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How To Choose Typefaces For Fintech Products: Best Practices Guide (Part 2)

Welcome to the second part of the guide to typography in fintech. In Part 1, we reviewed the key points to consider when choosing typefaces:

  • What is the content of your product? What type of data do you mainly work with?
  • Who is your common user, and in which circumstances do they use the product?
  • What are the specific points you need to keep in mind? For example, what language support is planned for the future? Or, maybe you need to use some specific glyphs (math or rare currency symbols) in your product.

We also reviewed all font parameters and started investigating how they affect readability and legibility. Now, let’s discuss how to apply them to your designs.

Adjust Texts And Tables

Point Size

When choosing a point size, we need to consider the body text first. Body text is the most massive part of your content, and its style determines design and visual appearance. It’s also essential to remember that x-height might vary slightly from type to type. Therefore, not all typefaces will look the same in the same size, and you will probably need to adjust it.

The general rule is that the size of the screen body text should be 12-16px. But this measurement may change depending on your needs. When you work with investment apps, users should be able to see a large amount of information on a single screen. An appropriate solution here might be to reduce the body text size to 10px but pay attention to legibility. In addition, traders usually want to see big amounts of data on a single screen, without scrolling anything, as it might affect the speed of reaction. We had such a case when a client asked us to make all the body text smaller to fit the screen.

Secondly, consider headings. Try to build a clear content hierarchy that will help users to work with the content. Figure out how many levels of headings you need. Don’t use too many, aiming for three to five levels.

Try to avoid using uppercase capitalization. But if you capitalize headings in uppercase, make them short.

When set in uppercase, the text is less legible. The lowercase text has different shapes, ascenders, and descenders. They help us intuitively recognize letters in context without spending time deciphering them when reading. Uppercase text reduces this recognition because capital letters generally have square shapes. So, the more capitalized text you have in a row, the more time a user needs to read it.

Another tip is to avoid italics, underlining, and other ways to differentiate headings visually unless you’re working on a small visual material and have a strong reason for such expressive typography. If it’s a must, choose a bold font for visual contrast and accents, but use it sparingly.

Text Column

When working with texts, you must determine a suitable length of text lines. Overly long text lines are hard to follow. Generally, the average size is 55-60 characters per line. Following these values will help you keep the text readable.

Line Spacing

The next step is to choose an appropriate line spacing (or leading) for your text. This measurement determines the distance from the baseline to the baseline in a text paragraph. Usually, optimal line spacing equals 120% of body text size, e.g., 12x1,2=14.4 for 12px text. But depending on the circumstances, you can vary this setting between 120% and 145%.

Besides the point size, the width of the column is an important aspect that affects line spacing. Generally, the rule is the wider the text column, the more spacing between lines you need (see the illustration above). For narrow columns, quite tight spacing works well, as you don’t need to follow the long way from the beginning to the end of the line. Also, consider the space between columns: line spacing should not be larger but noticeably smaller, as it will cause confusion and mess. Users should be able to distinguish text blocks from one another easily.

Letterspace And Tracking

In high-quality typefaces, type designers carefully adjust letter spacing so you can use them by default. However, there are several cases when additional settings are required.

First, when setting text in small point size (10px or less), e.g., for captions or tooltips, add some small positive tracking — 1–2% is enough. It helps make the text more legible.

Positive tracking is also needed in lines set in capital letters. Uppercase characters (and their sidebearings) are designed to come before lowercase at the beginning of a word. For this reason, the All Caps setting is usually too tight and requires additional spacing.

Tips:

  • Think twice when setting text in uppercase, and don’t do this without a strong reason because it affects legibility.
  • Avoid more than three to five words in uppercase.
  • For a larger amount of text, choose a typeface with small caps.
  • Don’t try to imitate small caps by using capitals in smaller sizes.

Negative tracking might be applied when you use a type in an extremely large point size.

Design The Spreadsheets

A spreadsheet is a complex form of data representation that should have a high level of legibility. Setting up a spreadsheet can be tricky because, in digital products, we work with dynamic data, and therefore, we can only sometimes predict their behavior.

A good practice is to consider all possible corner cases. What if a number has ten digits in the fractional part? Do we really need to show the whole number, or can we shorten it? What if cells contain data of very different lengths? Ask your analyst to consider all possible situations to avoid unpleasant surprises after release.

Here are several core rules to improve your spreadsheet:

Use Monospace (Or Tabular) Digits

Monospace digits are a set of digits with equal space width and central position within them, unlike default ones. It’s the most convenient way to align data precisely, allowing you to place digits in a column one below another. Tabular digits are especially useful in compound products like traders’ watchlists and spreadsheets. They help to keep the layout while values change in real time.

The Open Type format supports this feature and can be enabled in the Type Settings menu > Details in Figma.

Align Numbers By The Right Side Or By A Decimal Separator

Depending on using integers or fractionals, choose the appropriate alignment. The aim is to place digits with the same meaning one below another in a column.

Right alignment allows you to align digits according to their position in the numeral system. It works well if you work with integers.

If you work with fractionals, align by a decimal separator.

Alternatively, fill empty spaces with zero symbols. In this case, columns will align by separator automatically.

When adding additional symbols after values, such as currency or footnote, do it with an overhang.

Choose a suitable alignment for the column’s headings. Usually, the heading is aligned on the same side as the column’s content, and this is the most convenient and fast path for developers when working with dynamic data.

Typesetting numeral data in monospaced figures and suitable alignment provides clear data representation and improves legibility.

Use Appropriate Separation Marks

Consider applying different rules to the sign of the decimal separator. Depending on localization, it might be a comma or period: use periods for the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada, and choose a comma if your audience is from European countries, like France, Germany, and so on.

Thousands of separators vary between space, comma, apostrophe, and period, depending on the region. Find out which sign is used in your case and apply your approach consistently.

Pay Attention To Currency Symbols

Note that the appropriate place for currency symbols also varies. The dollar sign and most signs of European currencies usually stand before the value. If you work with a specific symbol, ensure you know the usage rules.

The placement of the euro sign is determined by language. According to the EU Interinstitutional style guide (page 114), the character is placed before value in English-speaking countries, as well as in Dutch, Irish, and Maltese. In all other European languages, the order is reversed.

There are also rare cases when symbols are placed in the decimal separator position, for example, Cape Verdean escudo.

Make sure to place currency codes after value. It is a rule.

Avoid Unnecessary Graphics

Striped backgrounds, lines, and borders are instruments of cell connection that help users follow the line in the spreadsheet. Repetitive striped backgrounds and lines often create visual noise and disturb attention. Make sure you have a solid reason to use it and apply sparingly.

Avoid using bright colors and patterned lines (dashed, dotted, and so on). Lines and borders should be solid and thin, as they are supporting elements that shouldn’t distract from data.

A neat layout is the best way to connect elements (cells) into a solid unit (row). Use the Proximity principle to show a relation between objects.

Making horizontal space between columns tighter than vertical space between rows will help you connect elements intuitively without additional graphic details.

Try it before using any extra elements.

Master Accessibility

If you’re a designer, you probably use high-quality screens to see a wide color range. In this situation, it is very tempting to use subtle color shades, pale shadows, and other details to make your product look visually sophisticated.

In real life, the average trading platform user may work in various conditions: on an old computer, on a low-quality screen, or simply in bright sunlight. Do not forget about people with special needs: low vision, color blindness, and so on. It is essential to remember that 90% of your audience will barely notice delicate color schemes and nuances. And this is a reason to take care of the contrast ratio.

Contrast Ratio

Contrast ratio is a numeral value in format X:1 where X may vary from 1 (weakest contrast) to 21 (maximum). 1:1 means comparing colors with no contrast, and 21:1 is obtainable by comparing black and white.

When checking your contrast ratio, you will meet such labels as AA and AAA. These are levels of accessibility, from lower to higher, based on WCAG accessibility standards. According to several factors, such as how broad your audience is, which is the average age of the user, and which possible use circumstances you can predict, you should meet at least AA.

There are different criteria for text and graphic elements for each standard. Each level requires a specific contrast ratio:

  • AA: at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for bold or large text,
  • AAA: 7:1 for normal text and 4.5:1 for bold or large text.

How do you check if your product meets these criteria? You can use one of many online tools, for example, Web AIM contrast checker. There are also plenty of plugins in Figma that you can try.

At Devexperts, we usually create products with dark themes as it gives us more freedom in color choice. Due to our specialization, we often need many colors to highlight various values and functions. It’s easier to pick a color with enough contrast to the dark background and make our products accessible to as many people as possible.

Find That One Typeface

So, knowing these simple steps to consider, it’s time to choose a font for your fintech product. There are plenty of marketplaces where you can purchase licensed typefaces. Check myfonts.com first, as it is the biggest player in this field. Many type foundries and independent designers sell their fonts on this platform.

You can also buy a font directly from the type foundry’s website. This is probably the best idea, as you (or the type designer) will not pay an additional fee to the platform. You can also explore all typefaces by this type foundry and find some more fonts you like for future projects. Here is a list of foundries to check out.

Commercial Type

Commercial Type’s library includes a wide range of typefaces of exceptional quality.

The founders of Commercial Type are Paul Barnes and Christian Schwartz, designers who are well-known for their typeface Guardian Egyptian, created for The Guardian in 2004–05.

Type.Today

Type.Today is a store with an inspiring collection of modern, high-quality typefaces. The project was founded by Ilya Ruderman and Yuri Ostromensky, who are also co-founders of CSTM fonts type foundry.

You might also want to check the other part of the project: Type.Tomorrow, which presents more experimental and crazy typefaces.

Typotheque

Typotheque is a Netherlands-based type design company founded by Peter Bilak in 1999. It has a massive library of retail fonts that may serve any designer’s need. They have plenty of great type-related products in their shop.

Klim

Founded by Kris Sowersby in 2005, Klim type foundry creates custom and retail typefaces. Their work combines deep historical knowledge with a contemporary approach to graphics. Check their blog — it has lots of exciting reading.

Colophon Foundry

Colophon Foundry is a London-based type agency that offers an impressive choice of modern, perfectly executed typefaces. Don’t forget to check trials as well.

I Love Typography

ILT is not only a shop with an impressive collection of accurately-picked typefaces. It is also a blog with lots of great type-related materials on a wide range of topics. Highly recommended!

Grilli Type

Grilli Type is a foundry that offers types with a very modern feeling. Their library is not that wide in amount of typefaces, but each has a vast number of styles. They also provide trial versions for all their faces.

TypeTogether

Established in 2006 by two graduates from Reading University, TypeTogether foundry is concentrated on text typefaces for editorial purposes. Except for that, they have plenty of display retail fonts in their catalog.

If you’re a student looking for a typeface for non-commercial use, check student license support on the website. Sometimes, foundries give scholars good discounts or even offer some fonts for free. There are also trial versions provided, so you can check if the typeface works well for your project before purchasing.

Also, you can try Fontstand. It is a great platform where you can try and rent fonts for a couple of dollars and use them for commercial projects.

At Future Fonts, you can find a great variety of typefaces in progress available for purchase with a good discount. You will also receive all updates for the purchased typeface, which sounds like a great investment!

And finally, if you don’t have a budget at all, there are still some options. For example, Google Fonts have a number of good typefaces which you can use for free for any kind of project. Take a look at IBM Type Family, Open Sans, PT Sans, Inter, or Roboto. These are widely used fonts we all know and meet in various products. For sure, you will find something suitable there.

In any case, do not forget to read the license carefully, and feel free to ask the vendor/type foundry if you have questions.

Conclusion

Finding the right typeface is tricky as a whole. Dividing the process into steps and having the right information at hand will make this journey a design adventure full of surprises. To avoid sinking into unnecessary details, use this guide as a map for your path, and you will never get lost.

That’s it! Hopefully, you’ve found this article helpful for improving your workflow. Explore typefaces, as this is a great and powerful instrument for designers, and stay in touch!

Further Reading On SmashingMag

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Living In The Moment (August 2023 Wallpapers Edition)

Everybody loves a beautiful wallpaper to freshen up their desktops and home screens, right? To cater for new and unique artworks on a regular basis, we started our monthly wallpapers series more than twelve years ago, and from the very beginning to today, artists and designers from across the globe have accepted the challenge and submitted their designs to it. Just like this month.

In this post, you’ll find their wallpapers for August 2023. All of them come in versions with and without a calendar, so no matter if you need to count down the days to a big deadline (or a few days off, maybe?) or plan to use your favorite wallpaper even after the month has ended, we’ve got you covered. A big thank-you to everyone who shared their designs with us — we sincerely appreciate it!

As a little bonus goodie, we also added some “oldies but goodies” at the end of this post, timeless wallpaper treasures that we rediscovered way down in our archives and that are just too good to be forgotten. Now there’s only one question left to be answered: Which one to choose? Happy August!

  • You can click on every image to see a larger preview,
  • We respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience through their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.
  • Submit a wallpaper!
    Did you know that you could get featured in our next wallpapers post, too? We are always looking for creative talent.
Summer Day

Designed by Kasturi Palmal from India.

Retro Road Trip

“As the sun dips below the horizon, casting a warm glow upon the open road, the retro van finds a resting place for the night. A campsite bathed in moonlight or a cozy motel straight from a postcard become havens where weary travelers can rest, rejuvenate, and prepare for the adventures that await with the dawn of a new day.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

Spooky Campfire Stories

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Party Night Under The Stars

“August… it’s time for a party and summer vacation — sea, moon, stars, music… and magical vibrant colors.” — Designed by Teodora Vasileva from Bulgaria.

Japanese Fashion Week

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Train Ride

“We got on a plane and went to the other part of the world to Australia. In this case, we got to Melbourne and we are ready to go to Flinders Street Station to catch a train and move around this wonderful country.” — Designed by Veronica Valenzuela from Spain.

Proud

“Chandrayaan-3 is the third and most recent lunar Indian Space Research exploration mission under the Chandrayaan programme. It consists of a lander named Vikram and a rover named Pragyan similar to Chandrayaan-2, but does not have an orbiter. Its propulsion module behaves like a communication relay satellite.” — Designed by Bhabna Basak from India.

Flowers

Designed by Sahra Tamo from Turkey.

Oldies But Goodies

Going for a swim, the smell of a summer field, or that sweet feeling of freedom when you’re on vacation — a lot of things have inspired the design community to create a wallpaper for August in the past few years. Here are some favorites from our wallpapers archives. Please note that these designs don’t come with a calendar.

Happiness Happens In August

“Many people find August one of the happiest months of the year because of holidays. You can spend days sunbathing, swimming, birdwatching, listening to their joyful chirping, and indulging in sheer summer bliss. August 8th is also known as the Happiness Happens Day, so make it worthwhile.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

Swimming In The Summer

“It’s the perfect evening and the water is so warm! Can you feel it? You move your legs just a little bit and you feel the water bubbles dancing around you! It’s just you in there, floating in the clean lake and small sparkly lights shining above you! It’s a wonderful feeling, isn’t it?” — Designed by Creative Pinky from the Netherlands.

Subtle August Chamomiles

“Our designers wanted to create something summery, but not very colorful, something more subtle. The first thing that came to mind was chamomile because there are a lot of them in Ukraine and their smell is associated with a summer field.” — Designed by MasterBundles from Ukraine.

Bee Happy!

“August means that fall is just around the corner, so I designed this wallpaper to remind everyone to ‘bee happy’ even though summer is almost over. Sweeter things are ahead!” — Designed by Emily Haines from the United States.

Colorful Summer

“‘Always keep mint on your windowsill in August, to ensure that the buzzing flies will stay outside where they belong. Don’t think summer is over, even when roses droop and turn brown and the stars shift position in the sky. Never presume August is a safe or reliable time of the year.’ (Alice Hoffman)” — Designed by Lívi from Hungary.

Psst, It’s Camping Time…

“August is one of my favorite months, when the nights are long and deep and crackling fire makes you think of many things at once and nothing at all at the same time. It’s about heat and cold which allow you to touch the eternity for a few moments.” — Designed by Igor Izhik from Canada.

Coffee Break Time

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Work Hard, Play Hard

“It seems the feeling of summer breaks we had back in school never leaves us. The mere thought of alarm clocks feels wrong in the summer, especially if you’ve recently come back from a trip to the seaside. So, we try to do our best during working hours and then compensate with fun activities and plenty of rest. Cheers!” — Designed by ActiveCollab from the United States.

Ivory Tower

“August 12th marks World Elephant Day, highlighting the need for the protection and conservation of wild elephants across Asia and Africa. Today, African elephants are endangered due to wildlife crime, primarily poaching for the illegal ivory trade, whereas Asian elephants face habitat loss due to human-elephant conflict. Driven to the brink of extinction, elephants rely on us to create a non-exploitive and sustainable environment where these magnificent creatures can be safe.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Novi Sad, Serbia.

Love Is In The Air

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Ahoy

Designed by Webshift 2.0 from South Africa.

Handwritten August

“I love typograhy handwritten style.” — Designed by Chalermkiat Oncharoen from Thailand.

Oh La La… Paris’ Night

“I like the Paris’ night! All is very bright!” — Designed by Verónica Valenzuela from Spain.

Live In The Moment

“My dog Sami inspired me for this one. He lives in the moment and enjoys every second with a big smile on his face. I wish we could learn to enjoy life like he does! Happy August everyone!” — Designed by Westie Vibes from Portugal.

Summer Nap

Designed by Dorvan Davoudi from Canada.

I Love Summer

“I love the summer nights and the sounds of the sea, the crickets, the music of some nice party.” — Designed by Maria Karapaunova from Bulgaria.

Shrimp Party

“A nice summer shrimp party!” — Designed by Pedro Rolo from Portugal.

Grow Where You Are Planted

“Every experience is a building block on your own life journey, so try to make the most of where you are in life and get the most out of each day.” — Designed by Tazi Design from Australia.

Traveler In Time

“During bright summer days, while wandering around unfamiliar places, it is finally forgotten that one of the biggest human inventions is time itself, future becomes the past, past becomes the present and there are no earthly boundaries, just air.” — Designed by Ana Masnikosa from Belgrade, Serbia.

Cowabunga

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Treat Yourself

“It’s still winter in my part of Australia so warm coffee and donuts by the open fire is a treat. For warmer climates an outdoor picnic in the park with coffee and donuts sounds fun, too!” — Designed by Glynnis Owen from Australia.

A Bloom Of Jellyfish

“I love going to aquariums – the colors, patterns and array of blue hues attract the nature lover in me while still appeasing my design eye. One of the highlights is always the jellyfish tanks. They usually have some kind of light show in them, which makes the jellyfish fade from an intense magenta to a deep purple — and it literally tickles me pink. On a recent trip to uShaka Marine World, we discovered that the collective noun for jellyfish is a bloom and, well, it was love-at-first-collective-noun all over again. I’ve used some intense colors to warm up your desktop and hopefully transport you into the depths of your own aquarium.” — Designed by Wonderland Collective from South Africa.

About Everything

“I know what you’ll do this August. Because August is about holiday. It’s about exploring, hiking, biking, swimming, partying, feeling, and laughing. August is about making awesome memories and enjoying the summer. August is about everything. An amazing August to all of you!” — Designed by Ioana Bitin from Bucharest, Romania.

Murder Of Crows

“The inspiration for the Murder Of Crows came from ‘The Raven’ – a poem written by Edgar Allen Poe in January 1845. The Murder Of Crows is part of our ‘Wonderland Collective Noun’ collection. Each month a new interesting collective noun is illustrated, printed and made into a desktop wallpaper.” — Designed by Wonderland Collective from South Africa.

The Ocean Is Waiting

“In August, make sure you swim a lot. Be cautious though.” — Designed by Igor Izhik from Canada.

Vacation Vibes

“Is the time crawling by you’re eagerly awaiting your vacation? Or you’re back in the office, reminiscing the sweet feeling of freedom? Never mind, because our desktop calendar is here to bring a vacation vibe to your life throughout the entire August.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

Childhood Memories

Designed by Francesco Paratici from Australia.

Posted on

Memories Of August (2022 Desktop Wallpapers Edition)

Everybody loves a beautiful wallpaper to freshen up their desktops and home screens, right? To cater for new and unique artworks on a regular basis, we started our monthly wallpapers challenge more than eleven years ago, and from the very beginning to today, artists and designers from across the globe have accepted the challenge and submitted their designs to it. Just like this month.

In this post, you’ll find their wallpapers for August 2022. All of them come in versions with and without a calendar, so no matter if you need to count down the days to a big deadline (or a few days off, maybe?) or plan to use your favorite wallpaper even after the month has ended, we’ve got you covered. A big thank-you to everyone who shared their designs with us — we sincerely appreciate it!

As a little bonus goodie, we also added some “oldies but goodies” at the end of this post, timeless wallpaper treasures that we rediscovered way down in our archives and that are just too good to be forgotten. Now there’s only one question left to be answered: Which one to choose? Happy August!

  • You can click on every image to see a larger preview,
  • We respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience through their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.
  • Submit a wallpaper!
    Did you know that you could get featured in our next wallpapers post, too? We are always looking for creative talent.
Swimming In The Summer

“It’s the perfect evening and the water is so warm! Can you feel it? You move your legs just a little bit and you feel the water bubbles dancing around you! It’s just you in there, floating in the clean lake and small sparkly lights shining above you! It’s a wonderful feeling, isn’t it?” — Designed by Creative Pinky from the Netherlands.

Vacation Vibes

“Is the time crawling by you’re eagerly awaiting your vacation? Or you’re back in the office, reminiscing the sweet feeling of freedom? Never mind, because our desktop calendar is here to bring a vacation vibe to your life throughout the entire August.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

Subtle August Chamomiles

“Our designers wanted to create something summery, but not very colorful, something more subtle. The first thing that came to mind was chamomile because there are a lot of them in Ukraine and their smell is associated with a summer field. If you look for something colorful and juicy, you will find suitable options in our listicle.” — Designed by MasterBundles from Ukraine.

It’s Vacation O’Clock!

“It’s vacation o’clock! Or is it? While we bend our backs in front of a screen, it’s hard not to think about sandy beaches, flipping the pages of a corny book under the umbrella while waves splash continuously. Summer days! So hard to bear them in the city, so pleasant when you’re living the dolce far niente.” — Designed by ActiveCollab from the United States.

Freak Show Vol. 1

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Freak Show Vol. 2

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Ice Cream, All day, Everyday

“We like our ice cream at Mad Fish Digital so why not create a wallpaper for it?” — Designed by Suu Ng from Portland, OR.

Climbing The Beanstalk

“In August, we accompany Jack through the Beanstalk on surprising adventures. You sign up?” — Designed by Veronica Valenzuela from Spain.

Oldies But Goodies

Childhood memories, camping under the stars, or a simple pencil and a piece of paper — a lot of things have inspired the design community to create an August wallpaper in the past few years. Here are some favorites from our archives. (Please note that these designs don’t come with a calendar.)

Happiness Happens In August

“Many people find August one of the happiest months of the year because of holidays. You can spend days sunbathing, swimming, birdwatching, listening to their joyful chirping, and indulging in sheer summer bliss. August 8th is also known as the Happiness Happens Day, so make it worthwhile.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

Bee Happy!

“August means that fall is just around the corner, so I designed this wallpaper to remind everyone to ‘bee happy’ even though summer is almost over. Sweeter things are ahead!” — Designed by Emily Haines from the United States.

Launch

“The warm, clear summer nights make me notice the stars more — that’s what inspired this space-themed design!” — Designed by James Mitchell from the United Kingdom.

Colorful Summer

“‘Always keep mint on your windowsill in August, to ensure that the buzzing flies will stay outside where they belong. Don’t think summer is over, even when roses droop and turn brown and the stars shift position in the sky. Never presume August is a safe or reliable time of the year.’ (Alice Hoffman)” — Designed by Lívi from Hungary.

Cowabunga

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Hello Again

“In Melbourne it is the last month of quite a cool winter so we are looking forward to some warmer days to come.” — Designed by Tazi from Australia.

Melon Day

“Melon Day (second Sunday in August) is an annual national holiday in Turkmenistan devoted to festivities to celebrate the country’s muskmelon. Another reason for me to create this wallpaper is that melons are just awesome!” — Designed by Melissa Bogemans from Belgium.

Smoky Mountain Bigfoot Conference

“Headed towards Smoky Mountain Bigfoot Conference this summer? Oh, they say it’s gonna be a big one! Get yourself out there well-prepared, armed with patience and ready to have loads of fun with fellow Bigfoot researchers. Looking forward to those campsite nights under the starry sky, with electrifying energy of expectations filling up the air? Lucky you!” — Designed by Pop Art Studio from Serbia.

Childhood Memories

Designed by Francesco Paratici from Australia.

About Everything

“I know what you’ll do this August. :) Because August is about holiday. It’s about exploring, hiking, biking, swimming, partying, feeling and laughing. August is about making awesome memories and enjoying the summer. August is about everything. An amazing August to all of you!” — Designed by Ioana Bitin from Bucharest, Romania.

Shrimp Party

“A nice summer shrimp party!” — Designed by Pedro Rolo from Portugal.

A Bloom Of Jellyfish

“I love going to aquariums — the colours, patterns and array of blue hues attract the nature lover in me while still appeasing my design eye. One of the highlights is always the jellyfish tanks. They usually have some kind of light show in them, which makes the jellyfish fade from an intense magenta to a deep purple — and it literally tickles me pink. On a recent trip to uShaka Marine World, we discovered that the collective noun for jellyfish is a bloom and, well, it was love-at-first-collective-noun all over again. I’ve used some intense colours to warm up your desktop and hopefully transport you into the depths of your own aquarium.” — Designed by Wonderland Collective from South Africa.

Handwritten August

“I love typograhy handwritten style.” — Designed by Chalermkiat Oncharoen from Thailand.

Live In The Moment

“My dog Sami inspired me for this one. He lives in the moment and enjoys every second with a big smile on his face. I wish we could learn to enjoy life like he does! Happy August everyone!” — Designed by Westie Vibes from Portugal.

Unforgettable Summer Night

Designed by BootstrapDash from India.

Chill Out

“Summer is in full swing and Chicago is feeling the heat! Take some time to chill out!” — Designed by Denise Johnson from Chicago.

Treat Yourself

“It’s still winter in my part of Australia so warm coffee and donuts by the open fire is a treat. For warmer climates an outdoor picnic in the park with coffee and donuts sounds fun, too!” — Designed by Glynnis Owen from Australia.

Psst, It’s Camping Time…

“August is one of my favorite months, when the nights are long and deep and crackling fire makes you think of many things at once and nothing at all at the same time. It’s about heat and cold which allow you to touch the eternity for a few moments.” — Designed by Igor Izhik from Canada.

Coffee Break Time

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Heatstroke

“Even the sun gets a heatstroke in August!” — Designed by Luc Versleijen from the Netherlands.

A Midnight Summer Dream

“It’s not Shakespeare, it’s Monk, staring at the stars in a warm summer midnight. Just relax…” — Designed by Monk Software from Italy.

Falling Stars

“In August the stars are ‘falling’. The more falling stars you see, the more wishes will come true!” — Designed by Olga Bukhalova from Italy.

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Make A Wish (May 2022 Desktop Wallpapers Edition)

We always try our best to challenge your creativity and get you out of your comfort zone. In all these years we’ve been running it, our monthly wallpapers series has turned out to be the perfect occasion to do just that: to put your creative skills to the test, try out a new technique you haven’t tried before, tell a story that matters to you, or indulge in a little project just for fun. And well, the wallpaper submissions that reach us every month, always make for a unique collection of community artworks, ready to adorn desktop and mobile screens. It wasn’t any different this time around.

Created with love by designers and artists from across the globe, the wallpapers in this collection all come in versions with and without a calendar for May 2022. As a little bonus goodie, we also compiled some favorites from past May editions at the end of this post. Thank you to everyone who took on the challenge and shared their wallpapers with us — you’re smashing!

  • You can click on every image to see a larger preview,
  • We respect and carefully consider the ideas and motivation behind each and every artist’s work. This is why we give all artists the full freedom to explore their creativity and express emotions and experience through their works. This is also why the themes of the wallpapers weren’t anyhow influenced by us but rather designed from scratch by the artists themselves.
  • Submit a wallpaper!
    Did you know that you could get featured in our next wallpapers post, too? We are always looking for creative talent.
Kira

“On April 23, in Odesa, a random Russian missile killed three-month old Kira Glodan, her mother Valerie and grandmother, destroying their home while her father was out buying products. During war, many such tragedies happen, sometimes every day. And many of these tragedies do not hit media. Still, I felt I had to respond, it is the least I can do — help spread the word. War, please stop.” — Designed by Vlad Gerasimov from Georgia.

Hello May

“The longing for warmth, flowers in bloom, and new beginnings is finally over as we welcome the month of May. From celebrating nature on the days of turtles and birds to marking the days of our favorite wine and macarons, the historical celebrations of the International Workers’ Day, Cinco de Mayo, and Victory Day, to the unforgettable ‘May the Fourth be with you’. May is a time of celebration — so make every May day count!” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

The Impenetrable Wall Of Love

“I was trying to draw a simple picture, with people made of cardboard. But I guess my thoughts of war leak through. War, please stop.” — Designed by Vlad Gerasimov from Georgia.

The Monolith

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Blooming May

“In spring, especially in May, we all want bright colors and lightness, which was not there in winter. Our designers decided to convey these feelings in the May calendar. We have collected more variety of calendars here. They are free to download. :)” — Designed by MasterBundles from Ukraine.

Toucan’t

Designed by Ricardo Gimenes from Sweden.

Looking For The Treasure

“This month we embark on an adventure to find the treasure island. Do you come with us?” — Designed by Veronica Valenzuela Jimenez from Spain.

Tree Colors

“During spring, trees awake from the cold season. With this desktop wallpaper I want to think about nice colors of flowers and leaves. It’s time to get outside!” — Designed by Philippe Brouard from France.

Oldies But Goodies

So many beautiful and inspiring designs have seen the light of day since we embarked on this wallpapers journey more than eleven years ago. And since they are just too good to be forgotten deep down in the archives, we compiled some timeless wallpaper favorites below. Please note that these designs don’t come with a calendar.

Sweet Lily Of The Valley

“The ‘lily of the valley’ came earlier this year. In France, we celebrate the month of May with this plant.” — Designed by Philippe Brouard from France.

Understand Yourself

“Sunsets in May are the best way to understand who you are and where you are heading. Let’s think more!” — Designed by Igor Izhik from Canada.

Poppies Paradise

Designed by Nathalie Ouederni from France.

Spring Gracefulness

“We don’t usually count the breaths we take, but observing nature in May, we can’t count our breaths being taken away.” — Designed by Ana Masnikosa from Belgrade, Serbia.

From Nope To Hope

“Hope helps us define what we want in our futures and is part of the self-narrative about our lives we all have running inside our minds. Whether we think about it or not, hope is a part of everyone’s life. Everyone hopes for something. It’s an inherent part of being a human being.” — Designed by Hitesh Puri from Delhi, India.

Geo

Designed by Amanda Focht from the United States.

Lake Deck

“I wanted to make a big painterly vista with some mountains and a deck and such.” — Designed by Mike Healy from Australia.

Be On Your Bike!

“May is National Bike Month! So, instead of hopping in your car, grab your bike and go. Our whole family loves that we live in our bike-friendly community. So, bike to work, to school, to the store, or to the park — sometimes it is faster. Not only is it good for the environment, but it is great exercise!” — Designed by Karen Frolo from the United States.

Who Is Your Mother?

“Someone who wakes up early in the morning, cooks you healthy and tasty meals, does your dishes, washes your clothes, sends you off to school, sits by your side and cuddles you when you are down with fever and cold, and hugs you when you have lost all hopes to cheer you up. Have you ever asked your mother to promise you never to leave you? No. We never did that because we are never insecure and our relationship with our mothers is never uncertain. We have sketched out this beautiful design to cherish the awesomeness of motherhood. Wishing all a happy Mothers Day!” — Designed by Acodez IT Solutions from India.

Make A Wish

Designed by Julia Versinina from Chicago, USA.

Enjoy May!

“Springtime, especially Maytime, is my favorite time of the year. And I like popsicles — so it’s obvious isn’t it?” — Designed by Steffen Weiß from Germany.

The Green Bear

Designed by Pedro Rolo from Portugal.

Add Color To Your Life!

“This month is dedicated to flowers, to join us and brighten our days giving a little more color to our daily life.” — Designed by Verónica Valenzuela from Spain.

Lookout At Sea

“I wanted to create something fun and happy for the month of May. It’s a simple concept, but May is typically the time to adventure out into the world and enjoy the best of Spring.” — Designed by Alexander Jubinski from the United States.

The Off-Hours Guardian

“In May, we are marking Labour Day, the international holiday celebrating workers’ achievements and urging fair pay and better working conditions. But for many, this day will be a reminder of countless hours of overtime, stress, and strain caused by tight deadlines, lack of workers’ rights for freelancers, and a paycheck that covers just the basics. Our thoughts are with all of you who will spend International Workers’ Day at their jobs, with freelancers fighting for their rights, and with anyone who feels difficulty maintaining their work-life balance.” — Designed by PopArt Studio from Serbia.

Magical Sunset

“I designed Magical Sunset as a friendly reminder to take a moment and enjoy life around you. Each sunset and sunrise brings a new day for greatness and a little magic.” — Designed by Carolyn Warcup from the United States.

Tentacles

Designed by Julie Lapointe from Canada.

Field Wild Flowers

“Springtime festival celebrated with May blossoms.” — Designed by Richard George Davis from South Africa.

Game Boy

Designed by Sander Geenen from Belgium.

May The Force Be With You

“Yoda is my favorite Star Wars character and ‘may’ has funny double meaning.” — Designed by Antun Hirsman from Croatia.

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How To Choose A Headless CMS

Web pages, such as the one you’re reading now, have text, images, videos and other assets to bring information to you. This data would be collated and authored in a Web Content Management System (WCMS) by a content editor. WCMSes have gone through an evolution moving from a Traditional CMS to a Decoupled CMS to a headless CMS.

Moving to a headless CMS is not an easy decision and the selection process should not be taken lightly. In this article, I will highlight a few core features that every headless CMS should provide. We will explore those features, the associated challenges and help you choose a headless CMS to satisfy your organization’s unique requirements.

As the Technical Director at Luminary, I have been helping our clients choose the best CMS, DXP (Digital Experience Platform) or headless CMS to suit their needs. With Luminary’s 21 years of experience in the digital space, my experience of 17 years in the CMS space as well as our focus on Headless since 2016, here are my two cents on what you should look out for.

Things To Consider When Choosing A Headless CMS

  • Concepts
  • For content authors
  • Authoring Roles
  • For developers
  • Other Factors

    • Monolithic vs Microservices

    We’ve explored the concepts behind headless CMSes in detail here on Smashing Magazine, but let’s do a quick recap. When it comes to a Traditional CMS, the CMS and the resulting front-end website are built on a monolithic architecture. The Traditional CMS tries and succeeds in many ways to serve the needs of the developer, content author, and marketer. For example, if the CMS is built on Microsoft’s .NET Framework, the front-end website would also be built on the same technology. All functionality and integrations would also have a tight dependency which in turn results in a large, cumbersome monolithic code base.

    Decoupled CMSes have removed this interdependence to a certain extent. This has been achieved by separating the front-end website from the CMS back-office and content repository.

    Monolithic architecture takes a back seat with headless CMSes. The CMS and every other integration is a microservice. The CMS itself is provided on a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model which I like to term Content-as-as-Service (CaaS). With this microservices architecture, everything you got from your Traditional CMS does not come out of the tin. You may have different services and vendors to provide you with the best of breed for each of your requirements.

    The move to a microservices mindset needs a bit of patience. We had marketers from a Traditional CMS background who resisted the idea of delving into multiple systems and services when using a headless CMS. We managed to take them along on the journey during selection and implementation of their headless CMS platform. Now, they are advocates for that headless CMS platform as it allows them to integrate new systems and services rather than being bound to one provided by a Traditional CMS.

    Look out for:

    • Reputed SaaS vendors
    • Integrating headless CMS as a microservice
    • Best of breed services

    Omnichannel At Its Core

    As much as a microservices mindset would help you when integrating a headless CMS, the true power of headless is realized in its omnichannel nature. An omnichannel experience revolves around your customer and creates a single customer experience across your brand by unifying sales and marketing. With a headless CMS, content is provided to different channels such as web, mobile, social, no-UI smart devices, IoT devices and even non-digital touchpoints such as a bricks-and-mortar shopfront.

    With a headless CMS, you need to define the schema for each content model from scratch. The process of defining this sound, logical taxonomy structure for the content items you create and publish is known as content modeling. If your first channel is going to be your website, make sure your content modeling takes omnichannel into account to alleviate any future pain. If you are only looking for a replacement CMS to just power your website, take another hard look at the Traditional or Decoupled CMS space to see if there’s something that would suit your requirements better.

    When modeling content schemas, think of the future. Working for a major airline not even a decade ago, I can remember trying to model content for mobile devices (yes! there was a separate subdomain for a mobile website). This was excruciatingly difficult since the content schemas were geared towards only a desktop website. But the story holds true even today that we need to be vigilant about content modeling.

    Look out for:

    • Channels you want to target
    • Good content modeling practices

    Creating Great Content

    Whether it is a traditional CMS or a headless CMS, the main requirement is managing content. Content authors should love working in the back-office. If you see authors turning to other authoring tools such as Google Docs for its commenting or suggestions capabilities, it may be a red flag as to what features you are missing.

    Microsoft word documents, spreadsheets, Google docs always rear their heads up when working with content authors. Rather than trying to banish them upfront, the easiest way to get content authors to work on the CMS is to give them the features they need and they will automatically phase those out. When we pushed Luminary’s own website live on a headless CMS, every team member (50 of them) was given enough access to add and edit their own profile for the website. It worked a treat without having 50 Google Docs flying all over the place.

    Editing Experience

    The decision to use a headless CMS may be an IT decision. But buy-in from the marketers and content authors within the organization is critical for its adoption and success. A headless CMS which allows content authors to enter content easily, find existing content and reuse content is something that should come out of the box.

    For ease of authoring content, having easy-to-use editors such as WYSIWYG editors, text editors, dropdowns and custom editors is a must. A clean and minimalist interface that allows a content author to focus on the task at hand will be appreciated. An editing interface that allows for concurrent editing, commenting, and creation of child content items in the same interface will increase the productivity of content authors.

    A word of caution when using WYSIWYG editors or heavy reliance on any editing interface which produces HTML. As a headless CMS is geared to cater to multiple channels, relying on WYSIWYG editors would take away the atomic nature of content which can be reused. Make sure that custom editors allow accessing data fields at a granular level. We have seen this hamper the reuse of content across different channels such as mobile and desktop for example.

    With a headless CMS, organizing content items in a tree structure is not the norm. But it is a bridge allowing content authors to transition easily from a Traditional CMS to a Headless one. If content items are not visualized in a tree structure, a strong search engine with facets and tagging capabilities is paramount for your content editors. This allows authors to find and reuse existing content easily.

    When reusing content, another aspect to consider is whether content items can be nested easily within other content items. This allows for maximum reuse of existing content. But beware of circular references to content which could cause headaches and performance issues. An example is a content item for a lawyer which is linked to a content item for an expertise. Then if the expertise content item is again linked to multiple Lawyer content items this could form a circular reference. Look for a headless CMS with smarts baked in to limit depth in the API and visualizations to show linked content items to avoid this pitfall.

    Look out for:

    • Authoring experience
    • Structure of content items
    • Ease of searching content
    • Overuse of WYSIWYG editors
    • Reusing content

    A Picture’s Worth: How To Handle Media

    A picture is worth a thousand words. But image assets are heavy to transport, difficult to organize, and hard to search. In a typical CMS, you will see duplicates and poorly named image assets over time. It is important that content editors are given tools to organize, categorize, tag, reuse and search for images within a headless CMS. For me, this means organizing assets in folders or containers. But it would be good to understand what your team requires in terms of managing static assets.

    The ability to upload a single image, set a focal point to it and then manipulate its dimensions and quality for different devices and screen sizes, brings massive time-savings to a content editor and even those designers/graphics artists who work behind the scenes. The delivery of static assets in formats such as WebP via a Content Delivery Network (CDN) is also crucial to serving your users a fast website.

    Most headless CMSes come with these features out of the box. If not, you need to decide which features you can live without. There’s a caveat to that rule. For extensive editing of the original images, you should stick to the best tools for the job such as Photoshop.

    Along with images, the next heaviest assets are videos. Once again, with the microservices mindset, streaming of videos should be left to service providers such as YouTube, Vimeo and other online streaming services. If your headless CMS can provide you with a nice editing interface to search or select a video from one of these providers, it’s a bonus.

    Look out for:

    • Organising images
    • Cropping and delivering images via a CDN
    • External best of breed video services

    Authoring Roles

    Who can enter content and who can approve or publish content to a live site and other granular permissions need to be managed via the headless CMS as well. A two-person team could survive without having distinct authoring roles, but as organizations and content teams grow, authoring roles are a must.

    I have worked with content teams of over 40 editors and this requirement needs to be carefully evaluated against the headless CMS you chose. If not, pandemonium will reign. With the team of 40 I worked with, we had copywriters, translators, QA personnel and legal approvers who had different permissions to access certain content, language variants, workflow approvals and publishing rights.

    The number of distinct roles and back-office users is usually how headless CMSes structure their pricing. When comparing price points between vendors think of current numbers and the future growth of your content team.

    Look out for:

    • Distinct roles
    • Number of back-office users

    Workflows

    Not every content item needs to be managed via a workflow. But when workflows, audit trails and approvals are necessary, the process needs to be managed within your headless CMS. Having a robust workflow built from the ground-up on your headless CMS gives you peace of mind and the opportunity to handle every content item according to your business process. The ability to integrate third-party systems via webhooks or APIs is a bonus you should watch out for.

    Look out for:

    • Robust workflows
    • Webhooks

    Content Previews

    The content editor has authored the content, added images and sent it via a workflow for approval. But where do they preview the content before it is made available to the general public? This is where preview APIs to retrieve unpublished content and the ability to set preview environments come into play.

    With a headless CMS, having moved away from a single channel mindset, your content editors should not expect to see full page previews within the CMS back-office. Each channel should have its own staging or preview environment to view yet-to-be-published draft content. This could be a staging site for your website or a locally installed version of your mobile app. A preview feature must be available in the pricing plan you have chosen for the headless CMS of your choice.

    Look out for:

    • Preview APIs from the vendor
    • Separate staging and production environments on your end

    Locales

    If your content needs to be served to different locales, that requirement needs to be identified early on in your project. Retrofitting is possible, but is not a fun activity. How you manage content and assets across cultures and languages should be thought out and documented. I would recommend creating a blueprint to identify which languages and assets inherit or default from another. Then make sure your choice of headless CMS supports that blueprint or explore avenues to achieve the same outcome differently.

    Look out for:

    • Internationalisation and Localisation support
    • Creating your own blueprint for handling locales

    Creating great content is always important. Thus, content authors should be given the best possible experience in their day-to-day activities to make your transition to headless CMS a success.

    Dev Time Is Precious

    With a headless CMS, developer involvement is a must. This could be a back-end developer or a front-end developer consuming the headless API to display content on the website. But once initial development is done, a content author should be able to work with minimal intervention. That’s the whole point of using a CMS. It stands true for headless CMSes too.

    As much as content authors are considered when comparing features, developer features should be explored as well. In this section, we will look at features that will save time for developers.

    APIs/GraphQL Support

    A mature API, that allows for selection, pagination and projection of content items, is critical for a developer to work with a headless CMS. Out-of-the-box GraphQL support is another defining factor as it will allow the developer to define the result they need at a very granular level. Comprehensive documentation and code samples are also a must.

    Make sure your developers are happy with the content retrieval APIs before committing to a headless CMS. Don’t forget preview APIs, secure APIs and the ease of using them via code. Do you want to automate content creation? Then content management APIs should be considered.

    Content Management APIs have been a blessing where we automated the import of over 2,000 blog posts from a WordPress site to a headless CMS. All the blog posts and related images were imported with minimal work for the content authors. Some headless CMSes offer Google Sheets Add-ons and other nifty tools to do this at a click of a button.

    With many headless CMSes offering free trials, it’s a good idea to take them on a test drive to see their suitability and conformance to your choice of content creation and retrieval.

    Look out for:

    • Mature REST APIs
    • GraphQL support
    • Preview and secure APIs
    • Content Management APIs for CRUD operations
    • Free trials to try it out

    Native SDKs

    Software Development Kits (SDKs) for various technologies, languages and platforms are available directly from the Headless vendor, an open-source initiative or a third-party. Make sure these SDKs support the technology, language and platform you will be building your website or consumer app on. As much as RESTful and GraphQL APIs allow you to query content, having a native SDK could reduce dev hours quite significantly.

    At Luminary, working with native SDKs for headless CMSes has allowed us to embrace the latest technologies such as Microsoft .NET Core and .NET 5. Also, building on an existing SDK has allowed us to follow the best practices recommended by the vendor while saving time.

    Look out for:

    • A supported SDK for your choice of technology, language, and platform.

    Environments

    A website or an app for a mom-and-pop shop might be able to curate and preview content with a single production environment. But as organizations, teams and features grow, multiple environments to curate and preview content become necessary. Not only does your headless CMS need to provide environments, but your consuming application should have environments set up as well. Methods to refresh content across environments need to be considered.

    Look out for:

    • Environments within your headless CMS
    • Ability to port content between environments

    Images, Files and CDNs

    We touched on managing images when talking about features for the content author. From a developer perspective, not only static assets need to be cached on a CDN. Many headless CMSes cache content retrieved via RESTful or GraphQL APIs. This speeds up the retrieval process and brings in performance improvements to your application.

    While CDN caching is super useful, there are times when cache corruption or older cached items could create issues. The ability to purge the CDN cache or the ability to pull in the latest content with specific HTTP headers should be a part of your headless CMS’ API functionality.

    The ability to use custom domains against a CDN to deliver your content or static assets might be a requirement you need to consider.

    Look out for:

    • Caching of images and content via CDN
    • Custom domain capabilities

    Usage Limits Across Plans

    Another factor to consider is the usage limits set for each plan you subscribe to on your choice of headless CMS. The number of content items, bandwidth consumption, the number of back-office users, the number of API calls, and rate limits need to be thought out. When planning for usage limits, consider current usage and future usage. Remember that many headless CMSes operate on a subscription basis and they do allow you to upgrade almost instantaneously to plans with higher limits.

    However, it’s worth being aware of how many users will be using the platform, and whether the solution would need to scale up massively. We witnessed a client get a very large bill as they unwittingly added a large number of users over their allocated quota. It’s a good idea for administrators to be aware of what their Headless plan offers and keep tabs on usage.

    Do consider keeping under usage limits on your current limits with client-side caching, static page generators and smart API or GraphQL calls to reduce your operating expenditure.

    Look out for:

    • Limits on certain features
    • Operating expense

    A developer’s time is expensive. Whereas a headless CMS is touted as a developer-friendly CMS, each vendor has different features they support natively. Understanding and comparing those against your developers’ needs is highly recommended.

    Other Factors

    There are a few other factors that may not impact the content author or the developer. This could range from marketing to finance to legal and regulatory requirements for your industry and your business.

    Data Centre Locations

    One question we often get asked is, where is the data stored? Yup, in the cloud. But which geographic data center is an important question due to the legal and regulatory requirements of certain businesses. A headless CMS which allows you to store data in the data center of your choice might be a critical factor in deciding which CMS you choose.

    Technical And Sales Support

    The ability to receive technical and sales support in your timezone is another deciding factor when choosing your headless CMS. Not having a local salesperson has tipped many projects in favor of those vendors who have people on the ground in the relevant region.

    We had a large NFP (Not for Profit) organization choose a headless CMS vendor due to the ability to store data in an Azure Data Centre within Australia. Having on-the-ground sales support and around-the-clock technical support clinched the sale for that headless CMS vendor.

    Look out for:

    • Legal and regulatory requirements of storing data
    • Local sales and technical support

    Enterprise Features To Consider

    Some large organizations might require a Single-sign-on (SSO) tied to the company’s authentication system or audit logs which can be easily queried. There might be integrations to existing systems and certain ISO certifications which need to be in place before a SaaS product is considered a right fit. Making a list of these enterprise features and others unique to your enterprise-level organization is a good starting point when choosing a headless CMS.

    The Community In Action

    Another usually overlooked area is the community around a given headless CMS. Are there people out there who are passionate about the product? I’m not talking about the vendor’s marketing peeps. Are there enough open-source resources shared by the people who are using the tool? This might not be a deciding factor but will help when you are in a tight spot during your implementation or support phase of a project.

    Infrastructure Integration

    With headless CMSes, you are not bound to technology, language or platform. The technology or platform on which the headless CMS is built does not influence the client application. You can use a technology of your choice from .NET to Node.js, your OS could be Windows, Linux or macOS, and your language could be anything from Python to C#.

    Similarly, when it comes to procuring infrastructure, you can choose to host your site on Netlify, Azure, GCP or AWS. The architecture of your website and its infrastructure decisions are now solely based on your requirements. There are also native first-class integrations with services like Gatsby Cloud which bring in more combos that make your life easier. For some, this could be a major decision and should be made by talking to some expert practitioners in the Headless space.

    Look out for:

    • Enterprise features you can’t live without
    • The community engagement with the vendor and the product
    • Support for your choice of Infrastructure

    Our Experience At Luminary

    At Luminary, we have been fortunate to partner with headless CMSes such as Acoustic, Contentful, Kentico Kontent, and Umbraco Heartcore. We have been working with some of these CMSes since the beta versions of their platforms. Public roadmaps, awesome technical support, and addressing our feature requests have been some of our highlights with these platforms.

    We’ve had experience with tackling SEO for Headless websites with front-end only implementations, caching large listing pages, dealing with large server-side caches, and integrating other microservices with headless CMSs. Each of these had its unique challenges which you should watch out for. Also, simple tasks on a Traditional CMS like form submissions and site search need to be well thought out along with more advanced features such as user authentication and authorization with third-party services.

    If you choose the correct headless CMS with the pointers above and with the correct implementation partner, you should end up with a headless CMS which makes happy marketers, happy content editors, and happy developers.

    Further Reading on SmashingMag:

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How to start a window coverings business with WordPress and WooCommerce

First, we came across this tip after one of our editors (looking at you Jeff!) from Australia happened to need custom made window blinds for his brand new home he had purchased. Being a tech-savvy person he knew all about the DIY options available online and browsed the web for his window coverings until ultimately […]

The post How to start a window coverings business with WordPress and WooCommerce appeared first on WPArena.

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Best Practices for QA Testing in the DevOps Age

Going live with bugs in the code is a risky roll of the dice as it could lead to unplanned outages, and software downtime leads to loss of revenue and of reputation. Analysts at Gartner Research have estimated that downtime can cost companies as much as $140,000 to $540,000 per hour. Google, for example, saw global outages of its Gmail and Drive products in March, affecting customers throughout Australia, U.S., Europe, and Asia. Facebook and Instagram also suffered worldwide outages in March, leaving users unable to access popular apps for several hours. Customers expect on-demand access and service; outages weigh heavily on a brand’s reputation as well as its finances. 

Unfortunately, with migration from legacy systems to microenvironments in the cloud, outages and downtime pose a growing and serious problem. Gone is the time when teams could beta test with customers over time to flag real-time bugs. With current quality testing tools, developers often don’t know how a new software version will perform in production or if it even will work in production. The Cloudbleed bug is an example of this problem. In February 2017, a simple coding error in a software upgrade from security vendor Cloudflare led to a serious vulnerability discovered by a Google researcher several months later. Although Cloudflare still worked, the bug meant that it was leaking sensitive data. 

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Australia's Victoria the Latest Government to Push APIs

The Government of Victoria, Australia recently announced an API Gateway and developer portal. The API Gateway allows various Victoria government agencies, and certain third-party sources, to consume and share data in real time. The API portal grants developers access to the API Gateway. Further, through the portal, developers can integrate government data, browse a catalog of government provided/government trusted APIs, and view how government APIs are used.