No/Low-Code Versus SDK: What’s the Right Approach?

For developers, it is truly a “buyer’s market.” With the current pace of investment in new frameworks, tool companies, and AI-based solutions, developers now have a cornucopia of affordable options to improve and accelerate their craft. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2026, “developers outside formal IT departments will account for at least 80% of the user base for low-code development tools”. 

However, despite the rapid adoption of no/low-code solutions on the market today, some developers do question the best use — or even value of — these new (or reimagined) tools. While they are not wrong to do so, the real question is not “if” the approach is viable, but “when”.  

Docker + .NET APIs: Simplifying Deployment and Scaling

Over the years Docker containers have completely changed how developers create, share, and run applications. With their flexible design, Docker containers ensure an environment, across various platforms simplifying the process of deploying applications reliably. When integrated with .NET, developers can harness Dockers capabilities to streamline the development and deployment phases of .NET applications. This article delves into the advantages of using Docker containers with .NET applications and offers a guide on getting started.

Figure courtesy of DockerFigure courtesy of Docker

Fine-Tuning Performance, Resolving Common Issues in FinTech Application With MySQL

Relational Databases are the bedrock of any FinTech application, especially for OLTP (Online transaction Processing). This foundational component in any application architecture usually poses challenges around scaling as the business expands rapidly. So, it is imperative that all database activities are monitored closely in the production environment and issues like long-running queries are tracked and resolved.

This article will explore the FinTech case study, which has built a Lending Platform. The company uses the MySQL database hosted in AWS as part of the AWS RDS service. It has multiple microservices using different database schemas hosted on the database instance. The MVP product offering was launched a few years back, and since then, they have been incorporating new features into the FinTech platform. We will cover commonly identified database issues and what was done to resolve these issues.

How Sigma Is Empowering Devs, Engineers, and Architects With Cloud-Native Analytics

For developers, engineers, and architects, turning raw data into actionable insights has long been a complex and time-consuming challenge. But Sigma Computing is on a mission to change that with its innovative cloud-native data analytics platform built on Snowflake.

"Snowflake is the first time for many enterprises they can see all the data in one place," says Mike Palmer, Sigma's CEO. "Sigma's role is to make that data consumable to all the people who might be interested in it." 

2-Page Login Pattern, And How To Fix It

Why do we see login forms split into multiple screens everywhere? Instead of typing email and password, we have to type email, move to the next page, and then type password there. This seems to be inefficient, to say the least.

Let’s see why login forms are split across screens, what problem they solve, and how to design a better experience for better authentication UX (video).

This article is part of our ongoing series on design patterns. It’s also an upcoming part of the 10h-video library on Smart Interface Design Patterns 🍣 and the upcoming live UX training as well. Use code BIRDIE to save 15% off.

The Problem With Login Forms

If there is one thing we’ve learned over the years in UX, it’s that designing for people is hard. This applies to login forms as well. People are remarkably forgetful. They often forget what email they signed up with or what service they signed in with last time (Google, Twitter, Apple, and so on)

One idea is to remind customers what they signed in with last time and perhaps make it a default option. However, it reveals directly what the user’s account was, which might be a privacy or security issue:

What if instead of showing all options to all customers all the time, we ask for email first, and then look up what service they used last time, and redirect customers to the right place automatically? Well, that’s exactly the idea behind 2-page logins.

Meet 2-Page-Logins

You might have seen them already. If a few years ago, most login forms asked for email and password on one page, these days it’s more common to ask only for email first. When the user chooses to continue, the form will ask for a password in a separate step. Brad explores some problems of this pattern.

A common reason for splitting the login form across pages is Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication. Large companies typically use SSO for corporate sign-ins of their employees. With it, employees log in only once every day and use only one set of credentials, which improves enterprise security.

The UX Intricacies of Single Sign-On (SSO)

SSO also helps with regulatory compliance, and it’s much easier to provision users with appropriate permissions and revoke them later at once. So, if an employee leaves, all their accounts and data can be deleted at once.

To support both business customers and private customers, companies use 2-step-login. Users need to type in their email first, then the validator checks what provider the email is associated with and redirects users there.

Users rarely love this experience. Sometimes, they have multiple accounts (private and business) with one service. Also, 2-step-logins often break autofill and password managers. And for most users, login/pass is way faster than 2-step-login.

Of course, typically, there are dedicated corporate login pages for employees to sign in, but they often head directly to Gmail, Figma, and so on instead and try to sign in there. However, they won’t be able to log in as they must sign in through SSO.

Bottom line: the pattern works well for SSO users, but for non-SSO users, it results in a frustrating UX.

Alternative Solution: Conditional Reveal of SSO

There is a way to work around these challenges (see the image below). We could use a single-page look-up with email and password input fields as a default. Once a user has typed in their email, we detect if the SSO authentication is enabled.

If Single Sign-On (SSO) is enabled for that email, we show a Single Sign-On option and default to it. We could also make the password field optional or disabled.

If SSO isn’t enabled for that email, we proceed with the regular email/password login. This is not much hassle, but it saves trouble for both private and business accounts.

Key Takeaways

🤔 People often forget what email they signed up with.
🤔 They also forget the auth service they signed in with.
🤔 Companies use Single Sign-On (SSO) for corporate sign-in.
🤔 Individual accounts still need email and password for login.
✅ 2-step login: ask for email, then redirect to the right service.

✅ 2-step-login replaces “social” sign-in for repeat users.
✅ It directs users rather than giving them roadblocks.
🤔 Users still keep forgetting the email they signed in with.
🤔 Sometimes, users have multiple accounts with one service.
🚫 2-step logins often break autofill and password managers.
🚫 For most users, login/pass is way faster than 2-step-login.

✅ Better: start with one single page with login and password.
✅ As users type their email, detect if SSO is enabled for them.
✅ If it is, reveal an SSO-login option and set a default to it.
✅ Otherwise, proceed with the regular password login.
✅ If users must use SSO, disable the password field — don’t hide it.

Wrapping Up

Personally, I haven’t tested the approach, but it might be a good alternative to 2-page logins — both for SSO and non-SSO users. Keep in mind, though, that SSO authentication might or might not require a password, as sometimes login happens via Yubikey or Touch-ID or third parties (e.g., OAuth).

Also, eventually, users will be locked out; it’s just a matter of time. So, do use magic links for password recovery or access recovery, but don’t mandate it as a regular login option. Switching between applications is slow and causes mistakes. Instead, nudge users to enable 2FA: it’s both usable and secure.

And most importantly, test your login flow with the tools that your customers rely on. You might be surprised how broken their experience is if they rely on password managers or security tools to log in. Good luck, everyone!

Useful Resources

Meet Smart Interface Design Patterns

If you are interested in similar insights around UX, take a look at Smart Interface Design Patterns, our 10h-video course with 100s of practical examples from real-life projects — with a live UX training later this year. Everything from mega-dropdowns to complex enterprise tables — with 5 new segments added every year. Jump to a free preview.

Meet Smart Interface Design Patterns, our video course on interface design & UX.

100 design patterns & real-life examples.
10h-video course + live UX training. Free preview.

6 Best Online Grammar Checker Tools for WordPress (2024)

We’ve been blogging for a long time, so we know how important it is to write content that is both helpful and sounds good. That’s why we frequently use grammar checker tools to help us out.

Most web browsers have a built-in spellcheck tool. However, this feature doesn’t check for grammar errors or readability.

While we personally like to use Semrush and Grammarly, we know that other bloggers may have different needs. That’s why we tested all the most popular grammar checkers for WordPress bloggers and looked for the best options for all kinds of users.

In this article, we have hand-picked the best online grammar checker tools that you can use with WordPress.

Best Online Grammar Checker Tools for WordPress

For a snapshot of our expert choices, this table can help you find the best grammar tool quickly. For more detailed examples and discussion, continue reading.

#ToolReason for ChoicePricing (Starting)
🥇GrammarlyComprehensive grammar, plagiarism, and style checking, beginner-friendly.Free / $12/month
🥈SemrushMultiple tools help with readability, grammar, and SEO optimization.Free / $119.95/month
🥉GingerFree, web-based editor with a readability focus, ideal for authors.Free / $8.99/month
4QuillBotMultiple paraphrasing modes, plagiarism checker, summarizer, and more.Free / $9.95/month
5Hemingway EditorSupports 25+ languages and detects grammar and style issues in multiple languages.Free / $19.99 (desktop app)
6Language ToolSupports 25+ languages, detects grammar and style issues in multiple languages.Free / $5.83/month

Why Add a Grammar Checker Tool for WordPress?

Even the most experienced writers make mistakes. Proofreading your own articles often leads to making small, careless errors because we tend to rush through the pre-publish checklist.

Typos and grammar mistakes in your blog posts can make your content look unprofessional. It can also make your articles hard to understand, which is bad for the user experience.

One way to overcome this issue is to read your articles out loud. Listening to your voice can help you find mistakes and improve the overall readability score of your blog posts.

To help you with grammar and spelling, you can also use a grammar checker tool. These tools can detect spelling and grammar mistakes as you type. This saves you time on proofreading while improving content across your WordPress site.

That being said, let’s take a look at the best grammar checker tools that you can use on your WordPress website.

Note: When choosing grammar checker tools for this article, we tried each of these tools in our browser and test website. This helped us explore all the features, pros, and cons to provide you with the best recommendations.

1. Grammarly

Grammarly

Grammarly is a popular online grammar checker tool that you can use as a browser addon for Google Chrome, Firefox, and even Microsoft Edge. There is also an option for using a standalone tool, too, on the Grammarly website.

The tool detects and automatically corrects grammatical, spelling, and tonal errors directly in the WordPress block editor to improve sentence clarity.

Grammarly usually displays an indicator in the bottom right corner of the writing area. Clicking on it will show you the number of spelling, grammar, and contextual errors that will be highlighted with an underline as you write.

Pros

  • The tool offers suggestions for sentence rephrasing, vocabulary suggestions, style checks, citation support, and more.
  • It is the best plagiarism checker tool on the market.
  • Grammarly is super beginner-friendly, and it will work well with minimal setup.
  • The AI-powered suggestions are spot-on and help improve readability and clarity.

Cons

  • Grammarly offers a free plan, but it is very limited. To get more advanced suggestions and error checking, you will need to subscribe to the pro version.
  • The plagiarism checker does not work in the browser extension, so you will have to use the Grammarly website.

Why we recommend Grammarly: We recommend Grammarly if you are looking for a tool that can detect grammatical errors, plagiarism, and other issues at the same time. If you have just started a WordPress blog, then you can opt for the free plan to detect basic errors.

2. Semrush

Semrush

Semrush offers a couple of top-notch grammar checker tools. Each has a powerful set of features, including a readability checker that provides actionable tips for improving your content.

One tool is a free online proofreader that analyzes your blog post’s readability and tone of voice. It will suggest rewordings, instances to use a more active voice, and other ways to clarify and enhance your text.

Semrush proofreader tool

Additionally, Semrush has an SEO Writing Assistant in their main product to improve the overall SEO score of your content.

You can use it to optimize your article headlines for SEO, adjust article length, perform a plagiarism check, and make your content sound more natural.

Both free and paid accounts can use the writing assistant, but paid accounts get many more features.

For more details, see our tutorial on how to use the SEO Writing Assistant to improve SEO in WordPress.

Pros

  • Semrush comes with Microsoft Word, Google Docs, and WordPress add-ons that you can use to get real-time grammar suggestions in your WordPress content editor.
  • It offers a free Paraphrasing tool where you can add your text, and AI will rephrase it for better readability and engagement.
  • Semrush can catch your grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors in real-time. It also addresses common errors like misused words, sentence fragments, and more.
  • The SEO Writing Assistant provides a Flesch reading score and lets you compare your readability score with your top 10 competitors.

Cons

  • Semrush’s free plan is pretty restricted. Some features are available to free users in a limited capacity, while others are entirely locked behind a pro subscription.
  • If you want to add the tool to your WordPress content editor, you must buy it.

Why we recommend Semrush: Semrush has two different grammar tools that work well together. Semrush’s SEO writing assistant and free proofreading tool give users access to a readability checker, proofreader, summary generator, sentence rewriter, and more. This combination makes Semrush a complete package to help improve your content quality.

3. Ginger

Ginger

Ginger is another powerful spelling and grammar checker tool that you can use to enhance your writing skills and boost productivity. It is available as a browser addon and offers a great user experience.

Ginger comes with a sentence rephrasing tool that suggests other ways to express your ideas more clearly. It even has a personal dictionary where you can add custom phrases and words to help the tool understand your writing style.

Additionally, Ginger helps you identify clunky sentence structure by reading your blog posts out loud with natural pronunciation. This practice can make your content more engaging and natural for your audience.

Pros

  • It displays a tiny icon where you can access the grammar checker features in the bottom right corner of writing areas, including WordPress post editor, Gmail, Facebook, and more.
  • Ginger can translate your text in real time into over 60 languages.
  • It comes with a text-to-speech feature, an emoji keyboard, and a thesaurus.

Cons

  • Its free plan offers limited functionality.
  • Some users have reported glitches and bugs with the software.

Why we recommend Ginger: If you create and sell courses online, then Ginger’s grammar checker, rephrasing, and thesaurus tools can help you create concise and clear content for your students. It’s also a great option for multilingual websites due to its translation features.

4. QuillBot

QuillBot

QuillBot is an amazing AI writing assistant that offers a grammar checker for English, French, Spanish, and German. It also comes with a free extension for Google and Microsoft Word.

Besides that, the tool also has a built-in plagiarism checker that ensures your work is original and can scan up to 20 pages per month.

It even offers a summarizer that can condense your content into bullet points or a shorter paragraph. You can also adjust the length of the summary according to your liking by using the slider at the top of the tool.

Pros

  • QuillBot has a paraphrasing tool that comes with multiple modes for accuracy and a synonym slider. It can paraphrase your content in up to 23 languages.
  • It has a citation generator and a language translator.
  • The tool also gives insights into your content tone and lets you view your paraphrasing history.

Cons

  • The plagiarism checker tool is only available in the pro plan of QuillBot.
  • Its grammar checker only corrects basic typos and grammatical errors and cannot catch more complex mistakes like dangling modifiers or incorrect punctuation.

Why we recommend QuillBot: It is a great choice for small businesses looking for a free grammar checker and paraphrasing tool.

5. Hemingway Editor

Hemingway Editor

Hemingway is a free editor that you can use to check your articles for readability, grammar, and spelling errors. However, since it is web-based, it doesn’t work directly inside your WordPress post editor.

The tool shows you a readability score of your content and suggests improvements. The web app also has a clean and distraction-free layout, which can help you assess your content quickly before hitting the publish button in WordPress.

Hemingway uses different colors to identify various issues, making editing easier for users.

Pros

  • The tool helps with passive voice detection, adverb usage, and formatting suggestions.
  • It provides a word count and analyzes sentence structures for improvement.
  • Hemingway is also available as a paid desktop app for both Windows and Mac, which allows you to post directly to WordPress.

Cons

  • Hemingway often overly simplifies all the sentences in the content and sometimes removes the complex ideas completely.
  • It only supports the English language.
  • It does not provide as much comprehensive grammar correction as other tools on the list.

Why we recommend Hemingway Editor: If you are an author on a WordPress site, then Hemingway can be a great choice due to its robust readability checker. If you write technical topics and want to simplify the language for readers, then you can opt for this tool as well.

6. LanguageTool

LanguageTool

LanguageTool is an amazing grammar and paraphrasing tool that is available as a free add-on for Chrome, Firefox, Google Docs, and LibreOffice. It is also available as a web-based editor and a complete desktop app.

LanguageTool supports more than 25 languages including English, German, Polish, and Russian, making it a great choice for multilingual websites and multilingual authors.

The software can detect grammatical errors, style issues, word choice, punctuation, and sentence structure issues.

Pros

  • It has a text-to-speech feature.
  • It lets you create a personal dictionary.
  • LanguageTool can also provide suggestions for typography.

Cons

  • The free plan has a 20,000-character limit per text check.
  • Its integration with tools like Microsoft Word and Google Docs can be a bit clunky.

Why we recommend LanguageTool: It is the ideal grammar checker if you have a multilingual website and want to check your content for grammatical errors in multiple languages.

Which Is the Best Grammar Checker Tool for WordPress?

In our expert opinion, Semrush is the best grammar checker tool for WordPress due to its SEO Writing Assistant, proofreader, paraphrasing tool, and more. The tool easily fixes grammatical errors and effortlessly boosts your content’s SEO and readability.

However, if you have a simple WordPress blog, then you can opt for Grammarly or Ginger instead. Both of these tools are reliable grammar checkers that come with a suite of other tools like paraphrasing, personal dictionaries, plagiarism checkers, and more.

Similarly, if you are on a budget, then Hemingway and QuillBot are also good choices.

Frequently Asked Questions About Online Grammar Checker Tools

Here are some questions about WordPress grammar checker tools that are frequently asked by our readers:

Does ChatGPT check grammar?

ChatGPT does not have a built-in grammar checker. However, you can type in a prompt that asks the tool to proofread and optimize your content for readability.

For example, you can use a prompt like this:

“I want you to act as SEO editor and copywriter. I need you to proofread and analyze the following text and optimize it for the focus keyword. I also need you to correct any grammar mistakes in the article. Ask me to provide you with the article text and focus keyword.”

After submitting the prompt, you can copy and paste your blog post into the ChatGPT text box, which will then detect and fix any grammatical mistakes.

For more ideas, see our beginner’s guide on the best ChatGPT prompts for bloggers, marketers, and social media.

Does Google have a grammar checker?

Google does not have a grammar checker that can be used as an extension on your browser or WordPress editor.

However, it does offer a built-in grammar checker for tools like Google Docs and Google Search.

How do I check for spelling and grammar errors in Microsoft Word?

You can easily check for spelling and grammatical mistakes in Microsoft Word by downloading Semrush’s extension for the software.

However, if you are looking for a free solution, then you can also use LanguageTool with Word.

Best WordPress Guides for Improving Writing

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The post 6 Best Online Grammar Checker Tools for WordPress (2024) first appeared on WPBeginner.

Implementing SLAs, SLOs, and SLIs: A Practical Guide for SREs

In today’s Information Technology (IT) digital transformation world, many applications are getting hosted in cloud environments every day. Monitoring and maintaining these applications daily is very challenging and we need proper metrics in place to measure and take action. This is where the importance of implementing SLAs, SLOs, and SLIs comes into the picture and it helps in effective monitoring and maintaining the system performance.  

Defining SLA, SLO, SLI, and SRE

What Is an SLA? (Commitment)

A Service Level Agreement is an agreement that exists between the cloud provider and client/user about measurable metrics; for example, uptime check, etc. This is normally handled by the company's legal department as per business and legal terms. It includes all the factors to be considered as part of the agreement and the consequences if it fails; for example, credits, penalties, etc. It is mostly applicable for paid services and not for free services. 

Securing the Future: The Role of Post-Quantum Cryptography

As they evolve, quantum computers will be able to break widely used cryptographic protocols, such as RSA and ECC, which rely on the difficulty of factoring large numbers and calculating discrete logarithms. Post-quantum cryptography (PQC) aims to develop cryptographic algorithms capable of withstanding these quantum attacks, in order to guarantee the security and integrity of sensitive data in the quantum era.

Futuristic image of virtual data and light

Understanding the Complexity and Implementation of PQC

Post-quantum cryptography is based on advanced mathematical concepts such as lattices and polynomial equations. These complex foundations require specialized knowledge to be properly understood and effectively implemented.

Benchmarking Java Streams

In my previous article, I took a closer look at the Java ExecutorService interface and its implementations, with some focus on the Fork/Join framework and ThreadPerTaskExecutor. Today, I would like to take a step forward and check how well they behave when put under pressure. In short, I am going to make benchmarks, a lot of benchmarks.

All the code from below, and more, will be available in a dedicated GitHub repository.

Effortless Credential Management in Azure: The Power of Managed Identities

Azure Entra Id, formerly Azure Active Directory is a comprehensive Identity and Access Management offering from Microsoft. While it encompasses many functionalities, the article will focus on Managed Identities.

Why Managed Identities?

Initially, Azure resources were accessed using connecting strings--keys tied to specific resources. For instance, for a storage account named "Foo", its connection string might be "Bar". This string would be stored in a Vault, and applications would retrieve it to access the resource. 

Exploring the Role of Data Analytics in SOC Alert Tuning

Security Operations Centers (SOCs) play a crucial role in detecting, responding to, and mitigating security threats in an increasingly complex threat landscape. One fundamental aspect of SOC efficiency is the tuning of alerts to ensure accurate and timely threat detection without overwhelming analysts with false positives. 

SOC alert tuning involves configuring and refining security alerts to cut false positives and negatives to a minimum. False positives can overwhelm analysts with harmless alerts, while false negatives can enable genuine threats to slip through the security nets. 

Answer to my 100% tools thread

Thanks everybody for the discussion So here's the thing.
I was invited on an interview for a company to do there SEO and they gave me access to their SemRush and said that find us the keyword on which we have not created a blog post before and neither our competitors and they told me that it should be informational not commercial.
So I used the SemRush and found the keyword now here is the thing I relied completely on the SemRush and it was showing that the keyword is informational and then the interviewer typed that keyword in the google and all the SERP's were commercial for that specific keyword.
So here is my point that you can not completely rely on tools.

Embracing Multi-Cloud Architectures: Benefits, Strategies, and Best Practices

Digitalization is rapidly transforming data engineering and cloud computing. Businesses constantly seek innovative methods to improve performance, scalability, and resilience. 

The most practical approach to achieving these goals is multi-cloud architecture. The key players in cloud data engineering are multiple cloud service providers with state-of-the-art machine learning applications, they are AWS, Azure, Google… 

Unlocking the Power of Search: Keywords, Similarity, and Semantics Explained

Delving Into Different Search Techniques

To set the context, let’s say we have a collection of texts about various technical topics and would like to look for information related to “Machine Learning.” We will now look at how Keyword Search, Similarity Search, and Semantic Search offer different levels of depth and understanding, from simple keyword matching to recognizing related concepts and contexts. 

Let us first look at the standard code components used for the program.