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Top Microservices Frameworks

Microservices architecture is a methodology wherein fragment monolithic single application into small applications and services which executes lightweight applications. Business capabilities and independently deployable models are the primary goals for Microservices development. Microservices architecture built using different programming languages and deployed them and connect.

Benefits of Microservices

  • Adoption of New technology and process.
  • Independent scaling of applications.
  • Cloud-ready.
  • Seamless integrations.
  • Effective Hardware utilization.
  • Service level Security.
  • API-based functions for reuse effectively.
  • Independently Develop and Deploy applications.

Selection Criteria for Framework Selection

The following are some of the critical aspects that can be considered while choosing the proper framework:

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Zoom Vs. GoToMeeting

A successful meeting depends on a reliable video conferencing platform. Zoom and GoToMeeting both rank near the top of best video conferencing services. But which is better?

Both use communication technology that allows teams to access different features and hold a meeting as close to in-person as possible with so many employees working from home. They come with features like video conferencing, screen sharing, recording, transcribing, and more advanced settings to make conducting meetings easy for your whole team.

The cloud-based software lets you connect with any team, whether you work in education, healthcare, sales, or another field where you need to communicate with others. Choosing the right one means giving your company the tools they need to increase productivity and collaboration.

Can’t decide between Zoom and GoToMeeting? Let’s look at how they stack up against each other.

Zoom Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Lot s of advanced options
  • Offers Breakout Rooms for meetings
  • Easy to navigate

Cons

  • Some add-ons are expensive
  • Lots of extra costs
Visit Zoom
  • Advanced screen & audio sharing
  • Join meetings from any device
  • Password-protected meeting security
  • Five pricing plans
Try for free

GoToMeeting Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Flexible calling features
  • Unlimited storage and recording

Cons

  • Some features are very basic
  • No free version
Visit GoToMeeting
  • Unlimited meeting storage & sharing
  • Automatic participant calling included
  • Built-in VoIP audio
  • Three pricing plans
Starts at $12/month

Video Conferencing: Zoom

To hold a productive meeting, you need excellent video quality and excellent connectivity. You don’t want your platform to kick you off every time you have more than a few meeting participants, after all.

Zoom and GoToMeeting have some video conferencing features in common, and both give you high-quality HD video. You can switch between different views, like full-screen and gallery, as well as use multiple feeds.

With up to 49 webcams with Zoom and 25 with GoToMeeting, both accommodate most businesses. When it comes to appearing on camera, Zoom goes the extra mile by giving you the “Touch up my appearance” setting that spruces you up if you’re not looking your best for that 9 am meeting.

GoToMeeting doesn’t give you a filter, but it does let you adjust more advanced settings, like brightness, contrast, and saturation. Playing with those settings can offer similar advantages, but it requires you to adjust them manually. Zoom’s filter does it for you automatically.

Zoom and GoToMeeting both offer backgrounds if you haven’t had time to tidy your workspace lately. Zoom also allows you to join your meeting from any device, including iPhone and Android.

Overall, Zoom has more advanced video features. GoToMeeting has enough to get you by, but if you want more flexibility when you hop on your call, Zoom has it.

Screen Sharing: Zoom

Zoom and GoToMeeting both have user-friendly screen sharing capability that shows which apps and windows you have open on your device, so you can choose what you share. You can also make it so specific people have control of the mouse.

Both platforms have a window that shows all your options for sharing, and with GoToMeeting, you can view them as a more compact list. Zoom and GoToMeeting allow others besides the meeting host to share their screen. You can even share on mobile!

Zoom offers more advanced screen sharing than GoToMeeting. It comes with audio sharing, so you can play a video that everyone can listen to, rather than just GoTo’s visual sharing feature. Zoom also allows you to share only part of your screen.

With Zoom’s simultaneous sharing options, you can share more than one monitor. For example, if you have several people contributing to a discussion, they can all show their screens to other participants. You also have document sharing on iOS and Android.

GoToMeeting gives you the basics of screen sharing, but Zoom shines with more well-rounded features, like its audio. Those features allow for more versatility when it comes to offering information and resources in meetings.

Storage and Recording: GoToMeeting

When you have a meeting, you sometimes want to reference what someone said without writing it all down. Both Zoom and GoToMeeting have recording and transcription features that you can save in various formats, including .mp4, .m4a, and .txt.

Zoom’s free version lets you record and store locally on your device, but you have to upgrade to the paid version to get 1GB of storage with Zoom itself. Some plans also offer automatic cloud recording transcription. If you need more than 1GB of storage on Zoom, you’ll have to pay $40 or more every month.

That’s where GoToMeeting has an advantage. It has unlimited storage starting with its Pro plan, whereas you only get unlimited Zoom storage with the Enterprise package.

GoToMeeting also makes it easier to share your recorded meetings when you can keep more of them on hand. Like Zoom, it also has automatic transcription.

When it comes to storage, recording, and transcription, GoToMeeting wins out. If you record many meetings, GoToMeeting gives you the space to do that at an affordable price. Other than storage, Zoom and GoToMeeting offer most of the same recording and transcription features.

Calling and Audio Options: GoToMeeting

Calling on your video conferencing platform should make things convenient for you. At the same time, you want high-quality audio without paying extra or using clunky devices.

Neither Zoom nor GoToMeeting requires you to use a phone or to dial into a meeting. All you have to do is turn on your computer’s microphone and speakers, and you get excellent audio quality with both platforms.

With Zoom, you can quickly test your computer’s audio to make sure you can hear others, and they can hear you. Both Zoom and GoToMeeting have the Call Me feature with traditional calling that will call meeting participants when it’s time for your meeting, so no one worries about forgetting the time. However, Zoom’s Call Me feature comes as a $100 add-on, while GoToMeeting includes it in every plan.

Overall, GoToMeeting has better calling features. It becomes more flexible when you want to use a phone to join the meeting, too. It has built-in audio using VoIP and Toll, and it makes more advanced features like Call Me available without having to factor them into your budget separately.

Administrative Controls: Zoom

When you run a meeting, you want to have control over it as the host. That includes who you let in, who controls which features, and who has the floor during the meeting.

With Zoom and GoToMeeting, the host has a lot of options when it comes to controls. As the host, you can mute or unmute participants and decide whether meeting members can mute or unmute themselves. You can also control screen sharing options and webcam visibility.

When it comes to chatting, you can adjust the settings so participants can chat with everyone or just the host during meetings. Both platforms have a feature that makes participants wait to get logged in via the Waiting Room (Zoom) or Meeting Lock (GoTo). These features allow for better meeting security so unwelcome participants can’t enter.

Zoom comes with another security feature that GoToMeeting doesn’t have—password protection. If you set the meeting so that participants can join before the host shows up, you can give everyone a password to join early.

Although GoToMeeting and Zoom share many features, including the ability to temporarily remove participants and put them on hold, GoToMeeting doesn’t include some of Zoom’s more advanced features like administrative control over recording, chat, notifications, and encryption, making Zoom a better option if you want to run a meeting your way.

Ease of Use: Tie

When you choose a video conferencing platform, everyone should be able to use it without any trouble. A steeper learning curve can delay meetings and waste time that your team could use planning, collaborating, and increasing productivity. With a user-friendly platform, you can seamlessly jump into your meeting without the wait.

GoToMeeting and Zoom have interfaces that almost anyone can figure out quickly. Zoom is a little more streamlined, with all meeting options laid out on one page with a visually pleasing design. There’s no overcrowding, and you can hover over or click on each one to select between them. You can even choose not to show the control panel.

GoToMeeting always has its controls on a full-page panel in a separate window from the meeting screen. You can shrink them, but you can’t hide them. They also have a more crowded layout, which makes it slightly less intuitive than Zoom.

GoToMeeting has lots of dropdown menus and right-clicking to navigate to additional options. On the other hand, Zoom clearly indicates where you can find your options with arrows attached to different features and settings on the page.

GoToMeeting’s layout is fairly straightforward, but if you want one that requires minimal thought to get around, go with Zoom.

Pricing: Tie

When it comes to pricing, consider how well the features stack up to the cost instead of going for the cheapest product. A cheaper package might mean the product lacks some of the features you need, which can cost you more in the long run.

Zoom has a free plan, which GoToMeeting doesn’t. On the other hand, GoToMeeting has more affordable paid packages than Zoom, and the two offer many of the same features. Each product has its advantages, from storage with GoToMeeting to administrative features with Zoom.

With Zoom, you’ll likely end up paying for some add-ons if you want to make up for what it lacks in storage and attendee limits. However, you may find that its free plan does all you need for your business.

Zoom has five package options:

  • Free
  • Pro: $149 per year per license
  • Business: $199.90 per year per license
  • Zoom United Business: $300 per year per license
  • Enterprise: $240 per year per license

The Free and Pro plans both allow up to 100 participants, though Pro upgrades to a group meeting limit of 30 hours from the Free plan’s 40 minutes. Business bumps you up to 300 participants and gives you more advanced features like single sign-on, recording, transcripts, and managed domains.

Zoom United Business has many of the same features as Pro. However, it also includes more phone features from Zoom United Pro, like unlimited calls to the United States and Canada, automatic call distribution, and a dial by name directory.

When you get the Enterprise package, you have a higher minimum license requirement, so you’re technically getting a discount. This package allows up to 500 participants, unlimited cloud storage, and a dedicated customer success manager.

GoToMeeting has three packages:

  • Professional: $12 per organizer per month
  • Business: $16 per organizer per month
  • Enterprise: Custom pricing

Professional gives you up to 150 participants with unlimited meetings and no meeting time limits. You also get some advanced features like Call Me, single sign-on, and administrative features.

Business upgrades you to 250 participants and comes with unlimited cloud recording. You also get features like transcription, meeting lock, and mobile cloud recording so you can have the full range of meeting features on the go.

Enterprise gives you the option to customize your package and hold meetings with up to 3,000 people. The main selling points for this tier include the Enterprise customer success manager, onboarding and training, and its volume discount. Otherwise, it has most of the same features as the Business package.

When you base your buying decision on price alone, GoToMeeting wins here. However, the two platforms offer different features in different packages, and GoToMeeting doesn’t have a free version. We can’t say for sure which would be right for your business based on cost, so choose based on your needs for your meetings.

Integrations: Zoom

When you can integrate your video conferencing platform with other workflow management tools, you streamline productivity in the workplace. Zoom and GoToMeeting have many of the same integrations, like Slack, Salesforce, and Office 365. GoToMeeting also has a Google Calendar plugin.

Zoom takes the prize for the most integrations, though. It includes Atlassian, Dropbox, Azure, and Okta, among others. Its integration features are more comprehensive, and it has a bunch of add-ons to boost its performance and functionality.

The only downside is that the add-ons cost money, and some can be $100 or more. Still, the broader selection of integrations means that you can do more with Zoom and have more communication capabilities and options with your team.

While GoToMeeting has a few workflow integrations, Zoom wins out by making itself compatible with almost any business. You won’t have to worry about it not working with your existing system.

Meetings: Zoom

Zoom is a leader in meeting platforms. Its intuitive platform makes it so simple that most teams pick up how to use it right away, whereas GoToMeeting might take a little longer to figure out.

Zoom has more meeting security, whereas GoToMeeting has some, but it’s not quite as in-depth. Both platforms have single sign-on, encrypted meetings, dismiss user features, and meeting locks. However, Zoom also has password-protected meetings for when the host hasn’t yet joined.

Zoom has more features that let you connect with others and even have some fun during your meetings with backgrounds and filters. GoToMeeting has enough basic features to get you through, so if you don’t need anything fancy, its crystal-clear video and audio and more advanced features in lower-cost packages make it worth considering.

Overall, Zoom’s ease of use, additional security, and more advanced features make it a better choice for video conferences.

Chat: Zoom

Sometimes, you don’t need to hold a meeting to discuss part of a project. For quick communication without jumping on a call, Zoom and GoToMeeting have chat features you can use on their own or during meetings between participants.

You can communicate between team members or external members, like vendors and customers, on both platforms. Creating separate rooms specific to various groups within teams helps keep everyone organized. You can also switch from chat to video with one click.

By setting statuses, you can see who’s available when you need them. With chat, you can even attach files and search for messages to find information fast.

Once again, Zoom has a little more capability here with starred channels, so you know where your most important chats are at any given time. It also archives your chat data for up to ten years.

Phone System: Zoom

If you want phone service capability, Zoom and GoToMeeting both have a cloud-based phone system. They even have separate plans for phone-specific features. In Zoom’s case, some of those features are included in Zoom United Business.

Both platforms come with video, HD voice, voicemail, and call recording. GoToMeeting has a broader selection of phone plans, but both platforms operate with Windows, Linux, and Mac. As with its video conferencing plans, GoToMeeting has cheaper ones for phone service.

Overall, Zoom has better quality service, especially with mobile. GoToMeeting’s mobile app lags sometimes, and it’s been known to kick people off the call.

Conference Rooms: Tie

Conference rooms let you join a room with one touch. You can share multiple desktops in one room simultaneously, so you don’t have to worry about booking your meeting or sharing screens between multiple people.

GoToMeeting sets up conference room capability in 15 minutes, making it especially convenient. It works for various room sizes, so you can even accommodate large groups. It also lets you sync your room with the GoTo Admin Center.

Zoom lets you join a conference room using your existing conference system, which can make for low-effort connections. It also comes with a one-click wireless share and up to 12 whiteboards per meeting. With role-based administration and extra security, Zoom keeps your meeting secure.

In this case, you may want to consider your priorities. Do you want convenience or comprehensive features? GoToMeeting still lets you collaborate with many people at once, but Zoom allows for more sharing within your group.

Final Verdict

Visit Zoom
  • Advanced screen & audio sharing
  • Join meetings from any device
  • Password-protected meeting security
  • Five pricing plans
Try for free

Overall, Zoom is the clear winner when comparing the two video conferencing platforms. Both have excellent features, and GoToMeeting has a few advantages over Zoom, like unlimited storage and superior calling options.

When it comes to general features and usability, Zoom pulls ahead with breakout rooms, filters, chat archives, and a more intuitive interface. If you don’t need the frills, GoToMeeting might have what you need, and its plans are cheaper than Zoom.

If you’re looking for a popular, easy-to-use platform, you’ll have more luck with Zoom. It has a lesser learning curve, so you’ll spend less time figuring it out and more time increasing meeting productivity. Some things depend on your business needs, so decide which works for you based on them.

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Azure Databricks: 14 Best Practices For a Developer

1. Choice of Programming Language

  • The language depends on the type of cluster. A cluster can comprise of two modes, i.e., Standard and High Concurrency. A High Concurrency cluster supports R, Python, and SQL, whereas a Standard cluster supports Scala, Java, SQL, Python, and R.
  • Spark is developed in Scala and is the underlying processing engine of Databricks. Scala performs better than Python and SQL. Hence, for the Standard cluster, Scala is the recommended language for developing Spark jobs.

2. ADF for Invoking Databricks Notebooks

  • Eliminate Hardcoding: In certain scenarios, Databricks requires some configuration information related to other Azure services such as storage account name, database server name, etc. The ADF pipeline uses pipeline variables for storing the configuration details. During the Databricks notebook invocation within the ADF pipeline, the configuration details are transferred from pipeline variables to Databricks widget variables, thereby eliminating hardcoding in the Databricks notebooks.Databricks Notebook Settings
  • Notebook Dependencies: It is relatively easier to establish notebook dependencies in ADF than in Databricks itself. In case of failure, debugging a series of notebook invocations in an ADF pipeline is convenient.

Notebook Dependencies Graphic

  • Cheap: When a Notebook is invoked through ADF, the Ephemeral job cluster pattern is used for processing the spark job because the lifecycle of the cluster is tied to the job lifecycle. These short-life clusters cost lesser than the clusters which are created using the Databricks UI.

3. Using Widget Variables

The configuration details are made accessible to the Databricks code through the widget variables. The configuration data is transferred from pipeline variable to widget variables when the notebook is invoked in the ADF pipeline. During the development phase, to model the behavior of a notebook run by ADF, widget variables are manually created using the following line of code.

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Embed PDFs in Your Webpage Using Adobe PDF Embed API

It is incredible just how much information we have today stored in PDF format. According to the PDF Association, approximately 2.5 trillion PDFs are created every year, making up 6 percent of the web. As a web developer, though, PDFs aren't always the most outstanding experience online:

  • Viewing experiences vary significantly across different users and devices because they depend on a PDF viewer. Whether it is embedded in web browsers or free online libraries, some viewers are better than others. Adobe Acrobat Reader is generally the universal standard for viewing PDFs properly. Google Chrome is also very common. However, many things have worked in Acrobat that still doesn't work or render correctly in Chrome.
  • It becomes difficult for me to be able to incorporate PDFs into the rest of my website. Most often, PDFs would prompt users to download PDFs on their devices.
  • Converting PDFs to HTML is complicated and unreliable. If I want to present content inside a webpage that is in PDF format, I might often flatten it to PDF to make it easier to embed.
  • I have no visibility into how my visitor is viewing those PDFs. This means that I have no idea if someone is reading certain pages, how long they spend on those pages, etc.

Fortunately, Adobe PDF Embed is an excellent solution to solve all of these challenges.

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Monday.com Project Management Review

More than 100,000 teams use Monday.com as their dedicated project management software. It’s trusted by big-name companies like Universal Studios, Adobe, Coca-Cola, and NBC, which makes it one of the more reliable and popular project management software options on the market today.

Unfortunately, Monday.com doesn’t feature in our top list of best project management software. However, from an outside perspective, Monday.com stacks up well against most software that we reviewed and is still a helpful alternative for project management.

With an emphasis on working the way that works for you, Monday.com is great for small or large businesses alike. It offers extensive features and 24/7 customer support that enhances even the most basic of projects.

Monday.com Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Built-in time tracking
  • Mobile app for remote work
  • Multiple board views
  • Visualize project progress
  • Manage everything in one workspace

Cons

  • Limited activity logs
  • No integration or automation in the Basic plan
  • Can’t assign comments to team members
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How Monday.com Compares to Top Project Management Software Options

As stated earlier, Monday.com doesn’t rank in our top list, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, either. In terms of our top two, we think Zoho Projects and Wrike are best for overall project management.

Zoho Projects is our number one choice, as it’s better for overall project management with a cloud-based solution and is very affordable. Wrike, meanwhile, is best for creative and marketing teams with campaign management tools and customized templates for content creation.

However, Monday.com has some similarities with both Zoho Projects and Wrike, like drag-and-drop features, an intuitive interface, and plentiful integrations. The biggest difference between our top two and Monday.com is that Monday.com has more expensive plans.

Monday.com’s Project Complexity

If you’re looking for project management software, it’s crucial to figure out exactly what you will use it for. Sometimes cheaper isn’t always better because usually, this means that the software you choose will be more on the basic side and won’t have the right tools to suit complex project tasks.

Luckily, Monday.com offers both an Enterprise plan and extensive project tools in both the Standard and Pro plan.

Not everyone can afford or needs the Enterprise plan, which is perfectly fine because Monday.com still offers a wide range of advanced tools and features for project complexity at a more affordable price.

If you purchase either the Standard or Pro plan, you get extensive collaboration access, customizable integration and automation actions, analytics, and security measures. These tools are excellent for complicated or large projects but can work with simple projects too.

If you own a small business, and/or your day-to-day projects don’t require the use of analytics, security, or extensive collaboration, Monday.com still has a plan for you.

You can receive most of the same tools mentioned above, but for an affordable price with the Basic plan. With that said, Monday.com meets the middle ground by offering inclusive options for both complex and simple project tasks.

Monday.com’s Team Size

Team size is another important factor when trying to find project management software. Fortunately, Monday.com has unlimited seats for all of its plans, which is excellent for already large teams but also growing ones, too.

If you’re a small team of up to two employees and you’re looking for management software to keep track of tasks, you would probably be better off with the free plan.

However, if you’re a larger team of more than three employees, Monday.com offers unlimited seats for each plan. Even though this is a prominent feature, you need to be careful because you have to pay for each seat per month—so creating a budget for this alone would be helpful.

Managing large teams can be more challenging, especially if each person is working on a different task. This isn’t an issue for Monday.com users though, as it offers project overviews with a status, outline, and due date so no one is left in the dark.

In fact, team size doesn’t even matter to most Monday.com users because no one has to worry about seat limitations or restrictions on boards. You can even purchase up to 200+ seats for an individual account at a custom price.

Monday.com’s Ease of Use

Finding the easiest-to-navigate project management software is key to your business tasks flowing seamlessly. Knowing that you’re in full control of your team, tasks, and outcome is a great feeling that can be found within Monday.com.

With drag-and-drop features, an intuitive interface, customizable color-coded columns, and fast search engines—project management software doesn’t get easier than this.

Whether you’re a complete beginner or veteran when it comes to project management, Monday.com will make your life so much easier by allowing you full control over your boards, with 24/7 support being just a phone call away.

From onboarding members to assigning complex projects, the Monday.com interface is excellent for creating your ideal workflow. You even have the option to choose from over 200+ ready-made templates for an even quicker transition.

However, the best way to find out whether project management software is easy to use is to try it for yourself. Luckily, Monday.com offers a free forever plan or a 14-day free trial, which we recommend you try out before committing to a paid plan.

The free forever plan includes:

  • Up to two seats
  • Unlimited boards
  • 200+ templates
  • Over 20+ column types

Monday.com’s Features

As you look for potential project management software for your business needs, it’s important to evaluate what kind of features you’re interested in. Most standard management software will include app integration, automation actions, and time tracking—but not everyone needs the most extensive features on the market to successfully run their business.

Monday.com has quite a few helpful features for project management specifically. If you’re looking for management software that gives you a clear view of what’s going on at all times, Monday.com is an excellent option.

The collaboration access feature is a big part of this management software, and for a good reason. You’re able to collaborate effectively with as many team members as you want by inviting them to join your board with just one click.

You can also keep track of everything under one platform and easily access updates, progress shots, and budget approvals by viewing the custom columns with their own custom status buttons.

Some other features include:

  • Customizable workflows
  • Analyze projects through progress dashboards
  • Manage all resources with workload calendars
  • Integrate apps like Excel, Microsoft Teams, and Slack

Whether you need basic or advanced features, Monday.com has got you covered.

Monday.com’s Price

Project management software pricing varies depending on your needs and team size, respectively. Usually, most management software charges on a per-user per-month basis, but Monday.com offers cheaper pricing on annually billed plans.

Let’s look at each pricing tier and compare it to monthly vs. yearly plans while looking at what features each one offers. The minimum amount of seats you can choose from is three, so keep that in mind.

Basic Plan

This plan focuses on small teams that are just getting used to managing all their tasks in one place. It bills one plan yearly, saving you 18%, and it bills the other every month, which is more expensive overall:

  • Yearly: $11 a seat per month (three seats), billed at $33 per month and $396 per year
  • Monthly: $14 a seat per month (three seats), billed at $42 per month

If you can’t afford to pay a bulk sum of $396 per year, the monthly option might be best for you, even though it will be more expensive in the long run. This is where budgeting comes in handy, but remember that it becomes increasingly expensive when you add new users.

This plan has some excellent features for the price point, though, including:

  • Unlimited boards
  • Free viewers and items
  • 5GB file storage
  • Prioritized customer support
  • Three collaboration tools

For such an affordable price compared to the other plans, the basic plan offers everything a small team would need to be successful.

Standard Plan

Unlike the Basic plan, the Standard plan caters to teams who need advanced collaboration and visualization tools.

  • Yearly: $14 a seat per month (three seats), billed at $42 per month and $504 per year
  • Monthly: $17 a seat per month (three seats), billed at $51 per month

This plan is most popular because of the 250 automation and integration actions, plus the different board views on top of that.

For collaboration needs, you get access to whiteboard collaboration, zoom integration, and embedded documents you can share with members.

In terms of visualization needs, you get access to the Kanban view, timeline view, calendar view, and map view—which is perfect for more complex tasks you need to map out more clearly.

Pro Plan

The pricing for the Pro plan jumps up quite a lot from the Standard plan. This is because it caters to teams with more complex workflows.

  • Yearly: $22 a seat per month (three seats), billed at $66 per month and $792 per year
  • Monthly: $27 a seat per month (three seats), billed at $81 per month

The plan comes with everything the Standard plan offers but with more actions and advanced features.

Instead of 250 automation and integration actions per month, you receive 25,000 actions per month with the Pro plan, which is an excellent extended feature for complex projects.

The Pro plan is perfect for larger teams because it gives you access to more security measures, like Google authentication and private boards that are only visible to those you invite.

Enterprise Plan

Currently, the Enterprise plan doesn’t offer public pricing, as it’s a more customizable plan for teams that need the utmost support, security, and control.

You receive every feature and tool Monday.com offers to its users with this plan.

You receive access to:

  • A view of your activity log for five years
  • 1,000GB of storage
  • 250,000 automation and integration actions per month.

Monday.com’s Product Offerings

Monday.com offers a few helpful products that relate to project management, which give a variety of options for different user needs. Here is an in-depth look at some different products Monday.com offers as a project management software:

Customizable Templates

One of the more unique products that Monday.com offers its users is customizable templates. All users on every plan get access to these templates, where you can customize them to fit your team’s needs.

With 200+ templates to choose from, you can scroll through the catalog to find unique templates for every industry.

After choosing a template that suits your industry, you get the choice to customize it to your needs and business goals. You can add action items, reorder columns, and create a plan that aligns with your priorities.

After this, Monday.com lets you add team members into your custom board, where you can then assign them tasks and monitor all progress.

The great thing about this product offering is that it’s yours to customize, meaning it will be extra easy to navigate and use once you’ve added your personal touches.

Some more benefits of using ready-made templates include:

  • All files and communication in one place
  • Track time spent on tasks
  • Eliminate emails and calls with freelance teams
  • No limitations on members

Extensive Market Insights

With the Enterprise plan, you receive some of the most extensive data-driven insights that a project management software can offer on the market today.

Now, we realize that most users looking for management software most likely won’t be purchasing a custom Enterprise plan.

However, for larger companies and teams, this product is next-level, which is why we find it worth mentioning. There is still something for everyone though, which we will get into later on.

With Monday.com’s insights and analytics, you can build and customize data dashboards that let you view all your data in one place.

You have the option to add counters, graphs, and charts to make it more visually appealing and clear to read your data.

Monday.com switches things up and makes it fun by adding a unique feature known as the “color-coded llama farm” dashboard, which is exactly what it sounds like–a bunch of different-colored llama stickers on your customized dashboard that help you keep track of task status.

If you want data and analytic reports for your business without paying full price, you can still do this with its most basic form of custom dashboards, where you get between one to 10 boards per dashboard.

Custom Integrations

Integrations are another big part of the Monday.com platform, especially because it’s such a helpful product to consider when searching for project management software. What makes Monday.com different is that it offers custom integrations for users on the Standard plan and onwards.

Monday.com’s custom integrations come as a professional service, which involves you having the option to request a custom-made integration sequence that perfectly suits your needs.

To achieve this, all you need to do is answer a few questions involving your business needs, budget, and any additional information that can help them find you a partner to work with.

This is a similar service to hiring an expert for website design or content creation, but it’s more unique and gives you the chance to include integrations that Monday.com may not initially support.

With that said, some of its standard app integrations include:

  • Outlook
  • Dropbox
  • Zoom
  • Google Drive
  • Gmail
  • LinkedIn
  • And much more
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No matter what type of projects you’re managing, our guide will help you find the best project management software for your needs.
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Summary

Overall, Monday.com is an excellent project management software for small and large teams alike. It’s affordable, starting at $11 per month, and it offers reasonable products and features at no additional cost, like customizable templates and extensive market insights.

It has a diverse range of tools for project complexity and has an intuitive interface for ease of use. With unlimited boards and 24/7 support, anyone using Monday.com will improve and transform their project management workflow.

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A C sharp program that can reads a file consisting of students test score

Write a C# program that reads a file consisting of students test scores in the range 0-200, it should then determine the number of students having scores in each of the following ranges: 0-24, 25-49, 50-74, 75-99, 100-124, 125-149, 150-174, 175-200. Output the score ranges and the number of students. (Run your program with the following input data : 76, 89, 150, 135, 200, 76, 12, 100, 150, 28, 178, 189, 167, 200, 175, 150, 87, 99, 129, 149, 176, 200, 87, 35, 157, 189.

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How to Schedule a Meeting in Google Meet with Apps Script

This Apps Script sample shows how you can programmatically schedule video meetings inside Google Meet with one or more participants using the Google Calendar API. It can be useful for teachers who wish to schedule regular meetings with their students but instead of manually creating meeting invites, they can easily automate the whole process for the entire class.

Schedule Google Meeting

Setup Google Meeting with Apps Script

Give your meeting a title, the start date, the meeting duration, the list of attendees and how often you wanted to be reminded of the upcoming Google meeting. A new meeting event will be added to your Google Calendar and you’ll also be provided with a Google Meet link that you share with your students and colleagues through mail merge.

const createGoogleMeeting = () => {
  // The default calendar where this meeting should be created
  const calendarId = 'primary';

  // Schedule a meeting for May 30, 2022 at 1:45 PM
  // January = 0, February = 1, March = 2, and so on
  const eventStartDate = new Date(2022, 5, 30, 13, 45);

  // Set the meeting duration to 45 minutes
  const eventEndDate = new Date(eventStartDate.getTime());
  eventEndDate.setMinutes(eventEndDate.getMinutes() + 45);

  const getEventDate = (eventDate) => {
    // Dates are computed as per the script's default timezone
    const timeZone = Session.getScriptTimeZone();

    // Format the datetime in `full-date T full-time` format
    return {
      timeZone,
      dateTime: Utilities.formatDate(eventDate, timeZone, "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss"),
    };
  };

  // Email addresses and names (optional) of meeting attendees
  const meetingAttendees = [
    {
      displayName: 'Amit Agarwal',
      email: 'amit@labnol.org',
      responseStatus: 'accepted',
    },
    { email: 'student1@school.edu', responseStatus: 'needsAction' },
    { email: 'student2@school.edu', responseStatus: 'needsAction' },
    {
      displayName: 'Angus McDonald',
      email: 'assistant@school.edu',
      responseStatus: 'tentative',
    },
  ];

  // Generate a random id
  const meetingRequestId = Utilities.getUuid();

  // Send an email reminder a day prior to the meeting and also
  // browser notifications15 minutes before the event start time
  const meetingReminders = [
    {
      method: 'email',
      minutes: 24 * 60,
    },
    {
      method: 'popup',
      minutes: 15,
    },
  ];

  const { hangoutLink, htmlLink } = Calendar.Events.insert(
    {
      summary: 'Maths 101: Trigonometry Lecture',
      description: 'Analyzing the graphs of Trigonometric Functions',
      location: '10 Hanover Square, NY 10005',
      attendees: meetingAttendees,
      conferenceData: {
        createRequest: {
          requestId: meetingRequestId,
          conferenceSolutionKey: {
            type: 'hangoutsMeet',
          },
        },
      },
      start: getEventDate(eventStartDate),
      end: getEventDate(eventEndDate),
      guestsCanInviteOthers: false,
      guestsCanModify: false,
      status: 'confirmed',
      reminders: {
        useDefault: false,
        overrides: meetingReminders,
      },
    },
    calendarId,
    { conferenceDataVersion: 1 }
  );

  Logger.log('Launch meeting in Google Meet: %s', hangoutLink);
  Logger.log('Open event inside Google Calendar: %s', htmlLink);
};

Also see: Generate Add to Calendar Links

Google Meeting with Recurring Schedule

The above code can be extended to create meetings that occur on a recurring schedule.

You need to simply add a recurrence attribute to the meeting event resource that specifies the recurring event in RRULE notation. For instance, the following rule will schedule a recurring video meeting for your Maths lecture every week on Monday, Thursday for 8 times.

{
  ...event,
  recurrence: ["RRULE:FREQ=WEEKLY;COUNT=8;INTERVAL=1;WKST=MO;BYDAY=MO,TH"];
}

Here are some other useful RRULE examples:

  • FREQ=WEEKLY;BYDAY=MO,TU,WE,TH,FR - Occurs every week except on weekends
  • FREQ=MONTHLY;INTERVAL=2;BYDAY=TU - Occurs every Tuesday, every other month
  • INTERVAL=2;FREQ=WEEKLY - Occurs every other week
  • FREQ=WEEKLY;INTERVAL=2;BYDAY=TU,TH;BYMONTH=12 - Occurs every other week in December on Tuesday and Thursday
  • FREQ=MONTHLY;INTERVAL=2;BYDAY=1SU,-1SU - Occurs every other month on the first and last Sunday of the month
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What is the answer here

Develop a visual basic program that asks the user to enter an integer positive number, then reverse this number as a single integer and display it in a textbox. For example, if the user enters 235 the output should be 532. If the input is 79534 the output is 43597 (this means the input can accept any number of digits).

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The Automattic Theme Team Announces Blockbase, Its New Block Parent Theme

Viewing the Blockbase starter WordPress theme in the upcoming site editor.
Blockbase WordPress theme as seen from the site editor.

Any WordPress company that builds and maintains themes worth its salt is already doing at least some preliminary work as WordPress inches ever closer to bundling its upcoming block theme system. Automattic’s Theme Team is no exception. Ben Dwyer announced the team’s new Blockbase parent theme on the Theme Shaper blog yesterday. It includes support for global styles and block templating.

The theme is based on the classic, block-editor-ready Blank Canvas project that Automattic launched in January. Until a few days ago, it was even named Blank Canvas Blocks. I have been checking in on the team’s work in the past couple of months, waiting to see how Blockbase and Mayland Blocks, a child theme based on the team’s original Mayland, were coming along.

The team has built a well-rounded system that should keep them from overhauling each block theme they create for WordPress.com every time there is a change. For theme authors who have yet to dip their toes into the block-theme pond, it might also be the starting point they need.

The Holy Grail of some block theme designers will be creating a project with little more than a theme.json file. The goal: let WordPress generate all the CSS via setting and style configurations. It will never be possible for all theme authors to achieve their design goals through this — most will need at least some custom CSS. And, whether such a goal is A Good Thing remains to be seen.

Nevertheless, the future of theme design will lean on JSON-configured and generated styles. Blockbase leverages this system to create a standardized set of guideposts for its eventual child themes. This ensures that creators are not continually updating their themes as block styling rapidly evolves.

Blockbase serves as a bridge between what is currently possible to configure via a theme.json file and what will be possible in the future.

It is the modern-day Underscores (_s) for blocks, and the WordPress theme design community will need such a project moving forward. They will need a starting point and educational tool, and Blockbase is just that.

The latest version of the Gutenberg plugin only covers a fraction of what it and, eventually, WordPress will handle in the coming months and years. However, it does allow theme authors to add custom settings via the settings.custom key, creating their own CSS variables that are automatically output in the site’s head. The Theme Team used this feature to their advantage. Where Gutenberg does not currently support a setting, Blockbase has a custom theme.json parameter. The theme then uses the generated CSS variables in its stylesheet. As Gutenberg and WordPress eventually support more of these settings out of the box, the team can simply remove unneeded code.

The theme is not altogether unopinionated. “Blockbase is intended to be a representation of all the theme style settings that we believe should eventually live in Global Styles and be configurable by users,” wrote Dwyer. Block theme development could still change in unexpected ways as the system continues to be refined, and the theme will need to change along with it. Bumps in the road should be expected.

It is a project that soon-to-be and current block themers can learn from. While it is currently available via GitHub, Dwyer said the team can investigate making it a npm package if there is enough interest.

One of the most unique things the theme does is work with the theme.json settings via PHP. In Blockbase’s functions.php file, it plucks out font-family names registered in the JSON file. It then automatically loads their associated stylesheets from the Google Fonts API. While it is not documented in the code (it should be), I am taking an educated guess that the goal is to allow child theme authors to declare fonts in their own theme.json files and for Blockbase to handle the loading.

The code is relatively simple. It is the technique that matters.

As developers grapple with the changing nature of WordPress theme architecture, they will need to find new solutions for some of the old problems they previously solved in a PHP-only world. With most theme configuration moving to JSON and templates to HTML, it can be easy to feel like they are losing that dynamic nature of PHP. It was something reliable, and developers have spent years honing custom systems around the old WordPress.

The new WordPress delivers a more robust set of design tools out of the box, but it can seem a bit foreign. That is why seeing real-world code examples of how others are handling these features is a vital step in transitioning more theme authors to block-based development.

This may be a small code sampling, but I am impressed by the clever thinking. In my journey to learn more about how block themes work, I often find myself hitting a brick wall, fighting against the system. This code works with it instead of against it.

I do not often write several paragraphs about one function that spans a mere 21 lines of code, but I am still a developer at heart and love seeing elegantly simple solutions. It is not about the font-loading technique; it is about solving problems. This code will undoubtedly be copied many thousands of times over in the coming years and modified for many more thousands of uses. If you are a theme developer and do not see it yet, you will.

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WhoGoHost Review

WhoGoHost is a Nigerian web hosting provider. It offers a variety of services, from dedicated cloud hosting to hosting a WordPress site. It’s fair to say that both beginners and experts are the service’s target audience, with varying success levels. It’s not going to be a web hosting provider we recommend at the top of the pile, but it does provide responsive customer support and several easy-to-use services.

WhoGoHost Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Easy to use
  • Responsive customer support
  • Affordable

Cons

  • Not very reliable
  • Uncertain uptime
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How WhoGoHost Compares to the Best Web Hosting Providers

WhoGoHost isn’t a contender for the best web hosting provider. Unfortunately, it’s let down by unstable uptimes and a general sense of being unreliable and inconsistent. However, the plans offered are affordable, the customer support is responsive, and some of its one-click services are easy to use.

Two better alternatives to WhoGoHost would be Bluehost and DreamHost. Bluehost offers excellent web hosting solutions at competitive prices. It also provides 24/7 customer support through phone and live chat and powerful SEO functionality that allows you to grow with them. DreamHost is highly affordable too, and it offers a completely custom control panel with a full 97-day money-back guarantee.

WhoGoHost Site Uptime

Site uptime is an essential part of web hosting. Almost all companies need a reliable service to ensure their visitors can reach their site and navigate it without problems. WhoGoHost promises its customers a 99.9% network uptime—in fact, it guarantees it. It’s worth mentioning here that many web host providers offer this “guarantee,” but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to get that service. That’s true even if you go for dedicated over shared hosting.

Some customers with WhoGoHost have complained that their sites have been down, sometimes inexplicably, and that WhoGoHost, although ready to help and respond, wasn’t easily able to solve their issue. This isn’t a minor problem, so customers should be wary of this before choosing WhoGoHost as their web provider.

With that said, WhoGoHost has generally improved its uptime over the last few years, and it’s clear it’s aware of its site uptime issues. It’s also fair to say that many web providers do occasionally fall short in this area. I’d still be somewhat cautious here, though, as even new bloggers expect a site to be reachable at almost all times.

WhoGoHost Customer Support

WhoGoHost does far better when it comes to customer support. Good customer support breaks down into two sections: how quickly a company can respond and how effective it is at solving the problem. WhoGoHost is a responsive company, and it does engage with its customers frequently. It also offers a pretty good turnaround time on responses.

It provides customer support through quite a few different forms, including live chat, WhatsApp, a direct call to them 24/7, or an open support ticket. It also offers an address on its site, which is always good to see. This is an encouraging look overall.

However, WhoGoHost doesn’t do as well at that second part of what I consider customer support: it’s not always that effective at sorting out customers’ problems. Customers need to have their issues sorted and solved quickly and efficiently, full stop, and WhoGoHost just doesn’t have the best track record here. There is definitely a clear message here that WhoGoHost is active and listening, and it has successfully sorted problems out more often than not, but this still isn’t the ideal customer service experience.

WhoGoHost Price

When it comes to price, WhoGoHost is something of a winner. Not only are its prices highly affordable, as you can see below, but they’re also generally clearly presented. A customer should know, in theory, what they’re getting from a price page alone, and WhoGoHost’s pricing page does this well.

We have five overall tiers for web hosting:

  • Aspire / $1.40 monthly / 10GB Bandwidth / 2GB Webspace
  • Premium / $1.95 monthly / 30GB Bandwidth / 6GB Webspace
  • Pro / $2.65 monthly / 45GB Bandwidth / 12GB Webspace
  • Deluxe / $5.86 monthly / Unlimited Bandwidth / 25GB Webspace

Each of these tiers offers more features. For example, on the Aspire tier, you’re looking at just 2GB of webspace, 10GB of bandwidth, and four subdomains. This goes up to 12GB of webspace, 45GB of bandwidth, and 15 subdomains on the Pro level. It’s of course worth noting that having a limited bandwidth on a website isn’t something you’ll want to stick with forever, certainly as traffic and the complexity of your site increase. There’s also something to be said for prices that look too good to be true, and most hosting providers average between $10-$20 a month.

That said, this shouldn’t instantly exclude you from choosing WhoGoHost—instead, I would encourage you to look around at all the hosting options and then compare them before deciding. There have been happy customers with WhoGoHost, but always keep these things in mind to avoid potential frustration down the line.

WhoGoHost Site Backups

Few things are as crucial as having site backups. At some point, almost all companies will experience trouble, either in the form of data loss or via cyber attack. Site backups ensure that if the worst happens, you’ll be able to restore a site to a working version before disaster struck. It goes without saying how much stress and panic this can prevent.

WhoGoHost offers site backups through the form of CodeGuard Website Backup. CodeGuard is a well-respected site backup and monitoring service, so this is indeed a good thing. For example, CodeGuard is used by top competitors such as Bluehost. You’ll be getting top-notch service from CodeGuard and can be safe in the knowledge that your site will be both protected and backed up.

There are a couple of additional points here: there are services, such as plugins on WordPress, that provide site backups for free. While these might not offer all of the most comprehensive features, it’s certainly a good option if you don’t want to pay for backups.

CodeGuard itself is provided through WhoGoHost based on the amount of backup storage you need. So, for instance, 10GB of backup storage will cost around $7.14 a month. In comparison, larger amounts such as 100GB can reach much higher prices, about $32.13 a month. For that, you’ll have access to daily automated site backups, file change monitoring, and more.

How much storage you opt for here is, of course, up to you, although it might be worth considering the free options before diving in with this extra service. After all, it’s an additional monthly cost on top of everything else.

WhoGoHost WordPress Hosting

WordPress hosting is a popular choice for obvious reasons: it’s one of the best platforms to build a site and features access to powerful plugins and beautiful themes. Web hosting providers realize this and now offer dedicated WordPress hosting. This entails having WordPress preinstalled, and most web hosts offer a one-click install here, allowing you to get up and running without fuss.

WhoGoHost offers WordPress hosting via either monthly or annual payments. It comes in three tiers: WP Beginner, WP Standard, and WP Standard Plus. We see the key difference between these levels in the amount of SSD storage available, the bandwidth, and the number of additional websites you can have as part of the package. On all levels, you get a free SSL certificate—this permits encrypted communication between a web browser and a server, so it’s great to have. In fact, not only will visitors expect to see an SSL certificate, but search engines also don’t look too kindly on sites without one.

All plans also come with several standard features, including free hosting transfers, 24/7 support, a free domain name with the annual plan, and cPanel Access. A cPanel is essentially a control panel that simplifies site and server management.

So, this is a good offering here, and although now standard among web hosts, it’s something that I’m pleased to see WhoGoHost provide. Of course, the actual test relies on the hosting’s stability, and WhoGoHost doesn’t have the best record here. If in doubt, it’s worth remembering that you can get a refund if you request cancellation within 30 days of purchase. That will help to mitigate any potential risk here.

WhoGoHost Email Hosting

Email hosting allows companies to utilize email servers. In other words, if you own a domain and want that email service with that domain name, you would have to purchase email hosting. The good news is that email hosting is usually inexpensive—but it requires you to have a hosting plan before buying the extra functionality. For example, Bluehost offers this with its hosting plans starting at $2.95 a month.

WhoGoHost’s email hosting comes in four packages: BE Level 1, 2, 3, and 4. The primary difference between the levels is the number of email accounts, and we’re looking at a low starting price of $1.40 a month. This is cheaper than some competitors, although you have to factor in the hosting quality you receive. You also have the option of paying for this annually, which is preferred by some businesses. There is no refund available if you cancel your email hosting account—but this isn’t a critical factor here, considering the overall affordability.

You may be wondering why you’d get email hosting. There are quite a few reasons, but centrally it’s the professional look this offers an individual or company. Seeing emails with a domain name in them is a good way of legitimizing a business, and it’s often looked upon favorably by customers. They are also secure platforms, with generally a good level of storage space, and they’re usually effective at blocking out spam and viruses from infiltrating a network.

This is a cheap email hosting solution: WhoGoHost does well in this area.

WhoGoHost Site Builder

WhoGoHost offers a site builder if you’d prefer an even easier way of getting your site online. This is an option for those that fear coding and want to jump straight in and get to work. I was impressed to see this comes with a 30-day free trial, which is a nice bonus to have. Effectively a good site builder will allow a user to drag and drop and piece together their site. These are now commonly offered along with the hosting part of the service.

WhoGoHost’s site builder offers the expected drag and drop functionality that other hosts provide, along with custom templates and a framework that works across desktop and mobile. Meaning: you can quickly build it for multiple devices, too—an increasingly important part of an online strategy.

The site builder comes in three different plans, and the changes between them tend to focus on the disk space or web space, the bandwidth, and whether you can build an ecommerce store on that framework. These starting prices are low—beginning at $3.63/month for WhoGoHost’s Lite Plan—and are generally competitive with others.

Whether you decide to use a site builder does come down to your knowledge and the time available to build a website. I think a site always tends to look better when WordPress is involved in the process, but some great site builder options are available. WhoGoHost’s site builder is fair, but it will be using the same hosting to power this, so keep that in mind. There’s no refund if you cancel your site builder account either.

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Summary

WhoGoHost is an affordable web hosting provider that offers a large variety of services. We wouldn’t naturally gravitate towards recommending it, as there are so many great alternatives out there and WhoGoHost doesn’t quite measure up to many of them in certain areas. However, the hosting company is trying to improve its overall offering, making it perhaps one to watch in the future. The customer service support is decent, and some customers have mentioned they found WhoGoHost easy to use across the packages. For now, we’d still happily recommend Bluehost and DreamHost if you’re looking for super reliable web hosts and don’t want to take a chance.

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Spotify Refines Third Party Application Development Process

Spotify has announced several changes to the company’s developer platform that are intended to help streamline the process of building third-party applications that leverage the media company’s resources. These updates include two new development modes and a significant update to the Spotify Developer Policy. 

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IncFile Review

Incfile is one of the most popular business formation services on the web. It’s a fast and easy way for anyone to start a business without the hassle and costs associated with hiring an attorney.

Over half a million businesses have launched with Incfile since 2004.

As a pioneer in the business formation industry, Incfile uses modern technology and provides exceptional customer service to entrepreneurs who need assistance in registering a new business.

This service provider is best known for its rock-bottom prices. In fact, you use Incfile to form your business for free (more on that later).

Not sure if Incfile is right for you? Fortunately, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll break down the service offerings, prices, packages, and everything else you need to know before making a decision. You’ll even learn more about what real customers are saying about Incfile.

Ready to get started? Sign up with Incfile today.

Incfile Business Formation Services

Incfile’s business formation services can be segmented into three main categories—LLC services, incorporation services, and registered agent services. We’ll cover each of these in greater detail below.

Incfile LLC Services

When it comes to forming a limited liability company (LLC) with Incfile, simplicity is the first thing that comes to mind. In just a handful of simple steps, they walk you through the entire process online.

Whether you’re looking for just the basics to get you started or a customized LLC kit, Incfile has you covered.

Every LLC package from Incfile comes with the following:

  • Unlimited company name availability searches
  • Articles preparation and filing
  • Next-business-day processing
  • Registered agent services (free for one year)

You can get all of these services from Incfile for free at the lowest pricing plan; just pay the state fees. This simple and inexpensive setup is why so many entrepreneurs turn to Incfile for LLC formation services.

 

There are three LLC packages for you to choose from:

  • Silver — $0 + state fee
  • Gold — $149 + state fee
  • Platinum — $299 + state fee

If you’re on a tight budget and just want the basic services from the bullet list above, you can get that Silver package without paying a dime to Incfile. As previously mentioned, this even comes with a free year of registered agent services.

With that said, the Silver package doesn’t come with an employer identification/tax ID (EIN). This is definitely something you’ll need, so it makes sense to get it directly from Incfile. You can add that to your Silver package for $70.

Alternatively, the Gold plan comes with several additional premium services. This includes an EIN, preparation and filing of IRS form 2553, an operating agreement, banking resolution, express shipping, and a business formation kit.

The Platinum package comes with added perks like business contract templates, free domain name, email service, expedited filing, and a better version of the business formation kit.

Not all of the Platinum features are really necessary, especially the free domain and email service. These are things you should be getting elsewhere.

The state fee varies depending on your location. It’s easy to see those exact figures directly on Incfile’s website when you select your state. All of the pricing is straightforward and transparent.

Incfile can also provide you with assistance for trademarks, a Certificate of Good Standing, DBA (doing business as) names, and business license research.

The fact that you can use Incfile to register your LLC for free is probably the best value you’ll find on the web. With that said, I’d recommend the Gold package, as it truly comes with everything you’ll need to form your LLC, including an EIN.

Incfile Incorporation Services

Incfile also has exceptional incorporation services. You can use them to form a C-Corporation, S-Corporation, or a nonprofit corporation.

Like the LLC services, the entry-level Silver package from Incfile is 100% free for the incorporation services as well. So regardless of the entity type you need to form, all you’ll have to pay is the state fee (prices vary by state).

The free plan comes with preparation and filing for the articles of incorporation and unlimited name availability searches.

You’ll also get registered agent services free for the first year.

With that said, the free plan does lack some of the services you’ll need to officially incorporate. The Gold package, which costs $149 plus state fees, includes an EIN, IRS Form 2553, corporate bylaws, and more.

The Gold package also comes with a business formation kit and express shipping. So it’s really a great value. Incfile has a Platinum package ($299 + state fees). This comes with expedited filing, faster shipping, a free domain, and email service.

I also like Incfile’s incorporation services because they have so much information about each entity type. Even if you’ve never formed a C-corp, S-corp, or nonprofit, you can basically learn everything you need directly from Incfile’s website—for free.

Furthermore, there’s a dedicated learning center with research tools, guides, and seemingly endless resources for incorporations.

If you’re launching a C-Corp, S-Corp, or nonprofit, Incfile is a cost-effective alternative to hiring a traditional lawyer to handle this for you.

Incfile Registered Agent Services

Incfile’s registered agent services are available in all 50 states. They’ll help you manage crucial legal documents and prevent errors with your filings.

Every LLC or corporation is required to have a registered agent. So if you’re using Incfile’s incorporation services, it makes sense to use their registered agents as well. However, existing businesses can also take advantage of registered agent services from Incfile. They make it easy for you to change registered agents, regardless of the state you’re operating in.

Here’s a quick overview of the services and benefits you’ll get from an Incfile registered agent:

  • Always available during business hours
  • Available to receive state and IRS mail correspondence
  • Available to receive documents and legal proceedings on behalf of your LLC or corporation
  • Email and SMS alerts whenever documents are received
  • Automatic mail forwarding for legal correspondence, documents, and other information

My favorite part of Incfile’s registered agent service is the online dashboard.

You can manage everything you need online, at a glance, from anywhere with Internet access.

If you’re using Incfile to form an LLC, S-Corp, C-Corp, or nonprofit, the registered agent services are free for the first year. Then the rate renews at the regular price of $119 per year thereafter.

Customers rave about Incfile’s registered agent services. After reading through testimonials and reviews on their website and third-party platforms, it seems like the registered agent service is why business owners trust Incfile for the long haul.

While it’s obviously great to have the free registered agent initially, so many customers mention how they have been using Incfile for years—long after the complimentary year has expired. So when businesses have the chance to look elsewhere after that first year, they continue to stick with Incfile, which is extremely encouraging.

From helping you avoid missed deadlines, fines, and non-compliance issues to managing paperwork and responding quickly in the event of a lawsuit, Incfile’s registered agent services are top-notch.

This gives you the opportunity to focus on your business while they handle the little things. If something important arises, you’ll be notified by SMS or email immediately.

Overall Pricing and Value

We’ve mentioned Incfile’s prices throughout this guide. But I want to take a moment to provide you with a more in-depth explanation of the packages and rates.

Whether you’re forming an LLC or corporation, these are the plans you can choose from:

Silver — $0 + state fee

  • Prepare and file articles of organization
  • Unlimited name availability search
  • Free registered agent (for first year)
  • Statement and resignation of organizer
  • Statement and resignation of the incorporator**
  • Online status tracking
  • Online document access
  • Lifetime company alerts
  • Standard state filing
  • Electronic document delivery

Gold — $149 + state fee

  • All Silver services
  • EIN/tax ID
  • Operating agreement
  • IRS form 2553
  • Operating agreement
  • Banking resolution
  • Express shipping
  • Unlimited phone and email support
  • Corporate bylaws**
  • Corporation organizational meeting minutes**

Platinum — $299 + state fee

  • All Gold services
  • Business contract templates
  • Free domain name
  • Free email service
  • Expedited filing

**Services specific to corporations

Overall, the Gold package provides the best value. Things like an EIN and more are required to form an LLC or incorporation. That doesn’t come standard with the Silver plan.

I can see why some people would be enticed by the “free” aspect of the Silver package. But the $149 plus state fees for the Gold plan is such a small price to pay for starting a business.

Most people won’t need the Platinum package. The free domain and email service shouldn’t sway you at all. Those are services you should be getting directly from a web hosting provider, not a business formation service. The only real selling point is expedited filing, if you’re in a serious rush.

User Experience

Using Incfile is seamless. Getting started is as simple as navigating to the website, choosing your entity type (LLC, C-corp, S-corp, or nonprofit), and selecting your state.

Incfile will automatically generate your state fees based on the entity you want to form.

Once you sign up and choose your plan, everything is straightforward from there. You’ll enter details about your business and manage it all from Incfile’s intuitive dashboard.

You can track the status of the formation process online. Once you’re officially registered, you can use the dashboard to access crucial documents. Your registered agent will notify you via SMS or email if something requires your attention (like an urgent piece of legal mail).

Overall, the interface is really clean, and it’s easy for anyone to navigate and figure out.

Customer Support

One other key of choosing the Gold plans from Incfile is that you get unlimited phone and email support. Whether you need help finding a document or just have a general inquiry, the Incfile team will be there to provide assistance.

Phone support is available from Monday to Friday, 9 am – 6 pm CST.

As previously mentioned, Incfile has outstanding registered agent services as well. Due to the human touch associated with this service, I think it’s worth mentioning in the customer support category.

Your registered agent can receive documentation on your behalf, ensure you stay compliant, forward your mail, and alert you if something comes up.

Most of the online reviews from existing customers say great things about Incfile’s support. With that said, there are a handful of people who weren’t exactly satisfied. I saw a few recent reviews from people who said they had trouble reaching an agent. But those seemed to be outliers compared to the bulk of reviews.

Final Verdict

If you need to form an LLC, C-Corp, S-Corp, or nonprofit corporation, Incfile should definitely be taken into consideration.

They provide a cost-efficient alternative to hiring a lawyer. Some of their services are completely free; you just have to pay the state fees.

When you sign up for one of Incfile’s business formation plans, you’ll also get registered agent services free for one year. It’s tough to pass up on a value like that.

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Workzone Review

Workzone is a project management tool that strikes the right balance between powerful features and accessibility for beginners. The software has been around since 2002 and has incrementally improved its performance over time, proving itself to be a robust solution that you can count on to get the job done. It performs well against its competitors, specifically in the areas of customer service and ease of use.

Workzone Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Customizable control panels
  • Easy to use
  • Stable service
  • Mobile and desktop
  • Great customer support

Cons

  • Can be expensive
  • Minimal reporting
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How Workzone Compares to Top Project Management Software Options

Workzone is up against some top competitors in the space, but it does well to meet them in terms of customer service and ease of use. There are a few areas where its competitors offer something better—for instance, Workzone’s reporting functionality is limited, and the price can quickly add up for multiple users. The software is best suited for those that want a secure platform, friendly and helpful staff, and solid project management tools. In other words, it gets the basics right but doesn’t always match the scope of what’s on offer elsewhere.

Great alternatives to Workzone are Zoho Projects and LiquidPlanner. Zoho Projects is one of the best pieces of project management software available today due to its affordable nature and compelling set of tools. LiquidPlanner, meanwhile, is best for complex projects with many contributors and offers quick insight into tasks, risks, and budgets.

Workzone is still a solid choice, though, so read on to learn more about it and whether it might be the right tool for you.

Workzone Team Size

Your team’s size and the number of projects you’ll be working on can significantly affect how suitable a piece of project management software is for you. For example, a smaller team working on a single project may not need paid software from the start—free software might suffice. With Workzone, teams from around five to 500+ people are the intended target here, although it does try to cater to teams smaller than that, so one to four people.

For instance, “Workzone Team” is the starting option, available for $24/user per month. This level features project templates, unlimited workspaces, and time tracking and resource management functionality. It’s a good choice for teams with at least five people, and while free software may be able to cater to smaller teams, likely, it won’t come with the advanced features available here. The second pricing option is available for teams that require more resources, and the third tier is more for an enterprise-level business that needs it all.

Workzone does try to cater to teams and companies of all sizes then, and it does this well, but of course, there’s always going to be something of a “model” team size for each project management software. Workzone’s ideal for smaller and medium-sized businesses overall. Enterprises do receive a viable option in the third tier, but I think you’d be even better off with LiquidPlanner or Celoxis due to their advanced features.

Workzone Ease of Use

Workzone is an easy-to-use piece of software. The interface is accessible enough for most users, and it’s easy to set up and get started with, more so than some of its competitors. For example, creating a new template is simple and follows almost the same process to create a new project. These processes are easy to follow and are backed up by handy tutorial videos to help users.

That said, it’s not exactly what I would call the leading project management interface on the market. The UI can appear to be a little dated in places. This is attributed to the platform’s slow evolution over time—it’s been around since 2002. Some long-time users of the software feel like Workzone is easy enough to set up, but there’s a larger learning curve involved to get the most out of it. The tutorial videos are rarely considered to be optional for most users.

Of course, the benefit of this is that the software is more feature-rich than some of its competitors, and this is helped further by the excellent customer support on offer, something I’ll talk about later on in this review. As long as you’re aware there’s some learning involved to use the tool to the best of its ability, then it’s still going to be a good choice to consider. Just don’t expect to understand everything on day one.

Workzone Price

I’ve briefly mentioned the price of Workzone, but let’s dive down into it a bit further. We’re looking at a pricing structure that appears to be straightforward, with three core tiers–Team, Professional, and Enterprise. These go up in price accordingly and naturally offer enhanced resources and features the more you’re willing to pay each month. Nice and simple, right? Well, not quite.

There can be some confusion over the exact price here per month. Each tier is based upon a cost per user per month. So companies won’t be looking at these prices pictured alone. For instance, a team of one to four users actually starts at $200 per month. Workzone then goes on to further clarify, in fine print, that for a team level, the minimum price is $40 per user, per month, for five users. I think this adds some unnecessary complication to what could otherwise be a straightforward offer. It also means that you pay for a set price regardless of the number of users in that range.

This is to cover costs, and that’s understandable. It does reward small teams with advanced features they wouldn’t find in free project management software. Nevertheless, this could certainly be more transparent for customers.

What’s more, depending on the number of users your company has, it’s fair to say that things can very quickly add up with Workzone. If you have a large team, there’s a good chance you have more resources and can therefore afford more, but this won’t always be true. So be sure to keep in mind the total price here.

Workzone Security

Companies of all sizes want to know their data is safe and secure from cyber attacks, now more than ever in an increasingly remote working environment. They’ll be pleased to know that Workzone offers 256-bit SSL encryption, or in layman terms, substantial security. A hacker would find it nearly impossible to break into security this high, even on the fastest and most powerful supercomputers. Nothing is ever 100% secure, but you can rest pretty easy here, for now at least.

That aside, there are optional settings for the security within Workzone that add some flexibility to things. For instance, a user can restrict access by folder, document, or project to others and choose which users can access it. Unauthorized users won’t even be able to see this information in the first place. Additionally, Workzone backs up its servers every hour, which is great for added peace of mind.

Workzone also uses a firewall to block outside access to its server, making it difficult for email viruses to get through its network. The servers themselves are monitored for possible network attacks on a 24/7 basis. Long-term users have been more than impressed with the service’s stability overall, noting a lack of downtime and serious problems. When it comes to all-important security for your company then, Workzone is unlikely to disappoint.

Workzone Document Sharing

Workzone features document sharing across its entire platform. Users can share files securely with other team members and have the option to give appropriate information as required. Users can also send email alerts of updated files, approvals, and comments. These email alerts can be sent when there’s something new to look at, anything from comments, events tasks, and more. A link handily takes the user directly to the item within the Workzone platform.

It’s possible to drag and drop files on your desktop right into Workzone—one of those small features that’s nice to see. It’s worth mentioning that managers who interact with clients can set folder or document permissions, too, allowing individuals to only see the correct info at the right time. This can be critical to businesses who need to manage clients but don’t want them to see how things work behind the scenes.

Every document has a specific comment area where users can discuss changes that are needed. They can also record meeting notes and things like the next steps on a project. Impressively, throughout these updates, the entire team stays informed, including a time-stamped record of all of the most relevant discussions. While all of this might seem like basic functionality, it’s something that a piece of project management software needs to offer, and I’m pleased to see Workzone provide it.

Workzone Personalization

When you’re working on a platform for a long time, it’s important that you’re able to customize it how you wish, not just for individual comfort but also organizational matters. In other words, to stay on top of things.

Workzone provides the ability to customize your dashboard with logos and different colors. You’ll also be able to create a private portal or extranet for each client to make sure you can take care of them. Setting up workspaces for each client is available too, and you can change their custom branding, adding to a sense of overall professionalism.

Granted, none of this is groundbreaking stuff, yet it’s the sort of thing I like to see offered to businesses as it helps to justify what can be a steep introductory price. Not only are these personalization features good in terms of teamwork and structure, but they’re also a healthy way of boosting productivity. Most of Workzone’s competitors offer a similar customization level, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a welcome addition to the package.

Workzone Customer Support

Workzone’s customer support is perhaps a high point for the software. I mentioned earlier that it could be hard to get over that initial learning curve, but it’s fair to say that Workzone does its best to help you. Not only is the customer support friendly and welcoming, but it’s also very good at answering questions and helping users that get stuck along the way. This in some ways helps to mitigate the overall trouble of having long-term success on the platform.

It’s important to mention that this support isn’t limited either—it’s produced with a quick turnaround time, and it’s always provided by a human being, not a robot that lacks that personal touch. In fact, users have rated the customer service close to perfect across the board. What helps here is that Workzone knows what it’s talking about—it has been helping teams since 2002 with the lessons it has learned along the way.

The support itself is offered to customers in two primary forms: phone and email.

The customer support also includes dedicated and complete training at different levels. For example, system admins are trained to use advanced features, while basic training is available for other users who need to feel comfortable navigating their way around.

You’ll be meeting your customer support every quarter with a dedicated Customer Success Manager that will help to keep things moving smoothly. It’s here you can also ask further questions or queries, with the Success Manager keeping track of each team, what stage they’ve reached, and thinking about where they might need to provide you with some extra assistance.

It’s this responsive, professional approach coupled with a strong knowledge of project management that lends Workzone this well-earned reputation.

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Summary

Workzone might not be the very best project management software, and we’d be tempted to recommend alternatives such as Zoho Projects over it. That said, don’t get the wrong impression. A lot of this does also come down to what exactly you’re looking for, and I think in the areas of customer support, a secure and stable service, and its relative ease of use with expert training to back it up, Workzone would be a respectable choice in the right scenario.

As long as you keep the somewhat confusing price in mind and don’t expect the most up-to-date and eye-catching offering that competitors provide, this is a simple, honest, and reliable piece of software that will allow you to accomplish almost everything you need.