Research has shown how important it is to develop an app for app development that is user-friendly. If you don’t do this, users will get annoyed, delete your app, or go to the competitor. You can prevent this! Therefore, read here the stop signs that are most ignored in app development:

Stop sign 1: App development with too many functions

As you can also read in the article about  feature creep”, a common mistake is always coming up with new functions. As an app entrepreneur you think; “This is also fun.”, “Isn’t this part of my app ? and  With a small adjustment, this function can still be added! . That’s the wrong setting! Try to keep thinking about the main goal and core function of the app. The point is that this feature works in full glory.

The consequences of ignoring the stop sign include:

• The user is overwhelmed with features and gets confused
• the user gets the impression that the app too complicated is
• You create additional costs for the development of your app that are not needed

App development that does not use app etiquette

When creating an app you use a kind of app etiquette. A user is used to the way an app works. Even if you open an app, you have expectations of how an app should work. If not, your users will also get frustrated. Apple and Google both provide guidelines on these etiquettes.

Examples are:

1. Not using hidden elements prevents the user from finding options of the app.
2. Texts that look like links, but are not, cause the user to click on texts that don’t point anywhere.
3. Adding parts that look like buttons give the impression that there is an action behind it.

“By not providing the user with information on first use, it is not clear what will happen or how the app should be used.”

Stop sign 3: App development that is available in one language

50% of the turnover of the top 10 apps comes from a non-English speaking country. So making your app available in English only so that it can be used internationally is only half the story. If you want to disable your app in Germany or Norway, it is important to also add the languages from these countries to an app. Using your app is more friendly and pleasant for these target groups.

Stop sign 4: App development that throws users deep

If there is no explanation or instructions with or in your app, a user has no idea what to do with your app. When looking at game apps, there are often clear instructions on how the game works. If you are using Candy Crush for the first time and there is no indication of the purpose or how to play this game app, then you will quickly quit. This applies to every app. By not giving instructions to the user, he does not know what is going to happen or how to use the app. It is also important that the instructions are clear. Users are not going to read an abundance of information, then they close the app and delete it. Or better yet, make sure the app is clear that it explains itself. Good explanation is then even less necessary.

“An app has to work both horizontally and vertically.”

Stop sign 5: App development for one screen ratio

There are countless devices that apps run on; tablets, laptops, iOS, Android etc. All these devices use a different format. By developing an app for one screen size, you limit your app. For example, you also have to take into account the rotation of screens: depending on the usage situation, an app must work both horizontally and vertically. If you do not add this option, you ensure that a user does not have the choice to use the screen in his favorite way. And you exclude many phones with a different screen ratio from a pleasant user experience. Due to the very different phones from Android, it is a big stop sign especially for this platform.

Stop sign 6: App development that is not consistent

This stop sign sounds quite logical, but you can make the mistake quickly without realizing it. An app must communicate and work as the user is used to. Certainly in language use there is often inconsistency.

Examples are:

1. Using multiple words for the same action or part. For example, it is not good to refer to a  list item  at one time and to  choice option  at other times.
2. Use the same word for different parts in the app. For example, you can refer to  the menu but there are several menus in your app.

Stop sign 7: App development that does not give standard options

Give a user a choice of different actions. Think of it as a multiple choice question. If you ask an open question, answering takes more time for the user. With multiple choices, the answer is actually already given. If you use a drop-down menu in your app or simply a number of buttons, this speeds up interaction and the user does not have to think about all the options. If your app lacks standard options, but only offers open input fields, for example, this confuses the user and does not know which answer is appropriate. This way, the user of your app comes through your app in a nice ‘flow’.

Stop sign 8: App development with buttons that are too small

If you use very small buttons in your app, the user can click on the right. Think about it, if you click a button and nothing happens, what do you think You then assume that the app is not working properly. You can avoid this problem by using large buttons. We also call this the ‘fat-finger problem; you can imagine something about that.

At each stop sign, ask yourself, “How would I like to use an app that has this problem? What is my response to this? This also applies to your app. Always keep the end user in mind. Or better yet, test with users! This should ultimately use your app with pleasure and not with frustration. By listening to these stop signs you have more control over the success of your app!

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Building microservices with .NET is a comprehensive endeavor that involves leveraging various tools, frameworks, architectural patterns, and best practices to create modular, scalable, and maintainable services.
In this detailed guide, we will explore each aspect of building microservices with .NET, covering key concepts, design principles, implementation strategies, and deployment considerations.

Introduction to Microservices Architecture

Microservices architecture is an approach to designing and developing software applications as a collection of loosely coupled, independently deployable services. Each service is responsible for a specific business capability and communicates with other services through well-defined APIs. Microservices offer several benefits, including:

• Scalability: Services can be scaled independently based on demand.
• Modularity: Services can be developed, deployed, and maintained independently.
• Flexibility: Technology stack, programming languages, and frameworks can vary between services.
• Resilience: Failure in one service does not necessarily impact the entire system.
• Continuous Delivery: Enables rapid and continuous delivery of features and updates.

Choosing the Right Technology Stack

.NET offers a rich ecosystem of tools and frameworks for building microservices. Some key components of the .NET technology stack include:

1. ASP.NET Core: A cross-platform, high-performance framework for building web applications and APIs. ASP.NET Core provides features like dependency injection, middleware pipeline, and support for RESTful services.
2. Entity Framework Core: An object-relational mapper (ORM) that simplifies data access and persistence in .NET applications. Entity Framework Core supports various database providers and enables developers to work with databases using strongly-typed entities and LINQ queries.
3. Docker: A platform for containerization that allows developers to package applications and dependencies into lightweight, portable containers. Docker containers provide consistency across different environments and streamline the deployment process.
4. Kubernetes: An open-source container orchestration platform for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. Kubernetes simplifies the management of microservices deployed in a distributed environment and provides features like service discovery, load balancing, and auto-scaling.

Designing Microservices Architecture

Designing microservices architecture requires careful consideration of various factors, including service boundaries, communication protocols, data management, and resilience patterns. Key principles of microservices design include:

• Single Responsibility Principle (SRP): Single Responsibility Principle is one of the SOLID principles of object-oriented design, which states that a class should have only one reason to change. It emphasizes the importance of designing classes and components with a single, well-defined responsibility or purpose.
  Each microservice should have a single responsibility or focus on a specific business domain.Example: A class that manages user authentication should focus solely on authentication-related functionality, such as validating credentials, generating tokens, and managing user sessions, without being concerned with business logic or data access operations.
• Bounded Context: Bounded Context is a central pattern in Domain-Driven Design (DDD) that defines the scope within which a particular model applies. It encapsulates a specific area of the domain and sets clear boundaries for understanding and reasoning about the domain model.
  Define clear boundaries around each microservice to encapsulate its domain logic and data model.Example: In an e-commerce application, separate Bounded Contexts may exist for Order Management, Inventory Management, User Authentication, and Payment Processing. Each Bounded Context encapsulates its own domain logic, entities, and language, providing clarity and coherence within its scope.
• Domain-Driven Design (DDD): Domain-Driven Design is an approach to software development that emphasizes understanding and modeling the problem domain as the primary focus of the development process. DDD aims to bridge the gap between domain experts and developers by fostering collaboration, shared understanding, and a common language.
  Apply DDD principles to model complex domains and establish a shared understanding of domain concepts among development teams.Example: In a healthcare management system, DDD might involve identifying Bounded Contexts for Patient Management, Appointment Scheduling, Billing, and Medical Records, with each context having its own models, rules, and language tailored to its specific domain.
  API Contracts: Define clear and stable APIs for inter-service communication using standards like RESTful HTTP, gRPC, or messaging protocols.
• Event-Driven Architecture: Event-Driven Architecture is an architectural pattern in which components communicate with each other by producing and consuming events. Events represent significant state changes or occurrences within the system and facilitate loose coupling, scalability, and responsiveness.
  Implement event-driven patterns like publish-subscribe, event sourcing, and CQRS (Command Query Responsibility Segregation) to enable asynchronous communication and decouple services.Example: In a retail application, events such as OrderPlaced, OrderShipped, and PaymentProcessed may trigger downstream processes, such as InventoryUpdate, ShippingNotification, and Billing. By using events, components can react to changes asynchronously and maintain loose coupling between modules.
• Resilience Patterns: Implement resilience patterns like circuit breakers, retries, timeouts, and fallback mechanisms to handle failures and degraded service conditions gracefully.
• Data Management: Choose appropriate data storage strategies, including database per service, polyglot persistence, and eventual consistency models.

Implementing Microservices with .NET

To implement microservices with .NET, follow these steps:

1. Service Implementation: Develop each microservice as a separate ASP.NET Core project, following SOLID principles and best practices for clean architecture.
2. Dependency Injection: Use built-in dependency injection features of ASP.NET Core to manage dependencies and promote loose coupling between components.
3. Containerization: Dockerize each microservice by creating Dockerfiles and Docker Compose files to define container images and orchestrate multi-container applications.
4. Service-to-Service Communication: Implement communication between microservices using HTTP APIs, gRPC, or message brokers like RabbitMQ or Kafka.
5. Authentication and Authorization: Implement authentication and authorization mechanisms using OAuth, JWT tokens, or identity providers like Azure Active Directory.
6. Monitoring and Logging: Instrument microservices with logging frameworks like Serilog and monitoring tools like Prometheus and Grafana to capture application metrics and diagnose issues.
7. Testing and Quality Assurance: Implement unit tests, integration tests, and end-to-end tests for each microservice to ensure functional correctness, performance, and reliability.
8. Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): Set up CI/CD pipelines using tools like Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or Jenkins to automate build, test, and deployment processes.
9. Versioning and Backward Compatibility: Establish versioning strategies and backward compatibility policies to manage changes and updates to microservice APIs without breaking existing clients.
10. Deployment Considerations
    Deploying microservices requires careful planning and consideration of factors like scalability, reliability, monitoring, and security. Some key deployment considerations include:
11. Container Orchestration: Deploy microservices to container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes or Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) to automate deployment, scaling, and management.
12. Service Discovery: Use service discovery mechanisms like Kubernetes DNS or Consul to dynamically locate and communicate with microservices within a distributed environment.
13. Load Balancing and Traffic Routing: Implement load balancers and ingress controllers to distribute incoming traffic and route requests to appropriate microservices.
14. Health Checks and Self-Healing: Implement health checks and liveness probes to monitor the health and availability of microservices and enable self-healing mechanisms.
15. Security: Secure microservices by implementing network policies, TLS encryption, role-based access control (RBAC), and security best practices for containerized environments.
16. Monitoring and Observability: Set up monitoring and observability tools like Prometheus, Grafana, and Jaeger to track performance, diagnose issues, and gain insights into system behavior.

Maintenance and Evolution

Maintaining and evolving microservices architecture requires ongoing monitoring, optimization, and adaptation to changing requirements and environments. Key practices for maintaining microservices include:

• Continuous Improvement: Regularly review and refactor code, optimize performance, and address technical debt to keep microservices maintainable and scalable.
• Feedback Loops: Gather feedback from users, stakeholders, and operational teams to identify areas for improvement and prioritize feature development.
• Service-Level Agreements (SLAs): Define and monitor SLAs for microservices to ensure performance, reliability, and availability targets are met.
• Automated Testing and Deployment: Continuously automate testing, deployment, and rollback processes to minimize manual intervention and reduce deployment risks.
• Documentation and Knowledge Sharing: Document architecture decisions, deployment procedures, and operational best practices to facilitate knowledge sharing and onboarding of new team members.

Summary

Building microservices with .NET is a complex but rewarding endeavor that enables organizations to achieve agility, scalability, and resilience in modern application development. By following best practices, adopting appropriate technologies, and adhering to architectural principles, developers can create robust, maintainable, and scalable microservices architectures that meet the evolving needs of businesses and users. By embracing microservices architecture, organizations can unlock new opportunities for innovation, collaboration, and growth in today’s dynamic and competitive marketplace.

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