Category Blog Article

We have taken a lot of steps to amass the highest concentration of composable talent in North America. Our team not only leads in practice but also in industry knowledge. Dive into their brains with our collection of ecommerce blog articles, written by these impressive thought leaders.

What Does QA Mean?

laptop on a desk by Kari Shea
If you were to plug the question, "What does QA mean?" into your favorite search tool, you would get about 7,980,000 results. However, we need to define what Q.A. is an acronym for before we can start talking about the true definition of it. I want to take a step back to reset our foundation when we talk about QA. So let’s get into it; what does QA really mean?

The 3 A’s: Agile, Automation, and AI

People working by Annie Spratt
A strange, uneasy feeling came over me while I chatted with a project manager about an upcoming ecommerce project. As we talked about the project's goals, expectations from the team, the timeline, and the challenges the project team will face, the stranger I started to feel. Looking at the chicken scratches on my iPad, which passed as my notes, the source of the unease jumped out in three bullet points: Agile, Automation, and AI. These three elements can make or break your project.

The Impact of AI on Frontend Development

AI Robot photo by Mohamed Nohassi
In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has made its way into the developer's toolkit, promising to streamline workflows and boost productivity. In this blog post, we'll explore the impact of AI on the everyday work of frontend developers, with a focus on tools like GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT. We'll discuss their benefits and disadvantages and highlight why human developers remain irreplaceable in certain aspects of the design process.

Negative Space: A Practical Explanation of Product and Project Management

Household projects and digital projects share similarities in the planning and execution processes. Both require a clear blueprint or design to guide the construction, whether it's architectural blueprints for a house or wireframes and specifications for a digital project. In both cases, skilled leaders are essential, with Decorators and Construction Project Managers for a house, and Product Managers and Project Managers for a digital project. However, the misunderstanding of all four of these roles is prolific in their respective fields. What happens in the negative space where Product and Project Management are misused or, even worse, not assigned to a project at all?

Crafting Accessible UX: A Frontend Developer’s Handbook

accessible UX
In the age of digital ubiquity, designing a product that has accessible UX and caters to a diverse array of users is not just a mark of excellence but a necessity. From a front-end developer's viewpoint, enhancing accessibility is akin to laying down the red carpet for users of all abilities to have an equal and extraordinary experience on the web. Let's delve into the intricacies of intertwining accessibility and UX to forge a path that leads every user to their desired destination without barriers.

The Adventures of Digital Transformation

digital transformation adventure
Instituting commercetools, or any digital transformation, can feel like an intricate journey into the unknown. Yet, much like any thrilling expedition, it's not something one should embark on without the right preparation. A carefully drafted map to guide your path, a backpack stuffed with all the necessary supplies, and a team of able explorers ready for the adventure are critical. With that spirit of anticipation and readiness, let's dive deeper into the three essential areas of focus when implementing commercetools.

Testing at MACH Speed: H is for Headless

Testing headless
Like the Headless Horseman, the frontend and backend are decoupled in headless ecommerce. This means that testers no longer have to wait for both the frontend and the backend to be completed before they start testing. But this also means that they have to, in a sense, test the same feature three different times. So how do you do this?

Testing at MACH Speed: C is for Cloud

what are clouds made of
Just because your application has moved to the cloud doesn't mean all the best practices you’ve built up go away. Instead, look at your cloud environment as something that buys you both time and flexibility that you still have to test.

Testing at MACH Speed: A is for APIs

API construction
Testing APIs used in the MACH framework is essential to ensure that they are reliable, efficient, and secure. By following the best practices outlined here, you can certify that your APIs are able to handle the demands of a busy ecommerce environment.

Testing at MACH Speed: M is for Microservices

lego bricks
As the M in the MACH framework acronym, understanding the role that Microservices play is critical to understanding how to test them during development as well as during End-to-End testing. Think of microservices like individual Lego bricks that, on their own, don’t do much. But, when they are combined, they can build anything.