If you are not following PHP closely or you are new to PHP programming, you should know that before PHP 7, PHP 5.6 used to be the stable version. It is quite surprising to many to learn that the company avoided releasing PHP 6 because PHP 6 was out for testing but it never really got a stable version. As PHP 6 existed as an experimental project, the company did not want to confuse the community with its release and jumped directly into PHP 7. Obviously, with the release of PHP 7, people started to compare it with its previous version. If you are the one falling in the same category of people, the following detailed comparison of the major difference between PHP 5 and PHP 7 will be immensely helpful for you. Major Differences Between PHP 5 And PHP 7 – When anything gets upgraded to a new version, most of the parameters get upgraded for better. In all the different parameters listed below, PHP 7 has made massive improvements that are worth mentioning. Performance – The performance of PHP 7 and PHP 5 is a major difference. Supposing that you have written a PHP code in PHP 5, if you run the same code in both the versions, the performance of PHP 7 will be significantly higher than PHP 5. PHP is powered by Zend engine even since the release of PHP 4. PHP 5 uses Zend II but PHP 7 uses a brand new model of engine called PHP-NG or Next Generation. This new PHPNG engine improves the performance as much as twice with optimized memory usage. This has been proved by the benchmark provided by the company. As a matter of fact, the new engine requires fewer servers to serve the same number of users as before. Declaring The Return Type – In PHP 5, the programmer cannot define the return type of a function or method. This has been a huge drawback in the real-life coding scenario as the programmers were unable to prevent unwanted return types and generate exceptions in otherwise case. Fortunately, PHP 7 allows programmers to declare the return type of the functions as per the expected return value. This is certainly going to make the code robust and accurate. There are four different return types available – bool, int, string, and float. Error Handling and 64-bit Support – If you understand the difference between error and exception, you know that it is highly uneasy to handle fatal errors in PHP 5. PHP 7 has eased the process as it has replaced several major errors with exceptions that can be handled effortlessly. This has been achieved with the introduction of the new Engine Exception objects. As you might be aware that PHP 5 does not support 64-bit integer or large files but the scenario has changed in PHP 7. PHP 7 has 64-bit support due to which you will be able to use native 64-bit integers as well as large files and hence, you can run applications flawlessly on 64-bit system architectures. Anonymous Class – One of the major additions to PHP 7 that is not present in PHP 5 is the anonymous class. Even though PHP had object-oriented approach from PHP 5 but it lacked this feature which is very common in other popular object-oriented languages like Java and C#. An anonymous class is used to speed up the execution time. It is suitable when you do not need to execute a class more than once and you do not need to document it in the project document. New Operators – PHP 7 has added a new operator that had been the center of attention when the stable version of PHP 7 came out. It is called spaceship operator that comes with the notation <=> and in the technical term, you can call it combined comparison or three-way comparison operator. The developers are finding the operator extremely useful and they are using it in sorting and various combined comparisons. It works the same as strcmp() and it is considered to be a replacement for the library function version_compare(). It returns 0 when the operands are equal and 1 when the left side is greater than the right and -1 in case of the opposite. If you are used to Perl and Ruby, the operator is already present there. Another useful operator added is the null coalescing operator denoted by double question marks. The operator is used to check whether something exists or not. It returns the value of the left operand if it exists and if it does not, it returns the value of the right operand. If both do not exist, it returns null. Miscellaneous – PHP 7 introduces Group Use Declaration according to which, the programmers will be able to include classes from the same namespace. This is going to save a lot of typing time and will make the code look crisp and readable and debugging will also be easier. PHP 7 has done away with various deprecated functions and unsupported extensions and APIs.

Read more at: https://www.freelancinggig.com/blog/2018/04/23/major-differences-php-5-php-7/

From

This article was contributed by Les Kollegian.

In today’s digital market, customers have more options than ever when it comes to buying online. Nearly every product or service imaginable is available at their fingertips, which means that every online business must find a way to convince consumers to choose them over the other guys.

One of the best ways to do this is by offering an intuitive and positive user experience (UX). In fact, 71% of successful businesses believe that their superior UX is their top competitive differentiator that attracts customers.

What is even more incredible to note is the fact that customers are incredibly influenced by even the smallest of details, just one of the many UX challenges that web designers face.

With these facts in mind, you’ve probably understood why you need a kickass UX design for your website. Here are a few tips to keep in mind.

1) Perform A/B Testing Frequently

The key to creating a better UX is constant improvement, and that kind of innovation can only be supported by thorough testing and experimentation. A/B testing tacticsare the best way to determine which adjustments are best for your website specifically. Even the smallest of changes can have a heavy impact on conversion rates, so be sure that your design team is constantly experimenting and comparing new concepts and ideas.

2) Reduce the Number of Website Pages

Efficiency and convenience are the two factors that customers value the most in a website’s UX – beating out service, technology, and even personalization. A website with dozens of pages for each and every bit of content is certainly not efficient, especially when someone is in the initial stages of the customer journey and is simply researching your organization. Simplify things by eliminating unnecessary tabs and always be sure that they never lead your customers to a dead end with no CTA.

3) Include Attractive CTAs

CTA buttons are fussy creatures. A few little tweaks here and there can boost or impact the click-through rate significantly. One case study found that when a website made their CTA button a contrasting color from the rest of the webpage, it had 122% higher click rates.

The placement is also very important to keep in mind. In general, the closer to the top of the page, the better the button will perform. Of course, your team should do some experimentation here to see what design changes perform best with your visitors, but keep in mind that even a little change (i.e. font, color, moving graphics, etc.) can have a big impact.

4) Pay Attention to Website Security

One of the main reasons that a customer will abandon their cart or leave a webpage is because something scared them off. And for good reason; the number of data breaches continues to rise every year, so consumers are especially skeptical and concerned with the safety of their personal information.

Obviously, the safety and security of your website should be a top concern to your business as well. If you don’t have a security system in place yet, get one. Then be sure to clearly display your security features with trust badges throughout your website – especially on the checkout page. When customers see a security badge on an ecommerce site, they are more likely to buy.

5) Beware of 404 Errors

Want to know the best way to get rid of your customers? Lead them to an error page. 74% of customers who run into a 404 error will immediately leave your website without a second thought. There are plenty of monitoring tools out there, but just a simple check with Google Analytics data can show which internal and external links are broken.

6) Use Adequate Images and Videos, but Provide Ample Whitespace

There is no debate when it comes to visuals on your webpage. Including a video on a landing page can increase conversions by 80%. Product images have been statistically proven to increase engagement and conversion rates, but balance is definitely key when it comes to a smooth UX.

A little bit of whitespace goes a long way, and remember it doesn’t necessarily have to be white. Business and text-heavy landing pages can be overwhelming to a visitor’s eye and they don’t know where to focus their attention. Instead, cleverly-used whitespace can be very powerful in guiding eyes along the page right to the CTA button for better conversions, as you can see from this heatmap study. The page on the left has far more whitespace usage, and as a result, customers are naturally drawn to the contrasting black CTA button.

7) Focus on the Flow

Your website is there to take your customers through the buyer’s journey, hopefully ending in a conversion. Therefore, every piece of it must have a flow that makes sense. Interestingly, one study found that 46% of customers found it incredibly annoying when a website “lacked a message” – and this was the most common reason that they exited the platform altogether.

Again, proper usage and placement of CTA buttons is incredibly important here. Take the homepage for this San Diego website design company as a perfect example. It literally spells out how to interact with the website, and each tab offers responsive animation when the mouse hovers over the CTA.

Your customers shouldn’t land on a page and wonder what to do next; create clear steps towards their next move and include content that supports each stage of the customer journey for a smoother UX.

8) Colors Matter

Colors carry a whole lot of meaning when it comes to branding. A recognizable color scheme can increase brand recognition by up to 80%. According to psychological studies, customers associate various meanings to colors when they are used by a brand. For example, lots of blue evokes confidence and honesty while orange is viewed as innovative and creative. Be sure to use the colors that support the type of branding message you want to communicate to your audience.

9) Make It Responsive and Easy to Navigate

Over half of your website traffic is most likely from a mobile device these days, so smartphone compatibility is critical. An unresponsive website design will turn away as much as 80% of organic searches if it doesn’t adjust to their screen size or support mobile-friendly navigation. The key here is to simplify and enlarge.

While your website may have a lot of navigational options clearly displayed at the top of the page, this design is not so great on a small phone screen. Instead, opt for larger CTAs, fold down navigation, and be aware of the natural use patterns for phone screens for optimized placement.

10) Faster Loading Times Are a Must

According to findings by the Nielsen Norman Group, website visitors typically leave it within 10 to 20 seconds.

What’s more?

If Statisticbrain.com is to be believed, the average person’s attention span is just 8 seconds and only 28 percent of words are read on an average web page. Therefore, quick loading speeds are a necessity. Every single second that it takes to load your site matters, and anything over 3 seconds could be enough to send them searching elsewhere. Stay on top of your website’s loading speeds and optimize the graphics and pages that could be slowing it down.

11) Conduct Site and Usability Audits

Your business’s website will never truly be “finished.” There will always be room for improvement, especially as new trends emerge. There are several ways that your team can conduct UX audits regularly to ensure that your customers are constantly satisfied with their experience. Be sure to stay on top of your customer reviews and look for patterns regarding the UX of your website, or send out surveys to customers asking them to rate the usability. For a more technical approach, you can try a UX auditing tool that will gather analytical data to identify the areas that need improvement.

Conclusion

According to PwC’s research, nearly one-third of customers will abandon a brand after a single bad experience. Furthermore, 54% of consumers are unsatisfied with the UX from the majority of online brands.

Your customer’s happiness should be a top priority, especially once you realize how much rides on their online experience. Keep these tips in mind and see what areas of your website could use a little improvement.