June 2023 Summaries

Frigade has introduced a new feature for developers to create native multi-page forms, moving away from iframed Typeforms, to better facilitate comprehensive data collection during post-registration flows. These multi-page forms allow for a paginated input process, which helps in gathering extensive user data without causing overwhelm, thereby enhancing activation rates. The forms come with production-ready components for common inputs like email and multiple-choice questions and offer full customization options to match brand aesthetics. They include built-in validation powered by Zod and support the embedding of any React component, allowing developers to utilize Frigade's data model for efficient data management. The updated demo flow showcasing these multi-page forms is available for testing and the source code can be accessed on GitHub.

Frigade has introduced a new feature for developers to create native multi-page forms, moving away from using iframed Typeforms, to better accommodate the need for comprehensive data collection, such as in post-registration processes. These multi-page forms provide a paginated flow to gather extensive user data in manageable steps, which is shown to enhance user activation rates by preventing overwhelm. The forms come with production-ready components for common data types like email and numbers, offer full customization to match brand aesthetics through CSS, include bespoke validation powered by Zod, and support embedding any React components for enhanced functionality. Frigade's updated demo flow showcases these new multi-page forms, with the source code available on GitHub for developers to explore.

SOC 2 compliance, established by the American Institute of CPAs, is crucial for SaaS startups handling sensitive customer data, as it ensures that appropriate controls and safeguards are in place across five Trust Services Criteria: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy. Achieving SOC 2 compliance, which can be assessed through Type I or the more rigorous Type II certification, not only demonstrates a company's commitment to data protection but also provides a competitive advantage by facilitating sales to larger enterprises that require such standards from their vendors. Frigade's experience highlights the benefits of integrating SOC 2 practices early, as it allows companies to build their infrastructure in compliance with the standards, thus avoiding costly adjustments later and enabling better decision-making. Starting the certification process early, even without a finalized product-market fit, is advantageous, particularly for small teams and fresh infrastructure, and working with Compliance as a Service companies like Vanta or Drata can expedite and automate the compliance process.

SOC 2 compliance, established by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), is crucial for SaaS startups aiming to demonstrate robust data protection and gain a competitive advantage, especially when targeting large enterprises. It involves meeting five Trust Services Criteria: security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy, verified through an independent audit. Companies can pursue either Type I certification, assessing security systems at a specific time, or the more rigorous Type II, which evaluates ongoing compliance over six months. Frigade's experience highlights the benefits of early SOC 2 adoption, such as better infrastructure decisions and reduced future adjustments, achieved by building their system in tandem with compliance requirements. Starting early with a small team and fresh infrastructure facilitates a smoother transition, while working with Compliance as a Service providers like Vanta or Drata can expedite the process through automation and integration with platforms like AWS and Google Drive.

Frontend engineers often face challenges in showing UI elements like tooltips or modals only once per user visit due to localStorage limitations, which is scoped to the browser rather than the user, causing users to see repeated elements across different browsers. LocalStorage also has constraints such as limited data storage capacity, synchronous operations that can slow down applications, and lack of data protection, making it unsuitable for complex or data-intensive applications. A more effective solution is to implement a user-scoped service by building a key-value store API around a database, allowing for better tracking of user interactions. However, creating a custom solution can become complex, especially when managing nuanced user interactions or debugging issues. As a result, many companies eventually turn to feature flag management platforms like LaunchDarkly or Posthog, or adopt ready-made solutions like Frigade, which offer comprehensive tools for tracking user impressions and displaying the appropriate UI elements efficiently.

Frontend engineers often face the challenge of showing UI elements like tooltips only once to a user, typically storing a flag in localStorage to track impressions. However, this approach is limited as localStorage data is browser-specific and has constraints such as limited data storage capacity, synchronous operations, and security issues. A more efficient solution involves using a server-side service that tracks user-specific data across sessions and devices, implemented via a key-value store API linked to the frontend. This method allows for more nuanced user interaction tracking, such as showing tooltips at specific intervals or to certain user roles, and is scalable beyond simple binary tracking. Despite the initial simplicity of building custom solutions for impression tracking, complexities arise as systems evolve, prompting many companies to adopt third-party platforms like Launch Darkly or Posthog for feature flag management. Alternatively, Frigade offers a comprehensive solution with API and UI components to manage user impressions effectively, providing an option for those who prefer not to develop their own systems.

Dynamic Form Validation for Frigade Forms has been introduced, enabling developers to create feature-rich, native forms for onboarding and activation within existing React applications without redirecting users off-site or using iframes. This new feature allows the use of the validation property on any field within the multiInput form type to ensure input validation, utilizing Zod for both validation and error handling. Developers are encouraged to visit the Component Library to begin integrating Frigade Forms.

Frigade has introduced Dynamic Form Validation for its Frigade Forms, enabling developers to create feature-rich, native forms for onboarding and activation directly within existing React applications, eliminating the need for users to be redirected or for iframes to be embedded. This feature utilizes the validation property in the multiInput form type to ensure input validation, leveraging Zod for both validation and error handling. Developers can access the Component Library to begin implementing Frigade Forms with this new functionality.

Frigade has introduced a new feature that allows users to dynamically inject content from their applications directly into their flows, enabling the setting of variables dynamically within the flows. This capability is particularly useful for personalizing content, such as setting a user's name or loading localized strings. Users can now define custom variables anywhere in the data specified through the Frigade dashboard, which can be implemented in React by setting a map of custom variables either directly on the flow. This enhancement is demonstrated with an example where a title in a flow-data.yml file is dynamically set to greet a user by their first name.

Frigade has introduced the capability to dynamically inject content from applications directly into flows, allowing users to set variables dynamically for purposes such as personalizing user names or loading localized strings. This feature utilizes dynamic variables, enabling the setting of custom variables within the data defined on the Frigade dashboard. For example, a flow-data.yml file could include data with a dynamic title like "Hello ${firstName}!" In React, developers can map these custom variables either directly on the flow or through other specified methods, enhancing the flexibility and personalization of flow content.