mrc's Cup of Joe Blog

Join us in exploring the world of modern development, evolving technologies, and the art of future-proof software

Year: 2013

Weekly recap: 7 traits of effective programmers, most common mobile development trap, and more…

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EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on traits of effective programmers, the most common mobile development trap, and more. I hope you find them useful:

The most common mobile development trap
Are you considering creating mobile versions of your apps or site for your users? That’s a good idea. But, be careful: This article explains one such solution that often seems like the easiest approach…but it’s actually the worst option. …

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6 strategic development questions that many overlook

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EducationI’ve noticed a lack of long-term, strategic thinking in the business application development world. Many businesses build applications for current needs, but ignore the future.

It usually goes something like this: A manager says, “I need an application that does X, Y, and Z. When can we have it?” The developers rush through the project, deliver the application, and everyone’s happy.

Or, at least they’re happy for a year or so. Then the business changes, technology advances, and new trends roll around. Now, the application must also support A, B, and C. But it can’t. It wasn’t built for change. It wasn’t built for the future.

Now what happens? They need new apps. All of the previous work is now wasted because they didn’t build the initial app with the future in mind.

That leads to the obvious question: “How do you build applications for the future?” How do you build applications that adapt to change?

The answer: It starts with asking the right questions from the get-go. Ask strategic, long-term questions before you build your applications. To give you an idea of what to ask, I’ve come up with a short list of strategic questions to consider before building a business web application. While I’m sure there are others, these are all key questions which will help you build applications that last: …

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How to create home screen icons for your mobile web apps

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EducationDuring a recent conference, we spoke with one attendee who bemoaned the fact that mobile web apps don’t offer home screen icons (like native apps do). Our response: Of course they do! You just need to create the icon and put it in the correct location. It’s really no different than creating a native app icon. After all…regardless of application type, the developer must still create an icon.

Here’s the best part: Creating home screen icons for your mobile web apps is really easy! If you’d like to learn how, we’ve written up a short tutorial, which you can find right here: How to create home screen (web clip) icons for your mobile web apps.

One more thing: I’ve noticed much confusion surrounding the differences between native apps and mobile web apps. For those of you still unclear about the differences between the two, here’s a white paper you’ll want to read. It outlines the differences between each mobile app option, and explains why the native approach is usually the wrong choice for business.

Weekly recap: 10 critical ERP upgrade mistakes, evolution of enterprise software, and more…

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EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on critical ERP upgrade mistakes, the evolution of enterprise software, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Evolution of enterprise software
Enterprise applications are changing. Giant, confusing enterprise apps are being replaced with simple, web-based applications. Companies who still use outdated enterprise apps must figure out a way to transition to modern web apps without disrupting business. …

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7 major web development trends of the next 5 years

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EducationDriven largely by the rise of mobile computing, web development has evolved dramatically over the last 5 years. Just think: Five short years ago, we developed web applications for use on a PC. Now, we develop applications for multiple devices.

While I could list many more ways web development has changed in the last few years, I’d like to instead focus on the future. How is web application development changing? What big trends will shape web development over the next 5 years?

I’ve compiled a list of trends that I believe will shape web application development in the coming years, which includes both my own predictions and predictions from others. While I don’t consider this a comprehensive list, I do believe that each of these trends will affect web development in the coming years.

One more thing: As this is a business-focused blog, the trends below are geared primarily at business application development…though most of them apply to development in general. Of course, if you think I forgot any major trends, please feel free to add them in the comments. …

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Workflow application demo

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EducationA couple of months back, we released a powerful new m-Power feature: Event-triggered messaging. In short, it lets your applications deliver email or sms messages on a pre-determined schedule, or based on application events.

Now, you can use this feature in all sorts of ways–from running and emailing reports on a scheduled basis to automatically corresponding with customers and everything in between. Really, you’re only limited by your imagination.

Today, I’d like to show you one very powerful use for event-triggered messaging: Workflow applications! That’s right, this new feature lets you create new workflow applications, or even add workflow elements to your existing applications.

Rather than try to explain it, we’ve put together this short workflow application demo video. Hopefully, it will give you a better idea of what’s possible, and even spark some ideas of your own. Enjoy!

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Workflow application demoRead More »

Weekly recap: 6 traits of successful CIOs, how IT departments waste time, and more…

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EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on traits of successful CIOs, how IT departments waste time, and more. I hope you find them useful:

PHP is the right tool for the job (for all the wrong reasons)
This “Pro-PHP” post highlights the big reason why PHP is so popular: It works, out of the box, for people who don’t know what they’re doing. While I understand how that would attract a large user base, it sure doesn’t sound like a language I want to build a business on. …

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How to build applications your users will hate

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EducationIT departments are often frustrated by poor application adoption. They spend months building applications for their end users, only to see low adoption rates upon completion. The very users that begged the IT department for the application don’t use it once it’s built.

Why? What causes low user adoption? What makes users dislike an application that they themselves begged the IT department to deliver?

While there’s no single answer, user adoption problems typically stem from several common mistakes. Which mistakes? We posed this question to a few experts and have included their advice (along with some actionable takeaways) below. User adoption problems usually occur when developers…
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3 reasons to move your spreadsheets to the web (and how to do it)

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EducationEveryday, thousands of employees put their companies at risk through spreadsheet misuse. For example, some use spreadsheets to maintain critical business data. Others go even further, and distribute those spreadsheets to multiple users across different departments. Others go further still, and even base business decisions off of these spreadsheets.

If that’s happening in your company, here are two articles you’ll want to read: This article references a study that uncovered a shocking statistic on spreadsheet errors. This website highlights real-life business problems caused by spreadsheet errors.

So, what can you do about spreadsheet misuse? What’s the alternative to spreadsheets? The answer: Put that data in a database, and build web applications over the database. Here are three reasons why that approach is better than spreadsheets: …

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Weekly recap: 2013 IT salary survey, tech trends for developers, and more…

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EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on the 2013 salary survey, tech trends for developers, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Long term tech trends developers need to know
I particularly liked the author’s take on the mobile market in this article: “The mobile market is a merciless meat grinder, a never-ending battle for vendors, consumers, and developers.” He makes a great point. With all of the turnover in the mobile market, we can’t possibly know which platform or device will be popular in even two years time. Kind of makes native app development seem a little risky from a business standpoint… …

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