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Server Side Caching Strategies for Modern Web Applications
Modern web application design patterns bring exciting new opportunities for faster and better user experiences. Client Side Rendering (CSR) allows web pages to be more interactive in the browser; Server Side Rendering (SSR), for the first page of a CSR site, can improve indexability and first page load times; Progressive Web Applications can support push […]
Getting into Machine Learning
I am not a deep machine learning expert. This post is intended for those who wanted to learn more about the practical aspects of machine learning – where is the effort really? This series of posts are my experiences as I explore the space. What is Machine Learning? So what is Machine Learning in practice? […]
Why My Microsoft Surface Pro is not an iPad
I got a Microsoft Surface Pro as my new laptop replacement. Why did I go with a Surface? It was light (the same weight as my 12.9” iPad Pro so is good for traveling), has good specs (I have the 16GB RAM model which can drive a high a good resolution monitor), and it can […]
Amazon Echo 2?
Last November there were rumors of an Amazon Echo 2 coming with a 7 inch touch screen. I’m not sure I want one. I want one with a 20 inch screen instead! Wall mounted. Is 20 inches too big? For me I want to load up my family photos as well – so its a […]
Moving Magento DevBlog
Dear followers, in case you had not noticed, Magento has launched an official developer blog in the forums, and so most of my work related blogs will be going there now. I may do the occasional more “out there” blogs here still, but if you want to keep up with the latest from the Magento […]
Magento 2 CSS Class Naming (Request for Feedback)
This blog post discusses a possible direction for allocating CSS class names in HTML markup. It briefly describes the current rules, then moves on to a proposal around the adoption of BEM (or a variant thereof). This relates to community work going on (led by SNOW.DOG) around exploring a Sass port of the Magento 2 […]
Developer Tool Framework Experiment for Magento 2
If you have been following my blog, you will know I have been trying out a number of different development environment options. The goal is to work out a standard Magento offering or offerings to have as a default. This blog post is my next stage of evolution in this process, and as always making […]
Expanding Your Store into New Countries (Personal Observations)
So you want to expand into to new geographies. Sort out the local currency, get a good shipping solution to calculate shipping rates correctly, understand what customers a country is after – good to go, right? I just got back from visiting relatives in Indonesia living in the #2 city, Surabaya. Each time I go […]
Magento 2 Areas and Front Controllers (Quick Note)
This blog post is part of an exploratory series in building a simple module. My official goal – build a module to make it easier to integrate the Amazon Echo (Alexa) with a Magento store; my unofficial goal – explore different areas of Magento 2. Nothing like doing a real project to make sure the […]
“Hey Magento, what is my stock level?”
I have a new girlfriend… at least that is what my wife has been telling me recently. When I got back from Imagine 2016 a bright shiny new Amazon Echo had arrived. I was looking forward to endless hours of fun trying to program up this new toy. I must admit I was a little […]
Alan Kent's Blog 