings is one of the best options available today.
With a vast number of robust features, great call recording, and an easy-to-use interface, you can’t go far wrong.
The best conference call services for most people are still going to be RingCentral and GoToMeeting, but you should give Dialpad Meetings some of your time and consideration.
It might well be the perfect service for you.