What is NGINX? Why to use it for a Website?

NGINX is an open source software for web serving, reverse proxying, caching, load balancing, media streaming, and more. Initially is was started as a web server which is designed for maximum performance and stability. In NGINX it provides a software-based application delivery platform that load balances HTTP and TCP applications at a fraction of the cost of hardware solutions thus it allows organizations to maximize the availability and reliability of their sites and applications, and minimize disappointed customers and lost revenue.

The main goal of creating NGINX was to create the fastest web server around, and maintaining that excellence is still a central goal of the project. Moreover NGINX is consistently beating Apache and other servers in benchmarks measuring web server performance. In addition to its HTTP server capabilities, NGINX can also function as a proxy server for email (IMAP, POP3, and SMTP) and a reverse proxy and load balancer for HTTP, TCP, and UDP servers.

Today NGINX has grown along with it and now supports all the components of the modern Web, including WebSocket, HTTP/2, and streaming of multiple video formats (HDS, HLS, RTMP, and others). Today some of the high-profile companies using NGINX like Autodesk, Atlassian, Intuit, T-Mobile, GitLab, DuckDuckGo, Microsoft, IBM, Google, Adobe, Salesforce, VMWare, Xerox, LinkedIn, Cisco, Facebook, Target, Citrix Systems, Twitter, Apple, Intel, etc.

Why is NGINX so important?

And the reason behind it is that it is a part of the application routing fabric. Because routing is one of the most highly critical function because it enables load balancing. And load balancing is a key enabler of highly available systems. So running those systems requires having more than one server, datacenter, zone, region, provider, et cetera. And you can't just have a redundant system without a load balancer to route requests between redundant units.

How Does NGINX Work?

As you now know that NGINX is built to offer low memory usage and high concurrency. So rather than creating a new processes for each web request, Nginx hosting uses an asynchronous, event-driven approach where requests are handled in a single thread. And with NGINX, one master process can control multiple worker processes. Thus the master maintains the worker processes, while the workers do the actual processing. Because NGINX is asynchronous, each request can be executed by the worker concurrently without blocking other requests.

Here are some of the common features seen in NGINX include:

>>>> Reverse proxy with caching

>>>> IPv6

>>>> Load balancing

>>>> FastCGI support with caching

>>>> WebSockets

>>>> Handling of static files, index files, and auto-indexing

>>>> TLS/SSL with SNI

So here are the difference between NGINX vs Apache

Apache is one of the most popular and main rival web server for NGINX. And this Apache has been around since the 90s thus it has a large community as well. So now if you are curious about which web server is best for your needs, take a look at this brief and informative comparison between NGINX and Apache.

OS support

Compatibility is one of the little details you should consider when choosing software. So both the NGINX and Apache can run on many operating systems that support the Unix system. But unfortunately, NGINX’s performance on Windows is not as great as on other platforms.

User support

Users, from first-timers to professionals, always need a good community that can help when they face problems. So both NGINX and Apache have mailing support and a Stack Overflow forum, but where as Apache lacks support from its company, which is Apache Foundation.

Performance

In NGINX it can simultaneously run 1000 connections of static content two times faster than Apache and uses a little less memory. And when compared for their performance on running dynamic content, however, both have the same speed. NGINX is a better choice for those who have a more static website.

WordPress theme -how to create a website with it ?

What is a Theme?

As per Official WordPress site WordPress theme system is a way to "skin" your weblog. Where Skinning your site implies that only the design is changed. WordPress Themes can provide much more control over the look and presentation of the material on your website.

Basically, a WordPress theme is a collection of files that work together where it produces a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a weblog. Now these files are called template files. And in the theme it modifies the way the site is displayed and in the theme it may include customized template files like image files (*.jpg, *.gif), style sheets (*.css), custom Pages, as well as any necessary code files (*.php).

As you know WordPress is an open source database-driven content management system where it allows you to manage content, page, media, create menus etc. In other words WordPress gives you the power to take control of your website without your web administrator's help.

Know More!

If we change the WordPress theme then the whole layout of your website will change. And you can find the best theme for your website in the WordPress admin area from where you can change, manage or add new themes. If you are planning to use the default WordPress theme then it has a limited number of theme available. So if you want to change your WordPress theme, you’ll find a lot of free one at WordPress.org Themes Directory.

You no need to worry about the security because they are taken care with good security measures in regards to SEO to know beforehand if your WordPress theme is well SEO optimized and all the new coding rules are applied in the right manner. On the other hand if your theme is using too many resources like HTTPs request to your server for a various reason or if it is just badly coded then all these factors will affect your SEO and also your website performance.

How can I create my website with WordPress?

One the best part why more and more people are using the WordPress is that to make/create a website you no need to have technical knowledge. All you need to do is select a web hosting plan. Because most of the hosting company will provide pre-installed WordPress for your when you choose their hosting plan.

So once the sign up for a hosting plan next you can simply pick a WordPress theme like Customizr Pro, and start designing your website. Now your WordPress is really easy to use and you'll be quickly able to build pages.

How much does it cost?

Since WordPress is an open source CMS it is for free of cost and you no need to pay anything to use it and it is licensed under the GPLv2.

But to use it you need to buy a domain name and also a web hosting plan or your own server. And subscribing to a hosting plan which will cost you a few dollars or Rupees per month for a basic plan, which is usually enough to start hosting a website. Once after installing the WordPress you will be able to choose a free theme for the theme panel. So once after testing them  most of the WordPress users purchase a premium theme which generally offers a better design and more customization features than the free ones.

Do I need to be or have a developer to use WordPress?

Nope, not at all! If you are using WordPress then you won't require any particular technical skills to create your website. It is very simple to use and yes it will take a few hours to become 100% familiar with the interface and various possibilities offered by the software.

What is JavaScript and its Advantages

JavaScript is also often known as JS and it is a lightweight, interpreted, object-oriented language with best in class functions, and it is also known as the scripting language for a web page and today it is mainly used in many non-browser environments. JavaScript is also a prototype based with multi paradigm scripting languages which are dynamic. It also supports object-oriented, imperative and it works on programming style.

And a JavaScript runs on the client side of the web and it can also be used to design the program depend on the web page behavior to the particular event. Not only that Java Hosting is also easy to learn and it is also a powerful scripting language which is widely used for controlling the web page behavior.

For what JavaScript can be used for?

You might know that an HTML page is a static one so if you are not using JavaScript then still it would be static. Using JavaScript you can make the website more active and also user-friendly, JavaScript will also help you to have an easy navigation of the website and it will also help the designers to guide the visitors with some additional information. And today, if you are planning to use some special effects like rollover on images then using JavaScript, is one of the best options.

JavaScript will also support some external applications like PDF documents, running widgets, supporting for flash applications etc. For this reason today JavaScript has emerged like a boom in the web hosting industry. And today there is no web technologies that are not using JavaScript. In  AJAX and JQuery, in that the AJAX – Asynchronous JavaScript and XML - which is Javascript which plays a very important role and in JQuery it gives the library for predefined functions for adding animations and many dynamic features to the web pages. Thus AJAX and JQuery are some of the current web trends in terms of Dynamic website design and development.

For all these unique features today Javascript stands an important and special functionality in the client’s browser instead of the site’s server. And the role of Javascript can never be denied - because JavaScript can act as both object-oriented language and procedural language.

Advantages of JavaScript

Speed

Client-side JavaScript is very fast because it can be run immediately within the client-side browser. Unless outside resources are required, JavaScript is unhindered by network calls to a backend server. It also has no need to be compiled on the client side which gives it certain speed advantages.

Client-Side execution

One of the best part of using JavaScript is that you get client side executions. Yes in JavaScript no matter what execution option is always on client environment which will save bandwidth and make execution process fast.

Simplicity

JavaScript is relatively simple to learn and also to implement.

Rapid Development

The syntax in JavaScript are very easy and also flexible for the developers. And with JavaScript's small bit of code you can test easily on Console Panel at a time browser interpret return output result. In-short easy language to get pick up in development.

Popularity

Today Javascript is used everywhere on the web. Abd the resources to learn in Javascript are numerous. StackOverflow and GitHub have many projects that are using Javascript and the language as a whole has gained a lot of traction in the industry in recent years especially.

Rich interfaces

Drag and drop components or slider may give a rich interface to your website.

Node.js servers

If you were to bootstrap node.js with Express, use a document database like MongoDB, and use JavaScript on the front-end for clients, it is possible to develop an entire JavaScript app from front to back using only JavaScript.


And there are also different types of JavaScript Frameworks like AngularJS, NodeJS, ReactJS. So here are some information on those JavaScript frameworks -

AngularJS

Basically AngularJS is a client side JavaScript MVC framework which help to develop a dynamic web application. This AngularJS was launched in 2009 by Google as an open source client-side web framework. And AngularJS is entirely based on HTML and JavaScript, so there is no need to learn another syntax or language. It assists AngularJS developers to resolve issues in single page web application containing a shell page with multiple views. It also get well with all other libraries and thus it helps in extending HTML vocabulary for your web application.

Moreover today Angular JS is one of the most popular modern day web frameworks available today. And the reason for its popularity is because this framework is used for developing mostly Single Page applications.  This AngularJS Development works on the features like routing, data binding, templates, dependency injection, directives, deep linking, and filters.

NodeJS

This NodeJS is an open-source server side runtime environment built on Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine. And Node.js is a JavaScript runtime environment. It provides an event driven, non-blocking (asynchronous) I/O and cross-platform runtime environment for building a highly scalable server-side application using JavaScript. In NodeJS the Node run-time environment includes everything you need to execute a program written in JavaScript.

Node.js can be used to build different types of applications such as command line application, web application, real-time chat application, REST API server etc. However, it is mainly used to build network programs like web servers, similar to PHP, Java, or ASP.NET. Since NodeJS is an open source it runs on various platform like Windows, Linux, Mac OS X and Unix etc. One of the best part of using NodeJS is  that the developers can scale up applications created in Node.JS in vertical as well as horizontal manners

ReactJS

ReactJS is a component-based library which is basically used to develop interactive UI’s. So today ReactJS is one of the most popular front end JavaScript library. This was built by top engineers at Facebook. Moreover React is a critical tool that has had a big impact on the way we build web applications. For this reason it is one of the most popular front-end JavaScript libraries and it deals with View in the MVC(Model - View - Controller). So, if you are dealing with the applications where data keeps on changing in real time, you should go for React.

In React, the application is composed of different components. Each time any data is added, it will automatically update the specific component whose state has actually changed. Why ReactJS is so popular is that it has a way in which data flow takes place. Because the earlier frameworks were using the traditional approach in which the web pages need to be refreshed to check any update.