Toptal Blog

The WebSocket protocol is one of the ways to make your application handle real-time messages. The most common alternatives are long polling and server-sent events.

In this article, Toptal Freelance Java Developer Tomasz Dąbrowski shows us how to implement WebSockets with the Spring Boot framework, and use STOMP for effective client-server communication.

When is the most appropriate time to do a website redesign? This case study walks us through a website redesign for a high-end auto company and outlines key issues along the way.

The only product management conference list you will ever need. It is arranged by month and includes information on location and ticket prices.

Updating live applications used to be a tedious and somewhat risky affair, but with the emergence of modern development frameworks and tools, updates and deployment are becoming straightforward.

In this article, Toptal Java Developer Elene Latsoshvili explains how you can update a Laravel app with zero downtime, and how this can be done for most PHP applications.

Providing production support to an application is one of the most challenging aspects of software development. In this article, Toptal Freelance Java Developer Flavio Pezzini shows us techniques that can prevent bugs and make finding issues in production much faster.

Warren Buffett’s reputation as an investor has become legendary. What can an individual investor learn from Warren Buffett’s investment style, his philosophy, and some of his past mistakes?

What does a UX consultant do? More importantly, what does it take for a UX designer to become a consultant and thrive?

Understanding and implementing visual hierarchy principles gives designers an advantage in creating persuasive designs that convey necessary information while creating a delightful user experience.

Develop a high-performing team by empowering the project manager. A software project manager is the cornerstone in a product lifecycle. Explore the six key KPIs that will inspire incredible results.

Google’s Flutter mobile SDK only recently made it to version 1.0, but it is already catching up with React Native in terms of market share. Flutter is also used to develop apps for Google’s upcoming Fuchsia OS.

In this article, Toptal Java Developer Nemanja Stosic demonstrates how to create a simple messaging app using Flutter and Firebase.

While components have been available in Angular since the beginning, they’re still easy to mess up with common mistakes like people not using them at all, creating components instead of attribute directives, and more.

In this article, Toptal Freelance JavaScript Developer Valters Valdersteins differentiates the correct and incorrect ways to use Angular components and illustrates them with examples.

Share buyback schemes, if executed poorly, can be disastrous for shareholders and company stakeholders. Using three examples from the UK market, reasons for failure are explored with some suggested remedies for managers making capital allocation decisions

Being empathetic is not a selective practice. Designers know how to use empathy to uncover the behaviors and needs of a user. Those same methods and techniques can be used in client relationships.

Share buybacks have become a popular financial tool for cash-rich businesses that are running short on sufficient projects to invest in. Three case studies are presented here that demonstrate when share buyback schemes are successes.

Automatically scaling container deployments in a microservices-based app architecture is downright luxurious…once it’s set up. But what’s the best way to tune an app’s orchestration parameters?

Since its introduction in 2017, Adobe XD has matured when compared to its rival, Sketch. Looking at Adobe XD vs Sketch, is it time for a change?

For product managers, KPIs are a powerful tool. They quantify team progress, the progress of the product, and the overall business. Product manager KPIs include specific metrics associated with the product, customers, and the overall process in bringing a product to market.

WordPress development relies on tried and tested technologies and techniques. This allows for good backward compatibility but also causes many developers to stick to legacy solutions for far too long.

In this article, Toptal WordPress Developer Stefano Ginella introduces us to the Roots stack and explains how it can help WordPress developers harness the latest front-end technologies.

Users shouldn’t need insider knowledge to find what they’re looking for on the web. Card sorting lets designers create intuitive UX by organizing content the way customers do in their minds.

The Bitcoin Lightning Network is an independent solution that’s heralded as the solution to bitcoin’s scaling problem by keeping fees minuscule and making transactions instant, away from the blockchain.

In this article, Toptal Freelance Blockchain Developer Amin Shah Gilani explores what the Bitcoin Lightning Network really is, how it can make the guarantees it provides, and its current state.

Entrepreneurs often view accounting like eating broccoli – they know it’s good for them but terribly unpleasant. But that’s unfortunate because effective accounting is a quiet ingredient of business success. Rock-solid companies have a rock-solid approach to accounting, almost without exception.

In this article, Toptal Finance Expert Scott Hoover runs through a useful list of the top ten most common mistakes he encounters with respect to the accounting practice in small businesses. By avoiding these mistakes, entrepreneurs can ensure they stop wasting money and stifling the growth prospects of their company.