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How To Choose the Perfect Localization Platform for Your Project

It used to be that when an IT company needed something translated, they had to send the translator an Excel file to work with — not exactly convenient. Later, translators began working with CAT (computer-assisted translation) tools, such as Trados or MemoQ, which was a big step forward. To this day, CAT tools remain an ideal option for long-term projects that require a custom setup, but they are still too ponderous and inflexible for Agile projects.

And then LMS/TMS (Localization Management System/Translation Management System) tools appeared on the scene. Unlike desktop-only CAT tools, these localization platforms do all their work in the cloud and are extremely flexible. The advantages this presents for both the client and the localization agency are self-evident.

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The text-shadow CSS Property

This article was originally posted at https://medium.com/@christinatruong/the-text-shadow-css-property-d1064bb1b27d and was kindly shared by Christina Truong. Check out more of her work at https://christinatruong.com.

When adding CSS styles to text on an HTML page, it’s usually best to keep it subtle, to make sure that the content on your page is easy to read. But sometimes you may want to make a small block of text stand out a little more than the rest. In this post, I’ll go over how to use the text-shadow CSS property to add a drop shadow to your text.

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Prefer to watch a video? This article is a companion piece to my Decoded by Christina series on YouTube.

There are some basic ways to make your text stand out. You can make it bold, change the color, or use different font-sizes.

Another option is to use the text-shadow property to add a drop shadow. There are four values used with this property. Two are required, the offset-x and offset-y, and two are optional, the blur-radius and color value.

/* offset-x | offset-y | blur-radius | color */
text-shadow: 2px 2px 4px green;

Let’s go over how to define each value.

offset-x and offset-y

The offset-x value determines how far away, from the element, the shadow will appear on the x-axis, which runs left to right. The second value, the offset-y, determines the distance of the shadow on the y-axis, which runs top to bottom.

text-shadow

These values can be defined with any length data type, which is a number followed by any unit used to represent a distance value (e.g. px, em, rem or a percentage). Also, when using a property with multiple values, each has to be separated by a space.

/* offset-x | offset-y */
text-shadow: 2px 2px;

Since both the offset-x and offset-y values are required, if you add only value, you won’t see any change. But if you only want a shadow on the x-axis, then set the offset-y value to 0 or vice versa.

text-shadow: 2px 0px; /* will only show the shadow on the x-axis */
text-shadow: 0px 2px; /* will only show the shadow on the y-axis */

I used to always get the direction of the x- and y-axis mixed up until I saw an example using Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable” lyrics as a reminder. In the song, she sings to her ex, “to the left to the left, everything you own in the box to the left.” So, ex (or x) to the left!

blur-radius and color

If you only define the offset-x and offset-y values, the shadow will look exactly like a copy of the text.

To create a softer shadow effect, add a third value, the blur-radius. This will blur the edges of the shadow. Any length data type can be used here as well. The larger the value, the bigger and more transparent the blur effect.

The last value is used to change the shadow from the default black colour to any other colour by adding a color value (e.g. keyword, hex code).

CSS text-shadow

Putting it all together

Most of the time, text-shadow effects are used add a subtle drop shadow and not quite like the example below. But for demonstration and testing, using values that create a more prominent style will make it easier to see what each value does.

See the Pen
text-shadow example by Christina Truong (@christinatruong)
on CodePen.light

To make a text-shadow effect a little more subtle, I generally use a dark gray color or something that matches to the background colour, rather than pure black. This will create a softer shadow. (Note that the hex values in the example is using the shorthand notation.)

For the other values, I find that 1–3px is usually enough to give you just a bit of a shadow effect without overwhelming the text. Though there are always exceptions to the rule so I would suggest playing around with different values to get the effect you’re looking for. But in a nutshell, this is how you add a drop shadow to your text.

And that’s it!

 

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Understanding the Significance of Observables in JavaScript Programming

 One of the most powerful and popular JavaScript libraries that specializes in event processing is the Reactive Extensions for JavaScript library, or simply RxJS. RxJS uses the Gang of Four (GoF) design pattern named the Observable pattern as the basis for registering interest in an event, as well as doing something when an event has been triggered. 


This article is an excerpt from my book, Mastering TypeScript, 4th Edition  – A comprehensive guide to understanding TypeScript language and its latest features. In this article, you will explore Observables in the RxJS library. You can download the codes in this article here.

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3 Quick Ways to Export Office 365 Mailbox to PST Effortlessly

A user working in an organization will send and receive a large number of emails during the day. These emails include the most important information that must be extracted for formal purposes. As a result, it should be stored in a personal folder that allows for simple access to the data in the event of a poor internet connection or slow server connectivity. As a result, it is critical to export mailboxes from Office 365 to PST files so that the data can be used as a backup in the event of a future problem. You can do it either manually or automatically.          

Nowadays, Office 365 expands itself in every business organization via its various plans for every type of requirement. For all the business types either, large or small. Microsoft Office 365 has plans for each business requirement. Microsoft Office 365 provides the plan structure as Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Premium, and also provides Microsoft 365 Apps.  

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Where To Use C/C++ Languages and Why?

From complex databases to self-driving cars, the usage area of C and C++ languages is surprisingly wide. Even today, with a myriad of new and robust programming tools, the two coding languages from the 1970s cannot be replaced. So what are the common applications of C and C++ today and why do we still use them? Let’s find out in this article.

When are the C and C++language used? 

1. Operating Systems

Since C language was originally designed for system-level programming, it’s no surprise that it’s commonly used to build operating systems and firmware.  

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What Is Map() Method in Javascript?

JavaScript methods are actions that can be performed on objects. So here is my new blog post I will cover the two JavaScript methods map() and filter(). Will explain easily and in detail.

Map()

The map() method is used to apply a function on every element in an array and then return a new array. Let's take a look at the syntax:

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Pros and Cons of Cloud Backup and Recovery

Cloud backup and recovery help businesses prevent data loss and downtime. For SMBs, downtime costs an average of $8000. It costs more for medium-sized and larger organizations. With the threat of ransomware roaming about, cloud backups can’t be an afterthought anymore.

Data protection used to be farther down the priority and budget-allocation list. Today, organizations cannot afford to risk downtime, data loss, and data breaches. Cloud backup and recovery is a popular means of data protection. In this blog, we’ll take a closer look at the advantages and disadvantages of cloud backups.   

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Clean Up Your Outbox Tables With Programmatic TTL

For those familiar with the Outbox Pattern, CockroachDB provides some unique capabilities for handling these types of architectural patterns. One common method is to use Changefeeds in CockroachDB to send an acknowledgment message back to the originating service that the database transaction was committed. Changefeeds are great in this scenario in that they can be emitted on a record mutation on the table (except Import), connect to a message bus like Kafka, and emit the payload in a mildly low latent (~100ms) fashion. However, one circumstance of this pattern is having historical records build up in the Outbox table. Fortunately, we have a rather nifty solution that can clean up these Outbox tables.

So the goal in this post is to show how you can programmatically remove records from an Outbox table that have been flushed to its sink (i.e Kafka). The idea here is to create a clean-up job that removes records where the MVCC timestamp of an Outbox record is adequately past the high watermark of a Changefeed.

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How to Easily Optimize WordPress CSS Delivery (2 Methods)

Would you like to optimize your WordPress CSS delivery?

CSS files control the visual formatting and style of your WordPress website. But if your CSS code isn’t delivered in an optimal way, then it could be slowing down your website.

In this article, we’ll show you two easy methods to optimize your WordPress CSS delivery.

How to Easily Optimize CSS Delivery in WordPress

How WordPress CSS Delivery Affects WordPress Performance

CSS files are used to define the visual appearance of your WordPress site. Your WordPress theme contains a CSS stylesheet file, and some of your plugins may also use CSS stylesheets.

CSS is necessary for modern websites, but it’s possible for CSS files to slow down your site’s speed and performance depending on how they’re set up.

Even a small delay in site speed creates a bad user experience and may affect your search rankings and conversions, resulting in less traffic and sales.

StrangeLoop study

One way that CSS files can slow your website is if they need to be loaded before the page can be displayed. That means your visitors will see a blank page until the CSS file has loaded. This is known as render-blocking CSS.

Another common reason CSS files can slow your website is when they contain more code than is needed to display the visible part of the current page. That extra code means that they will take longer to load.

The good news is, you can improve your WordPress site’s performance by optimizing the way the CSS code is delivered.

That’s done by identifying the minimum CSS code needed to display the first part of the current web page. This is known as critical CSS.

This critical code is then added inline to the page’s HTML, instead of in separate stylesheets, so that the code can be rendered without needing to load the CSS file first.

The rest of the CSS can then be loaded after your visitors can see the contents of the page. This is known as ‘deferred loading’.

In this tutorial, we’ll show you two methods to optimize WordPress CSS delivery, and you can choose the one that works best for you.

Method 1: Optimizing WordPress CSS Delivery with WP Rocket

WP Rocket is the best WordPress caching plugin in the market. It offers the simplest way to optimize your WordPress CSS delivery. In fact, it’s as easy as checking a box.

WP Rocket is a premium plugin, but the best part is that all features are included in their lowest plan.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the WP Rocket plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Once activated, you need to navigate to the Settings » WP Rocket page and switch to the ‘File Optimization’ tab.

Switch to the File Optimization Tab

Next, you need to scroll down to the CSS files section. Once there, you need to check the box next to the ‘Optimize CSS delivery’ option.

Check Optimize CSS Delivery

This feature will intelligently identify the critical CSS needed to format the part of the web page your visitors see first. Your pages will load more quickly, and the rest of the CSS will be loaded after your visitors can see its contents.

All you need to do now is click the Save Changes button and wait for WP Rocket to generate the necessary CSS file for all your posts and pages.

It will also automatically clear the cache for your website, so that your visitors will see the new optimized version of your site instead of the any unoptimized versions stored in cache.

There are plenty of other ways that WP Rocket can help you improve your website’s performance. To learn more, see our guide on how to properly install and setup WP Rocket in WordPress.

Method 2: Optimizing WordPress CSS Delivery with Autoptimize

Autoptimize is a free plugin designed to improve the delivery of your website’s CSS and JS files.

While Autoptimize is a free plugin, it doesn’t have as many features as WP Rocket and takes more time to set up.

For example, it’s not able to automatically identify critical CSS like WP Rocket can. Instead, Autoptimize requires the help of a premium third-party service which is an additional cost and requires extra time to configure.

However, it could be a good option if you’re on a tight budget and don’t need all the other features of WP Rocket to speed up your site.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the Autoptimize plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit the Settings » Autoptimize page to configure the plugin settings. Once there, you need to scroll down to the CSS Options section and check the Optimize CSS Code box at the top.

Scroll Down to CSS Options

Once you do that you need to make sure that ‘Aggregate CSS-files’ option is unchecked and then check ‘Eliminate render-blocking CSS’.

You can now click on the ‘Save Changes and Empty Cache’ button to store your settings.

But the plugin will not work properly until you sign up for a Critical CSS account. This is a premium subscription service that will provide Autoptimize the critical CSS code it needs to optimize your WordPress CSS delivery.

To do that, navigate to the Critical CSS tab in Autoptimize’s settings. Here you’ll find the information you need to sign up with Critical CSS. You can get started by clicking the sign up link in the third paragraph.

Sign Up for a Critical CSS Account

Once you’ve received your Critical CSS API key, scroll down to the API Key section so you can paste it into the ‘Your API key’ text box. After that, make sure you click the Save Changes button.

Paste Your Critical CSS API Key

Autoptimize now has all of the information it needs to add the critical CSS inline and defer loading the stylesheets until after the page has been rendered. As a result, your website will load more quickly.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to optimize WordPress CSS delivery.

You may also want to see our ultimate guide on how much it really costs to build a WordPress website, and our comparison of the best managed WordPress hosting companies.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Easily Optimize WordPress CSS Delivery (2 Methods) appeared first on WPBeginner.

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Understanding AI Ops: Part 2

Welcome everyone to the second of my AIOps introduction. In Part 1 I talked about the challenges that exist today with digital transformation and how more and more automation is being used in software build and delivery areas.  I also talked about the fact that there is more and more pressure on IT Operations to react quickly, deal with infra, software, config, connectivity, security, multi-cloud; the list goes on and on.

Today, I am going to consider AIOps from the vantage point of the tools used for Operations Management and how they leverage AI/ML to solve common problems in the IT management domain. I have also included a link to part two of the video I highlighted in my last blog which imagines a future that AIOps could enable for IT Operations teams, allowing those teams to be true enablers of business outcomes.

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How To Effectively Perform White Box Testing

White box testing is a type of testing technique that aims to evaluate the code, design, and internal structure of a program to improve its design, usability, and security. It is one of the two parts of Box Testing methodologies included in software QA testing.

The term “white box” is used to refer to the concept of the see-through box. Simply put, the clear box or White Box symbolizes the ability to look through the outer shell of a program and into its inner layout.

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A Guide To REST API Testing Strategy

Recent studies on customer experience by Zendesk reveal that one bad customer service experience leads to 39% of customers ignoring a company for the next two years. To avoid such incidents, you should shape up your user interface (UI) interactions effectively to engage with the prospects and constantly add value to their interactions with the content on your website. It’s one of the fastest, most convenient ways to prevent massive losses and boost your profits.

Creating an excellent UI is not possible without an Application Program Interface (API) - the intermediary that bridges gaps between programs. One type of API called Representational State Transfer (REST) API can transform businesses of any size or industry by addressing the needs of both companies and consumers. Read on to learn how to use REST API to achieve new heights.