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Over the past 12 months, I’ve shared hundreds of tools in my newsletter, Web Tools Weekly. I feature tons of practical libraries, helpers, and other useful things for front-end and full-stack developers. These tools span numerous categories, including JavaScript libraries and utilities, web frameworks, CSS generators, database tools, React components, CLI tools, and even ChatGPT and AI-based tools, the latter of which I’ve started covering regularly over the past year.

The 60 tools in this article were some of the most clicked web developer tools in my newsletter in 2023. As you’ll see, most of these are quite practical for front-end and full-stack development, so you’ll likely find lots that you’ll want to bookmark or use in an upcoming project. The list is roughly in reverse order in terms of popularity, so be sure to scroll down to see what the most popular tools of the year were!

Kuma UI

Kuma UI, which describes itself as “the future of CSS-in-JS”, is a headless, utility-first, zero-runtime component library that includes its own CSS-in-JS solution.

What makes Kuma UI different is its hybrid approach that allows for dynamic changes to your styles at runtime while still keeping the performance benefits of zero-runtime CSS-in-JS.

Boxslider

Although the use of carousel components has been discouraged in recent years, they still get asked for by my clients, and developers are always on the lookout for them. Boxslider is one such component.

This carousel, or content slider, includes seven slide transition effects that you can try out on the demo page, including a 3D cube effect, tile flip, and a simple fade.

Effect

Effect is described as “a powerful TypeScript library designed to help developers easily create complex, synchronous, and asynchronous programs.”

The idea behind the effect is to help developers build robust and scalable applications by means of something called structured concurrency, a programming paradigm that allows multiple complex operations to run simultaneously.

HatTip

If you use Express.js for building Node.js apps, you’ll want to check out HatTip. It offers a solution similar to Express.js, but with a more universal approach.

HatTip is a set of JavaScript packages for building HTTP server apps and allows you to write server code that can be deployed anywhere – AWS, Cloudflare Workers, Vercel, and more.

LiveViewJS

LiveViewJS is a simple yet powerful framework for building “LiveViews” in Node.js and Deno. LiveViews were popularized in Elixir’s Phoenix framework and involved moving state management and event handling to the server and doing HTML updates via WebSockets.

This technique allows you to build single-page app experiences with features like fast first paint, real-time and multi-player functionality, no need for a client-side routing solution, and lots more.

Scrollbar.app

Scrollbar.app is a one-stop reference and code generation tool for customizing browser scrollbars. You can live test and adjust the scrollbars directly on the page, then copy the CSS.

The scrollbar code involves using vendor-specific pseudo-elements but also incorporates the future-friendly scrollbar-color.

OpenGPT

OpenGPT is one of many ChatGPT-based tools that have been making the rounds over the past year or so. This one is an open-source AI platform that allows anyone to use and create ChatGPT-based applications.

The main platform for the service itself allows you to search a categorized directory of more than 11,000 ChatGPT apps.

Free Icons

Icon sets always seem to make these end-of-year lists. Free Icons is a generically named set of 22,000+ icons that includes both brand icons and general-use ones.

All are in SVG format, and you can filter by keyword on the home page or grab the whole lot via the GitHub repository.

Materialize

Materialize is an open-source framework of UI components based on Google’s Material Design guidelines.

The project, which includes 20+ categories of components, is a fork of an older project that’s no longer maintained.

qr-code

qr-code is an SVG-based web component that generates an animatable and customizable QR code. There’s an interactive demo page where you can try out the different animation effects.

The resulting QR code is SVG-based, the component has no dependencies, and it is easy to customize.

GradientGenerator

GradientGenerator is an interactive CSS gradient builder that allows you to build advanced layered gradients. You can customize your layered gradient using a whole slew of different settings and features.

The app also allows you to save gradients to your library and even import community-built gradients.

iDraw.js

iDraw.js is a simple JavaScript framework for creating apps that allow Canvas-based drawing.

There are some nice examples in a live playground where you can see the simplicity and ease of use of the API.

VanJS

VanJS is a UI library similar to React but doesn’t use JSX, virtual DOM, transpiling, and so on. The idea is to avoid the overhead of configuration that’s normally associated with using a library like React.

The library claims to be the smallest UI library in the world at under 1kb. It has first-class support for TypeScript and naturally boasts strong performance compared to React, Vue, and so on.

Mamba UI

Mamba UI is the first of multiple Tailwind-based tools that made this year’s list. This is a UI library of 150+ components and templates based on the popular utility-first CSS framework.

The library includes pre-styled components in 40+ categories, and you can quickly grab the code for any component in HTML, Vue, or JSX format.

Termino.js

Termino.js is a dependency-free JavaScript component that lets you add embedded terminal-based animations, games, and apps to web pages.

It’s customizable and makes it easy to build terminal animations like keyboard typing effects. The demo page includes a few simple examples, including an embedded terminal app where the user can get info on any GitHub profile.

SVG Chart Generator

SVG Chart Generator is a beautifully designed chart generator that lets you generate SVG-based charts in line or bar format.

The generator allows you to interactively customize the chart with width/height settings, number of points, smoothness, and more. You can also import your own data points.

PeepsLab

PeepsLab is a simple online tool to customize your own unique illustrated user avatars. You can build your own avatars by cycling through the different options for skin color, hair color, facial hair, accessories, styles for head, face, etc.

Or you can simply hit the “Randomize” button to generate a random avatar before downloading it in PNG format.

Ribbon Shapes

Ribbon Shapes is an online gallery of pure CSS ribbons in just about any ribbon format you can imagine.

The gallery includes more than 100 ribbons, each created with a single HTML element and easy to customize using CSS variables.

big-AGI

big-AGI is a personal GPT-powered app that’s described as “the GPT application for professionals that need function, form, simplicity, and speed.”

It has a responsive, mobile-friendly interface and includes features like AI personas, text-to-image, voice, response streaming, code highlighting and execution, PDF import, and lots more.

Easy Email

Easy Email is a drag-and-drop email editor based on MJML, the popular HTML email authoring framework.

This solution allows you to transform structured JSON data into HTML that’s compatible with major email clients. Includes features for easily customizing blocks, components, and configuring themes.

CSS Components

CSS Components throws its hat into the CSS-in-JS space with this fresh solution, described as “not another styling system.”

This solution is a response to challenges inherent in using CSS-in-JS tools with React Server Components, and the library is inspired by another such tool, Stitches, and promises an improved developer experience.

Toaster

Toaster is an experimental pure CSS 3D editor that allows you to build models using pure HTML with CSS transforms.

The author acknowledges that the tool isn’t too practical and can currently only export/import in JSON format (no CSS export). With improved performance, this could be a useful tool.

Fontpair

Fontpair isn’t a new resource, but it makes this year’s list. It’s a font directory specifically for finding fonts that match well together in your designs.

All the fonts are sourced from Google Fonts, and the pairings are manually curated by the authors.

Breadit

Breadit is a modern, full-stack Reddit clone built with Next.js App Router, TypeScript, and Tailwind.

This is a nice app to learn and experiment with, featuring infinite scroll, NextAuth, image uploads, a feature-rich post editor, nested commenting, and lots more.

Keep React

Keep React is a Tailwind and React-based component library that includes 40+ components and interactive elements.

The components are pre-designed, but all the components are easy to customize using Tailwind classes and are suitable for just about any project.

TW Elements

TW Elements is a massive library of more than 500 Bootstrap components recreated using Tailwind CSS. This is a great option for those already familiar with Bootstrap and looking for a modern alternative.

The library boasts better overall design and functionality compared to the original components in the Bootstrap framework, and you can easily search for components by keyword from the home page.

Autocomplete

Autocomplete is an open-source, production-ready JavaScript library for building customizable autocomplete experiences for form inputs and search fields.

You can easily build an autocomplete experience by defining a container, data to populate it, and any virtual DOM solution (JS, React, Vue, Preact, and so on).

CSS Loaders

CSS Loaders is a huge collection of more than 600 CSS loading animations organized under more than 30 categories.

This gallery includes just about any style of loader you can think of, and you can easily copy/paste the HTML/CSS for any loader with just a click.

Flectofy

Flectofy is an interactive tool that provides an interface that allows you to build unique SVG shapes.

The styles of shapes here are pretty niche, so they wouldn’t be useful in too many contexts, but the way the interface works and the look of the shapes are certainly different.

Picyard

Picyard is an app that generates screenshots with attractive backgrounds for use in mockups, social media posts, and so on.

The image/background tool is free, but the app also includes premium features for generating attractive code snippets, charts, mindmaps, timelines, and lots more.

UI Content

UI Content is described as “the best place to find professional placeholder text.” Includes placeholder text under seven different categories and also includes dummy SVG logos.

The idea here is to avoid typical “lorem ipsum” and use actual content instead to ensure your designs look closer to what the final product will be.

Vessel.js

Vessel.js was one of the more unique projects I discovered over the past year. It’s a JavaScript library based on Three.js, the WebGL library, for conceptual ship design, in other words, building boats.

You can check out a number of examples in a gallery, and there’s also a tutorial that gets you up to speed on best practices for using the library — assuming this happens to be your niche!

Modern Font Stacks

Modern Font Stacks is a resource to help you identify the best-performing font stacks. That is, the stacks are based on pre-installed default OS fonts.

You can choose from specific typographic categories like Traditional, Old Style, Neo-Grotesque, Monospace Code, Handwritten, and more. Again, these are generally fonts that are already available on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android, giving you the best possible support without extra resource requests.

FancySymbol

FancySymbol is a huge repository of ready-to-copy/paste special characters, text symbols, foreign language symbols, and more.

Includes more than 50 categories of symbols and also allows you to create unique and fancy copy/paste-able text like upside-down text or text written in “invisible ink,” among others.

Observable Plot

Observable Plot is a JavaScript library for creating exploratory data visualizations (i.e., “plots”) using SVG-based charts.

The interface for the plots can include specific features like scales, projections, legends, curves, markers, and more. You’ll have to check out the documentation for the lowdown on these different features, which are illustrated using lots of interactive examples.

Washington Post Design System

The Washington Post Design System is a UI kit specifically built for properties associated with the Washington Post, a popular American daily newspaper and news outlet.

Although it is designed for WaPo’s engineers, it’s MIT-licensed and built-in React using Stitches and Radix UI. So, the customizable components and other assets may be of use if you’re using a similar tech stack.

FormSpamPrevention

FormSpamPrevention isn’t a popular project, but it got quite a bit of traction when I shared it this past year. It offers a simple vanilla JavaScript and HTML solution for preventing form spam.

The script is based on using custom HTML tags for form content that gets converted to valid HTML tags.

Chatbox

Chatbox is a native app for Windows, Mac, and Linux that gives you access to an AI copilot on your desktop.

This particular tool isn’t strictly focused on web development, but it taps into various LLM models and can be used as an overall productivity app for all sorts of daily tech-related tasks.

CSS Generators

CSS Generators is not a single tool but a small collection of CSS generators, a popular kind of tool among front-end developers.

I like this set of generators because it has a few kinds you don’t see elsewhere: Two glow generators (for text and elements) and an underline generator.

OS.js

OS.js

Calligrapher.ai

Calligrapher.ai is an online tool for AI-generated handwriting samples that you can download as SVG.

There is no need to “write” anything; just type some text and customize stroke width and legibility, and the AI will do the rest. You can choose from 9 different print and cursive styles before generating the sample.

Clone UI

Clone UI is an AI-based tool that lets you generate UI components with a simple text prompt.

The app includes five free daily credits and includes a showcase of existing UI components generated by users.

Float UI

Float UI is a set of 100+ responsive and accessible UI components with RTL support. Also includes five templates.

The components and templates are built with Tailwind and are easy to customize. You can use them with React, Vue, and Svelte, or you can simply use HTML with Tailwind classes.

Calendar.js

Calendar.js is one of numerous date picker and calendar libraries available. This solution is lightweight and has no dependencies.

It’s fully configurable and includes drag-and-drop for events, exporting features, import from iCal and JSON, and lots more.

PCUI

PCUI is yet another React-based component library that makes a list. This one provides a set of pre-styled components.

There’s a storybook that demonstrates all the basic components, and you can also view a few UI examples that show a few advanced examples in action (a to-do list and an example that keeps a “history” of the UI’s state).

Accessible Color Palette Generator

Accessible Color Palette Generator is a great way to ensure any of your designs start with an accessible set of color choices.

You can generate a random accessible palette or enter any color, and the tool will generate an accessible palette for you based on the color you selected.

Picography

Picography is an alternative to the popular Unsplash and similarly offers high-resolution, royalty-free stock photos.

The photos are categorized and searchable and available for free use in commercial projects.

Mailo

Mailo is a component-based, interactive HTML email layout designer that helps you easily build cross-client and responsive HTML emails.

Mailo includes pre-built components and team features, and the components are designed to work with just about any email client.

Pines

Pines is an aptly named UI component library that’s built with Tailwind and Alpine, the popular JavaScript framework that’s similar to a modern version of jQuery.

Pines includes dozens of components, including animations, sliders, tooltips, accordions, modals, and more.

Park UI

Park UI is a set of beautifully designed components built on top of Ark UI, which itself is a set of accessible and customizable components.

Park UI can help you build your own design system, and the home page includes a neat interactive widget that demonstrates how easy it is to style the components. You can use Park UI with React, Vue, Solid, Panda CSS, and Tailwind.

Iconhunt

Iconhunt is an icon search engine that lets you have access to 170,000+ free, open-source icons.

The icons can be downloaded in various formats, including Notion, Figma, SVG, or PNG, and you can customize the color of any icon you choose before downloading.

Sailboat UI

Sailboat UI is a Tailwind-based UI component library that includes 150+ open-source components.

The components are very Bootstrap-esque, and you can search for and see live previews of the components in the docs.

Shaper

Shaper is a generative design tool for UI Interfaces that allows you to visually fiddle with a number of different interface features to customize your own UI.

It includes settings for custom typography, spacing, vertical rhythm, and so on, after which you can copy and paste the design tokens as CSS variables.

Maily

Maily is an open-source editor that makes it easy to create beautiful HTML emails using a set of pre-built components.

It currently includes components in categories covering buttons, variables, text formatting, images, logos, alignment, dividers, spacers, footers, lists, and quotes, with more on the way.

Realtime Colors

Realtime Colors offers an interactive website that lets you test color palettes and typography on real live UI elements in real-time.

You can use the tool to generate palettes and deep links to a specific palette for sharing with others or demoing interfaces in dark or light modes.

Strawberry

Strawberry is described as a “tiny” front-end framework that offers reactivity and composability with zero dependencies, no build step, and less than 3KB gzipped.

The idea here is not to offer a React or Vue alternative but something you’d use for simpler apps and other low-maintenance projects.

Swap.js

Swap.js is a JavaScript micro-library that uses HTML attributes to facilitate Ajax-style navigation in web pages in less than 100 lines of code.

This is in the same vein as libraries like HTMX and Hotwire, allowing you to replace content on the page by sending requests from the server as HTML fragments.

restorePhotos.io

restorePhotos.io is an open-source tool that uses AI to attempt to restore or correct old, blurry, or damaged photos.

You can deploy your own version locally or use their online tool to restore up to 5 photos per day for free.

Better Select

Better Select is a web component that provides a minimal custom select element, something web developers have been grappling with accomplishing for decades!

This solution offers a fallback option and includes a small set of options via attributes that customize the functionality and look.

Space.js

Interestingly, Space.js ended up being the most-clicked tool in my newsletter the past year.

It’s one of two sibling libraries that are based on Three.js. The main one is for creating “future” UIs and panel components, and the other (called Alien.js) is for 3D utilities, materials, shaders, and physics.

What Was Your Favourite Tool of 2023?

That wraps up this year’s roundup of the hottest front-end tools. I’m sure you’ll find at least a few of these to be of use in a new project in the coming months.

As always, I’m always looking for the latest in tools for front-end developers, so feel free to post your favourites from the past year in the comments, and you can subscribe to Web Tools Weekly if you want to keep up with new stuff regularly!

If you’re a small business owner, you can’t rely on long-established brand awareness or a major advertising campaign to reach your customers. In all likelihood, you’re going to have to do the heavy lifting on your own — and that starts by cultivating a personal brand. 

If people feel more connected to you as a business owner, they’re going to be more likely to trust your business when they need the products or services your industry provides. By establishing authenticity with your target audience, you can build a level of trust that pays off in more ways than one. 

What is personal branding?

Personal branding is about building a connection with your existing and potential customers. And it’s undeniably intuitive. Imagine you need a consultant to help elevate your business. Would you rather hire the detached, impersonal consultant whose backstory is so bare that you have no idea why they’re a consultant to begin with? Or would you rather hire someone who can explain what motivated them to get into the industry, why they’re still passionate, and how they’ve helped businesses like yours in the past?

In this example, the second consultant benefits from strong personal branding. By developing your personal brand, you demonstrate why you’re the perfect person to help your customers. Branding will also increase your credibility, authority, and make your business more visible.

Whether you’re a freelance writer, flower shop owner, or the head of a moving company, creating a personal brand is essential. Customers like to know who they’re working with. So, share your backstory. Show them what a day in your life is like, even if your business is currently a side hustle. Tell them about your successes, share when things go wrong, and explain what motivates you to keep going. 

Customers don’t expect you or your business to be perfect. You’re more relatable when they realize you have flaws just like them. Sharing it all through the lens of a personal brand can help you connect to the people you serve and build customer relationships for life.

8 steps for small business owners to create a personal brand

If you’re ready to improve your personal brand, here are eight steps to get you started.

1. Create a personal narrative

People love connecting with stories. If you share your journey to business ownership and your challenges, your customers can get to know you on a personal level. Many entrepreneurs share their upbringing, what inspires them, and how they get ideas. Don’t be afraid to mention any struggles you’ve overcome or current problems within your industry. People relate to authenticity, and letting your quirks and personality show through is okay.

You can also create personal narratives around each of your products and services. For example, maybe a trip to the zoo with your daughter inspired your new bouquet design. Or, perhaps you started a service specifically because it was something you wish you had when you started your business. These stories can help your customers not only relate to you — but to what you’re selling, too.

2. Understand your customer

When you own a business, it’s important to understand your customers’ needs. Get to know them. Chat with them on social media. Ask them questions. Once you get a deeper understanding of who they are, you can continue to hone your personal narrative in a way that relates to them better.

3. Develop your unique value proposition (UVP)

You have a unique value proposition (UVP) as a business owner. This is your selling point. It’s the reason why your business is the best one to help your customers achieve their goals. Make sure your customers know what those solutions are and why you, with all your knowledge and skills, are the best person to give it to them.

4. Regularly show up online

Whether you own a small or large business, it’s a great idea to show up online with strong social media marketing. Most people don’t expect to get in touch with the company owner when they have a question or a problem. By showing up online, letting folks peek behind the curtain, and being vulnerable, your customers can develop more of a personal connection with you. By being active on social media, you put a face to the company and give your audience a chance to know more about why you started the business and how it can help them.

5. Write a newsletter 

Another way to hone your personal brand is to write a newsletter. Over multiple emails, you can introduce yourself and your brand to every customer who signs up. Take your customers through the journey of starting your business. Tell them things about you only your friends or family know. Share a silly story, a time you messed up, or maybe when things finally clicked for your company. Be personable and shape your brand with every email you send out.

6. Connect with like-minded entrepreneurs

Meeting other entrepreneurs will help you see how other business owners develop their personal brands. You can collaborate with them on social media, or even create products together. Collaborating with like-minded entrepreneurs — whether they have a background similar to yours, or work in a closely related industry — can help you spread your message to more people.

7. Share testimonials

Once you’ve established an online presence and your email newsletter, start asking for testimonials. Testimonials help with your brand because they show how you’ve improved the lives of your customers. New customers might be able to see themselves in those testimonials, and they might convince them to try your products or services. To take them to the next level, include a photo of the customer (with their permission) or ask them to record a video testimonial talking about their experience. Consider offering discounts or bonuses for those who leave an honest review. 

8. Evaluate regularly

Your personal brand will change as you gain experience, overcome challenges, and grow your reputation. Make sure you’re still resonating with customers by auditing your newsletter and social channels each quarter. See what’s working and what’s not. Figure out what type of posts or emails connect with people and which get the most responses. Use that information to help you sharpen your personal brand and reach more people moving forward. Consistent improvement is just as important for small businesses as it is for the wealthiest entrepreneurs. 

The importance of personal branding is here to stay

These days, it’s more important than ever for entrepreneurs to have a personal brand. The practice of excessive formality is going away. Now, customers love to connect with small businesses on a human level — it makes them feel good to know they’re supporting someone who deserves their support. 

Having a personal story, being vulnerable, and interacting with customers can help business owners grow a fanbase and attract new clients and customers. 

Featured Image by Adam Winger on Unsplash

The post Elevating Your Business: The Impact of Personal Branding on Small Business Success appeared first on noupe.

In today’s digitized business environment, providing top-notch customer service is paramount. As competition intensifies, businesses prioritizing customer satisfaction invariably gain the upper hand. This is where the role of proficient customer support tools becomes crucial.

Customer support tools are more than just mechanisms to facilitate customer interaction. They have transformed into crucial game-changers that drive businesses toward operational efficiency, superior customer service, and enhanced profitability. Below are some of the primary benefits that these tools offer modern businesses.

Streamlined Customer Interaction

Efficient customer support tools help businesses to simplify the process of responding to customer queries. With automated response and ticketing systems, your customer support team can manage a large volume of customer interactions with greater efficiency. This approach boosts customer satisfaction levels, fostering stronger trust and loyalty.

Insightful Data Analysis

When it comes to big data, customer support tools offer invaluable insights. By analyzing a myriad of customer interactions, these tools deliver crucial information on customer behavior, needs, and preferences. This data enables businesses to tailor their products and marketing strategies more effectively, fostering customer retention and business growth.

Enhanced Customer Experience

With diverse tools ranging from live chat to AI-driven virtual assistants, customer support tools facilitate real-time, personalized customer interaction. They offer customers instant and comprehensive support, significantly enriching their experience and boosting loyalty.

Boosting Productivity

Customer support tools alleviate the pressure on your service staff by automating routine tasks and managing customer interactions more efficiently. This streamlined process bolsters productivity and team morale while enhancing customer service quality.

Cost Saving

A strong customer support tool can result in notable cost savings over time. Through efficient workflows and reduced time spent on dealing with customer interactions, an intercom alternative delivers more significant productivity at a reduced cost. The increased customer satisfaction and loyalty generated also lead to stronger profitability, making it a worthwhile investment.

24/7 Support

In the global business landscape, customers expect constant support. To meet these expectations, customer support tools integrate AI-powered chatbots and automated response systems. This level of accessibility significantly boosts customer satisfaction and bolsters your brand’s credibility.

Gaining Competitive Advantage

Ensuring superior customer support is an effective strategy for gaining a competitive advantage. Through swift, personalized, and efficient customer service, customer support tools empower your business to differentiate itself and rise above the competition.

How to Choose a Customer Support Tool

A wide selection of customer support tools is available. Unfortunately, most of these tools in the market today are expensive and bloated. Still, we have intercom alternatives that are revolutionizing customer support, minus the high price tag, but you have to choose right. To maximize customer satisfaction in your business, consider the following factors when choosing a customer support tool. 

• Functionality and Features: Ensure the tool offers the necessary features such as live chat, ticketing, integration with other platforms, automation, etc.
• Ease of Use: A user-friendly interface aids effective utilization by your staff, ensuring a smooth process.
• Scalability: Your customer support needs will evolve as your business grows. So, choose a tool that can scale along with your business.
• Pricing: Consider the pricing structure of the tool and ensure it fits within your budget without compromising essential features.
• Customer Reviews and Reputation: Look at user reviews and the tool’s reputation in the market to understand its worthiness.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Why are customer support tools essential for modern businesses?

Customer support tools play a crucial role in enhancing customer satisfaction, driving operational efficiency, and ultimately boosting profitability. In today’s competitive business landscape, prioritizing customer service provides a significant advantage.

2. How do customer support tools streamline customer interaction?

Efficient customer support tools, including automated response and ticketing systems, simplify the process of responding to customer queries. They enable businesses to manage a large volume of interactions with greater efficiency, fostering trust and loyalty.

3. What insights can businesses gain from using customer support tools?

These tools provide invaluable insights through data analysis of customer interactions. Businesses can understand customer behavior, needs, and preferences, allowing for more effective tailoring of products and marketing strategies, leading to customer retention and growth.

4. How do customer support tools enhance the customer experience?

Customer support tools, such as live chat and AI-driven virtual assistants, facilitate real-time, personalized interactions. They offer instant and comprehensive support, significantly enriching the customer experience and fostering loyalty.

5. How do customer support tools contribute to cost savings?

Efficient workflows and reduced time spent on customer interactions lead to notable cost savings. Investing in a robust customer support tool not only improves productivity but also generates increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, resulting in stronger profitability.

6. How do customer support tools provide 24/7 support?

Customer support tools integrate AI-powered chatbots and automated response systems, ensuring constant accessibility. This level of support meets global customer expectations, significantly boosting satisfaction and enhancing the brand’s credibility.

7. How can businesses gain a competitive advantage through customer support tools?

Superior customer support, facilitated by efficient tools, serves as a strategic advantage. Swift, personalized, and efficient customer service differentiates a business and positions it above the competition, ultimately contributing to sustained success.

8. What factors should businesses consider when choosing a customer support tool?

When selecting a customer support tool, consider factors such as functionality, ease of use, scalability, pricing, and customer reviews. Ensuring the tool offers necessary features, is user-friendly, scalable with business growth, fits the budget, and has a positive reputation in the market is crucial for making an informed decision.

9. How do customer support tools contribute to boosting productivity?

Customer support tools automate routine tasks and manage customer interactions efficiently, reducing the workload on service staff. This streamlined process not only enhances team productivity and morale but also ensures the delivery of high-quality customer service.

10. Can customer support tools be customized to meet specific business needs?

Yes, many customer support tools offer customization options to cater to the unique requirements of different businesses. Businesses can tailor features, workflows, and integrations to align with their specific customer service strategies, making the tool adaptable to diverse industries and business models.

The Final Word

Indeed, customer support tools have become indispensable in the current business environment. Their incredible benefits make them a central component of any effective business strategy. With the pace of technological advancement accelerating daily, the importance of these tools is set to grow exponentially. Therefore, investing in a strategic customer support tool today can propel your business toward continued growth and success in the digital age.

Featured image by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

The post The Game-Changing Benefits of Customer Support Tools for Modern Businesses appeared first on noupe.

The role that TikTok plays in influencing trends is undeniable. As the most downloaded app across the globe, TikTok’s stats are topping the charts — and marketers are taking notice. As of 2023, the majority of marketers are incorporating the app heavily into their strategies. Audio marketing is no exception. 

In fact, audio is a large part of why TikTok has become so popular. With its beginnings as the now-defunct app, Musical.ly, TikTok has a stronghold on music-based, short-form video. From dance trends to educational videos with trending sounds, the app has capitalized on its ability to streamline video and audio editing for the casual creator. Learn how to tap into TikTok’s massive influence on the audio industry to promote your products, services, and entire brand.  

Unique Features of TikTok That Shape Audio Trends

The immediacy that TikTok evokes in its users makes the platform stand out. It has the unique ability to prompt users to share snippets of their voice or use songs or other audio to enhance their videos and storytelling capabilities. This evolution of sound has placed audio first and changed how people interact with and create content. 

Popularity

With 1.7 billion people on TikTok, the reach potential is unmatched. While the app has been dominated by primarily Gen Z users, millennials and older generations are increasingly adopting the platform. Targeting this market can help get your audio product or service in front of the right eyes and ears, and TikTok’s unique algorithm can boost your view count faster than other platforms. 

Search Function

TikTok users receive a curated For You page that shows them videos related to their preferences and past behavior. This can place your audio on the home feeds of users who are already interested in audio production. Further, users can search through TikTok sounds when creating videos and save sounds when watching others’ content. Users can also click on the sound and find more information, such as the original creator and all videos created using that sound. This places emphasis on good audio as a community-building tool.

Audio-Focused Trends

With such an audio-forward interface, many of the trends on TikTok are shaped by music or sounds. Some of these trends include:

• Dances to music; 
• ASMR; 
• Storytime videos;
• Comedic soundbites.

Often, users take a popular sound and create a video with a twist on the original. This gives sound creators the possibility to go viral.

User-Friendliness

TikTok gives every user the power to make viral content or, at the very least, audio-visual content that they may not have been able to create before. With the intuitive editing features, TikTokers can add sounds, prerecorded audio, or voiceovers right in the app. This effectively makes everyone an audio artist — and opens up more audio marketing possibilities to a wide audience.

How To Leverage TikTok’s Audio Influence

For audio marketers to use TikTok effectively, you must have a solid understanding of the app’s interface. Start by creating engaging, short-form videos that feature your audio products and services in action. 

Organically Promote Audio Products and Services

You can use TikTok to showcase the unique features and benefits of your audio products and services in a visually appealing way, making sure the content aligns with current trends and challenges. Use TikTok’s search function to find trending sounds that you can apply to relevant videos on your offerings. Engage with your audience through comments, duets, and responses to foster a community around your brand. 

You can even collaborate with TikTok influencers who have a strong presence in the music or audio niche to show your products to their established audience. There is even a TikTok shop feature where users can buy products directly on the platform. You can use any combination of these features to see what works. For instance, you could promote software that cleans up audio by doing a before and after video showing the difference in audio quality it can make. Then, you can run an ad and link directly to your software purchasing page.

Run TikTok Ads

If you want to spend some of your budget on ads, running TikTok ads is a popular way to reach a wider audience and drive targeted social media traffic to your videos that include product offerings. Use the same videos that you created using trending or original sounds when running these ads. 

This way, they can be placed in front of an even more relevant audience since you can tailor the ads to target specific demographics, interests, and behaviors. TikTok’s ad platform provides valuable analytics and performance insights, allowing you to fine-tune your campaigns for maximum impact.

Tap Into User-Generated Content

Reviews have always been important for sales, but TikTok has increased the amount of trust consumers place in other consumers when looking to make a purchase. They look for authenticity in product and service reviews, and they are more adept at spotting fake reviews. For this reason, it’s important to collaborate with influencers by allowing them to post their genuine thoughts about your offerings. Even better, simply inspire user-generated content by creating and showcasing a genuinely good product that creates TikTok buzz all on its own.

Go With the Flow

Regardless of the method you choose to promote your audio products and services on TikTok, it is extra effective to create and inspire authentic content. That is what the platform is built upon. Use your audio products to create the sounds in your posts. You may even create a trending sound by doing so. Keep up with fast-moving TikTok trends to get ahead of the curve. By leveraging TikTok’s audio industry influence strategically, you can effectively promote your products to a highly engaged and creative user base. 

Featured image by Ron Lach

The post TikTok’s Role in Shaping Audio Marketing Strategies appeared first on noupe.

Video is one of the most powerful and engaging forms of content in the digital world. According to a report by Cisco, video traffic has been growing at a compound annual growth rate of 34% and was projected to account for 82% of all internet traffic in 2022. 

However, creating high-quality videos can be time-consuming, expensive, and challenging, especially for small businesses and individuals who lack the resources and skills to produce professional videos.

That’s where AI-generated videos come in. AI video generators can help you create stunning videos for various purposes, such as marketing, education, entertainment, and more, without requiring technical expertise or expensive equipment.

In this blog post, we’ll explore what AI video generators are, how they work, what makes a good AI video generator, and compare the three best AI video generators of 2024.’

What are AI video generators?

AI video generators are online platforms that use artificial intelligence to create videos at scale from text, images, audio, or other input sources. 

They use natural language processing (NLP), computer vision, and deep learning to analyze the input, generate a script, select relevant media, add effects, synthesize speech and audio, and make a video in minutes. 

The result is a realistic and engaging video that can be customized and edited according to your preferences.

AI video generators can help you create various types of videos, such as:

• Product videos
• Explainer videos
• Training videos
• Social media content
• Marketing video assets
• Educational videos
• Social media videos
• Entertainment videos

AI video generators can help you save time, money, and effort in creating videos and improve the quality and effectiveness of your video content.

How AI video generators work

An AI video generator is a powerful tool that uses artificial intelligence to automate the video creation process. Depending on the tool, the process may vary slightly, but generally, it involves the following steps:

Step #1 Input

You provide the input for the video, such as text, images, audio, or a URL. 

The input can be a script, a blog post, an article, a product description, or any other source of information. Some AI video makers include script generators based on large language models like ChatGPT.

Step #2. Analysis

The AI video generator analyzes the input, using natural language processing (NLP) to understand the text’s meaning, context, and tone and computer vision to recognize the objects, faces, and scenes in the images.

Step #3. Generation

The AI video creator then generates a video clip from the input, using deep learning to select relevant media, such as stock footage, images, music, and sound effects, and to create a storyboard, a voiceover, and subtitles. 

The AI video generator also adds effects, such as transitions, filters, and animations, to make the video more appealing and dynamic.

Step #4. Customization

You can customize and edit the video using different video tools provided by the AI video platform. 

You can change the media, voice, text, colors, fonts, logo, etc. You can also add audio files for background music and other elements to your video. You can also add or delete scenes, adjust the duration, and rearrange the order of the video.

Step #5. Export

Once you finish editing your video, you can export and download the video in various formats and resolutions, such as MP4, MOV, AVI, 720p, 1080p, and 4K, producing professional-looking videos every time. 

You can also share the video on social media platforms like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, and Instagram, or embed it on your website or blog.

What makes a good AI video generator?

The best AI video generator depends strongly on your particular use case.

In some cases, you may be interested in quickly editing a video you previously made to remove its background, add visual effects, or transform it into a cartoon, for example.

In other cases, you may be interested in creating a training video from scratch based on an idea you have in your head. These and other tasks require different sets of features, the most important of which are:

#1. Extensive video template gallery

A good AI video generator should offer various customizable video templates for different purposes, such as explainer, marketing, or educational videos. 

Your chosen video editing tools should allow you to customize the template to change the media, the text, the voice, and other elements of the video.

The video templates should also be updated regularly so that you can access the latest trends and styles in video creation.

#2. AI video editing

A good AI video generator should also provide an AI video editor that allows you to edit and enhance your videos using artificial intelligence. This includes performing common tasks such as: 

• Video quality
• Stabilization
• Brightness
• Saturation
• Trimming
• Cropping
• Rotating
• Resizing
• Contrast
• Color

How? Through simple prompts in natural language, generating personalized videos from input text.

The AI video editor should also be able to add effects to your videos, such as transitions, filters, animations, stickers, and emojis, and remove unwanted objects, backgrounds, and noises without using green screens.

#3. Custom AI avatars

Custom-made AI avatars that can act as spokespersons, characters, or instructors in your videos are becoming more common every day in the AI video generator market. You’ll find excellent options like Synthesia io that offer realistic, expressive, and diverse custom avatars to bring your videos to life. 

These AI avatars should be able to lip-sync, gesture, and emote according to your script and should be fully customizable in terms of their appearance, clothing, and accessories.

#4. Audio and speech synthesis in multiple languages

The more modern AI video generators offer audio and speech synthesis in multiple languages. Some allow you to dub an existing video in any language you like, matching your tone, pitch, speed, and accent and lip-syncing your video to the AI-generated speech. 

Some tools also let you add original, royalty-free background music and sound effects to your videos.

With this feature, you can create videos for different audiences and markets in a matter of minutes with the click of a button.

#5. Integrations with other editing tools

Finally, a good AI video generator should also integrate with other editing tools, such as Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Canva, and WordPress, so that you can further edit and optimize your videos using your favorite tools. 

The integrations should be seamless, easy, and fast so that you can transfer your videos between different platforms without losing quality or data.

Comparing the 3 best AI video generators for 2024

Now that you know what makes a good AI video generator, let’s look at the three best AI video generators for 2024. We’ll break down how they compare in terms of features, price, and suitability for different use cases.

#1. Synthesia

Synthesia is an AI video generator that allows you to create videos from text in minutes. You can choose from hundreds of video templates or create your own custom video from scratch. You can also use Synthesia’s AI avatars to deliver your message in a realistic and engaging way.

Top Features

• Natural-sounding TTS voice synthesis in 120+ languages
• Realistic human-like avatars
• AI script generator
• AI video editor

Price

Synthesia offers a free trial to create one video from a 200-word prompt. The paid plans start from $29 per month.

Best for

Synthesia is ideal for creating videos of the best possible quality in various languages with a human touch.

#2. Pictory

Pictory is an AI-powered tool that allows you to create videos from text, images, or URLs in minutes. You can upload your own content or use Pictory’s AI to find relevant content from the web. You can also use Pictory’s AI to edit and enhance your videos and add voiceovers and subtitles.

Top Features

• Auto summarizes long videos
• Text-based video editing tool
• Creates video highlights
• Blog-to-video feature
• Script to video

Price

Pictory offers three paid subscription plans starting from $23 per month up to $119 per month.

Best for

Pictory is ideal for repurposing existing content, such as blog posts, articles, product descriptions, or social media posts, into a video.

#3. InVideo

Like Pictory, InVideo is an AI video generator that allows you to create videos from text, images, or URLs in minutes. 

You can choose from thousands of video templates or create your own custom video from scratch. You can also use InVideo’s AI to add effects, transitions, filters, and animations to your videos and generate voiceovers and subtitles.

Top Features

• Generate entire videos from text prompts.
• Extensive collection of over 6,000 video templates.
• Intuitive video editor.
• Natural-sounding voiceovers in 4+ languages.
• Collaboration and multi-user editing.

Price

InVideo offers a free plan that allows you to create up to 60 videos per month with a watermark and an InVideo logo. The paid plans start from $15 per month and offer more videos, higher resolution, no watermark, and more features.

Best for

InVideo has the largest collection of video templates, with over 6,000 templates, making it ideal for streamlining video production. It’s also ideal for learning to create videos from scratch using AI, free of charge.

3 best AI video generators comparison table

Here’s a summary of the main features, prices, and best use cases of the reviewed AI tools to help you compare the three best AI video generators for 2024. 

You can use this table to find the best AI video generator for your needs quickly.

The importance of AI video generators

AI video generators aren’t just a novelty or a gimmick. They’re powerful and practical tools that can help you create amazing videos in minutes.

AI video generators can help you:

AI’s role in enhancing real-time game aesthetics

AI video generators have revolutionized character design and environment dynamics in PC gaming. In popular games like Fortnite, these advanced tools are instrumental in crafting highly detailed and interactive outfits, offering players an immersive experience.

Take the Fortnite Batman Who Laughs outfit, for instance. AI’s precision and attention to detail enable the rendering of intricate designs, capturing this crossover character’s haunting and iconic appearance. 

Every menacing laugh, terrifying smile, and eerie movement is amplified, blurring the lines between the virtual and real worlds.

This real-time enhancement isn’t just visual. It extends to how characters respond to the environment and players’ actions, making games like Fortnite a playground of endless possibilities. Every session is a unique and captivating experience.

Cutting production times in half or less

Using AI video generators to automate the video creation process helps you bypass time-consuming processes like recording voiceovers, shooting video footage, editing the video, and adding sound and visual effects. 

Doing so allows you to cut your production time in half or less.

Improving marketing ROI

Saving time saves you money, but so does hiring voiceover artists, actors, and professional video editors to make your videos. Using AI video generators, you can create high-quality and engaging videos for your marketing campaigns at a fraction of the cost it’d take you with a more traditional approach, improving your marketing ROI.

For example, when individuals buy used RVs, they often rely on videos to gauge the vehicle’s condition, history, and features. An AI video generator could transform this process, creating simulated videos based on RV specifications, reviews, and history, offering potential buyers an immersive virtual tour. It’s a testament to how AI video technology can be applied in diverse scenarios.

How AI video generators can transform your video creation process

AI video generators aren’t just a novelty or a gimmick. They’re practical AI-powered tools that can help you create amazing videos in minutes without requiring technical expertise or expensive equipment. 

AI video generators can help you step up your content creation, cut production time and costs, improve your digital marketing asset performance, and level up your sales documents and business proposals, among other benefits.

Here’s to outsourcing the heavy lifting of your video creation workflow!

Featured image by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash

The post  Exploring AI Video Generators: A Comparative Overview appeared first on noupe.

Happy New Year to you, and happy new tools! Whether you are a dedicated web tool enthusiast, looking for something specific, or just having a casual browse, welcome to our first collection of 2024.

In this era of rapidly changing fashion, new technology in entertainment has taken the form of an internal driving force that leads our industry unceasingly along a course toward improvement and change. Whether you’re sitting in the convention center or on your family couch at home, watch whatever and however you want: Technology has brought better conditions.

But one thing is for sure, you have to realize. This importance is not only practical. It should be at the highest decision-making level within the media itself. The reason? Lacking it, growth and innovation will be hidden away; the industry can become out of date. So, stay tuned and discover the evolution, impact, and future trends here in this blog.

How did technology evolve in the entertainment industry?

Digital technology in entertainment dates right back to the days of print. During the 17th century, newspapers were popular for spreading information and entertainment. Likewise, the arrival of the printing press created a boom for newspapers, and market conditions started to take shape.

The twentieth century brought another major shift in the realm of entertainment, media, and television cinema. Since television appeared as an entertainment medium, radio has been pushed away by TV to become easily the least used format. Other technical advances help motion pictures to flourish and develop. 

Here, coming to the 21st century, new technology in entertainment and streaming services is laying the groundwork yet again. Today, Netflix and Amazon Prime are changing the way people interact with media. Cable television and movie houses are another victim of other forms of entertainment.

What role does technology play in entertainment today?

Today, the internet has made it possible for content creators to get their products directly into consumer hands rather than traditional cable channels. This democratized the industry and opened opportunities for independent filmmakers, musicians, & designers. Let’s take a look at a few entertainment technology examples.

• Social Media

There are a few examples of new technology in entertainment industry being used to influence social media, such as 3D Bitmojis, Augmented Reality, Instagram influencer videos, and small businesses. Since the transmission is faster and video quality is higher, multimillion-dollar empires can even keep several people closely together at work every day. The world today has become a family, albeit of a global nature.

• Betting and Technology 

Even the sports betting markets have been buying into technological developments, with most going completely online and others switching to 5G services. With 5G, the bet can be laid in seconds. Moreover, sports betting also now has VR and AI systems in place. During the off-season, there are even special sets of games played through an AI-based system that bring bettors back to their stalls.

• Gaming Industry

New technology in entertainment has had a great impact on the gaming industry. Today’s games are full of content, detailed and realistic to the extreme. Gaming today relies enormously on the internet. Most games are designed with multiplayer gameplay in mind. These games allow people anywhere to fight against one another in post-apocalyptic worlds or just play whimsical party games.

• Moviemaking

Without technology, there would be no movies. The more sophisticated it has gotten, the bigger moviemakers can dream. It exposes them to new ideas and allows for bold experimentation. With technologies like Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence backing it up, By 2028, the online video streaming system is expected to be worth a whopping $ 23.98 billion, thanks mainly to an even greater number of consumers. 

• Music Industry

With time evolving so fast, new technology in entertainment has also brought about significant changes in the music industry. A few generations back, you had to buy records if you wanted to listen to music. These days, you can even get the most recorded songs from the comfort of your home. Because of sites like Spotify, many listen to music without owning songs or albums.

In the industries mentioned above, advancements in technology have had many merits and demerits. One thing is clear: the new technology in entertainment has transformed industries more profoundly than ever before- steering us to development and a better tomorrow.

How to use technology in entertainment to your advantage?

If you accept that there is a technology that could enhance or stabilize your position in the market, it’s obvious to make use of such an opportunity. But how do you get it done? First of all, think about technology and its trends as a way to solve your customer’s problems. It’s not something to show off your company; it should be of some use.

Many media and entertainment consulting businesses combine high-tech, design, and entertainment innovatively. Nevertheless, the true difficulty lies in putting trends into practice and integrating them with mainstream business solutions. For example, let’s take services commonly requested by global clients when it comes to integrating technology into entertainment: 

• Content Management.
• Employee Relations Management.
• Employee Engagement Solutions.
• Contractual Sponsorships.
• CRM Lifecycle & Automation.
• Integrated Data Solutions.
• Real-Time Reporting & Analysis.
• Data Conversion Services.

If you have the right approach and apply design thinking, then every trend above can be used in your service. That’s the real creativity of new technology in entertainment because you can develop it all: enterprise application systems, eCommerce applications, mobile and web platforms, data analytics tools, and productivity solutions. 

There’s no value added, nothing that makes it special for either side of the transaction. It becomes one app among thousands of other generic solutions. So, you want to offer real value for your customers? It’s time to think about personalized and custom-made solutions for what you need.

What does the future hold for technology in entertainment?

With advancing digital entertainment technology, the entertainment and media industry will continue changing. The proliferation of virtual and augmented reality means new ways for consumers to enjoy entertainment. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are expected to play an increasingly important role in the creation, dissemination, and promotion of content.

• Streaming Services

The way content is produced has also been transformed by streaming services. Now that Netflix and others are investing heavily in original programming, we’re even seeing more high-quality (or at least binge-worthy) shows of the types geared to specific niche audiences. Thus, this content creation democratization has created new opportunities and broadened the entertainment environment.

• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

When we look at the new technology in entertainment, it is impossible not to consider how AI and machine learning will reshape entertainment. Through AI-based algorithms, content producers can process enormous amounts of data to learn what the audience is looking for and produce tailor-made contents that win over viewers. Machine learning algorithms can examine user data to provide customized entertainment offerings. 

• Blockchain Technology

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum are based on the underlying technology known as blockchain. However, blockchain technology can be used for more than just cryptocurrencies. Blockchain is a distributed ledger providing secure data storage and transmission. Financial services, health care, and supply chain management are but a few of the many possible applications.

• Cloud Computing

With cloud computing as the new technology in entertainment, the data is transferred and stored on distant servers. Cloud computing has completely changed data storage and retrieval. As more and more programs and services take advantage of cloud computing, its rewards seem set to grow by the day. For example, cloud computing can run AI applications such as voice assistants and image recognition services.

Conclusion

The future of new technology in entertainment is far from boring. With these technologies having become commonplace, there are, of course, both benefits and perils. For example, the technology-dependent may suffer from cyberbullying or have their privacy violated. However, technology may result in fewer employment opportunities and greater economic discrepancy. As a society, we must be aware of these dangers yet enjoy all that technology has to offer.

Featured image by Maxim Hopman on Unsplash

The post In What Ways Is New Technology in Entertainment Evolving? appeared first on noupe.

Mind often takes a backseat to work demands, social commitments, and daily responsibilities in the hustle and bustle of our modern lives to grow the business. However, the consequences of being inadequate extend far beyond fatigue and drowsiness. Emerging research sheds light on the intricate relationship between the mind and cognitive function, highlighting the profound impact of insufficient rest on the mind matter in business.

The Cognitive Impact

The human brain is a complex organ orchestrating a symphony of cognitive functions, including memory, and attention. One of the keys to mental fitness is regular, bite-sized doses of those activities that help you to relax, and work towards the best version of yourself, problem-solving techniques, and creativity of mind. plays a vital role in this intricate performance, serving as a time for the brain to consolidate memories, clear out unnecessary information, and rejuvenate its cognitive resources. Those business owners who pay attention to how they are feeling and if the stresses of running a business are getting you down take practical action.

However, the cognitive consequences are palpable when the symphony is disrupted by an inadequate mind matter in business. The term encompasses various mind-related issues, from insufficient duration to poor MInd quality, which can detrimentally affect cognitive processes. The danger to mental health for small business owners who work alone could be that they are isolated. Small business owners have to wear many hats. The uncertain trading environment they also now find themselves within has amplified their potential risk of developing a range of mental issues

Memory and Learning: A Mind in Business

One of the critical cognitive functions deeply influenced by business is memory. The hippocampus, a region of the brain associated with memory consolidation, is particularly active during the different stages. Inadequate disrupts this natural process, impeding the brain’s ability to organize and store information effectively. Different things bring different people joy. Plan in these moments of joy to help you reset your mind. You will be more productive in the long run if you allow yourself this time 

Research has shown that individuals who consistently experience inadequate business struggle with short-term and long-term memory Whether it’s learning new information or recalling past experiences, the cognitive ballet that occurs during business is vital for forming and retrieving memories, healthy lunch, and eating dinner with your family each weeknight. Tick each one off mentally and know you are doing the right thing for your mental fitness. Looking after your mental health is now more imperative than it has ever been. Small business owners, in particular, are more at risk than any other group. Potential risk of developing a range of mental issues meditation you can do once at your desk to help you find these moments of calm. You can remain fit and healthy by paying close attention to your mental state and, watching for the warning signs

Attention and Concentration

Navigating the challenges of daily life requires sustained attention and concentration. An inadequate mind, however, throws these cognitive skills off balance. Some level of stress and anxiety is inevitable for all small business owners. The prefrontal cortex, responsible for executive functions like decision-making and focus, is particularly sensitive to deprivation. Individuals grappling with inadequacy often walk a cognitive tightrope, struggling to maintain attention during tasks and making more errors than their well-rested counterparts. The human brain is a complex organ orchestrating a symphony of cognitive functions. Appointments and counseling from mental health practitioners, help them to rehabilitate themselves. The ability to concentrate becomes a delicate dance, with interruptions from fatigue and mental fogginess.

Problem-Solving and Creativity: In Business

The intricate web of neural connections during Business is crucial for problem-solving and creative thinking. An inadequate mind disrupts these connections, making it challenging for individuals to approach problems with flexibility and find innovative solutions. Practical techniques can be used to protect the mental health of small business owners ensuring you and your business stay healthy. Mind matter in business often takes a backseat to work demands, social commitments, and daily responsibilities in the hustle and bustle of our modern lives to grow the business.

Studies have demonstrated that a well-rested mind is better equipped to think creatively and adapt to changing circumstances. On the contrary, an inadequate mind fosters a cognitive rigidity that stifles creativity and problem-solving abilities, hindering the brain’s capacity to connect disparate pieces of information and other materials to help business owners manage their own and their employees’ mental health. Running a small business is stressful. Managing cash flow, customers, and commercial partners can increase anxiety, which if unchecked, can become a more chronic mental health condition 

Mitigating the Cognitive Impact on Mind

Understanding the cognitive impact in the business of inadequate Mind matter in business underscores the importance of prioritizing rest for optimal brain function. Watching for the warning signs you are under too much pressure. Here are some strategies to mitigate the mental consequences of an insufficient mind :

·     Limit Stimulants: Reduce or eliminate the consumption of stimulants like caffeine and nicotine, especially in the hours leading up to bedtime.

·     Unplug Before Bed: Minimize screen time before bedtime to mitigate the disruptive effects of blue light on melatonin production, promoting a smoother transition into the mind.

·     Regular Exercise: Incorporate regular physical activity into your routine, as it has been shown to impact mind quality and cognitive function positively.

·     Mindfulness and Stress Reduction: Practice mindfulness meditation, deep breathing exercises, or yoga to manage stress and promote emotional well-being.

Conclusion

Mind matter in business plays a role in maintaining cognitive functions. The mental impact of an inadequate mind is a reminder that prioritizing rest is not just a luxury but a necessity for optimal brain function. By understanding the intricate dance between mind and cognition impact in business, individuals can take proactive steps to nurture their minds, fostering cognitive resilience and overall well-being pressure on owner-managers, and how they should protect their mental health. Remember, in mental health, business decisions, and not working at our optimum performance the quality of mind truly matters in the business. A well-rested mind is poised to dance through the challenges of business and daily life with grace and clarity.

Featured image by Lesly Juarez on Unsplash

The post Mind Matters in Business: Exploring the Cognitive Impact appeared first on noupe.

The current landscape of web tooling is increasingly more complex than ever before. We have libraries such as Solid, Vue, Svelte, Angular, React, and others that handle UI (User Interface) updates in an ergonomic fashion. The ever more important topic weighing on developers is the balance and trade-off of performance and usability best practices.

Developers are also blurring the lines between front-end and back-end code. The way we colocate logic and data is becoming more interesting as we integrate and mesh the way they work together to deliver a unified app experience.

With these shifts in ideology in mind, meta-frameworks have evolved around the core libraries in unique ways. To encapsulate the paradigms in which the UI is rendered and create seamless interoperability between our server code and our browser code, new practices are emerging.

While the initial idea of having a “meta” framework was to stitch together different sets of tools in order to build smooth experiences, it is tough to create integrations without making some level of opinionated decisions. So frameworks such as QwikCity, SvelteKit, Redwood, and Next.js went all the way into their own opinionated territory and provided a hard railway to ensure a defined set of conventions.

Meanwhile, others like Nuxt, Remix, and Analog stayed with a more shallow abstraction of their integrations, allowing a mix of their toolings and more easily using resources from the community (Vite is a good example of a tool that is shallowly used by all of them).

This not only produces a lower vendor lock-in to developers but also allows configuration to be re-used in some cases as such decisions are stripped out of opinions in favor of stronger abstractions. SolidStart takes a giant step beyond that into unbiased territory. Its own core is around 1500 lines of code, and the biggest pieces of functionality are provided with a meshing of well-integrated tools.

Modules Over Monoliths

The impetus behind decoupling the architecture completely is to give power to the consuming developer to pick the framework and build it according to their desire. A developer may want to use Solid and SSR, but let’s imagine legacy code has a tight dependency on TanStack Router, while SolidStart and most Solid projects have Solid-Router instead. With a decoupled architecture, it becomes possible to either create an incremental adoption or integration layer so that everything will work tailored to the team’s best benefit.

The decoupled architecture sustaining newer frameworks also empowers the developer for a better debugging experience within and beyond its community. If an issue is encountered on the server, you’re not restricted to the knowledge of a specific framework.

For example, since both are based on Nitro, the Analog and SolidStart communities can now share knowledge with each other. Beyond that, because all of them are based in Nitro and Vite, Nuxt, Analog, and SolidStart can deploy to the same platforms and share implementation details to make each ecosystem grow together. The community wins with this approach, and the library/framework developers win as well. This is a radically new pattern and approach to jointly sharing the weight of meta-framework maintenance (one of the most feared responsibilities of maintainers).

What Is SolidStart Exactly?

SolidStart is built from five fundamental pillars:

1. Solid: the view library that provides rendering abstractions.
2. Vite (within Vinxi): the bundler to optimize code for execution in different runtimes.
3. Nitro (within Vinxi): the agnostic web server created by the Nuxt team and based on h3 with Rollup.
4. Vinxi: the orchestrator, what determines where the runtimes and the code each one has.
5. Seroval: the data serializer that will bridge data from server to browser and back.

1. Solid

Solid as a rendering library has become increasingly popular because of its incredible rendering performance and thin abstraction layer. It’s built on top of Signals, a renewing and modern implementation of the classical Observer Pattern, and provides a series of helpers to empower the developer to create extremely high-performance and easy-to-read code.

It uses JSX and has syntax that is very similar to React, but under the hood, it operates in a completely different manner. Bringing the developer closer to the DOM while still providing the needed ergonomics to be productive in the developer environment. At only 3Kb of bundle size, it’s often a choice even for mostly static sites. e.g., many people use Solid to bring interactivity to their content-based Astro websites when needed.

Solid also brings first-class primitives, built-in Control Flow components, high-quality state management, and full TypeScript support. Solid packs a punch in a small efficient package.

2. Vite

Arguably the best bundler in the JavaScript ecosystem, Vite has the right balance between declarative and customizable configuration. It’s fully based on TypeScript, which makes it easy to extend by the consuming library or framework, and has a large enough user base that guarantees its versatility. Vite works with and has become the de-facto tool for many frameworks, such as Astro, Vue, Preact, Elm, Lit, Svelte, Nuxt, Analog, Remix, and many others.

Aside from its popularity, it is particularly loved for its fast server start time, HMR support, optimized builds, ease of configuration, rich plug-in ecosystem, modern tooling, and high-quality overall developer experience.

3. Nitro

A framework in itself, Nitro is written in TypeScript and is completely agnostic and open for every meta-framework to use as a foundation. It provides a powerful set of tools and APIs to manage caching, routes, and tree-shaking. It is a fast base for any JavaScript-based project to build their server on. Nitro is highly scalable, integrating easily into DevOps and CI/CD pipelines, security-focused, robust, and boasts a rich set of adapters, making it deployable on most, if not all, major vendor platforms.

Think of Nitro as a bolt-on extension that makes Vite easier to build on and more pliable. It solves a majority of run-time level concerns that would need to be solved in Vite.

4. Vinxi

Vinxi is an SDK (Software Development Kit) that brings a powerful set of configuration-based tools to create full-stack applications. It composes Nitro under the hood to establish a web server and leverages Vite for the bundling components. It is inspired by the Bun App API and works via a very declarative interface to instantiate an app by setting routers for each runtime.

For example:

import { createApp } from "vinxi";
import solid from "vite-plugin-solid";

const resources = {
    name: "public",
    mode: "static",
    dir: "./public",
};

const spa = {
    name: "client",
    mode: "build",
    handler: "./app/client.tsx",
    target: "browser",
    plugins: () => [solid({ ssr: true })],
    base: "/_build"
}

const server = {
    name: "ssr",
    mode: "handler",
    handler: "./app/server.tsx",
    target: "server",
    plugins: () => [solid({ ssr: true })],
}

export default createApp({
    routers: [resources, spa, server],
});

As resource routes work as a bucket, by defining mode: "static" there’s no need to define a handler. Your router can also be statically built (mode: “build”) and targeted towards the browser runtime, or it can be on the server and handle each request via its entry-point handler: "./app/server.tsx".

Vinxi will leverage the right set of APIs from Nitro and Vite so your resources aren’t exposed to the wrong runtimes and so that deployment works smoothly for defined platform providers.

5. Seroval

Once routers are set, and the app can handle navigation (hard navigation via the “ssr” handler and soft navigation via the “client” handler), it’s time to stitch them together. This is the part where SolidStart’s core comes into place. It supplies APIs that deliver the ergonomics to fetch and mutate requests.

All these APIs are powered by yet another agnostic library called Seroval. In order to send data between server and client in a secure manner, it all needs to be serialized. Seroval defines itself in an over-simplistic way: “Stringify JS Values.” However, this definition doesn’t address the fact it does so in an extremely powerful and fast fashion.

Thanks to Seroval, SolidStart is able to safely and efficiently cross the serialization boundary. Resource serialization is arguably the most important feature of a full-stack framework — without it, the back-end and front-end bridge simply won’t work in a smooth way.

Besides resource serialization, SolidStart can also use server actions. Straight from the documentation, this is how server actions look for us (note the "use server" directive that allows Vinxi to put the code in the correct place.

import { action, redirect } from "@solidjs/router";

const isAdmin = action(async (formData: FormData) => {
  "use server";
  await new Promise((resolve, reject) => setTimeout(resolve, 1000));
  const username = formData.get("username");
  if (username === "admin") throw redirect("/admin");
  return new Error("Invalid username");
});

export function MyComponent() {
  return (
    <form action={isAdmin} method="post">
      <label for="username">Username:</label>
      <input type="text" name="username" />
      <input type="submit" value="submit" />
    </form>
  );
}

Everything Comes Together

After this breakdown, things may still be a bit up in the air. So, let’s close the loop by assembling the parts:

Hopefully, this little exercise of pulling the framework apart and putting the pieces back together was interesting and insightful. Let me know in the comments below or on X if this has helped you better understand or even choose the tools for your next project.

Final Considerations

This article would not have been possible without the technical help from my awesome folks at Solid’s team: Dave Di Biase, Alexis Munsayac, Alex Lohr, Daniel Afonso, and Nikhil Saraf. Thank you for your reviews, insights, and overall making me sound cleverer!

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