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Comment gagner en compétitivité avec un logiciel ERP innovant ?

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La gestion d’une PME comme la montée en puissance d’une ETI impliquent nécessairement la digitalisation des processus de l’entreprise. Pour gagner en compétitivité sur le marché actuel, l’implémentation d’un ERP se révèle être un atout indéniable. En effet, il est indispensable d’automatiser les tâches, de fournir des services à distance et de rendre les données accessibles depuis différents supports.

Gérer efficacement les bases de données devient capital et relève d’un véritable enjeu stratégique pour chaque société. Leviers de croissance, centralisation et hiérarchisation des données permettent aux entreprises de se développer. L’externalisation informatique via le cloud assure une flexibilité et une sécurité supplémentaires dans le stockage et la mise à jour des databases. La maintenance à distance réduit considérablement les coûts. Il s’agit aussi de s’adapter aux fluctuations du marché en temps réel avec une réactivité à l’épreuve des aléas économiques. Tous les secteurs d’activité sont alors concernés par la transformation numérique ou l’optimisation de la solution digitale déjà en place. L’importance croissante du commerce en ligne accélère d’ailleurs la tendance.

Le traitement des informations requiert un logiciel de gestion d’entreprise performant, adapté à la taille de la structure et conçu pour permettre son évolution en fonction des objectifs fixés. Le système ERP soutient l’activité dans des conditions de rentabilité optimale au niveau de la production mais aussi de la gestion et du commerce. Il offre également un outil d’analyse fiable pour définir une stratégie d’entreprise pérenne. La solution ERP garantit un pilotage sur-mesure aux PME comme aux ETI. Mais derrière la technologie ERP et sa définition marketing, quelles modalités de déploiement assurent une compétitivité sans délai ? Voici tout ce qu’il faut savoir pour mettre à profit un ERP d’entreprise avec une intégration système réussie, une interface conviviale pour ses utilisateurs et un support client irréprochable.

Tous les bénéfices d’un système ERP pour les PME et les ETI

La transition numérique met en avant l’ERP avec une signification pas toujours accessible aux personnes extérieures au service informatique de l’entreprise. Pourtant, les PME comme les ETI peuvent elles aussi faciliter leur digitalisation en ayant recours à un Progiciel  de Gestion  Intégré  (PGI, de l’anglais ERP), conçu par un éditeur spécialisé. Les coûts de gestion de l’entreprise diminuent également avec l’automatisation des tâches récurrentes et la fin des répétitions de saisies informatiques inutiles entre les services. Avec un PGI, il n’est pas nécessaire d’investir dans une licence pour chaque poste de travail : il gère l’ensemble du système informatique et partage les données en temps réel avec les départements concernés.

Dans l’industrie, les sociétés de services et le commerce, les PME gagnent ainsi du temps et économisent sur leur budget annuel. Les équipes peuvent davantage mettre à profit leur énergie sur des tâches à valeurs ajoutées. L’Enterprise Resource Planning porte les petites structures au rang des ETI. Mais que signifie exactement ce terme informatique et quelles applications trouve-t-il dans les processus de gestion des informations et des services opérationnels des entreprises ?

Qu’est-ce qu’un ERP ?

Le terme désigne un logiciel professionnel aux multiples fonctionnalités. Il est conçu pour répondre à l’efficacité de gestion des processus informatisés de l’entreprise. En français, il est aussi connu sous l’appellation PGI pour Progiciel de Gestion Intégré. Il regroupe un ensemble de programmes paramétrables en fonction des utilisateurs et des besoins en lien avec l’activité. Il intègre à son système d’informations toutes les fonctions d’une société. Outil de gestion informatisée, il met à disposition des services concernés toutes les ressources nécessaires au fonctionnement de l’entreprise. Le PGI favorise le travail en équipe et assure la transmission des données entre les différents départements. Il permet d’interagir avec un site client. Il sert de passerelle entre les données des sites de production et celles des points de livraison. Le PGI promet une logistique sans faille. Mais qu’en est-il plus concrètement ?

Son rôle dans le fonctionnement d’une entreprise

Dans une usine de production, par exemple, l’ERP centralise toutes les informations utiles pour assurer les commandes et les livraisons dans les délais prévus. Il adapte le rendement au stock disponible et au coût total. Il peut être programmé pour commander les matériaux automatiquement avant une pénurie pénalisante. L’ERP envoie alors la facturation de l’approvisionnement au service comptabilité. Il permet de planifier les roulements des équipes en fonction de la rentabilité de la production. Il fournit l’analyse financière nécessaire à la prise de décisions. Les données sont disponibles en temps réel. Même les ressources humaines peuvent bénéficier des applications du PGI. La base de données utilisée prévoit le croisement des informations, leur classement et leur extraction en fonction des stratégies préalablement définies. Autrement dit, l’ERP fluidifie l’agrégation et le traitement des données de toute l’entreprise pour que tous ses services en tirent profit.

L’ERP s’adresse également aux commerces et à la grande distribution. Un logiciel de gestion commerciale facilite la logistique au quotidien et la traçabilité des produits. Il s’inscrit dans une logique de gestion du cœur de métier ou des fonctions administratives comme l’émission des bulletins de paie. L’accès aux différentes informations de la filière entière reste toutefois soumis à des autorisations validées par la structure organisationnelle de l’entreprise. Mais tous les intervenants concernés partagent la même information immédiatement actualisée.

Le fonctionnement d’un ERP au sein d’une PME

L’avantage principal d’une intégration de système réside dans l’homogénéité des données accessibles. La mise à jour d’une information au niveau d’un poste de travail se transmet à tous les étages de l’organigramme de gestion. Chacun dispose des mêmes éléments pour traiter les tâches qui lui sont imparties. Tous bénéficient de la capitalisation des données stockées au sein du réseau interne. L’implémentation d’un ERP implique aussi des passerelles entre les différents programmes des départements spécifiques et leurs nombreux périphériques. Les données transitent sans problèmes de compatibilités ni d’interfaces. Le PGI communique avec les serveurs des fournisseurs et des clients lorsque le contexte s’y prête. Il est alors primordial de définir les fonctionnalités indispensables à l’activité.

Le logiciel gestion commerciale peut gérer l’envoi de mails pour une prospection régulière et une fidélisation des clients efficace. Certains secteurs ont intérêt à utiliser des assistants digitaux pour filtrer les communications par type d’informations. Chaque entreprise a son propre fonctionnement, l’ERP lui donne les moyens de l’optimiser avec une solution globale ou spécifique. Les conseils spécialisés de l’éditeur du progiciel de gestion d’entreprise apportent une expertise dans le choix des applications à mettre en place dans une filière particulière. Un diagnostic ERP après un audit complet des besoins de l’entreprise donne des perspectives nouvelles d’évolution sur le marché.

Choisir un progiciel de gestion intégré en fonction des besoins du business

La nature des données détermine en partie l’algorithme à utiliser. Les informations d’une ligne de production dans une usine ne sont pas du même ordre que celles d’une entreprise de services. Le commerce en ligne requiert des fonctionnalités spécifiques à son activité. La gestion des ressources humaines, des finances ou de la relation clients nécessitent des technologies adaptées à leur environnement de travail, sans nuire au fonctionnement du système global. Les supports multimédias utilisés et les composants de la bureautique déjà installés entrent également en ligne de compte dans la conception du PGI. Pourtant, certaines fonctionnalités sont communes à toutes les PME comme l’accès au réseau ou la gestion des mails. Les modules reliés à la base de données offrent ensuite des applications appropriées à chaque service. Ils visent à donner de l’ampleur au business mais doivent convenir aux dimensions du marché parfois géographiquement limité.

Les PME peuvent aussi disposer d’un terminal performant et sécurisé pour les paiements par carte de crédit via leur dispositif ERP. Mais les adaptations prévues par le fournisseur ERP ne se limitent pas aux opérations à réaliser pour la gestion de l’entreprise. Le progiciel est conçu pour respecter le mode de fonctionnement des équipes ainsi que la structure organisationnelle de l’entreprise.

Les différentes versions de la planification des ressources de l’entreprise

Le système ERP privilégie la gestion management. Il centralise les informations dès leur enregistrement dans la base de données et donne accès aux différentes composantes de l’activité selon les fonctions exercées au sein de la PME. L’ERP permet de superviser les flux en regard de leur rentabilité économique, logistique ou financière. Il fournit des outils d’analyses avancés pour amorcer une dynamique de croissance à partir de la configuration initiale de l’entreprise. La solution proposée répond à la capacité de production de l’entreprise ou à ses objectifs de ventes. Mais la mise au format doit être progressive. Elle nécessite une phase de tests : avant le déploiement intégral de la solution ERP, une intégration pilote garantit la continuité dans la qualité des processus. Il s’agit de ne pas impacter le fonctionnement de l’entreprise et d’assurer une transition à la hauteur des nouveaux objectifs de l’ETI. L’ERP pour PME sert également à travailler en équipe.

Les fonctionnalités à privilégier pour la gestion de projet ou l’organisation administrative

Le pilotage d’un projet et la gestion administrative d’une PME ne relèvent pas des mêmes processus. Ils sont donc assignés à différentes fonctionnalités. Les applications utilisées par les entités de travail organisent l’activité selon le mode opérationnel habituel. Le département des achats ou de la comptabilité ne fonctionne pas sur le modèle de la gestion de projets d’équipes. Les visioconférences et la communication unifiée permettent de mener à bien un projet d’étude. Les données statistiques, la gestion du budget et des délais à respecter avec le logiciel ERP libèrent du temps au chef de projet qui peut alors se concentrer sur les difficultés techniques et la relation client.

Un éditeur avec une expertise du métier garantit une implémentation informatique réussie. Si la formation des utilisateurs à l’ERP de l’entreprise est primordiale, sa configuration intuitive autorise une maintenance corrective simplifiée. Une simple mise à jour du système suffit souvent à apporter de nouvelles fonctionnalités pour rester concurrentiel.

Planifier l’évolution des structures organisationnelles du PGI avec une solution SaaS

La pertinence des fonctionnalités de l’ERP permet de gagner en rentabilité mais elle ne suffit pas à garantir la compétitivité en toute circonstance. Or la flexibilité est la clé du succès des PME. Elles profitent alors de leur statut d’ETI avant de conquérir de nouveaux marchés et de s’agrandir. Pour rester concurrentielles, elles doivent désormais se positionner à la pointe de l’innovation technologique.

Le cloud computing offre un système d’exploitation aux multiples possibilités et se révèle simple à utiliser. Il accompagne tous les projets innovants initiés pour s’adapter au marché. Les données sont accessibles même en distanciel et depuis n’importe quel type de terminaux. Les informations doivent pouvoir être consultées directement depuis un smartphone ou une tablette de l’entreprise. Les postes de travail évoluent en mode nomade et nécessitent une gestion à distance via internet. La solution SaaS donne les moyens d’organiser la réactivité des entreprises connectées mais pour quel taux d’investissements de la part des PME ?

Quand les avantages fonctionnels et les intérêts financiers se rencontrent sur le cloud

Le logiciel SaaS prévoit la gestion de l’entreprise dans le Cloud. Il assume un stockage massif de données de façon décentralisée pour gagner en capacités. Il offre un service aux PME en quête de parts de marché supplémentaires. Ce type de logiciels professionnels s’avère performant pour le traitement des données et des flux d’informations. Le fournisseur héberge les codes sources des applis et des données dans un espace de stockage sécurisé. Il garantit la sauvegarde des données en cas de problème technique. Il les rend disponibles depuis internet à la demande de l’entreprise. Les PME n’ont jamais le souci de la maintenance du système. Un abonnement suffit pour profiter d’un usage illimité des ressources web prévues dans la solution SaaS. Les entreprises n’ont pas besoin d’investir dans du matériel puissant pour lancer les applis : le serveur web du logiciel de service s’en occupe à distance.

Le paramétrage du logiciel SaaS sur la table

Le cloud computing fournit les services informatiques indispensables à la croissance des entreprises. En plus de la gestion du réseau et du stockage des bases de données, il intègre l’intelligence artificielle dans les outils d’analyse. La vente et les finances sont gérées dans des conditions optimales. La stratégie évolue au même rythme que le marché. Le fournisseur ERP programme un paramétrage spécifique au domaine d’activité et aux objectifs chiffrés de l’entreprise. Les algorithmes présentent alors des solutions évolutives pour gérer les difficultés et développer un nouveau modèle économique à partir des nouvelles opportunités du marché.

Il existe aussi des solutions prévues pour développer le commerce en ligne. Les analyses prédictives font alors place aux améliorations de l’expérience utilisateur sur le site web. Le décryptage du trafic en ligne et des modalités du déclenchement des achats orientent la stratégie digitale à suivre.

La maintenance du système par SAP France

Leader de l’ERP, SAP France propose des solutions SaaS sur-mesure aux PME et aux ETI. Les entreprises bénéficient d’une expertise du logiciel de service et d’une implémentation spécifique à leurs processus. Spécialisé dans le Cloud, SAP accompagne le projet de digitalisation de la gestion organisationnelle et fonctionnelle des entreprises jusque dans la compétitivité. Ne vous laissez pas distancer sans réagir !

The post Comment gagner en compétitivité avec un logiciel ERP innovant ? appeared first on SAP France News.

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Build Your Site The Easy Way With TagDiv Newspaper

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Ready to take your business online but not sure where to start? It’s a surprisingly simple process, made all the easier by the tagDiv Newspaper theme that can shoulder the burden of code, leaving you to be creative.

Professional web designers normally begin with broad brushstrokes, roughly hewing a site, before finessing on the finer details; that’s exactly what tagDiv’s Newspaper theme lets you do, with innovative tools and a huge selection of pre-built options to choose from.

What is the Newspaper Theme?

Newspaper is the best-selling magazine theme from tagDiv. In constant development over the last twelve years, it’s been used to create world-beating sites for clients as diverse and demanding as United Nations, ShareAmerica, The Rackspace Blog, Bitcoin News, Uber Engineering, and Tech Explorist.

As the name implies, the Newspaper theme is primarily a magazine or blog theme, but you can use it for any kind of site, in any type of industry.

Packed with intuitive features that make personal web development not just possible but enjoyable, it will have your site ready to launch in no time.

It is fully compatible with Gutenberg, WordPress’ drag-n-drop site builder; it also comes with its own WYSIWYG, tagDiv Composer. All the sites built in Newspaper are fully flexible, responsive, mobile-friendly, and retina-ready. Newspaper is even fully integrated with WooCommerce so that you can transform your magazine site into a fully-featured ecommerce store.

Newspaper has been carefully coded to make the most of the upcoming Core Web Vitals update from Google, so your new site will be well-placed to rank highly on search engines.

Now that you know a little about the background of the Newspaper theme let’s look at how we can use it to build a WordPress site.

Pre-Built Websites

Sometimes it’s not just your coding skills but your design skills that are lacking; you know what kind of site that you want, you’re just hazy on the details.

This is where tagDiv’s Newspaper theme comes into its own. With a single click, you can install an entire pre-built website. And the process is so fast and convenient that you can try out as many as you like and pick the one that matches your vision.

You can even import a whole ton of pre-written content for testing the sites out, so you can see how it will look with your content without spending hours typing or copying and pasting text out of a Word doc.

There are 120 different designs covering all kinds of different industries. This means no matter what kind of site you’re building, one click, and you’re ready to go live.

Cloud Library

One step up from a full pre-built website is tagDiv’s Cloud Library. If you’ve installed one of the pre-built websites, this is probably where you want to go next.

The Cloud Library is a collection of 1600 different design elements that can be mixed and matched with live-editing to fast-track your site creation. You’ll find content blocks like headers, footers, testimonials, banners, and featured items. You can mix-n-match them however you please to create the site of your dreams.

Putting the “Cloud” into the Cloud Library are tagDiv’s servers, storing the code for each of these elements, so your installation only needs to load the code you actually use. This provides a huge boost in performance.

Composer

Lastly, the Newspaper theme provides tagDiv Composer, a specialist WordPress builder — like Gutenberg — that allows you to customize your website with absolutely no coding skills whatsoever. It’s a powerful yet simple-to-use tool that allows you to edit the elements of the Cloud Library and adapt them to your own purposes.

With Composer, you can create your own headers, footers, banners, text blocks, and more without any of the limitations of cookie-cutter design.

tagDiv Composer gives you the ultimate control over your site. You’ll find all the essential elements you need, from text and buttons to images and videos. All you have to do is drag and drop them into place.

Building a Site With tagDiv Newspaper Theme

As you can see that the fastest way to an engaging and original website is, to begin with, a pre-built site, then add the different blocks of code you want from the Cloud Library, and finally customize them with the Composer.

To make this possible, tagDiv has brought together experts from multiple disciplines, including brand strategy, project management, and web development.

It’s a slick system for quickly publishing high-quality sites that are unique to you and your business. Trusted by more than 130,000 customers worldwide, the Newspaper has earned tagDiv the status of Power Elite Author on ThemeForest and Top Author on Envato.

The Newspaper theme costs just $59, which includes six months of support from tagDiv, but for just $17.63, you can extend support to 12 months for added peace of mind.

tagDiv Newspaper is the simplest way for you to take your business online using WordPress.

 

[— This is a sponsored post on behalf of tagDiv —]

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Exciting New Tools For Designers, August 2021

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It’s almost time for another season of change. Although the temperatures might not reflect it, this is the time of year where most of us start thinking about what’s next.

This collection of tools and resources for designers is just the spark to propel you forward with work as you think ahead. Here’s what’s new for designers this month.

Gradient.Art

Gradient.Art is a CSS-based gradient generator that’s packed with functionality and customization options. It’s more than just a color selector and is an actual gradient editor that allows you to work with a variety of controls to get just the color variations you want for projects. Create illustrations, patterns, icons, and more with this layer-based tool that’s still in beta.

Wicked Backgrounds

Wicked Backgrounds takes some of the headaches out of creating just the right background for website design projects. It’s another easy and customizable generator designed to help create backgrounds with great color, depth, and balance for various project types. The makers promise more features in the future as well.

Typedream

Typedream is not what you might expect from the name; it’s actually a website-building tool. It’s designed to help put the focus on the words of a design with a simple interface that most people can figure out. You can connect your own domain and then optimize for search with built-in SEO tags. It’s a zippy tool for simple sites.

Orbital

Orbital is a zero-friction, super-interactive, customizable place to gather online. Pop in for meetings, quick chats, open-door office hours, or cowork together through the day – all using the same link. This premium tool has super fun backgrounds and meeting spaces.

Access Guide

Access Guide is your one-stop guide to accessibility information for the web. It’s packed with articles and information to help you understand parts and all of the WCAG 2.1 guidelines, the official standard for accessibility online. (Plus, content is sorted into neat cards that make things easy to search and find.)

InLine

InLine is a free JavaScript library built to create a simple text editor for web applications and mobile apps. The tool claims to be the smallest WYSIWYG editor designed to fit into any layout. The plugin allows you to edit and customize text elements practically anywhere.

3D Bay

3D Bay is a collection of free three-dimensional stock images that you can use for various projects. Collections are searchable. Most of the images are actually 3D scene illustrations, a popular design element with many SaaS website designs.

MeisterNote

MeisterNote is a writing tool for teams. (It’s perfect for the new remote working world.) The interface is sleek and intuitive, and you can create customer workspaces for notes and teams to collaborate. One of the best functions might be the search feature, allowing you to find information in notes easily.

Shapecatcher

Shapecatcher solves an interesting problem. Have you ever visualized an element but don’t know what it is called or how to find it? This tool has a “drawbox” where you can sketch the element, and then it visually searches a database of 11,000-plus Unicode characters in multiple languages to find a close match that you can use online.

Batch Image Processing

Batch Image Processing allows you to edit, crop, and style or add watermarks groups of images all at once. It’s a web-based tool that does everything in a flash and allows you to redownloaded processed images for quick use. (It’s great if you need multiple photos with the same crop or size!)

Integrately

Integrately is an integration automation tool designed to help your apps, tools, and web elements talk back and forth. Connect apps to make tasks run on their own in ways that native software might not do alone. (Pro tip: Use it to connect with your email to send notifications or reports automatically.)

Vechai UI

Vechai UI is a set of high-quality, accessible React UI components with built-in dark mode using Tailwind CSS. Components include pre-designed headless UI and Radix UI.

Style Free HTML Bootstrap 4 Template

Style Free HTML Bootstrap 4 Template is a simple and minimally styled website template for a variety of project types. It’s a great website starter if you need to get a site up and running quickly.

Glass UI CSS Generator

Glass UI CSS Generator helps you create trending neumorphism/soft UI/glass UI style elements. The tool is a CSS generator that allows you to add some of your own elements and then pick styling options while outputting CSS and HTML.

Lineicons

Lineicons is a collection of more than 5,000 line icons that you can use for various projects. Every icon comes with free CDN, regular and light variations, an editor, and more to make it browsable and easy to use. The set has high legibility, and the free set of icons includes more than 500 options.

Carrd

Carrd is a simple, free, and responsive one-page website builder that you can do pretty much anything with. It’s perfect for personal profiles, landing pages, or one-page websites. All it takes is a little imagination.

AdonisJS

AdonisJS includes everything you need to create a fully functional web app or an API server. So stop wasting hours in downloading and assembling hundreds of packages and do it all with this framework for Node.js.

Eastman Condensed

Eastman Condensed is a beautiful and functional sans serif that’s easy to read. The demo version is free for personal use, but a commercial license for the full family is available.

Peachy Rose Font

Peachy Rose Font is a fun novelty option that is fun and light. Plus, it is free for any use, even commercial. The set is fairly large for a free option, with 233 characters.

Selga

Selga is an expressive and complex display font with a retro feel. The swashes and tails are especially nice on this typeface, which is free for personal use.

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Popular Design News of the Week: August 2 2021 – August 8, 2021

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Every day design fans submit incredible industry stories to our sister-site, Webdesigner News. Our colleagues sift through it, selecting the very best stories from the design, UX, tech, and development worlds and posting them live on the site.

The best way to keep up with the most important stories for web professionals is to subscribe to Webdesigner News or check out the site regularly. However, in case you missed a day this week, here’s a handy compilation of the top curated stories from the last seven days. Enjoy!

UXBulls***

What Makes a Good One-Page Website Design?

39 CSS Custom Properties (Variables) Examples 

18 CSS Filter Examples

Is it Time to Ditch the Design Grid?

Here’s 8 Google Penalty Checker Tools to Fix Your SEO Problems

3 Essential Design Trends, August 2021

UX Analysis: Apple Music vs Spotify

How to Optimise Fonts for a Faster Website

Quiz: The Inconceivably Hard Color Quiz

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Review: Should Designers Use Design Bundles?

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One of the most challenging stages of a design project is laboriously producing all those assets that bring it to life.

Whether you’re a web designer in need of icons, or a brand designer looking for mockups, it’s a smart move to fall back on stock assets to speed up your turnaround, reduce costs, and enliven your designs.

With so many stock sites to choose from, which should you opt for? Today we’re going to take a look at DesignBundles.net and ask if it’s the right choice for your project.

What is Design Bundles?

Design Bundles is exactly what it sounds like: sets of design assets that you can download for free or at huge reductions on RRP.

Launched five years ago, Design Bundles is brought to you by the same team that delivers Font Bundles.

Over two million customers are already enjoying the benefits of Design Bundles’ weekly updates.

What Can You Download From Design Bundles?

There are currently over 800,000 products listed on Design Bundles, and the collection is growing all the time.

The files have been produced by 6,500 of the world’s leading independent designs. Because the products are top-quality, you can really make them work: scale them, flip them, distort them, recolor them; just about anything is possible when you’re using high-quality raw ingredients.

What’s really impressive is the range of products that are in the collection. You’ll find backgrounds, logos, icons, textures, patterns, and clip art. For product designers, there are mockups and web elements. Print designers will love the huge range of cards, invites, flyers, posters, and brochures. And if you’re looking for standard stock images, you’ll find a gargantuan range under popular themes such as technology, architecture, travel, and business.

Because Design Bundles is relatively new, you won’t find its collection padded out with out-of-date Gifs. In fact, Design Bundles is one of our favorite places for free SVGs, the best format for graphics on the web.

All the products are royalty-free and licensed for personal and commercial use, so you can relax knowing that you’re fully covered.

What Makes Design Bundles Different?

There are a lot of design bundles services online, so what makes Design Bundles different? Well, firstly, the quality; Design Bundles has a consistently high level of designs. We love the freebies. They make a huge difference and are great for trying out ideas you might not be ready to invest in.

Design Bundles differs from other stock sites because it offers curated bundles of complementary assets — you don’t just download a vector file; you download a set of vector files. This innovative approach means you don’t have to go hunting for matching images; once you’ve found the right download for your project, you have a whole range to enjoy.

The whole process of using Design Bundles is simple, from browsing through the available assets to choosing a design and through to the fast, simple checkout process. It’s all designed to make including design assets into your projects as simple as possible.

The website is user-friendly, and in the unlikely event that you’ll need them, the support team is friendly, helpful, and prompt to handle queries.

Is Design Bundles Good Value?

We’d be lying if we said that cost wasn’t a big bonus of using Design Bundles. Design Bundles offer up to 96% discounts on regular prices, meaning that you can get the same incredible assets that top design agencies use at a fraction of the price.

In terms of time-saved, inspiration-delivered, and graphics-acquired, your Design Bundles subscription will more than pay for itself.

Alongside the daily and weekly deals, you’ll find products you can try for free. For example, design Bundles provide a whole heap of free SVGs. And not just sample files. There are thousands of files to download and use in projects. You can’t get better value than free!

There are new freebies every week, so it’s worth subscribing just to ensure you don’t miss anything.

For freelancers, the licensing model is particularly attractive. Because there’s no limit on the places you can download design resources once you’ve bought them, you can download files at home, in the office, or at a client’s workspace — whatever is convenient. Meaning you carry a huge library of resources with you wherever you go.

Oh, and if you want to make the most of your new Design Bundles assets, don’t forget to check out its YouTube channel, where you can learn tons about how to create effects, edit images, and complete creative projects.

Should Designers Use Design Bundles?

When you’re designing a project, whether you’re a digital artist, a web developer, or a crafter, the result relies on the quality of its component parts.

Design Bundles offers you the chance to work with high-quality assets from some of the web’s top designers at a fraction of the price of creating them yourself.

We’re confident that if you give Design Bundles a go, you’ll quickly see the benefits for yourself. But if you’re still not sure, why not sign up for its newsletter and check out some of the daily and weekly deals and the freebies that are available to you.

Design Bundles is a recipe for success that you’ll be happy you discovered.

 

[— This is a sponsored post on behalf of Design Bundles —]

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Cultivating Customer Confidence with UX

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Businesses rely on designers to help them build the perfect relationship with visitors.

After all, as much as companies may wish it wasn’t true, many consumers still judge a book by its cover. A website that fails to prioritize concepts like trust and transparency could instantly lose the confidence of its target audience. 

As a designer, it can be tempting to focus on figuring out ways of convincing an audience to convert or give up their money instantly. However, while design experts know how to enhance conversions, they also understand how important it is to make sure that customers feel confident in a website.

Here’s what you need to know about cultivating confidence in user experiences.

How Does Transparency Affect Confidence? 

In a survey conducted in 2016, 94% of consumers stated that they would happily be loyal to a fully transparent brand. As customers continue to search for more honest and reliable companies, the demand for transparency in UX will likely continue. 

As a web designer, you can’t force a company to share all vital information with its clients. However, you can use your design knowledge to help the honesty of a company stand out.

Here are some other strategies that designers can use to build transparency for their clients. 

Create an Eye-Catching “About” Page

One of the first things that today’s businesses need to be honest about if they want to delight their customers is their people. 

For instance, creating a page where your client can highlight the nature of the products that they sell is an excellent first start. Maurele has a beautifully designed “About” page to tell its customers everything they need to know about the business. 

At the same time, drawing attention to the footer where customers can check things like the terms and policies of the website or FAQs that answer their most common questions is another fantastic way to build transparency. 

Giving a brand a human face makes it easier for that company to establish lasting connections. That’s why designers should always prioritize using real, authentic images over stock photos where possible. For example, a large feature image on an “About” page that addresses the company’s unique nature makes it easier to connect with a target audience. 

Make sure that there’s plenty of space on the “About” page to introduce significant members of staff that can give a face and personality to both the website and the brand. For instance, Mociun.com uses a fantastic hero image of a person with her cat.

Add Space for Testimonials and Customers

While you don’t need to post a customer’s entire consumer list online to prove that they’re a reputable company, it is worth highlighting some of their clients. No one wants to be the first person online to trust a new website. Testimonials and reviews from other people are how you add instant confidence to any experience. 

For designers, social proof can come in a lot of different formats. For instance, if you’re building a website for a company that sells directly to other businesses, you could add pictures of the logos of the brands that the company has worked with. Alternatively, for a B2C brand, basic reviews and quotes will often work wonders. For instance, there’s a list of great reviews included on the product pages of the PlaySuperlative.com website.

Unless customers leave comments directly on the web page themselves, remind your customer that they need to get permission from the client to use their quotes on any web page. 

Additionally, remember that adding pictures and names to testimonials where possible can sometimes make them more believable. 

Tell Your Client’s Story

When building a website for a client, there are many different things that you’ll need to think about. For instance, you need to focus on the company’s USP or whatever makes them unique. You’ll also need to ensure that clients have all the information they need to make purchases easily. 

At the same time, it’s important not to go over the top with too many features. Simplicity is often the key to good UX. 

Where possible, however, if you want to boost confidence for your client, it’s a good idea to highlight their unique motives and vision as a business. Ask the company that you’re designing for what their mission is. Do they want to transform the way people communicate and collaborate like Trello? Do they want to fill the world with information, like Google?

Focusing on the unique ambitions of the business, beyond the desire to make money, makes them seem more three-dimensional and real. 

Highlight Security

Use your skills to ensure that certain aspects of safety and security stand out for your client. For instance, notice how Fetching Fields instantly pulls attention to the fact that they’re using certified and organic, human-grade wellness solutions.

Other steps you can take include making sure there’s an SSL certificate installed to cement the website’s safety. Additionally, if your customer has any badges or certifications that can highlight their security strategies, it may be a good idea to include those too.

If your customer takes payments online, you can use several secure website seals to boost confidence. For instance, showing that you’re “Verified by Visa” or using Mastercard Secure Code is a wonderful choice. 

Make Sure Visitors Can Find Contact Information

As a website designer, one of the best things you can do for your customer is making sure that they have excellent navigation, complete with easy-to-find information. 

On any website, innovative navigation ensures that an audience can find the pages they need to make sure that they feel as comfortable as possible, making their purchases. 

Make it easy for visitors on a website to track down useful insights about the products they want to buy or the kind of services available from the company in question. Additionally, if your client has any FAQ pages or additional resources, make sure that customers will have no trouble tracking those down. 

The example above from Petersham Nurseries makes it easy for clients to find everything they need on the website, thanks to a convenient vertical navigation bar. 

Remember, one piece of information that should always be as easy as possible to find for your customers should be the contact page. A contact page shows that the business is willing to answer any questions a client might have via many channels. 

List a physical street address and phone number for the website where possible, or at the very least include an email address where people can get in touch. 

Make Sure Pricing is Clear

Finally, if you want to ensure that visitors can trust your client’s website, you need to avoid hiding any critical information with fine print or content hidden in the website’s footer. When designing product pages or service information, make sure that you’re as transparent as possible about the company’s pricing. 

You don’t want a customer to wait until they click through into the checkout page to discover that they have to spend a fortune on postage and packaging. And, no one purchasing a service wants to wait until they’ve got their credit card out to discover that they’re going to be paying extra for things like set-up fees. 

According to Jakob Nielsen, one of the top mistakes anyone can make on a website is not listing their pricing as clearly as possible. 

As tempting as it may be to hide certain expenses and send customers through to the checkout page faster, avoid any opportunity to hide information about costs. 

Designing for Confidence

Ultimately, many different things can make a website stand out today. 

Designers can experiment with unique strategies like dynamic loading and video-based backgrounds. You might even decide to explore new styles with the right company or adapt certain pages to take advantage of things like 5G and new connectivity options. 

However, before you can begin exploring new opportunities on any website, one of the most important things you can do is ensure that you get the foundations of the website’s credibility right. Take an approach to design that focuses on transparency and trust first, and the rest will naturally fall into place. 

In a world where consumers are less trusting of brands than ever before, people who design for transparency will be sure to stand out from the crowd. Don’t underestimate the power of embracing trust for your clients in 2020. 

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16 Free Websites for Learning to Code in 2021

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The best free online coding websites for beginners are hubs of education and insight, designed to take your knowledge and career to the next level.

For years, technical careers have been gaining more attention among innovative individuals. In a digital world, people capable of speaking computer language often have the widest selection of job opportunities. However, before you can start leveraging the blossoming job market, you need to hone your skills. That’s where free coding websites come in.

A free online coding website is an environment where you can develop your understanding of various kinds of code, update your programming prowess, and even earn certifications. Today, we’re going to be looking at some of the most impressive coding websites on the market.

Coding Careers: Opportunities in 2021 and Beyond

Before we leap into our overview of the best free coding websites, let’s examine why it’s so important to invest in your coding role. Looking at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, we see that coders earn an average of $89,190 per year.

Elsewhere, CompTIA notes that technology hiring has accelerated since the end of 2020, with up to 391,000 new positions opening in the US during December.

Though coding careers have been popular for some time now, they have particularly high value following the pandemic, as companies worldwide adapt to the changes associated with remote workforces, digital customer service, and ecommerce. The pandemic has made us more reliant on technology than ever before, as a result:

  • Coding skills are in high demand: Coding skills are essential for the newly digital world. Studies find that the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation by around 7 years. Companies need coding professionals to stay ahead of the curve.
  • Coding knowledge is becoming more versatile: Companies are looking for coding skills in more than just programmers. They want their data analysts, IT workers, artists, designers, and other professionals to have these talents too.
  • People with coding talent can earn more: Jobs requiring coding skills tend to pay more than those that don’t. This reveals the growing need for coding knowledge in the digital ecosystem.

Coding skills provide an avenue to tech professionals for higher-income jobs, and these careers are growing faster on average than other job opportunities.

The Best Websites for Learning to Code

Learning to code or developing your existing coding skills can help you to unlock a host of new opportunities. Today, you can learn coding online for free, just by visiting the right websites.

Even a basic knowledge of coding can drive a range of results, such as helping to support the better management of websites, reducing reliance on outside developers, and opening the door to app development. So whether you want to start a new career or upgrade your existing knowledge, these sites will help:

BitDegree

BitDegree is a wonderful website for anyone interested in web development, coding, data science, and programming. There are various courses to choose from, depending on the career path you want to take. For instance, you can learn about the AWS cloud or start your journey into gaming development. For coding, BitDegree covers languages like:

  • CSS
  • HTML
  • PHP
  • SQL
  • JavaScript
  • jQuery

The best thing about BitDegree is how it makes learning so fun. There are gamified courses and sections where you can really dive into the essentials of coding. In addition, the online coding course collection often features hundreds of discounted options for people on a budget.

CodeAcademy

One of the most popular sites for learning how to code for free, CodeAcademy is home to over 24 million students who have built their skills. The interactive learning approach lets you apply what you’ve learned immediately. Over 300 million hours of free coding content are available to check out at your leisure. Like most coding platforms, you can learn languages such as:

  • CSS
  • JavaScript
  • HTML
  • PHP
  • jQuery
  • Python
  • PHP
  • Ruby

CodeAcademy is particularly effective for beginners because you get instant feedback after submitting your coding efforts. When you make mistakes, you’ll find out exactly where you went wrong, allowing you to avoid similar mistakes in the future.

Codewars

Codewars by Qualified is definitely one of the most versatile free platforms for learning how to code. There are dozens of languages you can learn – too many to list right here. Options range from C++ and C# to Ruby, Python, Lean, Java, PHP, Scala, and countless others.

Codewars teaches you your programming language in-depth by selecting challenges designed to put your mind to the test. The goal for each challenge is to help you sharpen your knowledge over time, with tasks that get progressively more difficult over time.

The cool thing about Codewars is it allows you to see how you respond to challenges compared to how other coders have tackled the same issues.

Code.Org

Designed for a younger community of would-be coders, Code.org is an engaging and highly accessible introduction to coding. With around 60 million students worldwide, the Code.org platform gives you access to a wide range of different learning opportunities intended to suit different needs and learning levels.

The Code.org environment is built on a desire to bring coding into the standard curriculum. You can dive into full one-hour tutorials, or you can experiment with a more structured approach to learning, which is ideal for people with different learning styles. There’s also a huge catalog of courses extending from basic coding for younger kids all the way to University-level education.

Free Code Camp

A diverse option in our free coding website list, Free Code Camp is all about developing your coding knowledge while simultaneously networking with other like-minded people in the industry. The solution allows you to learn coding by participating in challenges – which is ideal if you want to put your skills to the test as soon as possible.

To help you jump in, you’ll have access to a range of courses and tutorials designed to help you understand and overcome each challenge. You can even code for non-profits on the platform and build tradeable projects in languages like:

  • HTML5
  • Javascript
  • Node.JS
  • CSS3
  • React.JS
  • Databases
  • Git

If you’re a little nervous about the concept of coding alone, you’ll have a full community to work within the Free Code Camp. You might even meet someone you can work with in the years ahead.

Code Conquest

Code Conquest is less of a course website and more of a comprehensive guide for beginners diving into the world of code. This amazing platform will help you understand all of the basics of coding in no time – even if you’re brand-new to the landscape. You can find out what coding is all about, learn which languages are best to learn for your needs, and more.

The website is full of resources for all kinds of coders, including comprehensive tutorials, reviews, a knowledge center, training packs, and more. You can even choose from a range of languages like:

  • CSS
  • HTML
  • PHP
  • jQuery
  • Ruby
  • JavaScript
  • Python
  • MySQL

To help you figure out where you should get started, the Code Conquest website also gives you recommendations on which tutorials to take next.

W3Schools

One of the better-known free websites for coding on the market today, W3Schools is an environment packed full of example codes, resources, tutorials, exercises, and libraries to help you learn how to code. The site is one of the largest in the world for developers.

To begin coding with W3 Schools, you’ll need to choose the programming language that’s right for you, then either jump into the program immediately or select from a range of learning options. The site comes with a handy quiz to help you define your knowledge level.

Languages range from CSS to SQL, JavaScript, HTML, Python, Java, C++, and many more.

Code Avengers

Code Avengers offers a fun and interactive approach to learning how to program and code. There are various course options to teach you how to create everything from games and apps to entire websites. The good thing about the Code Avengers website is you don’t need a lot of spare time to start learning. Each course takes around 12 hours to complete.

You can choose from languages like HTML, CSS, Python, jQuery, JavaScript, and more, and connect with a wide selection of similar coding enthusiasts, just like you. The biggest downside is that the free trial only lasts for seven days before you’ll need to pay to use the full program.

The Code Player

A simple and effective website for learning how to code and building your existing skills. There are tons of videos and demos to walk you through the process of learning how to code from scratch. All you need to do is click on one of the things you want to learn how to do, like creating a simple web page, and the site will give you a video walkthrough.

Though a little simple compared to other coding resources, the Code Player still has a lot of great video guidance to help beginners jump into various languages. For example, you can learn about CSS and HTML or check out various tools to help you make a more effective website.

CodeGym

If you’re particularly interested in learning about Java, the CodeGym is probably the website for you. This online Java programming course teaches you the basics of Java by allowing you to dive into various tasks. You can get involved with various exercises depending on your existing skill level and play around with games designed to teach you more about the coding landscape.

This website is fantastic for people in all stages of the coding journey. Whenever you suggest a solution to a challenge, the website will give you immediate feedback to learn from. There are more than 500 hours of Java coding exercises and educational resources to explore.

The Odin Project

One of the better-known free coding websites on the market, the Odin Project aims to take the headaches and frustration out of learning web development. If you’re a beginner looking to develop a career in coding, then the Odin Project will give you all the pieces of the puzzle required to decide exactly where you want to go and build the appropriate skills.

This site offers a full-stack curriculum of coding education options, with tons of challenges, tasks, and exercises to help you put your newly gained knowledge to the test. You’ll learn how to program in languages like CSS and HTML, explore the basics of JavaScript and Ruby, and even get tips on how to get hired when your skills are maxed out.

Plural Sight

Previously known as Code School, Plural Sight is a fantastic online learning platform that allows you to build your knowledge through a range of paid and free courses. The comprehensive platform is organized into a wide selection of different learning paths. You can choose how you want to develop your skills based on your chosen language and your existing skillset.

You choose an education path created by professional instructors to achieve specific outcomes, and Plural Sight gives you all the material you need. You can also practice what you’ve learned during the course in your browser and get immediate feedback on what you need to work on. There’s even a gamification aspect that allows you to earn points for every course level you complete.

MIT Open Courseware

Imagine how amazing it would be to get accepted to MIT to learn your new coding skills? What if you didn’t have to go through the headache of an official application. If you have a computer and internet access, you can explore MIT’s course material easily through the MIT Open Courseware website. This dedicated website gives you an insight into all of the courses and materials learned by students at MIT.

You can browse through all the courses available in the programming landscape and filter through results based on things like course features. For instance, you might specifically look for courses with their own online textbook, lecture notes, and videos. It’s a great way to get an insight into how one of the most reputable universities in the world offers coding education.

Web Fundamentals

We’ve already looked at a website offering coding resources specifically for Java, now let’s take a look at one designed for HTML5. Launched about 11 years ago as HTML5 Rocks, the Web Fundamentals website is packed full of tutorials, resources, and insights into the most recent updates to HTML5. This open-source environment allows developers and programmers to really get active with their skills.

You can play around with some of the code already available on the website, and explore tutorials authored by a range of amazing individuals. Although these courses are very comprehensive, it’s worth noting that they might not be the perfect choice for true beginners, as the tutorials can be more complex than most.

Dash General Assembly

If you’re keen to learn the essentials of coding in some of the most popular languages, like CSS, JavaScript, and HTML, then Dash General Assembly is the site for you. This website offers fun and free courses which will guide you through the basics of web development. You even get interactive tasks and challenges you can leverage within your browser, with no downloads required.

Users learn how to do a range of amazing things with this website, including how to code HTML5, build a beautiful website, and balance your layouts for aesthetic appeal and usability. You can even design dynamic interfaces where you can add aminations and effects. Dash General Assembly is a fantastic tool for anyone keen to get started in the world of coding.

Codeasy.net

Finally, Codeasy.net promises beginners a fast and simple way to start learning how to code, while having plenty of fun. This exciting website immerses you within a digital story which takes you on an adventure through the basics of coding. You’ll need to learn real-life coding skills to navigate your way through the rest of the story, which means you can develop your C# knowledge as you go.

This is one of the more unique tools for learning how to code that we’ve found so far. It’s a great way to discover the basics of C# without being bogged down in boring lectures. Remember, though, this website is intended for complete beginners, so you might find it a little basic if you already know some of the coding essentials.

Free Websites for Learning to Code

Free coding websites are an excellent way to develop your skills and unlock new opportunities in the world of coding. If you’re keen to jump into a new career as a programmer or coding developer, make sure you check out some of the options above. There’s no doubt you’ll find a site capable of giving you the boost you need.

 

Featured image via Unsplash.

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A Complete Guide To User Interface Testing

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The user interface, or UI for short, is the aspect of an app or website that users interact with naturally. Since the UI is the part that is most commonly used, it leaves a lasting impression on users that can either be positive or negative.

The design of the user interface and it’s functionality are what can make or break programs. That’s why UI testing has become integral in the world of software and web development.

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Collaborative Task Management with Taskade

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Productivity is a crowded space, with countless apps and services promising to make your life and business easier and more profitable. Of all the apps that make that promise, very few deliver, but we’ve found one that does: Taskade.

Flexible Planning With Taskade

Every problem is unique, and part of what defines us as creative professionals is the different ways we approach problems. What suits one person in one situation doesn’t suit another in another. This is where many planning apps fall down: they adopt one singular approach and expect users to fit around the app.

Taskade is different. Like the love-child of Trello, Notion, and Slack, Taskade uses a template approach to create a flexible planning system that you can use in whatever way you prefer.

When you open up Taskade, you’ll see some quick options: ‘blank,’ ‘weekly planner,’ ‘meeting agenda,’ and so forth. But there’s also a ‘more’ option that will give you access to the hundreds of templates Taskade supplies. There are dozens of template categories, and each category contains multiple templates that you can use to drive your planning process.

Whether you’re looking for a task list for launching on Product Hunt, a design system checklist, or a project scrum board, you’ll find the template ready and waiting for you.

If none of the predesigned options are right for the task at hand, Taskade gives you the option to create your own template from the basic building blocks of boards, actions, mind maps, charts, and lists.

Team Collaboration With Taskade

One of Taskade’s main strengths is its ability to work equally well for individuals and teams.

It makes sense when you’re evaluating a product that you do it on your own. But we encourage you to bring team members on board early in the trial because it’s when working with teams that Taskade really excels as a collaborative tool.

Once you’ve created a new planning project, you can invite your team, either by email or — if they’re already registered — by tagging them with their Taskade username.

You can assign tasks to individuals or multiple individuals (a much better option than the free-for-all you find in some to-do apps). You can also set deadlines for tasks so that everyone knows what the schedule is.

Team Chat on Taskade

Another area that Taskade excels for teams is the built-in real-time live chat. You can communicate with team members right in the project instead of jumping onto Slack or email.

For teams working remotely, or even just multi-tasking throughout the day, it’s a great way of ensuring that everyone has the information they need. As a result, mistakes are minimized, and best of all, there’s a written record that can be referred back to at any time.

Chat can be sent to the whole team, or direct messaged to an individual, so you don’t need to worry about filling up everyone’s notifications with messages that don’t apply to them.

Project Management With Taskade

If you’re working on a single project, then you probably know exactly where it is at all times. But for anyone working on multiple projects, it can be hard to keep track of everything. So Taskade has several different options for project managers.

The Mindmap section is one of the most useful parts of Taskade because it gives you a complete overview of everything in your project. You can see what has been completed and how much time it took — that way, you can assess how viable the timeline for your other tasks is.

Another great feature of Taskade is the activity feed. When one of your team makes a change to a project, it will pop up in your activity feed, and the next time you log in, you’ll see the status of your projects with a single glance.

Multi-Platform

One of our favorite aspects of Taskade is that it works equally well across different platforms. As well as the desktop web app, you’ll also find native apps in the iOS app store and the Android play store.

Syncing your account over different apps is awesome because ideas often occur at inconvenient times — on your commute, walking the dog. Even when you’re at your desk, it’s much handier to grab your phone and make notes than it is to switch to your browser and visit a site.

Easy Registration

If you’re feeling the pressure of a bulging inbox, or to-do lists on multiple post-its, then the last thing you need is another complex, confusing task to add to the pile.

Taskade is super-easy to get started with. Just click the ‘Sign up’ link in the top right of the site, and you’ll have three options: Sign up with Google, sign up with your email, or you can continue as a guest.

If you’re not sold yet, then continue as a guest — essentially a free trial — you can sign in properly later once your curiosity is satisfied.

Free to Use

Taskade is free to use on a limited basis. The free plan comes with 500Mb of storage and a maximum 25Mb file size. You can create individual tasks or whole projects, workflows, and custom templates and share tasks and projects with your team. That’s enough to help you make the most of Taskade for $0.

If you find that the generous free plan isn’t quite enough, paid plans start at just $5 per month. The paid plan gives you unlimited storage and bumps the maximum file size up to 250Mb. You have the same core features as the free plan; it’s just that they’re unlimited, which means you can do even more planning. In addition, the paid plan adds some handy extra features that are great time-savers, such as sorting tasks, creating repeat tasks, and bulk assigning tasks. Just look at how Taskade compares to similar tools.

Most professionals will get along with the free plan just fine, but $5 per month for unlimited storage is a great deal. On top of that, you have future premium features to look forward to, including a project revision history and a calendar view.

You can sign up to Taskade for free now, as a guest, with your email, or with Google.

 

[– This is a sponsored post on behalf of Taskade –]

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