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Getting into tech may be nutcracking, especially if you don't know your way about it. Things may be a bit confusing, and most developers wish they could go back in time and start their tech journey from scratch. I have saved you from your future what-ifs by writing this complete Full-Stack Developer road map, which involves possible stacks you can learn and where you can learn them. In this article, I am going to be covering stacks from the Frontend to the Backend and continuous things you can do to keep yourself busy while looking for that big job. FrontEnd Development Frontend has to do with an interactive UI (User Interface) that communicates with the user. This is the part of the web that the user can see and interact with. According to Stack Overflow's annual developer survey for 2020, 37% of developers learn Frontend Development. People going into tech prefer learning a stack that is new and not overpopulated. Here are some recommended Frontend stacks to get you started in your developer journey. Programming Language for Frontend Web Development HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language): I recommend HTML to anyone transitioning into Frontend Development. It is the ABC of the Frontend. HTML can be seen as the skeleton of the website, which has the basic structure that makes a website. The HTML tells the browser how to display the elements like images, texts, and links. A topical HTML file contains various tags that give the webpage structure. Here is a link to kickstart your journey in understanding HTML w3schools
CSS (Cascading Style Sheet): CSS is the next go-to step after learning HTML. I said earlier that "HTML can be seen as the skeleton of the website," but this time, CSS is the flesh of the website. CSS is used to style the website, making it more interactive and user-friendly. CSS is used to style the various tags/elements of HTML. Here is a link to learn CSS in-depth w3schools
JavaScript: Most new Developers confuse Java programming language as the short form of JavaScript. JavaScript is a different programming language that was later introduced into programming. JavaScript has grown so vastly that people now consider it to be a a back-end language. JavaScript is what makes the website functional. It brings the website to life. Let's take a house for example, the house structure is the HTML, the CSS is the paints doors and windows and the interior decorator of the house. JavaScript is what powers the house to have running water and electricity. Here is a YouTube video to expand your knowledge of JavaScript SuperSimpleDev
CSS Frameworks: To make writing codes easier, faster, and more efficient, I recommend you learn a CSS Framework. There are many types of CSS frameworks, but the most used are Bootstrap and Tailwind CSS. Bootstrap helps in grid systems and responsive designs, but compared to Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap may be grander and more complex to write. Tailwind CSS is widely preferred and is excellent for styling. Both have excellent documentation and community support. Tailwind CSS Documentation and Bootstrap Documentation
React Js: React is a famous JavaScript Library that builds dynamic user interfaces. React allows the user to break down the code into various components, thereby making the coding space cleaner and more organized. Learn React on YouTube for free on FreeCodeCamp
NextJS: After mastering React, learn NextJS for server-side rendering and generating static websites. The NextJS documentation offers a getting started guide. NextJS Docs Backend Development Back-end Development means working on server-side software, which focuses on everything you can't see on a website. Back-end developers ensure the website performs correctly, focusing on databases, back-end logic, application programming interface (APIs), architecture, and servers. Node.js: NodeJS is your go-to start in Backend Development. NodeJS is a runtime environment, a runtime environment is an environment in which the program or an application is executed. Node Js allows you to run a program outside the browser like Firefox or Chrome. NodeJS helps Frontend Developers build a prograusingth a programming language they are familiar with. NodeJS can be seen as the backbone of the Backend, which runs on a single server.
DataBase: MongoDB is one of the most common DataBase used to store documents in JSON-like format. MongoDB makes it easy for developers to store structured or unstructured data. Learn MongoDB.
PHP: Is a Dynamic interpreted scripting language for building interactive websites on the server, despite haters pronouncing it dead, it remains one of the most popular languages for Backend Development. It powers content management systems like WordPress Wikipedia etc. Php is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web Development and can be embedded into HTML. Learn Php
Python: Python is a high-level interpreted program famous for its zen-like codes. Python's simple, easy to learn syntax emphasizes readability and therefore reduces the cost of program maintenance. It is commonly used to build server side applications like web apps with Django framework. It is the language of choice for big data analysis and machine learning. Learn Python Full-Stack Development A full-stack developer is a developer or engineer who can build both the front end and the back end of a website. Integrating front-end and back-end knowledge, focus on creating full-stack applications. Use the technologies learned to build robust, scalable web applications. Mobile Application Development 1. React Native: Transition into Mobile Development with React Native, allowing you to reuse JavaScript knowledge. The official React Native documentation is a good starting point. **Continuous Learning and Specialization
\ The tech landscape evolves rapidly, so continuous learning is crucial. Focus on areas of interest or where job opportunities are growing. Participate in open-source projects, contribute to forums, and attend meetups or conferences to stay current. This roadmap provides a structured approach to becoming a versatile full-stack developer capable of handling a wide range of web and Mobile Development challenges. Remember, the key to success in this field is consistent practice and a willingness to adapt to new technologies and methodologies. **Resources
\ https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2020https://www.coursera.org/articles/back-end-developer#:~:text=What%20is%20back%2Dend%20development,)%2C%20architecture%2C%20and%20servers%2C%20architecture%2C%20and%20servers)https://www.python.org/doc/essays/blurb/https://www.youtube.com/@Fireshiphttps://youtu.be/q-xS25lsN3I?si=KpdKsN1f35fV8Df2 Getting into tech may be nutcracking, especially if you don't know your way about it. Things may be a bit confusing, and most developers wish they could go back in time and start their tech journey from scratch. I have saved you from your future what-ifs by writing this complete Full-Stack Developer road map, which involves possible stacks you can learn and where you can learn them. In this article, I am going to be covering stacks from the Frontend to the Backend and continuous things you can do to keep yourself busy while looking for that big job. FrontEnd Development Frontend has to do with an interactive UI (User Interface) that communicates with the user. This is the part of the web that the user can see and interact with. According to Stack Overflow's annual developer survey for 2020, 37% of developers learn Frontend Development. People going into tech prefer learning a stack that is new and not overpopulated. Here are some recommended Frontend stacks to get you started in your developer journey. Programming Language for Frontend Web Development Programming Language for Frontend Web Development HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language): I recommend HTML to anyone transitioning into Frontend Development. It is the ABC of the Frontend. HTML can be seen as the skeleton of the website, which has the basic structure that makes a website. The HTML tells the browser how to display the elements like images, texts, and links. A topical HTML file contains various tags that give the webpage structure. Here is a link to kickstart your journey in understanding HTML w3schools CSS (Cascading Style Sheet): CSS is the next go-to step after learning HTML. I said earlier that "HTML can be seen as the skeleton of the website," but this time, CSS is the flesh of the website. CSS is used to style the website, making it more interactive and user-friendly. CSS is used to style the various tags/elements of HTML. Here is a link to learn CSS in-depth w3schools JavaScript: Most new Developers confuse Java programming language as the short form of JavaScript. JavaScript is a different programming language that was later introduced into programming. JavaScript has grown so vastly that people now consider it to be a a back-end language. JavaScript is what makes the website functional. It brings the website to life. Let's take a house for example, the house structure is the HTML, the CSS is the paints doors and windows and the interior decorator of the house. JavaScript is what powers the house to have running water and electricity. Here is a YouTube video to expand your knowledge of JavaScript SuperSimpleDev CSS Frameworks: To make writing codes easier, faster, and more efficient, I recommend you learn a CSS Framework. There are many types of CSS frameworks, but the most used are Bootstrap and Tailwind CSS. Bootstrap helps in grid systems and responsive designs, but compared to Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap may be grander and more complex to write. Tailwind CSS is widely preferred and is excellent for styling. Both have excellent documentation and community support. Tailwind CSS Documentation and Bootstrap Documentation React Js: React is a famous JavaScript Library that builds dynamic user interfaces. React allows the user to break down the code into various components, thereby making the coding space cleaner and more organized. Learn React on YouTube for free on FreeCodeCamp NextJS: After mastering React, learn NextJS for server-side rendering and generating static websites. The NextJS documentation offers a getting started guide. NextJS Docs HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language): I recommend HTML to anyone transitioning into Frontend Development. It is the ABC of the Frontend. HTML can be seen as the skeleton of the website, which has the basic structure that makes a website. The HTML tells the browser how to display the elements like images, texts, and links. A topical HTML file contains various tags that give the webpage structure. Here is a link to kickstart your journey in understanding HTML w3schools HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language): w3schools w3schools CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) : CSS is the next go-to step after learning HTML. I said earlier that "HTML can be seen as the skeleton of the website," but this time, CSS is the flesh of the website. CSS is used to style the website, making it more interactive and user-friendly. CSS is used to style the various tags/elements of HTML. Here is a link to learn CSS in-depth w3schools CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) w3schools w3schools JavaScript: Most new Developers confuse Java programming language as the short form of JavaScript. JavaScript is a different programming language that was later introduced into programming. JavaScript has grown so vastly that people now consider it to be a a back-end language. JavaScript is what makes the website functional. It brings the website to life. Let's take a house for example, the house structure is the HTML, the CSS is the paints doors and windows and the interior decorator of the house. JavaScript is what powers the house to have running water and electricity. Here is a YouTube video to expand your knowledge of JavaScript SuperSimpleDev JavaScript: SuperSimpleDev SuperSimpleDev CSS Frameworks : To make writing codes easier, faster, and more efficient, I recommend you learn a CSS Framework. There are many types of CSS frameworks, but the most used are Bootstrap and Tailwind CSS. Bootstrap helps in grid systems and responsive designs, but compared to Tailwind CSS, Bootstrap may be grander and more complex to write. Tailwind CSS is widely preferred and is excellent for styling. Both have excellent documentation and community support. Tailwind CSS Documentation and Bootstrap Documentation CSS Frameworks Tailwind CSS Documentation Tailwind CSS Documentation Bootstrap Documentation Bootstrap Documentation React Js : React is a famous JavaScript Library that builds dynamic user interfaces. React allows the user to break down the code into various components, thereby making the coding space cleaner and more organized. Learn React on YouTube for free on FreeCodeCamp React Js FreeCodeCamp FreeCodeCamp NextJS: After mastering React, learn NextJS for server-side rendering and generating static websites. The NextJS documentation offers a getting started guide. NextJS Docs NextJS: NextJS Docs NextJS Docs Backend Development Back-end Development means working on server-side software, which focuses on everything you can't see on a website. Back-end developers ensure the website performs correctly, focusing on databases, back-end logic, application programming interface (APIs), architecture, and servers. Node.js: NodeJS is your go-to start in Backend Development. NodeJS is a runtime environment, a runtime environment is an environment in which the program or an application is executed. Node Js allows you to run a program outside the browser like Firefox or Chrome. NodeJS helps Frontend Developers build a prograusingth a programming language they are familiar with. NodeJS can be seen as the backbone of the Backend, which runs on a single server. DataBase: MongoDB is one of the most common DataBase used to store documents in JSON-like format. MongoDB makes it easy for developers to store structured or unstructured data. Learn MongoDB. PHP: Is a Dynamic interpreted scripting language for building interactive websites on the server, despite haters pronouncing it dead, it remains one of the most popular languages for Backend Development. It powers content management systems like WordPress Wikipedia etc. Php is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web Development and can be embedded into HTML. Learn Php Python: Python is a high-level interpreted program famous for its zen-like codes. Python's simple, easy to learn syntax emphasizes readability and therefore reduces the cost of program maintenance. It is commonly used to build server side applications like web apps with Django framework. It is the language of choice for big data analysis and machine learning. Learn Python Node.js: NodeJS is your go-to start in Backend Development. NodeJS is a runtime environment, a runtime environment is an environment in which the program or an application is executed. Node Js allows you to run a program outside the browser like Firefox or Chrome. NodeJS helps Frontend Developers build a prograusingth a programming language they are familiar with. NodeJS can be seen as the backbone of the Backend, which runs on a single server. Node.js: DataBase: MongoDB is one of the most common DataBase used to store documents in JSON-like format. MongoDB makes it easy for developers to store structured or unstructured data. Learn MongoDB . DataBase: MongoDB MongoDB PHP: Is a Dynamic interpreted scripting language for building interactive websites on the server, despite haters pronouncing it dead, it remains one of the most popular languages for Backend Development. It powers content management systems like WordPress Wikipedia etc. Php is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web Development and can be embedded into HTML. Learn Php PHP: Php Php Python: Python is a high-level interpreted program famous for its zen-like codes. Python's simple, easy to learn syntax emphasizes readability and therefore reduces the cost of program maintenance. It is commonly used to build server side applications like web apps with Django framework. It is the language of choice for big data analysis and machine learning. Learn Python Python: Python Python Full-Stack Development A full-stack developer is a developer or engineer who can build both the front end and the back end of a website. Integrating front-end and back-end knowledge, focus on creating full-stack applications. Use the technologies learned to build robust, scalable web applications. Mobile Application Development 1. React Native: Transition into Mobile Development with React Native, allowing you to reuse JavaScript knowledge. The official React Native documentation is a good starting point. 1. React Native: React Native documentation React Native documentation **Continuous Learning and Specialization
\ The tech landscape evolves rapidly, so continuous learning is crucial. Focus on areas of interest or where job opportunities are growing. Participate in open-source projects, contribute to forums, and attend meetups or conferences to stay current. This roadmap provides a structured approach to becoming a versatile full-stack developer capable of handling a wide range of web and Mobile Development challenges. Remember, the key to success in this field is consistent practice and a willingness to adapt to new technologies and methodologies. **Resources
\ https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2020 https://www.coursera.org/articles/back-end-developer#:~:text=What%20is%20back%2Dend%20development,)%2C%20architecture%2C%20and%20servers%2C%20architecture%2C%20and%20servers) https://www.python.org/doc/essays/blurb/ https://www.youtube.com/@Fireship https://youtu.be/q-xS25lsN3I?si=KpdKsN1f35fV8Df2 https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2020 https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2020 https://www.coursera.org/articles/back-end-developer#:~:text=What%20is%20back%2Dend%20development,)%2C%20architecture%2C%20and%20servers %2C%20architecture%2C%20and%20servers) https://www.coursera.org/articles/back-end-developer#:~:text=What%20is%20back%2Dend%20development,)%2C%20architecture%2C%20and%20servers https://www.python.org/doc/essays/blurb/ https://www.python.org/doc/essays/blurb/ https://www.youtube.com/@Fireship https://www.youtube.com/@Fireship https://youtu.be/q-xS25lsN3I?si=KpdKsN1f35fV8Df2 https://youtu.be/q-xS25lsN3I?si=KpdKsN1f35fV8Df2

2024 Complete Full-Stack Developers Roadmap

This paper is under CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED license. available on arxiv Authors: (1) Juan Mera Men´endez; (2) Martin Bartlett. Table of Links Abstract and Introduction Initial Application Performance Tests Best Practices and Techniques Combinations Discussion Related Work Conclusion and References VIII. CONCLUSION Performance is an aspect that should always be taken into account when creating Lambda functions, especially if you plan to combine them with Java. Once the performance improvements offered by these approaches for using Java with AWS Lambda have been quantified. It is evident that Java can be used competitively with AWS Lambda without the need to resort to runtimes like Node.js or Python (which usually report better performance). Having tested various combinations of proposed strategies and demonstrated that the performance is similar to what can be achieved with the use of GraalVM, we recommend avoiding its usage. We consider it essential to profile the Java functions to select the optimal memory configuration and using AWS SDK v2. From there, optionally, the next step is to the rest of the techniques to achieve one of the proposed combinations. Additionally, following the general best practices such as initializing connections outside the handler or reduce the bundle size, among others, also contribute to optimizing Java functions. The optimization strategies we propose are not the only ones available, there are many other techniques that can similarly yield excellent results. It is important to highlight that the process of optimizing a function is linear in terms of difficulty. In other words, it’s relatively easy to obtain a significant improvement, but if you want to squeeze out the maximum performance, the process requires trial and error and greater effort. It’s also important to highlight that the percentage of improvement offered by each approach depends on the specific use case in which they are applied. This percentage can vary, either increasing or decreasing. REFERENCES [1] H. Puripunpinyo and M. Samadzadeh, “Effect of optimizing java deployment artifacts on aws lambda,” in 2017 IEEE Conference on Computer Communications Workshops (INFOCOMWKSHPS), 2017, pp. 438–443. DOI: 10.1109/INFCOMW.2017.8116416. [2] D. Bardsley, L. Ryan, and J. Howard, “Serverless performance and optimization strategies,” in 2018 IEEE International Conference on Smart Cloud (SmartCloud), 2018, pp. 19–26. DOI: 10.1109/SmartCloud.2018.00012. [3] D. Jackson and G. Clynch, “An investigation of the impact of language runtime on the performance and cost of serverless functions,” in 2018 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Utility and Cloud Computing Companion (UCC Companion), 2018, pp. 154–160. DOI: 10.1109/UCC-Companion.2018.00050. [4] O. Hosseini Mehrshad Sahragard, “Aws lambda language performance,” 2019. [Online]. Available: https://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/62454. [5] A. L. Dowd, “Performance of java in function-as-a-service computing,” University of Texas Libraries, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/84357. [6] S. O’Toole, “Aws lambda java tutorial: Reducing cold starts,” 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.capitalone.com/tech/cloud/aws-lambda-java-tutorial-reduce-cold-starts/v=1694091771423. [7] D. Quaresma, D. Fireman, and T. E. Pereira, “Controlling garbage collection and request admission to improve performance of faas applications,” in 2020 IEEE 32nd International Symposium on Computer Architecture and High Performance Computing (SBAC-PAD), 2020, pp. 175–182. DOI: 10.1109/SBAC-PAD49847.2020.00033. [8] M. Sipek, D. Muharemagi´c, B. Mihaljevi´c, and ˇ A. Radovan, “Enhancing performance of cloudbased software applications with graalvm and quarkus,” in 2020 43rd International Convention on Information, Communication and Electronic Technology (MIPRO), 2020, pp. 1746–1751. DOI: 10.23919/MIPRO48935.2020.9245290. [9] Q. I. S. Hassan B. Hassan Saman A. Barakat, “Survey on serverless computing,” Journal of Cloud Computing, 2021. [10] C. D. Ron Mosquera Bryan Alexander y Villegas Armijos, “Mejora del rendimiento de aplicaciones serverless basadas en la nube con graalvm y quarkus,” 2022. [11] StackOverflow, “Developer survey 2022,” 2022. [Online]. Available: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2022/. [12] Q. Wu and L. K. John, “Performance of java in function-as-a-service computing,” in 2022 IEEE/ACM 15th International Conference on Utility and Cloud Computing (UCC), 2022, pp. 261– 266. DOI: 10.1109/UCC56403.2022.00047. [13] Datdog, “The state of serverless,” datadog, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.datadoghq.com/state-of-serverless/. [14] AWS, “Best practices to work with aws lambda functions,” [Online]. Available: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/es es/lambda/latest/dg/best-practices.html. [15] AWS, “Developer guide - aws sdk for java 2.x,” [Online]. Available: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sdk-for-java/latest/developer-guide/home.html. [16] AWS, “Improving startup performance with lambda snapstart,” [Online]. Available: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/snapstart.html. [17] AWS, “Java lambda functions customization settings,” [Online]. Available: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/java-customization.html. [18] AWS, “Lambda instruction set architectures (arm/x86),” [Online]. Available: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/es es/lambda/latest/dg/foundation-arch.html. [19] AWS, “Profiling functions with aws lambda power tuning,” [Online]. Available: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/operatorguide/p [20] G. org, “Graalvm overview,” [Online]. Available: https://www.graalvm.org/latest/docs/introduction/. [21] A. Stefano Buliani, “Best practices for aws lambda and java,” [Online]. Available: https://d1.awsstatic.com/events/reinvent/2019/REPEAT 1 B

Performance Best Practices Using Java and AWS Lambda: Conclusion and References

It is statistically proven that emotionally connected customers rate brands higher (71%) than simply satisfied customers (45%) while having a 306% higher lifetime value (5.1 years) vs. satisfied customers (3.4 years). The concept of emotional design underlines profound emotional experiences from users that design should elicit, while traditional paradigms focus on more pragmatic aspects of design, for example, its functionality. At its core, emotional design acknowledges that human experiences are not driven by functionality and usability only but are deeply intertwined with emotions. By this token, emotional design paves the way for stronger, more meaningful connections between users and products. In this article, I explain the basics of emotional design, how it works, and what to consider when designing with emotions in mind. Defining Emotional Design In 2007, Don Norman, the co-founder of Nielsen Norman Group, coined the term “emotional design” by introducing it in his long popular book which since then has become an essential tool in every designer’s toolkit. Emotional design encapsulates the art of infusing products with elements that resonate with users on an emotional level. It goes beyond addressing practical needs, tapping into the realm of feelings and sentiments to evoke visceral reactions. Unlike purely functional design, emotional design seeks to create products that not only fulfill their intended purposes but also foster positive emotional associations, thereby enhancing user satisfaction and loyalty. “Emotional Design: “Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things” The Three Levels of Emotional Design Central to understanding emotional design is Donald Norman's framework, which delineates three levels of emotional response: visceral, behavioral, and reflective. The visceral level pertains to immediate, instinctive reactions triggered by a product's appearance and sensory attributes. Behavioral responses encompass interactions with the product and its usability, influencing users' emotional experiences. Reflective responses delve into deeper contemplation, encompassing the user's long-term relationship with the product and its impact on their self-image and identity. Source: Parina Patel Crafting Emotional Resonance To effectively leverage emotional design, designers must discern and comprehend the specific emotions they aim to evoke in users. Whether it's delight, trust, excitement, or nostalgia, understanding the desired emotional responses enables designers to tailor their creations accordingly. By incorporating elements such as color palettes, visual aesthetics, and interactive features strategically, designers can elicit the intended emotional reactions and forge lasting connections with users. Personas and Empathy Mapping A cornerstone of emotional design lies in empathizing with users' needs and aspirations. Creating detailed user personas and empathy maps enables designers to immerse themselves in the emotional landscape of their target audience, gaining valuable insights into their motivations, pain points, and emotional triggers. By empathetically understanding users' perspectives, designers can craft experiences that resonate authentically and deeply resonate with their audience. Source: Katarzyna Rychcińska Visual and Interactive Elements Visual aesthetics and interactive elements play pivotal roles in shaping emotional responses to design. From sleek interfaces to captivating animations, every visual and interactive component contributes to the overall emotional impact of a product. By harmonizing these elements cohesively, designers can craft immersive experiences that captivate users' senses and evoke profound emotional connections. Storytelling in Design Storytelling serves as a potent tool for eliciting emotional responses and fostering engagement. By weaving compelling narratives into design, designers can imbue products with meaning and resonance, transcending their functional attributes. User journeys, scenarios, and narratives enrich the user experience, evoking empathy, curiosity, and a sense of belonging, thus deepening the emotional bond between users and products. Source: Digital Analog Case Studies Real-world case studies exemplify the transformative power of emotional design in action. From iconic brands to innovative startups, numerous products have successfully implemented emotional design principles to great effect. By examining these case studies, designers can glean valuable insights into the challenges, strategies, and outcomes associated with emotional design, inspiring future endeavors. Case 1: Centr Centr is a Chris Hemsworth fitness app, and like many products (and people) alike make errors. However, a good error message can humanize the product and keep the users entertained and connected to the service: the initial feeling of irritation transforms into a smile or even a laugh. Source: Centr Case 2: Notion Notion personalizes the onboarding experience for each user, demonstrating an excellent understanding of their audiences. Instead of a generic user journey, an onboarding with a personal touch makes users feel special - the product was designed just for them. Source: Notion Measuring Emotional Engagement While emotions are inherently subjective, measuring emotional engagement is essential for gauging the effectiveness of emotional design strategies. User surveys, feedback analysis, and user testing methodologies provide valuable data on users' emotional responses, enabling designers to iterate and refine their designs iteratively. By leveraging these metrics, designers can continually optimize their creations to resonate more deeply with users. Source: SurveyStance Ethical Considerations in Emotional Design With great power comes great responsibility. Designing for emotions necessitates ethical considerations to safeguard user well-being and trust. Upholding principles of transparency, consent, and respect for user privacy is imperative to mitigate the risk of emotional manipulation and exploitation. Designers must navigate these ethical complexities conscientiously, ensuring that emotional design practices prioritize user welfare above all else. Cross-Cultural Considerations Emotional design transcends cultural boundaries, yet cultural nuances profoundly influence emotional experiences. Understanding how emotions manifest across different demographics is paramount for creating universally appealing designs. By embracing diversity and cultural sensitivity, designers can craft experiences that resonate authentically with diverse audiences, fostering inclusivity and empathy. Source: Lydia Hooper Future Trends in Emotional Design As technology evolves, so too do the possibilities for emotional design. Emerging trends such as AI-driven personalization and virtual/augmented reality present new avenues for crafting immersive, emotionally resonant experiences. By embracing these innovations responsibly, designers can push the boundaries of emotional design, unlocking new dimensions of user engagement and connection. Conclusion In conclusion, emotional design represents a paradigm shift in the realm of design, elevating user experiences from functional to emotional journeys. By harnessing the power of emotions, designers can create products that not only fulfill practical needs but also forge profound connections with users, enriching their lives in meaningful ways. As we navigate the ever-evolving landscape of design, emotional design stands as a testament to the transformative potential of empathy, creativity, and human-centric innovation.

Emotional Design: Crafting Products That Create Deep Connections

You can use SurveyJS as a regular end-user product — a separate cloud-based solution with complete survey life-cycle management. You can also take any part of SurveyJS and make it yours — integrate our UI widgets into your site, make our engine work with your custom storage, or communicate with our back-end via API. To demonstrate what’s possible with SurveyJS, we’ve created demos for three popular web development platforms — ASP.NET Core, PHP and Node.js. The apps show how you can embed any part of survey management — from data management and builder UI to execution and result analysis — into your own website. Each demo has a link to its GitHub repository too, so you can check out the sources. ASP.NET Core Demo Node.js Demo PHP Demo Those integration features set SurveyJS apart from other products. You can tailor a solution for any requirements by simply putting the pieces together in a way that benefits your application the most. Before I cover the integration basics for each part of SurveyJS, I’ll quickly go over the three most common integration strategies and their respective benefits. While the first two are common enough, the last one is where SurveyJS is unrivaled. Integration Level Zero: All in the Cloud No integration happens at this level — everything from survey creation and execution to data analysis happens on a third party site. This scenario is so straightforward that the diagram only serves to introduce the building blocks of any survey system. : Benefits Zero integration effort / suits users with no programming experience. Works well with email campaigns. This model naturally assumes monthly or annual billing cycles, but SurveyJS so far remains completely free to use in this scenario. Integration Level One: Front-End (Runner) In this scenario, the parts of the survey visible to end-users are integrated into your application. In other words, the users never have to leave your website and the UI is consistent throughout. Normally, you also get some sort of data access API. Benefits: You can use a Survey Library beyond the usual purposes of a questionnaire or a quiz. For example, you can build an order form. Complete customization to match your website’s visual appearance. No unexpected changes when a new service version rolls out. Capability to restrict execution based on your website’s login details. SurveyJS fully supports this level of integration and remains free to use. Integration Level Two: Back-End (Data Source and Builder UI) This is the integration level few products are capable of delivering. It allows you to manage any part of survey life-cycle within your application. You can store data in a database of your choice, you can customize the survey builder and embed it into your own website, you can communicate with the back-end via API, and so on. (I replaced the “ANALYSIS UI” block with “RESPONSE VIEWER”, since we haven’t yet implemented full-scale data analysis dashboard for SurveyJS. You can still access results and build your own UI, as I show in a simple example later in the article) Benefits: You can let your employees design surveys using your custom Builder UI. In the modified builder, you can add new question types, remove unnecessary options, and so on. You can use data from your own sources to construct questions. You can store data on your own servers, using the database management system of your choice. We’ve come to the only part of SurveyJS that currently requires a paid license. To integrate Survey Builder UI into a commercial application, you’ll need to purchase the library. It remains free for non-commercial use. Now that I’m done listing you can integrate, let’s proceed to . what how Integrate the Front-end: Survey Runner We covered Survey Runner’s capabilities at length in our previous articles: and . Our website also contains on how to create and integrate a Runner when working with different client platforms: Angular 2+, jQuery, Knockout, React, and Vue.js. Meet SurveyJS SurveyJS is out of Beta tons of examples Even if you’re working with a custom-built survey storage, the workflow is straightforward: Load survey definition in JSON format from your storage. Use it to create the Survey Runner JavaScript object (as shown in our examples). On completing the survey, save the JSON with results into your storage. Integrate the Back-end: Survey Editor The simplest implementation of Survey back-end will have the following elements: A page with the list of surveys. The capability to create or remove entries. Build/edit surveys using an integrated Editor UI. Review and analyze survey results. Security system enabling roles and permissions. There is nothing complicated about displaying and managing a list of survey objects. The most interesting task is integrating the Survey Builder/Editor. As any other survey service, we’ve implemented our own End-User Builder UI. Unlike other providers, we allow you to obtain this Editor UI as a widget, customize it, and integrate it into your own website, as shown in this . Integrated Survey Editor Example Integrated SurveyJS Editor The basic code required for such integration is shown below. It loads and saves survey definition using a local storage. Review our to see this code in action. Plunker example var storageName = "TestSurvey"; // Create a Survey Editor with default optionsvar editorOptions = { };editor = new SurveyEditor.SurveyEditor("editorElement", editorOptions); // Enable state indication (Saving, Loading, etc) in the toolbareditor.showState = true; // Call saveSurveyFunc automatically on changes// Otherwise a user will need to manually click "Save"editor.isAutoSave = true; // A callback function invoked when you must save changeseditor.saveSurveyFunc = function(saveNo, callback) {window.localStorage.setItem(storageName, editor.text);!!callback && callback(saveNo, true);}; // Load the survey definition from storageeditor.text = window.localStorage.getItem(storageName) || ""; A few details about this code: To definition from database, simply assign survey JSON to the editor’s property, as shown in the last line. load the survey text To into database, write code in the callback function. The parameter helps with asynchronous data loading/saving operations. If a request with comes to your server after you have already processed , you know that it’s not the most recent version and you should ignore it. save the survey definition saveSurveyFunc saveNo saveNo=47 saveNo=48 The callback function tells the Editor whether the operation has succeeded or failed, as specified by the Boolean parameter. When you report a success, the editor updates its state from “Saving…” to “Saved”. #saveNo In most scenarios, you will also want to customize SurveyJS Editor. Detailed instructions on how to do that are better left for a separate article, and we’re already working on it. Here I will only highlight the main customization capabilities. Localize any string, including property names. Hide three tabs on the top (JSON Editor, Test Survey, Embed Survey). Hide Property Grid on the right. Remove any question type from the Question Toolbox and add custom Question types. Add or remove properties, change their position in the Property Grid or in modal dialogs. Register new or override current property editors. Remove/add items in the question context menu (“Add to toolbox”, “Copy”, etc.) Disable drag & drop and other operations for all elements or a particular element. Integrate into the JSON Editor tab and instead of standard dropdown widget . Ace editor Select2 To see these and other features in action, take a look at . our examples Integrate the Back-end: View Results Building a result list is a trivial task. You can easily obtain the dates, time stamps, user information, and everything else you need. Once you’re done with the list, you’ll need to display individual results and that’s where we can help. Survey responses are stored in JSON format, which you’ll need to parse to display the results in a table, as way we do it in our . This can be easily done, as shown by the myriad of samples on the web for any server/client platform. SurveyJS.io Service As an alternative, you can show results as a read-only survey with responses already filled in. To do that, you’ll only need two lines of code. survey.data = JSON.parse(yourJSONResultAsText);survey.mode = "display"; To instruct the viewer to show all questions on one page, add the following line: survey.isSinglePage = true; Review the following JSFiddle to better understand what we are talking about. Results Page Example Integrate the Back-end: Data Storage If you’re planning to store data on your end, then you must create at least the following two tables with a one-to-many relationship. Survey Service Tables The JSON fields are where you store your survey definitions and results. You can feed those database values directly to the Survey Runner or Editor and the results produced by them also go directly into the database, without the need for any conversion or complicated database structure. On top of all that, you may want to add security roles for your back-end users, keep data logs, and so on. SurveyJS doesn’t provide those features, since we assume that if you want that level of control and integration, then chances are you already have those systems in place in your application. Of course you don’t have to use a custom storage and can easily take advantage of , which is still free to use for anyone. And even with our storage, you can have control over data from your application’s UI: our service allows to create, edit, view, and delete surveys, as well as obtain survey results. Private API allows you to post survey results from your app into our storage. Public API Learn More about SurveyJS includes three products: SurveyJS A that enables you to run surveys on your websites (open-source and free). JavaScript library A that allows you to create and store surveys, download and analyze their results (currently free for use). cloud service An embeddable UI (free non-commercial and paid commercial-use licenses are available). JavaScript-based survey editor

Integrate the Entire Survey Life-cycle into Your Web Application

SurveyJS - an open-source JavaScript Survey library with versions for , , , and - is out of Beta. Angular 2+ React Vue Knockout jQuery We first released a public version on September 25, 2015 - over two years ago. By April 2017, when we published “ ”, the library was already feature-competitive and stable, we only needed a bit more feedback from the field before we could call it a version 1.0 release. Meet SurveyJS Between April and now, we kept learning from our user’s surveys, forms, and quizzes striving to improve the API, introduce new functionality and, of course, fix bugs and usability issues. Here’s what’s new. Panels: Somewhere Between Questions and Pages Consider a simple conditional flow shown in the following image: Since survey tools usually limit you to two types of entities — Questions and Pages — the obvious options are: Move partner-related questions to a separate, . The downside is bad UX caused by excessive navigation and separation of related information into multiple pages. conditionally-visible page Use a single page with . This is better from UX standpoint, but requires “code duplication”. conditionally-visible questions SurveyJS now offers a third, somewhat in-between option: . As we see from many customer surveys, this Panel concept is being used quite extensively. put questions into a conditionally-visible Panel Here’s a live example. A Panel with additional questions pops up if you pick 3 or less on the product satisfaction scale. In this example, there is a nested collapsed Panel as well. SurveyJS Panel example Panels enable an elegant solution for yet another common task. Consider the following survey page: If a phone number is required, and any of three fields can be populated, no complicated logic is necessary with SurveyJS. You simply group the fields into a Panel with property set to . isRequired true See how it works in the following live sample: SurveyJS Panel.isRequired = true And, if you’re wondering about flexibility, SurveyJS supports an unlimited number of nested Panels. For example, the “Phone Numbers” panel can nest within a conditionally visible “Address” panel, and so on. Custom Functions in “visibleIf” and “enableIf” Expressions The simplest type of SurveyJS expression will use static values and question answers. Here’s an example: That’s as straightforward as it gets in any survey tool: easy enough to construct for a user without programming experience. What might have caught your attention is the unlikely use of . Chances are you’re not going to ask for age, but instead will ask for a birth date and then try to figure out the age based on that. {age} Back in April 2017, if you were to ask us how to do this, we’d recommend handling the event (fires on every change in survey answers) to calculate the age and store it into a variable. The variable can then be used within the expression. onValueChanged This only works, however, if the survey is created by you, a developer. But if you’re building an in-house survey engine using and , questionnaires will be constructed by users without the expertise required to handle events in JavaScript. SurveyJS Library SurveyJS Editor To work around this limitation, we now allow you to register custom functions. The code below implements the “figure out the age based on birth date” function (one of the functions that ship with the library): // The age() function accepts a birth date// and returns the number of full years function age(params: any[]): any {if (!params && params.length < 1) return -1;var birthDay = new Date(params[0]);var ageDifMs = Date.now() — birthDay.getTime();var ageDate = new Date(ageDifMs); // miliseconds from epochreturn Math.abs(ageDate.getUTCFullYear() — 1970);} // Register the function for use in SurveyJS expressionsSurvey.FunctionFactory.Instance.register(“age”, age); With that function available, we’re back to something simple that system admins can handle: Here’s a live sample to demonstrate: Using age function example Since we mentioned that certain functions ship with SurveyJS, we need to note that we don’t provide an extensive function library à la Excel just yet. We will, however, mention a couple more useful functions later in this article, in the section on . Expressions and Totals Dynamic Panel: Dealing with List Data Lists must be the worst type of data for surveys, yet examples are numerous: children list, countries visited in the last five years, most recent addresses, jobs past and current, and so on. And if you have survey construction experience, the nesting list flow in the wireframe below must spell horror to you: Using the standard means survey software provides, you can implement the left-hand side somewhat easily. Simply use a Matrix widget. Although it will awkwardly arrange fields into rows, so if you have more than three fields per entry, then be prepared for horizontal scrolling, i.e. bad UX. But what about the right-hand side: the second-level list with every sibling’s children? You cannot put a matrix into a matrix… For that, we would normally recommend running a separate survey for each of the Sibling objects, which, as you might imagine, requires coding. These complications are now a thing of the past. With the widget newly implemented in SurveyJS, you can build lists with any item layout, embed nested lists, and even edit list objects across multiple pages. Just as shown in the diagram above — you can start by filling out basic information on one page and add more information on another. Dynamic Panel Now take a look at an example and we’ll discuss the most interesting parts below. Dynamic Panel Example As you see, both pages edit the same employer information: the second page will display the same list you’ve started building on the first page. In technical terms, these two pages contain widgets both connected to the same list source. Notice the following repeated code lines: Dynamic Panel // Two dynamic panels on different pages// connected to the same list source "pages": [{"name": "page1"..."elements": [{..."type": "paneldynamic", ...}]}, {"name": "page2"..."elements": [{..."type": "paneldynamic", ...}]}] "valueName": "employers" "valueName": "employers" Another interesting part is that on the first page list entries are stacked one under another, while on the second page you navigate between individual employers inline. This is controlled by the dynamic panel’s property that can be set to: renderMode “ ” (default value, used on the first page) list “ ” (explicitly assigned on the second page) progressTop “ ”, “ ” (try them in JSFiddle) progressBottom progressTopBottom ..."renderMode": "progressTop"... Expressions, Summaries, and Totals Dynamic Panels were a hit and the interest snowballed into more user requests. Having such a simple list management tool at their disposal, our customers started creating more complex layouts, including . SurveyJS could easily handle the layout, but we were getting and increasing number of requests for automatic totals calculation. invoices Once again, that wasn’t a limitation if you were a developer. But as time went on and we kept responding to customers with a standard event handler suggestion, we realized that those cases aren’t isolated and we need a simpler mechanism that everyone can use. onValueChanged The solution: an widget whose simplest usage is illustrated in the image below: Expression The “ ” property can accept: expression constants math operators survey question values custom functions discussed earlier in this article Speaking of custom functions, one predefined function you’ll find useful with totals is “ . Here’s how to use it to apply a 20% discount to purchases of 10 or more items: iif” "iif({quantity} < 10, {quantity}*{price}, {quantity}*{price}*0.8)" Another noteworthy function - “ ”- can be used to calculate a total against all items in a Dynamic Panel or a Dynamic Matrix: sumInArray // summarize 'quantity' question values// in the 'invoiceItems' panel/matrix "sumInArray('invoiceItems', 'quantity')" Here’s a simple invoice form implemented with SurveyJS. It’s got a bit of everything: a custom function, summaries calculated for each invoice entry, and grand totals. Invoice example A GitHub Repository with Custom Widgets SurveyJS, being a programming library first, lets you to integrate any JavaScript widget into your surveys. Our customers surely like to take advantage of that, but of course it comes with a price — a few lines of code. Being somewhat naive, we expected to reduce the support load if we polished the integration API and documented it thoroughly. The questions never stopped though. Every widget had it quirks. Every SurveyJS user wanted nothing better than to find an existing code to copy. So we caved and ended up supporting integration code for all highly-requested widgets, treating that as part of the project. To review the widgets we support now, check out the dedicated . Here’s the list: GitHub repository Select2 Tagbox JQuery UI Date Picker iCheck Antenna.io Bar Rating SortableJS Imagepicker NoUISlider Signature Pad Input mask CK Editor Easy Auto Complete Pretty Checkbox And if you have ideas on what we should add next, by all means let us know. Timed Quiz Functionality SurveyJS has been used to create timed quizzes since we first published the library. But until now, a few features needed to be coded in manually: A title page used to display instructions and a Start button. This page does not count as part of the quiz/survey progress. Time management for the entire survey and individual pages. Quizzes usually need to display the time remaining on a page and/or in the survey and need to automatically skip forward when the time is up. The notion of a correct answer to a question and the ability to obtain answer statistics. You can review a that takes advantage of these new features. simple quiz example Even if you are not developing a quiz, you may still use this functionality to find out how much time your users spend filling out the entire survey or each individual page. Bootstrap 4 Support and In-House Themes We were going to wait until Bootstrap 4 is officially released before working on integration, but yet again, the volume of requests was overwhelming and we had no choice but to roll up the sleeves and proceed right away. So enjoy Bootstrap 4 Beta with SurveyJS, but be advised that when the Bootstrap team publishes an update, it usually takes us a few days to bring our code in sync. Everything that’s easy imposes certain boundaries. So is the case with applying Bootstrap themes. The website needs to be built with that framework in mind, and not every site is like that. This meant to us that Bootstrap themes could not be the only option we provide. Another option was manual CSS customization — something we allowed since day one. And while it allows complete look and feel control, it also requires the most effort. We realized that a big part of our customer base wanted something in between — ready-to-use and easily customizable themes without the Bootstrap dependency. That’s one of the reasons we have a full-time designer on the team now. With several large surveys as a reference point, she created seven themes: “green” (default), “orange”, “darkblue”, “darkrose”, “stone”, “winter”, and “winterstone”. To apply a theme, use the following code line: Survey.StylesManager.applyTheme("stone"); The sample below shows you how to apply built-in themes and how to modify one of them if you need a different color palette. Use the combo box in the live sample to try out the options. You can easily switch themes using root marker CSS class Support for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 WCAG is guidance for some developers, a strict requirement for others, and of course a necessity for users with disabilities. We always knew SurveyJS would have to support this and so it’s done. A New Boolean Widget A simple, yet useful check box widget that helps you improve survey UI: Boolean Question example Learn More about Project SurveyJS Project SurveyJS includes three products: A JavaScript library that enables you to run surveys on your websites (open-source and free). A cloud service that allows you to create and store surveys, download and analyze their results (currently free for use). An embeddable JavaScript-based survey editor UI (free non-commercial and paid commercial-use licenses are available). This article reviewed the latest new features we have implemented in SurveyJS Library. To learn more about functionality provided by Project SurveyJS, to review documentation with live samples, or to contact us with questions, visit our about website at . https://SurveyJS.io

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