Toptal Blog

Interaction design principles form the bedrock of awesome UX. Truly great interaction design relies on a set of conventions, standards, best practices and rules-of-thumb.

The private equity industry is showing signs of maturity as record competition amongst funds and record-high levels of dry powder, combined with strong competition from cash-rich corporates, have driven valuations to levels that make it difficult to see how returns could remain competitive.

There is no way around application diagnostics. No matter how good your code is, you will need to be able to monitor and study system behavior. This is where Android’s DDMS shines.

In this article, Senior Android Engineer Gilad Haimov explains how veteran Android developers leverage the potential of DDMS to improve app stability and performance, test new features, diagnose, and debug their code.

Why does a React web app run slow? The answer often lies in when and how frequently your components re-render, and whether those re-renders were even necessary. React doesn’t promise magical performance gains, but it provides just the right tools and functionalities to make it easy.

In this article, Toptal Freelance Software Engineer William Wang walks us through some optimization techniques that can help you build performant React web apps.

The relationship between art and design is often misunderstood, and although a design outcome can be artful, the process behind it is altogether very different.

Social networks are among the biggest sources of data today, and this means they are an extremely valuable asset for marketers, big data specialists, and even individual users like journalists and other professionals. Harnessing the potential of real-time Twitter data is also useful in many time-sensitive business processes.

In this article, Toptal Freelance Software Engineer Hanee’ Medhat explains how you can build a simple Python application to leverage the power of Apache Spark, and then use it to read and process tweets to identify trending hashtags.

When looking to sell your business, you will want to maximize its value through a combination of planning and timing. This article runs through some of the most important considerations to keep in mind when preparing for a sale.

From virtual showrooms to elaborate research and testing scenarios, virtual reality is starting to make its mark on the automotive industry. It can be used to educate novice drivers, train professionals operating industrial equipment, or test vehicles and drivers in extreme conditions.

In this article, Toptal Freelance Software Engineer Daan Terra shares his experiences in the field of automotive simulations, explaining how VR can fundamentally change the way cars are marketed, tested, and developed.

The top five reasons why creating a styleguide early is especially important for startups in spite of the inherent challenges.

After several months of relative quiet, Greece is back in the spotlight as the latest repayment deadline on its bailout debt comes due in July. We take the opportunity to review the root causes of the crisis, what has been happening since it kicked off, and what needs to be done to resolve the situation.

Whether you just want to create an interactive 3D logo, on the screen or design a fully fledged game, knowing the principles of 3D graphics rendering will help you achieve your goal.

In this article, Toptal Freelance Software Engineer Adnan Ademovic gives us a step-by-step tutorial to rendering objects with textures and lighting, by breaking down abstract concepts like objects, lights, and cameras into simple WebGL procedures.

While working at different stages of the software development lifecycle you often realize that software production isn’t easy. It takes consistent effort to make something great. However, it doesn’t have to come at the cost of working through nights or weekends.

In this article, Toptal Freelance Software Engineer Timofey Nevolin shares eight simple, yet powerful rules for effective software production.

Reflections on the disappearance of web forms. How mobile biometrics could unlock a personal data vault that provides what’s necessary, killing forms entirely.

Understanding the Input/Output (I/O) model of your application can mean the difference between an application that deals with the load it is subjected to, and one that crumples in the face of real-world uses cases. Perhaps while your application is small and does not serve high loads, it may matter far less. But as your application’s traffic load increases, working with the wrong I/O model can get you into a world of hurt.

A variety of artifacts are generated in the UX design process and a foundational one is the good ol’ wireframe.

In this article, Jen Randolph discusses how, in many product design scenarios, wireframes may not be necessary, and skipping them altogether may save a lot of time and cut down on confusion between the client and various stakeholders.

Getting and receiving feedback—without losing your cool—is an art. This article explains how to encourage your audience to give you quality feedback that begins with preparing a killer presentation that highlights the key problems to solve, walks your audience through your thinking, and foments constructive discussion.

A cashless society is approaching, with progress particularly pronounced in certain parts of the world. This piece examines global payment trends, as well as benefits and drawbacks of a cashless economy. It also includes case studies on India and Sweden, two countries already transitioning to a cashless future.

Widgets play a pivotal role in Magento development, as they’re often used to display targeted content and provide crucial front-end functionality. Magento 2 offers a lot of widget possibilities out of the box, and also allows developers to unlock more features using custom widgets.

In this article, Toptal Freelance Software Engineer Vivek Khatri provides an overview of widget implementation in Magento 2, starting with the basics and culminating in custom widget design.

Compilation and linking are two very fundamental processes that happen all the time during C++ software development. However, what happens during these processes? How does the compiler go from your neatly organized source code to a binary file that the machine understands?

In this article, Toptal Freelance Software Engineer Daniel Trejo explains how a C++ compiler works with some of the basic language constructs to answer some common questions that are related to these processes.

The financial services industry is seeing a wave of innovation that is bringing with it new technology, but also a need to attract and develop talent that have the skillset needed to operate in this changing environment. This article delves into some of the most important trends affecting the industry.

In the not-so-distant past, completing a design according to a designer’s vision was a nightmare. There was a huge gap (or cold war) between developers and designers; now, that war is finally coming to an end.

In this article, Toptal lead design editor Michael Abehsera talks about the prototyping tools that are spearheading the disappearing gap between design and development.