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Introduction is a foundational class in UIKit and . Everything we see on the screen is constructed from `s and their subclasses. UIView iOS development UIView One topic often considered basic is the geometry of . It's easy to grasp initially, but complete understanding is often elusive, even for very experienced iOS engineers. In this article, we will dive deeply into the world of geometry. We will explain the main concepts, such as , , , , , how they relate to each other, and answer more advanced questions about computing the and Autolayout specifics. UIView UIView frame bounds center anchorPoint transform frame Playground To better understand the geometry, I've also developed a small iOS app: . https://github.com/psharanda/UIViewGeometry In the app, you can experiment with different properties in real time by adjusting sliders. Such an interactive approach is really helpful for grasping the nuances. UIView frame The definition of in Apple documentation is: UIView.frame The frame rectangle, which describes the view’s location and size in its superview’s coordinate system. Most of the time, we operate just with frames, either during manual layout or when printing the view's debug description. The designated initializer for also uses the frame as the only param. UIView This seems simple and straightforward. However, the reality is more complex. The frame is actually a computed property of . It is not the definitive source of the view's geometry. So, what is it exactly? UIView bounds Apparently, has many more properties related to geometry, and we’re now going to check the real, non-computed ones. Let’s examine the first of them: . UIView bounds The definition of is: UIView.bounds The bounds rectangle, which describes the view’s location and size in its own coordinate system. Usually, both and are simply equal to , and is the same as (however, it is not always true). bounds.origin.x bounds.origin.y 0.0 bounds.size frame.size What happens if is not equal to ? In that case, bounds basically act as a viewport, defining which part of the view coordinate system is visible to the outside world (superview). can also be seen as an additional translation (with a minus sign) for all subviews and view’s content rendered using . bounds.origin .zero bounds.origin drawRect This might remind you of . It is for a reason: the property of a is directly linked to its . UIScrollView contentOffset UIScrollView bounds.origin It's important to note that border, background, and shadow are rendered without considering . bounds.origin Previously, we mentioned that sometimes cannot be equal to . It may happen if transform is not equal to . frame.size bounds.size .identity According to the documentation, setting to any value when is not is considered undefined behavior (getting is still fine). However, setting when is not is valid.  In that case, describes the rectangle that fits the view after all transformations in its superview’s coordinate system. frame transform .identity bounds transform .identity frame center The definition of : UIView.center The center point of the view's frame rectangle in its superview’s coordinate system. However, the term "center" can be a bit misleading. It only represents the actual center of the view if the (more on this in the next section) is positioned at the center, specifically at ( , ). A more accurate definition for would be: view.anchorPoint 0.5 0.5 center The coordinates of the view’s anchor point in its superview’s coordinate system. UIView’s is exactly the same as . center CALayer.position The combination of and can fully replace the use of bounds center frame transform The transform property in iOS development is a fundamental concept that enables developers to apply geometric transformations to views. UIView The transform property of is of the type , which represents a matrix used for affine transformations. Affine transformations include: UIView CGAffineTransform Translation To move a view, you set the transform property with . For instance, moves the view 50 points to the right and 75 points down. CGAffineTransform(translationX:y:) view.transform = CGAffineTransform(translationX: 50, y: 75) Scaling To scale a view, use . For example, halves the size of the view in both width and height. CGAffineTransform(scaleX:y:) view.transform = CGAffineTransform(scaleX: 0.5, y: 0.5) Rotation To rotate a view, apply . The angle is in radians, so to rotate 30 degrees, you would use . CGAffineTransform(rotationAngle:) view.transform = CGAffineTransform(rotationAngle: .pi / 6) Combining Transforms One of the powerful aspects of the transform property is the ability to combine transformations. You can combine scaling, rotation, and translation into a single transform using concatenation, for example: var t = CGAffineTransform.identity // 0
t = t.concatenating(CGAffineTransform(scaleX: 0.5, y: 0.5)) //1
t = t.concatenating(CGAffineTransform(rotationAngle: .pi / 6)) //2
t = t.concatenating(CGAffineTransform(translationX: 50, y: 150)) //3
view.transform = t To reset a transformation, set the property to , which is also the default for a newly created . transform CGAffineTransform.identity UIView Perspective ’s transform is baked by which has the type and can be used for even more advanced transformations like changing the perspective UIView CALayer.transform CATransform3D var transform = CATransform3DIdentity;
transform.m34 = 1.0 / 500.0;
view.layer.transform = CATransform3DRotate(transform, .pi / 4, 0, 1, 0) anchorPoint The anchor point defines how a view behaves during transformations. It's specified using the unit coordinate space, where ( , ) is the top-left corner of the view's bounds rectangle, and ( , ) is the bottom-right corner. By default, the anchor point of a is set to ( , ), which is the center of the view’s bounds rectangle. 0 0 1 1 UIView 0.5 0.5 Interestingly, the property was only added to in iOS 16, but it has always been accessible through . anchorPoint UIView view.layer.anchorPoint Geometric manipulations, like rotation or scaling, occur around the anchor point. For example, if you apply a rotation transform to a view with the default anchor point, the view will rotate around its center. If you change the anchor point to a different location, the view will rotate around this new point. How to calculate the frame? We mentioned in the beginning that is a computed property. Now, with enough knowledge, let’s compile all the observations into actual code that computes the frame. frame First, let’s follow the positioning logic that is used during the render process. We start with a rectangle, with set to and set to . is not involved in calculations since it only affects subviews and the output. origin .zero size bounds.size bounds.origin drawRect Before applying the transform, we must translate the view according to its . We apply the transform only when the view, with its , is aligned with the starting point coordinates ( , ). anchorPoint anchorPoint 0 0 Now, we can apply the transform. The last step is to translate the view by its value, positioning it correctly. center These transformations can be concatenated into a single transform (i.e., absolute one), which is then applied to zero-origin bounds by using function. CGRectApplyAffineTransform Here is the final function which computes the frame: func computeFrame(bounds: CGRect,
                  center: CGPoint,
                  anchorPoint: CGPoint,
                  tranform: CGAffineTransform) -> CGRect {

    // set the initial rectangle to bounds with origin set to (0, 0)
    let zeroOriginBounds = CGRect(origin: .zero, size: bounds.size) // 1

    // combine transformations
    let absoluteTransform = CGAffineTransform(
            translationX: -anchorPoint.x * bounds.width,
            y: -anchorPoint.y * bounds.height
        ) // 2
        .concatenating(tranform) // 3
        .concatenating(CGAffineTransform(translationX: center.x, y: center.y)) // 4

    // apply transform to the initial rectangle
    return CGRectApplyAffineTransform(zeroOriginBounds, absoluteTransform)
} How can this knowledge be useful for us? Apart from just satisfying curiosity and gaining a better understanding of the internals, this algorithm has some real-world applications. A classic example is an image editor. Imagine you are building an application that creates custom stories. You want to place stickers on top of a photo, move, scale, and rotate them with your finger. For the editing mode, you use the actual and layout it by modifying its properties like center, bounds, and transform. Eventually, you’d like to render your story project into a bitmap and share it in high resolution, and that’s where understanding how geometry works becomes really useful. The image rendering code can look like the following: UIImageView UIView let renderer = UIGraphicsImageRenderer(size: imageSize)
let image = renderer.image { context in
    let cgContext = context.cgContext
    // render photo…
    // render other things…
    
    // render our sticker
    let absoluteTransform = CGAffineTransform(
        translationX: -sticker.anchorPoint.x * sticker.bounds.width,
        y: -sticker.anchorPoint.y * sticker.bounds.height
    )
        .concatenating(sticker.transform)
        .concatenating(
            CGAffineTransform(translationX: sticker.center.x, y: sticker.center.y)
        )
    
    cgContext.saveGState()
    cgContext.concatenate(absoluteTransform)
    sticker.image.draw(in: CGRect(origin: .zero, size: sticker.bounds.size))
    cgContext.restoreGState()
} What about Autolayout? Autolayout doesn't work with . It also ignores the and properties during its calculations. For each view, Autolayout calculates and sets only the and . The and are still used, but only for the final render on screen, and are applied afterward. frame transform anchorPoint bounds center transform anchorPoint To reiterate, in the Autolayout world, , , and don't exist. The Autolayout process is: constraints in, and out. frame transform anchorPoint bounds center Additional Resources UIView Documentation – https://developer.apple.com/documentation/uikit/uiview View Programming Guide – https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/WindowsViews/Conceptual/ViewPG_iPhoneOS/WindowsandViews/WindowsandViews.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40009503-CH2-SW5 Core Animation Basics – https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/CoreAnimation_guide/CoreAnimationBasics/CoreAnimationBasics.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40004514-CH2-SW3 Understanding UIKit Rendering – https://www.wwdcnotes.com/notes/wwdc11/121/ Understanding UIKit: CALayer Anchor Point – https://ikyle.me/blog/2022/understanding-uikit-calayer-anchor-point Understanding UIScrollView – https://oleb.net/blog/2014/04/understanding-uiscrollview/

Mastering UIView Geometry: A Dive into UIKit's Foundational Class and Geometry Concepts for iOS

Welcome to our "Behind the Startup" series, where we dive into the world of decentralized content creation with Mick Tsai, the founder of COS.TV. In this interview, we discuss the inspiration behind the platform, the role of AI and VR technologies, and how COS.TV is revolutionizing the content creation industry with the power of Web 3.0. Join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities facing the platform and the future of content creation. : Vested Interest Disclosure The author is an independent contributor publishing via our . Be it through direct compensation, media partnerships, or networking, the author has a vested interest in the company/ies mentioned in this story. HackerNoon has reviewed the report for quality, but the claims herein belong to the author. #DYOR brand-as-author program Ishan Pandey: Hi Mick Tsai, great to have you here for our "Behind the Startup" series. Can you please tell us what inspired the creation of COS.TV? Mick Tsai : During my time working for the popular streaming platform LiveMe in LA back in 2017, I had the chance to interact with many YouTubers who expressed their growing concerns regarding centralized content platforms. The issue at hand was the feature algorithm, which controlled both their viewership and monetization, leaving content creators and users with no control on the centralized platform. As a solution, we established Contentos and COS.TV, with the goal of creating a new decentralized content platform that would empower global content creators by allowing them to truly own their creations, while also providing users with great content to enjoy. Ishan Pandey: What problem does your platform aim to solve in the content creation industry? Mick Tsai: At Contentos, we firmly believe that the creators, the audience, and the platform should all have equal standing, as each of them plays a crucial role in the content creation ecosystem. Unfortunately, centralized content platforms have become dominant, leaving the other two parties with limited power. We aim to change that by creating a decentralized platform where the value of the content is generated collaboratively by all three parties. Our token design ensures that the value is shared fairly among contributors, including creators, audiences, and the platform. Those who make positive contributions to the community are rewarded and gain influence on the platform. This approach significantly alters the current dynamic between content creators and centralized platforms, providing a more equitable and fair system. Ishan Pandey: How does COS.TV plan to integrate emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality into its platform in the future? Mick Tsai : Currently, A.I. is playing a significant role in enhancing the experience of creators and audiences on COS.TV. For instance, through the OpenAI integration, including ChatGPT, creators can now easily generate an appealing video introduction by providing just a few words. This feature is particularly beneficial for creators who struggle with writing video introductions, which is a vital part of attracting an audience to watch their content. Moreover, this feature facilitates global creators that want to reach a broader audience in different countries. In the upcoming release, we plan to integrate even more OpenAI/ChatGPT-like features into COS.TV. One of the new features currently in testing is a video search behavior that uses ChatGPT-like design, which can significantly enhance the video searching experience not only on COS.TV but also on other video platforms. Regarding VR, we are thrilled to announce the latest update to COS.SPACE, our metaverse project built for content creators. COS.SPACE now supports VR headsets, which offers creators and their fans a more immersive experience. We welcome you to visit our Consensus 2023 booth and try it out! Ishan Pandey: How do you envision AI transforming the content creation industry, and what role do you see COS.TV playing in this transformation? Mick Tsai : With the advent of various AI tools, AI-rendered virtual avatars have become increasingly popular. Moreover, more and more channels on platforms such as YouTube and TikTok now feature entirely AI-generated content. This type of content can be produced quickly and inexpensively, posing a potential threat to traditional content creators. Additionally, AI-generated content may eventually overtake the recommendations algorithm of these platforms, leading creators to explore alternative strategies to retain their viewership. However, the core issue remains the same - identifying the type of content that users desire and how best to help them find it. At Contentos and COS.TV, we believe that human participation and community support are still key. While AI tools may be capable of executing tasks perfectly, the initial inspiration must come from the creators themselves. Moreover, the valuable feedback and input from the community are essential for identifying high-quality content and personalizing recommendations for each user. Ishan Pandey: Can you explain how COS.TV utilizes web3 technology to differentiate itself from traditional content platforms? Mick Tsai : At Contentos and COS.TV, we strongly believe that anyone who makes a positive contribution to our ecosystem and community deserves to be rewarded and become an integral part of the platform. In addition, we believe that community members should have the right to participate in content moderation, or a content DAO. Unlike traditional content platforms, where content moderation is solely the responsibility of the platform team, in Web3 we believe that everyone should have the power to participate in this crucial task. We are proud to say that on a daily basis, over 500 community members from all around the world join the content DAO and actively contribute to filtering out bad content for the community. Our system is permissionless, which means anyone can join or leave the content DAO at any time. Moreover, all decisions made by every member, along with the final decision, are recorded on the Contentos blockchain, ensuring complete transparency in the decision making process. In the future, we plan to introduce more community-driven content tagging and decision-making features on Contentos and COS.TV. We believe that decentralization and transparency are the key advantages of Web 3.0 content platforms compared to their Web 2.0 counterparts. Ishan Pandey: How does COS.TV plan to incentivize content creators to join the platform and produce high-quality content? Can you describe the revenue model of COS.TV and how it plans to monetize the platform? Mick Tsai : Most content creators are likely familiar with the Ad revenue sharing model, first introduced by YouTube a decade ago. COS.TV also utilizes this model, but with one key difference: creators receive 60% of ad revenue instead of the typical 50%. In addition to this, several unique Web 3.0 monetization mechanisms have been introduced in COS.TV, providing creators with additional revenue streams. One such mechanism is the Gifting Vote, a peer-to-peer donation system where Contentos native token COS is used to purchase the Gifting Votes, with 60% of the revenue going to the creator and 40% to block producers. Pay Per View and subscription models are also available to creators for monetization. Another exciting feature is the video NFT model, allowing creators to mint NFTs of their videos which can be traded on OpenSea right after publishing. Our latest feature is COS.SPACE, a 3D metaverse product that enables creators to host exclusive private 3D parties for their fans. Creators can sell VIP NFT tickets, allowing fans to purchase tickets and join the event. Ishan Pandey: How will COS.TV balance the benefits of AI with potential concerns around privacy and data protection for its users? Mick Tsai : With the rapid advancement of AI technology, it's only a matter of time before it's able to accurately interpret video content, including live streaming. It will be able to identify valuable content, flag any potential unwanted or copyright-infringing material, and categorize content with proper hashtags for interested audiences. Take, for example, the popular "HOW-TO" search keyword on YouTube. While users can search for videos on their own, an AI-enabled chatbot could understand a user's needs and deliver highly relevant content, providing specific instructions with video clips and transcripts. However, privacy is a big concern, as no one likes being watched. Zero-knowledge technology could be a good solution for protecting chat/search history. Users could choose to "contain" specific conversations, so the AI bot doesn't track the session. Additionally, data shared by creators or audiences must be anonymous but still proof-able to maintain legitimacy. Blockchain can store video view counts, vote counts, and other data that anyone can verify, but without identifying user identities. Ishan Pandey: What steps is COS.TV taking to ensure that AI-powered content moderation is effective and unbiased? Mick Tsai : COS.TV has several layers of defense to ensure appropriate content moderation. The first line of defense is powered by AI, which can detect and remove any pornographic or violent content. This is a widely-used technology in many content platforms today. The second line of defense is the community members. Any user who holds a small amount of VEST statking tokens (5000, approximately $35) can become a DAO member and help decide on problematic content that is reported by the community. As it is a permissionless design, anyone can participate, which empowers the community to moderate the content and align it with their interests. The third line of defense is currently under development, which involves leveraging an emerging AI, similar to ChatGPT, to gain a deeper understanding of the content. This will assist in categorizing and filtering low-quality or bad content, providing higher quality content more exposure to reach a broader audience. Even with the implementation of this new component in the future, the community DAO will still play a critical role in justifying the AI's work. Ishan Pandey: What kind of community-building initiatives does COS.TV have in place, and how do you engage with your user base to foster a sense of belonging and ownership on the platform? Mick Tsai : COS.TV is unique in the crypto space because it offers an accessible user product that brings together creators, audiences, and Contentos mainnet participants. This is also where our team and I engage with the community the most. With over 100K daily active users, COS.TV is a platform that fosters genuine content creation and consumption. In addition to COS.TV, we also use social media platforms such as Twitter, Telegram, Medium, and our community forum to connect with and engage Contentos supporters. Ishan Pandey: Can you talk about the role of cryptocurrency in COS.TV's ecosystem and how it benefits both content creators and users? Mick Tsai: COS is the utility token circulated in the Contentos ecosystem. Creators who contribute the content can get COS from the main-net mining process, so does any user who makes positive contributions to the ecosystem such as helping content moderation, or providing valuable feedback. The calculation process is built in the Contentos main-net, which is a fully open-sourced project on Github. Meanwhile, the block producers election also requires COS as the vote, those elected block producers can become the infrastructure providers in the Contentos main-net, in this case, they also have the right to enjoy the new mining reward. Any regular user can also use COS as the payment instrument to purchase the utility provided in cos.tv such as GiftingVote or the PaidPerView function. Holding the COS can also help you potentially acquire more chances to be featured in the cos.tv main page and attract more viewership. COS is the utility token used within the Contentos ecosystem. Creators that share content earn COS through the mainnet mining process, while users who contribute positively to the platform, like assisting with content moderation or providing feedback, can also earn COS. The calculation process for rewards is built into the Contentos mainnet, which is a fully open-sourced project on Github. In addition, COS is used to vote in the election of block producers, who become infrastructure providers in the Contentos mainnet and receive mining rewards. COS can also be used by regular users to purchase utilities on COS.TV, such as Gifting Votes or the Pay Per View function. Holding COS may also increase a user's chances of being featured on the COS.TV main page, and attract more viewership. Ishan Pandey: Finally, what are the biggest challenges and opportunities facing COS.TV in the next few years, and how does it plan to navigate them? Mick Tsai: Gaining public trust is a major challenge, particularly in light of negative news surrounding cryptocurrency, such as the incidents involving Luna and FTX. Mainstream media often highlights the negative aspects, leading to skepticism among the public and hindering adoption of crypto in the content creation industry. However, the current centralized content platforms have stringent monetization requirements and content censorship, which has raised awareness for the need for a truly decentralized content product. A decentralized content platform presents a great opportunity for global creators and product developers. The impact of emerging AI on content creation and consumption cannot be overlooked. With AI, creating and remixing content will become easier and even become fully automatic, reducing costs. In the future, Web3 technology will play a crucial role when AI tools are linked together and the content monetization system is calculated and settled by a token economy. This will become one of the most important use cases for the blockchain industry. Don’t forget to like and share the interview!

Mick Tsai Discusses the Inspiration Behind COS.TV and Its Goal to Empower Content Creators

Mick Tsai habla sobre la inspiración detrás de COS.TV y su objetivo de empoderar a los creadores de contenido

Mick Tsai discute de l'inspiration derrière COS.TV et de son objectif d'autonomiser les créateurs de contenu

मिक त्साई COS.TV के पीछे की प्रेरणा और कंटेंट क्रिएटर्स को सशक्त बनाने के इसके लक्ष्य पर चर्चा करते हैं

Mick Tsai が、COS.TV の背後にあるインスピレーションと、コンテンツ クリエーターに力を与えるというその目標について説明します

Mick Tsai discute a inspiração por trás da COS.TV e seu objetivo de capacitar criadores de conteúdo

Mick Tsai thảo luận về nguồn cảm hứng đằng sau COS.TV và mục tiêu của nó là trao quyền cho những người sáng tạo nội dung

Mick Tsai 探讨 COS.TV 背后的灵感及其赋能内容创作者的目标

This tutorial is the fourth part of our React Native Plant App tutorial series. In the , we successfully implemented as well as sectioned out some of the UI sections of the Welcome screen. This tutorial is the continuation of the same tutorial from where we left off in the last part. So, it is recommended to go through the previous part in order to get insight and knowledge of the overall project. previous part In case of wanting to learn from the beginning, all the previous parts for this tutorial series are available below: React Native Plant App UI #1: Getting Started React Native Plant App UI #2: Implementing Custom Components Building React Native Plant App UI #3: Implementing Welcome Screen As stated in the previous parts, the motivation to work on this tutorial series came from React Native Theme that provide a wide variety of mobile application templates written in React Native and powered by universal features and design. These app templates allow us to implement our own apps and even start our own startups. And, this fourth part is also the continuation of coding implementations and designs from the Youtube video tutorial by for the Plant App. The video tutorial seems to deliver the coding implementation of the overall app very thoroughly. However, there is no verbal guidance for coding and implementation. This tutorial series is the implementation of the same coding style and designs in the form of the article. Thus, the learners can go through each step and take their time understanding the implementations. React UI Kit Overview In this fourth part of this tutorial series, we are going to implement the UI sections that we separated out in our last tutorial part. The UI sections that we separated were Illustration section and section. The idea is to start by implementing the Illustration section with a horizontal image slider on the Welcome screen. Then, we are going to add the Delimiter Dots known as section below the . Then, we will set animation for the active as per the sliding of Illustration images. Steps(Delimiter Dots) Steps Image Illustrations Delimiter dots So, let us begin!! Importing Images as Props Here, we are going to import the images for the illustration slider section. We are going to import the illustrations as props using module. In order to do this, we need to use the code from the following code snippet: defaultProps Welcome.defaultProps = { : [
    { : , : ( ) },
    { : , : ( ) },
    { : , : ( ) },
  ],
}; illustrations id 1 source require '../assets/images/illustration_1.png' id 2 source require '../assets/images/illustration_2.png' id 3 source require '../assets/images/illustration_3.png' Here, we have defined an array called illustrations which holds objects with image id and image source. Now, we can use the illustrations variable as a prop in our Welcome screen. Implementing Illustrations Section Now, we are going to implement for illustration section that we sectioned out in our previous tutorial in the form of the function called . In this illustration section, we are going to display the images as a horizontal slider. For that, we need to use the code from the following code snippet: renderIllustrations() state = {
  }


renderIllustrations(){ { illustrations } = .props; const this Here, we have initialized the state variable. Also, we have defined the constant from props. Now, we are going to display the images in the illustration section as a horizontal slider. illustrations Using FlatList component Here, we are going to use the component in order to render the images. Then, we are going to configure the with different prop configurations in order to display the horizontal image slider properly. For that, we need to use the code from the following code snippet in the function: FlatList FlatList renderIllustrations() <FlatList
  horizontal
  pagingEnabled
  scrollEnabled
  showsHorizontalScrollIndicator={ }
  scrollEventThrottle={ }
  snapToAlignment= data={illustrations}
  extraDate={ .state}
  keyExtractor={(item, index) => }
  renderItem={({ item }) => ( false 16 "center" this ` ` ${item.id} )}
/> < = = /> Image source {item.source} resizeMode "contain" Here, we have a with different prop configurations which are explained below: FlatList : When its value is true, the scroll view stops on multiples of the scroll view’s size when scrolling. The default value is false. pagingEnabled : When its value is false, the view cannot be scrolled via touch interaction. The default value is true. scrollEnabled : When its value is false, the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom does not show up. showsHorizontalScrollIndicator : This prop is used to controls how often the scroll event will be fired while scrolling (as a time interval in ms). A lower number corresponds to better accuracy for code that is tracking the scroll position. scrollEventThrottle : This prop will define the relationship of the snapping to the scroll view. snapToAlignment Here, we also have the prop which is used to identify each item in the list uniquely. Then, we have the renderItem prop which enables us to return the template of each item in the list. In this case, it returns the Image component that has its source from the illustrations array. keyExtractor Hence, we will get the following result in our emulator screen: As we can see, we have got the illustration section with a horizontal image slider. But, the images and sliding action does not seem appealing. Hence, we are going to use some styling properties to our and its Image component. FlatList Configuring Illustration styles Here, we are going to configure some styles to the and its Image component. For that, we are going to use the component from the package. This component allows us to get the full height and width of the app screen so that we can configure the styles using these size variables. For that, we need to import the component first as shown in the code snippet below: FlatList Dimensions react-native Dimensions Dimensions { StyleSheet, FlatList, Image, Dimensions } ; import from 'react-native' Now, we need to use the function provided by the component as shown in the code snippet below: get() Dimensions { , } = Dimensions. ( ); const width height get 'window' Now, we are going to use these width and height constants to style our illustrations in the function: renderIllustrations() <FlatList
   horizontal
   pagingEnabled
   scrollEnabled
   showsHorizontalScrollIndicator={ }
   scrollEventThrottle={ }
   snapToAlignment= data={illustrations}
   extraDate={ .state}
   keyExtractor={(item, index) => }
   renderItem={({ item }) => ( false 16 "center" this ` ` ${item.id} )}
 /> < = = = , / , ' ' }}
     /> Image source {item.source} resizeMode "contain" style {{ width height: height 2 overflow: visible Hence, we will get the following result in our emulator screen: As we can see, we have got the Illustrations section with a proper image slider now. And, the sliding action looks smooth and appealing. Implementing Steps Section In this step, we are going to implement the section which will include the delimiter dots as per the number of Illustration section images. Since there are three images, there will be three delimiter dots. We have section out this section as function in our last tutorial part. Now, we are going to add the to this function. For that, we need to use the code from the following code snippet: Steps renderSteps() Delimiter dots renderSteps(){ { illustrations } = .props ( <Block
             animated
             flex={false}
             key={`step-${index}`}
             color="gray"
             style={[styles.steps]}
           />
         )
       })}
     </Block> const this return {illustrations.map((item, index) => {
         return ( < = > Block row center middle style {styles.stepsContainer} )
 } Here, in the function, we have defined the illustrations constant from props as in the function. renderSteps() renderIllustration() Then, we have returned the template with a parent component as with some style props. The template wraps the template for the delimiter dots. Here in order to make the number of delimiter dots equal to the number of illustration images, we have used the array function in the illustrations array. The function iterates through each of the items in the illustrations array and returns the template for each item. In this case, we have used the function only to make the number of delimiter dots equal to illustration images number. Then, inside the function, we have returned the component with props and styles. Block Block map() map() map() map() Block The required styles are provided in the code snippet below: styles = StyleSheet.create({ : { : , : theme.sizes.base * , : , : ,
  }, : { : , : , : , : ,
  },
}); const stepsContainer position 'absolute' bottom 3 right 0 left 0 steps width 5 height 5 borderRadius 5 marginHorizontal 2.5 Hence, we will get the following result in our emulator screen: As we can see, we have got the Delimiter dots at the bottom of the Illustration images. As of now, these dots will just appear lifeless as style. But we are going to add the active style with animation to these dots on the basis of the sliding of images. Adding Active Style Animation Here, we are going to add the to our Delimiter Dots in our section. For that, we need to import the component from the react-native package as shown in the code snippet below: Animation Steps Animated { StyleSheet, FlatList, Image, Dimensions, Animated } ; import from 'react-native' Now, we need to define a variable called that is initialized to value. This variable will store our animation value for horizontal animation. In order to do this, we need to use the code from the following code snippet: scrollX Animated {
  
  scrollX = Animated.Value( );

  state = {
  }

....................... export default . class Welcome extends React Component new 0 Here, the . Value configuration enables us to bind to style properties or other props and can be interpolated as well. Animated Now, we need to configure this value into the event of the component of function as shown in the code snippet below: scrollX onScroll FlatList renderIllustrations() <FlatList
   horizontal
   pagingEnabled
   scrollEnabled
   showsHorizontalScrollIndicator={ }
   scrollEventThrottle={ }
   snapToAlignment= data={illustrations}
   extraDate={ .state}
   keyExtractor={(item, index) => }
   renderItem={({ item }) => ( false 16 "center" this ` ` ${item.id} )}
   onScroll={
     Animated.event([{
       nativeEvent: { contentOffset: { x: this.scrollX } }
     }])
   }
 /> < = = = , / , ' ' }}
     /> Image source {item.source} resizeMode "contain" style {{ width height: height 2 overflow: visible Here, we have used the event function of the component which takes the as a parameter. Then, we have defined the value according to the variable inside the config. Animated nativeEvent contentOffset scrollX nativeEvent Configuring Animation in Delimiter dots in accordance with the Sliding Images Here, we are going to add animation to the which will depend on the event of the component of function. For that, we need to first initialize the step position using the divide function of the component. The divide function creates a new value composed by dividing the first value by the second value. And, its use is shown in the code snippet below: Delimiter dots onScroll FlatList renderIllustrations() Animated Animated Animated Animated stepPosition = Animated.divide( .scrollX, ); const this width Now, we are going to make some configuration in the function in order to add animation properties to the . For that, we need to use the code from the code snippet below in the function: renderSteps() Delimiter dots renderSteps() <Block row center middle style={styles.stepsContainer}>
   {illustrations.map( { opacity = stepPosition.interpolate({ : [index - , index, index + ], : [ , , ], : ,
     }); ( ( ) => item, index const inputRange 1 1 outputRange 0.4 1 0.4 extrapolate 'clamp' return )
   })} < = = ` ${ }`} = = { }]}
       /> Block animated flex {false} key { step- index color "gray" style {[styles.steps, opacity </ > Block Here, we have defined a constant called opacity which is initialized to the function of the constant initlized to . The function takes , and extrapolate as parameter values.  The function permits input ranges to map to different output ranges. Then, we have added opacity constant to the style prop of the component. interpolate() stepPosition Animated.divide interpolate() inputRange outputRange interpolate() Block Hence, we will get the following result in our emulator screen: As we can see, we have got the active style animation in the of the section when sliding the images of the Illustrations section. On top of that, the animation looks pretty smooth and appealing. With this, we have come to the end of this part of our tutorial. Delimiter dots Steps Finally, we have successfully implemented the Illustratrations section with the image slider and Steps section with animated Delimiter dots in our Welcome screen of Plant App UI. Conclusion This tutorial is the fourth part of the React Native Plant App UI tutorial series. In this part, we continued from where we left off in the third part of this tutorial series. In this part of the tutorial, we got stepwise guidance on how to add an image slider using the component into our Illustrations section. We also learned how to add a beautiful active style animation to the Delimiter dots of the Steps section. Hence, we made the active animation of Delimeter dots in accordance with the sliding of images in the Illustrations section. FlatList In the next part of this tutorial series, we are going to implement the Terms of Service section using a Modal view on our Welcome screen.

React Native Plant App UI #4 : Illustration Slider and Animated Steps

This tutorial is the fourth part of our Airbnb Home Screen UI clone using React Native. In the previous part, we successfully implemented the Home Around The World sections with home packages. This tutorial is the continuation of the same tutorial from where we left off in the last part. So, it is recommended to go through the previous parts for better insight and knowledge of the overall project. Read Part I Read Part II Read Part III As stated in the previous parts, this inspiration for this tutorial series came from React native real estate template which enables us to develop some amazing ready to deploy applications that anyone can use to build startups or sell the application templates. And, this fourth part is also the continuation of coding implementations and designs from the Youtube video tutorial by for the Airbnb clone. Unsure programmer In this part, we are going to implement react animations using React Native.  The idea is to implement the tags section as in the original Airbnb app’s Home Screen at the bottom of the search bar. The animation comes into play when we scroll the Home Screen from top to bottom or vice-versa. During the scrolling phase from top to bottom, we are going to hide the tags section with animation and make it appear with animation when we scroll back to the top. So, let us begin! Implementing Tags Section In this step, we are going to implement the overall tags section first with any animation. The idea is to implement the tags section in the Explore.js screen file and then move it to a separate component in order for it to be re-usable. Importing Required Component First and foremost we are going to import the necessary components for the overall tutorial. The component needed to be imported here is Animated component that provides the animation properties for react-native apps. So, let us import the Animated component from the react-native package as shown in the code snippet below: {
    View,
    Text,
    StyleSheet,
    SafeAreaView,
    TextInput,
    Platform,
    StatusBar,
    ScrollView,
    Image,
    Dimensions,
    Animated
} ; import from "react-native" Adding Tag Wrapper Here, we are going to add a wrapper element for enclosing the tab section just below the search bar section in the Explore.js file. For the wrapper element. we are going to use is Animated Viewcomponent that enables us to integrate the animation properties in the View component. Along with the Animated View wrapper, we are going to add some inline styles as shown in the code snippet below: <Animated.View
    style={{ : , : , : }}
    > flexDirection 'row' marginHorizontal 20 position 'relative' </ > Animated.View Adding Tag Now, we are going to create an actual tag inside the Animated View wrapper that we created in the previous step. For the tag section, we are going to use the Text component enclosed by the Viewelement. The Text component will hold the text mentioning the tag name with some font styles and the View component will wrap the Text component with styles to make the tag area look proper and appealing. The code to implement this is provided in the code snippet below: <View
  style={{ : , : , : , : , : , : , : , : }}
> < minHeight 20 minWidth 40 padding 5 backgroundColor "white" borderColor "#dddddd" borderWidth 1 borderRadius 2 marginRight 5 Guest < = " ", }}> Text style {{ fontWeight: 700 fontSize: 10 </ > Text /View> Hence, we will get the following result in our emulator screen: As we can see, we have the tag just below the search bar but the tag is sticking to the bottom of the search bar section. So, in order to solve this, we are going to add some styles in order to get the tag into the right position. Some styles containing the top and margin properties are to be added to the Animated View component as shown in the code snippet below: < /View>
           <Animated.View
             style={{
               flexDirection: "row",
               marginHorizontal: 20,
               position: "relative",
               top: 5
             }}
           > Therefore, we will get the following result on our emulator screen: Now, we are going to create the second tag by copying the same piece of code inside the tag’s Animated View component and paste it below the View element enclosing the first tag with a different name. Then, we will get the following result with two tags on the emulator screen: As we can see, we have successfully created the tag section. But, copying the same overall code for the tag section again and again to show multiple tags seems illogical. Hence, we are going to move the overall coding implementation of tags section to a new component in order to make it reusable. Creating a new Component for the Tags section In this step, we are going to create a new component into our ‘./components’ directory. So, let us create a new file named Tag.js inside the ‘./components’ directory. Then, inside the Tag.js component file, we need to import all the necessary components required for the tags section that we imported before in the Explore.js screen. After that, we need to create a class called Tag which extends to the Component module. And inside the  Tag class render()  method, we need to include the code template required for a single tag from the Explore.js file. Practically speaking, we need to copy the code that is enclosed inside the Animated View component of the Explore.js screen and then paste it here inside the render() function. Then, we need to replace the tag name inside the Text component with a prop value called name which is to be passed down from the parent component.  All the coding implementation required for the tag component is provided in the code snippet below: React, { Component } ; { View, Text, Image } ; {
  render() { ( <Text style={{ fontWeight: "700", fontSize: 10 }}>
          {this.props.name}
        </Text> );
  }
} Tag; import from "react" import from "react-native" class Tag extends Component return < = , , , " ", "# ", , , }}
      > View style {{ minHeight: 20 minWidth: 40 padding: 5 backgroundColor: white borderColor: dddddd borderWidth: 1 borderRadius: 2 marginRight: 5 </ > View export default Now, we need to import our Tag component from ‘./components’ directory into the Explore.js screen file as shown in the code snippet below: Tag ; import from "../components/Tag" Now, we need to include the Tag component inside our Animated View component with a prop called name defined with the proper tag name. The name prop is passed down to the Tag component  as shown in the code snippet below: <Animated.View
    style={{ : , : , : , : }}
  > <Tag name={"Dates"} />
  </Animated.View>
</View> flexDirection "row" marginHorizontal 20 position "relative" top 5 < = " "} /> Tag name { Guest Hence, we get the same result as before but with the utilization of component as shown in the emulator screenshot below: As we can see, we have successfully implemented the tag section by creating the separate Tag component. Now, it’s time to work on animation. Implementation of Animation In this section, we are going to implement the animation on the tag section. The idea is to hide the tag section when scrolling from top to bottom and make the tag section reappear when scrolling back to the top. Configuring Vertical Animation Here, we are going to add the animation configuration to the ScrollView component in the Explore.js screen file. For that, we need to include the event method configuration provided by Animatedcomponent inside the onScroll event of ScrollView component to extract the offset in Y-axis to a variable as shown in the code snippet below: <ScrollView
         scrollEventThrottle={ }
         onScroll={Animated.event(
             [
                 { : { : { : .scrollY } } }
             ]
         )}
     > 16 nativeEvent contentOffset y this Next, we need to define an animated variable called scrollY initialized to value 0. Then, we also need to define the start height of the tab section as startHeaderHeight initialized to value 0. Likewise, end height of the tab section as endHeaderHeight initialized to 50 as shown in the code snippet below: (props) { (props); .scrollY = Animated.Value( ); .startHeaderHeight = ; .endHeaderHeight = ;
} constructor super this new 0 this 80 this 50 Now, we are ready to add the animation to the tab section. Adding Scroll Animation Here, we are going to add the vertical animation using the scrollY animation variable to the animatedHeaderHeight variable. The idea of animation is to reduce the height of the Animated View wrapper when scrolling down and increasing the height back to normal when scrolling back. The scrollY variable initialized to Animated value provides an method which takes the parameter as inputRange  and outputRange configuration along with extrapolate option. The is configured to start height and end height of the tab section with extrapolate option as clamp as shown in the code snippet below: interpolate() outputRange .animatedHeaderHeight = .scrollY.interpolate({ : [ , ], : [ .startHeaderHeight, .endHeaderHeight], : }); this this inputRange 0 50 outputRange this this extrapolate "clamp" Next, we need to trigger animation at the main search bar. For that, we need to add a  wrapper of Animated View . Then, we need to add variable that we configured earlier to the height property of Animated View  in its style property as shown in the code snippet below: animatedHeaderHeight <Animated.View
   style={{ : , : .animatedHeaderHeight, : , : }}
 > backgroundColor "white" height this borderBottomWidth 1 borderBottomColor "#dddddd" Hence, we get the following result in our emulator simulation below: As we can see, the tabs section disappears when we scroll down and reappears when we scroll to the top. But, the animation is not smooth yet. So, we need to add some additional animation properties and styles to make it transition smoothly. Adding Opacity property to Animation Now, we are going to add the opacity property to the Animated View wrapper of the tags section. For that, we need to define a variable called animatedOpacity. Then, initialize it to the interpolate() method as shown in the code snippet below: .animatedOpacity = .scrollY.interpolate({ : [ .endHeaderHeight, .startHeaderHeight], : [ , ], : }); this this inputRange this this outputRange 0 1 extrapolate "clamp" Then, we add the animatedOpacity variable to the opacity style property of the Animated View component as shown in the code snippet below: <Animated.View
     style={{ : , : , : , : , : .animatedOpacity
     }}
   > <Tag name={"Dates"} />
</Animated.View> flexDirection "row" marginHorizontal 20 position "relative" top 5 opacity this < = " "} /> Tag name { Guest As a result, we get the smooth animation of the tabs section as shown in the emulator simulation below: Finally, we have successfully implemented the tags section template. And, also configured the animation to show and hide the tags section. Conclusion This tutorial is the fourth part of the Airbnb Home Screen UI clone tutorial series. In this part, we continued from where we left off in the third part of this tutorial series. Here, we learned how to implement the tags section into a re-usable component and use it in multiple places which gave a tags section. We also learned how to add the vertical animation style by making use of Animated component and its properties.  And then, we finally displayed the tabs section with hiding and showing animation during scrolling to our Home Screen UI clone using React Native. Recap Series Till now in this tutorial series, we learned how to bootstrap the layout just like Airbnb in React native. We also learned how to create different sections with components and add animation as well. In upcoming parts, we will how to setup react native navigations.

Airbnb UI Clone with React Native Part #4 : Animate Top Tag Section

This tutorial is the fifth part of our React Native Travel Article App UI clone series. In the , we successfully implemented the Recommendation Section on our List Screen. This tutorial is the continuation of the same tutorial from where we left off in the last part. So, it is recommended to go through the previous parts in order to get the knowledge and insight into the overall project. previous part The motivation for this tutorial series came from the React Native App Templates that consists of a wide variety of beautiful templates written in React Native and powered by universal features and design. The templates enable us to implement our own apps and even help us get started with our own startups. And, this fifth part is also the continuation of the same coding implementations and designs from the Youtube video tutorial by for the Travel Article App UI clone. The video tutorial delivers the overall tutorial using fast coding which may be difficult to grasp for any developer especially the beginners. Hence, this article tutorial provides a step by step implementation which will be easier to understand and implement. So, the learners can relax and take their time to implement the UI. React UI Kit Overview In this fifth part of this tutorial series, we are going to implement the Animated Delimeter dots of the Destinations section. The idea is to make the delimiter dots active in the animated fashion while scrolling the Destination section cards.  After we complete this, we are going to store our color and size style properties in a different file. Then, we are going to use the style properties from that file to style the components in our List Screen. This will make our code clean and organized for better understanding. So, let us begin!! Making Some Configuration in FlatList of Destinations section Here, we are going to add an additional prop to the FlatList component of the Destinations section. The prop we are going to add is decelerationRate. This decelerationRate prop is a floating-point number that determines how quickly the scroll view decelerates after the user lifts their finger. Now, we are going to add this prop to our FlatList component as shown in the code snippet below: <View style={[ styles.flex, styles.column, styles.destinations]}> `${item.id}`}
                renderItem = {({item}) => this.renderDestination(item)}
              />
              {this.renderDots()} < = = = = // = ' ' }} // = = )=> FlatList horizontal pagingEnabled scrollEnabled showsHorizontalScrollIndicator {false} scrollEventThrottle {16} snapToAlignment "center" decelerationRate {0} style {{ overflow : visible In IOS platform data {destinations} keyExtractor {(item, index </ > View Adding Animation to Delimiter Dots In this step, we are going to add the Animation to our Delimiter Dots in our Destinations section. For that, we need to import the Animated component from the react-native package as shown in the code snippet below: { 
  StyleSheet, 
  Platform, 
  Text, 
  View, 
  ScrollView,
  Dimensions, 
  ImageBackground, 
  Image, 
  FlatList, 
  TouchableOpacity, 
  Animated
} ; import from 'react-native' Now, we need to define a variable called that is initialized to Animated value. This variable will store our animation value for horizontal animation. In order to do this, we need to use the code from the following code snippet: scrollX {

    scrollX = Animated.Value( ); export default . class List extends React Component new 0 Here, the Animated.Value configuration enables us to bind to style properties or other props and can be interpolated as well. Now, we need to configure this value into the event of the component of function as shown in the code snippet below: scrollX onScroll FlatList renderDestinations() <FlatList 
                horizontal
                pagingEnabled
                scrollEnabled
                showsHorizontalScrollIndicator = { }
                scrollEventThrottle = { }
                snapToAlignment = decelerationRate={ } onScroll={Animated.event([{ : { : { : .scrollX }} }])}
                data = {destinations}
                keyExtractor = {(item, index)=> }
                renderItem = {({item}) => .renderDestination(item)}
              /> false 16 "center" 0 // style={{ overflow : 'visible' }} //In IOS platform nativeEvent contentOffset x this ` ` ${item.id} this Here, we have used the event function of the Animated component which takes the as a parameter. Then, we have defined the value according to the variable inside the nativeEvent config. nativeEvent contentOffset scrollX Configuring Animation in Delimiter dots in accordance with the scrolling FlatList Here, we are going to add animation to the Delimiter dots which will depend on the event of the . For that, we need to first initialize the dot position using the divide function of the component. The divide function creates a new Animated value composed by dividing the first Animated value by the second Animated value. And, its use is shown in the code snippet below: onScroll FlatList Animated dotPosition = Animated.divide( .scrollX, width); const this Now, we are going to make some configuration in the function in order to animation properties to the dots. For that, we need to use the code from the code snippet below: renderDots() Delimiter renderDots() { dotPosition = Animated.divide( .scrollX, width); ( <Animated.View
              key={`step-${item.id}`}
              style={[styles.dots, styles.activeDot, { borderWidth: borderWidth } ]}
            />
          )
        })}

      </View> const this return {destinations.map((item, index) => {
          const borderWidth = dotPosition.interpolate({
            inputRange: [index -1, index, index + 1],
            outputRange: [0, 2.5, 0],
            extrapolate: 'clamp'
          });
          return ( < = , ,
        { ' ', ' ', }
      ]}> View style {[ styles.flex styles.row justifyContent: center alignItems: center marginTop: 10 )
  } Here, we have defined a constant called which is initialized to the function of the constant initlized to Animated.divide. The function takes , and extrapolate as parameter values. borderWidth interpolate() dotPosition interpolate() inputRange outputRange The function permits input ranges to map to different output ranges. Then, we have also added component to our component with style property. interpolate() Animated View borderWidth Hence, we will get the following result in our emulator screen: As we can see, we have successfully added beautiful animation to the Delimiter dots as we scroll the Destination section card in the Destination section. The animation is very smooth and works well with the scrolling transition. Configuring Style properties Here, we are going to configure the style properties from a separate file. Then, we will style our List Screen components according to the style properties in that file. Storing Style Properties in Different File In this step, we are going to store our size and color properties used very commonly on the List screen to a different file called . This will make things easier for us to assign styles to different components. Now, we need to create a file called in our main project folder as shown in the code snippet below: ‘theme.js’ ‘theme.js’ As we can see, we have got the file. Now, in the theme.js file we need to define our colors and sizes properties as shown in the code snippet below: ‘theme.js’ colors = { : , : , : , : , : ,
  }; sizes = { : , : , : , : , : , : ,
  }; {
    colors,
    sizes,
  }; const black '#000' white '#FFF' gray '#DCE0E9' caption '#BCCCD4' active '#007BFA' const base 16 font 14 padding 36 margin 36 title 24 radius 12 export Here, we have defined the color and size style properties in the colors and sizes constant variables that are then exported. Integrating Color and Size style properties based on theme.js file Since we have defined some common style properties in the theme.js file, here we are going to import the styles from file and integrate them into our component inline styles as well as the styles in the component. But first, we need to import the file into our file as shown in the code snippet below: theme.js StyleSheet theme.js List.js * theme ; import as from '../theme' Now, we are going to change the color and size style properties in accordance with the pre-defined styles from the theme.js file. Changing color style properties in accordance with theme.js Here, we are going to change the color style properties in the file with the colors variable from the theme.js file. All the changes made to the style properties in the component is provided in the code snippet below: List.js StyleSheet header: { : theme.colors.white, : , : , : , : , : ,
    }, : { : , : , : , : , : , left : , : , : theme.colors.white,
    }, : { : (width - ( * )) / , : , : theme.colors.white, : , : , : * ,
    }, : { : * , : theme.colors.white
    }, : { : , : theme.colors.white, : }, : { : theme.colors.black, : { : , : ,
      }, : , : , : ,
    }, : { : , : , : , : , : , : theme.colors.gray, : ,
    }, : { : , : , : , : theme.colors.active,
    } backgroundColor paddingHorizontal 36 paddingTop 48 paddingBottom 24 justifyContent 'space-between' alignItems 'center' destinationInfo position 'absolute' borderRadius 12 paddingHorizontal 36 paddingVertical 16 bottom 20 //In iOS platform, bottom : -36 36 right 36 backgroundColor recommendation width 36 2 2 marginHorizontal 8 backgroundColor overflow 'hidden' borderRadius 12 marginVertical 36 0.5 recommendationTemp fontSize 14 1.25 color rating fontSize 28 color fontWeight 'bold' shadow shadowColor shadowOffset width 0 height 6 shadowOpacity 0.05 shadowRadius 10 elevation 5 dots width 10 height 10 borderWidth 2.5 borderRadius 5 marginHorizontal 6 backgroundColor borderColor 'transparent' activeDot width 12.5 height 12.5 borderRadius 6.25 borderColor Now, we have some inline styles as well bound to the components in the different templating methods. We need to change them in accordance with colors variable as well. All overall code with changes is provided in the code snippets below: In the header config of the object: navigationOptions <Text style={{ : theme.colors.caption}}>Search place< color for /Text> For the function: renderDestination() renderDestination(item){ ( <View style={[styles.row, {justifyContent: 'space-between'}]}>
            <View style={{flex : 0}}>
              <Image source={{uri: item.user.avatar}} style={styles.avatar}/>
            </View>
            <View style={[styles.column, {flex : 2, paddingHorizontal : 18}]}>
              <Text style={{color : theme.colors.white, fontWeight : 'bold'}}>{item.user.name}</Text>
              <Text style={{color : theme.colors.white}}>{item.location}</Text>
            </View>
            <View style={{flex : 0, justifyContent : 'center', alignItems : 'flex-end'}}>
              <Text style={styles.rating}>{item.rating}</Text>
            </View>
          </View>
          <View style={[styles.column, styles.destinationInfo, styles.shadow]}>
            <Text style={{ fontSize: 24, fontWeight: '500', paddingBottom: 8, }}>
              {item.title}
            </Text>
            <View style={[ styles.row, { justifyContent: 'space-between', alignItems: 'flex-end'}]}>
              <Text style={{ color : theme.colors.caption}}>
                {item.description.split('').slice(0, 50)}...
              </Text>
            </View>
          </View>

        </ImageBackground> return < = , ]} = }} = }}
        > ImageBackground style {[styles.flex, styles.destination styles.shadow imageStyle {{borderRadius : 12 source {{uri : item.preview )
    } In the function renderRecommended() <TouchableOpacity activeOpacity={ }> < 0.5 More < = }}> Text style {{ color: theme.colors.caption </ > Text /TouchableOpacity> For the function: renderRecommendations() <View style={[styles.flex, styles.column, styles.shadow, { : , : / }]}> <Text style={{ : theme.colors.caption}}>{item.location}< Text> < justifyContent 'space-evenly' padding 36 2 {item.title} < = * , ' ', / , }}> Text style {{ fontSize: 16 1.25 fontWeight: 500 paddingBottom: 36 4.5 </ > Text color /Text>
              <View style={[
                styles.row,
                { alignItems: 'center', justifyContent: 'space-between', marginTop: 36 }
              ]}>
                <Text style={{ color: theme.colors.active }}>{item.rating}</ </ > View /View> Changing size properties in accordance with theme.js Here, we are going to change the size style properties in the file with the sizes variable from the theme.js file. All the changes made to the style properties in the component is provided in the code snippet below: List.js StyleSheet header: { : theme.colors.white, : theme.sizes.padding, : theme.sizes.padding * , : theme.sizes.padding * , : , : ,
    }, : { : , : , : ,
    }, : { : width - (theme.sizes.padding * ), : width * , : theme.sizes.margin, : theme.sizes.padding, : , : theme.sizes.radius
    }, : { : , : theme.sizes.radius, : theme.sizes.padding, : , : , left : theme.sizes.padding, : theme.sizes.padding, : theme.colors.white,
    }, : { : , : , : theme.sizes.padding,
    }, : { : (width - (theme.sizes.padding * )) / , : , : theme.colors.white, : , : theme.sizes.radius, : theme.sizes.margin * ,
    }, : { : , : theme.sizes.radius, : theme.sizes.radius,
    }, : { : , : , : theme.sizes.padding / , : , : , : , : ,
    }, : { : * , : theme.colors.white
    }, : { : (width - (theme.sizes.padding* )) / , : (width - (theme.sizes.padding * )) / ,
    }, :{ : theme.sizes.padding, : theme.sizes.padding, : theme.sizes.padding / }, : { : theme.sizes.font * , : theme.colors.white, : }, backgroundColor paddingHorizontal paddingTop 1.33 paddingBottom 0.66 justifyContent 'space-between' alignItems 'center' destinations flex 2 justifyContent 'space-between' paddingBottom 30 destination width 2 height 0.66 marginHorizontal paddingHorizontal paddingVertical 20 borderRadius destinationInfo position 'absolute' borderRadius paddingHorizontal paddingVertical 16 bottom 20 //In iOS platform, bottom : -36 right backgroundColor recommendedHeader justifyContent 'space-between' alignItems 'flex-end' paddingHorizontal recommendation width 2 2 marginHorizontal 8 backgroundColor overflow 'hidden' borderRadius marginVertical 0.5 recommendationHeader overflow 'hidden' borderTopRightRadius borderTopLeftRadius recommendationOptions alignItems 'center' justifyContent 'space-between' padding 2 position 'absolute' top 0 left 0 right 0 recommendationTemp fontSize 14 1.25 color recommendationImage width 2 2 height 2 2 avatar width height borderRadius 2 rating fontSize 2 color fontWeight 'bold' Now, we have some inline styles as well bound to the components in the different templating methods. We need to change them in accordance with sizes variable as well. All overall code with changes is provided in the code snippets below: In the header config of the object: navigationOptions <Text style={{ : theme.sizes.font * }}>Destination< fontSize 2 /Text> For the function: renderDots() <View 
          style={[ 
                  styles.flex, 
                  styles.row, 
                  { : , : , : Platform.OS === ? theme.sizes.padding * : }
                ]}
         > 
          ................. justifyContent 'center' alignItems 'center' marginTop 'ios' 2 48 In the function: renderDestinations() <ImageBackground
          style={[styles.flex, styles.destination, styles.shadow]}
          imageStyle = {{ : theme.sizes.radius}}
          source= {{ : item.preview}}
        > <View style={{flex : 0}}>
              <Image source={{uri: item.user.avatar}} style={styles.avatar}/>
            </View>
            <View style={[styles.column, {flex : 2, paddingHorizontal : theme.sizes.padding / 2}]}>
              <Text style={{color : theme.colors.white, fontWeight : 'bold'}}>{item.user.name}</Text>
              <Text style={{color : theme.colors.white}}>{item.location}</Text>
            </View>
            <View style={{flex : 0, justifyContent : 'center', alignItems : 'flex-end'}}>
              <Text style={styles.rating}>{item.rating}</Text>
            </View>
          </View> <View style={[styles.column, styles.destinationInfo, styles.shadow]}>
            <Text style={{ fontSize: theme.sizes.title, fontWeight: '500', paddingBottom: 8, }}>
              {item.title}
            </Text>
            <View style={[ styles.row, { justifyContent: 'space-between', alignItems: 'flex-end'}]}>
              <Text style={{ color : theme.colors.caption}}>
                {item.description.split('').slice(0, 50)}...
              </Text>
            </View>
          </View> borderRadius uri < = { ' '}]}> View style {[styles.row, justifyContent: space-between </ > ImageBackground For function: renderRecommended() <Text style={{ : theme.sizes.font * }}>Recommended< fontSize 1.4 /Text> In function renderRecommendation() <View 
            style={[styles.flex, styles.column, styles.recommendation, styles.shadow,
                    index === ? { : theme.sizes.margin } : ,
                    isLastItem ? { : theme.sizes.margin / } : ,
                   ]}
           > <Image style={[styles.recommendationImage]} source={{ uri: item.preview }} />
              <View style={[ styles.flex, styles.row, styles.recommendationOptions ]}>
                <Text style={styles.recommendationTemp}>
                  {item.temperature}℃
                </Text>
              </View>
            </View> <View style={[styles.flex, styles.column, styles.shadow, { justifyContent: 'space-evenly', padding: theme.sizes.padding / 2 }]}>
              <Text style={{ fontSize: theme.sizes.font * 1.25, fontWeight: '500', paddingBottom: theme.sizes.padding / 4.5, }}>{item.title}</Text>
              <Text style={{ color: theme.colors.caption}}>{item.location}</Text>
              <View style={[
                styles.row,
                { alignItems: 'center', justifyContent: 'space-between', marginTop: theme.sizes.margin }
              ]}>
                <Text style={{ color: theme.colors.active }}>{item.rating}</Text>
              </View>
            </View> 0 marginLeft null marginRight 2 null < = ]}> View style {[styles.flex, styles.recommendationHeader </ > View Hence, after everything is organized, we will get the same result as before which is shown in the following emulator simulation: As we can see, the result is the same as before with all the codes organized. Now, we will be able to configure style properties easily in the upcoming parts of this tutorial series. With this, we have come to the end of this part of the tutorial series. Finally, we have successfully implemented the Animated Delimiter dots in the section of our screen. Destinations List Conclusion This tutorial is the fifth part of the React Native Travel Article App UI clone tutorial series. In this part, we continued from where we left off in the fourth part of this tutorial series. In this part of the tutorial, we got stepwise guidance on how to add beautiful active style animation to the of the section. Hence, we made the active animation of in accordance with the scrolling of the section cards. Then, we also organized our inline styles and styles in the component to make code standard and clear. Hence, we can now style our components more easily in the upcoming parts of this tutorial series. Delimiter dots Destinations Delimeter dots Destination StyleSheet In the next part of this tutorial series, we are going to add the icons to our List screen as well as the rating stars to our Recommendation Info cards.

React Native Travel Article App UI Clone #5 : Animated Delimiter Dots

This post is about , which is powered by and hosted through GitHub using . I’ll describe the workflow I use when deploying new posts. my blog Pelican GitHub Pages For those of you not familiar with these technologies, Pelican is a static site generator — meaning you can write your content in a format such as /Jupyter notebooks, and Pelican will automatically generate the HTML files for you; and GitHub Pages is a service provided by GitHub for hosting a website under the <your-username>.github.io URL. Markdown Using Pelican and GitHub Pages is quite easy. There’s one annoying little thing though… GitHub Pages assumes the branch contains the root folder to be served to the world. If you're using Pelican's default settings, the folder is the folder you want to serve. contains the generated website's files. A natural choice of how to organize the files inside the repository would be to define pelican's root folder - the parent of - as the root of the repository. But GitHub Pages needs to be the root. Bummer... master output output output output There are who solve it using two separate repositories: one for the website “source” files, and one for the output which will be served using GitHub Pages. those I personally don’t like breaking my blog into two repositories. I want to keep everything in one place, so I chose to solve the problem using branches and git hooks. The first step is to create two branches: will contain the blog's "source" files, namely - all the files such as the folder which contains the actual posts, and file. source content pelicanconf.p will contain only the contents of . master output These branches will obviously live in my GitHub Pages repo ( ), and since the branch contains 's contents, a user navigating to will be presented with the goodness of my blog. https://github.com/yoel-zeldes/yoel-zeldes.github.io master output yoel-zeldes.github.io Unfortunately, manually maintaining these two branches is cumbersome. Git hooks to the rescue! Git has a mechanism to execute custom scripts when certain important actions occur. In my case, whenever I push a commit to the branch, I'd like the branch to get updated with the new contents of . This can be done using the pre-push hook, which is executed - you guessed it - just before a push occurs. source master output All you have to do is create a file named with : .git/hooks/pre-push the following content #!/bin/sh while read local_ref local_sha remote_ref remote_sha do if [ "$remote_ref" = "refs/heads/source" ] then echo 'pushing output folder (production version) to master...' pelican content -o output -s publishconf.py echo anotherdatum.com > output/CNAME ghp-import output git push --no-verify git@github.com:yoel-zeldes/yoel-zeldes.github.io.git gh-pages:master pelican content -o output fi done exit 0 The first thing the script does is iterating over the commits that are about to be pushed. Specifically, only commits that are pushed to the branch are of interest to us. source If commits are pushed to , it executes command using . This will generate the production version of the blog into . source pelican publishconf.py output It then creates a file, which is needed since I use a custom domain ( ). CNAME http://anotherdatum.com The tool is used for copying the contents of to a branch named . GitHub Pages Import output gh-pages is pushed to the remote branch. skips the pre-push hook so this script won't run again. gh-pages master --no-verify is executed again to generate the development version of my blog, so I'll be able to write the next post. pelican Now, whenever I push to , and only to , gets updated with the new contents. Cool! source source master One last small detail: I added to the file. This way, the branch won't include this folder. We don't really want to put it under version control - it would be like putting other types of generated files such as or under version control. output .gitignore source .pyc .o Originally published at anotherdatum.com .

How to Publish Blog Posts with Pelican and GitHub Pages

When you last tried to register on any web service, you were likely to see a “login with Facebook” button somewhere during that process. This small detail emphasizes the enormous influence of this social network in the modern information space better than any statistics. With a user base the size of almost a quarter of the world’s population, Facebook has long secured the title of “the king of social networks.” Watching the rise of blockchain technology, Mark Zuckerberg had recently written about a “decentralizing force that puts more power in people’s hands.” a post Remember that the first four words of Facebook’s mission have always been “give people the power.” Does this mean Facebook will veer in the direction of decentralization or will it ever remain a centralized relic in the world of blockchain-based social networks? Decentralizing a social network: Where are we now? Is it possible to apply decentralization to a social network? Many platforms aim to take the place of Facebook or Instagram or YouTube as they try to propose something that lacks in centralized networks: security and the possibility to earn rewards and get payments for uploaded content. https://steemit.com/steem/@steemitblog/1-000-000-steem-accounts Among the active projects, we can pick out the following ones: . The most popular decentralized content-creation network. It’s a blogging platform, very similar to Reddit or Medium.com, the main difference is that Steemit users receive Steem tokens for being upvoted. Upvoters also receive tokens, the payout depends on the number of daily active users — the more users, the less is the payout. According to official statistics, the network has than 60,000 daily active users. Steemit more . A decentralized content-creation platform, built using an existing mobile content platform. What is unique, is its orientation towards the regions with low bandwith, emerging markets, constraint by technical difficulties but still eager to consume new content. Besides their , everyone can contribute to the network becoming a content creator being rewarded with BOLT tokens. At the same time, users are incentivized to pay for streaming services with the same tokens, thus maintaining a healthy economy inside the BOLT ecosystem. Currently, they’ve partnered with Discovery Channel, Al Jazeera, Citizen TV, Channel NewsAsia, and the latest one with granting them the transmission rights of the 2019 Cricket World Cup. BOLT original content the International Cricket Council (ICC) . A decentralized content platform for video and music, similar to YouTube, but uncontrolled by any entity. Users get rewarded for uploading videos. The platform is already up and running. This project has a backing of Binance Labs, NEO, and Nebulas. Contentos . A platform for content tokenization, where everyone can share, like and comment any content with no restrictions. Content tokenizations allows to trade content like any other cryptocurrency. Also the platform includes a system for licensing and validating content. It has Lenovo among its partners. REOS Facebook domination So, what about the blockchain revolution? Is it worth it for Facebook to fear competition from its decentralized younger brothers? Let’s take a look at the dynamics of the number of Facebook and Steemit users, as the largest representative of the “decentralized family” of projects. Number of monthly active users of Facebook (in millions). Data: statista.com Active Steemit users per month. Data: steemit.com This simple parameter clearly shows the astonishing difference in audience size between the two platforms. While Facebook has around 1.5 billion unique active users monthly, Steemit can only boast about 150,000 users. The difference here is impressive, and looking at it, one can easily understand what a difficult thing it will be to cast “King Facebook” from its throne. I will give just one more example to show the huge difference in user engagement on both platforms. According to the same Steemit statistics, the total number of transactions on the platform per day, which reflects the total activity of users on the Steemit network, exceeds one million. Number of daily transactions on Steemit platform. Data: steemit.com Is this a huge number? It’s not so big if we take into consideration that every minute of a day (!) Facebook users push like for around 4 million posts. So Facebook is a Leviathan, and decentralized projects like Steemit are small fishing boats that are intent on killing It. What are the reasons for such a huge difference and do blockchain projects revolving around social media have a chance? The Matthew effect: Winner takes all The first and foremost reason is not connected with the internal advantages of Facebook. It is not even connected with the problems of decentralized solutions. I am strongly convinced that the main reason for facebook priority was that it appeared to be the first to come to the social network market. Mark Zuckerberg was who applied the developing Internet technology to create a university social network and thus apparently became the pioneer who fulfilled the needs of his surroundings. After a year since its launch, Facebook had . the first one over 6,000,000 users This rapid rise was possible due to a good idea, but then the positive feedback loop came into force. The platforms that followed the leader (FB) had to conquer the people’s attention, while Facebook got it just because new potential users heard about it first. So, the larger became the network, the faster it grew. This is called the , or winner-takes-all model.” This phenomena got its name from a quote from the Bible: Matthew effect “I tell you, that to every one who has will more be given; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” — 19:26, . Luke RSV New users didn’t choose between different platforms from some hypothetical list, they just heard from friends about Facebook and joined the network. In scientific literature, this effect is called the .” “preferential attachment Today, smaller platforms find themselves catching up, and have to fight for the attention of the audience with the winning platform. It should be known that the works on Facebook as well, only strengthening its leadership over time. Lindy effect Problems of decentralized social networks It’s not only that Facebook was the first in the social network market and that almost a quarter of the globe uses it. It’s about the general concept of decentralized platforms. Look at Bitcoin — this is the standard of a secure and decentralized network, but inside it there are consolidation processes that significantly affect the course of events (for example, Bitmain today controls ). There is reason to believe that such processes are common to all decentralized systems. more than 40% of the network’s hashrate As , “The reality is that most people do not want to run their own web servers or social network nodes. They want to engage with the web through friendlier platforms, and these platforms will be constrained by the same forces that drive consolidation today.” Wired says Security issues The issue of the advantages of decentralized solutions over centralized ones in matters related to security is controversial. On one hand, the could have been probably avoided if Facebook was decentralized. The absence of a single server or group of servers that govern the network greatly increases the system’s resistance to attacks, unless the blockchain code has vulnerabilities (and that critical vulnerabilities have not been eradicated, even in the Bitcoin code). latest Facebook data breach recently it became known If the scandals surrounding Facebook’s data leaks continue, people will sooner or later turn to the issue of the security of their own personal information. Provided that decentralized platforms prove themselves to be perfect in this matter, it can be an additional incentive for the audience to move. However, . it is not easy to achieve real decentralization What needs to be done? While the overall idea of decentralization might be appealing to some people, it would be hard to directly compete with Facebook on its own battlefield. It’s deeply integrated into the lives of the regular Internet audience, serving as a digital identity on many sites over the Internet. It has all the necessary resources to compete with any rival, and it’s too early for the general audience to buy the idea of decentralization. At the same time, there are some regions of the planet where Facebook still has no penetration — such as emerging markets. What’s the point in trying to cut off a piece of the pie of Facebook when there are still unexplored niches. More than Internet users live in emerging markets, and that’s an enormous audience for any project. That’s where new decentralized social networks, such as previously mentioned BOLT, can succeed. 2 billion The main focus should be to give access to social networks and to new content to users in developing countries, and these countries usually have outdated technologies, a low bandwidth and, generally, don’t have a good financial situation. Those are the problems that should be addressed. BOLT tries to solve them by cutting costs in the subscription payment process, delivering a new video format for low bandwidth users, and a way for content-creators from those regions to be rewarded for their contribution. With this solution, users who were cut from entertaining content, news, and sports, now get access to it and that can be a good selling point in winning these markets. Conclusion We haven’t seen yet an explosive growth in popularity of decentralized social networks compared to the leaders of their industries. Maybe the key factor is that we join a social network for other reasons: Facebook because our friends are there, Reddit because it’s funny, LinkedIn so we can find new professional contacts… only a few people join a social network for technological reasons, for instance, for the sake of decentralization. The social media market is so huge that decentralized projects will certainly find a place in it, but there is still a long road ahead. A good place to start the growth is the emerging markets. If any of decentralized projects will be able to utilize the advantages of blockchain and suit the needs of users from these regions, they will have a chance to become leaders in that segment. About the author: — Founder of Geekforge.io and Howtotoken.com. Interviewing the top 10,000 worldwide experts who reveal the biggest issues on the way to technological singularity. Join my . Kirill Shilov #10kqachallenge: GeekForge Formula

Can Facebook’s “Give People the Power” Mission be Accomplished Through the Blockchain?

What Crypto insiders are reading on Asia. 🙏 THANK YOU Global Coin Research is proud to announce that we have joined Accelerator. The Information We’ve been selected from 100 applicants across 19 countries to become a member of the 2019 class, and we are proud to join alongside with Nina Xiang, with David Skok and with Sherrell Dorsey. China Money Network The Logic ThePLUG You can read all about all the members of the class and the publications . here GCR is founded with a simple mission, to be the most reliable news source for the community that want to stay up to date on Crypto and Blockchain happenings in Asia, and share stories and exclusives you won’t read anywhere else. We will continue to strive to do our best everyday, and we thank you for all your support thus far. Share with Friends 🌟 Top News in Asia from Wednesday through Friday 💰 Deals and Funds Thailand-based blockchain and online payment startup , joined by Mitsui Fudosan’s corporate venture arm, 31VENTURES, and existing backer Indonesian VC firm Sinar Mas Digital Ventures. Omise raising an undisclosed financing round led by Japanese venture capital firm Global Brain http://bit.ly/2J8e86G TAP secures investment fromAlphabit and FBG Capital. http://bit.ly/2Je0rmN Series A to enter the U.S. and Southeast Asia, From Danhua, NEO Global Capital. F2Pool founder’s Cryptocurrency wallet startup Cobo raises $13M http://bit.ly/2J6HuSE , a leading quantum-resistant technology project: NEO Global Development is partnering with Arqit http://bit.ly/2yoUbnF 💰 Coin and Token News Amazon web services China division is partnering with public blockchain project Qtum: [Incorrect link last time] http://bit.ly/2yk189K and its different departments. A telling perspective of how to succeed in countries like Korea. A biased but interesting take on how ICON thinks about it’s relationship with the government http://bit.ly/2J74XmQ Malaysia to Spain: payment: Asian Fintech company completes Ripple blockchain API http://bit.ly/2Jd40JX The first ever gaming reportedly marking up over 10,000 plays on its first day: DApp to be released on Tron blockchain has reportedly to be a massive hit, http://bit.ly/2yrnS7X 💸 Exchange News Zebpay, one of the biggest exchanges in India, with a view of serving not just citizens and residents of the island nation but also other European countries: has registered an office in Malta http://bit.ly/2PfXLuk but price drops: Binance burns more than 1.6 million BNB coins http://bit.ly/2J6bdLL Binance CFO says crypto exchange looking to add new stablecoins: http://bit.ly/2PINcwB 🎌 Regulation News A Japanese taxation policy committee held a debate with the aim of simplifying cryptocurrency tax: http://bit.ly/2PKNHq0 In the wake of the , how can blockchain technology improve the future of the tax system?; tax scandal that engulfed Chinese actress Fan Bingbing http://bit.ly/2R0iQWE A new paper authored by World Bank Group-linked experts proposes the development of a blockchain network : to boost efficiency across government procurement systems worldwide http://bit.ly/2NOWYeU first of a series of posts explaining what’s going on with China’s ban: China’s unique crypto paradigm- http://bit.ly/2PJRTWW 💼 Business News Samsung has , which could reduce mining energy consumption by up to 50 percent: launched a new production process of its 7-nanometer Low Power Plus process node http://bit.ly/2P9FqPb n in Thailand: Accenture and Digital Ventures co-develop and launch first-of-its-kind blockchain solutio http://bit.ly/2S4SXpQ Japanese electric power company : partners with bank, university on blockchain research http://bit.ly/2ypEmNP In the BTC bear market, the price of second-hand bitcoin mining machines takes a dive towards 10–30 dollars-equivalent of Yuan in China: http://bit.ly/2yqAj3Q who had been exploited by blockchain-related fraud: Same group of advocates, different vibe; a follow-up story about those individual investors http://bit.ly/2S2IueD 🎉 🎉 Our New Podcast is Out! With Founding Partner Roger Lim of Neo Global Capital In this episode, Joyce Yang from Global Coin Research met up in Singapore with , one of the founding partners of . Roger has been an experienced angel and blockchain investor. He is an advisor for Bluzelle, Qlink, CoinFi, Selfkey, TheKey, Tomocoin, 0Chain, nOS, Open Platform. Prior to getting into crypto, Roger was a successful entrepreneur who founded and sold Webvisions, a cloud hosting company. Roger Lim Neo Global Capital In this episode, Roger and Joyce discuss how NGC deploys its $400mn fund from Singapore and China into projects around the world, the NEO ecosystem fund, and how the Asia-based team thinks about the crypto ecosystem in Asia and the US. : Neo Global Capital is the strategic investment vehicle of the NEO foundation. The firm invests through two funds- one of which is the NEO ecosystem fund that aims to support NEO and it’s ecosystem of dApps and projects. Another fund invests into inspiring projects related to blockchain. The team is split between Singapore and Shanghai. Neo Global Capital’s most recent investments include SKALE Labs, Muzika, Contentos. About NEO Global Capital

Top Asia Crypto News Roundup from Oct 17–20

🌟 Top News in Asia from this Week This week, I wrote a piece for TechCrunch highlighting and how it recorded a big loss in Q2 2018. Bitmain IPO concerns Chinese search engine and web services company which describes the development of a “Super Chain” network system. It is supposedly more efficient than a traditional blockchain in that performs with a higher degree of hardware utilization. Baidu has released the Baidu Blockchain White Paper V1.0, http://bit.ly/2NaQruy China Securities Times, the mouthpiece of Chinese financial regulators, reported that the . Bank of Communications issued a total of $1.3 billion worth of RMBSs via its proprietary blockchain network, Jucai Chain http://bit.ly/2NcCNYd Shanghai Hongkou District Court: in the general legal sense is under the protection of the laws. Ether as a property http://bit.ly/2N9YoQM Japan financial services company SBI Holdings announced it had secured a license from Japanese regulators for its joint money transfer operation with Ripple. http://bit.ly/2N90noz Central Banks Report. Cryptocurrency prices highly correlated to regulatory action: http://bit.ly/2Nb68BZ ( ) and a new Japan-focused digital coin. Japanese social messaging giant LINE has unveiled 5 new decentralized applications DApps http://bit.ly/2NaR47o 💰 Investments Datapoint- General sentiment from China is that most local funds headquartered in China have stopped their Crypto investments The Asian funds that are based in the US are still active, albeit transaction volume is light, similar to the rest of the crypto investors in the US. entirely. *China Media* a blockchain protocol that aims to form the foundation for a decentralized digital content ecosystem for an undisclosed sum. Binance Labs to invest in Contentos, http://bit.ly/2Na3b4I 💰 Coin and Token News Japanese internet services giant GMO Internet has on graphic processing units. launched a new mining software client designed for mining Zcash http://bit.ly/2N8RCLi Four early employees and two contractors have to start up StrongBlock, a new blockchain project that is currently under wraps. resigned from the Hong Kong cryptocurrency company Block.one http://bit.ly/2N8mAD TRON, which acquired BitTorrent in July for an undisclosed amount, is now to create a hybrid content sharing ecosystem which leverages cryptocurrency. seeking to use its TRX token within the platform’s user base http://bit.ly/2Nagi6b to perform identity authentication services on its distributed trust collaboration platform. Ontology is collaborating with 4Stop http://bit.ly/2N7xs4l an open source collaborative effort created to advance cross-industry blockchain technologies hosted by The Linux Foundation. Wanchain has joined Hyperledger, https://on.mktw.net/2N49iaR NEM cofounder compared his own company to Ethereum and insisted that the while admitting that if what users are looking for is funds, then they should head to Ethereum. security found in NEM is unmatched http://bit.ly/2NagBgY 💸 Exchange News Cardano (ADA) and Quantum (QTUM). Kraken listed two new cryptocurrencies on its platform- http://bit.ly/2N8S6B6 Superrich International Exchange, a popular foreign currency exchange chain in Thailand, in addition to 32 fiat currencies. has reportedly revealed a plan to begin offering travelers cryptocurrency exchange service http://bit.ly/2N9cUIz Major Indian cryptocurrency exchange . Zebpay announced it had stopped all trading due to the country’s banking ban http://bit.ly/2N8tcBr has reopened to connect with international blockchain firms, individuals, brokerage houses and funds. Huobi’s influencer collaboration program Global Elites http://bit.ly/2NawQL8 to evade US economic sanctions. It’s also alleged that the country is developing its own native crypto asset to further assist moving money across borders, according to a duo of financial intelligence analysts from Washington D.C. North Korea is reportedly ramping up the use of cryptocurrencies http://bit.ly/2N7yrl3 🎌 Regulation News How Largest Banks and Conglomerates Back Exchanges. South Korea’s Crypto Market Overview: http://bit.ly/2Nbv6Be , including Islamic finance, renewable energy, and agriculture. The Malaysian government wants to integrate blockchain technology into its most significant industries http://bit.ly/2NcEF3b Taiwan’s financial regulator, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), is reportedly . considering to allow convenience stores in the country to conduct cash transactions involving cryptocurrencies http://bit.ly/2NaTanM , which will entail tokenizing voting rights and using the blockchain platform to connect the firm, registrar and transfer agents (RTA), and the regulator. The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) is testing a blockchain http://bit.ly/2N9ctxV designed to store and process data for legal disputes. The Nanjing Arbitration Committee is testing a new blockchain platform http://bit.ly/2NbtxmQ 💼 Business News Japan`s financial services giant SBI Holdings is trialing a crypto token that can be used to make retail purchases with users’ smartphones. http://bit.ly/2N9HP7x and predicts blockchain may surpass AI in 2 years. Ant Financial launches its BaaS Platform http://bit.ly/2NcTtyu Squire, a Canada-based crypto mining firm, which raised $19.5 million in August to develop sophisticated mining equipment, has signed a deal with South Korea’s largest conglomerate Samsung to manufacture ASIC chips. http://bit.ly/2N90CQv to retain its top position in India’s server market. Technology giant Dell has outlined plans to invest in emerging tech like blockchain http://bit.ly/2NeXaE8

Top Asia Crypto News from This Week- Sept 23–29th

We recently built the application using some of the most powerful development tools available. By offloading the non-core development functionality onto available API services, we were able to build this application faster than I ever could have imagined. I’m excited to share with you how we did it. Story Licensing TL;DR Check out the live Story Licensing app The Requirements Every application starts with a goal and requirements. For this application, the goal was to acquire leads interested in purchasing the rights to repost online content from publications in the network. Our requirements: AMI Publications Stories (for our app, stories published on sites) need to be quickly and easily searchable @ami Stories need to indicate a ranking of publicly available social validation (Claps) to the interested lead Ability to capture the lead’s email (before the search action) Ability to capture the bid request data: story title, lead email, search term bid and send an email to the admin Ability to manage copy content by a content manager via a content management system The Services For this app we knew we didn’t want to build and manage *everything*. Instead, we wanted to offload non-core development to the best available services, only building what we need. Any web project with a time crunch (pretty much every project) would be well-advised to do this so you don’t unnecessarily reinvent functionality that already exists at a high level. So for this app we decided to use: for content management, data storage, this is also where our Medium articles are stored using the . Cosmic JS Medium Backup Application to search stories. It definitely satisfies our speedy search requirement (It’s FAST!) Algolia for sending email notifications SendGrid for supplying the story library @ami So with all of these, we’ve got the best in class services for the respective functionality. And building our application would involve locking these services together. Building the Search Functionality For this app I knew I wanted to use (mainly for personal preference). So in keeping with the “build only what you have to” theme, the natural framework choice for me was . Their value proposition is “React Applications Made Simple”. It makes it easy to get a React app up and running without a lot of boilerplate development while providing for a nice developer experience. React Next.js To integrate Algolia, I needed to implement the search bar into the React app. Luckily, they’ve got an excellent , which allows for easy integration into React apps. Just set your , and . You can find these in your Algolia dashboard. InstantSearch React Component appId apiKey indexName Now that I had the search bar implemented, I needed to add records to Algolia. To do this, I needed to add the Cosmic JS-saved Medium articles into Algolia. I created a script to add Objects from Cosmic JS into our Algolia search index. Here’s : add-records.js ( ).config() Cosmic = ( ) api = Cosmic() = ( ) algoliasearch = ( ) client = algoliasearch(process.env.ALGOLIA_ACCOUNT, process.env.ALGOLIA_INDEX) index = client.initIndex( ) buckets = [ , ] .eachSeries(buckets, (bucket_slug, bucketEachCallback) => { bucket = api.bucket({ : bucket_slug })
	addRecords() added_count = addRecords = { .log(skip) locals = {} .series([ { objects = bucket.getObjects({ : , : ,
				  skip
				}).then( { objects = data.objects
				  locals.objects = objects
				  locals.total = data.total .log( , data.total) .log( , locals.objects.length)
				  callback()
				}).catch( { .log(err)
				})
			},
			() => { .eachSeries(locals.objects, (object, eachCallback) => { object.content
					index.addObject(object, (err, content) => { .log( + content.objectID) .log( , object.slug)
					  added_count++
						eachCallback()
					})
				}, () => { .log( + added_count, + locals.total) (added_count !== locals.total) {
						addRecords(added_count)
					} {
						bucketEachCallback() .log( )
					}
				})
			}
		])
	}
}) require 'dotenv' const require 'cosmicjs' const const async require 'async' const require 'algoliasearch' const const 'Stories' const 'your-bucket-slug' 'another-bucket-slug' // Add all Bucket slugs here async const slug let 0 const ( ) => skip = 0 console const async => callback const type 'posts' limit 1000 => data const console 'Total:' console 'Object Length' => err console async // Save Algolia record delete console 'objectID=' console 'ADD' console 'Added ' 'Total:' if else console 'All done FOR REAL!' Next I needed to get claps for stories, because the Medium XML feed for stories (Example: ) doesn’t include this vital information for our app. So to do this, I needed to create a worker script that could run daily, updating all of our story clap counts. https://hackernoon.com/feed Here’s : get-claps.js ( ).config() = ( ) axios = ( ) algoliasearch = ( ) client = algoliasearch(process.env.ALGOLIA_ACCOUNT, process.env.ALGOLIA_INDEX) index = client.initIndex( ) getClaps = { hit_count = index.browse( , {}, { (err) { err
	  } hits = content.hits .eachSeries(hits, (hit, callback) => { medium_url = hit.metadata.medium_link (!medium_url) callback()
			axios.get(medium_url).then( { str1 = str2 = claps = (response.data.split(str1).pop().split(str2).shift())
				index.partialUpdateObject({ : claps, : hit.objectID
				}, { (err) err; callback()
				});
			}).catch( { .log(err)
				callback()
			})
		}, () => {
			hit_count = hit_count + content.hits.length (content.cursor) {
		    index.browseFrom(content.cursor, browseDone)
		  } {
		  	getClaps() .log( , hit_count)
		  }
		})
	})
}
getClaps() require 'dotenv' const async require 'async' const require 'axios' const require 'algoliasearch' const const 'Stories' const => () let 0 '' ( ) function browseDone err, content if throw const async const if return => response const '"totalClapCount":' const ',"sectionCount' const Number claps objectID ( ) function err, content if throw // console.log(medium_url, claps, hit.objectID) => err console if else console 'DONE!' This script does the following: Gets all of the saved records in Algolia, hits the story URL, gets the JSON data, parses it for the clap count, and then updates the record in Algolia. This process can run in the background to get and save the latest claps count for each story. This will increase our record actions per day quota in Algolia, increasing our costs, but it’s worth it to get the latest social validation for each story. @ami With the search results coming from Algolia, the search term relevance gets priority, but we can also reorder the stories to show the highest clap count on top: Saving the Lead Emails and Bid Requests Since the goal of this app is to save bid requests for potential customers, we chose SendGrid for a reliable email service provider. I created two endpoints to save the lead email prior to search, and the bid request information after a story had been found. Here’s and : leads.js bids.js .exports = { Cosmic = ( ) api = Cosmic() bucket = api.bucket({ : , : process.env.COSMIC_WRITE_KEY
  })
  bucket.addObject({ : + ( ()), : , : [{ : , : , : , : req.body.email
    }], : { : , : }
  }).then( {
    res.json(data)
  })
} module ( ) function req, res const require 'cosmicjs' const const slug 'app-bucket-slug' write_key title 'Lead - ' new Date type_slug 'leads' metafields title 'Email' key 'email' type 'text' value options content_editor false slug_input false => data .exports = { Cosmic = ( ) sgMail = ( ) = ( )
  sgMail.setApiKey(process.env.SENDGRID_API_KEY) api = Cosmic() bucket = api.bucket({ : , : process.env.COSMIC_WRITE_KEY
  }) bid = bucket.addObject({ : + ( ()), : , : [
      { : , : , : , : req.body.email
      },
      { : , : , : , : req.body.bid
      },
      { : , : , : , : req.body.post_title
      },
      { : , : , : , : req.body.post_link
      }
    ], : { : , : }
  }) .series([ { subject = html_body = + req.body.post_title + + req.body.bid + message = { : { : req.body.email
        }, to: process.env.BID_EMAIL, subject: subject, text: subject, html: html_body,
      }
      sgMail.send(message)
      .then( { callback()
      })
      .catch( { .error(error.toString())
        res.json({ : })
      })
    },
    () => { subject = html_body = + req.body.post_title + + req.body.bid + message = { : { : process.env.BID_EMAIL, : }, to: req.body.email, subject: subject, text: subject, html: html_body,
      }
      sgMail.send(message)
      .then( { res.json({ : })
      })
      .catch( { .error(error.toString())
        res.json({ : })
      })
    }
  ])
} module async ( ) function req, res const require 'cosmicjs' const require '@sendgrid/mail' const async require 'async' const const slug 'story-licensing' write_key const await title 'Bid - ' new Date type_slug 'bids' metafields title 'Email' key 'email' type 'text' value title 'Bid' key 'bid' type 'text' value title 'Post Title' key 'post_title' type 'text' value title 'Post Link' key 'post_link' type 'text' value options content_editor false slug_input false async => callback // Send to Admin const 'A Bid has been received' const '<div>A bid has been received for <strong>' '</strong> for <strong>$' '</strong></div>' const // sender info from email // Comma separated list of recipients // Subject of the message // // plaintext body // HTML body => () //Celebrate => error // Log friendly error console success false // Send to Bidder const 'Your bid has been received' const '<div>A bid has been received for <strong>' '</strong> for <strong>$' '</strong>. Thank you.</div>' const // sender info from email name 'Story Licensing' // Comma separated list of recipients // Subject of the message // // plaintext body // HTML body => () // Celebrate success true => error // Log friendly error console success false Notice for both of these actions (lead email and bid request), we are also storing the data in Cosmic JS. This has been done so we can use this data for admin record keeping. Cosmic JS now has this data available to view, query and deliver via the Cosmic API into any future applications. In Conclusion The finished app is now available to help you find high-quality content from the network to license to your website or blog. . AMI Publications Check it out here Resources Used Cosmic JS NPM module Algolia React InstantSearch NPM module SendGrid NPM module I’m happy with the way this project came together. The development was fast thanks to using the best services and developer tools available (Algolia, SendGrid, Next.js and Cosmic JS) to deliver a fast and scalable application. Let me know your thoughts, and . join the conversation on Slack follow Cosmic JS on Twitter

How We Built the Story Licensing App using Next.js, Algolia and Cosmic JS

The online marketing industry is broken, its reputation is bad and getting worse. Our industry is full of marketers, entrepreneurs and developers with , relying on extracting user data to fuel their unethical models. questionable styles, tactics and ethics driven by numbers business Growth hacks at cost of everything else Built with the purpose of taking attention away and making the users addicted to the products Built with the purpose being to collect data, sell that data and sell advertising Featuring dark patterns with design choices that to take actions that benefit the platform rather than themselves manipulate the users Tens if not hundreds of external, third-party scripts tracking every move Intentional in order to make it more difficult for users to quit, cancel, edit settings friction within design Buying, selling and scraping of user data such as email addresses with the intention of sending unsolicited mass sales mailers The most celebrated companies are the worst offenders Some of the most celebrated companies and people working within them are the worst offenders. Google has turned away from its “ ” motto and philosophy. don’t be evil You’ve already heard everything you need to know about how Facebook abuses your trust. The list is too long to include here. From the book Chaos Monkeys by , a former product manager at the company, you have a good insight into how a typical marketer thinks these days: Antonio García Martínez For my entire career at Facebook, I was embroiled in a rolling debate with the Facebook privacy and legal teams about what we could and couldn’t get away with, chiseling away at their legal trepidation, and trying to find some legal rubric that would forgive (or at least defensibly excuse) our next depredation with user data. Here’s a very current example of a dark pattern Facebook introduced in their design. The focus is on the fake new notification and message buttons on the top even though there actually are no new messages. The idea is to get more people to rush in and accept their invasive terms without a second thought. GDPR is just another obstacle for their growth team and something that can be hacked in order to manipulate more users to say yes to something they may not want. Despite what Mark Zuckerberg wants you or the senators to believe. Unilever is one of the largest advertisers online and this is : how they think Prowling his London office in jeans, Keith Weed, who oversees marketing and Unilever, one of the world’s largest advertisers, described how mobile phones have elevated data as a marketing tool. “Now with the good old mobile, I have individualized data on people. You don’t need to know their names . . . You know their telephone number. You know where they live, because it’s the same location as their PC.” Weed knows what times of the day you usually browse, watch videos, answer e-mail, travel to the office — and what travel routes you take. “From your mobile, I know whether you stay in four-star or two-star hotels, whether you go to train stations or airports. I use these insights along with what you’re browsing on your PC. I know whether you’re interested in horses or holidays in the Caribbean. The core values most big businesses (and those who are trying to become big) hold and stand for are the financial growth and monetary success. This growth matters the most and we use whatever tactic or strategy that leads us to it. This has attracted financially motivated people. And it’s difficult for these people to sacrifice short-term growth or financial success in exchange for user privacy, respect and strong ethics. ” It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” This is the environment we’re working in. Discipline and patience are not tolerated. All the good values have costs, are viewed as barriers and are seen as a , at least in the short-term. competitive disadvantage GDPR has made advertising more complicated But the world we live and operate in is slowly changing. Social media and website advertising has gotten a lot more complicated since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has gone into effect. You now need permission from users in order to collect and use their personal data. All the GDPR notices on the different websites have really opened our eyes to how many third-party trackers are collecting our data. Compare and . The first is a typical website that you are used to these days. https://www.usatoday.com/ https://eu.usatoday.com/ It includes banners, intrusive advertising, it’s slow to load and uses a lot of your data. Behind the scenes it loads many external tracking scripts that are there to monitor your every move (on site and off site too), learn more about you so they can interrupt you to sell you more stuff you don’t need. More than 5MB of junk in total is loaded. The second version is the EU version which is compatible with the GDPR law. It’s pleasing to the eye, it’s quick to load, it doesn’t use much of your data, it doesn’t push intrusive ads you don’t want to see and it doesn’t load any tracking scripts in the background. The total size of the GDPR-friendly version is 500KB. It’s refreshing to visit, has a great user experience and is something that pretty much the whole web used to be before the big digital advertising revolution. With new ideas and better business models, I hope we can return to this type of ethical websites that are good for users but also companies running them. A growing number of marketers and companies with integrity Luckily there are a growing numbers of marketers and companies (and politicians with that support users) who share a wish to make the world of online a better place. even more regulations marketing . People with integrity. Something more people and companies should aspire to themselves. They hold admirable traits, qualities and a fresh, less intrusive view on how marketing should be done of recently voiced his opinion on this: Amir Salihefendic Doist of Farnam Street has recently updated his ethics and privacy policy plus removed all the Facebook tracking pixels: Shane Parrish , director of marketing at , : Kevan Lee Buffer is in on it too Good marketing requires empathy. Be genuine. Help people. Provide value first. Don’t persuade. Don’t sell someone something they don’t need. Enrich people’s lives. When they need you, be ready. Listen. Communicate clearly. Give freely. Advertise minimally. Seek permission and celebrate intent. Always speak the truth. Dream big. Deliver high quality. When in doubt, be a magnet not a hammer. Here’s an example of how things can be done from the book by , founder of Moz: Lost and Founder Rand Fishkin “You think we should make it harder to cancel?” I replied. “If you change the cancellation process to a phone call,” Rob explained, “I’m willing to bet that friction alone will improve your monthly churn rate. Plus, you can then talk to folks as they’re canceling and get a much better understanding of who they are and why they’re leaving. You could probably save a good number of them, too, or get them back as customers again in the future. Maybe switch some to a cheaper plan or convince them to buy a different product from you.” I’d seen some stats that backed up Rob’s guess and told him so. “You’re right. Making the subscription cancelable only by phone can have a real impact on churn rate. But we all hate services that require a phone call to cancel after a purely online signup. They’re intentionally making it difficult. It’s not empathetic, and that means it’s not TAGFEE.” “Fair enough,” Rob replied, “but you’re leaving a lot of money on the table.” “Well,” I answered, “we always say: they’re not core values if you’re willing to sacrifice them in exchange for money.” At Moz, we have six core values, represented by the acronym TAGFEE — Transparency, Authenticity, Generosity, Fun, Empathy, and the Exception. These are the beliefs we prioritize above the success or growth of the business. TAGFEE acts as a litmus test for whether we should or shouldn’t take an action, hire or let someone go from the team, or create a process or policy. We use it in everyday discussion about the content we put on our website, the ways we engage with our community, the products we build, and the internal actions we take. Rand seems to be taking this approach to his new startup too: Growth hacks are inferior to creating real value to people It’s up to us creators, developers, marketers, designers, and entrepreneurs. We can bring the user-friendly web back and we can . reintroduce some of these great principles and values All the growth hacks and tricks are inferior to . creating real value to people the audience you are trying to target Respect about what you’re doing Be upfront and honest to the people you are targeting Provide real value to people and make those options clear Give options of those that are interested to learn more Ask for permission of those that are not interested Ask for nothing in return to cheat people into accepting something they don’t want to Don’t use dark pattern design , persuade and lie to people Don’t manipulate , salesy and don’t sell things people don’t need Don’t be pushy It’s not easy to make these big changes. You will make mistakes, you will be disappointed, you will encounter resistance. Any small step you take can lead to an important change in the long run. And you will be happier and more fulfilled too. Some user-friendly steps I have taken on my blog One step I took on my blog recently was to . reduce the number of external scripts One quick win was to remove the default social sharing buttons and use a plugin that displays them without having any calls to the servers of Facebook et al. Except for when I embed content from other sites, my last remaining external script is Google Analytics. I’ve turned off every advanced tracking option that Google allows you to. I’ve also anonymized the IP addresses of my visitors in Google Analytics by adding (piece of code): this little trick ga(‘set’, ‘anonymizeIp’, true); By doing this, you only lose some accuracy in the city data. Everything else is fine. Still, Google collects a lot more data than I ever need but there is a lack of decent alternatives. and Paul Jarvis are working on a more simple and trustworthy solution (Fathom) that I am eager to replace GA with . Danny van Kooten when it’s ready YouTube also supports no-cookie embedding so I use that when embedding videos. Plus I have lazy loading on videos which means that they do not load anything (including external scripts) unless you scroll down to those areas. This . makes the blog faster too Within my content, I fully focus on providing the value without any empty promises, without intrusive advertising, without pushy, sleazy sales tactics to get people to buy secrets that would make them rich overnight. The web is full of these. I don’t use any of the intrusive pop-ups, pop-overs and such (looking at you too ). All my content is totally free. There are no email captures either. Medium These are some of the small steps I have taken and I will take these further as I discover new ideas and alternatives to the default way the things are done today. Data collection should not drive you at the expense of everything else All this doesn’t mean that you’re not ambitious. That your companies will never grow. That you will never achieve the goals that you want to achieve. It doesn’t mean that you have to totally ignore marketing, tactics and data either. Data is useful and can help you understand your audience better and help you create a better product. These things can be useful and valuable but they should not drive you and your business at the expense of everything else. Or in the words of : Derek Sivers Really, “marketing” just means being considerate. Marketing means making it easy for people to notice you, relate to you, remember you, and tell their friends about you. Marketing means listening for what people need, and creating something surprisingly tailored for them. Marketing means getting to know people, making a deeper connection, and keeping in touch. All of these are just considerate — looking at things from the other person’s point of view, and doing what’s best for them. Originally published at howtomakemyblog.com on May 31, 2018.

The Guiding Principles Of An Ethical Digital Marketer

You can find me on or . Originally Published in November of 2016 in Jordan Gonen Twitter Startup Grind Ofall the generic advice I’ve received in my life, “go meet as many people as you can,” is perhaps the most common. Like most buzzword phrases, I found myself asking, “what does this even mean?” “Well, duh, I want to meet people. But how?” As a stranger to the tech world, and just 18 at the time, I needed all the help I could get. It was then, about a year ago, that I began making a conscious effort to internalize that advice and define a path to accelerate my growth. So I went on a mission to meet more people and establish more strong connections. Some people call it networking. Others use a fancy phrase like “relationship building.” Regardless, know that meeting new people can be extremely valuable. With the right mindset, you can learn something from everyone. The action of ‘networking’ can be broken down into a few simple parts: Figuring Out Your Goal Outreach to people Together, doing something that creates value I followed this guide in my effort to break into tech and meet new people. The Hive Building Your Professional Network Nothing is prescriptive, you should always do what works for you Before looking outwards, we must invest in becoming self aware so that we can best present ourselves. Most people skip over this crucial first step. They begin by asking for things before understanding their own priorities. Self-awareness is extremely difficult to achieve. It is not a metric one can check off, but rather an ongoing process of development. I found it crucial to define my goals, but still know that they were subject to change. It is that balance of focus and fluidity that enhanced my life. The first question to start with: What is your goal? Ambiguity makes this question tough. But better you ask yourself than someone else questioning you. Do you want a job? An internship? A connection? An intro to a company? etc. Ask yourselves those hard questions immediately. Next, you want to figure out your why. Why do you want a job? An internship? etc. The best answers here are not surface level. They will take some thought and perhaps a couple levels of digging to find anything of value. There are no wrong answers, just useless ones. Bad Examples: You want a job because you want to make money. You want an internship because you want a job next year. Spend some time and really think…why do you want a job? To make money. Why do you want money? To travel? To have fun with friends? Why is this job going to get me that? You now know, or are starting to figure out, your what and why. You should also, at this point, define what you are best at. What do you do that no one else can compete with? What makes you unique? What are your skills? If you feel as if you lack skills, or cannot seem to answer these questions, think about learning new ones! Important here not to lie about anything, because at this point you are only lying to yourself. People value honesty. The next step is to begin purposeful outreach: It is time to look outwards so that you can meet people quickly. The key here is to be purposeful. Two of the best strategies that worked for me: 1. Direct Outreach I wanted to meet interesting people who I could learn, connect, and create value with. And so I set up a framework for outreach: The next thing to learn here is how to craft the perfect email so that you can reach out to your list. And this is the part that a lot of people mess up. A few keys here: be short, ask for what you want, and why they should care. Don’t just take it from me, here is some great advice from : Justin Kan Here is a very simple framework (not a template, just an example email) that I have sent: Hi , My name is Jordan and I share a passion for the intersection of tech and business. I am really interested in your experience with ____ and ____ and would love to find a time to chat about your past as well as advice you have for a student in the future. Also, I’d love to help you out doing ________ because I am _______. Shoot over a time that works for you and I will be sure to make it work, Jordan *don’t use a template, write it out every time and personalize it Easy and hits all of the points. There is no perfect email, but there are many bad ones. Be sure to get to your point quickly. An important thing that I’d note here is that sending one or two emails will, most likely, not get you any results. In fact, sending 20 emails may get you no responses. If you want to truly invest in building a brand and network, you must be in it for the long run. Only a truly committed, sustained effort can bring you a result. If your goal is building a network (which it does not have to be), then try starting with one email a day. Then scale. Start with something you can execute daily. That will help you get momentum and motivate you to keep going. 2. Join A Community Another way to build your network is to join a community that shares interests with you. This one is fairly self-explanatory, but super helpful. Being active in a community and providing valuable information can go a long way. A great way to do that in tech is with places like: _Product Hunt is a curation of the best new products, every day. Discover the latest mobile apps, websites, and…_www.producthunt.com Product Hunt _Google AI invents its own cryptographic algorithm_news.ycombinator.com Hacker News _A pure stream of founders helping each other with content, feedback and by sharing thoughts. You pick the channels and…_startupfoundation.co Startup Foundation | Startup Chat These are just a few examples. You can also get involved in “tech twitter” and meet a ton of people that way. Regardless, joining a community is a great way to build. The last part, do something! It is one thing to meet loads of new people and add them to your LinkedIn profile. Stop aiming for 500+ connections on LinkedIn. Many people will tell you that you need to have a ton of friends and professional contacts to get a good job or build a big business. The truth: anyone can get to 500 connections. That is not valuable. What is valuable? Deep, meaningful connections. The most important lesson I have learned is that your close friends are the ones who can help you grow most. A few strong bonds are much more important than many connections in a thin network. While it is hard to build a network inorganically, the steps I listed above are ways that have worked for me. I am forever grateful for the people that I have met through this outreach. Great things, like stupid projects and incredible meals, have come from it. While not everyone will take this advice, I’ll always be here to help ~ be sure to reach out! You can find me on or Jordan Gonen Twitter

How I went from being a stranger to having a network in Silicon Valley

Jimmy Song teaching his Programming Blockchain Seminar in Austin, Texas, at WeWork. One of the hardest things about running or scaling any technology business is finding good developers especially when it comes to Blockchain. Everyone wants ninja engineers who can pull a rabbit out of a hat, but they are unicorns. The ones I know are either founders, co-founders, CTO’s or in some senior engineering role being paid a ransom. There are all kinds of tricks that startups and big companies use to lure and sweeten the pot to keep them happy. Equity, stock options, flexible schedules, signing bonuses and a laundry list of other perks. Ninja engineers are like artists or pro athletes. They literally make companies win by making the magic happen. The really special ones are constantly being recruited with large sums of money or they are on the verge of charting their own path founding or co-founding a new startup. Building Ninjas and Unicorns Helping run a technology business over the years, I have found searching for unicorns is really a waste of time unless they come from an excellent referral from your friends and family network. This is why I prefer finding young guns, junior or mid-level developers and giving them their shot to sink or swim. We encourage our developers to take classes to learn and will pay for their education. We may sacrifice the immediate magic effect a new senior ninja developer can have, but put a hungry junior developer with a senior ninja developer willing to take them under their wing, and a new soldier is born. In the last 10 years, mobile engineers have been some of the most sought-after developers in Silicon Valley. With the latest boom in Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency, Blockchain engineers are the new rare unicorn. There are many brilliant Blockchain engineers working in the space, but with the hockey stick growth of Crypto, the ecosystem needs more specialized developers. There is no way to find enough ninja engineers to meet the demand, so soldiers must be trained, and the next generation of ninjas and unicorns will emerge. Jimmy Song’s positive attitude and enthusiasm provide a fun learning environment. Who is Jimmy Song? J has always been a credible source of Bitcoin information for me. I have watched countless hours of his web content on YouTube channel “ ,” learning about the technical side of Bitcoin and Crypto. Jimmy is a Bitcoin developer and entrepreneur; and his credibility resonates with me. He is not the only one I listen to, but I really trust his perspective. immy Song Off Chain I recently got to know Jimmy working on a few articles. The guy is extremely sharp and a wealth of information on many subjects. Getting to know him, I learned he travels all over the US and for developers called where he teaches Bitcoin development and training. This is not some learn to code for noobs type of thing. There are some prerequisites you must know to be able to get the most out of it. However, it is a great entry point for anyone interested in learning to code Blockchain. teaches classes Programming Blockchain Jimmy teaching one of the math lessons in his seminar. Check out those boots! Programming Blockchain, Austin, Texas I dropped into Jimmy’s Austin, Programming Blockchain class last week. The two-day seminar was held at . The class size was smaller than average which worked out well for those attending. I am not a developer and most of this was over my head, but the vibe was not intimidating. I was in a room of fellow Crypto heads and it awesome learning the math and cryptography behind Bitcoin. WeWork in downtown Austin Jimmy is a great teacher. I am not just spreading him sunshine. The guy has a gift and is very hands on and patient with his students making sure everyone understands each lesson. The two-day course builds on a series of topics. Each student is on their laptop coding through each lesson. I was merely sitting in on the class, and I never once felt stupid asking mundane questions. At the end of the course everyone receives a certificate of completion. The rest is up to that individual if they choose to learn or pursue more in Blockchain. Sharpen Your Weapons Some of the people at worked for companies in the industry, and others were just there sharpening their skills. Either way attending a class like this is a very smart career move for anyone looking to work in this rapidly emerging space. There is a ton of opportunity in Blockchain for motivated developers or individuals willing to jump in and work hard. Programming Blockchain, Austin I come from the other side of the table trying to hire developers in a rapidly growing market. Beggars can’t be choosers and sometimes you just need to hire bodies and let natural selection takes its course. The strong survive and leaders emerge. Those leaders help bring your junior people up to speed. This is why the time is right for anyone looking to make a career change. All the new Crypto projects need smart and motivated developers to scale. I hope some young aspiring developers are reading this and taking notes. If you want to get hired and paid large sums of money for developing cool stuff, then start learning to code today. Not everyone has to take classes like this to learn, but I guarantee investing in yourself to learn how to code Blockchain will pay you back dividends and set you up on a great career path. Maybe you’re that Ninja engineer and stuck in that boring comfortable job; It’s never too late! Sharpen your weapons and put your skills to work on something new. Questions & Answers With Jimmy Song I caught up with Jimmy and asked him some basic questions about how to become a Blockchain engineer. Hopefully this will inspire or motivate some of you to step out of your comfort zone and get involved. What is a Blockchain engineer and what do they do? They are software developers that figure out how to secure an immutable, distributed database. It’s very different than web developer, database developer or distributed systems developer, though it has aspects of all three. Blockchain engineers have to design protocols, figure out how to plan for adversarial incentives and do lots of testing of assumptions. What kind of projects might they work on? Bitcoin, obviously and to a lesser degree, private blockchain projects. Jimmy Song takes living in Texas seriously and rocks his cowboy boots. Why are Blockchain engineers in such high demand? An immutable, provable auditable ledger turns out to be pretty useful for a lot of applications. The fact that they’re really hard to design hasn’t deterred companies from trying to make them work. That would be the blockchain-not-bitcoin crowd. The other demand is coming from Bitcoin companies. Many are struggling with scale and want to hire lots of people, so they can expand and do new projects. Where would you recommend someone start if they want to get into coding and working on Bitcoin and Blockchain projects? Start with the basics, like the whitepaper. Read it, understand it and read it again. Then start by learning the math and cryptography behind it. Only then do transactions and blocks make sense. is an excellent resource as are and others. I wrote a primer for contributing to core that you might find useful. Andreas Antonopoulos’s Mastering Bitcoin stackexchange I also that helps programmers learn in person over two days. teach a course What type of experience does someone need? Skills wise, some programming experience and ability to learn high-school level math. What type of computer languages should someone know? Almost every programming language has some sort of Bitcoin library. Contributing tends to be C++ and Python heavy, though. What classes, books or materials do you recommend for anyone that might help them? My course: , and stuff and stuff. Programming Blockchain Mastering Bitcoin Christopher Allen’s Nicola Dorier’s Do schools and colleges teach this? Some do, though it’s hard to tell what the quality of teaching is. Name some Bitcoin or Blockchain developers that people should pay attention to? is a good resource. Twitter has a bunch of personalities. Generally, core devs are good to pay attention to, especially their GitHub. Bitcointechtalk.com Any other tips for aspiring new developers? Be humble and be confident at the same time. Be humble in the sense that you’re not going to contribute much at the beginning. It’s going to take time so be patient. Be confident in the sense that everything is understandable given enough study. Again, be patient and keep going at it until you have a good grasp. This gun sits in front of one of the entrances of the Texas State Capital in Austin. Conclusion We are in the early stages of an incredible technological revolution. Now is the time to jump in the trenches and get your hands dirty. It doesn’t matter where or how you learn to program Blockchain. Get involved and step outside your comfort zone. Do whatever mental pushups you have to do to learn as much as you can about Bitcoin and Blockchain. There are more places to learn to code than Jimmy’s Programming Blockchain course. Check online and look at reviews and find a qualified place or just start hacking away. Don’t make 10 excuses why you can’t do it. Sometimes you just have to take the gloves off and get after it. I guarantee you the Crypto game will change your life. Special thanks to Jimmy Song! Follow Jimmy on twitter @jimmysong and read more of his work on his medium page. Jimmy does a daily Bitcoin show called Off Chain where he has tons of videos to learn from. Check out Jimmy’s 2-day, in-person seminar for Bitcoin Development training. Find out more at programmingblockchain.com Please support independent content producers by sharing our stuff. That is if you don’t think it sucks! Follow @piratebeachbum and @coin_strategy www.coinstrategy.io

How To Become A Blockchain Developer With Jimmy Song

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not an alien term; it’s been around for years! There have also been many predictions of AI’s capabilities and future scope, but only recently has it seen a massive boom. The year 2016 is said to have been the biggest for AI. At the center of this claim is . This breakthrough allowed AI to make its foray to the forefront of technology and innovation. Google’s program which defeated 18-time World Champion Lee Sedol in a five-game match of the strategy board game Go AI has innumerable applications across most industry verticals. In this article, we are going to talk about its applications in marketing, and why we can confidently say that AI is the future of, and for, marketing. But first, let’s look at what AI entails. What is AI? Artificial Intelligence is technology that is meant to imitate human psychology and intelligence. Although it has a very wide definition, it basically refers to software that performs tasks which require human intelligence and intuition. Until now, this technology has performed functions such as speech recognition, image recognition, behavior pattern mapping, and machine learning to name a few. Some AI marketing applications have gone so far as to provide instant automated answers to customer queries. It is also being used to generate new leads, retain existing customers with interesting content, and increasing customer engagement. AI has displayed some impressive development in marketing over the years. Let’s check out the various uses of AI in marketing so far. Applications of AI in Marketing AI has grown in scope in terms of its use in marketing. With the advent of digital marketing and the internet revolution, mass media advertising took a backseat and things like consumer behavior, preferences, search history tracking, SEO, content marketing, speech recognition, came to the front of the line. Let’s look at some of the marketing applications of AI. Content Generation and Curation This pertains to content that is direct, non-opinionated and has clear facts and data. An AI writing program can draft content on an upcoming event, financial report, or some market trend. It cannot, however, write a post or opinion article about the current political scenario or how to handle heartbreak. Some examples of content generating AI programs are Wordsmith, Contentop, Articolo, and WordAi. Content curation means showing customers relevant content to engage them better. For example, displaying blogs related to recently-read articles, suggestions based on recently-purchased items, and the movie recommendations by Netflix. Voice and Text Recognition AI lets users talk into the device and get the relevant information. Voice recognition technology is an AI innovation that is widely-used and very popular; more programs and software are being developed to increase its functionality. Text recognition means typing text into a text box and getting results or being able to communicate with other people, popularly known as a chatbot. Some famous examples of speech and text recognition are Amazon Echo, Facebook Messenger, and Google Hangouts Messenger. Personalized Marketing Brands are moving over curated suggestions to connect with their customers on a deeper level. Simply showing ads based on predictive analysis isn’t enough anymore. Understanding where a user is coming from emotionally, based on their conversation with the brand, helps formulate a better response. It also helps for future recommendations and suggestions to be more personalized and targeted. Understanding User Behavior Users leave traces of their internet usage in the form of cookies and cyber footprints. AI helps websites track user preferences and even search history to understand their behavior. This enables websites to understand what a particular user likes, wants, and will look for — in order to provide more targeted suggestions. Optimizing Sales An understanding of user behavior is important to optimize sales and make the entire process efficient. Sales executives perform tasks right from research to targeting potential customers, understanding user behavior and then pitching the right way to obtain conversions. All this can be made easier using AI, where algorithms filter leads to saving time and efforts that are best utilized elsewhere. According to Dharmesh Shah, co-founder of HubSpot, AI-based sales and marketing automation is set to accelerate in the future. This will optimize activities such as predictive lead acquisition, understanding customer behavior, and personalized recommendations. Some other applications of AI in marketing are: Remarketing and re-engagement Running strong personalized email campaigns Marketing automation Chatbots Personalized web pages and apps Finalizing leads Optimizing Ad targeting Predictive analysis What Can We Expect in the Future? The future of marketing vis-à-vis Artificial Intelligence is set to become more innovative and automated. International software development organization highlighted some ways in which AI will bolster marketing in the future. Pega Artificial Intelligence will help companies, and moreover, CMOs build a corporate culture with utmost customer focus, and help optimize marketing goals such as personalization, and pitching process, making more accurate predictive analyses, and saving time on finding and converting leads. understanding customer behavior to customize the engagement In a nutshell, it will help companies save costs, optimize budgets, make tasks more streamlined for employees, reduce time by automating sales processes, and personalize the customer experience across the entire buying cycle. Pega also stated some more future applications of AI: The (Siri, Alexa, Watson, for example) will become more intelligent and enhance the function of chatbots. Virtual Assistant Customized user recommendations will become possible in real time with a Customer Decision hub and enrich user experiences. Paid digital marketing campaigns can be better to save time and expenses while . managed and automated increasing ROI using AI Natural Language Processing (NLP) will become more ‘intuitive’ in gauging a customer’s mood and intent depending on their written conversation with the company. AI can even go as far as offering suggestions to sales reps in brick-and-mortar establishments on how to cater to a customer for the best results. HubSpot’s co-founders and laid out some more predictions for AI as a part of the future of marketing at the recently conducted event. Brian Halligan Dharmesh Shah Inbound 2016 They say that 2017 will see a lot of advancement in the use of bots. Halligan says that people will gradually move to communicating with bot software instead of navigating via websites and apps. However, he says, bots won’t replace websites but power them. Along the same lines, Shah says that the conversations between customers and organizations via chat and text messaging will soon be replaced by verbal conversations between user and machine. He says that voice input, owing to its numerous benefits, will soon be in greater demand than text input. Algorithms will be developed on a regular basis, and many organizations can use the existing ones to build on. Google’s Link Graph, Amazon’s Product Graph and Facebook’s Social Graph will be taken over by the Engagement Graph. This will mean quality content to gain more engagement. Halligan and Shah say that the most important factor at the center of it all will be content and data. In Conclusion There is a new brand of consumers out there today –fast-paced and knowledge-based. They expect to get value out of a commodity buying it. They need to know that the brand about them and their needs. before cares Consumers expect the brand to know what they want before they decide to take the plunge. They need . suggestions, tips, answers, and assistance now And that isn’t going to change; it’s only going to increase. Artificial Intelligence is the only way for companies to keep up with the ever growing customer demand and expectations. It’s safe to say that AI is the future of marketing. There’s no limit to how far it will bring human experiences closer to technology and its many advances. Related Posts Cede Control — Accelerate with Marketing AI Integrated Campaigns Deliver a [Marketing] Super Bowl! Why You Should Use Algorithmic Approach To Budget Management About OnlineSales.ai OnlineSales.ai is an AI-Driven Led by Ex-Amazonians the platform is made by retailers for retailers. E-Commerce Marketing Platform. OnlineSales.ai is retailer’s operating system for user acquisition, retention and monetization. At its core, the platform gathers and mines billions of data points to build product catalog intelligence, user personas and dynamics of retail economics. This system intelligence is combined with technology automation on an OnlineSales platform that now hosts connected apps across marketing, user experience and data technologies — all on a single platform. Originally published at onlinesales.ai on August 31, 2017.

Why AI is the Future of Marketing

How I bootstrapped Remoteur with €53 and no existing audience . This is the story of how I built and launched it. Remoteur is a bi-weekly newsletter of remote jobs for pros based in Europe Tuesday, 27 June Idea Remote job boards are mostly US-centric, how about Europe? My research on , (specifically in “Searches related to remote jobs”), , and convinced me to build an MVP. At first I thought at another job board, then I decided for . Google Trends Google Search Twitter Quora Hacker News something quicker and easier to launch: a newsletter Name First things first: I needed a short, meaningful and memorable name. The experiment (some kind of “Quora meets Kickstarter” short-lived platform I launched with and two years ago) made me extra cautious with cheeky names, so after combining “remote” with “Europe” I came up with an innocent and french flavored “ ”. Big Tuts Massimiliano Adriano Remoteur Well, , you made your point. Lesson learned: U is next to I on a QWERTY keyboard :) Marc Domain, Twitter and Revue After I recovered from the surprise of finding that was available, I bought an hosting plan on for just €29 and opened an account on and . remoteur.com Serverplan Twitter Revue I chose over Mailchimp & Co for its simplicity and focus on community: I was pretty sure they would help me to increase my newsletter visibility. And last but not least, I found a to get three months of the Pro plan for free (normally it’s $5 a month). Revue coupon code Logo Next step: the logo. I’m not a graphic designer, so I downloaded a free ready-to-go logo from , courtesy of (thanks to and his for the tip). logodust.com Fairpixels Justin Jackson Tiny Marketing Wins Downloaded from logodust.com — Free & open sourced logos Friday, 30 June Value proposition After setting up my custom domain and having made sure the DNS records were updated, I wrote this value proposition: Remote jobs in Europe delivered to your inbox bi-weekly. First issue goes out July 4 I chose and announced a close date for two reasons: to make a public commitment and launch without second thoughts (“ ” as would say); Just Fucking Ship Amy Hoy to instill a bit of fear of missing out (FOMO) something “real”. First issue would be sent at the latest within four days. 1 subscriber (me) and 0 issues, not exactly social proof numbers: I would have hidden those if only Revue would allow it Designer News and Reddit Time to spread the word: first step, . My post got 6 upvotes, no comments and a tweet to their 14K followers: Designer News But here’s the best thing: the lack of competition - I chose to post on , the - allowed me to stay on the Designer News front page for the entire weekend. Friday least competitive workday The lack of competition allowed me to stay on the Designer News front page for the entire weekend Good thing, because my post on was basically ignored by the 46K readers of the subreddit. Reddit Digital Nomad Quora Next platform, Quora. I found these related questions: What are the best ways to search for a remote job in engineering/development within Europe? What are the best places to find remote jobs in Europe? Can you suggest a remote or flexible jobs portal in Europe? What are the best free job posting sites in Europe? I answered with a quick post been viewed 1K+ times so far: Check out a free bi-weekly newsletter called : every other Tuesday I go on a treasure hunt and share some of the best jobs for Europe-based remote workers. Remoteur Twitter and Slack Remoteur’s first tweet to 1 follower ( ) me My RT to ~600 followers I posted the link to Remoteur’s tweet on , ’s Slack community of CRO and experts I joined in May, and wrote this message: Unicorn Think Tank Nichole Elizabeth DeMeré marketing Hey guys! I’m launching Remoteur, a free bi-weekly newsletter with remote jobs for pros based in Europe. First issue goes out July 4: it would be great if you could subscribe, share and/or show some love. Thanks! and kindly helped me gain some exposure on Twitter: Nichole Jes Monday, 3 July Hacker News I posted on , got 3 upvotes and no comments. As for Reddit, I’m not involved in that community, so I didn’t expect to get much traction. Hacker News Cold messages I sent a cold email to and a similar DM on Twitter to , two european pros I chatted with on Product Hunt: Jane Portman Heidi Pun Hi Jane/Heidi, I hope everything is fine! Maybe you remember me as the maker of Big Tuts on . By the way, I’m launching , a free bi-weekly newsletter with remote jobs for pros based in Europe. First issue goes out tomorrow, it would be great if you could show some love. Product Hunt Remoteur Here’s a handy pre-populated Tweet to help me spread the word: https://ctt.ec/K6GEo Thanks! :) Fun fact: they both tweeted! Tuesday, 4 July 5 days later at 11am CEST I sent the to , here are the (very good, according to and ) stats: first issue 224 subscribers Mailchimp Upstart.me 48,66% opened 66,97% clicked 0 unsubscribed Remoteur’s first issue Another cold message Less than two hours after sending the first issue I wrote a cold email to Revue, basically asking to be featured in their : gallery of hottest newsletters Hi guys,what a breeze! Just sent out to 224 subscribers the first issue of Remoteur (remote jobs in Europe): http://www.remoteur.com It would be an honor to be featured in your , any chance? gallery Thank you and big ups for Revue, really loving it!Best from the city of Romeo and Juliet, Silvio BompanFounder @remoteurdotcom Revue’s founder replied a week later: Martijn de Kuijper Hey Silvio, thanks for reaching out! I just added your newsletter to our ! Explore page I was so happy that when asked me to check Revue’s italian translations I couldn’t help but say yes :) Martijn Thursday, 6 July Facebook I opened a just to spend €20 for this ad: Facebook page “Next issue goes out July 18” on a July 6 post, not the best use of the . I mean, really, what was I thinking? urgency/scarcity principle My target audience was 18-45 aged people living in Europe and matching (at least) one of the following: InterestsDigital nomad, Smashing Magazine, Web developer, Web design, Marketing, Growth hacking or Copywriting BehaviorsSmall business owners EmployersWork from home Job titleSearch Engine Optimizer (SEO) Life EventAway from hometown The results? : I’m sure there is considerable room for improvement. 27.747 impressions, 521 clicks and less than 20 newsletter subscribers I’ll need: a more persuasive copy; an eye-catching image; a book/course on the subject (“ ” by seems to be a legitimate candidate). Facebook Ads Manual Mojca Marš Product Hunt Product Hunt is an integral part of launching a new product these days. Mindful of the unsuccessful launch of (a now-defunct Big Tuts pivot), I wanted to ask someone with a larger followership - and able to submit products directly, without having to go through the review process - to post Remoteur for me. Contento I came across this tweet from , dutch maker of the most upvoted product of all-time, : Bram Kanstein Startup Stash and replied with: Then I waited… and nothing happened. Monday, 10 July Established that Bram wasn’t kidding about being selective (or maybe he was just busy), I found out that , who is - among many other things - moderator at PH, has a “ ” form on her site. Nichole Elizabeth DeMeré Submit a product for review for Product Hunt Here’s what I wrote, asking to be posted the following Friday: Hi Nichole,as you surely know remote job boards are mostly US-centric. That’s why I decided to go on a treasure hunt every two weeks and share some of the best jobs specifically for Europe-based remote workers. Launched 10 days ago, first issue went out to 224 subscribers on July 4 ( ), next one is scheduled for July 18. http://www.remoteur.com/issues/remote-jobs-in-europe-issue-1-63661 Remoteur has already been on Designer News front page, being featured on PH would be a blessing :) Thanks for your time!Silvio She replied a few hours later: Hi, I’d be happy to post this product for you on Friday. That’s me after Nichole’s email Friday 14 and Saturday 15 July aka “OMG Product Hunt” Just before lunch I got an exciting mention on Twitter: A note about that 12:35pm CEST The Product Hunt leaderboard resets every day at 12:01am Pacific. So if you want to get the best initial traction you should submit you product early in the morning, and that’s exactly what did: Nichole (who’s from Tampa, Florida) posted at around 6am! I’ll never be able to thank her enough :) Nichole I tagged the with “Hiring and Recruiting”, “Nomad Lifestyle”, “Email Newsletters”, “Tech” and “Website” to get a chance to appear as an alternative of famous remote job boards like or , then I added a couple of screenshots and wrote a greeting comment. Product Hunt post We Work Remotely Remote | OK I asked to be included into the PH collection “ ”, but I was late to the party: of the PH community team told me, “ . Anyway, being included in ’s “ ” collection has at least cheered me up a bit. Find a Remote Job “ Collections are closed” Jake Crump but we do encourage you to make your own and promote it! Get creative, PH retweets cool collections” Raffaele Gaito Italian Products At 1pm CEST I reluctantly sent an email with no value for my to celebrate the Product Hunt launch, trying to be extra cautious not to directly ask for upvotes (it’s against ). 330 subscribers PH netiquette I reluctantly sent an email to my 330 subscribers just to celebrate the Product Hunt launch Here are the stats: 52,73% opened 18,97% clicked (29 clicks on the Product Hunt image link) 5 unsubscribed Remoteur’s second issue I published this post on Facebook and spent €4 to promote it: My target audience was 18–40 aged people living in Europe and interested in Product Hunt. The results? . 741 impressions and 12 clicks In the afternoon came out of the blue telling me I’ve been featured on : Adam Davies INBOXME You flatter me, ! Adam More good news came while I was sleeping, first with a tweet from Product Hunt to their 281K followers: 20 likes, not bad :) Then with this: Fun fact: PH upvotes doubled since launch day Unfortunately Remoteur has been “only” the , so I couldn’t get extra visibility with PH newsletters: a product has to be in the top 5 for the daily version, top 6 for the weekly one. 8th most upvoted product of the day By the way, ! Remoteur subscribers doubled thanks to Product Hunt Tuesday, 18 July Four days after the Product Hunt launch I sent the to . Here are the stats: issue No. 3 656 subscribers 42,6% opened 56,99% clicked 1 unsubscribed I didn’t mention the PH launch in the intro, I tried to promote the Facebook page with the P.S. trick instead Automated DM? No, thanks One week before I set up to automatically send a direct message to each new follower of on Twitter: Crowdfire my personal profile Hi there, thanks for the follow! Interested in getting a bi-weekly digest of remote jobs in Europe? Subscribe for free: http://www.remoteur.com I’m an introvert and I easily (and erroneously) feel guilty for being too pushy, but this time I knew I wasn’t wrong. In fact replied with this DM: Darius Groza Already did that organically, stop automating everything man Not the best way to start a conversation, but after I apologized we ended up chatting about vacations in Italy, free drinks and british humour: as I should have imagined, people discover my profile from Remoteur, not viceversa. People discover my Twitter profile from Remoteur, not viceversa No more annoying and useless automated DMs from me, I promise! August August is the busiest holiday month of the year, but I decided to stick to the original plan, sending every other Tuesday three regular issues with 20 jobs each. Issue No. 4 Sent on 1 August to : 737 subscribers 38,32% opened 54,61% clicked 1 unsubscribed 4th issue’s long intro: probably too many CTAs, in hindsight Remoteur subscribers and I are in the same niche, so I thought it would be a good idea to share the books I’m reading. Best of all agreed to offer my readers a coupon code, and willingly spoke about Remoteur on her Facebook page dedicated to : Matt Isherwood Alessia Camera Startup Marketing Issue No. 5 Sent on 15 August to : 774 subscribers 34,88% opened 50,37% clicked 5 unsubscribed 5th issue’s short intro. Yes, this is the Medium post I was talking about :) Issue No. 6 Sent on 29 August to : 795 subscribers 34,34% opened 46,52% clicked 2 unsubscribed 6th issue’s intro I experimented a couple of things: I changed the mail subject from a generic to a more specific (and hopefully catchy) “Remote jobs in Europe — Issue #6” “#6: Remote positions at Github, Jungle Scout, Super Spicy Media and others”; I advanced the idea of a giveaway to get people to tweet about Remoteur. Along with this I edited the welcome message from Revue’s default: Thank you for subscribing to Remoteur! You will receive updates straight to your inbox, but you can also check out the for past and future issues. profile page Oh by the way, I wouldn’t mind if you gave my digest some love through or :-) Twitter Facebook To this one: Hooray, you’re subscribed to Remoteur! You’ll receive updates straight to your inbox, but you can also check out for past issues. remoteur.com Thanks again for subscribing, much appreciated. I send every other Tuesday, so look for the next issue very soon. Best from Italy! — Silvio P.S. to help you spread the word about Remoteur :) Here’s a handy pre-populated tweet Recently I’ve edited the P.S. part, mentioning the giveaway: P.S. I’m planning to do a little once we cross the 1000 subscribers line, feel free to Remoteur with anyone you think might find it useful :) giveaway share Finally, I changed the pre-populated tweet into “Join me in following this newsletter? Remoteur http://www.remoteur.com ” “Join me in following Remoteur, a newsletter of #remotejobs in Europe http://www.remoteur.com ”. What’s wrong and what’s next Slow growth With about 3 new emails per day, subscriber growth has been pretty slow but steady since the initial launch spike. Open and click rates are decreasing, but I guess it’s a normal physiological response in August: I’ll find out soon if I’m wrong. Subscriber growth has been pretty slow but steady since the initial launch spike 3 new subscribers per day since the Product Hunt spike Poor Google ranking Remoteur’s is only 54.7, so there’s considerable room for improvement. But I’ll have to replace Revue’s landing page with a custom one. WooRank score O Remoteur, where art thou? :( Few RTs Most of the companies I mention on Twitter ignore “their” tweet: honestly, I would have expected more retweets. Maybe I could make my posts more “visual” with tools like or , but I’m afraid it would take too long. Canva Pablo Relax Jungle Scout, I’m not talking about you :) What’s next Here’s what I’m going to do in the short term: a book giveaway to celebrate 1000 subscribers; a custom landing page to get 100% control and overcome Revue limitations in terms of SEO, analytics and unfurling (the way Remoteur previews look on social media and messaging platforms); I’ll consider advertising on Facebook (again) and/or sponsoring an email newsletter relevant to Remoteur’s niche; I’ll try to promote Remoteur participate regularly in 1-5 targeted Facebook groups I’ve joined recently. and Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts, please share your comments below. And if you’re a remote worker based in Europe, . check out Remoteur

From 0 to 737 subscribers in 30 days

I’m working on my performance talk for , which is based on the post “ ”. I’ve decided to freshen up the example we’ll be discussing in order to walk through some exciting new API available today. React Amsterdam 2017 Performance Limitations of React Native and How to Overcome Them Some background In this post, we’ll be assuming you are already familiar with the basic architecture of — the , the and the connecting the two. If not, this topic is discussed in detail in the . React Native native realm JavaScript realm bridge previous post Let’s also remember the main conclusion from the previous post that will guide our performance-oriented discussion: In order to architect performant React Native apps, we must keep passes over the bridge to a minimum. So.. Time to jump into our new interesting use-case which, as it turns out, is not trivial to implement with React Native in a performant manner. A new real life example Our use-case is inspired by the home screen of the . The screen holds a feed of cards and contains a large header image welcoming the user to the app. This is what the UX looks like: Wix.com app Notice two interesting effects. The first — as the user is scrolling down the list of cards, the header image dissolves slowly into the gray background. The second — if the user scrolls up and is already at the top of the list, for the sake of continuity of movement the header image zooms slightly until it bounces back (this is called an ). overscroll effect Effects like these may seem minor, but are part of the that makes a magical user experience and separates the mediocre apps from the great ones. We’ll have to be careful with the implementation though. If it doesn’t run smoothly at 60 FPS, the effect might backfire and degrade user immersion instead of enhancing it. last mile The general component layout of the screen is very simple: Notice that the header image is not part of the ListView because it remains static and doesn’t scroll with the list content. Also notice we are still using the older implementation instead of the recommended . This is due to some extra ListView provides that isn’t yet available in FlatList. ListView FlatList flexibility Our first implementation — onScroll events in JavaScript As usual, we’ll start with the straightforward approach. If we want the effects to be tied to scroll position, we can listen on scroll events. Every time the scroll position changes, our event listener will fire and we’ll be able to re-render the header image and apply the appropriate effect. The setup is somewhat tricky because doesn’t expose the internal used to scroll the content. It works by allowing us to provide our own custom ScrollView using the prop. ListView ScrollView [renderScrollComponent](https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/listview.html#renderscrollcomponent) Applying the effects to the header image is as simple as defining style properties. We’ll use to control the dissolve effect and to control the zoom effect. We’ll store the values for both in local component state and re-render by calling . [opacity](https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/view.html#style) [transform.scale](http://facebook.github.io/react-native/releases/0.40/docs/transforms.html) setState This is the complete implementation: As you can see, on every event we decide which effect to apply based on scroll position ( ). If the scroll position is positive (downwards scroll), opacity is decreased from to . If the scroll position is negative (upwards overscroll), scale is increased from to . onScroll contentOffset 1.0 0.0 1.0 1.4 First attempt — performance analysis What performance should we expect from this implementation? The main performance bottleneck is probably the number of passes over the bridge. Let’s count passes by analyzing what’s running in the (purple on the left) and what’s running in the (black on the right): JavaScript realm native realm Just like any other view event, scroll events originate in the Our JavaScript logic runs in the . Once we re-render, the new view properties must be applied to the actual native views back in the . This means we’re passing over the bridge twice for every frame. native realm. JavaScript realm native realm On busy apps, this will prevent us from running at 60 FPS. Let’s improve. A second implementation attempt — native scroll listener React Native is very flexible regarding which components are implemented in JavaScript and which components are implemented in pure native. A native component can contain a JavaScript component and a JavaScript component can contain a native one. Whenever we have a performance issue, we can usually pull this rabbit out of the hat. Porting one of our components to native can usually solve the problem. Let’s try to apply this principle here. Our performance bottleneck stems from implementing our scroll listener in JavaScript. Since scroll events originate in the , executing our logic in JavaScript will always incur overhead. Let’s move the logic to native. native realm onScroll onScroll The purpose of is to update view properties (opacity and scale). We can save this trip over the bridge as well by closing the entire loop in native. Instead of changing the opacity and scale of the header image directly, we can wrap the image with a native container component —conveniently named — that will change its own properties. This will work because both opacity and scale of a container affect its children as well. This component will contain the native implementation of our logic. onScroll NativeWrapper NativeWrapper onScroll Our new layout: The only challenge so far is hooking our native scroll listener to the correct ScrollView. The ScrollView is part of the ListView and is neither a child or parent of our . We need to be able to pinpoint it from within the native implementation in order to connect the listener. Every React component has a — sometimes called a . This is just a number that uniquely identifies this component instance. We can find this number using and simply pass it as prop to . NativeWrapper node handle React tag [ReactNative.findNodeHandle](https://github.com/facebook/react/blob/72196da82915bee400edb1599d4223926aa2a8a0/src/renderers/native/findNodeHandle.js#L59) NativeWrapper Now that the JavaScript side is all set up, it’s time to get our hands dirty with some Objective-C. Porting the logic itself to Objective-C is easy. The code actually looks almost exactly the same. Instead of calling to update the view properties, we can simply change the view properties directly since we’re running in the . onScroll setState native realm The only challenge here once again is hooking our native scroll listener. Once the numeric of the ScrollView arrives via props, we need to translate it back to a view object reference in order to access the underlying ScrollView instance. This involves a little that uses the to do the translation. node handle borrowed boilerplate UIManager This is the Objective-C implementation: As you can see, the implementation is almost identical to the JavaScript one. If the scroll position is positive (downwards scroll), opacity is natively decreased from to . If the scroll position is negative (upwards overscroll), scale is natively increased from to . onScroll 1.0 0.0 1.0 1.4 Second attempt — performance analysis We expect performance to be much better since this implementation is tailored for reducing passes over the bridge. Let’s count passes by analyzing what’s running in the (purple on the left) and what’s running in the (black on the right): JavaScript realm native realm It’s not surprising that we’ve indeed eliminated all the passes over the bridge after initialization. Both handling of the scroll events and updating of the view properties accordingly now take place in the . native realm We’re still not happy though. This implementation may be performant, but it’s rather complex and requires native expertise. Can we do the same from JavaScript? Third time’s a charm — declarative API for the win So, can we do the same from JavaScript? This is the million dollar question for React Native. For the framework to be truly useful, we must find ways to resolve these performance issues without resorting to native code. This is one area where a lot of progress has been made since the . The key to reducing passes over the bridge is . It allows us to declare behaviors in advance in JavaScript and serialize the entire declaration and send it once over the bridge during initialization. From this point on, a general purpose — one that you don’t need to write yourself — will execute the behavior in the according to the declared specification. previous post declarative API native driver native realm The behavior we want consists of two parts — listening to scroll position changes and updating view properties (opacity and scale). For the latter, we know that , the excellent animation library that’s part of the core, provides good support. Animated What is less known is that Animated can drive an based on as well. [Animated.Value](https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/animated.html#animatedvalue) scroll events How does that work? Let’s jump into the complete implementation: We’ve started by defining an that we’ll use to hold the scroll position at any given time. We’re providing our ListView with a custom ScrollView component — an instead of a regular ScrollView. The lets us declare that our is driven by the property of the native event. Animated.Value Animated.ScrollView Animated.ScrollView Animated.Value contentOffset onScroll From this point forward, we can use the standard Animated approach of interpolating view properties based on an . This requires changing our header image to and allows us to interpolate both the and from scroll position. Animated.Value Animated.Image opacity transform.scale Note that the entire implementation is . We no longer have an imperative function that performs calculations for our effects. declarative onScroll Also note that we’ve specified . The implementation of the Animated library in recent versions of React Native finally contains a that can execute the entire declaration from the without using the bridge. useNativeDriver native driver native realm Third attempt — performance analysis As usual, we’ll count passes by analyzing what’s running in the (purple on the left) and what’s running in the (black on the right): JavaScript realm native realm The only part running in the is the initialization of our declaration. The entire declared behavior is serialized and sent over the bridge once in order to configure the general-purpose of Animated. JavaScript realm native driver After the driver has been configured, it takes care of the frame by frame for us in the without additional passes over the bridge. This section has been grayed out since it’s no longer under the responsibility of our code. native realm Comparing the three implementations The full code of all three implementations is available on GitHub: _rn-perf-experiments2 - React Native performance experiments revisited_github.com wix/rn-perf-experiments2 The demo project lets you choose which implementation to use so they can be compared side by side. Try to run it on a real device. Judging performance on a simulator is usually inaccurate. Since it’s just a simple demo app, there is very little unrelated bridge activity. You will probably not notice any difference between implementations. To assist with this, the demo app provides a toggle to simulate stress conditions with plenty of activity. As you can see, turning it on will make the performance differences much more evident: Summary Architecting performant React Native app is not always straightforward. You should normally start with the naive approach, but if you begin to notice performance issues with your app, always consider the number of passes over the bridge. As the framework matures, common tasks that are prone to high bridge traffic are addressed with declarative API that is designed to reduce passes over the bridge. The library is a good example. Another interesting example is which I’ve demonstrated in . To learn more about it, check out the post “ ”. Animated react-native-interactable ReactConf 2017 Moving Beyond Animations to User Interactions at 60 FPS in React Native If you hit a wall and can’t find a declarative API that resolves your performance issue, you can always fall back on a native implementation. Bring a native developer or two into your team and port the problematic area to native like we did in the second implementation. It’s not always pretty, but it works.

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