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What you can incorporate in a website design can have a definite impact on its performance and by extension on your business. What you are actually able to incorporate into that same website design depends heavily on the WordPress theme you choose.

When you are in the process of selecting a WordPress theme you quite naturally become familiar with all the design aids, tools, and other features a given theme has to offer. The more features a theme has, the more it should be able to do for you. But will that be enough?

At some point, you need to address two key questions. First, does the theme allow you to create a website that makes a strong first impression? Second, will it ensure your website is future-ready? For the latter, it’s essential to choose a theme that is continuously improved and updated.

Our experts have selected these 9 incredible WordPress themes for 2025 for your consideration. Each one is fully capable of helping you build a website that not only attracts visitors but is also future-ready.

1. UiCore Pro: The Only WordPress Theme You’ll Ever Need

Short Description: A true powerhouse for WordPress.

Click the video to explore UiCore Pro’s most downloaded template.

UiCore Pro invites you to discover its expanding collection of ready-made websites, perfect for launching your next design project. Any ready-made website can be accessed in one-click, plus you can mix-and-match sections, and adapt the results to your branding in no time.

Slate is an outstanding example of a UiCore Pro ready-made website. Slate provides the ideal foundation for setting up a starter company’s one-page informative website. Slate ranks among UiCore Pro’s top 10 most downloaded demos in 2024.

Other UiCore Pro features you’ll fall in love with include:

• Over 250 traffic-generating widgets designed to remove the need for extra plugins.
• The Admin Customizer enables users to customize the admin panel to their liking.
• The Theme Builder provides complete control over your site’s static elements, while the Next-Gen Theme Options ensure full customization of the website’s look and feel.
• 250+ traffic-generating widgets designed to minimize or even eliminate the need for additional plugins.
• A White Label capability for those who want to customize UiCore PRO to fit their brand.

Key UiCore Pro clients include Startups, Online Shop owners, SaaS providers, Agencies, and Architects.

Updates & New Content Releases: New demos and pre-built websites are added every month to the 60+ pre-built website library.

Product Rating: 4.6/5

Readily Accessible support materials: YouTube videos, Support manual. Our response time for user assistance requests is only a few hours.

Explore UiCore Pro

2. Betheme: The Biggest WordPress & WooCommerce Theme with 700+ Pre-built Websites

Short Description: With its hundreds of WordPress pre-built sites and handful of builders Betheme gives you everything you need to design lightning-fast, feature-rich websites, and shops with ease.

Click the video to explore Betheme’s most downloaded template.

A Betheme prebuilt website allows you to have a fully loaded website up and running in less than a minute. With just a few hours of customization, your website will be ready to launch. That’s even true for more complex websites, as long as you have your content readily available.

A long-standing favorite among users is Betheme’s library of 700+ pre-built websites, all accessible with just a single click. Betheme’s Be Business pre-built website ranked among the top 10 downloaded demos of 2024 for a good reason. It offers an excellent design approach for advertising a new business, particularly a service-oriented one.

Additional features include a wealth of super-fast builders like:

• Be Builder: which has been completely rewritten to be faster than ever and WooBuilder together with more than 40 WooCommerce demos makes it easy to create a web store at your fingertips.
• a Header Builder, a footer Builder, a WooCommerce Builder for sellers, a Popup Builder, and a Query Loop Builder for Developers.

Include multiple customizable layouts for your portfolio, blog, and shop pages and you are still at the tip of the iceberg.

New pre-built websites and demos are released monthly.

Readily Accessible support materials: Support documentation along with an extensive library of Video Tutorials.

Explore Betheme

3. Blocksy: fast and lightweight WordPress theme for Gutenberg and page builders

Short Description: Blocksy is responsive, WooCommerce ready, SEO optimized and has many customization options.

Click the video to explore Blocksy’s most downloaded template.

Blocksy’s remarkable feature is a Header Builder together with accompanying header elements you can use to design a header designed precisely to your specifications.

Additional standout features include:

• WooCommerce features designed for shop owners.
• A popup content block designed for marketers.
• A library of design templates.
• A White Label option for developers, along with features designed to easily extend existing functionality.

Have you ever experienced “designer’s block” trying to start a new project? The e-Bike Starter Shop template might be just what you need to get started, whether your business involves e-bikes or something totally different. There are many other popular sites worth exploring, and new pre-built websites are added every month.

Readily Accessible support materials: The average support ticket resolution time is under 24 hours.

Product Rating: 4.97/5 on WordPress.org

User Review: I’m using Blocksy with the premium extension since December 2020 and so far the experience has been really positive. Found some bugs, but they were successfully squashed by the extremely helpful support team. How they keep adding helpful features and extensions is great and definitely not standard in the WordPress world.

Explore Blocksy

4. Litho: Creative & Responsive Multipurpose Elementor WordPress Theme

Short Description: Litho WordPress theme is an all-around versatile and robust choice for those who want to create a professional website.

Click the video to explore Litho’s most downloaded template.

Litho is a creative multi-purpose Elementor WordPress theme you can use to create any type of business niche website, blog, plus portfolio, and eCommerce sites.
Litho features 300+ single-click importable templates you can customize to fit your specific needs. For example, Litho’s Journey to The Self through Meditation template features a straightforward approach with some clever special effects. In short, as a basis for website design it opens up all sorts of possibilities.

Additional features of Litho include:

• Ready access to the WordPress Customizer and and a variety of custom Elementor widgets for seamless customization.
• A selection of 37+ ready-to-use home pages and over 200 creative elements.
• Compatibility with most free and premium plugins, including WooCommerce. The premium Slider Revolution plugin is included.

Readily Accessible support materials: The average response time for support tickets is less than 24 hours. Immediate assistance is available through online documentation, a quick start guide, and comprehensive installation and update guidelines.

User Review: Very good response time and help in resolving situations. We are very satisfied. Good customer support.

Explore Litho

5. Uncode: a Pixel-perfect Creative WordPress Theme

Short Description: Uncode is designed with pixel-perfect attention to all details.

Click the video to explore Uncode’s most downloaded template.

Uncode is one of the top-selling creative themes of all time. People keep returning to use Uncode for more projects because of the results they can achieve.

A host of other design aids are at the ready, but it’s the demos that serve as the foundation and inspiration, ensuring projects get off to a successful start. Uncode’s Shop Bold demo, featuring clever hover effects, ranks among the 10 most downloaded demos for 2024.

Check out several of these demos to get an even better picture of the ideas and inspirations that await you. New demos and pre-built websites are released every 3 to 6 months.

Uncode’s other standout features include –

• An upgraded Frontend Page Builder with an accompanying selection of 85 design modules.
• Advanced professional features like the Dynamic Contents and Content Block.

• A Wireframes plugin with access to more than 750 wireframes.
• A host of design elements and options.

Free and reliable updates are consistently released to meet customer needs and preferences.

Product Rating:  4.89/5

Readily Accessible support materials: Narrated video tutorials are available, along with a dedicated support group on Facebook. Uncode also offers customer support with ticket resolutions typically under 24 hours.

User Review: I don’t know what is better. The theme or the support. The theme is very nice and the support is rapid fast! Well done!

Explore Uncode

6. Avada: the #1-Selling Theme for WordPress

Short Description: Avada is a versatile and powerful website builder for WordPress and WooCommerce that works for beginners, marketers, and professionals.

Click the video to explore Avada’s most downloaded template.

Avada is fully responsive, SEO and speed-optimized, WooCommerce-ready, and an excellent choice for both first-time web designers and seasoned developers managing multiple clients. It has been called the Swiss Army Knife of WordPress themes.

Whether you’re creating a simple one-page business website or a bustling online marketplace, Avada provides a wealth of powerful tools and plugins for building websites that include –

• Fusion Builder, Fusion Slider, a Shortcode Generator, a Mega Menu, and more
• Fusion Page and Theme Options include over 50 design elements, allowing you to customize virtually anything and everything.
• 400+ pre-built web pages, more than 120 design and layout elements, and 40+ one-click importable customizable demos.

With over 750,000 satisfied clients, Avada has earned its place as an all-time best-seller among WordPress themes.

Updates & New Content Releases: Free lifetime updates.

Product Rating: 4.77 /5

Readily Accessible support materials: Comprehensive documentation, an extensive video library, and exceptional assistance from Avada’s Customer Support team.

User Review: Has many options to adjust post information! I like it a lot!

Explore Avada

7. Total Theme: a Complete Theme with All the Features Needed to Create an Outstanding Website

Short Description: Total is a WordPress theme optimized for WPBakery, offering exclusive features, unique elements, and enhancements you won’t find anywhere else.

Click the video to explore Total’s most downloaded template.

With its unmatched flexibility and efficient, time-saving features, Total can handle any website design project you throw at it.

For example:

• The WPBakery page builder. The page builder that Total’s developers consider to be superior to any other used on WordPress.
• 90+ WPBakery patterns, 100+ builder elements, and 50+ premade demos.
• Built-in compatibility with both Elementor and Gutenberg.
• Tons of builder elements, boxed and full-width layouts, custom backgrounds, mobile menu styles, dynamic layout templates, animations, etc.

Total’s demos provide an excellent starting point for your projects, offering a quick launch option while also serving as valuable sources of inspiration. Total’s Bryce demo provides a strong foundation for a one-page introductory site to a startup business.

Product Rating: 4.86/5

User Review: The Total Theme is really great. Very flexible to use, and the author, AJ, has gone to great pains to integrate his other plugins to work seamlessly with Total and also to open additional features when used together. It is a really great ecosystem that is being built. The support for this theme is, in a word, unbelievably-incredibly-awesome.

Explore Total

8. Woodmart: an Ultrafast, Easy to Use WooCommerce Theme

Short Description: Begin with one of WoodMart’s pre-built websites and customize it to your needs using the powerful Elementor and WPBakery plugins.

Click the video to explore Woodmart’s most downloaded template.

Whether you’re building a small store, a high-volume shop, or a multivendor marketplace, size doesn’t matter – WoodMart provides everything you need for success.

Woodmart demos can be used to design websites for any type or niche, but Woodmart offers much more than just shops, product sales, and furniture. Woodmart’s Pottery demo for a pottery workshop or class can be customized to fit a variety of uses. But that is what you can expect from Woodmart, even though you need to provide your own content!

• Since Woodmart is a WooCommerce theme, it allows you to build your store without requiring additional plugins.
• Woodmart’s key feature is its custom shop layout builder, offering client-focused options like “Dynamic Discounts” and “Frequently Bought Together”.
• Custom features for clients include a White Label option designed for developers and seamless social integrations tailored for Marketers.

Updates & New Content Releases: New pre-built websites and demos are released monthly.

Explore Woodmart

9. Pro Theme + Cornerstone Builder: Redefining Advanced Website Building

Short Description: Pro Theme with its powerful Cornerstone feature gives you website building at its very best.

Click the video to explore Pro Theme’s most downloaded template.

Pro Theme’s key feature is its continuous stream of updates and new features, offering more than you’ll find with any other WordPress theme. In 2024 alone, Pro Theme released 27 updates, including –

• Comprehensive Suite of Builders – includes Page, Header and Footer builders, along with Layout Builder, Blog Builder, Shop Builder, and much more.
• Design Cloud – a collection of premium design assets.
• Max – A curated collection of premium plugins, templates, and custom-designed websites created by a top personal brand agency known for crafting websites for leading brands and celebrities.

When it comes to custom-designed websites, are you planning to open or advertise a Spa? Perhaps not, but this short but sweet Pro Theme demo gives you a taste of how easy it might be to customize it to perfectly fit your own planned business niche.

Updates & New Content Releases: New updates are released every two weeks.

Readily Accessible support materials: a forum, a support manual, and collection of YouTube tutorial videos.

Explore Pro Theme

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It’s almost guaranteed that any of these 9 incredible WordPress themes has all the tools you need to create a stunning, future-proof website. However, we recommend taking the time to explore each option to find the one that feels most intuitive to use or helps you achieve your goals with greater ease.

Rather than listing every possible feature you might need, we’ve concentrated on highlighting the key points in the theme summaries. When you explore specific themes, you’ll find it simple to gain a clear understanding of how they can meet your needs.

WordPress Theme	Quick Overview
UiCore PRO	Intuitive interface with premium design packs
Betheme	Integrated tools for SEO optimization
Blocksy	Best for visually stunning WooCommerce sites
Uncode	Dynamic theme with creative features
Avada	Comprehensive tools for website customization
Litho	Tailored for photographers and designers
Woodmart	Offers multi-language support out of the box
Pro Theme + Cornerstone Builder	Enhanced for marketing-focused designs
Total Theme	Flexible layouts with drag-and-drop editor

 

(This is a sponsored post.)

It’s probably no surprise to you that CSS-Tricks is (proudly) hosted on Cloudways, DigitalOcean’s managed hosting arm. Given both CSS-Tricks and Cloudways are part of DigitalOcean, it was just a matter of time before we’d come together this way. And here we are!

We were previously hosted on Flywheel which was a fairly boutique WordPress hosting provider until WP Engine purchased it years back. And, to be very honest and up-front, Flywheel served us extremely well. There reached a point when it became pretty clear that CSS-Tricks was simply too big for Flywheel to scale along. That might’ve led us to try out WP Engine in the absence of Cloudways… but it’s probably good that never came to fruition considering recent events.

Anyway, moving hosts always means at least a smidge of contest-switching. Different server names with different configurations with different user accounts with different controls.

We’re a pretty low-maintenance operation around here, so being on a fully managed host is a benefit because I see very little of the day-to-day nuance that happens on our server. The Cloudways team took care of all the heavy lifting of migrating us and making sure we were set up with everything we needed, from SFTP accounts and database access to a staging environment and deployment points.

Our development flow used to go something like this:

• Fire up Local (Flywheel’s local development app)
• Futz around with local development
• Push to main
• Let a CI/CD pipeline publish the changes

I know, ridiculously simple. But it was also riddled with errors because we didn’t always want to publish changes on push. There was a real human margin of error in there, especially when handling WordPress updates. We could have (and should have) had some sort of staging environment rather than blindly trusting what was working locally. But again, we’re kinduva a ragtag team despite the big corporate backing.

The flow now looks like this:

• Fire up Local (we still use it!)
• Futz around with local development
• Push to main
• Publish to staging
• Publish to production

This is something we could have set up in Flywheel but was trivial with Cloudways. I gave up some automation for quality assurance’s sake. Switching environments in Cloudways is a single click and I like a little manual friction to feel like I have some control in the process. That might not scale well for large teams on an enterprise project, but that’s not really what Cloudways is all about — that’s why we have DigitalOcean!

See that baseline-status-widget branch in the dropdown? That’s a little feature I’m playing with (and will post about later). I like that GitHub is integrated directly into the Cloudways UI so I can experiment with it in whatever environment I want, even before merging it with either the staging or master branches. It makes testing a whole lot easier and way less error-prone than triggering auto-deployments in every which way.

Here’s another nicety: I get a good snapshot of the differences between my environments through Cloudways monitoring. For example, I was attempting to update our copy of the Gravity Forms plugin just this morning. It worked locally but triggered a fatal in staging. I went in and tried to sniff out what was up with the staging environment, so I headed to the Vulnerability Scanner and saw that staging was running an older version of WordPress compared to what was running locally and in production. (We don’t version control WordPress core, so that was an easy miss.)

I hypothesized that the newer version of Gravity Forms had a conflict with the older version of WordPress, and this made it ridiculously easy to test my assertion. Turns out that was correct and I was confident that pushing to production was safe and sound — which it was.

That little incident inspired me to share a little about what I’ve liked about Cloudways so far. You’ll notice that we don’t push our products too hard around here. Anytime you experience something delightful — whatever it is — is a good time to blog about it and this was clearly one of those times.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Cloudways is ideal for any size or type of WordPress site. It’s one of the few hosts that will let you BOYO cloud, so to speak, where you can hold your work on a cloud server (like a DigitalOcean droplet, for instance) and let Cloudways manage the hosting, giving you all the freedom to scale when needed on top of the benefits of having a managed host. So, if you need a fully managed, autoscaling hosting solution for WordPress like we do here at CSS-Tricks, Cloudways has you covered.

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A Few Ways That Cloudways Makes Running This Site a Little Easier originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

Google’s Willow quantum computer presents both revolutionary opportunities and significant risks, particularly by threatening to disrupt systems that secure modern digital infrastructure. Designers must urgently rethink how to build future-proof systems, balancing innovation with the challenges of quantum-level security threats.

Illustration has been used for 10,000 years. One of the first ever recorded drawings was of a hand silhouette found in Spain, that is more than 66,000 years old. Fast forward to the introduction of the internet, around 1997, illustration has gradually increased in use. Popular examples of this are Google’s daily doodles and the Red Bull energy drink, both of which use funny cartoon illustrations and animations to great effect.

Typically, illustration was done using pencils, chalk, pens, etchings, and paints. But now everything is possible — you can do both analog and digital or mixed media styles.

As an example, although photography might be the most popular method to communicate visuals, it is not automatically the best default solution. Illustration offers a wider range of styles that help companies engage and communicate with their audience. Good illustrations create a mood and bring to life ideas and concepts from the text. To put it another way, visualisation.

Good illustrations can also help give life to information in a better way than just using text, numbers, or tables.

How do we determine what kind of illustration or style would be best? How should illustration complement or echo your corporate identity? What will your main audience prefer? What about the content, what would suit and highlight the content best, and how would it work for the age range it is primarily for?

Before we dive into the examples, let’s discuss the qualities of good illustration and the importance of understanding your audience. The rubric below will help you make good choices for your audience’s benefit.

What Makes A Good Illustration

• Visualises something from the content (something that does not exist or has been described but not visualised).
• Must be aesthetically pleasing, interesting, and stimulating to look at (needs to have qualities and harmonies between colour, elements, proportions, and subject matter).
• Must have a feel, mood, dramatic edge, or attitude (needs to create a feeling and describe or bring to life an environment).
• The illustration should enhance and bring to life what is described in text and word form.
• Explains or unpacks what is written in any surrounding text and makes it come to life in an unusual and useful way (the illustration should complement and illuminate the content so readers better understand the content).

Just look at what we are more often than not presented with.

The importance of knowing about different audiences

It is really important to know and consider different audiences. Not all of us are the same and have the same physical, cognitive, education, or resources. Our writing, designs, and illustrations need to take into account users’ make-up and capabilities.

There are some common categories of audiences:

• Child,
• Teenager,
• Middle-aged,
• Ageing,
• Prefer a certain style (goth, retro, modern, old fashioned, sporty, branded).

Below are interesting examples of illustrations, in no particular order, that show how different styles communicate and echo different qualities and affect mood and tone.

Watercolour

Good for formal, classy, and sophisticated imagery that also lends itself to imaginative expression. It is a great example of texture and light that delivers a really humane and personal feel that you would not get automatically by using software.

Strengths

• Feeling, emotion, and sense of depth and texture.

Drawing With Real-life objects

A great option for highly abstract concepts and compositions with a funny, unusual, and unreal aspect. You can do some really striking and clever stuff with this style to engage readers in your content.

Strengths

• Conceptual play.

Surreal Photomontage

Perfect for abstract hybrid illustration and photo illustration with a surreal fantasy aspect. This is a great example of merging different imagery together to create a really dramatic, scary, and visually arresting new image that fits the musician’s work as well.

Strengths

• Conceptual mixing and merging, leading to new unseen imagery.

Cartoon

Well-suited for showing fun or humorous aspects, creating concepts with loads of wit and cleverness. New messages and forms of communication can be created with this style.

Strengths

• Conceptual.

Cartoon With Block Colour

Works well for showing fun, quirky, or humorous aspects and concepts, often with loads of wit and cleverness. The simplicity of style can be quite good for people who struggle with more advanced imagery concepts, making it quite accessible.

Strengths

• Simplicity and unclutteredness.

Clean Vector

Designed for clean and clear illustrations that are all-encompassing and durable. Due to the nature of this illustration style, it works quite well for a wide range of people as it is not overly stylistic in one direction or another.

Strengths

• Realism, conceptual, and widely pleasing.

Textured Vintage Clean Vector

Best suited for imagining rustic imagery, echoing a vintage feel. This a great example of how texture and non-cleanliness can create and enhance the feeling of the imagery; it is very Western and old-fashioned, perfect for the core meaning of the illustration.

Strengths

• Aged feeling and rough impression.

Pictogram

Highly effective for clean, legible, quickly recognizable imagery and concepts, especially at small sizes as well. It is no surprise that many pictograms are to be seen in quick viewing environments such as airports and show imagery that has to work for a wide range of people.

Strengths

• Legibility, speed of comprehension (accessibility).

Abstract Geometric

A great option for visually attractive and abstract imagery and concepts. This style lends itself to much customising and experimentation from the illustrator, giving some really cool and visually striking results.

Strengths

• Visual stimulation and curiosity.

Lithography Etching

Ideal for imagery that has an old, historic, and traditional feel. Has a great feel achieved through sketchy markings, etchings, and a greyscale colour palette. You would not automatically get this from software, but given the right context or maybe an unusual juxtaposed context (like the clash against a modern, clean, fashionable corporate identity), it could work really well.

Strengths

• Realism and old tradition.

3D gradient

It serves as a great choice for highly realistic illustration with a friendly, widely accessible character element. This style is not overly stylistic and lends itself to being accepted by a wider range of people.

Strengths

• Widely acceptable and appropriate.

Sci-fi Comic Book And Pop Art

It’s especially useful for high-impact, bright, animated, and colourful concepts. Some really cool, almost animated graphic communication can be created with this style, which can also be put to much humorous use. The boldness and in-your-face style promote visual engagement.

Strengths

• Animation.

Tatoo

Well-suited for bold block-coloured silhouettes and imagery. It is so bold and impactful, and there is still loads of detail there, creating a really cool and sharp illustration. The illustration works well in black and white and would be further enhanced with colour.

Strengths

• Directness and clarity.

Pencil

Perfect for humane, detailed imagery with plenty of feeling and character. The sketchy style highlights unusual details and lends itself to an imaginative feeling and imagery.

Strengths

• Humane and detailed imaginative feeling.

Gradient

Especially useful for highly imaginative and fantasy imagery. By using gradients and a light-to-dark color palette, the imagery really has depth and says, ‘Take me away on a journey.’

Strengths

• Fantasy (through depth of colour) and clean feeling.

Charcoal

It makes an excellent option for giving illustration a humane and tangible feel, with echoes of old historical illustrations. The murky black-and-white illustration really has an atmosphere to it.

Strengths

• Humane and detailed feeling.

Woodcut

It offers great value for block silhouette imagery that has presence, sharpness, and impact. Is colour even needed? The black against the light background goes a long way to communicating the imagery.

Strengths

• Striking and clear.

Fashion

A great option for imagery that has motion and flare to it, with a slight feminine feel. No wonder this style of illustration is used for fashion illustrations, great for expressing lines and colours with motion, and has a real fashion runway flare.

Strengths

• Motion and expressive flare.

Caricature

Ideal for humorous imagery and illustration with a graphic edge and clarity. The layering of light and dark elements really creates an illustration with depth, perfect for playing with the detail of the character, not something you would automatically get from a clean vector illustration. It has received more thought and attention than clean vector illustration typically does.

Strengths

• Detail and humour.

Paint

It serves as a great choice for traditional romantic imagery that has loads of detail, texture, and depth of feeling. The rose flowers are a good example of this illustration style because they have so much detail and colour shades.

Strengths

• Tradition and emotions.

Chalk

Well-suited for highly sketchy imagery to make something an idea or working concept. The white lines against the black background have an almost animated effect and give the illustrations real movement and life. This style is a good example of using pure lines in illustration but to great effect.

Strengths

• Hand-realised and animation.

Illustration Sample Card

How To Start Doing Illustration

There are plenty of options, such as using pencils, chalk, pens, etchings, and paints, then possibly scanning in. You can also use software like Illustrator, Photoshop, Procreate, Corel Painter, Sketch, Inkscape, or Figma. But no matter what tools you choose, there’s one essential ingredient you’ll always need, and that is a mind and vision for illustration.

Recommended Resources

• Association of Illustrators
• “20 Best Illustration Agents In The UK, And The Awesome Illustrators They Represent,” Tom May
• It’s Nice That
• Behance Illustration

Walmart has introduced a modernized visual identity that balances its rich heritage with innovative updates, including a refined logo, accessible designs, and sustainable practices.

New features don’t just pop up in CSS (but I wish they did). Rather, they go through an extensive process of discussions and considerations, defining, writing, prototyping, testing, shipping handling support, and many more verbs that I can’t even begin to imagine. That process is long, and despite how much I want to get my hands on a new feature, as an everyday developer, I can only wait.

I can, however, control how I wait: do I avoid all possible interfaces or demos that are possible with that one feature? Or do I push the boundaries of CSS and try to do them anyway?

As ambitious and curious developers, many of us choose the latter option. CSS would grow stagnant without that mentality. That’s why, today, I want to look at two upcoming functions: sibling-count() and sibling-index(). We’re waiting for them — and have been for several years — so I’m letting my natural curiosity get the best of me so I can get a feel for what to be excited about. Join me!

The tree-counting functions

At some point, you’ve probably wanted to know the position of an element amongst its siblings or how many children an element has to calculate something in CSS, maybe for some staggering animation in which each element has a longer delay, or perhaps for changing an element’s background-color depending on its number of siblings. This has been a long-awaited deal on my CSS wishlists. Take this CSSWG GitHub Issue from 2017:

Feature request. It would be nice to be able to use the counter() function inside of calc() function. That would enable new possibilities on layouts.

However, counters work using strings, rendering them useless inside a calc() function that deals with numbers. We need a set of similar functions that return as integers the index of an element and the count of siblings. This doesn’t seem too much to ask. We can currently query an element by its tree position using the :nth-child() pseudo-selector (and its variants), not to mention query an element based on how many items it has using the :has() pseudo-selector.

Luckily, this year the CSSWG approved implementing the sibling-count() and sibling-index() functions! And we already have something in the spec written down:

The sibling-count() functional notation represents, as an , the total number of child elements in the parent of the element on which the notation is used.

The sibling-index() functional notation represents, as an , the index of the element on which the notation is used among the children of its parent. Like :nth-child(), sibling-index() is 1-indexed.

How much time do we have to wait to use them? Earlier this year Adam Argyle said that “a Chromium engineer mentioned wanting to do it, but we don’t have a flag to try it out with yet. I’ll share when we do!” So, while I am hopeful to get more news in 2025, we probably won’t see them shipped soon. In the meantime, let’s get to what we can do right now!

Rubbing two sticks together

The closest we can get to tree counting functions in terms of syntax and usage is with custom properties. However, the biggest problem is populating them with the correct index and count. The simplest and longest method is hardcoding each using only CSS: we can use the nth-child() selector to give each element its corresponding index:

li:nth-child(1) {
  --sibling-index: 1;
}

li:nth-child(2) {
  --sibling-index: 2;
}

li:nth-child(3) {
  --sibling-index: 3;
}

/* and so on... */

Setting the sibling-count() equivalent has a bit more nuance since we will need to use quantity queries with the :has() selector. A quantity query has the following syntax:

.container:has(> :last-child:nth-child(m)) { }

…where m is the number of elements we want to target. It works by checking if the last element of a container is also the nth element we are targeting; thus it has only that number of elements. You can create your custom quantity queries using this tool by Temani Afif. In this case, our quantity queries would look like the following:

ol:has(> :nth-child(1)) {
  --sibling-count: 1;
}

ol:has(> :last-child:nth-child(2)) {
  --sibling-count: 2;
}

ol:has(> :last-child:nth-child(3)) {
  --sibling-count: 3;
}

/* and so on... */

This example is intentionally light on the number of elements for brevity, but as the list grows it will become unmanageable. Maybe we could use a preprocessor like Sass to write them for us, but we want to focus on a vanilla CSS solution here. For example, the following demo can support up to 12 elements, and you can already see how ugly it gets in the code.

That’s 24 rules to know the index and count of 12 elements for those of you keeping score. It surely feels like we could get that number down to something more manageable, but if we hardcode each index we are bound increase the amount of code we write. The best we can do is rewrite our CSS so we can nest the --sibling-index and --sibling-count properties together. Instead of writing each property by itself:

li:nth-child(2) {
  --sibling-index: 2;
}

ol:has(> :last-child:nth-child(2)) {
  --sibling-count: 2;
}

We could instead nest the --sibling-count rule inside the --sibling-index rule.

li:nth-child(2) {
  --sibling-index: 2;

  ol:has(> &:last-child) {
    --sibling-count: 2;
  }
}

While it may seem wacky to nest a parent inside its children, the following CSS code is completely valid; we are selecting the second li element, and inside, we are selecting an ol element if its second li element is also the last, so the list only has two elements. Which syntax is easier to manage? It’s up to you.

But that’s just a slight improvement. If we had, say, 100 elements we would still need to hardcode the --sibling-index and --sibling-count properties 100 times. Luckily, the following method will increase rules in a logarithmic way, specifically base-2. So instead of writing 100 rules for 100 elements, we will be writing closer to 10 rules for around 100 elements.

Flint and steel

This method was first described by Roman Komarov in October last year, in which he prototypes both tree counting functions and the future random() function. It’s an amazing post, so I strongly encourage you to read it.

This method also uses custom properties, but instead of hardcoding each one, we will be using two custom properties that will build up the --sibling-index property for each element. Just to be consistent with Roman’s post, we will call them --si1 and --si2, both starting at 0:

li {
  --si1: 0;
  --si2: 0;
}

The real --sibling-index will be constructed using both properties and a factor (F) that represents an integer greater or equal to 2 that tells us how many elements we can select according to the formula sqrt(F) - 1. So…

• For a factor of 2, we can select 3 elements.
• For a factor of 3, we can select 8 elements.
• For a factor of 5, we can select 24 elements.
• For a factor of 10, we can select 99 elements.
• For a factor of 25, we can select 624 elements.

As you can see, increasing the factor by one will give us exponential gains on how many elements we can select. But how does all this translate to CSS?

The first thing to know is that the formula for calculating the --sibling-index property is calc(F * var(--si2) + var(--si1)). If we take a factor of 3, it would look like the following:

li {
  --si1: 0;
  --si2: 0;

  /* factor of 3; it's a harcoded number */
  --sibling-index: calc(3 * var(--si2) + var(--si1));
}

The following selectors may be random but stay with me here. For the --si1 property, we will write rules selecting elements that are multiples of the factor and offset them by one 1 until we reach F - 1, then set --si1 to the offset. This translates to the following CSS:

li:nth-child(Fn + 1) { --si1: 1; }
li:nth-child(Fn + 2) { --si1: 2; }
/* ... */
li:nth-child(Fn+(F-1)) { --si1: (F-1) }

So if our factor is 3, we will write the following rules until we reach F-1, so 2 rules:

li:nth-child(3n + 1) { --si1: 1; }
li:nth-child(3n + 2) { --si1: 2; }

For the --si2 property, we will write rules selecting elements in batches of the factor (so if our factor is 3, we will select 3 elements per rule), going from the last possible index (in this case 8) backward until we simply are unable to select more elements in batches. This is a little more convoluted to write in CSS:

li:nth-child(n + F*1):nth-child(-n + F*1-1){--si2: 1;}
li:nth-child(n + F*2):nth-child(-n + F*2-1){--si2: 2;}
/* ... */
li:nth-child(n+(F*(F-1))):nth-child(-n+(F*F-1)) { --si2: (F-1) }

Again, if our factor is 3, we will write the following two rules:

li:nth-child(n + 3):nth-child(-n + 5) {
  --si2: 1;
}
li:nth-child(n + 6):nth-child(-n + 8) {
  --si2: 2;
}

And that’s it! By only setting those two values for --si1 and --si2 we can count up to 8 total elements. The math behind how it works seems wacky at first, but once you visually get it, it all clicks. I made this interactive demo in which you can see how all elements can be reached using this formula. Hover over the code snippets to see which elements can be selected, and click on each snippet to combine them into a possible index.

If you crank the elements and factor to the max, you can see that we can select 48 elements using only 14 snippets!

Wait, one thing is missing: the sibling-count() function. Luckily, we will be reusing all we have learned from prototyping --sibling-index. We will start with two custom properties: --sc1 and --sc1 at the container, both starting at 0 as well. The formula for calculating --sibling-count is the same.

ol {
  --sc1: 0;
  --sc2: 0;

  /* factor of 3; also a harcoded number */
  --sibling-count: calc(3 * var(--sc2) + var(--sc1));
}

Roman’s post also explains how to write selectors for the --sibling-count property by themselves, but we will use the :has() selection method from our first technique so we don’t have to write extra selectors. We can cram those --sc1 and --sc2 properties into the rules where we defined the sibling-index() properties:

/* --si1 and --sc1 */
li:nth-child(3n + 1) {
  --si1: 1;

  ol:has(> &:last-child) {
    --sc1: 1;
  }
}

li:nth-child(3n + 2) {
  --si1: 2;

  ol:has(> &:last-child) {
    --sc1: 2;
  }
}

/* --si2 and --sc2 */
li:nth-child(n + 3):nth-child(-n + 5) {
  --si2: 1;

  ol:has(> &:last-child) {
    --sc2: 1;
  }
}

li:nth-child(n + 6):nth-child(-n + 8) {
  --si2: 2;

  ol:has(> &:last-child) {
    --sc2: 2;
  }
}

This is using a factor of 3, so we can count up to eight elements with only four rules. The following example has a factor of 7, so we can count up to 48 elements with only 14 rules.

This method is great, but may not be the best fit for everyone due to the almost magical way of how it works, or simply because you don’t find it aesthetically pleasing. While for avid hands lighting a fire with flint and steel is a breeze, many won’t get their fire started.

Using a flamethrower

For this method, we will use once again custom properties to mimic the tree counting functions, and what’s best, we will write less than 20 lines of code to count up to infinity—or I guess to 1.7976931348623157e+308, which is the double precision floating point limit!

We will be using the Mutation Observer API, so of course it takes JavaScript. I know that’s like admitting defeat for many, but I disagree. If the JavaScript method is simpler (which it is, by far, in this case), then it’s the most appropriate choice. Just as a side note, if performance is your main worry, stick to hard-coding each index in CSS or HTML.

First, we will grab our container from the DOM:

const elements = document.querySelector("ol");

Then we’ll create a function that sets the --sibling-index property in each element and the --sibling-count in the container (it will be available to its children due to the cascade). For the --sibling-index, we have to loop through the elements.children, and we can get the --sibling-count from elements.children.length.

const updateCustomProperties = () => {
  let index = 1;

  for (element of elements.children) {
    element.style.setProperty("--sibling-index", index);
    index++;
  }

  elements.style.setProperty("--sibling-count", elements.children.length);
};

Once we have our function, remember to call it once so we have our initial tree counting properties:

updateCustomProperties();

Lastly, the Mutation Observer. We need to initiate a new observer using the MutationObserver constructor. It takes a callback that gets invoked each time the elements change, so we write our updateCustomProperties function. With the resulting observer object, we can call its observe() method which takes two parameters:

1. the element we want to observe, and
2. a config object that defines what we want to observe through three boolean properties: attributes, childList, and subtree. In this case, we just want to check for changes in the child list, so we set that one to true:

const observer = new MutationObserver(updateCustomProperties);
const config = {attributes: false, childList: true, subtree: false};
observer.observe(elements, config);

That would be all we need! Using this method we can count many elements, in the following demo I set the max to 100, but it can easily reach tenfold:

So yeah, that’s our flamethrower right there. It definitely gets the fire started, but it’s plenty overkill for the vast majority of use cases. But that’s what we have while we wait for the perfect lighter.

More information and tutorials

• Possible Future CSS: Tree-Counting Functions and Random Values (Roman Komarov)
• View Transitions Staggering (Chris Coyier)
• Element Indexes (Chris Coyier)

Related Issues

• Enable the use of counter() inside calc() #1026
• Proposal: add sibling-count() and sibling-index() #4559
• Extend sibling-index() and sibling-count() with a selector argument #9572
• Proposal: children-count() function #11068
• Proposal: descendant-count() function #11069

---

How to Wait for the sibling-count() and sibling-index() Functions originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

Welcome to our first tools round up of 2025. It’s the first Monday of a new year, and many of you are back at work after a much needed break. Let us ease you back in with our pick of the latest tools to help you get stuff done faster, smarter, and with a little […]

The rental industry is a high-demanding one in recent decades. Convenience in accessing premium items may lead to familiar rental ventures. Among many use cases, the property and equipment rental business is the most reliable and the most needed. 

Digitization in such industries brings new choices for the owners and the rentee. Rental software is one of the familiar platforms that redefine the entire workflow into digital. 

This blog highlights rental business variations, startup costs, and why rental software is an essential thing in detail. Let’s explore. 

What is Rental Business?

A rental business is a platform that provides temporary access options for goods, services, or properties in exchange for a fee for individuals or other businesses. 

The key components of the rental business are:

Assets – The core of the rental business is assets being rented out. 

Rental Period – Duration for which item or service is rented out

Revenue Model – Fixed rental fee, subscription plan or pay-per-use charges

Target Market – Rental businesses cater to customer needs like individuals or large businesses. 

The steps to start a rental business are:

Starting any rental business requires research, strategy, and the right tools. Let’s take a look at the basic steps to kickstart your rental business.

Step 1: Identify Your Niche

Selecting a niche is the first step in launching any rental business. Research the local market to find a gap or under-served segment. 

Step 2: Create a Rental Business Plan

Any rental business’s foundation is a solid business plan. Outline your revenue goals, operating expenses, and strategies for growth. Include market research, pricing structures, customer acquisition strategies, and funding plans.

Step 3: Get Permits and Licenses

Each rental business has specific legal requirements depending on its location and niche. 

Research the required licenses, insurance policies, and tax obligations in your area. 

You’ll need permits that vary from general business licenses to special permits for renting specific items like vehicles or party equipment.

Step 4: Source Inventory

Depending on your rental type, acquiring the right inventory is key. Consider whether you’ll:

• Buy or lease your rental items.
• Partner with suppliers for high-demand items or equipment.
• Ensure your inventory is of high quality and regularly maintained.

Step 5: Build Rental Software

Technology plays a huge role in running a modern rental business. A robust software platform can help you:

• Manage inventory
• Handle bookings
• Track payments
• Communicate with customers

Step 6: Test and Launch Your Software

Once your software is in place, conduct thorough testing to ensure:

• User-friendly interface for customers
• Bug-free functionality for inventory management, payments, and bookings
• Security to protect customer data

Step 7: Market Your Rental Business

You should use both offline and internet platforms in your marketing plan. Here are a few tips:

• Use social media to engage with potential customers and promote your rentals.
• Partner with local event planners, real estate agents, or businesses that can refer customers to you.

Based on the types of devices or spaces, the rental businesses are classified into multiple types. 

Types of rental businesses are:

Product Rental – Cars, furniture, electronics, tools or party supplies

Property rentals – Residential, commercial, or vacation properties

Service Rentals – Staffing, Equipment operators, or event planners

Special Rentals – Luxury Items like exotic cars, Yachts, etc. 

Among these types, you can explore property and equipment rental businesses here. 

What is Rental Software? 

Alt Text: Illustration with the text ‘What is Rental Software?’ and graphics of people, screens, and gears symbolizing software and technology.

Rental software is a digital solution designed to help businesses manage and streamline their rental operations efficiently. 

It serves as a centralized platform that automates various processes involved in renting goods, properties, or services, from inventory management to customer bookings, payments, and analytics. 

This technology ensures smooth interactions between rental providers and customers while optimizing operational workflows. Prior to development, you must be aware of the startup cost of the rental business in detail. 

What Is The Startup Cost Of A Rental Business?

When starting a rental business, one key decision is whether to build your business platform from scratch, purchase a clone, or use a SaaS solution. 

Each comes with different costs:

• Scratch: Building a platform from the ground up can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $100,000 or more, depending on the complexity.
• Clone: Buying a clone script may cost $1,000 to $10,000, depending on the customization needed.
• SaaS: A Software as a Service (SaaS) platform like QoreUps could cost as low as $300 to $1,500 per month, which includes software support, hosting, and updates.

Opting for SaaS rental software is the most cost-effective and hassle-free way to get started. It allows you to skip development headaches and focus on growing your business.

Why Opting For SaaS Rental Software Is The Best?

Alt Text: Illustration with the text ‘Why Opting for SaaS Rental Software Is the Best?’ featuring graphics of a laptop, mobile, and gears symbolizing SaaS software.

Opting for best rental software is a smart choice for rental businesses due to its many advantages:

• Instead of hefty upfront costs for custom development, SaaS offers a subscription model, saving money on maintenance and infrastructure.
• Easily expand as your business grows. SaaS systems can handle increased volume without requiring major changes.
• The software provider manages updates, ensuring you always have the latest features and security patches.
• Most platforms are intuitive, minimizing the need for extensive training and allowing your team to get up and running quickly.
• Since SaaS is cloud-based, you can manage your rental business from any location, providing flexibility for owners and staff.
• SaaS rental software integrates with accounting tools, payment gateways, and marketing platforms, streamlining operations.
• Providers implement advanced security measures to protect business and customer data.
• Most SaaS providers offer 24/7 customer service, helping you troubleshoot issues when needed.

Property Rental Business

Alt Text: Illustration of the text ‘What is Property Rental Business?’ alongside a person searching for property rentals using property rental business software.

Introduction

A property rental business offers a lucrative opportunity to earn passive income by renting out residential or commercial properties. 

From short-term vacation rentals to long-term leases, it caters to diverse customer needs. 

With strategic marketing, effective management, and the right technology, a property rental business can thrive, providing steady revenue while meeting the growing demand for rental accommodations.

As a business owner, you have doubts about what you need to know and the reason behind the start. 

• Why Start This Business? A steady cash flow can be produced via long-term rental revenue. With rising property values and increasing demand, it’s a great way to generate wealth.
• What You Need to Know: You’ll need to be prepared for property management, maintenance, and dealing with tenants, but the passive income potential is immense.

Wish to Start A Property Rental Business? You must be aware of the following key features: 

Key Features of Property Rental Software

1. Property Listing and Management – Listings of photos and descriptions for each property. The search filters and the availability calendar are additional things. 
2. Online Booking/Payment System – The inclusion of smart booking options ensures a seamless user experience. Secure payment gateways and automated invoicing features included in the app attract huge users. 
3. Digital Contracts – Enabling E-sign-based rental agreements provide hassle-free execution. 
4. Eye-View Dashboard – Single dashboard to monitor the earnings, payments, and expenses. 
5. Inventory Management – Availability status, records of inventory, servicing schedules
6. Property Booking – Allows customers to reserve properties online. Includes features like calendar integration, automated reminders, and scheduling optimization.
7. Payment Processing – This supports multiple payment methods, including credit cards, wallets, and bank transfers. 
8. Business Performance Analysis – Provides insights into business performance, customer behavior, and revenue trends.
9. Mobile Accessibility –This ensures compatibility with smartphones and tablets for on-the-go access. Provides dedicated apps for both rental providers and customers.
10. Property Profile – This allows the property owners to specify the property details with all amenities in the nearby region in detail. 

Equipment Rental Business

Alt Text: Displays the text ‘Equipment Rental Business’ and graphic of heavy machinery representing the concept of an equipment rental business.

Introduction

An equipment rental business provides a cost-effective solution for individuals and companies needing specialized tools, machinery, or equipment temporarily. 

By offering a wide range of items, from construction tools to party supplies, it eliminates the need for upfront investment and storage. 

With proper inventory management and customer service, this business model ensures consistent revenue and caters to various industries. There are many tips to build the Equipment Rental Solution. 

From excavators to power tools, renting construction and heavy machinery is much more affordable than buying.

• Why Start This Business? As industries like construction, landscaping, and even home improvement grow, the need for specialized equipment is increasing. Equipment rental businesses can cater to businesses that can’t afford to purchase expensive machinery.
• What You Need to Know: Maintenance is key. High-end equipment requires regular upkeep to remain operational and safe for customers.

Key Features of Equipment Rental Software

The key features that redefine the equipment rental business as seamless are: 

1. Equipment Catalog and Management: The detailed listings include high-quality images, specifications, and usage guidelines for each equipment.
2. Equipment Tracking  Allows the customers to check the availability and status of equipment seamlessly. 
3. Pricing and Billing – Adjust rental rates based on demand, seasonality, or equipment condition.
4. Maintenance and Repair Management – Tracks servicing dates to ensure equipment reliability.
5. Customer Management – Store details, rental history, and preferences
6. Mobile-Friendly Interface – Offers a convenient way to browse, book, and manage rentals on the go.
7. Equipment Analytics – This makes the equipment owners track equipment usage rates and idle time.
8. Revenue Analysis: Monitors earnings by equipment type, rental duration, and customer segment.
9. Equipment Ratings – This section allows the equipment users to review or rate the equipment’s status after usage. 
10. Equipment Availability Toggle – This allows the equipment sellers to show the availability status of the prescribed equipment by the buyers. 

Conclusion

Come to an end. This blog highlighted the rental business and its variations in detail. Mainly equipment and property rental business. Besides, the cost value associated with starting the rental business is also highlighted. The need for the rental software and the reasons for the usage of rental software are highlighted. Hope this will make you a profitable rental business owner in 2025. 

FAQ’s

1. How To Start A Rental Property Business?

Identify a lucrative property, secure financing, and either buy or lease properties for rental. Handle legal aspects, such as permits, and manage tenant relations through property management software or services.

2. How to Start a Rental Business?

Starting a rental business involves identifying a niche, acquiring the necessary inventory, and setting up a management system. Focus on understanding your target audience, pricing competitively, and leveraging marketing strategies to attract customers

3. How to Start an Equipment Rental Business?

Invest in popular equipment, set up software for bookings, and develop a solid maintenance plan. You can partner with construction firms or focus on specific niches like party equipment or landscaping tools for quicker success.

4. How Much Does a Rental Management Company Cost?

The cost of a rental management company typically ranges from 8% to 12% of the monthly rental income, depending on the services provided. Additional fees may apply for tenant placement, maintenance, or administrative tasks. Pricing varies by location and property type.

5. How To Start A Rental Property Business With No Money?

Starting a rental property business with no money is challenging but achievable with creative strategies: partnering with investors, lease-to-own agreements, and crowdfunding. 

6. How Profitable is a Rental Business?

A rental business is profitable. If the initial setup is completed, then you can generate recurring income. Profitability depends on factors like the type of assets rented, market demand, pricing strategy, and effective management.

7. What Rentals Are Most Profitable?

Real estate properties, construction equipment, event supplies, luxury cars, and vacation rentals. Additionally, tech gadgets and party supplies also offer strong returns, particularly in urban markets. 

8. What is Rental Property Management Software?

Rental property management software is a digital tool designed to simplify and automate the management of rental properties. 

9. Is the Equipment Rental business profitable?

Yes, the equipment rental business is profitable. Construction, events, and landscaping, where customers prefer renting over purchasing. Due to high demands, the equipment rental business is profitable. 

10.  How to Start a Car Rental Business?

Starting a car rental business involves several steps: market research, business plan, legal requirements, fleet acquisition, technology, marketing, and customer service.  

The post Rental Software for Property and Equipment Rental Business appeared first on noupe.

The rise of online B2B marketplaces has transformed how businesses operate in the industrial sector. As a digital platform connecting buyers and sellers, these marketplaces have become the cornerstone of modern industrial e-commerce. Whether you’re a small business or a multinational corporation, leveraging a  B2B marketplace platform can unlock unprecedented opportunities for growth and efficiency.

What Are Online B2B Marketplaces?

Online B2B marketplaces are digital platforms where business-to-business (B2B) transactions occur. Unlike traditional business-to-consumer (B2C) models, these platforms cater to businesses looking to buy and sell goods or services in bulk. B2B e-commerce marketplaces provide a user-friendly environment that streamlines business transactions. It makes it easier for businesses to connect with potential customers and expand their customer base.

60 percent of B2B buyers are open to purchasing on digital marketplaces.

eINDUSTRIFY, a leading B2B e-commerce platform, offers personalized solutions tailored to each business’s unique needs. It uses data analytics and AI to provide personalized product suggestions, pricing, and support. This creates a seamless and tailored experience for each customer.

Key Features of Online B2B Marketplaces

Some of the key features of online B2B marketplaces are discussed below.

• Streamlined Product Information Management (PIM)

One of the defining features of B2B marketplace platforms is the integration of robust product information management (PIM) systems. These systems ensure buyers have access to accurate, detailed, and up-to-date product data, essential for informed decision-making.

• Real-Time Inventory Management Software

For industrial businesses, managing inventory is critical. Real-time inventory management software in online platforms allows sellers to track stock levels, reduce the risk of overstocking or understocking, and ensure timely delivery to their clients.

• Secure Payment Processing

Online B2B marketplaces have reliable payment processing features, offering secure options for businesses to complete transactions. This eliminates the need for cumbersome offline payment methods, speeding up the B2B sales process.

• Wholesale Marketplaces for Bulk Transactions

Industrial e-commerce thrives on bulk transactions. Wholesale marketplaces within the B2B ecosystem facilitate buying and selling in large quantities, often at competitive rates. This feature benefits small businesses looking to reduce costs and optimize supply chains.

• User-Friendly Digital Platform

Ease of use is critical for businesses engaging in high-volume trade. Online platforms are designed to be user-friendly, ensuring seamless navigation for seasoned industry players and newcomers to the industrial e-commerce landscape.

How Online B2B Marketplaces Are Transforming Industrial E-Commerce

Online B2B marketplaces are transforming the landscape of Industrial e-commerce.

• Expanding Reach and Accessibility

Geographical constraints and reliance on physical interactions often limited traditional B2B trade. Online platforms have eliminated these barriers, enabling businesses to access a global customer base. With features like multi-language support and international shipping options, B2B marketplaces worldwide have made it easier for industrial sellers to connect with potential customers across borders.

• Efficient Business Transactions

These marketplaces simplify business-to-business (B2B) interactions by digitizing the buying and selling process. Features like automated invoicing, digital contracts, and real-time order tracking minimize manual tasks and reduce the risk of errors.

• Improved Buyer and Seller Relationships

Online B2B eCommerce marketplaces foster trust and transparency between buyers and sellers. Verified profiles, detailed product listings, and customer reviews ensure both parties have confidence in their transactions.

• Cost-Effective Solutions for Small Businesses

For small businesses, online B2B marketplace platforms provide a cost-effective way to compete with larger enterprises. By leveraging digital tools and streamlined processes, these platforms help smaller players access new markets and scale their operations without significant overhead costs.

• Enhancing Supply Chain Efficiency

Integrating real-time inventory management software and advanced logistics systems ensures businesses maintain an efficient supply chain. This is particularly crucial for industrial sectors where timely delivery and inventory accuracy are vital.

Key Benefits for Buyers and Sellers

Online B2B marketplaces have multiple key benefits for both buyers and sellers.

• For Buyers

The following benefits are for buyers in the online B2B marketplaces:

• Wide Product Range

Access a variety of products and services on a single platform.

• Ease of Comparison

Compare prices, features, and reviews from multiple sellers.

• Efficiency

Save time with quick order placements and automated processes.

• For Sellers

The following benefits are for sellers in the online B2B marketplaces:

• Expanded Reach

Tap into a global audience of potential customers.

• Increased Sales

Leverage targeted marketing tools to boost B2B sales.

• Streamlined Operations

Use integrated tools for inventory, orders, and payment processing.

B2B e-Commerce Market Size

Over the past decade, global e-commerce sales for B2B enterprises have increased annually. Experts expect the international B2B e-commerce market to reach?$?36 trillion?for the international B2B e-commerce market by 2026. Heavy industries, advanced manufacturing, energy, healthcare, and professional business services propel most of this sales value.

The global B2B e-commerce market will grow by 14.5% compound annual growth rate through 2026.

Role of Technology in B2B Marketplaces

Technology plays a pivotal role in shaping the success of online B2B marketplaces. From AI-powered recommendations to blockchain-enabled secure transactions, innovations are continuously enhancing the user experience.

• Artificial Intelligence

AI-driven tools help sellers optimize pricing strategies, while buyers benefit from personalized recommendations based on their preferences and purchase history.

• Cloud-Based Platforms

Cloud technology ensures scalability and reliability, enabling wholesale marketplaces to handle large volumes of data and transactions seamlessly.

• Advanced Analytics

Analytics tools offer valuable insights into customer behavior, helping businesses refine their strategies and improve performance on the platform.

The Future of Online B2B Marketplaces

The future of online B2B marketplaces looks promising, with continued advancements in technology and growing adoption by industrial players. Emerging trends include:

• Integration of Blockchain Technology

Blockchain will enhance transparency and security in B2B transactions.

• Focus on Sustainability

More platforms will prioritize eco-friendly practices, aligning with global sustainability goals.

• Enhanced User Experience

Platforms will continue to evolve to become more user-friendly, offering intuitive interfaces and smarter features.

At the Bottom Line

Online B2B marketplaces are undeniably a game-changer for industrial e-commerce, transforming how businesses buy and sell products and services. By leveraging features like real-time inventory management software, robust PIM systems, and secure payment processing, these platforms empower businesses to achieve greater efficiency and expand their reach. For industries looking to stay competitive in a fast-evolving market, adopting B2B eCommerce marketplaces is no longer optional it’s essential. Whether you’re a small business or a major industry player, the opportunities offered by these digital platforms can redefine success in the industrial sector.

The post Online B2B Marketplaces: A Game-Changer for Industrial E-Commerce appeared first on noupe.

As expected from anyone who has ever tried building anything solo, my goal was not to build an app but the app — the one app that’s so good you wonder how you ever survived without it. I had everything in place: wireframes, a to-do list, project structure — you name it. Then I started building. Just not the product. I started with the landing page for it, which took me four days, and I hadn’t even touched the app’s core features yet. The idea itself was so good I had to start marketing it right away!

I found myself making every detail perfect: every color, shadow, gradient, font size, margin, and padding had to be spot on. I don’t even want to say how long the logo took.

Spoiler:
No one cares about your logo.

Why did I get so stuck on something that was never even part of the core app I wanted so badly to build? Why wasn’t I nagging myself to move on when I clearly needed to?

The reality of solo development is that there is no one to tell you when to stop or simply say, “Yo, this is good enough! Move on.“ Most users don’t care whether a login button is yellow or green. What they want (and need) is a button that works and solves their problem when clicking it.

Test Early And Often

Unnecessary tweaks, indecisive UI decisions, and perfectionism are the core reasons I spend more time on things than necessary.

Like most solo developers, I also started with the hope of pushing out builds with the efficiency of a large-scale team. But it is easier said than done.

When building solo, you start coding, then you maybe notice a design flaw, and you switch to fixing it, then a bug appears, and you try fixing that, and voilà — the day is gone. There comes a time when it hits you that, “You know what? It’s time to build messy.” That’s when good intentions of project and product management go out the window, and that’s when I find myself working by the seat of my pants rather than plowing forward with defined goals and actionable tasks that are based on good UI/UX principles, like storyboards, user personas, and basic prioritization.

This realization is something you have to experience to grasp fully. The trick I’ve learned is to focus on getting something out there for people to see and then work on actual feedback. In other words,

It’s more important to get the idea out there and iterate on it than reaching for perfection right out of the gate.

Because guess what? Even if you have the greatest app idea in the world, you’re never going to make it perfect until you start receiving feedback on it. You’re no mind reader — as much as we all want to be one — and some insights (often the most relevant) can only be received through real user feedback and analytics. Sure, your early assumptions may be correct, but how do you know until you ship them and start evaluating them?

Nowadays, I like to tell others (and myself) to work from hypotheses instead of absolutes. Make an assertion, describe how you intend to test it, and then ship it. With that, you can gather relevant insights that you can use to get closer to perfection — whatever that is.

Strength In Recognizing Weakness

Let’s be real: Building a full application on your own is not an easy feat. I’d say it’s like trying to build a house by yourself; it seems doable, but the reality is that it takes a lot more hands than the ones you have to make it happen. And not only to make it happen but to make it happen well.

There’s only so much one person can do, and admitting your strengths and weaknesses up-front will serve you well by avoiding the trap that you can do it all alone.

I once attempted to build a project management app alone. I knew it might be difficult, but I was confident. Within a few days, this “simple” project grew legs and expanded with new features like team collaboration, analytics, time tracking, and custom reports being added, many of which I was super excited to make.

Building a full app takes a lot of time. Think about it; you’re doing the work of a team all alone without any help. There’s no one to provide you with design assets, content, or back-end development. No stakeholder to “swoop and poop” on your ideas (which might be a good thing). Every decision, every line of code, and every design element is 100% on you alone.

It is technically possible to build a full-featured app solo, but when you think about it, there’s a reason why the concept of MVP exists. Take Instagram, for example; it wasn’t launched with reels, stories, creator’s insights, and so on. It started with one simple thing: photo sharing.

All I’m trying to say is start small, launch, and let users guide the evolution of the product. And if you can recruit more hands to help, that would be even better. Just remember to leverage your strengths and reinforce your weaknesses by leaning on other people’s strengths.

Yes, Think Like an MVP

The concept of a minimum viable product (MVP) has always been fascinating to me. In its simplest form, it means building the basic version of your idea that technically works and getting it in front of users. Yes, this is such a straightforward and widely distributed tip, but it’s still one of the hardest principles for solo developers to follow, particularly for me.

I mentioned earlier that my “genius” app idea grew legs. And lots of them. I had more ideas than I knew what to do with, and I hadn’t even written a reasonable amount of code! Sure, this app could be enhanced to support face ID, dark mode, advanced security, real-time results, and a bunch of other features. But all these could take months of development for an app that you’re not even certain users want.

I’ve learned to ask myself: “What would this project look like if it was easy to build?”. It’s so surreal how the answer almost always aligns with what users want. If you can distill your grand idea into a single indispensable idea that does one or two things extremely well, I think you’ll find — as I have — that the final result is laser-focused on solving real user problems.

Ship the simplest version first. Dark mode can wait. All you need is a well-defined idea, a hypothesis to test, and a functional prototype to validate that hypothesis; anything else is probably noise.

Handle Imperfection Gracefully

You may have heard about the “Ship it Fast” approach to development and instantly recognize the parallels between it and what I’ve discussed so far. In a sense, “Ship it Fast” is ultimately another way of describing an MVP: get the idea out fast and iterate on it just as quickly.

Some might disagree with the ship-fast approach and consider it reckless and unprofessional, which is understandable because, as developers, we care deeply about the quality of our work. However,

The ship-fast mentality is not to ignore quality but to push something out ASAP and learn from real user experiences. Ship it now — perfect it later.

That’s why I like to tell other developers that shipping an MVP is the safest, most professional way to approach development. It forces you to stay in scope and on task without succumbing to your whimsies. I even go so far as to make myself swear an “Oath of Focus” at the start of every project.

I, Vayo, hereby solemnly swear (with one hand on this design blueprint) to make no changes, no additions, and no extra features until this app is fully built in all its MVP glory. I pledge to avoid the temptations of endless tweaking and the thoughts of “just one more feature.”

Only when a completed prototype is achieved will I consider any new features, enhancements, or tweaks.

Signed,
Vayo, Keeper of the MVP

Remember, there’s no one there to hold you accountable when you develop on your own. Taking a brief moment to pause and accepting that my first version won’t be flawless helps put me in the right headspace early in the project.

Prioritize What Matters

I have noticed that no matter what I build, there’s always going to be bugs. Always. If Google still has bugs in the Google Notes app, trust me, then it’s fine for a solo developer to accept that bugs will always be a part of any project.

Look at flaky tests. For instance, you could run a test over 1,000 times and get all greens, and then the next day, you run the same test, an error shows. It’s just the nature of software development. And for the case of endlessly adding features, it never ends either. There’s always going to be a new feature that you’re excited about. The challenge is to curb some of that enthusiasm and shelve it responsibly for a later time when it makes sense to work on it.

I’ve learned to categorize bugs and features into two types: intrusive and non-intrusive. Intrusive are those things that prevent projects from functioning properly until fixed, like crashes and serious errors. The non-intrusive items are silent ones. Sure, they should be fixed, but the product will work just fine and won’t prevent users from getting value if they aren’t addressed right away.

You may want to categorize your bugs and features in other ways, and I’ve seen plenty of other examples, including:

• High value, low value;
• High effort, low effort;
• High-cost, low-cost;
• Need to have, nice to have.

I’ve even seen developers and teams use these categorizations to create some fancy priority “score” that considers each category. Whatever it is that helps you stay focused and on-task is going to be the right approach for you more than what specific category you use.

Live With Your Stack

Here’s a classic conundrum in development circles:

Should I use React? Or NextJS? Or wait, how about Vue? I heard it’s more optimized. But hold on, I read that React Redux is dead and that Zustand is the new hot tool.

And just like that, you’ve spent an entire day thinking about nothing but the tech stack you’re using to build the darn thing.

We all know that an average user could care less about the tech stack under the hood. Go ahead and ask your mom what tech stack WhatsApp is built on, and let me know what she says. Most times, it’s just us who obsesses about tech stacks, and that usually only happens when we’re asked to check under the hood.

I have come to accept that there will always be new tech stacks released every single day with the promise of 50% performance and 10% less code. That new tool might scale better, but do I actually have a scaling problem with my current number of zero users? Probably not.

My advice:

Pick the tools you work with best and stick to those tools until they start working against you.

There’s no use fighting something early if something you already know and use gets the job done. Basically, don’t prematurely optimize or constantly chase the latest shiny object.

Do Design Before The First Line of Code

I know lots of solo developers out there suck at design, and I’m probably among the top 50. My design process has traditionally been to open VS Code, create a new project, and start building the idea in whatever way comes to mind. No design assets, comps, or wireframes to work with — just pure, unstructured improvisation. That’s not a good idea, and it’s a habit I’m actively trying to break.

These days, I make sure to have a blueprint of what I’m building before I start writing code. Once I have that, I make sure to follow through and not change anything to respect my “Oath of Focus.”

I like how many teams call comps and wireframes “project artifacts.” They are pieces of evidence that provide a source of truth for how something looks and works. You might be the sort of person who works better with sets of requirements, and that’s totally fine. But having some sort of documentation that you can point back to in your work is like having a turn-by-turn navigation on a long road trip — it’s indispensable for getting where you need to go.

And what if you’re like me and don’t pride yourself on being the best designer? That’s another opportunity to admit your weaknesses up-front and recruit help from someone with those strengths. That way, you can articulate the goal and focus on what you’re good at.

Give Yourself Timelines

Personally, without deadlines, I’m almost unstoppable at procrastinating. I’ve started setting time limits when building any project, as it helps with procrastination and makes sure something is pushed out at a specified time. Although this won’t work without accountability, I feel the two work hand in hand.

I set a 2–3 week deadline to build a project. And no matter what, as soon as that time is up, I must post or share the work in its current state on my socials. Because of this, I’m not in my comfort zone anymore because I won’t want to share a half-baked project with the public; I’m conditioned to work faster and get it all done. It’s interesting to see the length of time you can go if you can trick your brain.

I realize that this is an extreme constraint, and it may not work for you. I’m just the kind of person who needs to know what my boundaries are. Setting deadlines and respecting them makes me a more disciplined developer. More than that, it makes me work efficiently because I stop overthinking things when I know I have a fixed amount of time, and that leads to faster builds.

Conclusion

The best and worst thing about solo development is the “solo” part. There’s a lot of freedom in working alone, and that freedom can be inspiring. However, all that freedom can be intoxicating, and if left unchecked, it becomes a debilitating hindrance to productivity and progress. That’s a good reason why solo development isn’t for everyone. Some folks will respond a lot better to a team environment.

But if you are a solo developer, then I hope my personal experiences are helpful to you. I’ve had to look hard at myself in the mirror many days to come to realize that I am not a perfect developer who can build the “perfect” app alone. It takes planning, discipline, and humility to make anything, especially the right app that does exactly the right thing.

Ideas are cheap and easy, but stepping out of our freedom and adding our own constraints based on progress over perfection is the secret sauce that keeps us moving and spending our time on those essential things.

Further Reading On SmashingMag

• “What’s The Perfect Design Process?,” Vitaly Friedman
• “Design Under Constraints: Challenges, Opportunities, And Practical Strategies,” Paul Boag
• “Improving The Double Diamond Design Process,” Andy Budd
• “Unexpected Learnings From Coding Artwork Every Day For Five Years,” Saskia Freeke