The Constant Company, LLC, the creator of Vultr, is a rapidly-growing cloud infrastructure provider with 25 global data center locations and counting

The Constant Company

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen is part of . You can jump to any chapter in this book here: . Chapter XXVI HackerNoon’s Book Blog Post series [LINK TO TABLE OF LINK] Chapter 26 Mrs. Gardiner’s caution to Elizabeth was punctually and kindly given on the first favourable opportunity of speaking to her alone; after honestly telling her what she thought, she thus went on: “You are too sensible a girl, Lizzy, to fall in love merely because you are warned against it; and, therefore, I am not afraid of speaking openly. Seriously, I would have you be on your guard. Do not involve yourself or endeavour to involve him in an affection which the want of fortune would make so very imprudent. I have nothing to say against him; he is a most interesting young man; and if he had the fortune he ought to have, I should think you could not do better. But as it is, you must not let your fancy run away with you. You have sense, and we all expect you to use it. Your father would depend on your resolution and good conduct, I am sure. You must not disappoint your father.” “My dear aunt, this is being serious indeed.” “Yes, and I hope to engage you to be serious likewise.” “Well, then, you need not be under any alarm. I will take care of myself, and of Mr. Wickham too. He shall not be in love with me, if I can prevent it.” “Elizabeth, you are not serious now.” “I beg your pardon, I will try again. At present I am not in love with Mr. Wickham; no, I certainly am not. But he is, beyond all comparison, the most agreeable man I ever saw—and if he becomes really attached to me—I believe it will be better that he should not. I see the imprudence of it. Oh! that abominable Mr. Darcy! My father’s opinion of me does me the greatest honour, and I should be miserable to forfeit it. My father, however, is partial to Mr. Wickham. In short, my dear aunt, I should be very sorry to be the means of making any of you unhappy; but since we see every day that where there is affection, young people are seldom withheld by immediate want of fortune from entering into engagements with each other, how can I promise to be wiser than so many of my fellow-creatures if I am tempted, or how am I even to know that it would be wisdom to resist? All that I can promise you, therefore, is not to be in a hurry. I will not be in a hurry to believe myself his first object. When I am in company with him, I will not be wishing. In short, I will do my best.” “Perhaps it will be as well if you discourage his coming here so very often. At least, you should not remind your mother of inviting him.” “As I did the other day,” said Elizabeth with a conscious smile: “very true, it will be wise in me to refrain from that. But do not imagine that he is always here so often. It is on your account that he has been so frequently invited this week. You know my mother’s ideas as to the necessity of constant company for her friends. But really, and upon my honour, I will try to do what I think to be the wisest; and now I hope you are satisfied.” Her aunt assured her that she was, and Elizabeth having thanked her for the kindness of her hints, they parted; a wonderful instance of advice being given on such a point, without being resented. Mr. Collins returned into Hertfordshire soon after it had been quitted by the Gardiners and Jane; but as he took up his abode with the Lucases, his arrival was no great inconvenience to Mrs. Bennet. His marriage was now fast approaching, and she was at length so far resigned as to think it inevitable, and even repeatedly to say, in an ill-natured tone, that she “wished they might be happy.” Thursday was to be the wedding day, and on Wednesday Miss Lucas paid her farewell visit; and when she rose to take leave, Elizabeth, ashamed of her mother’s ungracious and reluctant good wishes, and sincerely affected herself, accompanied her out of the room. As they went downstairs together, Charlotte said: “I shall depend on hearing from you very often, Eliza.” “That you certainly shall.” “And I have another favour to ask you. Will you come and see me?” “We shall often meet, I hope, in Hertfordshire.” “I am not likely to leave Kent for some time. Promise me, therefore, to come to Hunsford.” Elizabeth could not refuse, though she foresaw little pleasure in the visit. “My father and Maria are coming to me in March,” added Charlotte, “and I hope you will consent to be of the party. Indeed, Eliza, you will be as welcome as either of them.” The wedding took place; the bride and bridegroom set off for Kent from the church door, and everybody had as much to say, or to hear, on the subject as usual. Elizabeth soon heard from her friend; and their correspondence was as regular and frequent as it had ever been; that it should be equally unreserved was impossible. Elizabeth could never address her without feeling that all the comfort of intimacy was over, and though determined not to slacken as a correspondent, it was for the sake of what had been, rather than what was. Charlotte’s first letters were received with a good deal of eagerness; there could not but be curiosity to know how she would speak of her new home, how she would like Lady Catherine, and how happy she would dare pronounce herself to be; though, when the letters were read, Elizabeth felt that Charlotte expressed herself on every point exactly as she might have foreseen. She wrote cheerfully, seemed surrounded with comforts, and mentioned nothing which she could not praise. The house, furniture, neighbourhood, and roads, were all to her taste, and Lady Catherine’s behaviour was most friendly and obliging. It was Mr. Collins’s picture of Hunsford and Rosings rationally softened; and Elizabeth perceived that she must wait for her own visit there to know the rest. Jane had already written a few lines to her sister to announce their safe arrival in London; and when she wrote again, Elizabeth hoped it would be in her power to say something of the Bingleys. Her impatience for this second letter was as well rewarded as impatience generally is. Jane had been a week in town without either seeing or hearing from Caroline. She accounted for it, however, by supposing that her last letter to her friend from Longbourn had by some accident been lost. “My aunt,” she continued, “is going to-morrow into that part of the town, and I shall take the opportunity of calling in Grosvenor Street.” She wrote again when the visit was paid, and she had seen Miss Bingley. “I did not think Caroline in spirits,” were her words, “but she was very glad to see me, and reproached me for giving her no notice of my coming to London. I was right, therefore, my last letter had never reached her. I enquired after their brother, of course. He was well, but so much engaged with Mr. Darcy that they scarcely ever saw him. I found that Miss Darcy was expected to dinner. I wish I could see her. My visit was not long, as Caroline and Mrs. Hurst were going out. I dare say I shall see them soon here.” Elizabeth shook her head over this letter. It convinced her that accident only could discover to Mr. Bingley her sister’s being in town. Four weeks passed away, and Jane saw nothing of him. She endeavoured to persuade herself that she did not regret it; but she could no longer be blind to Miss Bingley’s inattention. After waiting at home every morning for a fortnight, and inventing every evening a fresh excuse for her, the visitor did at last appear; but the shortness of her stay, and yet more, the alteration of her manner would allow Jane to deceive herself no longer. The letter which she wrote on this occasion to her sister will prove what she felt. “My dearest Lizzy will, I am sure, be incapable of triumphing in her better judgement, at my expense, when I confess myself to have been entirely deceived in Miss Bingley’s regard for me. But, my dear sister, though the event has proved you right, do not think me obstinate if I still assert that, considering what her behaviour was, my confidence was as natural as your suspicion. I do not at all comprehend her reason for wishing to be intimate with me; but if the same circumstances were to happen again, I am sure I should be deceived again. Caroline did not return my visit till yesterday; and not a note, not a line, did I receive in the meantime. When she did come, it was very evident that she had no pleasure in it; she made a slight, formal apology, for not calling before, said not a word of wishing to see me again, and was in every respect so altered a creature, that when she went away I was perfectly resolved to continue the acquaintance no longer. I pity, though I cannot help blaming her. She was very wrong in singling me out as she did; I can safely say that every advance to intimacy began on her side. But I pity her, because she must feel that she has been acting wrong, and because I am very sure that anxiety for her brother is the cause of it. I need not explain myself farther; and though we know this anxiety to be quite needless, yet if she feels it, it will easily account for her behaviour to me; and so deservedly dear as he is to his sister, whatever anxiety she must feel on his behalf is natural and amiable. I cannot but wonder, however, at her having any such fears now, because, if he had at all cared about me, we must have met, long ago. He knows of my being in town, I am certain, from something she said herself; and yet it would seem, by her manner of talking, as if she wanted to persuade herself that he is really partial to Miss Darcy. I cannot understand it. If I were not afraid of judging harshly, I should be almost tempted to say that there is a strong appearance of duplicity in all this. But I will endeavour to banish every painful thought, and think only of what will make me happy—your affection, and the invariable kindness of my dear uncle and aunt. Let me hear from you very soon. Miss Bingley said something of his never returning to Netherfield again, of giving up the house, but not with any certainty. We had better not mention it. I am extremely glad that you have such pleasant accounts from our friends at Hunsford. Pray go to see them, with Sir William and Maria. I am sure you will be very comfortable there.—Yours, etc.” This letter gave Elizabeth some pain; but her spirits returned as she considered that Jane would no longer be duped, by the sister at least. All expectation from the brother was now absolutely over. She would not even wish for a renewal of his attentions. His character sunk on every review of it; and as a punishment for him, as well as a possible advantage to Jane, she seriously hoped he might really soon marry Mr. Darcy’s sister, as by Wickham’s account, she would make him abundantly regret what he had thrown away. Mrs. Gardiner about this time reminded Elizabeth of her promise concerning that gentleman, and required information; and Elizabeth had such to send as might rather give contentment to her aunt than to herself. His apparent partiality had subsided, his attentions were over, he was the admirer of some one else. Elizabeth was watchful enough to see it all, but she could see it and write of it without material pain. Her heart had been but slightly touched, and her vanity was satisfied with believing that she would have been his only choice, had fortune permitted it. The sudden acquisition of ten thousand pounds was the most remarkable charm of the young lady to whom he was now rendering himself agreeable; but Elizabeth, less clear-sighted perhaps in this case than in Charlotte’s, did not quarrel with him for his wish of independence. Nothing, on the contrary, could be more natural; and while able to suppose that it cost him a few struggles to relinquish her, she was ready to allow it a wise and desirable measure for both, and could very sincerely wish him happy. All this was acknowledged to Mrs. Gardiner; and after relating the circumstances, she thus went on: “I am now convinced, my dear aunt, that I have never been much in love; for had I really experienced that pure and elevating passion, I should at present detest his very name, and wish him all manner of evil. But my feelings are not only cordial towards him; they are even impartial towards Miss King. I cannot find out that I hate her at all, or that I am in the least unwilling to think her a very good sort of girl. There can be no love in all this. My watchfulness has been effectual; and though I certainly should be a more interesting object to all my acquaintances were I distractedly in love with him, I cannot say that I regret my comparative insignificance. Importance may sometimes be purchased too dearly. Kitty and Lydia take his defection much more to heart than I do. They are young in the ways of the world, and not yet open to the mortifying conviction that handsome young men must have something to live on as well as the plain.” About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Austen, Jane. 2021. Pride and Prejudice. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved April 2022, from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1342/1342-h/1342-h.htm#link2HCH0026 This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

Pride and Prejudice: Chapter 26

As the world is moving forward to using variants of technologies, so has automation improved its ways to make our work easier. Though the word automation was coined in the 1950s, very few people really understood what it meant. But with the time automation has seeped through our daily life functions. Since the advent of robotic process automation, a lot of new players have emerged.  If you are looking for top robotic process automation companies, this list will help you. To get improved productivity by automating processes in your company, check out the information below of best RPA developers with short reviews. Impersonate human work process, for example, signing into applications, entering information, and so forth. It is basic for you to pick the privilege RPA Services for long haul accomplishment as it can actualize the innovation rapidly and productively without rolling out any improvements in the current framework. The list of top RPA companies dependent on their general assistance and execution to facilitate your work. 1. VironIT RPA Company The company has been growing for 15 years. During that time VironIT has extended the list of customers and improved its efficiency. VironIT developers team has implemented more than 600 completed projects, that means more than 400 customers have chosen this company. VironIT’s activity aims to develop high-quality products along with meeting customers’ needs and requirements with regard to state-of-the-art technologies. 2. Accelirate The company’s development system is based on client experience and consolidates ROI and Business Value at each stage. Accelirate approves introductory suspicions at the Analysis stage to guarantee that the offer still remains constant since the company find out about a procedure/work. Accelirate guarantees that inside the Design stage, its procedure examiners indicate KPIs and Metrics so that these can be caught by the Automation Developers. Dashboards definitions and Metric Reporting is incorporated inside the execution stage so when the task goes live, the business has all information it should have the option to screen and gauge execution. 3. BPM-D BPM-D® has profound roots in business process counselling with the two authors having 25+ years of working in that field, including top administration positions at IDS Scheer. The subsequent expertise is methodically moved to the representatives and, through tasks, to customers. Likewise, BPM-D has been teaming up with top scholastic establishments, for more than 15 years, guaranteeing creative, forward-looking and maintainable arrangements. Affiliations with top colleges like the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia University or Widener University help to keep offer current and drawing in the correct ability. Cosy associations with driving and speciality arrangements sellers, in the BPM territory, are utilized where fitting. 4. Deloitte So many years of hard work and commitment to making a real difference, Deloitte has grown in scale and diversity—approximately 245,000 people in 150 countries and territories, providing audit & assurance, tax, risk and financial advisory and consulting services—yet the company’s shared culture remains the same. For Deloitte, good isn't good enough. The company aims to be the best at all that it does—to help clients realize their ambitions, to make a positive difference in society, and to maximize the success of its client’s. This drive fuels the commitment and humanity that run deep through Deloitte’s every action. 5. Genpact Genpact started in 1997 as a special General Electric unit. In January 2005, Genpact turned into an autonomous organization to bring the procedure ability and one of a kind DNA in Lean administration to customers past GE, and in August 2007, the company turned into a traded on an open market organization. Genpact is a worldwide expert administrations firm that makes business change genuine. Genpact drives advanced development and carefully empowered wise tasks for customers, guided by experience running a huge number of procedures essentially for Global Fortune 500 organizations. 6. Hexaware Hexaware’s strategy is to automate, cloudify, and transform everything to improve customer experiences. This controls a man-machine co-working effort - take care of complex business issues utilizing a blend of human imagination and astuteness. We influence the intensity of omnipresent information, bits of knowledge-driven calculations and key distributed computing to assist clients with accomplishing business change. 7. IBA Group The IBA Group’s organizational structure is worldwide. The company’s support centers are located in Europe, the United States, Asia, and Africa. IBA Group has full legal and organizational capacity to send its experts to these centers or hire local employees. The company offers a wide range of software services, including consulting, development, testing, migration, maintenance, and 24X7 support with a focus on mainframe systems and applications, web-based applications, enterprise solutions, SAP solutions and other ERP systems, Business Analytics (BI), and mobile applications. 8. Incedo Incedo is a Bay Area headquartered digital and analytics company that enables sustainable business advantage for its clients by bringing together capabilities across Consulting, Data Science and Engineering to solve high impact problems. The company believes in blurring the boundaries between services and products and delivering unified solutions that are designed to maximize adoption, impact and client success. Incedo’s mission is to enable its clients to maximize business impact from technology by harnessing the transformational impact of emerging technologies like bridging the gap between business and technology, become an employer of choice by being ‘employee first’ in all processes and practices. Incedo provides world-class technology services and is a trusted, long-term partner for global enterprises, is recognized as an industry leader in chosen emerging technologies, is an employer of choice, and delivers superior growth and financial performance. 9. LTI LTI is a global technology consulting and digital solutions company that was founded 20 years ago. From the very start, it was an information technology arm of the Larsen and Toubro group. The company has already helped more than 360 clients succeed in a converging world, and solved the most complex challenges of enterprises across industries. With operations in 30 countries, LTI goes the extra mile for its clients and accelerate their digital transformation with LTI’s Mosaic platform enabling their mobile, social, analytics, IoT and cloud journeys. 10. PwC PwC was created by the merger of two firms, Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand, around 150 years ago. The first Price Waterhouse’s office was opened in Budapest, Hungary 1989. Coopers & Lybrand Kft. was established in the same year. In 1997, Coopers & Lybrand Kft. acquired Dynasoft Rt., which formed its new Management Consulting Services department. In 1998, with the worldwide merger of Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand, PricewaterhouseCoopers Hungary was formed. Rebranded as PwC Hungary, it has operated since 2011 with two offices – in Budapest and Győr – as one of the leading professional services firms in Hungary. The company also does an audit, tax advisory and other consulting services. 11. WiPro Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO) is a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company. We harness the power of cognitive computing, hyper-automation, robotics, cloud, analytics and emerging technologies to help clients adapt to the digital world and make them successful. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, a strong commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship, we have over 175,000 dedicated employees serving clients across six continents. Together, we discover ideas and connect the dots to build a better and a bold new future. 12. Capgemini Capgemini is a multicultural organization of more than 200,000 people in excess of 40 nations. The company revealed 2018 worldwide incomes of EUR 13.2 billion. A worldwide pioneer in counselling, innovation administrations and advanced change, Capgemini is at the cutting edge of development to address the whole expansiveness of customers' chances in the advancing universe of cloud, computerized and stages. Expanding on its solid 50-year legacy and profound industry-explicit aptitude, Capgemini empowers associations to understand their business desire through a variety of administrations from technique to tasks. Capgemini is driven by the conviction that the business estimation of innovation originates from and through individuals. 13. CH&Co CH&Co established the CH Alliance to unite close European based colleagues, with the target to turn into the system of reference for open advancement, aptitude and master know-how, offering best of breed answers for the Financial administrations’ industry. CH&Co is a worldwide group of vital personalities, fund experts and out-of-the-case scholars who think, yet additionally do. The company transforms its clients’ difficulties into enduring accomplishment by changing master thinking into unmistakable outcomes. The team trusts it takes more than minds to get results. Clients need specialists. CH&Co is centred around money related administrations to guarantee it conveys master exhortation, industry best practices and information that is straightforwardly applicable to businesses. CH&Co. Accomplices originate from different starting points: Business Consulting, Technology and Big 4 Firms. On each task, the company utilizes this decent variety inside an extraordinary mix of system, advancement, change the executives and aptitude. 14. Cognizant Shaped by a diverse group of entrepreneurial people working together to create a better way with their customers. The company works with companies on the vanguard of technology to drive businesses forward. Cognizant supports lifelong learning in the U.S. and around the world, preparing people to make the most of the technology that can forge shared future. The company’s ambition will always be to see and seize new opportunities that serve its clients and drive sustained business performance for Cognizant over the long term. See how in its annual business snapshot. 15. EPAM systems The company was founded in 1993 and relied on Engineering DNA to underpin work with clients, leading to major innovations, digital transformations and business results. In that time, Epam has expanded geographically, as well as extended its core engineering capabilities to include business consulting, design and physical product development. EPAM has been at the forefront of some of the most exciting technology-led transformations in the industry, and the story continues into today’s modern age of agile delivery, big data, machine learning and AI. 16. HCL Technologies HCL Technologies is a global technology company that helps enterprises reimagine their businesses for the digital age. Its technology products, services, and engineering are built on four decades of innovation, with a world-renowned management philosophy, a culture of invention and risk-taking, and a customer relationships focus. HCL Technologies offers integrated portfolio products, solutions, services, built around digital, IoT, cloud, automation, cybersecurity, analytics, infrastructure management, and engineering services, among others. With a worldwide network of R&D, innovation labs and delivery centers, and 147,000+ employees working in 44 countries, HCL serves leading enterprises across key industries, including 250 of the Fortune 500 and 650 of the Global 2000. Businesses across industries stand at an inflexion point today. Far-reaching disruption fueled by technologies like digitalization, analytics, cloud, IoT, and automation. As the demand for these services, HCL Technologies is accelerating its evolution into a next-generation technology company, driven by a unique business model, Mode 1-2-3, and many unmatched core competencies which bring this model to life. 17. Tata Consultancy Service Tata Consultancy Service is an Indian multinational information technology (IT) and consulting company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is a subsidiary of Tata Group and operates in 149 locations across 46 countries. TCS is the largest Indian company by market capitalization. Tata consultancy services are now placed among the most valuable IT services brands worldwide. In 2015, TCS was ranked 64th overall in the Forbes World's Most Innovative Companies ranking, making it both the highest-ranked IT services company and the top Indian company. It is the world's largest IT services provider. As of 2018, it is ranked eleventh on the Fortune India 500 list. In April 2018, TCS became the first Indian IT company to reach $100 billion market capitalization, and second Indian company ever (after Reliance Industries achieved it in 2007) after its market capitalization stood at ₹6,79,332.81 crore ($102.6 billion) on the Bombay Stock Exchange. In 2016-2017, Parent company Tata Sons owned 20% of TCS; and more than 70% of Tata Sons' dividends were generated by TCS. In March 2018, Tata Sons decided to sell stocks of TCS worth $1.25 billion in a bulk deal. 18. Virtusa Virtusa Corporation (NASDAQ: VRTU) is an American information technology services company founded in 1996 in Sri Lanka and has its headquarters in Southborough, Massachusetts, United States. The company provides IT consulting, business consulting, systems implementation and application outsourcing services to large enterprises and software vendors. The company has several delivery centres in India and Sri Lanka with the ones in Hyderabad, Chennai and Colombo being the largest. The company has a community support program that focuses on education and uses its IT competencies for meeting the needs of the community. Virtusa facilitated setting up IT laboratories for 50 schools in the Uva province of Sri Lanka. The program was carried out in partnership with a local university in Sri Lanka. In 2010, the company leveraged its technology/QA expertise to support the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program. In the wake of the 2004 tsunami, its employees actively participated in the development of Sahana, an open-source-based disaster management system. 19. Accenture Accenture is a global professional services company, providing a range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions - underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network - Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With more than 450,000 people serving clients in over 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. 20. Acronotics Acronotics automation and AI experts work closely with leading global firms across multiple industries to build cutting edge robotic automation & artificial intelligence solutions, enabling clients to boost organizational productivity, realize substantial cost savings, gain competitive advantage through smart data analytics, and deliver an enhanced user experience to their clients. In short, the company applies RPA & AI technologies to improve productivity and reduce the cost of operations; increase revenue per client & share of wallet; future-proof a business through innovation & automation. Along these lines, here we arrive at the end of the article about the top Robotic Process Automation companies. You should likewise think about the advantages of RPA services so you would have a reasonable view about picking the correct way too. It computerizes manual assignments to mechanize with robotization arrangements. It gives includes exceptionally occasion-driven, better investigation, emotional judgment, rule-based RPA solutions.

Top 20 Robotic Process Automation Companies

It takes for online consumers to form an opinion about your brand. If you haven’t generated interest, then you probably aren’t going to. less than two-tenths of a second Bad website design and outdated aesthetics are major credibility killers. of negative website feedback is design-related. 94% In this article, we handpicked web design inspirations that will help to increase your conversion rate. Major web design trends of 2021 It’s exciting to see how web design continues to change. So, the question is what are the leading web design trends in 2021? From retro fonts to 3D modeling — there’s a lot to enjoy. Augmented reality VR is becoming a trend in all sectors. More websites are tapping into the power of AR to serve useful content to site visitors in a way that helps them make buying decisions. Examples: Build & Price a Jeep L’Oréal Makeup App 2. Dark mode and low light Dark mode helps to reduce eye strain while giving you the ability to save device battery power. It provides users with a low-contrast site or app that is easier to look at in a low-light environment. Also, black is a particularly strong color that hits powerful emotions. Even added dark mode as an option to its site in 2021. the White House Examples: Hashnode Facebook Messenger Instagram Twitter Gmail 3. Custom illustrations Illustrations breathe life into your website. Take a look at the art of who designed custom illustrations for brands like Airbnb, Dropbox, and Slack. Alice Lee Examples: Snapsound Grafill Extreeme Garden Estudio Intercom blog Among trees game 4. Comfortable colors It’s not uncommon to experience eye strain after looking at screens for long periods of time. The soothing effect of light colors encourages users to stay on the page longer, enjoying the palette’s tranquility. In 2021, web designers are going with soft color palettes, creating a calming ambiance. Examples: Mysa Skincare Brooke Cormier Deeponde 5. Gradient color scheme Gradient color schemes have been trending for a while. However, the gradients we see today are much more subtle. They can be used to add depth, serve as a striking background, or add texture. You can use the same color in different shades or color combinations. Examples: Apple’s Big Sur OS Impossible Bureau Sleepiest 6. Vintage-inspired colors & typography Ironically, the more the web progresses, the more companies start to revert back to old retro styles. Tapping into an audience’s sense of nostalgia doesn’t merely create a throwback — mixing antique and modern styles produces an ultra-trendy look. This style has become very popular for its ability to catch the user’s eye and conjure up a range of feelings. Examples: The Dollar Dreadful Family Library The New York Moon Harvard Film Archive Timeless 7. Parallax scrolling Parallax is a web design technique in which the background moves at a slower pace than the foreground. It highlights important bits of content and adds a sense of depth by taking visual elements and moving them at different speeds. Examples: Nolan Omura MILD Goonies 8. Smart combination of minimalism and functionality Too much information can be overwhelming. Minimalism, sometimes called “flat design” is associated with a lot of white space (think Apple). The cleaner the site, the lower the bounce rate. Minimalism is in general. good for conversions Examples: Nike Makhno Architects Rotate Lars Tornøe 9. 3D visuals 3D is definitely the hot trend in web design. 3D elements that users can interact with are increasingly used by web designers. The results can be breathtaking and give an awesome feel to visitors. Users spend an average of looking at a website’s main image, so it’s important to make sure that this image reinforces the brand. 5.94 seconds Examples: Campo Alle Comete Pursuit of Sound Sapiens 10. Custom cursors One of the biggest trends in web design is custom cursors. You can use a cursor to boost website engagement rates like never before. With the help of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, it’s possible to add hover animations, click effects, and much more. Examples: Mutt Agency MDFF Athens Eye-opening web design stats Business owners spend a lot of time, money, and energy on driving traffic to their websites. And still, the average conversion rate across all industries is 2.35%. How can we get more customers with the traffic we already have? Design plays a pivotal role in business conversions. of users won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed website on mobile. 57% of online consumers will stop engaging with a website if its layout is unattractive. 38% of people are less likely to return to a site after a bad experience. 88% of users will stop engaging with a website if images take longer to load. 39% of consumers judge a company based on its website design. 75% Websites are judged ruthlessly. If your website is making you cringe, you can bet that it’s affecting your business’ success. Change is the only constant The credibility of a company is so powerfully linked to the aesthetic quality of its website. This includes website layout, typography, fonts, and color schemes. This article was first published on Medium

10 Trendy Web Design Options to Make a Website That Converts

Last week I was at London for the Startup Grind Europe conference, with my friends from the Barcelona Chapter and many entrepreneurs from the awesome global community of Startup Grind. The main event was an interview between Startup Grind CEO Derek Andersen and Alphabet (formerly named Google) executive chairman Eric Schmidt. The most interesting part of the interview came in the second half, when Eric Schmidt made a very interesting prediction about what the great companies will be like five years from now. The prediction was that in addition to mobile platforms and cloud computing, the next $100bn companies will find a way to get millions of users to teach them, learn from that information using machine learning, and then sell a service that it’s better than the individual knowledge of the users. This prediction makes a lot of sense from both an engineering & business perspective, as it leverages current technology to collect and process cheap information with minimal costs, that can easily be sold later thanks to the direct access to customers that mobile platforms provide. But, in my opinion, this approach overlooks 2 critical points: . The old quality vs quantity dilemma. More information isn’t always directly correlated to better knowledge. Filter out bad information, making sure the knowledge you sell is of top quality, and that it stays up to date not only is complex, but its costs could easily eat the margins of the business. Quality . To verify the information, you have to sacrifice user’s anonymity and their privacy, as the only way to assess the quality of information is knowing the source. Depending on the type of information, and especially how its used, this could generate many ethical and legal issues. Privacy And even more important, it misses a much bigger business opportunity: . What people know is just a very small part of all we can learn from them. If we focus only on making users teach us what they know, we’re completely missing what they don’t know, but actually they can teach us as well. Knowledge gap The perfect image to illustrate this is the iceberg. What we know is the tip (what we can see), and what we don’t know is the rest of iceberg hidden below water level. Tracking data and aggregating information to accumulate knowledge, and building AI that do the jobs currently performed by humans isn’t revolutionary, it’s just an expected market evolution. The companies that will generate huge businesses in the following 5 years will need to go several steps ahead, creating new ways to solve problems that will completely transform markets and industries, and doing things that aren’t expected to happen until 20 years or more from now. Who thinks it’s possible to build an AI in a few months that not only understands human relationships and could accurately predict with whom you will connect and develop a meaningful relationship, but it will also be able to predict how you will evolve in the following years, knowing what most of your future needs will be? This are the characteristics that will define the next tech titans: . This is very simple, there’s no place in the future for the thousands (or millions) of current inefficient companies, especially the bigger ones. Efficiency . Build a business model that perfectly aligns the interest of the company with the customers, constant improvement of product/service, and a superb customer service. Trust . Collect sensible data in a way that even if a hacker steals it, the user/customer will be safe, as the data can only be interpreted by algorithms of the company and the handful of people that created them. Privacy & security . Only the companies that will constantly generate huge amounts of significant new knowledge will be able to evolve, adapt to changes and stay alive. Knowledge generation . This isn’t taken seriously now, but I have no doubt in my mind that the first companies that manage to grow a greatly diverse team at all levels, will quickly develop a decisive competitive edge to take over their markets. Diversity In the next years we’ll see at least 3 completely new $500bn companies be born, probably 5. In case you’re wondering, these companies’ growth won’t be just the result of expanding markets, it will be also the result of wiping out the incumbents. Thanks for reading and sharing. Adrià Hernández Founder Physem

Startup Grind, Eric Schmidt & the next $100bn startups

Around the world, financial technology industry regulations differ significantly. Fintechs must be compliant and stay up to date with a wide range of rules, including security, , and chartered banking laws. Banking, money transfer, consumer protection and privacy, credit cards, insurance, and more are all subject to regulatory authorities. Non-compliance can cost businesses hefty fines. As such, fintech startups need to protect themselves from day one. Embed compliance in their business strategy, building their own compliance programs or working with well-established regulation technology companies. data privacy The state of compliance The fintech industry has been in hypergrowth over the last decade and is now maturing, set to than the traditional banking sector before 2028. The regulations have evolved, too, even though the level of regulation might differ from one country to another. However, most countries where fintechs are striving, such as the USA, European Union, Singapore, Australia, and more, currently have strict regulations. grow three times faster For instance, the USA has federal as well as state regulators, such as the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC), and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (CADFI), to name a few. The UK has the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), fintechs in Germany are regulated by The Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, and Singapore’s financial services industry is under the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). It’s no wonder that fintech startups feel overwhelmed with laws, requirements, and procedures that must be followed in every country where they operate and where their clients and users are from. Here are several steps and recommendations to consider when building a company. Know the compliance If you develop a fintech startup, you first need to hire a compliance expert or seek legal counsel. Fintech compliance is not a job that a founder or any manager can do without experience in the field. However, it doesn’t mean a founding or management team should fully rely on an expert. It’s essential to understand the basics of compliance and have at least a high-level view of it. Starting with a compliance overview, you’re going to encounter: Geographical jurisdiction. Identify regions where you’re going to operate and where your users are going to be from. Today, the majority of fintechs operate in several countries and have clients all over the world. So, ensure you have a list of countries to work on compliance with, considering all required regional regulations. Regulatory compliance. The fintech industry includes a variety of businesses (such as SaaS platforms or neobanks) and may also offer services in many different areas (traditional currency, cryptocurrency, decentralized finance, etc.). Some will be affected mainly by anti-money laundering (AML) and consumer protection laws. On the other hand, fintechs with a full banking license will face the same regulations as traditional banks. Penalties for noncompliance. Know what you’re facing if you do not meet the compliance requirements, such as fines, losing a license, and reputation damage (losing the trust of its customers, investors, and other stakeholders). Now, let’s go through the most important compliance factors fintech startups face: Licensing Fintech startups must be licensed first before offering any product or services to the market. Different types of fintechs need different licenses. Companies providing banking services, such as money transfers, deposits, withdrawals, loans, etc., require a banking license. Payment systems that are processing payments and transfers will need a payment institution license, and companies working with cryptocurrencies have to obtain licenses to operate cryptocurrencies. Data security and privacy As fintechs collect and use large amounts of customer data, data privacy is one of the most critical legal issues in the industry. Some of the regulators are global, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Still, many regional and even state-level regulators exist, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in California, US. User data protection is a big issue right now, so be ready to meet hefty fines in case of non-compliance and any data leakage. Anti-Money Laundering (AML) AML laws and programs for fintech regulation are set to prevent financial crimes and illegal activity. They require fintechs to monitor customer activity for suspicious transactions and report it to the appropriate authorities. It includes following the Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements and customer due diligence (CDD). All fintechs are obligated by regulatory bodies to use KYC at onboarding to verify the identity of their customers. In the meantime, CDD regulations demand that fintechs organize and maintain ongoing customer verification, customer risk profile development, verifying the identity of company account owners, and monitoring suspicious transactions. Best practices for fintech startups . Apply a risk-based approach Implement frequent risk assessment and regular monitoring of the regulatory and legislative landscape. Startups tend to pivot frequently, and fintech regulations evolve drastically and differ from country to country. Therefore, keeping up with the business changes and adjusting to the regulations is essential. . Make compliance part of your product development Seek constant involvement from the company’s legal team throughout the fintech product development process. Make sure your product team is well-educated in compliance and understands its importance. . Always remember why compliance is essential It’s a law, yet it’s not the only reason why businesses should comply with regulations: — It establishes credibility and trust. — Compliance helps fintechs scale. — Regulations create fair competition among companies. Conclusion Developing a startup is a daunting and highly risky process on its own. Working on fintech startups and following all required regulations will require a lot of additional preparation, patience, and attention to every detail. However, as the fintech industry is currently rising and maturing simultaneously, and is projected to become a , it is worth the effort. Fintech startups have to have a close look at always-changing regulations, and the top management should be aware of the most common downsides and potential compliance risks to be ready to launch a successful business. $1.5 trillion industry by 2030

Navigating Compliance for Fintech Startups 

My personal experience comes from two different worlds. One world is a big corporation with tens of thousands of employees, and I was one of the people who actually built it. The other world is my experience of working with small startups and watching how modern digital companies work. No matter how different these worlds may seem, my peek into both of them suggests to me that the flattest business structures usually generate the best results. In these structures, employees work as micro-entrepreneurs within a company. That means modern corporate models are based on maximum competition between people, leading to better quality at each level, lower costs, and a better client experience. Middle Ages: Flat Earth and Flat Structures By saying ‘modern’, I do not mean that flat, decentralized, or self-directed models are actually a novelty. Today, it might seem that previous human history was entirely based on a rigid hierarchy, but it is not so. For instance, look at the feudal society typical of Western Europe’s early Middle Ages. At the time, vassals were empowered with quite strong autonomy over the lands and people under their rule. Their powers included routine economic management, justice, and sometimes even monetary policy. Vassal’s duty to his lord was more or less limited to paying taxes (in monetary or natural form) and providing a certain number of military units in times of need. Think of those duties as performance KPIs for an autonomous division in a modern flat-model company. What’s also important, the king's control (think of him as a flat company CEO) , because the vassal's bond was with his own lord, not with his lord's master: ‘the vassal of my vassal is not my vassal’. was, in any case, weak However, with the rise of absolute monarchies, empires, and colonialism, hierarchical systems indeed became mainstream. These new social orders relied on overwhelming military power, and the military organization can be viewed as the pinnacle of the management model that I refer to as ‘classic’ in this article. The classic model is aimed at controlling employees, assuming that without such control their performance would be poorer by default. Tight control means that each group of 10-15 employees must have their boss, who, in turn, is controlled by the next-level boss, and so on. On one hand, such a model is based on control and lack of trust; on the other hand, it encourages deception between different management levels. So everyone is playing a game with low efficiency and very high costs. Modern Findings and Success Stories As tides changed in the 19-20th century, absolute monarchies gave way to democratic rule in many parts of the world. Subsequently, researchers started questioning the benefits of a traditional (i.e., ‘tall’, or highly hierarchical) management model, trying to apply the new social governance standards to corporations and studying ‘flat’ or less hierarchy-dependent structures. A classic work on the topic, , was released in 1972 by Edwin E. Ghiselli and Jacob P. Siegel. This paper is still being cited by other researchers half a century later. ‘Leadership and managerial success in tall and flat organization structures’ After a thorough study of many companies, Ghiselli and Siegel came to the conclusion that ‘there is a link between employee success and the level of autonomy and self-realization in flat organizations, and there is more participation in broader decision making creating a sense of ownership, which in turn, increases productivity’. Another study, by John M. Ivancevich and James H. Donnelly, Jr. published in 1975, revealed that salesmen working in flat organizations perceived more satisfaction with respect to self-actualization and autonomy. ‘Relation of Organizational Structure to Job Satisfaction, Anxiety-Stress, and Performance’ Also, they perceive lower amounts of anxiety stress and perform more efficiently than salesmen in medium and tall organizations. Based on these findings and my own empirical experience, I think that corporate management should be based on empowering employees and forging mutually beneficial relationships between them. Taxi drivers and delivery couriers are good examples of such relations and management. They work not because they are controlled by their bosses, but because they are partners of a taxi operator or a delivery company. It is an entirely different type of motivation, which I consider to be much more effective in all aspects, from economics to client experience. However, the success of flatness and decentralization is not limited to drivers and couriers alone. Arguably the most famous and successful example of decentralization is Johnson & Johnson, a company with an over 100-year history. It is worth noting that it does not come from the tech sector, operating in consumer healthcare, pharma, and medical technology. is based on granting full autonomy to each of the more than 265 companies it owns located across 60 countries and working in three major business segments. J&J’s modus operandi The company is in constant search of new assets. After an M&A deal, the new asset continues to work as a separate entity under the common brand. Caution: do not get flat broke For the sake of truth and accuracy, I cannot omit flat structure failure stories as well. Different companies, including some cutting-edge digitals, rejected the boss-less concept at some point. These examples include shoe company; online trading platform; social network management service; social journalism platform launched by Twitter co-founders and project hosting and collaboration service (thank you Lighthouse Blog for this list and for the on the topic). Zappos Treehouse Buffer Medium GitHub scathing article Being an avid advocate of a flat and decentralized business model, I do not mean to promote diving into it without a second thought. Nor do I intend to proclaim hierarchy altogether evil. After all, as Bob Sutton, Stanford professor, bestselling author, and speaker , ‘If you can find a group of people (or dogs or baboons) without a hierarchy, I want to hear about it. Yes, power and status differences are sometimes reduced, but hierarchy is a fact of organizational life.’ said Choosing the right way to set up your business leaves no room for the luxury of being dogmatic, maximalist, or naive. A business model, no matter how tall or flat, is just a tool. And there is no such thing as a tool equally good for everyone. Considering which model suits us most, we should not swing between extremes, but rather shift our emphasis to either of the poles, gently and carefully. Two major things to keep in mind are: a. whether a flat model would benefit your particular business and b. whether you are personally up to it. One of the of the Ghiselli and Johnson study is that flat organizations rewarded managers and also that flat organizations work better than tall organizations in . most important outcomes who worked well and enjoyed situations that demanded autonomy and independence encouraging individuality Their peers, Lyman W. Porter and Edward E. Lawler III that organizations with many reporting levels (i.e., ‘tall’ ones) were better in . found producing security and the satisfaction of social needs In other words, flatness is good for people with a specific mindset and a certain level of courage and ambition. But it might disappoint and frustrate those seeking a safe haven. Make sure you and the people you are going to lead match the right description. Think twice, and be realistic. Models and Rules If, at some point, you come to the conclusion that flatness and decentralization are for you, there is a whole new world out there. There are a lot of specific models to choose from, starting from a classic bunch of friends launching their garage-based startup to more sophisticated schemes for large-scale structures. It all depends on your needs and the circumstances. For instance, in the wake of the COVID pandemic, McKinsey & Company suggested introducing decentralized structures as an effective means of crisis management: Source: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/to-weather-a-crisis-build-a-network-of-teams Also, there is an interesting thing known as a ‘helix’ organization, positioned as a decent tradeoff between the centralized and decentralized worlds: Source: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-helix-organization There are so many studies dedicated to choosing the right alternative model configurations that they simply would not fit in this article, which is anyway aimed at introducing readers to the topic. However, there are some rules of thumb worth sharing, useful to anyone opting for flat and decentralized models with scaling potential. In 2021, a group of Harvard Business Review contributors studied several self-directed companies located in the greater Helsinki region, often referred to as the ‘Silicon Valley of the North’. Among these companies were Supercell and Futureplay game developers, Futurice and Vincit tech consultancies, and Wolt, a last-mile delivery company. They came up with that should guide self-directed companies as they grow: four major principles Self-direction is something that can easily be lost unless it is actively maintained and promoted. This requires that companies come up with solutions to the new challenges that arise as they grow (for example, through organic modular design) and that they work hard to maintain their spirit and values (for example, through stories that encourage a shared sense of identity). It matters how coordination is organized and control exercised. Usually, this requires a mix of enabling mechanisms that do the trick without undermining self-direction. Self-directed organizations need to share information in non-hierarchical ways. This requires that companies take transparency seriously and use AI to share data in novel ways throughout distributed organizations. Self-directed companies that succeed while they grow are those that invest in learning, celebrating successes and failures, and updating their identities by promoting living stories. There seems little to add to that apart from one note, last but not least. This truly universal rule was brilliantly formulated in an ten years ago by Mark B. Templeton, president and C.E.O. of Citrix, the Internet software company: interview with The New York Times ‘You have to make sure you never confuse the hierarchy that you need for managing complexity with the respect that people deserve. Because that’s where a lot of organizations go off track, confusing respect and hierarchy, and thinking that low on hierarchy means low respect; high on the hierarchy means high respect. So hierarchy is a necessary evil of managing complexity, but it in no way has anything to do with respect that is owed an individual.’

Tall or Flat: Choosing the Right Model for Your Business and Yourself

HMI solutions find their application in various fields: medicine, industry, automotives, and everyday life. All of them serve to display the operational data of the equipment in an informative way in almost real-time. With the help of the Qt framework, developers can quickly and easily create HMIs that meet the highest requirements. That is why many well-known companies choose Qt for their projects. What is a human-machine interface, and why is it needed? A human-machine interface (HMI) is a general term for engineering solutions that enable interaction between people and machines, computer systems, or applications. Starting and stopping processes, as well as monitoring, can be done remotely, thus reducing the number of errors and the time required for making decisions. Human-machine interfaces for production line control In all their variety of forms, the primary goal of all HMIs is to enable efficient communication between humans and machines in a clear and accessible way. The cornerstone of HMI design is portability and ease of use. The process of creating an HMI includes the development of hardware and software, as well as the creation of the necessary infrastructure. The more complex the tasks an HMI faces, the more complex its structure becomes. Sophisticated user interfaces are becoming an integral part of production equipment. Cross-platform frameworks and GUI toolkits allow developers to create intuitive user interfaces for software of any complexity. Many cross-platform frameworks, such as , , , , and Flutter, have tools that can be successfully used to develop HMIs of various levels of complexity and for various purposes. .Net GTK Xamarin JUCE Cross-platform GUI frameworks that can be used for HMI software development. Some frameworks are designed to create applications in a certain area; for example, there are specialized toolkits for automotive production. Thus, , the software framework for the automotive industry, offers you HMI design and development tools to create advanced multi-OS, multi-display user interfaces. Kanzi experts implement end-to-end solutions for the design, development, and production of automotive human-machine interfaces. Kanzi Siemens offers a wide range of products, from configuration software to SCADA systems and software for process visualization. SIMATIC WinCC offers different software options depending on the complexity of the product: Basic, Comfort, and Advanced. WinCC-Advanced is available as a runtime software package with the possibility of additional options. SIMATIC HMI Qt for HMI software development The Qt framework stands out from other solutions with its performance, versatility, and ease of use. It provides developers with solutions to help meet the growing demands of customers. In our previous article, we highlighted the benefits of the Qt framework and C++ for creating cross-platform applications for embedded systems. HMIs are closely related to embedded systems, and Qt is actively used for HMI software development. Qt benefits The advantages of Qt for HMI development The Qt framework has undeniable advantages for embedded HMI development: Both are available. To get all the legal and functional benefits of the framework for creating devices, you need a commercial license from The Qt Company. But if the project complies with the terms of LGPL v3 and LGPL v2.1, SDKs can be created as open source. A commercial license is needed if the project is large enough, has a technical novelty, and the manufacturer needs to protect his interests. In other cases, an open license is sufficient. open licenses and commercial variants Highly efficient and smooth UI development: Qt is a time-tested and one of the best toolkits for creating multi-platform UIs. The framework has a minimum number of inconveniences and imperfections in comparison with other GUI platforms. The framework has : it supports desktop, mobile, and embedded platforms. incredible cross-platform capabilities Qt allows engineers to turn designs into interactive prototypes very quickly. The design code is easily implemented into the program logic. Fast and easy prototyping: The framework owners have created a huge database of documents, including tutorials, examples, case studies, and application development guides. Almost any question can be answered quickly and comprehensively by Qt users united in the community. Few frameworks can boast such support. Detailed documentation and a large community: The Qt Company is in constant dialog with the users, improving the accessibility of the framework and making it convenient to work with. In February 2022, the company simplified and streamlined commercial licensing, making the framework even more business-friendly. Qt sets itself apart from other products in that it captures the user experience and puts it at the heart of product development, making the interaction between designers and developers and feedback loops more optimal. Feedback: Qt 3D Studio offers a system that is in demand by both software developers and graphic designers. Qt designers have the opportunity to leverage an open architecture with access to the source code. The platform contains ready-made UI libraries and allows designers to create embedded systems with 3D or 2D user interfaces. 3D UI development The Qt HMI framework supports the Java-script-based declarative language, built on top of Qt. QML enables great user experience design with rich graphical support. The language serves to define the visual GUI elements that are required to build and animate the visual interaction and the calling program. QML QML allows designers and developers to create, try, and change GUIs with simple JSON-based syntax and to transform a design into an HMI. UI elements written in QML can be integrated with logic written in both JavaScript and C++. QML helps specialists implement a project and test it on the target hardware without delay. That’s why HMI development using Qt provides significant advantages in terms of time to market. There is no barrel of honey without a fly in the ointment. When considering using Qt to create HMI applications for industrial or home automation panels, the team must consider criteria for processor performance. The user interface of the Qt library needs about 100 DMIPS (Dhrystone MIPS). The selected microprocessor must have sufficient computing power to drive a screen with good resolution characteristics and process graphics quickly. Example: Qt for automotive HMI development The automotive industry has long been heading for consolidation, which means that the automotive software industry should adjust to such changes. HMI tools need to support cross-platform capabilities and be consistent with multi-brand variant management. Qt is successfully used to create . In the automotive industry, hardware components are constantly being upgraded for more power. The development of the HMI UI should keep pace with this process. Qt simplifies the process of creating HMIs for the development team through the ease and speed of creating applications with a rich graphical interface, internationalization, and cross-platform support. automotive HMI solutions Such legendary automobile companies as , , were announced to have in-vehicle HMIs created with the help of the Qt framework. Mercedes-Benz Hyundai Citroen, DS, Opel, and Peugeot One of the areas of Qt's application is the automotive in-vehicle infotainment system. Thus, Qt is Hyundai Motor Group's HMI technology partner for all Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis vehicles. Qt has been selected to develop Hyundai's connected automotive operating system for the in-car infotainment system. The system monitors and manages key aspects of connected automotive infrastructure to ensure that vehicles can adapt to innovations in safety, comfort, and convenience. Using a single code base, Qt enables the automotive company to create complex technology solutions to meet requirements in various areas, such as in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) and cluster/HUD. Qt Design Studio is claimed to be used by Hyundai Motor Group to speed up its HMI development process from prototype to deployment. The role of software in the automotive industry will only increase. By offering state-of-the-art cross-platform solutions that are scalable across multiple variants, Qt HMI development is moving into a new phase, becoming the de-facto leader in its niche. The Qt software development platform is used by companies all over the world, including well-known giants such as LG Electronics, Bosch, and Rockwell Automation. Regardless of the size of the enterprise, Qt enables companies to keep pace with the changing software market. Using Qt gives companies the ability to unify their HMI development process to greatly improve development efficiency, speed up time to market, and meet consumer expectations. Qt tools for building embedded HMI software The Qt development service offers and for UI creation. Qt Widgets have a lot of elements that indirectly depend on the platform on which the application is running. Qt Quick, in turn, is devoid of this shortcoming. Qt Quick is a library that allows you to create UIs using the QML language. QML provides a very convenient way to design UIs for touch displays. It comes out of the box with support for gestures, while Qt Widgets doesn't. Qt Quick has made it possible to quickly develop applications for mobile devices while logic can still be written using native code to achieve the highest possible performance. Qt widgets Qt Quick Qt Quick module With the , APIs for media, web, navigation, and more are available to application developers. These APIs serve to make HMI development easier and faster. The Qt SDK provides the Qt software stack and libraries for developing applications for your hardware. The Qt SDK combines Qt software components and all Qt modules, providing a smooth design process for custom embedded applications. Needed Qt modules should be chosen to create a customized Qt SDK and plug them into , a cross-platform IDE. Qt Creator automatically identifies Qt SDKs. The Qt SDK offers an easy setup with a single installation package to get started. By using the simulator, developers can get an idea of how their application will function on Qt-enabled devices. In this case, there is no need to use emulator devices. The , one of the Qt Creator tools, is used to create an interface design layout. The C++ code generated by Qt Designer is integrated into the application. Qt SDK Qt Creator Qt Designer Qt HMI development: use cases and challenges As a passionate software and hardware development company, Integra Sources uses the latest approaches and solutions that help to get the result with the least amount of time and money for the client. As we have gained enough experience to share our opinion about the capabilities of this framework, including in the field of HMI application development. a Qt development company, Using the rich features of C++ and Qt, we create intuitive UIs with a variety of graphics, widgets, and visual effects for embedded system applications, desktop, console, and mobile applications. We are engaged in creating Qt software for , including complex automation systems that support HMI. embedded systems We would like to cite our extensive work on implementing a battery management system (BMS) for a sophisticated industrial solution as an example of the Qt full-featured HMI project. Having started a major project to develop BMS firmware and embedded software to communicate with it, one of the tasks facing our team was to develop a full-screen application for a color touch panel with a 1920x1080 screen resolution to display the status of the BMS. BMS has a multi-level structure, consisting of cells (batteries) combined into modules. The modules are, in turn, assembled into strings. Screens (main screen, line screen, and module screen) are provided for each level to display related information. There are also screens for displaying system alarms, system management options (control screen), firmware versions, and system components (About screen). We also needed to delineate the rights of system users as guest, service, and super. The second task was to implement a touchscreen application for testing the finished BMS module. The application must run on a specially prepared computer. The test results must be loaded into a separate JSON file. Limit values ​​​​(e.g., maximum and minimum cell voltage, etc.) are set on the settings screen. The HMI screen of the Battery Management System By using Qt Creator and working with C++ and QML, our Qt developers have created intuitive HMI applications with customized interfaces. HMI applications were written from scratch. By using detailed documentation provided by the Qt framework, necessary components (buttons, drop boxes, input fields, checkboxes, etc.) were set up fairly easily by developers, while additional buttons and other missing components were created from scratch. The help of a large community allowed developers to solve challenges that arose during the development of applications. For example, in a long list of parameters that can be edited and saved, when scrolling, the newly entered data is reset to the old data that was stored in the C++ model. The configuration of the widget caching (ListView) enabled the solution to the problem. Like any universal tool, Qt has its weak points compared to narrowly focused native instruments. Although Qt provides flexible tools for creating animations in a few lines of code, there are certain challenges in developing a GUI in Qt. Elaborate animation that is constantly present on the screen can consume a lot of processor resources. Speaking of the Raspberry Pi, consumption can reach 100%. The HMI screen will simply overheat. The Qt animation optimization is based on the OpenGL library and does not involve optimization of shaders since not all video cards will support them. To create animations without shaders, Qt has to use many more resources. The Qt framework provides the logic of behavior and interaction, but it doesn't give you a ready-made solution for visual display. This approach has a certain complexity since it requires a lot of experience and extensive knowledge from the programmer. At the same time, Qt gives you a flexible way to choose styles and options, saving you from extensive rework within the system. In one of our projects, the implementation of the HMI part included, among other things, creating a table with a non-standard visual design and functionality. For creating tables, the Qt framework offers only the components that implement functionality at the simplest level - just an array of text with a standard font, a set of columns, and rows of a fixed size without alignment. For non-standard designs, you must manually fill in the elements of the table. The client's wish was to implement more sophisticated functionality than the base Qt implementation for greater clarity and ease of use of the table. To build a table with the given parameters, we have implemented useful classes: You can use controller classes that allow you to display a table in the desired form. A controller class was implemented to build a table in its style. The Qt component can use this model to get table commands and configuration. data filtering with the ability to sort in real-time column and row parameters, as well as their participation in table sorting and searching; The controller classes allow the table to adapt to the HMI screen. Qt's great advantage is that it allows you to write user-friendly code that can be applied anywhere. The table as a ready-made component is easily scalable and can be used for other projects with minor modifications. Conclusion Human-machine interfaces now range from basic panels for a visual representation of the state of the control system to complex environments with multimedia and networking capabilities. HMI is increasingly being applied in consumer and industrial applications. Ease of use, efficiency, and a wide range of connectivity options are the driving forces behind the massive change in HMI these days. As embedded devices become smaller, designers have to solve complicated tasks. It is necessary to include many useful functions in a miniature product to ensure efficient operation. The time to market for devices is also being shortened to ensure their competitiveness and business profitability. Various GUI toolkits can help create HMI software with some success and comfort for designers. Long and successful experience in using Qt enables Integra Sources to consider this framework to be the most convenient set of tools for HMI software development. We have applied the Qt framework to create fascinating, multifunctional, and user-friendly human-machine interfaces of different difficulty levels. in developing embedded apps is at your disposal. Our expert assistance Also Published here

An Introduction to Embedded Human Machine Interface Development

My team hired over 200 people last year. It’s amazing to see that type of after years of hard work and a few recruitment blunders. growth But scaling this quickly does present some challenges. When you have ten people working together in an office, it’s pretty simple to do a company update every quarter. You get everyone around a table and just talk about what’s going on, what the mission is, how to carry out the strategy. As you grow, you’ll find that your ability to casually communicate diminishes. But you can maintain the vision and passion of your original team by knowing it’s never too early to start figuring out your team communication and scaling strategy. You might have three employees now, but if all goes well, you may have 300 sooner than you think. Here’s some advice for how to handle it: 1. Hire people who are passionate about your brand and your values. Decide what your company values are, and then hire based on them. This develops a consistency throughout the company. Each person may have their own unique personalities and quirks, but everyone holds the same values. You have to build a solid foundation if you want to scale your team successfully. At ThirdLove, we want people to be passionate about the company, what we’re building, and how we have the opportunity to impact millions of women — every single day. We want potential employees to come to us, not the other way around. Most of the people we hire were our customers before they joined the team. Even the men we interview often know about us because their wives, girlfriends, or friends love our brand. It’s important to have that connection, because it makes it easier for people to join and jump right in when they’re familiar with the product and the experience. More than anything, if you want to create a passionate team, you need individuals who connect with and understand your company’s mission. 2. Keep leadership on the same page. Once you grow to a certain size, it’s no longer just the founder’s job to expound on the strategy and the mission. Every leader of every team has to be able to deliver that strategic vision and make sure their team executes on it. We have about eight total directors and VPs at ThirdLove. And six months ago, I realized that they weren’t communicating as well as in the past. As we scaled, our departments had become siloed. It was really a pivotal moment for me. I realized that these senior leaders needed to be in the room together for a day. So, we brought everyone together for an executive offsite, and that helped tremendously. We’ve also started holding bi-weekly meetings for this team. In those meetings, we go around the table and hear from everyone — what they’re working on, what their challenges are, whether they have any pressing issues. The meetings keep everyone aligned on our high-level vision and help us plan how we’re going to communicate it to the rest of the team. 3. Be open to changing your process. As your company grows, you’ll notice that your standard process for communicating and getting things done stops working. Just over a year ago at ThirdLove, if you needed something creative — an image for an ad or an email template — you’d just walk over to the visual designer and collaborate on it. There was no tracking, no project management, no creative briefing or prioritization. And that works when you’re 30 people strong. Everyone already knows what the priorities are. They don’t need a creative brief. Flash forward a year, and suddenly there are 250 people in the office. Those casual, organic processes don’t work anymore. The poor visual designer has 10 people tapping her on the shoulder every day needing content, and 30 emails in her inbox about projects. Now, creative briefs and spreadsheets aren’t a hassle; they’re a necessity. future When you scale, your company changes. And your processes have to change along with it. Otherwise, you lose your ability to communicate effectively and be efficient. 4. Communicate every day. Scaling your team requires constant communication of the company’s values, priorities, and vision. It’s not a one-off event. It’s not a quarterly newsletter. Think of it like flossing. No one gets psyched to floss every night, but we do it because we know it’s the right thing to do. We also know it’s only effective if we do it every day. Communicating values isn’t always fun or exciting, but it’s necessary. If you don’t get into a cadence and do it habitually, you never will. So, start flossing. Start figuring out the processes for how you’re going to scale your team and keep that passion alive. Your startup’s success (and health) down the road depends on it.

THE CONSTANT COMPANY

vultr.com

-- employees

Since n.d.

COMPANY RANKING

THE CONSTANT COMPANY

EVERGREEN INDEX #64

Representing this company? Click here to claim and customize this page!

The Constant Company WIKI

Apply to get your Tech Company News Page live on HackerNoon.com today!

THE CONSTANT COMPANY

vultr.com

-- employees

Since n.d.

COMPANY RANKING

THE CONSTANT COMPANY

EVERGREEN INDEX #64

RELATED COMPANIESRANK

STORIES ABOUT THE CONSTANT COMPANY

Representing this company? Click here to claim and customize this page!

The Constant Company WIKI

Apply to get your Tech Company News Page live on HackerNoon.com today!