Servage Magazine

Whenever you are building something for a web project, you are likely to do something which has already been done. Maybe not exactly in the variation you are working on, but usually following some of the same principles  some other solution already has. Imagine if all that knowledge and code could be shared efficiently, so you would never have the need to reinvent the wheel? Obviously that is not going to happen anytime soon, but there are resources available already, which make coding a lot smoother for web developers. Libraries and frameworks The most commonly used code is available through a wide range of great and popular libraries and frameworks. These packages include common functionality ...

Intelligent homes are spreading across the globe, and many people start getting smart appliances without even knowing it. Examples are WiFi connected televisions, alarms, sensors, heating controls and lighting. Specifically for lighting there are a few LED systems available with good quality of light, both with warm and cold white light, and also color light. One of those systems is Philips Hue, which offers a range of bulbs, lamps and stripes powered by LED. They are connected via a controller, which in turn is connected to your home network. This facilitates that you can control your light system via apps. However, it does not stop there. Philips has made the Hue system ...

In previous articles the usage of the Laravel PHP framework was described up to the point of setting up the framework and getting a basic controller running via a HTTP route. This is the basis for getting anything working via a browser request to a Laravel powered website. However, requests can include much more information than the simple URL. Many kinds of data could be passed, depending on your use case. For example it could be cookie information used for user login handling or shopping cart storage, post form data for user submitted information, or get parameters to manipulate information display on the given page. All this information is available in ...

Staying in touch with your users is key to long-term success for any web project. The goal is to provide users a service which updates them on relevant information, while your real goal is usually to generate more traffic to your site - either for pageviews/ad displays or new orders/purchases. Sending the right newsletter to the right recipients can make a great difference, however, only if perceived well by your users. Simply spamming as many email addresses you can get your hands on will not help you. That tactic usually backfires and generates more trouble than good. Sending to the right recipients Generally speaking you should send newsletters to selected users instead of all ...

Laravel is based on a variation of the MVC pattern. It stands for Model, View, Controller. The theory says that a system should encapsulate its underlying data logic in models (reflecting a database record, like a user or a post), while the application logic is placed in controllers (the response handler for a given request, like handling a login og submitting a post). Lastly views are the HTML (or other output format) representation needed to create the visuals. Following this pattern in Laravel, you need to create controllers that are being executed based on a given request. That means you configure a route to use that controller. You can have multiple rules ...

Prototyping in web development is the process of creating prototypes of a software application, interface or functionality - without actually building the product. This process provides a visual mockup, overview and basic understanding of the functionality in order to make adjustments easier.. Prototypes are also a great tool to get a more precise overview of a project before starting the actual development. Many details are often only revealed during prototyping, which then gives the opportunity to change plans. Realizing major conceptual problems too late may cause projects to get delayed significantly - or even fail. You can do prototyping by simply drawing interfaces on paper. That is the most basic way of ...