What is CDN? Content Delivery Network Explained

What is CDN? Content Delivery Network Explained

  • What Is a CDN?
  • How Does a CDN Work?
  • Frequently Asked Questions for CDN
  • How to Choose a CDN?
  • What Is a CDN?

    CDN, also known as “distribution networks,” offers several points of presence (PoP) outside the origin server. This enables websites to better manage traffic by handling user requests more quickly, providing an overall better experience. In short, you’re using a CDN every time you visit a high-traffic site such as Amazon or catch up with your friends on Facebook. Their data centers keep allows to bring such content much more quickly regardless of the geographic location of individual users or the main website server. By spreading the delivery systems out over a large area, websites can reduce bandwidth consumption and page load times, shaving precious seconds off the time it takes to handle multiple user requests.

    What Is an Origin Server?

    An origin server is a computer that hosts the original version of your web files. Without a CDN, your site visitors will need to request information and receive the response directly from your site’s primary source. If each request has to return to your origin server, your website’s workload will increase. Furthermore, the farther the distance between the end-user and an origin server, the longer that user will have to wait for a page to load. That’s why using a CDN can help to decrease latency as it reduces the number of networks that must be crossed by a request and its response in reaching the final destination. A CDN can also protect the origin server from DDoS attacks or other online threats by masking the origin server and proxies requests from visitors, making the primary source practically invisible.

    What Is a CDN Edge Server?

    An edge server is a computer that can cache content retrieved from an origin server. It’s located in one of the points of presence, which are physical data centers spread worldwide. CDN edge servers serve as connections between separate networks, allowing traffic to flow quickly and efficiently from one location to another. To reduce the workload on an origin server and decrease the distance between a visitor and a web server, a CDN edge server stores content in strategic locations as close to the visitor as possible. As a result, visitors experience better performance and faster load times since they’re actually requesting content from a geographically closer server. That being said, origin servers will also be less likely to experience performance degradation when there is a sudden increase in your site’s traffic.

    How Does a CDN Work?

    Requests are handled by whatever network server is closest to the device that made the query. By caching data and spreading multiple requests for the same information over a network rather than a single web server, the traffic load becomes much more balanced. This eliminates problems such as page speed, browser crashes, and service disruptions. How a CDN might benefit you personally depends on the size of your site, its location relative to your core traffic source, and the amount of traffic generated. For example, a local business with a physical location that serves one small geographic area won’t benefit much from a CDN. However, if you’re an eCommerce business owner who needs a wider reach, or your website generates heavy traffic from diverse locations, then a fast, efficient CDN will help you retain your competitive edge. There are four main benefits of using CDN servers. Each of these builds on the other to help mitigate the problems of managing complicated pieces of content and servicing high-volume traffic. Effective content distribution networks should accomplish the following four things:

    Reducing Bandwidth Consumption

    One of the biggest expenses with some hosting services is bandwidth. Conserving the amount of bandwidth it takes to handle your traffic by multiplying your points of presence keeps your costs low. This is achieved through optimization tools such as caching, which places data into temporary storage on different computers or mobile devices for ease of access.

    Increased Overall Speed and Performance

    One of the biggest contributors to high bounce rates is latency. This is the increased time it takes to transfer information from the source to the use and vice versa. It’s usually caused by:
    • Delays in reading files due to blocked storage
    • Setbacks in data processing from the server
    • Type of data transmission, such as a fiber-optic network versus coaxial cables
    • Propagation, or the speed at which data travels from one node to another
    Many of these issues can be solved, or at least heavily reduced, by using an effective delivery network.

    Improved Security

    When all of the data transfer is conducted from a single server, it increases your vulnerability to malicious events like denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and other vulnerabilities. In short, DDoS attacks are coordinated requests for information that are conducted from multiple locations and users at an appointed time; they can also be deployed automatically through bots. The purpose of this is to cause the server to crash due to traffic overloads. This is done by means of a threat such as extortion and blackmailing or just for the sake of making mischief. DDoS attacks can continue for hours or even days, making the website inaccessible to legitimate traffic. Using DDoS filters and spreading queries over several locations helps prevent artificially created traffic explosions. You can even use your CDN to keep hackers out and protect your sensitive data. This is achievable because CDNs continually refresh TLS/SSL certificates, providing higher authentication and encryption standards. They also deflect traffic away from your original server to proxies.

    Better Content Distribution

    Heavy traffic loads and hardware malfunction results in more downtime that most websites simply can’t afford. By distributing the traffic over multiple content delivery systems, your infrastructure and servers will have a less burden to carry. Here are some examples who can benefit from a CDN the most:
    • eCommerce. Websites such as these usually get heavier loads of traffic and need to handle requests from many different locations. However, if the site fails to provide the information required at a glance, countless opportunities can be missed. By efficiently distributing its content and delivering a faster response, CDN can prevent spikes in web traffic, avoiding unwanted crashes on the server.
    • Advertising. Online businesses rely heavily on multimedia-based ads – they can be both simple and innovative, yet more effective than traditional methods of advertising. However, these types of ads also require more resources, which can result in poor website loading times. The slower the site, the more customers abandon it. Advertising businesses need CDN to solve this problem as it stores cache content closer to the end-user, making the content load much faster. If the minimum load time can be maintained, the performance of the website will be better.
    • Online gaming. If advertising needs high resources for content, video games need even more resources. This is one of the biggest challenges for the online gaming industry – to keep delivering the best services possible to the largest amount of people around the world. CDN technology enables online games to have “push zones” where game developers can store large amounts of data on CDN servers, which means that the need to request data directly from the origin server is put at its lowest.
    • Entertainment. Content is the heart of the media and entertainment industry. From such streaming services like Netflix or Spotify to other media outlets, the content that they offer attracts millions of people every day. Such services need to have a solid strategy for distributing their content to keep their websites running perfectly no matter where someone is trying to access it.

    Frequently Asked Questions for CDN

    Here is some additional information about CDNs you might want to know:

    What’s the Difference Between Pull and Push CDNs?

    Some CDN providers give the option to pick between a pull or push zone, and choosing one depends on many factors and priorities. For example, a pull zone works by “pulling” site content from the nearest edge server and is the most common method to be used. Users can leave their content on the server with a pull zone and rewrite the URLs so that it would point to the CDN. When someone asks for a specific file, the CDN will first go to the original server, “pull” the file for the end-user, and cache that file when someone else wishes to download it. This method is suitable for sites that receive a great deal of traffic since content remains relatively stable, and the traffic will be spread out evenly. However, a pull zone can, at some points, work more slowly. For example, visitors who’ll try to access the file for the first time or try to download it after it has expired might notice a small difference in speed. Meanwhile, the push zone requires data to be uploaded to the CDN storage cloud since there is no existing source where the content was stored. This method requires users to be themselves responsible for providing content to the CDN, “pushing” it to the server. They can specify the content that is uploaded, when it expires, and when it is going to be updated. With that in mind, a push zone is recommended for minimal traffic sites – the content is pushed to the CDN once and left there until changes are needed.

    Does CDN Work With Mobile Devices?

    Yes. CDNs work with any desktop or mobile device that can be connected to the Internet. All of the processes are conducted from the source, not on the user end.

    How Can a CDN Speed Up My Website?

    There are three ways of how CDN can increase your site’s load times and overall speed:
    1. It distributes and stores diverse content types like images, text, and rich media files for faster access.
    2. Reduces bandwidth by serving content from several locations rather than pushing it all out from one server.
    3. Handles traffic spikes during peak times without disrupting the service.

    Is CDN Safe to Use?

    Security is one of the most important factors when it comes to CDN. Therefore your data is encrypted when being transferred from one endpoint to another. DDoS mitigation is also a significant concern when it comes to website security. Since information is stored on multiple data center locations, it reduces the chances servers from being overwhelming if such an attack does occur.

    Is CDN the Same as a Hosting Service?

    CDNs don’t host websites, but they can improve website performance of hosted servers by utilizing caching and other optimization methods to conserve bandwidth. Using a CDN can also improve website speed and prevent problems like connection disruptions, lax security, and slow content delivery. Content distribution networks can even work hand in hand with your hosting service provider. While one provides you with a platform to host your main website, CDN, on the other hand, provides the proxies to distribute it more efficiently.

    What Types of Websites Can Benefit from a CDN?

    Any form of B2B (business-to-business) or B2C (business-to-consumer) website that has a larger user base outside of their immediate geographic location can benefit from a CDN. They’re also helpful for bloggers and websites that have a high traffic volume.

    What’s Static and Dynamic Content?

    Static content is any web file that stays the same every time it’s delivered to the user. It rarely changes and doesn’t depend on user preferences. This type of content is usually stored in a CDN server, making it faster to process, cache, and deliver. On the other side, dynamic content changes based on user behavior or other variables, such as their time of visit, device, location, etc. A web page with dynamic content won’t look the same for everyone, making it more personalized and interactive. eCommerce websites and social media platforms are some of the more prominent examples of sites with this kind of content. However, unlike static content, dynamic content isn’t stored on a server. Instead, it uses server-side scripts to generate an HTML file in real-time and then send it to the user’s web browser. That’s why dynamic content is usually served from an origin server, not an edge server.

    CDN and VPN – What’s the Difference?

    Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) shield the user’s identity and use a range of servers in different locations to get around geographical and other restrictions on certain types of content. Content delivery networks speed delivery of information by sending and storing website content over a network of servers, allowing website visitors to access web pages from the closest available source. However, both provide additional layers of security for your website.

    How to Choose a CDN?

    Just like any other type of service provider, not all CDNs offer the same level of service, benefits, or functionality. Some CDN services are free, while some offer both additional premium services. Cloudflare is one of such a web-security company, known to be one of the most reliable content delivery network services available today. That is why we offer free Cloudflare services with all of our customers. A few key elements to consider when looking for a CDN service are your budget and requirements, and that includes anticipated needs in the case of future growth. In order to answer this question further, here’s a list of features any good CDN should have:
    • Push or pull functionality. Web owners should decide which caching method would best suit their type of website.
    • Origin shield services. This feature acts as an additional caching layer between an origin server and the CDN edge servers, which reduces the overall workload the primary source has to make.
    • Logging features. It allows users to search, store, analyze, and monitor the logging data and events from a CDN provider.
    • Cache-control. This HTTP cache header allows users to determine how or when a resource should be cached alongside its expiration time.
    • Customization capabilities. You should pick a service that allows you to modify a CDN to suit your needs. For instance, some CDN providers give their users access to customize their asset delivery, SEO, security measures, and mobile experience.
    • DDoS protection. Though a CDN can hide your origin’s IP address, you still need an additional layer of security to divert network-layer attacks, preventing hackers from potentially breaking into your website.
    • HTTP/2 support. Ensure that a CDN supports HTTPS, which is much more secure and provides faster web performance than the regular HTTP protocol.
    • Diagnostics, analytics, and reporting. These tools are necessary to monitor an origin server’s overall health, optimize your CDN configuration, etc.
    • Geo-filtering. Specify specific paths on your CDN endpoint and determine rules to restrict certain content based on location.

    Conclusion

    If you want to maintain your level of service as you grow your web presence, a reliable, scalable content delivery network is a worthy investment. In this article, we’ve learned all about what is CDN and how does it work, alongside some questions that might’ve needed a more in-depth explanation. If you have any more CDN-related questions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment down below.]]>

    How to Configure Braintree Payment Method in Magento 2

    How to Configure Braintree Payment Method in Magento 2

    Braintree is a subsidiary company of the world’s biggest payment service provider, Paypal.

    Braintree serves its services across 45 countries. It also supports 130 currencies. The payment gateway is designed to provide a seamless shopping experience by offering quick payment services.

    Also, it is the best choice for E-commerce stores as it allows accepting payments from Paypal, credit and debit card and popular wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay.

    Steps to Configure Braintree Payment Gateway Method in Magento 2:

    1. Create an account

    Visit the official website of Braintree and sign up.

    2. Configure Basic Settings:

    1. Login to Magento 2 store.
    2. Navigate to Stores > Settings > Configuration
    3. Expand Sales and choose Payment Methods If you have multiple sites running on Magento, in the upper-left corner, select Store View where you can configure. To set the location of your business, by selecting Merchant Country.
    4. You will see Recommendation Solutions, in the Braintree section, click on Configure How to Configure Braintree Payment Method in Magento 2 1Configuring Braintree: Basic braintree settings
      1. Enter the Title to identify Braintree as a payment method during checkout
      2. Select the Environment that you want to use for Braintree transactions.
        1. Sandbox – For testing purpose
        2. Production – To allow customers to use the Braintree payment method.
      3. Set Payment Actions:
        1. Authorise only: Approves the purchase and puts a hold on the funds.
        2. Authorise and Capture: Approves the purchase and immediately withdrawn from the customer’s account.
      4. Enter Merchant ID from your Braintree account. merchant ID
        1. Login your Braintree account.
        2. Click on the Settings Icon at the right-top of the webpage.
        3. You will see a dropdown menu. Select Business option.
        4. Here is a merchant ID.
      5. Enter Public Key from your Braintree account. API Keys
        1. Click on the Settings Icon at the right-top of the webpage.
        2. You will see a dropdown menu. Select API option.
        3. Here is a Public Key.
      6. Enter Private Key from your Braintree account.Braintree Private Key
        1. . Click on the Settings Icon at the right-top of the webpage.
        2. You will see a dropdown menu. Select API option.
        3. Click on View Private Key under the section API Keys
        4. Here is a Private Key.
      7. Set Enable this Solution to Yes.
      8. If you wish to enable Paypal as a payment option with Braintree, you can set to Yes.
      9. If you want to store the customer information securely, therefore, the customers will not have to rewrite payment information, set Vault Enabled to Yes.

    3. Configure the Advanced Settings:

    Advanced Braintree settings
    1. Expand the Advanced Settings section

    2. Write down the Vault Title that indicates where the customer card information is stored.

    3. Enter your Merchant ID from your Braintree account.

    4. Set Advanced Fraud Protection to Yes, if you want to use Braintree fraud protection for all the transactions. You need to enable Advanced Fraud Protection in the Settings/Protection section.

    1. Set Debug to Yes, if you want the system to save a log file of interaction between the store and Braintree.

    2. Set CVV Verification to Yes, the customers need to add a three-digital number before making a payment. Before setting this option to Yes, make sure you enable AVS and/or CVV in the Settings/Processing section of your Braintree account.

    1. Select Credit Card Types based on your business requirement.

    2. In Sort Order, enter the number to determine the in which Braintree appears when listed with other payment methods during checkout.

    4. Configure the Country Specific Settings: Country Specific Settings

    1. In Payment from Applicable Countries, select All Allowed Countries or Specific Countries based on your business requirement.

    2. Set Country Specific Credit Card Types, select the country and a type of credit card and click on add. Repeat the process for each country.

    5. Paypal Settings via Braintree Paypal Settings via Braintree

    1. Follow these steps to identify your Paypal via Braintree configuration:
      1. Enter the Title to identify Braintree’s payment by Paypal option during checkout.

      2. Enter a descriptive Vault Title to identify where your customer card information is to be stored.

      3. In Sort Order, enter the number to determine the in which Braintree’s Paypal option appears when listed with other payment methods during checkout.

      4. If you want to use a Merchant name other than the default once, enter the merchant name in Override Merchant Name.

    2. Set Payment Action based on your requirement.

      1. Authorise only: Approves the purchase and puts a hold on the funds.

      2. Authorise and Capture: Approves the purchase and immediately withdrawn from the customer’s account. payment action

    1. In Payment from Applicable Countries and Payment from Specific Countries, select the countries based on your business requirement.

    2. Set Require Customer’s Billing Address to yes, to require that customers provide a billing address. payment action

    1. If you want customers to allow edit shipping address entered during checkout, set Yes to Allow to Edit Shipping Address Entered During Checkout on PayPal Side.

    2. Set Debug to Yes, if you want the system to save a log file of interaction between the store and Paypal.

    3. Set Display on Shipping Cart to Yes, if you want to display a Paypal button in both the mini shopping cart and shopping page.

    4. Set Display on Shipping Cart to Yes, if you want to display a Paypal button in both the mini shopping cart and shopping page.

    5. Set Skip Order Review to Yes, if you want to bypass Order Review Step before the order is submitted.

    6. Configure the 3D Verification Settings 3D Secure Verification Settings

    1. Set 3D Verification to Yes, if you want to add a verification step credit cardholder customers that are enrolled in a verification program such as “Verified by VISA”.

      The transaction amount which is submitted for verification is checked against the amount that is sent for authorization during this process.

    2. The transaction amount which is submitted for verification is checked against the amount that is sent for authorization during this process.
    3. Select the countries for 3D verification from Verify for Applicable Countries.

    7. Dynamic Descriptors

    Dynamic descriptors are sent on a per transaction basis and it explains what will appear on your customers’ credit card statement for a specific purchase. These are not enabled by default.

    1. All the descriptors given below are used to identify purchases on customer credit card statements. It is possible to reduce the number of chargebacks by clearly identifying the company that is associated with each purchase.

      Feel free to contact Braintree Support, if the Dynamic Descriptors are not enabled.
    1. Enter the Dynamic Descriptor for the Name, Phone, and URL as per these guidelines.

      1. There are mainly two parts of Name descriptors that are separated by an asterisk (*). For instance, Meetanshi*Magento

        The first part of the descriptors shows the company or DBA and the second part shows the product. Basically, the length of the Meetanshi and Magento parts of the descriptors can be allocated in given ways within twenty-four characters. Option 1: Meetanshi must be 3 characters, Magento may be up to 18 characters Option 2: Meetanshi must be 7 characters, Magento may be up to 14 characters Option 3: Meetanshi must be 12 characters, Magento may be up to 9 characters
      1. Phone descriptor must be given to ten to fourteen characters in length and only number, dashes, parentheses, and periods. For instance,

        1. 1111111111

        2. (111) 111-1111

        3. 111.111.1111

    3. The URL descriptors show your domain name and it should not be up to thirteen characters long. For instance, Meetanshi.com

    8. Save Config

    When you complete configuration, click on Save Config. That’s it. You are good to go with the Braintree payment method integration with Magento 2. If you have questions regarding this tutorial, feel free to ask in the Comments section below. I would like to solve your problem. Appreciate our work by sharing this post on the Magento Community. Thank you.]]>

    How to Configure Shipment Emails in Magento 2

    How to Configure Shipment Emails in Magento 2

    configure shipment emails in Magento 2. You can use two individual templates for the shipment email.

    1. Shipment email template for existing customers

    2. Shipment email template for guests

    Steps to Configure Shipment Emails in Magento 2:

    Configure Shipment Emails in Magento 2
    1. Login to Magento 2 admin panel

    2. Navigate to Stores > Settings > Configuration

    3. Under Sales, select Sales Emails

    4. Expand Shipment section

      1. The default option is set as Enabled that explains the shipment email will be sent to customers when the product is shipped at a given address by a customer.

      2. In Shipment Email Sender, select the person from whom the shipment email will be sent. The default Magento 2 offers five email addresses.

      3. In Shipment Email Template, select the template based on your requirement or select the default option.

      4. In Shipment Email Template for Guests, choose the template for customers who have not created an account in your store.

      5. In Send Shipment Email Copy To, enter the multiple email addresses to whom you want to send shipment email copy. Separate email addresses with a comma.

      6. Send Shipment Email Copy Methodselect bcc(blind carbon copy) or separate email copy method based on your requirement.

      7. In Magento Shipping Cancellation Email Templates, select the template based on your requirement, or select the default option. The template will be used for existing customers to send shipment cancellation emails.

      8. In Magento Shipping Cancellation Email Templates for Guests, choose the template for customers who have not created an account in your store. The template will be used for guest customers to send shipment cancellation emails.

    5. Click Save Config

    That’s it.

    If you have queries, feel free to ask in the Comment section below.

    I would like to solve your problem.

    Don’t forget to share this post with Magento Community via social media.

    Thank you.

    ]]>

    How to Add Custom Button in the Admin Product UI-Component Form in Magento 2

    How to Add Custom Button in the Admin Product UI-Component Form in Magento 2

    Method to add custom button in the admin product UI-component form in Magento 2:

    Create a product_form.xml file at  app/code/Vendor/Extension/view/adminhtml/ui_component directory Next you have to create a CustomButton.php file in app/code/Vendor/Extension/Block/Adminhtml/Product/Edit/Button directory add-custom-button-in-the-admin-product-ui-component-form-in-magento-2That’s it. Any doubts in the above solution can be mentioned in the Comments section below. Also, do share the solution with the Magento Community via social media. Thank you.]]>

    Understanding ADA Compliance and How It Relates to eCommerce Websites

    Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), which was signed into law by former President George H.W. Bush on July 26, 1990. The ADA has been instrumental in improving quality of life and making public places more accessible to millions of Americans with physical disabilities. But these benefits often don’t extend to the digital world. Though most eCommerce companies emphasize the importance of a great customer experience, many online stores are nearly unusable by those who have disabilities that prevent them from typing, clicking a mouse, or even seeing images and website content. If we really want to enable great customer experiences, we must focus on all customers, not just those who are able-bodied. In this blog, I’ll examine the importance of accessibility and its benefits for your company. I’ll also discuss how a recent court case, Robles v. Domino’s Pizza, could set a landmark precedent that would change ADA compliance for online retailers forever.

    UNDERSTANDING ADA TITLE III – WHY DOES IT MATTER?

    The ADA was created to protect the civil rights of disabled individuals and prevent discrimination. When it comes to the discussion of accessibility and eCommerce, we’re most interested in ADA Title III, which states: “No individual may be discriminated against on the basis of disability with regards to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, or accommodations of any place of public accommodation.” Among other categories, “places of public accommodation” includes stores, educational institutions, restaurants, places of recreation, and much more.

    ARE ECOMMERCE WEBSITES ‘PLACES OF PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION?’

    When the ADA was signed into law in 1990, the dot-com bubble was still looming far off on the horizon, and most people didn’t even know what email was. As you may have guessed, there were no legal provisions that specifically outlined the steps that websites, including eCommerce websites, must take to accommodate disabled people. But over the past few years, there has been an increase in court cases challenging this notion. From 2017 to 2018 the number of cases filed in federal court under Title III of the ADA exploded – increasing 177%, from 814 such lawsuits in 2017 to 2,258 in 2018. Let’s take a look at a few of these lawsuits: • National Federation of the Blind vs. Target Corporation, 2006Target was sued due to a website design that made it impossible for persons who had low vision or no vision to use the website. Target argued the ADA applied only to physical spaces – and not to the Internet. The court ruled that commercial websites such as Target.com are required to be accessible under the ADA and awarded $3.7 million in attorney’s fees and costs to the National Federation of the Blind. • National Association of the Deaf vs. Netflix, 2012: The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) filed suit against Netflix, citing its lack of closed captioning for streaming video as a violation of the ADA. Netflix argued it was not a “place of public accommodation.” A federal district court in Massachusetts was the first in the state to rule that the ADA applies to website-only businesses. Netflix settled out of court for $750,000 and agreed to caption all of its videos by the end of 2014. • Juan Carlos Gil vs. Winn-Dixie Stores, 2012: The defendant claimed he was unable to access certain functions of the website, like coupons and a store locator. Again, the defense for Winn-Dixie claimed the ADA was not violated because Gil was not “denied physical access” to Winn-Dixie stores. A Florida federal judge thought otherwise and issued the first web accessibility trial verdict against Winn-Dixie, requiring the company to publish an accessibility statement and take steps to ensure its website complied with accessibility guidelines.

    GUILLERMO ROBLES VS. DOMINO’S PIZZA, 2019: THE CASE THAT COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING

    In 2016, Los Angeles citizen Guillermo Robles filed a lawsuit against Domino’s Pizza because he was unable to order pizza online. The Domino’s website was not compatible with screen readers or voice navigation, which are often used by low-vision and blind individuals to navigate the Internet. In his suit, Robles specifically cited the ADA provision requiring “full and equal enjoyment of the goods and services…of any place of public accommodations.” Initially, the case was thrown out, but the 9th Circuit Court reversed its decision, and the case will now go to trial. Domino’s tried to appeal the decision with the Supreme Court, arguing that the ADA did not apply to online websites and only applied to brick-and-mortar stores. This appeal was rejected. Litigation is still ongoing for this case. But if the court rules in the favor of Robles, this could be a historic verdict – and confirm that all websites are “places of public accommodation” in the eyes of the ADA. Accessible websites would no longer be optional. They would be written into law.

    WHAT MAKES A WEBSITE ACCESSIBLE? UNDERSTANDING KEY CONCEPTS

    Wondering what specific steps can be taken to make a website more accessible? Let’s explain how certain website elements can be adjusted to make them usable for disabled individuals. • Menus: To assist users who use screen readers, menus should be navigable by using Tab to go to the next element and Shift+Tab to go to the previous element. Menu buttons should be navigable using left and right arrows, and drop-down menus should be navigable using up-and-down arrows. • Forms: When an error occurs in a form, users should be taken to the first invalid field, and a visual and text-based explanation must appear to inform the user of the error. In addition, a confirmation message that’s readable to a screen reader must be displayed when a form is submitted. • Images: Images must have “alt” tags describing their content so that blind users can understand them. These “alt” tags can be left out of images that are purely decorative. • Links: Links within text should be accessible using Tab key navigation. In addition, there must be a visual indicator if they will be opened in a new window, and this should be announced using hidden text or an HTML title for users of screen readers. Links should also be made more visible on a page and be a contrasting color so that those with low vision can easily recognize them. This is just the tip of the iceberg, of course. For more information, you can consult with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the leading set of guidelines related to designing accessible websites. Site maps are essential for disabled individuals using screen readers. Using the easily-accessible Jeep site map, those using screen readers can quickly get an overview of the content on the website, and access the pages they need to use.

    WHAT ARE THE BUSINESS BENEFITS OF CREATING AN ADA-COMPLIANT WEBSITE?

    • It’s the right thing to do: Everyone deserves a great online experience, so building an accessible website is the right thing to do. As the coronavirus pandemic has underscored, the Internet is an essential part of all of our lives, and that includes disabled individuals. • Boost your salesAbout 61 million adults in the U.S. live with a disability. That’s one in four people. With an accessible website, you can reach even more customers and enhance your overall sales. • Avoid legal liability: Regardless of the outcome of any specific legal case, it seems likely that accessibility will become a requirement for eCommerce companies at some point in the future, and litigation over ADA compliance for websites is rising dramatically. The rate of web accessibility-related lawsuits and demand letters has risen by 300% since 2018 alone. • Create a more usable website: Creating an easy-to-read, easy-to-navigate site benefits not only individuals with disabilities, but all users of the web as well. By adhering to the WCAG, you allow everyone — disabled or not — to quickly find the content they’re looking for. Some additional benefits of creating an ADA-complaint include: • Less fatigue • Increased speed • Fewer errors • A quicker learning curve • Showcase innovative technology: Recently developed innovative technologies and design strategies have accelerated the techniques of accessibility, making it easier than ever before to create an ADA-compliant website. For example, using cascading style sheets (CSS) allows more flexible use of content and easier implementation of more dynamic models versus older, static HTML designs that often jumble content with formatting. • Improve your search engine optimization: Following the WCAG not only helps you create an ADA-compliant website, many of the suggestions are also SEO best practices. For example, here are a few examples of WCAG guidelines as well as SEO best practices: • Video transcripts • Alt text for images • Image captioning • Meta tags • Header tags (H1, H2, etc.) • Sitemaps and breadcrumbs • Link anchor text By creating a compliant website, you can do the right thing, enhance your sales, and avoid legal costs – not to mention the bad PR that a lawsuit can cause for your company. So start thinking about accessibility compliance on your eCommerce website now, and take the first steps toward a more accessible design.]]>

    Secure Your Storefront With the Enhanced Magento Security Scan Tool

    study by IBM reveals the average cost of a data breach is $3.86 million, while the average time to identify and contain a breach is 280 days. Malware and digital skimming are among the most common attack vectors for eCommerce sites. According to a recent malware scan run by Sansec: • Credit card skimming malware was detected on 8,170 unique stores across all platforms. • 82% of stores that had malware were running an unsupported version of product.  24% of all affected stores suffered multiple malware incidents. This suggests that one out of four merchants are unable to identify the root cause and, as such, unable to close unauthorized access.  On average, skimming malware was present on compromised stores for 13.2 days. At Adobe, we are committed to helping companies deliver secure shopping experiences to their customers. We are improving our threat detection tool to help our customers proactively identify potential threats to their web stores.

    Magento Security Scan Tool

    This Magento Security Scan tool is an important part of Adobe’s strategy to help Magento Commerce and Magento Open Source merchants enhance security for their storefronts. The Security Scan tool will help merchants identify: • Potential malware and vulnerabilities on the web store • Out-of-date security patches • Potentially vulnerable extensions • Digital skimming injections • Security misconfigurations • More streamlined guidance on Magento Commerce security best practices If potential threats are identified, the Magento Security Scan tool can alert the admin through an automated email notification.

    Partnership with Sansec

    Adobe has partnered with Sansec, a leading security company specializing in helping to prevent digital skimming. Through this partnership, Adobe will be adding about 9,000 malware and vulnerability signatures to the Magento Security Scan tool. Each of these signatures has undergone a multistage testing and validation process before being added to the scan tool. Every week Sanguine Security’s research team analyses 200 to 300 known eCommerce attacks. This information produces a valuable stream of possible attack vectors and indicators of compromise (IOCs). This data is continuously fed as threat signatures into our enhanced Security Scan tool, leading to approximately 300 new signatures added monthly.

    Setting up the Security Scan tool

    The Security Scan tool is free to use for any version of Magento Commerce, Magento Open Source customers, and partners in the Adobe Solution Partner Program and Adobe Exchange Partner Program. Merchants and their teams, including authorized developers, can access the enhanced scan tool directly by logging into their Magento accounts and choosing Security Scan. It is very easy to register your site to the scan tool and monitor your site on a daily, weekly, or on-demand basis.

    Benefits of the Security Scan tool enhancements

    The enhanced scan tool will help customers: • Get real-time insights into the security status of their Magento store and suggests best practices that may assist in fixing the issue. • Run over 17,000 security tests to help identify potential malware on their webstore. • Get access to historical security reports of their Magento sites to track and monitor their progress over time. • Get access to the scan report that shows the successful and failed checks and recommended further action, if any. Adobe encourages merchants to enable the Magento Security Scan tool on all production storefronts. Detailed documentation on setting up scan tool is available here.]]>