Chris’ Corner: Galleries, Grids, and GreenPrimaryDark6

Footer.design is a pretty fun gallery site, itself, of course, with a pretty weird/bold footer. I’ve designed my fair share of footers over the years and it’s certainly an area where you just wanna look at like 50 footers before you start in. See what other people are doing. Can you be clever? Should you be clever? What kind of opportunities do you have down there?

I gotta admit I’m a bit torn, though. I love whimsey and weirdness and the footer seems like a fine place for that kind of action, the Ficitive Kin guide I linked to a few weeks ago douses some cold water on that.

The Nav and Footer are two places where best practices rule the day and innovation should be limited.

A visitor doesn’t want to be impressed by your unique navigation design. They want to understand what your company does and they want to get to where they are trying to go.

I do get that perspective too. I suppose it always comes down to what kind of site it is. Some designer’s portfolio website is a lot different than a website for a government agency.


This past weeks’ CodePen Challenge that Marie put together was all about this sorta weird design trend people call Bento Box Design. Like so many design trends, it may have come from Apple who loves this sort of look for presenting dense information in an easily digestible way:

One of the resources she linked up is a design gallery site called bentogrids which has a ton of examples of the style.

I gotta admit I think the style is kind of charming and fun and I’m attracted to it. But I’m sure if I see it three more times I’m gonna be like ok moving on.

And speaking of niche and actually kinda strange design galleries, I find Pattern Club to be… that. It’s kinda like not really patterns, but also not not patterns. Anyway, I like it because it’s not the regular sort of design work I see.


OK well now I’m on a kick of sharing websites that are in the general vicinity of design galleries so I can’t stop now. Bramus Van Damme has been blogging about and following the idea of Scroll-Driven Animations for ages now, and I’m pleased to see he’s now built a website that bundles it all together. And with a cool domain name with dashes in it, which means I love it: scroll-driven-animations.style

I like that there are tons of demos, and they all feel rather practical. They aren’t hyper-specific landing pages or anything, they are more like patterns you could see yourself using one day. Although, of course, I love the extra fancy stuff too.


Are you ever like, you know what I need? A weird pseudo-rectangular blobbo mess. As SVG, please. That’s what this thing does.


Everybody loves a good fresh color palette, right? There are tons of sites for this. They wanna spit at you 5 colors and let your brain ooze with joy. Like Coolors, for example.

LOOK AT ALL THE PRETTY COLORS.

But can you actually make them work? What are you supposed to do with those 5 colors? I’ve always gotten a little lost there. I feel like what you really need is a set of neutral-ish colors that end up being most of your color options. Then a few colors for branding and pop. Probably a bunch of variations.

I dig the site Realtime Colors because of how it maps the colors you’re picking onto a fairly practical-looking website. Plus, then you can share the website with those colors chosen.

Good idea, right?

Cloud Computing and Wearable Devices: A Powerful Combination

Wearable technology has become increasingly prevalent in today's tech-savvy world, seamlessly integrating into our daily lives. These devices, such as smartwatches, fitness trackers, and augmented reality glasses, have evolved beyond simple fitness monitoring and notifications. A crucial component in enhancing the capabilities of wearable devices is cloud computing. By connecting wearable devices to the cloud, users can unlock a multitude of functionalities and benefits.

The Wearable Revolution

The wearable technology market has experienced remarkable growth over the past decade. Wearables are no longer limited to counting steps or monitoring heart rates. They now encompass a wide range of applications, from health and fitness to augmented reality and virtual reality. Smartwatches can measure your sleep patterns, fitness trackers can monitor your heart health, and augmented reality glasses can overlay digital information onto the real world. These devices have evolved to become powerful tools, enhancing our daily lives.

The Four Steps of Regression Testing

This article provides a structured approach to create and update a regression test suite. What kinds of tests should be in a regression test suite? Which regression tests should be run, how do you respond to regression tests that fail, and how does a regression test suite evolve? These questions and other considerations are explored in a step-by-step manner. I will first explore the basic dynamics and considerations of regression testing. Then I will provide a set of steps that can help bring long-term software stability from regression testing.

Nuts and Bolts of Regression Testing

Let's assume that we did a couple of changes in our software code, any kind of changes. How can we be confident that these changes will not negatively affect our code overall? One way to achieve confidence is to perform thorough regression testing. Write and execute tests to check and explore how our code behaves after our changes. So, the more tests we write and execute, the more confident we will be? Yes, but there are practical costs to be considered as well — the time, effort, and money required to write, execute, and maintain a regression test suite.

Feedback Loops: The Secret Ingredient for Efficient Platform Engineering Teams

Many organizations that successfully launch and enable a platform engineering team to allow the rest of the engineering teams and developers with applications, infrastructure, tools, and services see challenges over time and eventually fail due to gaps in collaboration and communication with internal and external consumers. Let’s dive deep into the gaps between application and platform teams in enterprise and large-scale organizations. One of the primary reasons is the need for a proper feedback loop to engage often with consumers. Lack of constant engagement with application engineering teams creates alignment gaps and trust. Feedback loops play a role in platform engineering for the following reasons.

Benefits of Feedback Loop in Platform Engineering

  • Continuous Improvement: Feedback loops allow platform engineers to gather insights and suggestions from users, developers, and other stakeholders. This valuable information helps identify areas that require enhancement and guides the development of features or improvements. Over time, this iterative process leads to a more efficient, reliable, and user-friendly platform.
  • User-Centric Design: Platforms exist to serve users; feedback loops are necessary to understand their evolving needs. Regular feedback from users assists platform engineers in tailoring their work to meet these requirements. As a result, the platform becomes more user-centric. They are aligned with the organization’s goals.
  • Issue Resolution: Feedback loops provide an avenue for identifying and addressing issues. When users encounter problems or bugs, they can report them promptly. Platform engineers can respond swiftly, minimizing disruptions and ensuring a user experience.
  • Innovation: Through feedback loops, platform engineers gain insights into emerging technologies, trends, and user expectations. This information has the potential to spark ideas and uncover opportunities for incorporating features, technologies, or services that can enhance the platform’s competitiveness and value.
  • Enhancing Efficiency and Streamlining: Feedback loops can provide insights into areas of the platform that require optimization or streamlining. For instance, if users consistently report performance issues or bottlenecks, platform engineers can prioritize these areas for improvement to enhance efficiency.
  • Alignment with Business Objectives: Feedback loops ensure the platform aligns with business goals. They enable platform engineers to assess whether the platform contributes to the company’s success and adjust if needed.
  • Data-Driven Decision Making: Feedback loops serve as a data source for decision-making. By collecting and analyzing feedback, platform engineers can make informed choices about which improvements or changes should take priority.
  • Risk Mitigation: Regular feedback helps identify security vulnerabilities, compliance issues, or other risks. This proactive approach allows for mitigation of problems and enhances the stability and reliability of the platform.
  • User Satisfaction: Ultimately, the success of a platform is measured by how satisfied its users are. Feedback loops play a role in platform engineering by providing insights into user satisfaction. These insights guide efforts to improve the user experience and maintain a user base.
  • Agile Development: Within development practices, feedback loops serve as an element. They enable platform engineers to improve based on changing requirements and user feedback.

Impact of Missing Feedback Loop on Platform Engineering

  • Stagnation: When platform engineers don’t receive feedback, they might continue working based on assumptions or outdated practices. This can cause a lack of progress in the platform development, resulting in missed opportunities for improvement and innovation.
  • Misalignment: The platform can only align with the changing needs of users and the organization if there is feedback. This misalignment can lead to wasted resources since the platform may need to support the intended applications or services effectively.
  • Quality Issues: With feedback, platform engineers may be aware of any issues or bugs in the system. This lack of awareness can result in quality problems such as reliability issues, security vulnerabilities, and performance bottlenecks.
  • Wasted Resources: Without feedback, platform engineers may invest time and effort into features or components that aren’t valuable or necessary. This waste of resources can detract from focusing on what matters to users and the business.
  • Decreased User Satisfaction: When there is no user feedback, it’s possible that the platform won’t meet user expectations. Consequently, user satisfaction could decrease. Dissatisfied users may seek solutions or workarounds, diminishing the platform’s value.

Impact of Missing Feedback Loop on Application Engineering

  • Inadequate Capabilities: Application engineering teams heavily rely on the platform to offer services and functionalities. However, without feedback loops, the platform might need more features or performance levels required by applications, limiting their functionality and potential.
  • Inefficiency Concerns: Application engineers may need help working around limitations or deficiencies of the platform. This may result in inefficiencies and longer development timelines, leading to project delays and increased development costs.
  • Reliability Challenges: When continuous improvement and optimization are lacking for the platform, applications can face reliability issues. This can cause downtime service interruptions. Negatively impact the user experience.
  • Frustration Levels: The limitations or unresponsiveness of the platform to the application engineering team’s needs can lead to frustration. Consequently, it strains the relationship between both teams. Reduces productivity.
  • Missed Opportunities: Without feedback mechanisms, application engineering teams may need to be aware of enhancements or features that could boost their applications. As a result, they take advantage of opportunities to create competitive products.

Conclusion

But, when platform engineering lacks feedback loops, it can lead to a misaligned platform. This means the platform will need help to keep up with the changing needs of application engineering teams and users. Consequently, this can result in inefficiency, quality problems, lower user satisfaction, and missed opportunities for both platform and application engineering teams. Establishing feedback loops is essential to encourage collaboration, continuous improvement, and the overall success of both teams and the organization. Feedback loops are vital in platform engineering for creating and sustaining platforms prioritizing user needs. They empower platform engineers to adapt and innovate, ensuring the platform aligns with business objectives and user expectations. These loops are a part of iterative development practices that contribute to the success of the platform and the organization it serves.

Understanding PDF Standards: What Developers Should Know

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a universal document-sharing and collaboration medium. From e-books to legal documents, PDFs are widely used in various business, educational, and governmental sectors.

The acronym "PDF" encompasses several distinct standards, each designed for specific requirements and use cases. Besides the standard and familiar PDF, these standards include PDF/A, PDF/E, PDF/X, PDF/UA, and PDF/VT.

How to Duplicate WordPress Database Using phpMyAdmin

Are you wondering how to duplicate your WordPress database using phpMyAdmin?

Whether you are looking to set up a web development environment or transfer your site to a new host, you will need to learn how to duplicate your WordPress database. If you are a beginner, the easiest way to do this is with phpMyAdmin, which is a web application for managing databases.

In this guide, we will walk you through the step-by-step process of duplicating your WordPress database using phpMyAdmin.

How to Duplicate WordPress Database Using phpMyAdmin

Expert Tip: Looking for an easy way to duplicate your entire website, including its database, plugins, themes, content, and files? Just check out our guide on how to clone a WordPress site with the Duplicator plugin.

Why Should You Use phpMyAdmin to Duplicate WordPress Database?

phpMyAdmin is a web application that helps website owners manage their databases.

Essentially, WordPress stores all your website content in a database. If you use a WordPress hosting service, then your data is most likely stored and organized in a MySQL database.

The thing is, to interact with MySQL, you will typically need to be familiar with command-line tools, which can be difficult if you are a beginner.

This is where phpMyAdmin comes in. It has a user-friendly interface that lets you do various database-related tasks without having to write complex commands, such as duplicating your WordPress database. Other than that, you can use it to:

With that in mind, let’s take a look at how to duplicate a WordPress database using phpMyAdmin. We will cover different methods, and you can use the links below to quickly jump to each one:

Method 1: Cloning Your WordPress Database With phpMyAdmin

This method is suitable if you want to manually create a backup or set up a staging environment for testing updates and changes.

First, you need to open your WordPress hosting control panel. In our tutorial, we are working with Bluehost, which uses cPanel for its hosting account management. Your control panel may look slightly different from our screenshots, but the steps will be similar.

Once you are logged in to cPanel, simply find the phpMyAdmin icon. It’s usually inside the ‘Databases’ section.

Selecting phpMyAdmin on cPanel

Now, you are inside your web hosting’s phpMyAdmin. Here, just click the ‘Databases’ tab at the top and select your WordPress database from the list of databases.

If you are not sure what your database name is, it’s the name you input when you first installed WordPress. You can also find it in your wp-config.php file if you forget.

Selecting a database on phpMyAdmin

Next, you will see a list of your WordPress database tables.

On this page, just click on the ‘Operations’ tab from the top menu.

Selecting the Operations tab on phpMyAdmin

This is where you will duplicate your database. Go ahead and scroll down to a section called ‘Copy database to.’

In the empty field, simply write the new database name. Then, make sure the ‘Structure and data’ box is checked. This option will copy both the structure and data of the database.

Additionally, the ‘CREATE DATABASE before copying’ option should be ticked. This will automatically create a new database where the duplicated data will be located.

The rest of the settings can be left as is. All you need to do next is click ‘Go’ at the bottom.

The 'Copy database to' section on phpMyAdmin

And that’s it! Your database has been successfully cloned.

After this, you can navigate to your newly duplicated database from the left panel.

Navigating to a newly duplicated database on phpMyAdmin

Method 2: Exporting and Importing WordPress Database With phpMyAdmin

This second method is best if your hosting company does not allow users to create databases directly from phpMyAdmin. This may be the case if you are using shared hosting services where certain privileges are restricted for security reasons.

In this situation, you may not be able to see the ‘Copy database to’ section in the ‘Operations’ tab. To duplicate your database, you can use the export method instead.

Essentially, you will export your database SQL file, set up a new database, and then import that database into the new setup.

The first step is to visit phpMyAdmin and select your WordPress database like we did in the previous method. Then, in the top menu, simply click the ‘Export’ button.

Here, you need to select ‘Custom – display all possible options’ in the ‘Export method’ section.

Opening the 'Export' tab on phpMyAdmin and selecting the Custom option

Once done, just scroll to the Output section and choose the ‘Save output to a file’ option. This will make sure that your database is exported as an SQL file.

For the rest of the settings, you can leave them as they are.

Configuring the phpMyAdmin Export Output settings

Now, all you have to do is scroll down to the bottom and click ‘Export.’

Your browser will now download the WordPress database as an .sql file.

Clicking the Export button on phpMyAdmin

Next, you need to create a new database where you can import this file to.

Go ahead and open your hosting control panel and click on ‘MySQL Databases.’

Opening the MySQL Databases page on cPanel

On this page, you need to fill out your new database name. In our example, we used _copy after the original database name to differentiate the old name from the newly duplicated one.

After that, just click the ‘Create Database’ button.

Creating a new MySQL Database on cPanel

Now that we’ve created a new database, let’s assign it to a MySQL user.

Go ahead and scroll down the ‘Add User to Database’ section and select a MySQL username from the dropdown menu. Make sure to choose the new database you’ve just created in the ‘Database’ field.

Once done, click ‘Add.’

Adding a new user to the MySQL Database on cPanel

You will now be redirected to the ‘Manage User Privileges’ page.

Simply check the ‘ALL PRIVILEGES’ option if you want to have total control over your database.

Checking the All Privileges option when adding a new MySQL user on cPanel

Then, go all the way down to the bottom of the page and click ‘Make Changes.’

Your newly created database is now ready.

Clicking the 'Make Changes' button to set the privileges of a new MySQL user on phpMyAdmin

Let’s go ahead and open phpMyAdmin again and select the database you just created in cPanel.

Once inside, you’ll see that the database is empty without tables like this:

No tables found in database message on phpMyAdmin

To continue, simply go to the ‘Import’ page from the top menu.

Here, click on the ‘Choose File’ button to select the .sql file you downloaded earlier.

Choosing an SQL file to import in phpMyAdmin

Once finished, scroll down to the bottom and click the ‘Import’ button.

phpMyAdmin will now upload the file from your computer and import your database.

Clicking the Import button on phpMyAdmin

And that’s all! You have successfully imported your duplicated database.

Bonus: Optimize Your WordPress Database for Better Performance

Managing the behind-the-scenes part of your WordPress website is just as important as how it looks on the outside. How you handle your database affects how fast your site loads, how secure it is, and how easily people can use it.

If your database is cluttered with unnecessary data, it can slow down your site and make it vulnerable to security risks. Regularly optimizing your database can prevent this from happening and make your website more reliable.

For more information about database management, you can see our beginner’s guide on managing a WordPress database with phpMyAdmin and our article on how to optimize your WordPress database with one click.

We hope this article has helped you learn how to duplicate a WordPress database using phpMyAdmin. You may also want to see our expert pick of the best WordPress database management plugins and our tutorial on how to fix the establishing a database connection error in WordPress.

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 Duplicate WordPress Database Using phpMyAdmin first appeared on WPBeginner.

What Is Mobile Device Testing? A Complete Tutorial

Mobilе dеvicе tеsting is a quality assurancе procеss that ensurе mobilе dеvicеs, likе smartphonеs, tablеts, and wеarablеs, works as expected. This process tеsts thе dеvicе's functionality, pеrformancе, usability, and sеcurity to еnsurе that it mееts spеcific rеquirеmеnts and standards.

In today's world, wе'rе morе connеctеd than еvеr bеforе. And mobilе dеvicеs arе at thе cеntеr of it all. From smartphonеs and tablеts to smartwatchеs and fitnеss trackеrs, thеsе dеvicеs arе not only powerful tools for communication but also connеct us to the digital world.

REST API Microservice AI Design and Spreadsheet Rules

Let's use ChatGPT to build a REST API Microservice for a budgeting application. This needs to support multi-tenant security and include actual spending matched against budget categories.  Of course, a Google sheet or Excel would be the simple answer. However, I wanted a multi-user cloud solution and to use the new open-source REST API microservice platform API Logic Server (ALS). Our microservice needs an SQL database, an ORM, a server, REST API, react-admin UI, and a docker container.  

AI Design of the Data Model

I started by asking ChatGPT 3.5 to generate a budget application data model. 

The Future of Data Science Is No-Code: Here’s Why

Data science projects can be complex, and the complexity only increases when it comes to operationalizing the results. It is no easy task to maintain and manage a large codebase with millions of lines of code for data science or machine learning projects. No-code/low-code data science solutions, on the other hand, solve this problem by providing a simplified approach to building and deploying data science projects.

No Code/Low Code Solutions Are Democratizing Data Science

No-code data science functionalities are democratizing data science by making it more accessible to non-technical users. By providing a GUI, these platforms make it possible for anyone to build and deploy machine learning models, regardless of their coding skills. These solutions simplify the process and allow users to generate workflows and models using natural language descriptions.

Exploring IBM App Connect Enterprise 12.0.10.0

We'll explore seven of the features released in IBM App Connect Enterprise 12.0.10.0 and provide a high-level overview of each; 

  1. Toolkit:
    • Simple JSON Mapping within the Discovery Connector Request nodes.
    • New button to open workspace file system location.
  2. WebUI:
    • New Record and Replay views with Hex and Base64 encoding.
    • Resource Manager views.
  3. New Change Data Capture node for integrating with PostgreSQL and DB2.
  4. Built-in ODBC driver for integration with PostgreSQL databases.
  5. Importing and exporting credentials using the mqsivault command.
  6. Configuring an Integration Server's JRE - Java 11 changes.
  7. Open Telemetry platform support extended to include AIX and pLinux.

Toolkit

Simple JSON Mapping Within the Discovery Connector Request Nodes

For the last few mod releases of App Connect Enterprise, we have rapidly expanded the number of available Discovery Connector message flow nodes - both input nodes to trigger a message flow and also mid-flow request nodes. In total, the Toolkit now provides 86 such nodes.
To further improve the usability for developers wanting to integrate with application endpoints, we have also provided an easy way to map between data structures. App Connect Enterprise 12.0.10.0 introduces the concept of executing mapping logic as part of a Discovery Connector node. This is done using the JSONata expression language capabilities which were first made available as part of the web browser-based Designer authoring experience. For more information about JSONata, which itself is an open-source technology, check out the website here, which also includes a JSONata exerciser.

To demonstrate this new Toolkit message flow capability, consider a simple scenario of triggering a flow when a GitHub issue is created and then writing a message to a Slack channel. Previously, a scenario like this one would have required an intervening message flow node such as a Compute node, JavaCompute node, or Graphical Data Map node between the GitHub Input and the Slack Request nodes, but now we can wire the nodes together directly, and apply the mapping task as part of the Slack Request node:

Building LangChain Applications With Amazon Bedrock and Go: An Introduction

One of our earlier blog posts discussed the initial steps for diving into Amazon Bedrock by leveraging the AWS Go SDK. Subsequently, our second blog post expanded upon this foundation, showcasing a Serverless Go application designed for image generation with Amazon Bedrock and AWS Lambda ("Generative AI Apps With Amazon Bedrock: Getting Started for Go Developers").

Amazon Bedrock is a fully managed service that makes base models from Amazon and third-party model providers (such as Anthropic, Cohere, and more) accessible through an API. The applications demonstrated in those blog posts accessed Amazon Bedrock APIs directly, thereby avoiding any additional layers of abstraction or frameworks/libraries. This approach is particularly effective for learning and crafting straightforward solutions.

API-First Approach

Application programming interfaces (APIs) have evolved over the past two decades, moving from simple intermediaries allowing data sharing between systems to the backbone of modern software and business operations. The recent shift towards an API-first approach emphasizes treating APIs as standalone products, positioning them at the forefront of development. In today's digital landscape, developers and even non-technical employees find value in being able to access data across platforms, signifying that every business operates similarly to a software-centric entity. 

In this post, we will explore why prioritizing APIs has emerged as a dominant trend in software development.

7 Common Mistakes in a Multi-Cloud Journey

Your executive leadership launched a ‘Cloud First’ strategy with much fanfare a few months ago. At first, it was simple and seemed inexpensive to move workloads to your primary cloud service provider. But now, you feel the cloud provider is taking you for granted — you’ve lost all price negotiation power, and SLAs and response levels are not what they used to be. To make matters worse, your new cloud service bill seems to be out of control.

You are confronted with what is known as the “Cloud Paradox” — the very benefits that made the move to the cloud as a compelling strategy are now causing costs to spiral, stifling innovation, and making it near impossible to repatriate workload from the cloud.